THE BIBLE IN WAVERLEY 
 
 
THE 
 
 BIBLE IN WAVEKLEY 
 
 OR 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT'S USE OF THE 
 SACRED SCRIPTURES 
 
 NICHOLAS DICKSON 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 
 
 1884 
 
\i^^ 6 ^^ 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 
 

 CONTENiTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Inteoduction 1 
 
 The Book of Genesis . 7 
 
 ExoDtrs TO Deuteronomy 40 
 
 Texts feom the Mosaic Law 55 
 
 The Book of Judges 64 
 
 The Book of Ruth 73 
 
 Samuel, Saul, and David 75 
 
 Solomon and the Kings of Judah and Israel . . 93 
 
 The Book of Esther .104 
 
 The Book of Job 106 
 
 The Psalms 116 
 
 Poetical Books of Solomon 133 
 
 The Prophetical Books 147 
 
 The Gospels 162 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles 209 
 
 The Epistles 220 
 
 The Revelation 244 
 
VI 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Scott as a Religious Teacher 254 
 
 Religion and Religious Life in the Waverley Novels 264 
 
 Morality in the "Waverley Novels 
 Scott's Humanity and Sympathy 
 The Family Circle . 
 The Principles of Good and Evil 
 Death and the Future Life . 
 Conclusion .... 
 Index 
 
 270 
 283 
 288 
 294 
 300 
 304 
 307 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 During the last illness of Sir Walter Scott at Abbots- 
 ford, we are told by his biographer and son-in-law, Mr. 
 Lockhart, that the great novelist, feeling a little brighter 
 and better one morning, desired to be placed by the 
 central window of the library that he might be able to 
 look down upon the Tweed. Pleased with the sight of 
 the river which he loved so well, and soothed by the 
 murmur of its waters, the invalid next expressed a wish 
 to have something read to him. On being asked what 
 book he would like, " Need you ask V he replied, " there 
 is but one." The Bible was accordingly brought, and 
 the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel was read. 
 "Well, this is a great comfort," Sir Walter remarked, as 
 Lockhart closed the book, ''I have followed you dis- 
 tinctly, and feel as if I were yet to be myself again." 
 
 In the room where this incident occurred there were 
 nearly twenty thousand volumes, all carefully classified 
 and regularly arranged in cases round the walls — choice 
 and costly works, in the richest bindings, and many of them 
 gifts from the most illustrious men and authors of the time. 
 Surrounded by such a great collection of books, repre- 
 /S" B 
 
The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 senting all that was most interesting in literature, Sir 
 Walter felt that, for him at least, there was "but one." 
 As the days went slowly past, and as his weakness in- 
 creased, the Bible was the only book through the reading 
 of which he derived either inward strength or consolation. 
 In the best sense of the expression, it was indeed the 
 means of helping him to feel himself again by freeing his 
 thoughts from all distracting cares, and preparing him 
 for the great change which he calmly and resignedly 
 set himself to face. 
 
 We shall be much mistaken if we associate Sir Walter 
 Scott's love and veneration for the Bible only with his 
 last illness at Abbotsford. From childhood he had 
 knoAvn the Holy Scriptures. Their divine truths had 
 been taught him by his affectionate parents, whose up- 
 right and virtuous conduct was ever in unison with the 
 religious principles they sought to instil into the minds 
 of all their children. When a boy at the High School of 
 Edinburgh, the rector on one occasion happened to ask 
 the dux of Scott's class if he could give an instance where 
 the word idili is used as a noun and not as a preposition. 
 All were silent till the query reached the future novelist, 
 who at once replied by correctly quoting from memory 
 a verse from Judges sixteenth and seventh. "And 
 Samson said unto Delilah, If they bind me with seven 
 green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, 
 and be as another man." Thus early had the sacred 
 narrative made a deep impression on his memory. As 
 a youth, his imagination was kindled into poetic fervour 
 by the sublime passages in the Book of Job and the 
 
Introditctio7t. 
 
 prophecies of Isaiah. The j^recepts, promises, and 
 prayers of God's Word were the guide and the stay of 
 Sir Walter's manhood ; and so, when age and adversity 
 came upon him, it need excite no surprise that, though 
 surrounded by his magnificent library, the author of 
 Waverley should say in reply to Lockhart's question, 
 ""What book would you like?" "Need you ask 1 there 
 is but one." 
 
 Having indicated how much the Bible was to Sir 
 Walter Scott from his childhood all through a long and 
 eventful lifetime, on to his declining days and death, it 
 is natural to inquire if its influence can be traced in any 
 of his writings, or if the Sacred History was of any 
 literary assistance to him. It will not, we believe, be a 
 difl&cult matter to answer either or both questions in the 
 affirmative. If there be any difficulty in the matter at 
 all, it lies, not in pointing out how much the author of 
 Waverley owes to the Bible, but in bringing together into 
 one readable whole the extraordinary mass of Scriptural 
 allusions, references, and illustrations which are scattered 
 in the richest profusion through every one of the 
 Waverley Novels. Bishop Wordsworth in his interest- 
 ing work, Shakesioeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible, 
 remarks that the great dramatic poet was, " in a more 
 than ordinary degree, a diligent and devout reader of the 
 Word of God, and that he has turned this reading to far 
 more and far better account than any of his critics would 
 seem to have suspected, or at all events has yet attempted 
 to point out." This is equally true of Sir Walter Scott. 
 It is rather a matter of surprise that while almost every 
 
The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 other characteristic of his writings has been fully criti- 
 cised and commented upon, his knowledge and extensive 
 use of the Bible should have been forgotten or over- 
 looked. 
 
 No one who reads the Waverley Novels carefully and 
 attentively, or reads them in any fashion indeed, can fail 
 to be struck by the frequency with which Scriptural 
 expressions and turns of thought are to be found in 
 nearly every chapter. These expressions and suggested 
 thoughts, however, form but a small part of Sir Walter's 
 literary use of the Bible. Many of its truths and narra- 
 tives, as we shall see further on, are illustrated in a way 
 that is at once delightfully fresh, new, and clear. It 
 is possible, without any straining whatever, to apply to 
 almost every novel of the series some particular Scriptural 
 lesson or truth which receives a new and interesting ex- 
 position in the course of the story. Who can read the 
 tragic tale of The Bride of Lammermoor, for instance, 
 without being reminded of the sacred text, " Vengeance 
 is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." The Master of 
 Kavenswood witnesses the dying agonies of his father, 
 and hears the terrible curses breathed against the Lord 
 Keeper. These curses seem left as a legacy of venge- 
 ance ; and afterwards at his father's funeral we hear the 
 Master swear that he will requite the ruin and disgrace 
 that have been brought upon him. As the story pro- 
 ceeds, however, we feel that it is not to the unfortunate 
 young man that vengeance belongs, but to God, who 
 claims it as specially and peculiarly His own. 
 
 Ivanhoe is, we affirm with all reverence, a fine illustra- 
 
Introduction, 
 
 tion of the inward strength and peace that are to be got 
 from a strong and implicit trust in the divine promise, 
 " Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver 
 thee." Readers of the romance will readily grant this as 
 they recollect the many dangers and trials which beset 
 the lovely heroine, her fervent prayers and devotions, 
 and her final deliverance. 
 
 Waveiiey reminds us of the text, "Put not your trust 
 in princes." The Pirate is an interesting illustration of 
 the apostolic injunction, "Use hospitality one toward 
 another without grudging." And so on through the rest 
 of the series. 
 
 While each novel may thus be considered as form- 
 ing an interesting illustration of some leading Scrip- 
 tural statement, injunction, or promise, there is not, we 
 think, the slightest evidence to show that Sir Walter had 
 any special text in view when he began to write a new 
 book. The story he has to tell flows forth as fast as pen 
 or secretary can record it ; but it takes colour and shape 
 from the great wealth of sacred imagery and illustration 
 with which his heart, his head, and his memory are all 
 abundantly stored. He inverts the order of the preacher 
 who specially announces the text or subject of his dis- 
 course before beginning the discourse itself. Scott keeps 
 his to the last, and then, in effect, he says to his readers, 
 " Now I have told you a story, but if you can get any- 
 thing out of it more than mere amusement, it will be the 
 source of much gratification to me." We recollect of 
 only one instance in which Sir AYalter mentions the 
 Scriptural truth which has unconsciously been illustrated 
 
TJic Bible in IVaverley, 
 
 in the course of the stoiy. It is at the close of The 
 Heart of Midlothian where, before parting with his readers, 
 he thus addresses them : — " This tale will not be told in 
 vain, if it shall be found to illustrate the great truth, that 
 guilt, though it may attain temporal splendour, can never 
 confer real happiness ; that the evil consequences of our 
 crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts 
 of the murdered, for ever haunt the steps of the male- 
 factor ; and that the paths of virtue, though seldom those 
 of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness 
 and peace." It would be difficult, we believe, to find a 
 more impressive illustration of the truth of the royal 
 preacher's text, " Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasant- 
 ness, and all her paths are peace," than the story of Tlie 
 Heart of Midlothian. 
 
 From a vast mass of material, the accumulated notes 
 of many careful readings of the Waverley Novels, we now 
 proceed to select as much as will let our readers see how 
 frequently, and in what a variety of ways. Sir Walter 
 enriches these charming works by his references and 
 illustrations brought from the sacred narrative.^ 
 
 ^ It may be opportune here to note that Scott was the author 
 of two sermons, written with the kind intention of serving a young 
 friend who was pursuing his theological studies. They were after- 
 wards published, under the title of Religious Discourses by a Lay- 
 man, and form part of vol. 30 of Scott's Miscellaneous Prose Works. 
 

 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 An incident in the story of The Highland Widoio takes 
 us back to the very beginning of the Sacred History. 
 The Eev. Michael Tyrie, a kind and faithful minister, 
 meets the widow in the glen, and in the conversation 
 which follows, with reference to her unfortunate son, 
 the name of God is incidentally introduced by the clergy- 
 man as the great Creator "who formed the earth and 
 spread out the heavens." Then we pass on to a scene in 
 The Fair Maid of Perth where, at the trial by bier-right 
 in the church of St. John, Eviot, the young page of Sir 
 John Eamorny, " swore by all that was created in seven 
 days and seven nights ... by the God and Author of 
 all," that he was innocent of the murder of Oliver Proud- 
 fute the bonnet-maker. 
 
 It is true that through these two quotations we get 
 only a mere glimpse of the sacred narrative, as recorded 
 in the first chapter of Genesis ; but we have to remind 
 our readers at the outset that the object of our present 
 study is not to seek and search for extracts in illustration 
 of a continuous and unbroken narrative, but simply to 
 point out the various ways in which the author of 
 Waverley uses the Bible in the construction of his tales 
 
The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 and romances. It may be that at times we come across 
 only a simi)le reference ; but, as we shall presently see, 
 it may also be some great truth which necessarily arrests 
 the novelist's attention, as a novelist, and which in his 
 hands receives something new and fresh in the way of 
 illustration. 
 
 The creation of man in the image of God is the first 
 point at which Sir ^Yalter pauses. In describing duels, 
 battles, sieges, and assaults, he always lets us feel how 
 sacred a thing, above every other consideration, is human 
 life; and how dreadful it is to destroy, or attempt to 
 destroy, the temple in which is enshrined the image of 
 God. Duellists are frequently interrupted in their mur- 
 derous work by some one who arrives on the scene, and 
 stops the fight by appealing to their better feelings, and 
 urging them to remember that it is the image of God 
 they are doing their best to deface or destroy. In The 
 Abbot there is a graphic account of the battle of Langside. 
 "When the two opposing parties come into close quarters, 
 ■with their war-cries of " God and the Queen," and " God 
 and the King" respectively, all political and military 
 considerations are forgotten, and the feeling uppermost in 
 Sir "Walter's mind seems to be one of horror at the dreadful 
 slaughter that is going on, as fellow-subjects shed each 
 other's blood " and in the name of their Creator defaced 
 His image." The wounded Ivanhoe is lying on a couch 
 listening to Eebecca, who is describing to him the storm- 
 ing of Torquilstone Castle, which she witnesses from a 
 latticed window. As the besieged hurl back their assail- 
 ants, and as one after another falls in the assault, the 
 
The Book of Genesis, 
 
 terrified girl exclaims, " Great God ! hast Thou given 
 men Thine own image that it should thus be cruelly 
 defaced by the hands of their brethren % " 
 
 There are other circumstances, however, than sieges 
 and battles in which Sir Walter illustrates the sacredness 
 of human life. The creation of man in the image of God 
 is a fact which appeals to our common humanity and 
 sympathy, when any of our fellow-creatures may happen 
 to be placed in positions of imminent danger. Reuben 
 Butler, in The Heart of Midlothian, on his way to visit Effie 
 Deans in prison, meets an excited mob dragging Porteous 
 off to execution. Being a clergyman, Butler is laid hold 
 of and compelled to walk beside the unfortunate captive, 
 in order to prepare him for instant death. He does all 
 he can to turn the infuriated crowd from such a desperate 
 design. " For God's sake," he exclaims, " 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 pro- 
 mise of Scripture, and you cannot destroy him in impeni- 
 tence without blotting his name from the Book of Life. 
 Do not destroy soul and body. Give time for prepara- 
 tion." Arnold Biederman, the worthy chief magistrate 
 of Unterwalden, learns that his friend, the elder Philip- 
 son, is in great danger, and a prisoner in the dungeon at 
 Brisach ; he pleads with his fellow-travellers to hurry 
 forward with him to the Englishman's relief, but one of 
 them wishes to keep clear of the quarrels of strangers 
 and look after Swiss interests only. Biederman humanely 
 reminds him in reply, "This man is not of our 
 
lo The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 country, doubtless ; but he is of our blood, a copy of 
 the common Creator's image, and the more worthy 
 of being called so, as he is a man of integrity and 
 worth." 
 
 The novel from which the above quotation is made, 
 Anne of Geier stein, opens with the appearance of two 
 travellers, Philipson and his son, who, with their guide, 
 are overtaken by a bewildering snowstorm on the Alps. 
 To extricate themselves from their dangerous position, 
 the son attempts to scale a broken path so as to reach 
 the castle of Geierstein and obtain assistance. The 
 description of the scene is one of the most vivid pass- 
 ages ever penned by Scott. AATiile writing it he seems 
 to have had in his thoughts not only the dignity of 
 humanity in man's being created after God's own like- 
 ness, but also the " dominion over the creatures " with 
 which man was invested, as recorded in Genesis first and 
 twenty-eighth. As Arthur Philipson goes forward on 
 his perilous journey his weight displaces a tremendous 
 mass of rock, which crashes down the mountain-side into 
 the valley below with the noise of thunder. Fortunately 
 he seizes hold of a projecting tree, to which he clings in 
 the extremity of his terror. Sick and giddy, his position 
 is rendered yet more dreadful by the appearance of an 
 Alpine vulture which hovers round him, and at length 
 alights on a crag not four yards from the tree to which 
 he is still clinging. What a position for a human being 
 to be in ! And then, as Sir Walter depicts the unhappy 
 traveller's feelings, he asks, " Was he doomed to feel the 
 vulture's beak and talons before his heart's blood should 
 
The Book of Genesis. 1 1 
 
 cease to beat? Had he already lost the dignity of 
 humanity, the awe which the being formed in the image 
 of his Maker inspires in all the inferior creatures % " 
 The vulture did not get its expected victim, however, 
 and in the escape of Arthur Philipson, the reader is 
 made to feel what a tremendous depth of meaning there 
 is in the intimation that God made man after His own 
 image, and that " man's lordship of the creation is a part 
 of his original constitution." 
 
 The account of man's creation is followed by a fuller 
 statement in the sacred narrative with reference to the 
 outward form of the human body. " The Lord God 
 formed man of the dust of the ground," Genesis second 
 and seventh. Sir Walter's allusions to this subject always 
 help us to distinguish clearly the great difference which 
 exists between the mere framework of man, and the God- 
 made image, or soul, therein placed by the Creator him- 
 self. Eeference has already been made to the murder of 
 Oliver Proudfute at Perth. Addressing the assembled 
 citizens in connection therewith, the senior Magistrate 
 gives the following directions — "Let the chirurgeon, 
 Dwining, examine tliat poor piece of day, that he may tell 
 us how poor Proudfute came by his fatal death." The 
 corpse was then to be swathed in a clean shroud, and 
 placed before the high altar in the church of St. John. 
 Sir Walter thus describes the scene — " On the bier placed 
 before the altar were stretched the mortal remains of the 
 wounded man, his arms folded on his breast, and his 
 palms joined together, with the fingers pointed upward, 
 as if the senseless day were itself appealing to heaven 
 
TJic Bible ill Waverley. 
 
 against those who had violently divorced the immortal 
 spirit from its mangled tenement." This common phy- 
 sical origin of ours reduces us all to the same physical 
 level. The Bishop of Tyre, however, does not seem to 
 be sure of this, for when he asks the physician in The 
 Talisman if he will undertake to cure King Eichard with 
 "that simple-seeming draught," the sage replies in as- 
 tonishment, "I have just cured a beggar, as you may 
 behold ; are the Kings of Frangistan made of other day 
 than the meanest of their subjects ?" 
 
 In The Abbot Henry Seyton boasts of his ancient an- 
 cestry, and plainly intimates that his sister can never be 
 aught to Roland Graeme beyond what she is to every 
 churl's blood in Scotland. Eoland's grandmother over- 
 hears the offensive remark, and sternly asks, " Of what 
 clay are they moulded, these Seytons, that the blood of 
 the Graemes may not aspire to mingle with theirs 1 " 
 And in Kenihtwth, when Tressilian tells Lambourne to 
 keep company with his own associates, the latter replies 
 ironically, " How these gentles, that are made, question- 
 less, of the porcelain clay of the earth, look down upon 
 poor Michael Lambourne ! " 
 
 Before leaving the subject of the special creation of 
 man, there is one other text in connection with it which 
 is frequently referred to in the Waverley Novels. We 
 allude to the statement in Genesis second and seventh, 
 where we are told that God breathed into man's " nos- 
 trils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." 
 This breath of heaven, or "breath of his nostrils," is 
 used by Sir Walter generally to express all that is sacred. 
 
The Book of Genesis. ' 
 
 true, honourable, and dear as life itself. Thus 
 tess Amy advises the Earl of Leicester, in Kenilicorth^ to 
 shake himself free of all the entanglements that he has 
 allowed to gather round him in connection with his 
 secret marriage : "Be like a true-born English gentle- 
 man, knight, and earl, who holds that truth is the found- 
 ation of honour, and that honour is dear to him as the 
 breath of his nostrils." 
 
 In The Talisman De Vaux speaks of military renown 
 as "the breath of his nostrils." Ivanhoe tells Eebecca 
 that the love of battle is the food on which he and his 
 order live : " the dust of the melee is the breath of our 
 nostrils." And Geoflfrey Hudson, the dwarf in Peveril of 
 the Peal:, considers honour to be the breath of his nostrils, 
 for he adds that " in no case can we be said to live if we 
 permit ourselves to be deprived of it." 
 
 FoUo^ving the Scriptural narrative we come to the 
 abode or home which was intended for man after his 
 creation. The natural beauty of the primitive Eden 
 suggests to Sir Walter many fair landscapes and pleasant 
 places of retreat. In The Talisman there is the "Dia- 
 mond of the Desert," ^Yith. its refreshing shade and liv- 
 ing waters, which "rendered the fountain and its neigh- 
 bourhood a little Paradise." The romantic beauty of 
 Flora M 'Ivor's retreat, as seen by Waverley, seemed " an 
 Eden in the wilderness." In the English lake district, 
 as described in Guy Mannering, we have the " Paradise 
 of romance " at MervjTi Hall ; and on the western Scot- 
 tish Border, there is the " little Eden of beauty, comfort, 
 and peace " around Mount Sharon, the home of Joshua 
 
14 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 Geddes and his gentle sister Eachel, in the novel of Bed- 
 gaunth't. 
 
 But Sir Walter does not confine his pictures of Para- 
 dise to out-door scenery only. When Frank Osbaldistone, 
 in Roh Roy, was in Die Vernon's own apartment at the 
 Hall, she remarked to him, " You think this place some- 
 what disconsolate, . . . but to me it seems a little Para- 
 dise, for I call it all my own, and fear no intri:^sion." 
 
 Into the garden of Eden God put the man whom He had 
 formed " to dress it and keep it." In allusion to this occu- 
 pation of our original parent, Andrew Fairservice, in Roh 
 Roy, speaks of Adam as "the first gardener." When 
 Waverley arrived at Tully Yeolan on a visit to the Baron 
 Bradwardine he found no one to welcome or even to ad- 
 mit him into the house. Going in search of some of the 
 domestics, he found, on a parterre of flowers, an old man 
 at work, whose appearance seemed to indicate 
 
 " Old Adam's likeness set to dress this garden."^ 
 
 In Castle Dangerous there is an allusion to Adam 
 naming the living creatures ; but the allusion is so slight 
 that it need not detain us here. Much the same may be 
 said of the deep sleep into which Adam was cast, when 
 God took from him a rib with which He formed Eve. 
 Andrew Fairservice speaks of womankind in general as 
 " slices o' the spare rib." To Eve's connection with the 
 temptation and the fall, however, there are so many 
 references throughout the Waverley Novels that we can 
 trace almost every incident in the sacred narrative from 
 the intimation of the serpent's craft and cunning in Genesis 
 ^ Shakespeare, King Richard II., Act III., Scene 4. 
 
The Book of Genesis. 1 5 
 
 third and first, down to tlie expulsion of our first parents 
 from Paradise. In four lines placed as a motto to the 
 twelfth chapter of Quentin Durivard^ Sir Walter intro- 
 duces the subtle character of Satan as a preface to his 
 portrait of Oliver Dain, the crafty favourite of Louis XI. 
 
 " This is a lecturer, so skilled in policy, 
 That (no disparagement to Satan's cunning) 
 He ■well might read a lesson to the Devil, 
 And teach the old seducer new temptations." 
 
 The " old seducer " enters Eden in the form of a ser- 
 pent for the purpose of tempting Eve. Giles Gosling, 
 the honest host of the Black Bear, in Kenihvmih, is 
 speaking of his daughter to his nephew, Michael Lam- 
 bourne, a dissolute, drunken fellow, who thus replies. 
 "Why, uncle, thinkest thou that I am an infidel, and 
 would harm those of mine own house f "It is for no 
 harm that I speak, Mike," answered his uncle, " but a 
 simple humour of precaution which I have taken. True, 
 thou art as well gilded as a snake when he casts his old 
 slough in the spring-time ; but for all that, thou creepest 
 not into my Eden. I will look after mine Eve, Mike, 
 and][so content thee." 
 
 Eve listens to the voice of the tempter, and her curi- 
 osity is awakened, an incident which the author of 
 Waverhtj uses for illustration in a great variety of ways. 
 "Since the days of our grandmother Eve," he says in 
 JVaverley, "the gratification of inordinate curiosity has 
 generally borne its penalty in disappointment." And so 
 we find throughout the Novels numerous instances of 
 this "inordinate curiosity" in almost every rank of life. 
 
1 6 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 We see waiting-maids curious to know the secrets, when 
 there are secrets going, of their mistresses ; landladies 
 anxious to know more than they do know of their 
 guests ; post-mistresses prjang into the letters passing 
 through their hands ; and many more such-like incidents. 
 
 The curiosity of Eve ripens into gratification, as 
 we learn in Genesis third and sixth. Dame Glendin- 
 ning, in The Monastery, is extremely anxious to know 
 something of the secret volume which belongs to her 
 guest, the homeless Lady of Avenel. " Good father," 
 she says to the monk who has asked for the book, and 
 in whose hands she reluctantly places it, "you must 
 instruct mine ignorance better ; but lack of wit cannot 
 be a deadly sin, and truly, to my poor thinking, I should 
 be glad to read the Holy Scripture." " I daresay thou 
 wouldest," said the monk, " and thus did our mother Eve 
 seek to have knowledge of good and evil. And thus sin 
 came into the world, and death by sin." 
 
 But matters did not end here, for Eve "gave also unto 
 her husband with her, and he did eat." Mordaunt 
 Mertoun gives the following admonition to his son, who 
 is preparing to visit Magnus Troil and his daughters. 
 Eeferring to the latter he says: "I bid you beware of 
 them ; for, as sure as that sin and death came into the 
 world by woman, so sure are their soft words and softer 
 looks, the utter destruction and ruin of all who put faith 
 in them." The beautiful but capricious Queen of 
 Richard I. in The Talisman, in mere frolic lures Kenneth 
 the Scot away from his post of guarding the English 
 flag by means of a supposed message from Edith Plan- 
 
The Book of Genesis. 1 7 
 
 tagenet. During his absence the flag is stolen, and for 
 this breach of mihtary discipline the young Scot is con- 
 demned to death. His friend, the physician, comforts 
 him with this reflection, that his offence of being tempted 
 away from the post of duty by a woman is one which 
 has been only too common " since the days of Sultan 
 Adam." But this same physician. El Hakim, who is no 
 other than Saladin in disguise, afterwards intercedes 
 \yith King Eichard to spare the life of the young Scot. 
 "Great I^ng," said El Hakim, ... "I would remind 
 thee that thou owest ... a life . . . even the life of 
 this good knight who is doomed to die, and but for such 
 a fault as was committed by the Sultan Adam . . . the 
 father of all men." 
 
 After the fall came sin and shame. In The Pirate 
 there is a description of a fair at Kirkwall, and on 
 one of the booths there was a small sign, on which 
 was painted an emblematic device representing our 
 first parents in "their vegetable garments," with this 
 legend — 
 
 * ' Poor sinners whom the snake deceives 
 Are fain to cover them A\ith leaves." 
 
 The lines proceed to intimate that though even leaves 
 are scarce and few in Shetland, there is clothing in 
 abundance of other kinds to be had within the booth. 
 
 In The Surgeon^s Daughter there is only a passing 
 allusion to the special sentence pronounced on Eve 
 for her share in "the gTeat transgression;" but to that 
 pronounced on Adam there are several references 
 throughout the Waverley Novels. The tenants on the 
 
 C 
 
1 8 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 Dumbiedyke estates were so poor as to require an extra 
 allowance with which to provide themselves bread and 
 other articles of food, and these they ate "under the 
 full force of the original malediction." Triptolemus 
 Yellowley, in the novel of The Pirate, was educated for 
 the Church, but his tastes lay in the direction of agricul- 
 ture, to which he afterwards devoted himself. His 
 theological learning amounted to his being able only to 
 state the fact that " to labour the earth and win his bread 
 with the toil of his body and sweat of his brow, was the 
 lot imposed upon fallen man." 
 
 In many various ways we can trace through the pages 
 of the Waverley Novels the sad effects of the fall of man. 
 In the motto prefixed to the thirteenth chapter of The 
 Talisman Sir Walter says — 
 
 " You talk of Gaiety and Innocence ! 
 The moment Avlien the fatal fruit was eaten 
 They parted ne'er to meet again ; and Malice 
 Has ever since been playmate to light Gaiety. " 
 
 In The Ahhof, Henry Warden, the chaplain at Avenel 
 Castle, in his sermon to the assembled household, pours out 
 upon the head of Eoland Grseme the full vials of his wrath, 
 as he considers the young and handsome page wanting in 
 respect for the preacher and his sacred office. Among 
 other effects of the fall he singles out pride, and declares 
 that it "and self -opinion kindled the flaming sword 
 which waves us off from Paradise. Pride made Adam 
 mortal and a weary wanderer on the face of the earth, 
 which he had else been at this day the immortal lord 
 of." The preacher proceeds to point out the further 
 
The Book of Genesis. 1 9 
 
 effects of pride, and finally exhorts his hearers to rend 
 from their bosom " this accursed shoot of the fatal apple." 
 
 Before leaving the subject of Adam and Eve, it may 
 interest our readers if we point out one or two of Sir 
 Walter's references to them as the common parents of 
 our race. In Redgauntlet the Provost says to Alan 
 Fairford : "They are flesh and blood like ourselves, 
 these poor Jacobite bodies — sons of Adam and Eve after 
 all." In the story of The Ttvo Drovers, Eobin Oig is pre- 
 paring to leave the north for the English markets with 
 his cattle, when his aunt appears and entreats him not to 
 go. "There is blood on your hand, and it is English 
 blood," said she, looking in alarm and horror at him. 
 "Prutt, trutt," answered Eobin, "that will never do, 
 neither : . . . you cannot tell by the colour the difference 
 between the blood of a black bullock and a white one. 
 And you speak of knowing Saxon from Gaelic blood ! 
 All men have their blood from Adam." Quentin Dur- 
 ward is speaking to Count Crevecoeur about the ancestry 
 of the former, when the Count replies that it is not birth 
 he refers to, but rank, fortune, and high station. "As 
 for birth," he continues, "all men are descended from 
 Adam and Eve." "My Lord Count," repeated Quentin, 
 
 "my ancestors, the Durwards of Glen Houlakin " 
 
 "Nay," said the Count, "if you claim a further descent 
 for them than from Adam, I have done. Good even to 
 you." 
 
 The sad and sorrowful associations which cluster 
 round the names of Cain and Abel seem to be much in 
 the mind and thoughts of the author of Waverley 
 
20 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 when he has occasion, and that is pretty often, to por- 
 tray the fierce and terrible human passions which too 
 frequently end in the dreadful crime of murder. In the 
 pleasant and hospitable home of Dame Glendinning at 
 the Tower of Glendearg there are two brothers, the 
 delight and the joy of their widowed mother. The 
 homeless Lady of Avenel and her daughter Mary accept 
 with much gratitude the shelter of the Tower, as narrated 
 in The Monastery. Mary soon becomes the object of hoth 
 brothers' affections; and while she chooses Edward as her 
 companion in books and studies, she gives her heart to the 
 more adventurous Halbert. Then the demon of jealousy 
 enters the household, and the brother-hating begins. There 
 is a report that Halbert has been killed by Sir Piercie 
 Shafton, and Edward is actually glad to hear of it, though 
 outwardly he conceals his feelings. When he learns, how- 
 ever, that Halbert is safe and well, and when he sees the 
 joy of Mary Avenel at the welcome news, he is driven to 
 desperation, and hastens to Father Eustace, to whom he 
 confesses the passion that had been devouring him. 
 
 " May God be gracious to thee, my son ; even in such 
 evil mood did the first murderer rise up against his 
 brother, because Abel's was the more acceptable sacrifice." 
 Edward then declared his intention of embracing the 
 monastic state which the father had so often recom- 
 mended, and his desire to return at once with him to the 
 monastery of St. Mary's. He could not endure again to 
 see Mary Avenel's eyes flash with joy at the restoration 
 of her lover, his o^vn brother. "It were a sight," he 
 says, " to make indeed a second Cain of me." 
 
The Book of Genesis. 2 1 
 
 In The Antiquary Lovel accepts the challenge from 
 Hector Maclntyre, and after he does so, his reflections on 
 the probable consequence of the duel are thus described 
 by Sir Walter : — " In a few hours he might be in another 
 world to answer for an action which his calmer thoughts 
 told him was unjustifiable in a religious point of view ; 
 or he might be wandering about in the present, like 
 Cain, with the blood of his brother on his head. And 
 all this might be saved by speaking a single word." But 
 pride would not allow him to speak that word. 
 
 Reuben Butler, in The Heart of Midlothian^ meets a 
 stranger in the Park near Edinburgh. Thinking that he 
 has come to settle "some affair of honour," Reuben ap- 
 proaches and gives him this advice : — " Think," he said, 
 "what an awful alternative you voluntarily choose for 
 yourself, to kill or to be killed. Think what it is to rush 
 uncalled into the presence of an offended Deity. ... Or 
 suppose yourself the scarce less wretched survivor, with 
 the guilt of Cain, the first murderer, in your heart, with 
 his 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." 
 
 Among the antediluvian patriarchs Methuselah, the 
 son of Enoch, is distinguished as the man who attained 
 the greatest recorded length of human life. Sir Walter 
 refers to him at least twice in the Waverley Novels : but 
 as the references are simply comparisons, or illustrations 
 of great age, we need not detain our readers by giving 
 the quotations. 
 
 There is an interesting incident in the personal history 
 
22 
 
 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 of Sir Walter Scott which is brought to our recollection 
 by that portion of the sacred narrative which now comes 
 under our consideration — Noah and the flood. On the 
 thirty-first day of January 1831 Sir AValter went to 
 Edinburgh for the purpose of executing his last will, and 
 arranging some other private matters. For the first 
 time in his life he took up his quarters at a hotel in his 
 native city; but disliking the noise and bustle of the 
 place he was easily persuaded to accept of the hospitality 
 of Mr. Cadell. There came on, during his stay in 
 Edinburgh, a storm of such severity that he had to 
 remain under the friendly roof of his bookseller until the 
 ninth day of February. In the mornings he usually 
 MTote for several hours at Count Bohert of Paris, and Mr. 
 Cadell remembered that on one occasion Mi*. Ballantyne 
 reminded Sir Walter that a motto or heading was wanted 
 for one of the chapters already finished. Looking out 
 at the gloomy weather for a moment, the author of 
 JFaverley sat down and penned the following lines : — 
 
 "The storm increases — 'tis no sunny sliower 
 Foster'd in the moist breast of March or April, 
 Or such as parched summer cools his lips with ; 
 Heaven's windows are flung wide ; the inmost deeps 
 Calls in hoarse gi-eeting one upon another ; 
 On comes the flood in all its foaming horrors, 
 And where's the dike shall stop it ? " 
 
 These lines are prefixed to the fifth chapter of Count 
 Bohert, and as we read them they forcibly remind us of 
 the expressive words of Scripture, " the fountains of the 
 great deep (were) broken up, and the windows of heaven 
 were opened." 
 
The Book of Genesis. 2 3 
 
 The references to the deluge are so numerous in the 
 Waverley Novels that we can trace the causes which led 
 to the flood being sent upon the earth, the ark that was 
 prepared by Noah, the entering in of the animals, the 
 incident of the raven, the dove, and the olive branch, the 
 ark resting on Mount Ararat, Noah planting a vineyard, 
 the curse pronounced on Ham, and the rainbow in the 
 cloud. In describing the remarkable Standing Stones 
 of Stennis, Sir AValter, in the novel of The Pirate, in- 
 troduces a striking reference to the sinful and gigantic 
 race of the antediluvians. "These remarkable blocks of 
 stone, all of them twelve feet, and several being even 
 fourteen or fifteen feet in height, stood around the pirate 
 in the gray light of the dawning like the phantom forms 
 of antediluvian giants who, shrouded in the habiliments 
 of the dead, came to revisit, by the pale light, the earth 
 which they had plagued by their oppression, and polluted 
 by their sins, till they brought down upon it the ven- 
 geance of long-suffering heaven." 
 
 Along with the patriarch and his family, there went 
 into the ark " of clean beasts and of beasts that were not 
 clean, the male and the female, as God commanded Noah." 
 When Philipson, in Anne of Geierstein, arrived at the 
 German inn, he received anything but a hospitable recep- 
 tion from its surly host, John Mengs. " The guest was 
 suffered to enter, rather than admitted into, the general 
 . . . room of entertainment which, like the ark of the 
 patriarch, received all classes without distinction, whether 
 clean or unclean." 
 
 In Old Mortality Henry Morton suggests to Lord Evan- 
 
24 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 dale that the latter might act the part of mediator. 
 " Hear me, my lord," said Morton; "I believe you may 
 not be unwilling to bear the olive branch between our 
 master, the king, and that part of his subjects which is 
 now in arms." 
 
 Eoland Gr?eme, in The Ahhot^ returns from the mainland 
 to the island in Loch Leven, where, in the Castle, Queen 
 ]\Iary was detained a prisoner. Entering her apartment, 
 the page is thus received, "Eoland, you are welcome 
 home to us — you have proved the true dove and not the 
 raven. Yet I am sure I could have forgiven you if, 
 once dismissed from this water-circled ark of ours, you 
 had never again returned to us. I trust you have brought 
 back an olive branch, for our kind and worthy hostess 
 has chafed herself much on account of your long absence, 
 and we never needed more some symbol of peace and 
 reconciliation." At the assault on Tillietudlem Castle, 
 in Old Mortality, Edith sent out her maid to ascertain 
 the cause of the attack ; but Jenny, once engaged in 
 the bustle and confusion, found so much to engage her 
 attention that she quite forgot the state of uncertainty 
 and anxiety in which she left her mistress. Edith, 
 therefore, " having no dove to dismiss in pursuit of in- 
 formation, when her raven messenger failed to return, 
 was herself obliged to venture in quest of it out of the 
 ark of her own chamber into the deluge of confusion 
 which overflowed the rest of the castle." 
 
 The following reference to the bow in the cloud is in 
 Quentin Dunvard. Philip de Comines, in reply to Count 
 Crevecceur's question regarding the comj^lexion of the 
 
The Book of Genesis, 2 5 
 
 news he has brought, "They were," he said, "like the 
 colours of the rainbow, varied in hue as they might be 
 viewed from different points, and placed against the 
 black cloud or the fair sky. Such a rainbow was never 
 seen in France or Flanders since that of Noah's Ark." 
 
 Settling down to the affairs of every-day life after the 
 flood, "Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted 
 a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and was drunken." 
 Arnold Biederman, in Anne of Geierstein^ is entertaining 
 Philipson in the hall, while the young people and the 
 domestics are enjoying their sports on the lawn. Ee- 
 suming the wine-flask, he fills the cup of his guest, and 
 pours the remainder into his own. "At an age, worthy 
 stranger," he said, " when the blood grows colder and the 
 feelings heavier, a moderate cup of wine brings back 
 light thoughts and makes the limbs supple. Yet I almost 
 wish that Noah had never planted the grape, when of 
 late years I have seen, with my own eyes, my country- 
 men swill wine like very Germans, till they were like 
 gorged swine incapable of sense, thought, or motion." 
 
 Count Eobert of Paris and the Countess are sho-vvn a 
 black slave by Agelastes, who, in introducing him to 
 them, observes, " This poor being is of the race of Ham, 
 the undutiful son of Noah; for his transgressions against 
 his parent he was banished to the sands of Africa, and 
 was condemned to be the father of a race doomed to be 
 the slaves of the issue of his more dutiful brethren." 
 
 Here and there in the Waverley Novels the references 
 to the incidents in Noah's life appear to indicate a new 
 starting-point in human history. We need only quote 
 
26 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 one instance, and it is found in the lines prefixed to the 
 twentieth chapter of The Fortunes of Nigel : — 
 
 " Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus, 
 Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat. 
 False man hath sworn, and woman hath beheved. 
 Repented, and reproached, and then believed once more." 
 
 Among the names of the descendants or " generations 
 of Noah," recorded in the tenth chapter of Genesis, there 
 is one which is specially singled out and introduced to 
 the notice of the reader "as a mighty hunter before the 
 Lord." This is Nimrod, whose name and associations 
 are not likely to be left out of the Waverley Novels, 
 which contain so much that is descriptive of country life, 
 rural sports, and military adventures. Frank Osbaldi- 
 stone, in the novel of Roh Roy, is on his way to his uncle's 
 in Northumberland. On approaching the neighbourhood 
 of the Hall, his horse pricks up its ears at the enlivening 
 notes of a pack of hounds in full cry. Frank soon after 
 sees the fox pursued by the huntsman and three or four 
 riders. The sight of the latter, as they sweep past, leads 
 him to think that they may probably be his cousins, and 
 then he begins to reflect upon what kind of a reception 
 he, knowing so little of country sports and country life, 
 is likely to meet with from " these worthy successors of 
 Nimrod." In the following quotation from the same 
 novel Sir Walter catches up the true character of Nim- 
 rod, who was not a mere hunter of w^ild beasts, but a 
 leader and commander of men, and the founder of the 
 great Babylonian Empire. As Frank and Diana Vernon 
 ride out to see another fox-hunt later on in the story, the 
 
The Book of Genesis. 27 
 
 former observes that he does not see his cousin Eashleigh 
 in the field. " Oh, no," Die replies, " he's a mighty 
 hunter, but it's after the fashion of Nimrod, and his game 
 is man." The Sub-Prior, in The Monastery, on his arrival 
 at Glendearg, misses one of Dame Glendinning's sons. 
 He inquires where " that naughty Nimrod, Halbert," is, 
 and expresses the hope that he has not turned, like his 
 great prototype, his hunting spear against man. The 
 Dame explains that her son has gone up the glen to 
 get venison, on hearing which the Sub-Prior muttered 
 something about savoury meat such as his soul loved, 
 referring, no doubt, to the venison which Isaac, when old 
 and blind, sent Esau to get, but which was brought by 
 Jacob instead. 
 
 Euler of men, or hunter of animals, the Antiquary, 
 in the novel of that name, "detested the whole race of 
 Nimrods." 
 
 The next outstanding point in the sacred narrative 
 after the flood is the attempted building of the Tower 
 of Babel, with the subsequent confusion of speech and 
 the dispersion of the "builders vain." Biblical com- 
 mentators have done much to give their readers some 
 idea of the noise and commotion which must have been 
 the result of a multitude of people, engaged in one com- 
 mon enterprise, having their speech suddenly confounded, 
 and unable to understand each other. To the novelist, 
 the associations of the story of Babel furnish abundant 
 material for intensifying his descriptions of noise, con- 
 fusion, and uproar in battles, sieges, public gatherings, 
 and convivial parties. At the Highland feast given by 
 
2 8 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Fergus Maclvor in honour of his friend Waverley, the 
 bagpipers, three in number, screamed, during the whole 
 time of dinner, a tremendous war-tune ; while the echoing 
 of the vaulted roof and clang of the Celtic tongue pro- 
 duced such a Babel of noise, that Waverley feared he 
 would lose the sense of hearing and never be able again 
 to recover it. Here, in a few lines, is a finished picture 
 of the uproar caused by a crowd of revellers who, headed 
 by the Abbot of Unreason, are making their way to the 
 Monastery, in The, Abbot ^ for the purpose of ridiculing the 
 church and its services. " The winding of horns, blown 
 mth no regard to harmony or concert ; the jangling of 
 bells, the thumping of drums, the squeaking of bagpipes, 
 and the clash of cymbals — the shouts of a multitude, now 
 as in laughter, now as in anger — the shrill tones of female 
 voices, and of those of children, mingling with the deeper 
 clamours of men, formed a Babel of sounds which first 
 drowned and then aAved into utter silence the official 
 hymns of the convent." When Touchwood hears Mrs. 
 Dods suggesting that he has been down at the spa well, 
 he exclaims, " Spaw do you call it, madam % If you mean 
 the new establishment that has been spawned down yon- 
 der at St. Eonan's, it is the very fountainhead of folly 
 and coxcombry — a Babel for noise, and a Vanity -Fair 
 for nonsense." 
 
 We find many interesting references to Abraham in 
 the Waverley Novels. In The Heart of Midlothian David 
 Deans thus writes to his affectionate daughter, Jeanie, 
 in the prospect of leaving St. Leonard's Crags to settle 
 in the west of Scotland. " I receive this dispensation," 
 
The Book of Genesis. 2 9 
 
 he says, "as a call to depart out of Haran, as righteous 
 Abraham of old, and leave my father's kindred and my 
 mother's house, and the ashes and mould of them who 
 have gone to sleep before me, and which wait to be 
 mingled with these auld crazed bones of mine own." 
 
 The novel of Kenihcorth contains several references to 
 the patriarchal custom of having more wives than one. 
 Varney, the Earl of Leicester's Master of the Horse, is an 
 accomplished courtier, but a subtle and heartless villain. 
 From faithfully carrying out his master's dark designs 
 and advancing his interests in various directions, he has 
 come to exercise great influence over the Earl. He hopes 
 to see him, at no distant date, the husband of Queen 
 Elizabeth, notwithstanding the Earl's secret marriage 
 with Amy Eobsart. Here is Varney 's argument with 
 his master while proposing a way out of the difficulty. 
 " Have we not known, in other countries, how a left- 
 handed marriage might subsist betwixt persons of differ- 
 ing degree? Ay, and, be no hindrance to prevent the 
 husband from conjoining himself with a more suitable 
 partner." 
 
 " I have heard of such things in Germany," said 
 Leicester. 
 
 " Ay, and the most learned doctors in foreign univer- 
 sities justify the practice from the Old Testament," said 
 Varney, whose argument we need not at present follow 
 any further. At Kenilworth the Queen listens to the 
 Earl's addresses, but when she afterwards learns of his 
 secret marriage, her indignation knows no bounds at the 
 outrage she has sustained as a guest and as a woman. 
 
The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 " What, ho, my Lords, come all and hear the news— my 
 Lord of Leicester's stolen marriage has cost me a hus- 
 band and England a king. His Lordship is patriarchal 
 in his tastes — one wife at a time was insufficient, and he 
 designed us the honour of his left hand." 
 
 The mention of patriarchal tastes reminds us of some 
 other matters peculiar to the patriarchs. The wealth of 
 David Deans consisted in his flocks and herds. Dominie 
 Sampson speaks of Dandie Dinmont as one "like the 
 patriarchs of old, cunning in that which belongeth to 
 flocks and herds." And before Waverley entered the 
 banqueting hall of the chief, at the feast already men- 
 tioned, he was offered the patriarchal refreshment of a 
 bath for his feet. 
 
 When Abraham went to Egypt with Sarah, he made 
 an arrangement by which he thought to protect her from 
 the license of a despotic king and court — she was to pass 
 as his sister. This incident suggests a remarkable scene 
 to Sir Walter while writing Kenllworth. The Master of 
 the Horse arrived at Cumnor Hall with a letter from the 
 Earl of Leicester to the Countess, entreating her to bear 
 the name of Varney during her approaching visit to 
 Kenilworth Castle. As might be expected, such a re- 
 quest throws the unhappy lady into a state of great 
 excitement. Matters are made worse when Foster, under 
 whose charge the Countess was kept at Cumnor, attempts 
 to interfere with the show of authority. "Nay, lady, I 
 must needs say you are over hasty in this — such deceit 
 is not utterly to be condemned when practised for a 
 righteous end; and thus even the patriarch Abraham 
 
7EHSITY 
 
 T/ie Book of Genesis.^^^^ r »-5^^ -»^ 
 
 feigned Sarah to be his sister when they went down to 
 Egypt." 
 
 "Ay, sir," answered the Countess, "but God rebuked 
 that deceit even in the father of His chosen people, by 
 the mouth of the heathen Pharaoh. Out upon you, that 
 will read Scripture only to copy those things which are 
 held out to us as warnings, not as examples." 
 
 " But Sarah disputed not the will of her husband, an' 
 it be your pleasure," said Foster in reply ; " but did as 
 Abraham commanded, calling herself his sister, that it 
 might be well with her husband for her sake, and that 
 his soul might live because of her beauty." 
 
 "Now, so heaven pardon me my useless anger," 
 answered the Countess, " thou art as daring a hypocrite 
 as yonder fellow (pointing to Yarney) is an impudent 
 deceiver ! Never will I believe that the noble Dudley gave 
 countenance to so dastardly, so dishonourable a plan." 
 
 In his mid and excited address to the insurgents 
 before the battle of Bothwell Bridge, Mucklewrath, as 
 described in Old Mortality^ incited them to take Henrj^ 
 Morton and " stone him with stones, and thereafter burn 
 him with fire, that the wrath may depart from the chil- 
 dren of the Covenant." In the tumult and excitement 
 caused by the delivery of such an address Poundtext, one 
 of the moderate party, rose up and endeavoured to calm 
 the increasing fury of the factions by exclaiming, in the 
 words of Abraham when he and Lot were about to sepa- 
 rate, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me 
 and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for 
 we be brethren." 
 
32 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 After the battle of the four kings against five, as 
 recorded in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, we are 
 told that Abraham refused to take anything from the 
 King of Sodom in return for the good service he had 
 rendered by rescuing Lot and all the other prisoners of 
 war. The words he used in his refusal are quoted by 
 ]\Iaster Solsgrace in the following scene from Peveril of 
 the Peak. Sir Geoffrey Peveril summarily dismisses Sols- 
 grace from the vicarage and conveys him to Moultrassie 
 Hall. In their absence much damage is done to the 
 clergyman's property, and when Sir Geoffrey subse- 
 quently offers compensation and full satisfaction for 
 everything damaged or lost, the divine replies, "From 
 a thread to a shoe-latchet I will not take anything that 
 is thine." 
 
 That stern old Eoyalist Sir Henry Lee, in Woodstock, 
 resolutely refuses to make any compromise with Crom- 
 well's party. "I will take nothing from the usurpers," 
 he says to Colonel Everard ; " I will not take from them 
 an old cap to cover my gray hairs, a cast cloak to pro- 
 tect my frail limbs from the cold. They shall not say 
 they have, by their unfiling bounty, made Abraham 
 rich ; I will live, as I will die, the Loyal Lee." 
 
 In describing the ancient cross which stood in the 
 market-place of Kennaquhair, Sir Walter states, in The 
 Monastery, that close beside it there at one time grew an 
 immensely large oak tree which had perhaps witnessed 
 the worship of the Druids, long before the stately monas- 
 tery near it had reared its spires in honour of the Chris- 
 tian faith. The tree was used by the villagers as a 
 
The Book of Genesis. 3 3 
 
 common meeting -place, and regarded by them \yith 
 peculiar veneration : a feeling common to most nations, 
 and which may perhaps be traced back to the remote 
 period when the patriarch Abraham entertained the 
 angels under the oak at Mamre. 
 
 Lot's wife is mentioned now and again in the Waver- 
 ley Novels, but the references to her are generally em- 
 ployed in the way of simple illustrations or comparisons. 
 Thus Mysie Happer, in The Monastery, ex]^)lains to the 
 landlord of the inn at which she arrived on horseback 
 behind Sir Piercie Shafton, that her o^vn palfrey had to 
 be left behind in the Tasker's Park, where he had "stood 
 still as Lot's wife with very weariness;" and when Gold- 
 thred's bride, in Kenilworth, finds no palfrey waiting for 
 her at the prearranged spot, she stands in astonishment 
 and disappointment, "like a picture of Lot's wife." 
 
 In The Abbot, Magdalen Graeme, a Catholic enthusiast, 
 takes her grandson Poland to the nunnery of St. Cathe- 
 rine's, and introduces him to the Abbess, in whose presence 
 she consecrates the boy to the service of Queen Mary. 
 " Thou art a happy woman, Sister Magdalen," said the 
 Abbess, "that, lifted so high above human affection and 
 human feeling, thou canst bind such a victim to the horns 
 of the altar. Had I been called to make such a sacrifice 
 — to plunge a youth so young and fair into the plots and 
 blood-thirsty dealings of the time — not the patriarch 
 Abraham, when he led Isaac up the mountain, would 
 have rendered more melancholy obedience." With all 
 her enthusiasm for the Queen, the grandmother of the 
 consecrated boy yet hopes that " there will be a ram 
 
 D 
 
34 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 caught in the thicket," and that " the hand of our re- 
 volted brethren shall not be on the youthful Joseph. 
 Heaven can defend its own rights, even by means of 
 babes and sucklings, of women, and beardless boys." 
 
 The incident of Esau selling his birthright to his 
 brother is one which, we might almost say with cer- 
 tainty, will come before us in the course of our present 
 study. It points many a moral elsewhere, and adorns 
 more than one of the Waverley tales. The first instance 
 in which it comes under our notice is in connection with 
 a matter which looks not unlike a page of modern Irish 
 history. When our old friend the Baron Bradwardine, in 
 JFaverUy^ had to go into hiding for his share in the troubles 
 of 1745, his estate passed into the hands of his unworthy 
 and selfish kinsman, Malcolm Bradwardine. When this 
 new laird went to collect his rents he was fired at by one 
 of the tenants in the gloaming ! Alarmed at such a 
 reception he fled to Stirling, where he advertised the 
 estate for sale, and eventually disposed of it at a sum 
 utterly disproportioned to its real value. Later on in 
 the story we learn that when the Baron was made ac- 
 quainted mth the welcome news of the estate being, 
 through the kindness of his friends, once more his own, 
 his first thought turned to his unworthy kinsman who, 
 he said, " had sold his birthright, like Esau, for a mess 
 of pottage." The Duke of Burgundy, in Anne of Geier- 
 stein, asks the Chancellor what the terms are on which the 
 English army under Edward lY. had agreed to evacuate 
 France. "By fair words," was the reply, "by liberal 
 presents, and by five hundred tuns of wine." "Wine ! ' 
 
The Book of Genesis. 3 5 
 
 exclaimed the Duke ; " Heardest thou ever the like, Signor 
 Philipson ? Why, your countrymen are little better than 
 Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage." 
 
 Eoland Grseme, in The Allot, relates to Catherine 
 Seyton that he has made up his mind to enter the service 
 of Queen Mary. Delighted at his decision, Catherine as- 
 sures him that if he will be as firm in mind as he is bold 
 in deed and cjuick in resolution, future ages will honour 
 him as the saviour of Scotland. While seeking to advance 
 his own interests after faithfully attending to those of the 
 Queen, Eoland, in his reply, is thinking of a well-known 
 incident in the life of Jacob. "When I have," said he, 
 "toiled successfully to win that Leah, Honour, thou wilt 
 not . . . condemn me to a new term for that Eachel, 
 Love ?" " Of that," said Catherine, " we shall have full 
 time to speak ; but Honour is the elder sister, and must 
 be won the first." Bridgenorth, in Feveril of the Peak, 
 draws Julian into the Gothic recess of an old-fashioned 
 apartment, and reminds him that he has not yet told the 
 cause of his present visit. Julian was about to explain 
 when Bridgenorth interrupted him, " Nay, never vindi- 
 cate thyself, but mark me further. The patriarch bought 
 his beloved by fourteen years' hard service to her father 
 Laban, and they seemed to him but as a few days. But 
 he that would wed my daughter must serve, in compari- 
 son, but a few days ; though in matters of such mighty 
 import, that they shall seem as the service of many 
 years." 
 
 In the novel of The Surgeon's Daughter we have several 
 family sketches which remind us of the home -life of 
 
36 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Jacob and the wife he loved so tenderly. In Dr. Gray's 
 "anxious longing for posterity," for example, we hear 
 the passionate cry of Rachel, " Give me children else I 
 die." As in Jacob's home so was it in the village 
 doctor's ; for when children came, death entered and the 
 mothers were taken. 
 
 This passionate longing for children is also much in 
 the thoughts of the lonely Lady of Avenel, in Tlie 
 Abbot; and when death carried off the infant heir of 
 Colonel and Lady Talbot, in JFaverleij, the bereavement 
 was all the more difficult to bear, for, " long without a 
 family, they had fondly exulted in the hopes which were 
 now blasted." 
 
 Some of the incidents in the life of Joseph come 
 before us in the Waverley Novels. There is the coat 
 of many colours in TJie Pirate. Barbara Yellowley was 
 encased in a garment called a Joseph. It had once been 
 green, but latterly, betwixt stains and patches, it had 
 become like the vesture of the patriarch whose name it 
 bore — the coat of many colours. In The Talisman there 
 is an interesting reference to Joseph being sold as a slave 
 by his brothers. Kenneth the Scot has been bestowed 
 upon the Arabian physician by King Eichard more as a 
 slave than a servant. Exiled also from the camp of the 
 CiTisaders, the young soldier feels downcast and dis- 
 heartened. The physician sits down beside him, and 
 administers comfort in the following kind and en- 
 couraging words — "My friend," he said, "be of good 
 comfort — for what saith the poet — ' It is better that a 
 man should be the servant of a kind master, than be the 
 
The Book of Genesis. 3 7 
 
 slave of his own wild passions.' Again, be of good 
 courage ; because, whereas Ysouf Ben Yagoube was sold 
 to a king by his brethren, even to Pharaoh, king of 
 Egypt, thy king hath, on the other hand, bestowed thee 
 on one who will be to thee as a brother." To Joseph's 
 dreams and to his temptation we have an allusion in 
 Nigel and Woodstock respectively ; but as they are merely 
 by the way we need not here detach them from their 
 context. 
 
 As the last days of Jacob drew near, he called his 
 sons around his bed that he might bestow upon each of 
 them his blessing, and tell them in prophetic vision 
 what should befall them in the latter days. Sir Walter 
 frequently quotes some of the similes used by the aged 
 patriarch on that occasion, especially the "unstable as 
 water," descriptive of the character of Reuben. Simon 
 Glover, in The Fair Maid of Pertly describes his appren- 
 tice thus — " He is hot as fire, but he is also unstable as 
 water." In Bedgawitlef, old Mr. Fairf-ord and his son 
 Alan are speaking of Darsie Latimer, whom the 
 former regards as " an arch lad and somewhat light in 
 the upper story — I wish him well through the world, 
 but he has little solidity, Alan, little solidity." Alan 
 does his best to defend the character of his absent friend, 
 but -svith little success, apparently, as the old gentleman 
 retorts "unstable as water, he shall not excel. ... He 
 goeth to dancing-houses, and readeth novels — sat est.'' 
 In St. Eonan's Well Touchwood, who has travelled much, 
 is fond of relating his adventures and praising the 
 customs of other countries at the expense of his own. 
 
38 TJie Bible in Waverley. 
 
 The banker remarks to him that he does not seem to be 
 much pleased with the changes and improvements that 
 have been made at St. Ronan's. "Pleased!" replied 
 Touchwood, "you have got an idea that everything 
 must be changed — unstable as water ye shall not excel. 
 I tell ye, there have been more changes in this poor nook 
 of yours within the last forty years, than in the great 
 empires of the East for the space of four thousand, for 
 what I know." 
 
 Another of the similes which Sir Walter quotes very 
 often is that which describes Issachar as " a strong ass 
 couching do-wn between two burdens." Before leaving 
 England, Rebecca called upon the Princess Eowena to 
 thank her for all the kindness she and her father had 
 received from Ivanhoe, the husband of the latter, \yith 
 much gentleness Rowena urges the Jewess to remain 
 with them, adding, "My husband has favour with the 
 king. The king himself is just and generous." "Lady," 
 said Rebecca, " I doubt it not — but the people of England 
 are a fierce race, quarrelling ever with their neighbours 
 or among themselves, and ready to plunge the sword 
 into the bowels of each other. Such is no safe abode 
 for the children of my people. Ephraim is an heartless 
 dove — Issachar an over-burdened drudge, which stoops 
 between two burdens. Not in the land of war and blood, 
 surrounded by hostile neighbours and distracted by in- 
 ternal factions, can Israel hope to rest during her wan- 
 derings." King James, in The Fortunes of Nigel, applies 
 this text to himself in the pedantic way which charac- 
 terised him, and which Sir Walter in the novel has 
 
The Book of Genesis. 39 
 
 caught up very cleverly. His Majesty and the Prince 
 were entering the gate of the palace when a female bowed 
 and presented a paper, which the King received, and, 
 with a groan, thrust it into a side pocket. The Prince 
 expressed a wish to know the contents of the paper, but 
 James replied, " D'ye think, Baby, that I can read all 
 that is thrust into my hands 1 See to me, man," — he 
 pointed to the pockets of his great trunk breeches, which 
 were stuffed with papers — " We are like an ass, that we 
 should so speak, stoo]3ing between two burdens. . . . 
 Ay, ay, ... I saw this land of England, and became an 
 over-burdened King thereof." 
 
EXODUS TO DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 Through the pages of the Waverley Novels we can 
 trace most of the outstanding points in the history of 
 Israel in Egypt, the life and legislation of Moses, and the 
 wanderings of the chosen people in the Wilderness. 
 Some of these traces are but as faint impressions in 
 the sand, and might be broken up by our trying to set 
 them here; but they exist, nevertheless, and the 
 frequency with which we meet them is indeed remark- 
 able. 
 
 The first mention of the name of Moses in the 
 Waverley Novels is, if we mistake not, in The Monastery, 
 and it occurs in connection with his killing the Egyptian 
 and hiding the body in the sand. In the interview which 
 Halbert Glendinning has with the Regent Murray and 
 Lord Morton, the young man makes a frank confession 
 of his duel with Sir Piercie Shafton, and states further 
 that he believes the Englishman to be dead. Turning 
 to Morton, the Regent asks, " What shall we do with 
 this young homicide ? AVhat will our preachers 
 say?" "Tell them of Moses and of Benaiah," said 
 Morton, " it is but the smiting of an Egyptian when all 
 is said out." "Let it be so," said Murray laughing. 
 
Exodus to DeiUeronomy. 
 
 "but we mil bury the tale as the prophet did the body 
 in the sand." 
 
 In describing the scene where the Hermit of Engaddi, 
 in The Talisman^ takes Sir Kenneth into the subterranean 
 chapel, Sir Walter had evidently in mind the command 
 given by God to Moses as the latter approached the 
 burning bush in the desert of Midian. " Put off thy 
 shoes," said the Hermit, "the ground on which thou 
 standest is holy. Banish from thy innermost heart 
 each profane and carnal thought, for to harbour such 
 while in this place were a deadly impiety." And 
 when the old Royalist, Sir Henry Lee, hears that 
 there are three of Cromwell's regiments at Oxford, he 
 exclaims : " Seat of learning and loyalty ! These rude 
 soldiers are unfit inmates for thy learned halls and poetical 
 bowers ; but thy pure and brilliant lamp shall defy the 
 foul breath of a thousand churls were they to blow at it 
 like Boreas. The burning bush shall not be consumed, 
 even by the heat of this persecution." 
 
 AVhen Moses and Aaron received the divine command 
 to go before the King of Egypt and demand the freedom 
 of the oppressed Israelites, a series of signs and miracles 
 was to follow for the purpose of attesting the authority 
 of their mission. In the heading prefixed to the fifteenth 
 chapter of Quentin Dunvard, we are introduced to the 
 magicians whom Pharaoh brought with the view of 
 
 counteractins; the effect of these miracles. 
 
 He was a son of Egypt, as he told me, 
 
 And one descended from those dread magicians, 
 
 Who waged rash war, when Israel dwelt in Goshen, 
 
42 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 "With Israel and her Prophet — matching rod 
 "With his the sons of Levi's — and encountering 
 Jehovah's miracles with incantations, 
 Till upon Egypt came the avenging Angel, 
 And those proud sages wept for their first-born, 
 As wept the unletter'd peasant." 
 
 In these few lines we have a brief and rapid sketch of 
 Sacred History, from the time when Moses and Aaron 
 stood before Pharaoh, down through the ten plagues till 
 the destroying angel came on his awful errand of slaying 
 the first-born of every family in Egypt. 
 
 While the bright and sunny land of Egypt was for 
 three days enveloped in darkness so thick that it might 
 be felt, there was light in the dwellings of Israel in Goshen. 
 There is an interesting reference to this in The Heart of 
 Midlothian, when Jeanie Deans goes to London to plead 
 her sister's cause before the Queen in person. Though 
 successful in her mission, there was attached to the 
 pardon a condition which greatly distressed the affection- 
 ate Jeanie : Effie was to leave Scotland. On this point, 
 however, her mind was much relieved by a letter which 
 she received from her father in reply to one she had 
 written to him. "Do not let your heart be disquieted 
 ■sWthin you," he T\Tites, " that the victim who is rescued 
 from the horns of the altar where she was bound by the 
 chain of human law is now to be driven beyond the 
 bounds of our land. Scotland is a blessed land to those 
 who love the ordinances of Christianity. . . . But we 
 are to hold in remembrance that Scotland, though it be 
 our native land, and the land of our fathers, is not like 
 Goshen in Egypt, on which the sun of the heavens and 
 
Exodus to Deuteronomy. 43 
 
 of the gospel shineth allenarly, and leaveth the rest of 
 the world in utter darkness." In The Monastery also, the 
 land of Goshen furnishes Sir Walter with an illustration 
 descriptive of the rest and peace which the Abbeys of 
 the Scottish Border at one time enjoyed, even during the 
 ravages of a frontier war. "For several ages the posses- 
 sions of these Abbeys were each a sort of Goshen enjoy- 
 ing the calm light of peace and immunity while the rest 
 of the country, occupied by wild clans and marauding 
 barons, was one dark scene of confusion, blood, and 
 unremitted outrage." 
 
 Preparatory to leaving the land of their oppression, 
 the people of Israel were instructed through Moses to 
 borrow of the Egyptians jewels and raiment. This is not 
 the place to explain that the common objection to the 
 morality of this proceeding, borrowing what the Israelites 
 had no intention of repaying, is founded on the word 
 borrow, which should be translated ask It may be pointed 
 out that, after all, the articles asked for formed only a 
 very slight recompense for what the Egyptians had robbed 
 the Israelites of during a century of bondage. This 
 " spoiling of the Egyptians " comes frequently under our 
 notice in the Waverley novels. On the way to Glasgow, 
 Frank Osbaldistone, in Rob Roy, is accompanied by An- 
 drew Fairservice, who entertains him with reminiscences 
 of the many times he had formerly crossed the English 
 border into Scotland with "whiles twa bits o' ankers o' 
 brandy on ilk side of me." Frank asks him how he could 
 reconcile himself to such conduct as cheating the revenue. 
 " It's a mere spoiling of the Egyptians," replied Andrew ; 
 
44 ^/^^ Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 " puir auld Scotland suffers eneuch by thae blackguard 
 loons o' excisemen and gangers, that hae come doon on 
 her like locusts since the sad and sorrowf u' Union ; it's 
 the part o' a kind son to bring her a soup o' something 
 that will keep up her auld heart." The Antiquary con- 
 sidered that even if old Edie Ochiltree had robbed the 
 German adventurer in the ruins of St. Euth, he " would 
 only have plundered an Egyptian." And when the pedlar 
 in The Pirate was discovered rifling Cleveland, who had 
 been washed ashore from the shipwreck, he justified his 
 conduct by saying that he was only "taking the lawful 
 spoil of the Egyptians." 
 
 The Israelites at length leave Egypt, and by the route 
 they take Pharaoh is tempted to pursue and overtake 
 them. We are reminded of this by an incident in the 
 romance of Icanlwe. Disguised as a palmer, Ivanhoe 
 kindly guides Isaac the Jew away from Eotherwood, so 
 as to place him out of the reach of the templar who had' 
 secretly arranged that Isaac should be seized and con- 
 veyed to the castles of either Front-de-Boeuf or Malvoisin. 
 After pushing rapidly through the forest, and by devious 
 paths, the palmer broke the silence by directing Isaac's 
 attention to a large decayed oak tree, which, said he, 
 " marks the boundaries over which Front-de-Boeuf claims 
 authority — we are long since far from those of Malvoisin. 
 There is now no fear of pursuit." "May the wheels of 
 their chariot be taken off," said the Jew, " like those of 
 the host of Pharaoh, that they may drive heavily." 
 
 From a feeling of deep and profound gratitude for so 
 kindly guiding him out of a great danger, Isaac offers to 
 
Exodus to Deuteronomy. 45 
 
 give Ivanhoe a letter or scroll, which is to be taken to 
 the town of Leicester and there delivered to a wealthy 
 Jew, who will provide the disguised palmer with a horse 
 and armour that he may enter the lists at Ashby during 
 the approaching passage of arms. Ivanhoe suggests that 
 possil3ly he may prove unfortunate in the encounter, and 
 so run the risk of losing what he could neither replace 
 nor pay. " No — no — no — It is impossible," replied the 
 Jew. " I will not think so. The blessing of our Father 
 will be upon thee. Thy lance will be as powerful as the 
 rod of Moses." There is much significance in naming 
 the rod of the prophet along with the lance of Ivanhoe. 
 The former was the outward or visible symbol of the 
 power of God on several memorable occasions, as, for 
 example, when it was thro^^Ti doAvn and became a serpent; 
 when it was lifted up and turned once more into a rod ; 
 when Moses lifted it over the Eed Sea ; and when he 
 smote the rock with it in the desert. And as we after- 
 wards read of the wonderful valour of Ivanhoe at Ashby, 
 there is, we think, no irreverence in stating that Isaac 
 was sincere and right when he expressed his assurance 
 that God would be with him, and that his lance would 
 be like the rod of Moses. 
 
 In the romance of Ivanlioe we meet with much that 
 reminds us of some of the more memorable events in the 
 desert life of the Israelites. On the evening of the day 
 of her trial Eebecca sought consolation and resignation 
 in prayer from the dangers and sorrows which seemed to 
 be closing in upon her. In the hymn which concluded 
 her devotions, w^e have a finely-Avi^ought poetic setting of 
 
46 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 the history of lier forefathers when they left Egypt, and 
 the lessons which that history is designed to teach. 
 
 "When Israel, of the Lord beloved, 
 
 Out of the land of bondage came, 
 Her father's God before her moved, 
 
 An awful guide, in smoke and flame. 
 By day, along the astonish'd lands 
 
 The cloudy pillar glided slow ; 
 By night, Arabia's crimson'd sands 
 
 Return'd the fiery column's glow. 
 
 There rose the choral hj^mn of praise, 
 
 And trump and timbrel answer'd keen, 
 And Zion's daughters pour'd their lays, 
 
 With priest's and warrior's voice between. 
 No portents now our foes amaze. 
 
 Forsaken Israel wanders lone ; 
 Our fathers would not know Thy ways, 
 
 And Thotj hast left them to their own. 
 
 But, present still, though now unseen ; 
 
 When brightly shines the prosperous day. 
 Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen 
 
 To temper the deceitful ray. 
 And oh, when stoops on Judah's path 
 
 In shade and storm the frequent night, 
 Be Thou, long-suffering, slow to wrath, 
 
 A burning, and a shining light ! 
 
 Our harps w^e left by Babel's streams. 
 
 The tyrant's jest, the Gentile's scorn ; 
 No censer round our altar beams, 
 
 And mute our timbrel, trump, and horn. 
 But Thou hast said, the blood of goat, 
 
 The flesh of rams, I will not prize ; 
 A contrite heart, an humble thought, 
 
 Are mine accepted sacrifice. 
 
Exodus to Deuteronomy. 47 
 
 Following the people of Israel into the wilderness, we 
 arrive with them at Marah, where their trials, their wants, 
 and their murmurings began. 
 
 A quiet domestic scene in The Heart of Midlothian 
 reminds us of the Waters of Marah which the Israelites 
 found so bitter and so distasteful. David Deans and his 
 daughter Jeanie are about to partake of their mid-day 
 meal during the time when a great sorrow has filled 
 their hearts and overshadowed their home. To his 
 petition for a blessing on their simple repast, the old 
 man adds the supplication "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." 
 
 After the Waters of Marah had been sweetened, the 
 people of Israel took to murmuring for want of bread 
 and flesh. They also openly expressed the wish that 
 they had died in Egypt, where they sat by the flesh-pots 
 and ate bread to the full. For at least once in her 
 life-time Barbara Yellowley, in The Pirate, resolved to 
 ofier hospitality on a scale hitherto unexampled in her 
 experience. Her brother, much puzzled to account for 
 the liberal way in which she was preparing to entertain 
 young Mordaunt Mertoun, made his way to the kitchen 
 and found Barbara consigning to the pot a smoked goose 
 which, with others of the same tribe, had long hung in 
 the large chimney. "What is this of it, sister?" said 
 Triptolemus. "You have on the girdle and the pot at 
 ance. What day is this wi' you?" 
 
48 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 "E'en such a day as the IsraeHtes had beside the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt," was his sister's reply. 
 
 In answer to the desire for bread and flesh, God 
 sent the manna and the quails. The son-in-law of the 
 Emperor, in Count Robert of Paris, is speaking of the 
 Crusaders and their progress eastward. "It was re- 
 ported," he said, "that the western hosts expected 
 miracles to be wrought in their favour, as when Israel 
 was guided through the wilderness by a pillar of flame 
 and a cloud. But no showers of manna or of quails 
 relieved their necessities, or proclaimed them the chosen 
 people of God." 
 
 At Kephidim the Israelites fought their first great 
 battle. Amalek opposed their progress, and while the 
 chosen men of war fought under Joshua, Moses stood 
 on an overlooking height with the rod of God out- 
 stretched in his hand. He was attended by his brother 
 Aaron, and by Hur, the husband of Miriam, both of 
 whom supported the hands of Moses till sunset, and the 
 battle was ended. After the skirmish at Drumclog, as 
 related in Old Mortality, the Cameronian preacher, Kettle- 
 drummle, claimed no small share of the merit of the victory. 
 He appealed to Morton and Headrigg,who had been beside 
 him, " whether the tide of battle had not turned while 
 he prayed on the Mount of Jehovah-nissi, like Moses, 
 that Israel might prevail over Amalek ; but granting 
 them, at the same time, the credit of holding up his 
 hands when they waxed heavy, as those of the prophet 
 were supported by Aaron and Hur." 
 
 We have already stated that there is much in IvanJwe 
 
Exodus to Deuteronomy. 49 
 
 which reminds us of the history of Israel while in the 
 desert. Perhaps the most interesting passage in this 
 connection is the one which refers to the giving of the 
 law from Mount Sinai. At the trial of Eebecca, the 
 presiding Grand Master of the Templars recommends 
 her to confess the crime of witchcraft with which she is 
 charged, implores her to turn from the faith of her fathers, 
 and save her life by embracing the Christian faith. Then, 
 finally, he asks, " What has the law of Moses done for 
 thee that thou shouldest die for it?" 
 
 "It was the law of my fathers," said Eebecca; "it 
 was delivered in thunders and in storms upon the 
 mountain of Sinai, in cloud and in fire. This, if ye 
 are Christians, ye believe — it is, you say, recalled; but 
 so my teachers have not taught me. ... I am a 
 maiden, unskilled to dispute for my religion, but I can 
 die for it, if it be God's will." 
 
 Wide and deep, as the gulf was which separated the 
 Jews from the English people in the time of Ivanhoe, 
 there were yet two points in the human history of both 
 where that gulf was narrowed and bridged over. Ee- 
 becca names these in the singularly touching appeal 
 which she makes to the Lady Eowena for permission, on 
 behalf of her father and herself, to travel through the 
 forest under the protection of the Saxon retinue. 
 Making a way through the attendants of Athelstane 
 to the palfrey of Eowena, Eebecca knelt down, after 
 the Oriental fashion in addressing superiors, and kissed 
 the Saxon lady's garments. " Then rising and throwing 
 back her veil, she implored her, in the great name of 
 
 E 
 
/ 
 
 50 TJie Bible m Waver ley. 
 
 the God whom they both worshipped, and by that 
 revelation of the law upon Mount Sinai in which they 
 both believed, that she would have compassion upon 
 them, and suffer them to go forward under their safe- 
 guard." 
 
 Throughout the Waverley Novels there are numerous 
 interesting illustrations of the moral law, as briefly con- 
 tained and summarised in the Ten Commandments. 
 Instead, however, of placing these before the reader 
 now, we prefer to retain them until our study brings 
 us down to the New Testament, where we shall find the 
 precepts of the moral law, and Sir Walter's illustrations 
 of them, broadened out, and considered in the light of 
 the Christian dispensation. 
 
 The incident of Moses striking the rock is one which 
 Sir Walter frequently employs in illustration of the 
 effect produced on a landscape by the presence of 
 water. Frequently, too, he uses it to illustrate the 
 influence of kindness and human sympathy in filling 
 the heart with gratitude, or in relieving the feelings 
 by a flood of tears. What a pleasant and refreshing 
 picture we have in the following extract from Oount 
 Robert of Faris, descriptive of the place selected by the 
 Emperor for the halt of his army near the town of 
 Laodicea : — 
 
 " A mountain torrent, which found its source at the 
 foot of a huge rock, that yawned to give it birth, as if 
 struck by the rod of the prophet Moses, poured its 
 liquid treasure down to the more level country, nourish- 
 ing herbage and even large trees in its descent, until 
 
Exodus to Deuteronomy, 5 1 
 
 at the distance of some four or five miles, the stream 
 . . . was lost amid heaps of sand and stone." 
 
 When it became known that the unfortunate Mr. 
 Bertram, in Guy Mannering, had broken his heart in the 
 effort to leave Ellangowan, the mansion of his fathers, 
 there poured forth, on the part of the country people, 
 his neighbours, " a torrent of sympathy like the waters 
 from the rock when struck by the wand of the prophet." 
 
 In The Betrothed the Abbess, usually so cold and 
 reticent to her niece, on one occasion went so far out 
 of her way as actually to kiss her. " Slight as the 
 mark of kindness was, it was unexpected, and, like the 
 rod of Moses, opened the hidden fountains of waters. 
 Eveline wept, a resource which had been that day 
 denied to her — she prayed — and finally sobbed herself 
 to sleep, like an infant, with a mind somewhat tran- 
 quillised by having given way to this tide of natural 
 emotion." And speaking of the bounty of King Eichard, 
 the physician, in The Talisman, says of it that it has 
 " filled my cup to the brim ; yea, it hath been abundant 
 as the fountain which sprung up amid the camp of the 
 descendants of Israel, when the rock was stricken by the 
 rod of Moussa Ben Amran." 
 
 In The 3fonastery, with its supernatural machinery of 
 the White Lady of Avenel, we have several incidents 
 which were no doubt suggested to Sir Walter by the 
 story of Balaam and his ass. Notably, there is the 
 adventure of the Sub -Prior when he finds that he is 
 followed by Christie of the Clinthill. Anxious to get 
 forward to the monastery before him, the Churchman 
 
52 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 struck his mule with a riding-wand, but instead of 
 mending her pace, the animal suddenly started from the 
 path, and the rider's utmost efforts could not force her 
 forward. The White Lady, unseen by the Sub-Prior, 
 was in the way, and it was not till she vanished that 
 the terrified animal would resume the journey. 
 
 As the Master of Eavenswood, in Tli& Bride of Lam- 
 merjnom\ approached the Mermaiden's Well his horse, 
 which was moving slowly forward, suddenly stopped and 
 refused to proceed farther. Apparently the animal saw 
 something which his rider did not. Dismounting, and 
 making fast the bridle to a tree, Eavenswood went on 
 to the fountain, where he saw what his horse had seen 
 before him — the apparition of old Alice. Eeturning to the 
 animal, he found it " sweating and terrified, as if experi- 
 encing that agony of fear which the presence of a super- 
 natural being is supposed to impart to the brute creation." 
 
 The sacred narrative informs us that the Lord opened 
 the mouth of the ass so that she remonstrated with 
 the prophet for striking her "these three times." It is 
 not stated that Balaam was surprised at this, but there 
 can be no doubt that he was so. Sir Walter employs 
 the incident in illustration of the extreme surprise 
 with which Achilles Tatius, in Count Bobert of Baris, 
 listens to the accuracy of Hereward's description of 
 the character and personal appearance of Agelastes. 
 "By St. Sophia!" said the officer, "thou astonishest 
 me. The prophet Balaam was not more surprised 
 when his ass turned round her head and spoke to him." 
 And when Lady Binks, in St. Bonan's PFell, delivered 
 
Exodus to Deute7^ono7ny. 5 3 
 
 her opinion of Tyrrel to Lady Penelope, the latter 
 stared at her ladyship with something like the look of 
 surprise which "Balaam may have cast upon his ass, 
 when he discovered the animal's capacity for holding an 
 argument with him." 
 
 One of the best and manliest characters in the whole 
 gallery of Waverley portraits is Arnold Biederman, 
 the venerable chief magistrate of one of the Swiss can- 
 tons. The latter end of this good man, as described 
 in the novel of Anne of Geierstein, was such as Balaam 
 wished to be his own : for he died " the death of the 
 righteous," and was universally lamented as a true and 
 simple-minded chief who wisely ruled the Swiss in times 
 of peace, and who bravely led and guided them when 
 war became inevitable. 
 
 Though not permitted to set foot in the Land of 
 Promise, Moses was yet allowed to see it from the top of 
 Mount Pisgah. In relating the feelings of Darsie Lati- 
 mer on seeing his native England from the Scottish 
 shores of the Solway, Sir Walter seems to have had this 
 incident in his thoughts. " One thing, however, I have 
 seen," writes Darsie Latimer to his friend Alan Fairford, 
 in Red gauntlet^ " and it is with pleasure the more indescrib- 
 able, that I am debarred from treading the land which 
 my eyes were permitted to gaze upon like those of the 
 dying prophet from the top of Pisgah. I have seen, in 
 a word, the fruitful shores of merry England — merry 
 England of which I boast myself a native, and on which 
 I gaze, even while raging floods and unstable quicksands 
 divide us, with the filial affection of a dutiful son." 
 
54 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 And here is another Pisgah view, but upon a very 
 different landscape. The Emperor, in Count Robert of 
 Paris, has imprisoned his rival, Ursel, and kept him in a 
 dark dungeon until it was thought his eyesight was de- 
 stroyed. Instead of cherishing feelings of hatred and 
 anger against the author of all his sufferings, the captive 
 thus speaks of the Emperor to his physician, " It is by 
 his means that the blind and miserable prisoner has been 
 taught to seek a liberty far more unconstrained than this 
 poor earth can afford, and a vision far more clear than 
 any Mount Pisgah on this wretched side of the grave 
 can give us." 
 
TEXTS FEOM THE MOSAIC LAW. 
 
 In the light of the present day it is deplorable to 
 read in the Waverley Xovels, in the pages of Hallam, 
 Lecky, and other historians, of the inhuman cruelties 
 practised upon poor women who, on account of some 
 personal peculiarity, were looked upon as agents of the 
 Evil One, and employed by him to work iniquity and 
 mischief. Such persons were called Witches, and the 
 crimes and mischiefs imputed to them went by the 
 general term of witchcraft. The punishment of witch- 
 craft was considered to be in accordance with the well- 
 known text in the Mosaic Law, " Thou shalt not suffer 
 a witch to live." 
 
 This is not the place to enter upon any exposition of 
 the text just quoted.-^ It may suffice to say that in the 
 days of Moses there appear to have been certain persons 
 who traded upon the credulity of their fellows, who in- 
 sulted the majesty of Jehovah by setting aside His re- 
 vealed law, and inquiring at some pretended deity or 
 evil spirit concerning future events. Against such 
 
 ^ The reader who is interested in this subject will find it dis- 
 cussed at length in Sir Walter Scott's Letters on Demonologij atid 
 Witchcraft. 
 
56 The Bible in Waverley, 
 
 persons the punishment indicated in the text was 
 directed. 
 
 The -witch of mediaeval and comparatively modem 
 history may be traced to the doctrine of the evil principle 
 as elaborated and credited in the Middle Ages. The 
 Arch-fiend, and his legions of demons, were held to 
 exercise a sway not only over the elements of nature, 
 but also over the bodies and souls of all those who had 
 never been admitted into the Church and protected by 
 its faith and rites. And when witchcraft came to be 
 prosecuted as heresy, the part assigned to woman in the 
 Scriptural account of the fall led to her being looked 
 upon as specially suited to be the instrument or tool of 
 the Evil One. 
 
 The subject of witchcraft comes frequently before us 
 in the Waverley Novels. Dominie Sampson, in Guy 
 Mannering, was born at a time when a doubt in the 
 existence of witches was considered as a justification of 
 the practices attributed to them. The belief in their 
 existence was an article that could not be sejDarated 
 from his religious faith, and it would, perhaps, have been 
 equally difficult to have induced him to doubt the one 
 as to doubt the other. 
 
 Bailie Macwheeble, too, in JFaverhj/, is alarmed at the 
 thought of seeing a witch in the person of old Janet 
 Gellatley. He quotes his authorities for the existence 
 of witches. " Eight sure am I," he observes to Waverley, 
 " that Sir George Mackenzie says that no divine can 
 doubt there are witches, since the Bible says, ' Thou 
 shalt not suffer them to live ;' and that no lawyer can 
 
Texts from the Mosaic Law, 
 
 doubt it, since it is punishable with death by our law. 
 So there's baith law and gospel for it ; an' his honour (re- 
 ferring to the Baron Bradwardine, who was sceptical on 
 the subject of witches) winna believe the Leviticus, he 
 might aye believe the statute-book." 
 
 One of the saddest incidents in Tlie, Heart of Mid- 
 lothian is the seizure of poor Madge Wildfire by the mob 
 at Carlisle, who, thinking they were doing God service 
 in carrying out the injunction of the Mosaic Law on 
 witchcraft, dragged her to a muddy pool and there 
 ducked her, according to the favourite mode of punish- 
 ment. At the earnest request of Jeanie Deans the poor 
 maniac was rescued by a magistrate, but in a state of 
 insensibility owing to the cruel treatment she had re- 
 ceived. 
 
 The three old hags in The Bride of Lammermoor, who 
 remind us of Shakespeare's three weird sisters in Mac- 
 hethj though cunning and malevolent creatures, have 
 yet humanity enough in them to claim our sympathy as 
 we hear their names associated with stakes, and chains, 
 and tar -barrels. It is a relief to turn away from such 
 associations to another witch story which has some ele- 
 ments of the ludicrous in it. The story refers to old 
 Janet Gellatley mentioned on the preceding page, and it 
 is related by Rose Bradwardine in Waverley. 
 
 " Once upon a time there lived an old woman called 
 Janet Gellatley, who was suspected to be a witch, on 
 the infallible grounds that she was very old, very ugly, 
 very poor, and had two sons, one of whom was a poet, 
 and the other a fool, which visitation, all the neighbour- 
 
5 8 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 hood agreed, had come upon her for the sin of witchcraft. 
 And she was imprisoned for a week in the steeple of the 
 parish church, and sparingly supplied with food, and not 
 permitted to sleep until she herself became as much 
 persuaded of her being a witch as her accusers ; and in 
 this lucid and happy state of mind was brought forth to 
 make a clean breast, that is, to make open confession of 
 her sorceries, before all the Whig gentry and ministers 
 in the vicinity, who were no conjurors themselves. My 
 father went to see fair play between the witch and the 
 clergy ; for the witch had been born on his estate. And 
 while the witch was confessing that the Enemy appeared 
 and made his addresses to her as a handsome black man 
 — which, if you could have seen poor old blear-eyed 
 Janet, reflected little honour on Apollyon's taste — and 
 while the auditors listened with astonished ears, and the 
 clerk recorded mth a trembling hand, she all of a sudden 
 changed the low mumbling tone with which she spoke into 
 a shrill yell, and exclaimed, ' Look to yourselves ! look 
 to yourselves ! I see the Evil One sitting in the midst 
 of ye !' The surprise was general, and terror and flight 
 its immediate consequences. Happy were those who 
 were next the door ; and many were the disasters that 
 befell hats, bands, cuffs, and wigs, before they could get 
 out of the church, where they left the obstinate prelatist 
 (the Baron Bradwardine) to settle matters with the witch 
 and her admirer, at his own peril or pleasure." 
 
 From motives of prudence and necessity, allowable 
 under the special circumstances of the case, as narrated 
 in The Heart of Midlothian, Jeanie Deans thought it 
 
Texts fro77i the Mosaic Law. 59 
 
 advisable not to acquaint her father with her inten- 
 tion of proceeding to London for the purpose of 
 pleading with the Queen in person for the life of her 
 sister. On her way southward Jeanie rested at York, 
 from which city she wrote to her father, " I make my 
 present pilgrimage more heavy and burdensome," she 
 writes, "through the sad occasion to reflect that it is 
 without your knowledge, which, God knows, was far 
 contrary to my heart ; for Scripture says that the vow 
 of the daughter should not be binding without the con- 
 sent of the father, wherein it may be I have been guilty 
 to take the wearie journey without your consent." 
 
 The vow here alluded to is that recorded in the thir- 
 tieth chapter of Numbers, and has reference to that part 
 of the Mosaic or Levitical law which declares that a 
 woman shall be free of a vow, from the direct conse- 
 quences of which her father or parents may dissent. 
 
 This vow is quoted at length, in Tine Bride of Lammer- 
 mo(yi\ in the strikingly dramatic scene where Ravenswood 
 suddenly returns to the castle and demands from Lucy 
 Ashton's own lips her renunciation of the engagement 
 between her and himself. Lucy's bloodless lips could 
 only falter out the words, "It was my mother." 
 
 " She speaks truly," said Lady Ashton, " it was I who, 
 authorised alike by the laws of God and man, advised 
 her and concurred with her to set aside an unhappy and 
 precipitate engagement, and to annul it by the authority 
 of Scripture itself." 
 
 " Scripture ! " said Ravenswood, scornfully. 
 
 "Let him hear the text," said Lady Ashton, appealing 
 
6o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 to the divine (Rev. Mr. Bide-the-Bent), " on which you 
 yourself, with cautious reluctance, declared the nullity 
 of the pretended engagement insisted upon by this vio- 
 lent man." 
 
 The clergyman took his clasped Bible from his pocket, 
 and read the following words : — "i/ a u-oman voio a vow 
 unto the Lord, and hind herself hij a bond, being in her father'' s 
 house in her youth; and her father hear her ww, and her 
 bond whereioith she hath bound her soul, and her father 
 shall hold his peace at her : then all her vows shall stand, and 
 every voiv wherewith she hath bound her soid shall stand" 
 
 "And was it not even so with us?" interrupted 
 Ravenswood. 
 
 " Control thy impatience, young man," answered the 
 divine, " and hear what follows in the sacred text : — But 
 if her father disalloiv her in the day that he heareth; not any 
 of her votes, or of her bonds ivherewith she hath bound her soid, 
 shall stand ; and the Lorrd shall forgive her, because her father 
 disallowed her." 
 
 "And was not," said Lady Ashton, fiercely and 
 triumphantly breaking in, " was not ours the case stated 
 in the holy W![:\t 1 AVill this person deny, that the instant 
 her parents heard of the vow, or bond, by which our 
 daughter had bound her soul, we disallowed the same in 
 the most express terms, and informed him by writing of 
 our determination ? " 
 
 "And is this all ] " said Ravenswood, looking at Lucy, 
 "are you willing to barter sworn faith, the exercise of 
 free mil, and the feelings of mutual affection, to this 
 wretched hypocritical sophistry 1 " 
 
Texts from the Mosaic Law. 6i 
 
 *' Hear him ! " said Lady Ashton, looking to the 
 clergyman, " hear the blasphemer ! " 
 
 "May God forgive him," said Bide-the-Bent, "and 
 enlighten his ignorance." 
 
 As David Deans, in Tlie Heart of Midlothian, recovers 
 from the shock occasioned by the arrest of his daughter 
 Effie for the alleged crime of child-murder, his neigh- 
 bours crowd around him with their appropriate sources 
 of consolation and s3Tnpathy — the Laird of Dumbiedykes 
 with his purse, Jeanie with burnt feathers, and the 
 women with their exhortations. " neighbour — Mr. 
 Deans, it's a sair trial, doubtless — but think of the Eock 
 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 ! — how will the wicked exult in the high 
 places of their wickedness." 
 
 Dumbiedykes again offers his purse. " Davie — winna 
 siller do't '? " But Deans sternly rejects any such offer 
 in tones which ring with the stern old law of retaliation. 
 " I tell ye ... 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." 
 
 The yd\j Gilbert Glossin, in Gkiy Mannering, who had 
 
62 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 wormed himself into possession of the Ellangowan estate, 
 expresses his feigned surprise to Dominie Sampson that 
 the latter had never come down to see the old place. 
 
 " You never come down to see your old acquaintance 
 on the Ellangowan property, Mr. Sampson, you would 
 find most of the old stagers still stationary there. I have 
 too much respect for the late family to disturb old 
 residenters, even under pretence of improvement. Be- 
 sides, it's not my way. I don't like it. I believe, ]\Ir. 
 Sampson, Scripture particularly condemns those who 
 oppress the poor, and remove landmarks.^^ 
 
 "Or who devour the substance of orphans," subjoined 
 the Dominie. " Anathema ! Maranatha ! " 
 
 Hobbie Elliot, in The Black Dwarf, asks Earnscliff's 
 opinion upon the subject of marriage with a cousin. " I 
 heard the priest of St. John's," continues Hobbie, " and 
 our minister bargaining about it at the Tvdnter fair, and 
 troth they baith spak' very weel. Now the priest says 
 it is unlawful to marry ane's cousin; but I cannot say I 
 thought he brought out the Gospel authorities half sae 
 weel as our minister — our minister is thought the best 
 divine and the best preacher atween this and Edinburgh. 
 Dinna ye think he was Hkely to be right % " 
 
 "Certainly," replies Earnscliflf, "marriage by all 
 Protestant Christians is held to be as free as God made 
 it by the Levitical law ; so, Hobbie, there can be no bar, 
 legal or religious, betwdxt you and Miss Armstrong." 
 
 In Kenihvorth there is allusion made to an injunction 
 which is mentioned at least three times in the Pentateuch 
 — " Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." 
 
Texts from the Mosaic Law. 63 
 
 And the meaning of it comes out in the following tragic 
 incident. The villain Varney imitates the peculiar 
 whistle of his master, the Earl of Leicester, and entices 
 the unsuspecting Countess Amy out of her own apart- 
 ment at Cumnor Place on to a trap, down which she falls, 
 and is instantaneously killed. " I dreamed not I could 
 have mimicked the Earl's call so well," says Varney to 
 Anthony Foster, who replies : 
 
 " Oh, if there be judgment in Heaven, thou hast 
 deserved it, and wilt meet it. Thou hast destroyed her 
 by means of her best affections. It is a seething of the kid 
 in the mother's milk." 
 
THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 
 
 If we except a few references of a passing nature to 
 the taking of Jericho, the sin of Achan, the cities of 
 refuge, the avenger of blood, and the fraud of the 
 Gibeonites which led to their being made "hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water," we shall find, in connection 
 with our present study, that there is nothing more to 
 detain us in the Book of Joshua. But it is otherwise 
 when we come to the Book of Judges, with its simple but 
 graphic details of military operations, its stirring 
 trumpet-calls and battle-cries, and its interesting narra- 
 tives of the achievements of the men, and the women 
 Also, who were specially selected by God to deliver 
 their country from invasion and oppression. Details 
 and narratives such as these, whether in the Bible 
 history or elsewhere, always seemed to affect Sir 
 Walter Scott very deeply; and, accordingly, we meet 
 mth much in the Book of Judges which arrested 
 his attention and, probably also, suggested some of 
 the incidents which we are about to place before our 
 readers. 
 
 The novel of Old Mortality, in particular, contains 
 many of these apparently suggested incidents. After the 
 
Book of Judges. 65 
 
 battle of Drumclog Lord Evandale was made prisoner 
 by the Covenanters, but, at the intercession of Henry 
 Morton, he was allowed to escape. Riding away for 
 dear life, he sought refuge in the cottage of Bessie 
 Maclure, a poor blind widow. Long after the incident 
 took place Henry Morton called at the cottage, and 
 to him she told the story in the following words : — 
 
 " Ae nicht, sax weeks or thereby afore Bothwell Brigg, 
 a young gentleman stopped at this puir cottage, stiff and 
 bleeding \yith wounds, pale and dune oot wi' riding, and 
 his horse sae weary he couldna drag ae foot after the 
 other, and his foes were close ahint him, and he was ane 
 o' our enemies. What could I do, sir? — You that's a 
 sodger mil think me but a silly auld wife ; but I fed 
 him, and relieved him, and keepit him hidden till the 
 pursuit was over." 
 
 " And who," said Morton, " dare disapprove of your 
 having done so % " 
 
 "I kenna," answered the blind woman. "I gat ill- 
 will about it among some o' our ain folk. They said I 
 should hae been to him what Jael was to Sisera. But 
 well I wot, I had nae divine command to shed blood, 
 and to save it was baith like a woman and a Christian." 
 What is this but the story of Jael and Sisera told and 
 acted in the light, and under the beneficent influence, of 
 the teaching of the New Testament % 
 
 Of a very different spirit from the blind widow is 
 Mause, the mother of our old friend Cuddie Headrigg. 
 Animated by the fire and zeal of the extreme Cameronian, 
 she has no hesitation in seeking to act the part of 
 
66 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Deborah, the prophetess, who celebrated the victory over 
 Jabin's host and the death of Sisera in the sublime and 
 magnificent ode associated with her name. As Mause 
 Aptnesses the victory at Drumclog, and the flight of 
 Claverhouse and his dragoons, she exclaims in 
 ecstasy — 
 
 " They flee ! they flee ! . . . See how the clouds roll 
 and the fire flashes ahint them, and goes before the 
 chosen of the Covenant, e'en like the pillar o' cloud and 
 the pillar o' flame that led the people of Israel out of 
 the land of Egypt. This is indeed a day of deliverance 
 to the righteous, a day of pouring out of wrath to the 
 persecutors and the ungodly." 
 
 Here Mause was interrupted by her son, who dutifully 
 advised her to sit down under the shelter of a cairn or 
 heap of stones, so as to be out of the range of the bullets 
 which were still flying about. But she replies — 
 
 " Fear naething for me ! ... I will stand like 
 Deborah on the tap o' the cairn, and tak' up my sang o' 
 reproach against these men of Harosheth of the Gentiles, 
 whose horse-hoofs are broken by their prancing." 
 
 The enthusiastic old woman would have accomplished 
 her purpose of mounting the cairn had not Cuddie, with 
 more filial tenderness than respect, detained her with as 
 much force as his shackled arms permitted him to exert. 
 
 When Gideon was called to rise and deliver his 
 country from the invading Midianites, he was assured of 
 his success by the sign of a fleece being wet when all 
 around was dry, and again dry when all around was 
 wet. Sir Walter employs this incident in illustration of 
 
Book of Judges. 67 
 
 at least one of the points in the character of Donald 
 M'Leish, Mrs. BaKol's guide during her tour in the High- 
 lands. He was unable to resist the showers of hospitality 
 wliich descended rather too copiously on him in the shape 
 of " mountain dew." Poor Donald ! "He was on such 
 occasions," writes Mrs. Baliol in the memorandum which 
 contains the tale of The Highland JFidoiv, " like Gideon's 
 fleece, moist with the noble element which, of course, 
 fell not on us." 
 
 As the novelist brings us amid scenes of conflict and 
 assault, we can hear, in imagination, the memorable 
 battle-cry of "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." 
 We hear it as Balfour and Both well approach each other 
 in mortal struggle at Drumclog; and we hear it again as 
 Gilfillan, the Cameronian officer, on his way to Stirling, 
 is suddenlj^ attacked by a party of Highlanders, who rush 
 out of ambush, and rescue the wounded and helpless 
 Waverley. 
 
 The many varied associations which cluster round the 
 name of Samson come frequently before us in the pages 
 of the Waverley Novels. There is his strength to begin 
 with. When Dwining, the crafty apothecary, in The 
 Fair Maid of Perth, advises Sir John Eamorny to keep 
 clear of Henry Smith, on account of the latter being re- 
 garded as the strongest, the boldest, and the best swords- 
 man in Perth, Sir John replies, "Fear nothing; he shall 
 be met Avith, had he the strength of Samson." 
 
 Then there is Samson's riddle. Henry Morton, in 
 Old Mortality, is bold enough to visit Balfour in his secret 
 place of retreat for the purpose of inducing him to use 
 
68 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 his influence in restoring the possessions unlawfully held 
 by Basil Olifant. 
 
 "For whom," Balfour asks, "hast thou ventured to 
 do this great thing, to seek to rend the prey from the 
 valiant, to bring forth food from the den of the lion, and 
 to extract sweetness from the maw of the devourer? 
 For whose sake hast thou undertaken to read this riddle, 
 more hard than Samson's % " 
 
 "For Lord Evandale's, and that of his bride," Henry 
 generously and unselfishly replies. 
 
 In our introductory chapter we had occasion to refer 
 to the green imtlis which Samson said would bind his 
 strength, and make him as another man. The withs 
 were tried and new ropes as well, but both were snapped 
 asunder like a thread. As we read the account of Arthur 
 Philipson, in Anne of Geierstein, being immured in the 
 dungeon of La Ferette we cannot help wishing that, 
 like Samson, he could as easily have snapped the bonds 
 which rendered him utterly helpless against the knife 
 of the hired assassin who might, at any moment, come 
 upon him. His own sufferings, and the thought that his 
 father might also be sharing the same fate, wrought the 
 young man up to the verge of madness. " He started 
 up, and struggled so hard to free himself from his bonds 
 that it seemed thej should have fallen from him as from 
 the arms of the mighty Nazarene. But the cords were 
 of too firm a texture, and after a violent and unavailing 
 struggle, in which the ligatures seemed to enter his flesh, 
 the prisoner lost his balance, and fell to the ground mth 
 great force." 
 
Book of Judges, 69 
 
 There is another reference to the binding of Samson, 
 this time in The Monastery, where the White Lady of 
 Avenel tells Halbert Glendinning to 
 
 " Look on my girdle — on this thread of gold — 
 'Tis fine as web of lightest gossamer, 
 And, but thei;e is a spell on't, would not bind, 
 Light as they are, the folds of my thin robe. 
 But when 'twas donn'd, it was a massive chain, 
 Such as might bind the champion of the Jews, 
 Even when his locks were longest." 
 
 In allusion to Delilah inducing Samson to "sleep 
 upon her knees," and while in this position getting 
 some one to cut his locks of hair, the Duke of Burgundy, 
 in Anne of Geierstein, says to Philipson, " Edward (IV. 
 of England) is indeed my brother-in-law, but I am a man 
 little inclined to put my head under my wife's girdle." 
 And in describing the appearance of Thomas De Yaux, 
 in The Talisman, the faithful attendant upon King Richard, 
 Sir Walter says of his hair that " in thickness it might 
 have resembled that of Samson, though only after the 
 Israelitish champion's locks had passed under the shears 
 of the Philistines, for those of De Vaux were cut short, 
 that they might be enclosed under his helmet." 
 
 The phrase, "in the hands of the Philistines," de- 
 scriptive of Samson's captivity, is one which very 
 frequently occurs in the Waverley Novels. As it crops 
 up, however, in the conversation of every-day life, and 
 is now of such general application, there is no need or 
 occasion here to produce any instances of the way in 
 which Sir Walter employs the expression. 
 
70 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 In the preliminary chapter of The Bride of Lammer- 
 moor the author refers to the fate of Samson M-hen he 
 says of himself that he is not to be tempted out of his 
 seclusion or lionised in any way. " Like the imprisoned 
 Samson, I would rather remain, if such must be the 
 alternative, all my life in the mill-house grinding for my 
 bread, than be brought forth to make sport for the 
 Philistine lords and ladies." A passage in JVoodstoch 
 brings us up to the culminating point in the history of 
 Samson when, placed between the pillars, he for the last 
 time exerted his heaven -given strength and brought 
 down the building, entombing himself and his tormentors 
 in the general ruin. There is a great noise heard at the 
 palace of "Woodstock, as of an explosion of gunpowder, 
 followed by the fall of a turret with which it had been 
 connected by a mine. Thinking that his son must have 
 perished. Sir Henry Lee exclaims, " Ah ! my brave boy, 
 perhaps thou art thyself sacrificed Hke a youthful Sam- 
 son among the rebellious Philistines." 
 
 Toward the end of the Book of Judges, the sacred 
 historian describes, in minute detail, the circumstances 
 which led to the first civil or tribal war in Israel. He 
 narrates how, on one particular occasion, the men of 
 Jabesh-Gilead were all destroyed in order that the un- 
 married females of the place might be obtained as wives 
 for the surviving men of the nearly-exterminated tribe 
 of Benjamin. As Jabesh-Gilead did not furnish a 
 sufficient number, the unpro^dded Benjamites were 
 directed to lie in wait, and carry off the maidens 
 of Shiloh as they came out of the city to dance at 
 
Book of Judges. 71 
 
 one of the great annual festivals. It is to this latter in- 
 cident that the following extract from Ivanhoe refers : — 
 
 The Norman Knight, De Bracy, dresses or disguises 
 himself as an English yeoman. Fitzurse impatiently 
 asks — 
 
 "What on earth dost thou purpose by this absurd 
 disguise at a moment so urgent ^ " 
 
 "To get me a wife," answered De Bracy, coolly, 
 "after the manner of the tribe of Benjamin." 
 
 " The tribe of Benjamin *? " said Fitzurse, " I compre- 
 hend thee not." 
 
 "Wert thou not in presence yester-even," said De 
 Bracy, " where we heard the Prior Aymer tell us a tale 
 in reply to the romance which was sung by the minstrel 1 
 He told how, long since in Palestine, a deadly feud arose 
 between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the 
 Israelitish nation j and how they cut to pieces well-nigh 
 all the chivalry of that tribe ; and how they swore by 
 our blessed Lady that they would not permit those who 
 remained to marry in their lineage ; and how they be- 
 came grieved for their vow, and sent to consult his 
 Holiness the Pope how they might be absolved from it ; 
 and how by the advice of the Holy Father, the youth of 
 the tribe of Benjamin carried off from a superb tourna- 
 ment all the ladies who were there present, and thus 
 won them wives without the consent either of their 
 brides or their brides' families." 
 
 "I have heard the story," said Fitzurse, "though 
 either the Prior or thou hast made some singular altera- 
 tions in date and circumstances." 
 
72 The Bible m Waver ley. 
 
 " I tell thee," said De Bracy, " that I mean to purvey 
 me a wife after the tribe of Benjamin ; which is as much 
 as to say that in this same equipment I will fall upon 
 that herd of Saxon bullocks, who have this night left the 
 castle, and carry off from them the lovely Eowena." 
 
 The sacred historian closes the Book of Judges with 
 the reflection, induced not only by this story of the tribe 
 of Benjamin, but also by the prevalence of disorder 
 throughout the land, and the low state into which the 
 national religion had fallen, "In those days there was 
 no king in Israel : every man did that which was right 
 in his own eyes." Sir Walter uses the historian's sad- 
 dening reflection in describing the state of Scotland 
 when, by the departure of James VI. to assume the 
 richer and more powerful crown of England, it, too, had 
 no king. The country was distracted by contending 
 parties among the aristocracy; the administration of 
 justice was made the subject of the grossest partiality ; 
 and even judges lent their sacred authority either to 
 support a friend or crush an enemy. Such was the state 
 of Scotland as described in the opening chapter of the 
 tragic story of The Bride of Lammermoor. 
 
THE BOOK OF EUTH. 
 
 As the story of Euth forms a supplement to the Book 
 of Judges, we may here give an extract from the former, 
 in connection with an interesting incident in the novel 
 of Guy Mannering. After the death of the Laird of 
 Ellangowan, and the breaking-up of the household there, 
 Colonel Mannering generously offered a home to Lucy 
 Bertram. As she gratefully accepted the offer, her old 
 friend and tutor. Dominie Sampson, began to realise 
 for the first time that he was to be parted from her. 
 Such an idea had never occurred to the simplicity of his 
 understanding. In an impassioned appeal, the longest 
 speech he had ever been known to make, he thus 
 addressed his old pupil : — 
 
 " No, Miss Lucy Bertram, while I live I will not separ- 
 ate from you. I'll be no burden — I have thought how 
 to prevent that. But, as Euth said unto Naomi, ' Entreat 
 me not to leave thee, nor to depart from thee : for 
 whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou dwellest, 
 I will dwell; thy people shall be my people, and thy 
 God shall be my God. Where thou diest, will I die, 
 and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and 
 more also, if aught but death do part thee and me.'" 
 
74 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 And, while we write of the affections, we are reminded 
 of a Scriptural expression which occurs not only in the 
 narrative of Euth and Naomi, but also in several other 
 places of the Old Testament. In the scene where Jeanie 
 Deans goes to visit Effie in prison, in The Heart of Mid- 
 lothian^ the sisters walked together to the side of the 
 pallet-bed, and sat down side by side, taking hold of each 
 other's hands, looking in each other's face, but without 
 speaking a word. In this position they remained for a 
 minute, while the gleam of joy gradually faded from 
 their features, and gave way to the most intense expres- 
 sion, 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." 
 
SAMUEL, SAUL, AND DAVID. 
 
 Leaving the Book of Judges and the story of Euth, 
 we come now to the Books of Samuel, with all their 
 interesting narratives of Samuel himself, of Saul, and of 
 David. Among our Waverley references we do not find 
 many that relate to the prophet-judge personally, but a 
 great number to the outstanding incidents recorded in 
 the two Books which bear his name. There is an 
 affecting scene in Ivanhoe which reminds us of the dying 
 mother's request to call her newly-born child Ichabod, as 
 she hears of the defeat of her countrymen and the ark 
 of God having fallen into the hands of the Philistines. 
 Isaac of York learns that his daughter Eebecca has 
 been carried off by the fierce and dissolute Templar. 
 One of the outlaws, who has conveyed this information 
 to the distracted father, adds that he had drawn his 
 bow to send an arrow after the Templar, but, fearing 
 lest he should harm the lady instead, he had not 
 shot. 
 
 "Oh," answered the Jew, "I would to God thou 
 hadst shot, though the arrow had pierced her bosom. 
 Better the tomb of her fathers than the dishonourable 
 couch of the licentious and savage Templar. Icha- 
 
^6 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 l>od ! Ichabod ! the glory hath departed from my 
 house ! " 
 
 AYe hear this agonising cry of grief and sorrow from 
 the sorely-afflicted David Deans during tlje trial of his 
 daughter at Edinburgh, as related in The Heart of Mid- 
 lothian. And when the father of Nanty Ewart, in Red- 
 gauntlet, heard of the misconduct of his son while a 
 student at the University of the same city, "he did 
 nothing for six days but cry out, Ichabod ! Ichabod ! 
 the glory is departed from my house ! " 
 
 When Saul joined the company of prophets and 
 prophesied among them, the people of Israel wonderingly 
 asked of each other, "Is Saul among the prophets'?" 
 This proverb, ever since used to express sui^prise at 
 seeing some one in a place or company where he was 
 least expected to appear, is so employed by Sir Walter 
 in Feiwil of the Peak A side door in Bridgenorth's 
 house in London, where a conventicle is being held, 
 suddenly opens, and Christian enters the apartment. 
 He starts and colours as he sees Julian Peveril ; then, 
 turning to Bridgenorth with an assumed air of indiffer- 
 ence, he asks, "Is Saul also among the prophets'? Is 
 a Peveril among the saints]" 
 
 The proverb is also employed to express surprise on 
 learning that some one is possessed of gifts or qualifica- 
 tions which he did not before get the credit of possess- 
 ing. It is used in this sense by Brown in ^vriting to a 
 friend when he states that, in addition to other accom- 
 plishments. Colonel Mannering had also those of drawing 
 and poetry; for, to a set of sketches by the Colonel, there 
 
Samuel, Saul, and David. jj 
 
 was added a short poetical description by the same hand. 
 Well might BrowTi ^viite — " Is Saul, you will say, among 
 the prophets % Colonel Mannering write poetry !" 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian there is a graphic descrip- 
 tion of one of the well-known traditions of Edinburo'h — 
 the Porteous mob. Captain John Porteous, of the Town 
 Guard, had given orders to the troops to fire on the 
 crowd, and for this excess of his commission he was after- 
 wards tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. 
 He was reprieved, however, and the general belief was 
 that he would finally be pardoned. Exasperated at the 
 escape of the object of their fury, the mob forced open 
 the prison door and set fire to the building. Uncon- 
 scious of what was going on, Porteous felt relieved 
 from anxiety by his reprieve, thinking in the emphatic 
 words of Scripture, on an occasion in somewhat similar 
 circumstances, that surely the bitterness of death was past. 
 
 Sir Walter here alludes to the incident of Samuel 
 desiring Saul to bring before him Agag, the captive king 
 of Amalek. The captive approached wdth every mark 
 of deference and respect, feeling that the bitterness of 
 death was surely past ; but neither in the Scriptural case 
 nor in that of the Edinburgh 'tragedy was the dreaded 
 bitterness over, for death was inflicted in both instances. 
 
 There are, at least, two other scenes in the Waverley 
 Novels where this "bitterness of death" was not past, 
 but fully expected by two unhappy persons in very try- 
 ing circumstances. In Quentin Dunuard, the Duke of 
 Burgundy receives an unexpected visit from his Lord 
 Paramount, Louis XI. of France. Hearing of the murder 
 
78 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 of the Bishop of Liege, and believing it to have been 
 done at the instigation of the King, the Duke orders 
 His Majesty to be arrested and lodged in the Castle of 
 Peronne. The scene at the meeting of the two poten- 
 tates is a striking one. Well might the King get a fore- 
 taste of the bitterness of death as he stood in the presence 
 of "the most passionate prince who ever lived," while 
 "imder the dominion of one of his most violent par- 
 oxysms of fury." In The Fortunes of Nigel, Lord Dalgarno 
 seizes hold of the dark-haired scrivener and shakes him 
 so violently that the trembling caitiff " felt at that 
 moment all the bitterness of the mortal agony." But 
 king and caitiff both escaped. 
 
 Oppressed and saddened by the fate foretold by 
 Samuel, and troubled by an evil spirit, the mind of Saul 
 gave way, and he sank into a deep and dangerous melan- 
 choly. The youthful David's music was the only charm 
 which could bring the King to himself again. Under 
 its sweet and soothing influence he "was refreshed, and 
 was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." We 
 have, throughout the Waverley Novels, numerous in- 
 stances of kings, princes, generals, and persons in almost 
 every rank of life, under such fits of melancholy as those 
 which troubled Saul. The old soldier in Woodstock asks 
 Captain Pearson if he intends to carry out, to the letter, 
 the commands of General Cromwell with reference to 
 the execution of the prisoners. With an air of doubt 
 the Captain replies that he fears there is no other course 
 open to him. 
 
 "Be assured," said the old man, "that if thou dost 
 
Samuel, Saul, and David. 79 
 
 this folly, thou wilt cause Israel to sin, and that the 
 General will not be pleased with your service. Thou 
 knowest, and none better than thou, that Oliver, though 
 he be like unto David the son of Jesse in faith, and 
 wisdom, and courage, yet there are times when the evil 
 spirit cometh upon him as it did upon Saul, and he 
 uttereth commands which he will not thank any one for 
 executing." 
 
 The poor simpleton, David Gellatley, in Waverley, was 
 extremely fond of music, deeply affected by that which was 
 melancholy, but transported into extravagant gaiety by 
 light and lively airs. Louis XI., King Rene, the Duke of 
 Eothesay, and Mordaunt, had all their dark and troubled 
 hours. But in The Legend of Montrose we are specially 
 reminded of the melancholy moods of Saul, and the 
 influence of music in dispelling them. Allan MacAulay, 
 brother of the chief, was subject both to fits of despond- 
 ency and, occasionally, to mental aberration. It was 
 observed that the beauty of Annot Lyle and her skill 
 in music, "produced upon the disturbed spirits of 
 Allan, in his gloomiest moods, beneficial effects similar 
 to those experienced by the Jewish monarch of 
 old." 
 
 Here is Sir Walter's graphic description of Allan 
 recovering from one of these moods under the soothing 
 influence of Annot's harp. 
 
 " As the strain proceeded, Allan MacAulay gradually 
 gave signs of recovering his presence of mind, and atten- 
 tion to the objects around him. The deep-knit furrows 
 of his brow relaxed and smoothed themselves ; and the 
 
8o The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 rest of his features, which had seemed contorted with 
 internal agony, relapsed into a more natural state. AMien 
 he raised his head and sat upright, his countenance, 
 though still deeply melancholy, was divested of its wild- 
 ness and ferocity ; and in its composed state, although 
 by no means handsome, the expression of his features 
 was striking, manly, and even noble. His thick brown 
 eyebrows, which had hitherto been drawn close together, 
 were now slightly separated, as in the natural state ; and 
 his gray eyes, which had rolled and flashed from under 
 them with an unnatural and portentous gleam, now 
 recovered a steady and determined expression." 
 
 "Thank God," he said, after sitting silent for about 
 a minute, until the last sounds of the harp had ceased to 
 vibrate, "my soul is no longer darkened — the mist hath 
 passed from my spirit." 
 
 The story of David and Goliath is one of those 
 incidents in the sacred narrative to which we may 
 expect frequent and varied reference in the pages of 
 the Waverley Novels. It is to Sir Walter what some 
 \J favourite doctrinal text is to the theologian, for it fur- 
 nishes him, as a novelist, ^^A^h abundance of material for 
 illustration both in its details and as a whole. As the 
 name of Samson suggests strength, so that of Goliath 
 suggests size. The mirror in which Mr. Holdenough, 
 in JVoodstoch, imagined he saw the reflection of his friend 
 Joseph Albany, was so large in size that it "might have 
 served Goliath of Gath to have admired himself in, when 
 clothed from head to foot in his brazen armour." 
 
 The mention of the Philistine's armour reminds us of 
 
Samuel^ Saul, and David. 
 
 a remark which Isaac the Jew made to his daughter 
 about the lance of Ivanhoe. "It was," he said, "like 
 that of Goliath, and might vie with a weaver's beam." 
 
 In response to the giant's demand that the Israelites 
 should send him a 
 
 " Foeman worthy of liis steel," 
 
 David comes upon the scene. Saul reminds him of his 
 youth and inexperience, and suggests that if he will fight 
 the Philistine he should put on a suit of armour and 
 take a sword in his hand. David tried the armour and 
 the sword, but immediately put off the one and laid 
 down the other, feeling that they were only 
 " Encumb'ring and not arming him." 
 
 In the Legend of Montrose, Sir Walter describes the 
 warlike habits of the Highlanders and their peculiar mode 
 of warfare as compared with that practised by the Low- 
 landers. Anything that the former "had been taught 
 of discipline was like Saul's armour upon David, a hind- 
 rance rather than a help, because they had not proved it." 
 
 When, in Anne of Geiersfein, Arthur Philipson and 
 Eudolph Donnerhugel, the gigantic Swiss, met to fight 
 the pre-arranged duel, the latter offered Arthur a huge 
 two-handed sword, which the Englishman looked at with 
 some surprise, as he had never been accustomed to the 
 use of such a weapon. 
 
 " He who fights on a Swiss mountain, fights with a 
 Swiss brand," said Rudolph. " Think you, our hands are 
 made to handle pen-knives 1" 
 
 "Nor are ours made to wield scythes," said Arthur; 
 
 G 
 
82 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 and as the Swiss still continued to offer the sword, he 
 refused it on the same ground as David did the armour 
 of Saul — it was only an encumbrance. 
 
 Eudolph then asks if Arthur repents having accepted 
 the challenge. "If so, cry craven, and return in safety." 
 
 "No, proud man," replied the Englishman, "I ask 
 thee no forbearance. I thought but of a combat between 
 a shepherd and a giant, in w^hich God gave the victory 
 to him who had worse weapons of odds than falls to my 
 lot to-day. I will fight as I stand ; my own good sword 
 shall serve my need now as it has done before." 
 
 The fight, accordingly, began ; but it was interrupted 
 by the appearance of Arnold Biederman, who, in stern 
 tones which rose above the clash of swords, commanded 
 them at once to forbear. Towards the end of the novel 
 this gigantic Swiss again challenges the Englishman. 
 This time they met each other on horseback, and in the 
 encounter the Swiss met the fate of Goliath. The Duke 
 of Bui'gundy was greatly delighted to hear the news. 
 Taking a ponderous chain of gold from off his own neck, 
 he hung it round Arthur's, saying as he did so, " Why, 
 thou forstallest all our honours, young man — this was the 
 biggest bear of them all. ... I think I have found a youth- 
 ful David to match their huge thick-headed Goliath." 
 
 When Henry Smith, in The Fair Maid of Perth, re- 
 solved upon taking the place of the missing man in the 
 approaching battle between the two clans at Perth, he 
 presented himself within the lists, and announced that 
 he was ready to fight on the part of the clan Chattan. 
 Like Saul, the Provost advised Henry to j^ut on armour, 
 
Samuel, SatU, and David. 8 3 
 
 ofFerino; him at the same time his own Milan hauberk and 
 Spanish sword. But Smith replied : 
 
 "I thank your noble Earlship. . . . I am little used to 
 sword or harness that I have not wrought myself, because 
 I do not know what blows the one will bear without 
 being cracked, or the other lay on without snapping." 
 
 Sir Geoffrey Hudson, the Dwarf in Peveril of the Peak, 
 in his own amusing way, states to Julian Peveril that he 
 admires and respects him now that he has " killed one 
 of those gigantic fellows who go about swaggering as if 
 their souls were taller than ours, because their noses are 
 nearer to the clouds by a cubit or two." He recommends 
 Julian, however, not to plume himself too much on having 
 accomplished such a feat, or to consider it as anything 
 unusual, for, he says, "I would have you know it hath 
 been always thus ; and that in the history of all ages, 
 the clean, tight, dapper little fellow hath proved an over- 
 match for his bulky antagonist. I need only instance 
 out of Holy Writ the celebrated downfall of Goliath, 
 and of another lubbard who had more fingers to his 
 hand, and more inches to his stature, than ought to 
 belong to an honest man, and who was slain by a nephew 
 of good King David." The dwarf here refers to the 
 historical incident mentioned in the twentieth chapter 
 of First Chronicles, "And yet again there was war at 
 Gath, where a man of great stature, whose fingers and 
 toes were four and twenty, six on each hand and six on 
 each foot, and he also was the son of the giant. But 
 when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, 
 David's brother, slew him." 
 
84 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 The love and esteem which Saul seems to have felt, 
 at one time at least, for David gradually gave way to 
 hatred and jealousy. After the defeat and death of 
 Goliath, the fits of jealousy increased in number and 
 intensity, until at length David had to leave the Court 
 and flee for his life to the country, whither he was 
 followed and hunted "like a partridge on the moun- 
 tains." 
 
 The Baron Bradwardine remarked to Waverley, when 
 the latter came to visit him at his place of concealment, 
 that the Government "have sent soldiers to abide on the 
 estate and hunt me like a partridge on the mountains, 
 as Scripture says of good King David." In TFoodstock^ 
 Everard asks Wildrake if he has heard any news of " the 
 young man. King of Scotland as they call him." 
 
 "Nothing," was the reply, "but that he is hunted 
 like a partridge on the mountains." 
 
 In the course of David's wanderings in his endeavour 
 to keep out of the reach of Saul, he found refuge in one 
 of the caves among the limestone rocks near Adullam. 
 "When Henry Morton, in Old Mortality^ visited Burley in 
 his hiding-place, the latter remarked, " I like my place 
 of refuge — my cave of Adullam, and would not change 
 its rude ribs of limestone rocks for the fair chambers of 
 the castle of the Earls of Loudon with their broad bounds 
 and barony." 
 
 In this cave of Adullam, David established himself as 
 an independent chief, and was soon joined by a number 
 of followers, drawn chiefly from those classes who are 
 ever ready for revolt from the restraints of civilised 
 
Samzcel, Saul, arid David. 8 5 
 
 society.' In The Fortunes of Nigel there is a description 
 given of the state of Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple. 
 In the time of James I., and for nearly a century after- 
 wards, this particular district of London, known by the 
 cant name of Alsatia, had the privilege of sanctuary, 
 unless against the writ of the Lord Chief Justice, or 
 of the Lords of the Privy Council. One may easily 
 imagine the class of persons likely to be found in this 
 modern cave of Adullam. " The jDlace abounded," says 
 Sir Walter in the novel just named, " with desperadoes 
 of every description — bankrupt citizens, ruined game- 
 sters, irreclaimable prodigals, desperate duellists, bravoes, 
 homicides, and debauched profligates of every description, 
 all leagued together to maintain the immunities of their 
 asylum." During the march of the Highland army into 
 England, as narrated in JVaverle)j, Prince Charles Edward 
 was joined by a number of very sorry-looking recruits. 
 On being asked his opinion of them, the Baron Brad- 
 wardine replied, " that he could not but have an excellent 
 opinion of them, since they resembled j^recisely the fol- 
 lowers who attached themselves to the good King David 
 at the cave of Adullam ; videlicet, every one that was in 
 distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one 
 that was discontented, which the Vulgate renders bitter 
 of soul; and doubtless" he said, "they will prove mighty 
 men of their hands, and there is much need that they 
 should, for I have seen many a sour look cast upon us." 
 In the course of Alan Fairford's wanderings in search 
 of his friend Darsie Latimer, as told in Bedgauntlef, the 
 former is taken on board the Jumping Jenny. The 
 
86 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 skipper, >santy Ewart, tries to draw out of his passenger 
 some information as to where he is going, and what is the 
 object of his travels. Thinking that he is one of the ad- 
 herents of Charles Stewart, and that he is on his way 
 to join the desperate cause, Nanty repeats the verse just 
 quoted by the Baron Bradwardine, and then asks " Have 
 I touched you now, sir % " 
 
 But Alan, in search only of his friend, and having no- 
 thing whatever to do with the distressed and discontented 
 who were joining the cause of the Pretender, could reply, 
 with a clear conscience, "You are as far off as ever." 
 
 One evening in the twilight, alone and hungry from 
 having tasted no food all day. Dominie Sampson, in Guy 
 Mannering, was suddenly confronted by the gipsy, Meg 
 Merrilies, in the deserted hamlet of Derncleugh. 
 
 " I kenn'd ye wad be here," she said in a harsh and 
 hollow voice, " I ken wha ye seek, but ye maun do my 
 bidding." 
 
 Eesisting all attempts at silencing her, Meg forced 
 the unwilling Dominie into a vault, pushed him into a 
 broken chair, and, like the Witch of Endor persuading 
 the forlorn and broken-hearted King of Israel to take 
 food, she placed before him a dish of goodly stew, and 
 sternly commanded him at once to eat. 
 
 Afraid of the mixture, the poor man had determined 
 not to taste it, hungry though he was ; but the savoury 
 smell soon began to tell upon his obstinacy. He thought, 
 too, of what Saul had done in the cave, and so he not 
 only ate the stew, but drank the modern witch's health 
 in a cupful of brandy, after which he felt "mightily 
 
Samuel, Saul, a7id David. 87 
 
 elevated, and afraid of no evil which could befall unto 
 him." 
 
 Keeping in mind the particular direction of our pre- 
 sent study of the Waverley Novels, we may note here 
 that Redgauntlet always reminds us of the friendship 
 which bound David and Jonathan so closely together. 
 The correspondence contained in the letters which pass 
 between the two friends, Alan Fairford and Darsie 
 Latimer, is the chief charm of this novel ; and when the 
 letter-writing stops and the narrative begins, we feel 
 how intense is the affection which unites the two young 
 men. What a striking instance of devotion to his friend 
 does Alan present when, during the great trial of Peebles 
 against Flainstanes, the young advocate throws aside 
 everything when he incidentally learns that Darsie is 
 in imminent personal danger, forgets fame and fortune, 
 hazards even the serious displeasure of his father, and 
 sets out in search of his beloved companion. 
 
 In language uttered under the influence of great 
 emotion, the Eev. Mr. Holdenough, in JFoodstock, thus 
 apostrophises the memory of the friend of his youth — 
 *' Oh, Albany, my brother, my brother, I have lamented 
 for thee even as David for Jonathan." 
 
 In The Fair Maid of Feiih, we have a wonderfully 
 touching description of the love which " passes the love 
 of women." Conachar enters the lists with sore mis- 
 givings as to his fate, but is encouraged by his foster- 
 father and eight foster-brothers, who do their utmost to 
 protect him until they themselves are, one after another, 
 struck down. As the last falls, Conachar loses heart 
 
88 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 altogether, madly takes refuge in flight, and plunges 
 into the Tay. He afterwards presents himself before 
 Catherine Glover at the waterfall, and in utter despair 
 he exclaims — "I have lost honour, fame, and friends; 
 and such friends ! . . . Oh ! their love surpasses the 
 love of women ! . . . The faithful nine are still pursuing 
 me ; they cry w^ith feeble voice, ' Strike but one blow in 
 our revenge, we all died for you.' " 
 
 After the great wrong done by David " in the matter 
 of Uriah," the prophet Nathan was sent to the king to 
 reprove him. This he did by means of the parable of 
 the rich man who spared his own flocks, but seized the 
 one ewe-lamb of his poor neighbour. Simon Glover 
 refers to this, when speaking to Henry Smith of Cathe- 
 rine's notion of entering the Convent. " I love and hon- 
 our the Church," said the Glover, crossing himself, "I 
 pay her rights duly and cheerfully . . . but I cannot 
 afford the Church my only and single ewe-lamb, that I 
 have in the world." 
 
 The Duke of Rothesay and Sir John Ramorny are dis- 
 cussing a project they have in hand to carry off this 
 same only daughter of the Glover. The Duke states his 
 scruples in the matter, and then asks Ramorny — " Dost 
 thou remember when we went to hear Father Clement 
 preach, or rather to see this fair heretic, that he spoke 
 as touchingly as a minstrel about the rich man taking 
 away the poor man's only ewe-lamb ?" 
 
 This parable was also, we think, in Sir Walter's mind 
 when he makes Foster say to Varney, in Kenilworth, that 
 he will be no party to having his child's soul placed in 
 
;UNI7ERSIT 
 
 Samuely Saul, and Davie 
 
 '4iim^'$i 
 
 peril either for Varney or Varney's master. " I may," 
 he continued, "walk among snares and pitfalls myself, 
 because I have discretion, but I will not trust the poor 
 lamb among them." 
 
 The application of the parable is employed in The 
 Abbot, where Eoland Graeme is joined one morning on 
 the battlements of Loch Leven Castle by the chaplain, 
 Elias Henderson. Looking across the country, with its 
 villages and hamlets enjoying the blessings of peace and 
 security, the chaplain asks the page what that* man would 
 deserve who should bring fire, civil war, and slaughter 
 over those peaceful scenes. 
 
 Eoland replies that he does not know to what the 
 chaplain refers, nor can he form any idea who the person 
 can be, that could ever dream of bringing such calamities 
 upon the land. 
 
 "God forbid !" replied the preacher, "that I should 
 say to thee, 'Thou art the man.'" He then proceeded 
 to warn the page that in serving Queen Mary, and in 
 seeking to get her once more seated on the throne of 
 Scotland, he might be the person on whose head would 
 fall the due curse and punishment in having been the 
 means of bringing about such a change for the worse. 
 
 During the sickness of his child, David prayed and 
 fasted, refusing all consolation from his attendants ; but, 
 to their great surprise, when he was told that the child was 
 dead, he rose up, washed himself, put off all signs of 
 mourning, and then sat down to eat. In Peveril of the 
 Peak, Bridgenorth expresses his gratitude to Lady Peveril 
 for her attention and kindness to his child, and adds, 
 
go The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 " David, the man after God's own heart, did wash and 
 eat bread when his beloved child was removed. Mine 
 is restored to me, and shall I not show gratitude 
 under a blessing, when he showed resignation under an 
 affliction?" 
 
 As David Deans and Jeanie, in Tlu Heart of Midlothian, 
 sit down to their homely meal, during the time they are 
 under a great cloud of sorrow, he exhorts his daughter to 
 eat and be comforted. " 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 
 . . . as to forget the first duty — submission to the 
 Divine will." 
 
 In describing the taking of Kabbah, one of the 
 Ammonite cities, the sacred historian records the terrible 
 punishment inflicted by David upon the unfortunate 
 prisoners of war. To this punishment the poor Jew, in 
 Ivanhoe, alludes when the Palmer wakes him from his 
 sleep and w^arns him of his danger. When Isaac learns 
 that the Templar has ordered his Mussulman slaves to 
 seize him and carry him off, either to the castle of Mal- 
 voisin or that of Front-de-Boeuf, he exclaims in the ex- 
 tremit)'- of consternation, " Holy God of Abraham . . . 
 the dream is not dreamed for nought, and the vision 
 Cometh not in vain. I feel the rack pass over my body 
 like the saws, and harrows, and axes of iron over the 
 men of Kabbah, and of the cities of the children of 
 Ammon." 
 
Sa7fmel, Said, and David. 9 1 
 
 In the stratagem employed by Joab to get Absalom's 
 banishment recalled, he sent to Tekoah and instructed a 
 wise woman of that place what to say when she stood 
 before the king. He " put the words in her mouth." 
 There is a reference to this incident in Kenihcorth, where 
 the Countess secretly leaves Cumnor Hall for Kenilworth 
 Castle under the protection of Wayland Smith. Janet 
 Foster, who remains behind, is instructed what to say in 
 the event of her mistress being missed next morning. 
 Before setting out. Smith reminds the maid that if she 
 remembers her lesson, there will be no pursuit in search 
 of the Countess. To this reminder, Janet replies that 
 she will no more forget her instructions " than the wise 
 widow of Tekoah forgot the words which Joab put into 
 her mouth." 
 
 During the trial of Effie Deans, in The Heart of Mid- 
 lothian, her sister Jeanie is under examination, and as 
 counsel interrogates her, the proceedings are suddenly 
 interrupted by her father, who exclaims, " Na, na, my 
 bairn is no like the widow of Tekoah — nae man has 
 putten words into her mouth." 
 
 The affecting cry of David when he received the news 
 of Absalom's death, is an incident which Sir Walter could 
 scarcely fail to quote. When Eobert of Scotland, in The 
 Fair Maid of Perth, hears that the Duke of Eothesay has 
 been found dead in his apartment — "from sudden illness, 
 as I have heard " — the unhappy and broken-hearted king 
 gave expression to his grief and sense of bereavement 
 almost in the words of the King of Israel — in somewhat 
 similar circumstances — "0 Rothesay! O my beloved 
 
92 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 David ! Would to God I had died for thee, my son — 
 ray son !" 
 
 When the son of Sir Henry Lee devotes his Hfe to 
 the cause of King Charles, and seeks, at great personal 
 risk, to effect his Majesty's escape from Woodstock, we 
 feel that much as the old knight is concerned for the 
 safety of his sovereign, his anxiety for that of his son is 
 still more so. While Sir Henry consents to the risk 
 being undertaken, we hear him thus communing with 
 himself, " But at what a cost do I this % Oh, Absalom, 
 Absalom, my son, my son ! " 
 
 Among the last recorded acts of David was the charge 
 to Solomon ^\'ith reference to Shimei who, on one occa- 
 sion, had deeply injured and publicly insulted the king. 
 Though the offender had been forgiven, and though 
 allowed to stay in Jerusalem, he was yet warned that 
 the brook Kedron was the boundary of his liberty, and 
 that if he ventured across it he would incur the penalty 
 of death. In narrating the experience of Chrystal Croft- 
 angry, in Chronicles of the Canongate, Sir Walter refers to 
 this incident. After a course of dissipation, Chrystal 
 was obliged to take refuge in the sanctuary at Holyrood. 
 Day by day he had to keep within the boundary line, or 
 kennel, which divides the sanctuary from the unprivileged 
 part of the Canongate. " To a stranger, or an indifferent 
 person, either side of the line would have seemed much 
 the same ; but to Croftangry, the gutter or kennel was 
 what the brook Kedron was to Shimei — death was 
 denounced against him who should cross it." 
 
SOLOMON AND THE KINGS OF JUDAH 
 AND ISEAEL. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no Bible name which occurs more 
 frequently in the Waverley Novels than that of Solomon. 
 Again and again we meet it in connection with his 
 wealth and magnificence; with his wisdom, which has 
 become proverbial ; with his sagacious judgment ; with 
 the gold which he brought from Ophir ; and with the 
 famous visit of the Queen of Sheba. But the references 
 are generally of such a passing nature, that they appear 
 to little advantage when lifted out of their context and 
 laid before the reader as extracts. We have marked a 
 few for quotation, however ; and the first we see is from 
 The Fortunes of Nigel, where George Heriot places before 
 King James the massive silver plate which has for its 
 engraved ornamentation the subject of the Judgment 
 of Solomon. The King thus criticises the artist's 
 work : — 
 
 "It is a curious and vera artificial sculpture, but yet, 
 methinks, the carnif ex or executioner there is brandishing 
 his gully ower near the King's face, seeing he is within 
 reach of his weapon. I think less wisdom than Solo- 
 mon's wad have taught him that there was danger in 
 
94 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 edsre- tools, and that he would have bidden the smaik 
 either sheath his shabble, or stand further back." 
 
 In Donnerhugel's narrative, as related in the novel of 
 Anne of Geierstein, there is mention made of a Persian 
 girl named Hermione, who came to reside at the Castle 
 of Arnheim. There were wonderful reports of her great 
 wisdom and learning, so much so that the Bishop of 
 Bamberg resolved, like the Queen of Sheba, to visit 
 Hermione and prove her with hard questions. "He 
 conversed mth her, and found her deeply impressed with 
 the truths of religion, and so perfectly acquainted with 
 its doctrines, that he compared her to a doctor of theo- 
 logy in the dress of an Eastern dancing-girl. When 
 asked regarding her knowledge of languages and science, 
 he answered that he had been attracted to Arnheim by 
 the most extravagant reports on these points, but that 
 he must return, confessing ' the half thereof had not been 
 told unto him.' " 
 
 But as in the Bible, so also in Waverley, we meet 
 with much that reminds us of the faults and failings of 
 the later years of Solomon's life. " The beauty of a fair 
 woman caused Solomon Ben David to stumble in his 
 path," says the Nawaub in the story of The Surgeon's 
 Daughter ; and in many other novels of the series we find 
 similar allusions. Thus, in Kenihvorth, Varney asks his 
 master, the Earl of Leicester, if he will allow himself 
 to be driven frantic about Amy Robsart, because, 
 said he, "you have not been wiser than the -^visest 
 man whom the world has ever seen." And Sir 
 Patrick Charteris observes to Henry Smith, in The 
 
Solomon mid the Kings. g 5 
 
 Fair Maid of Perth, when he brings the latter disap- 
 pointing news of Catherine Glover, that women are but 
 weather -cocks, "as Solomon and others have proved 
 before you." 
 
 Leaving Solomon, we come to his son, Eehoboam, 
 who began his reign under circumstances which associate 
 his name with setting aside old and experienced counsel- 
 lors and seeking advice, instead, from the younger men 
 who had grown up with him at the court of his father. 
 Frank Osbaldistone, in Bob Boy, is warmly commended for 
 not taking such a course, when he goes to Bailie Nicol 
 Jarvie to ask his advice as to the best way of furthering 
 the interest of Mr. Osbaldistone senior. " Ye're right, 
 young man, ye're right," said the worthy magistrate. 
 "Aye take the counsel of those who are wiser and aulder 
 than yourself, and binna like the godless Eehoboam who 
 took the advice o' a wheen beardless callants, neglecting 
 the auld counsellors who had sate at the feet of his father 
 Solomon, and, as it was weel put by Mr. Meiklejohn in 
 his lecture on the chapter, were doubtless partakers of 
 his sapience." 
 
 Here is another instance in which an aged counsellor's 
 advice is proposed to be taken. It occurs in JFoodstocJc, 
 where King Charles says that "in Scotland, the Presby- 
 terian ministers when thundering in their pulpits on my 
 own sins, and those of my house, took the freedom to call 
 me to my face Jeroboam, or Eehoboam, or some such 
 name, for following the advice of young counsellors." 
 Then referring to his old friend. Sir Henry Lee, the king 
 proceeds, " I will take that of the gray beard for once, for 
 
9 6 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 never saw I more sharpness and decision than in the 
 countenance of that noble old man." 
 
 " Like the unwise son of the wisest of men," Richard 
 ]\Iiddlemass, in The Surgeons Daughter, valued the advice 
 of his young friend, Tom Hillary, more than that of his 
 elder friends and counsellors. 
 
 We come now to Elijah, " the blessed Elias," as the 
 monk in The Talisman says, " even him who was trans- 
 lated without suffering the ordinary pangs of mortality." 
 Our first mention of him, in connection with our present 
 study, is in Peveril of the Peak, and the reference is to his 
 being fed by ravens. One morning Major Bridgenorth 
 was reposing in his easy chair, thinking of former times, 
 and recalling the feelings with which he was wont to 
 expect the recurring visits of Sir Geoffrey Peveril, who 
 brought him news of the welfare of his child. " Surely," 
 Bridgenorth said, thinking as it were aloud, " there was no 
 sin in the kindness with which I then regarded that man." 
 
 Solsgrace, who was in the apartment, and guessed 
 what was passing through his friend's mind, replied, 
 "When God caused Elijah to be fed by ravens, 
 while hiding by the brook Cherith, we hear not of his 
 fondling the unclean birds, whom, contrary to their 
 ravening nature, a miracle compelled to minister unto 
 him." 
 
 "It may be so," answered Bridgenorth, "yet the flap 
 of their wings must have been gracious in the ear of the 
 famished prophet, like the tread of Peveril's horse in 
 mine. The ravens, doubtless, resumed their nature when 
 the season was passed, and even so it has fared with him." 
 
Solomon and the Kings. 97 
 
 After leaving his place of concealment by the brook 
 Cherith, the prophet was directed to go to Zarephath, 
 where he was to lodge and be sustained by a poor 
 ■\\ddow. Henry Morton, in Old Mortality^ knocks at the 
 door of Bessie Maclure's cottage and inquires if she can 
 give him accommodation for the night. 
 
 "I can, sir, if you will be pleased with the widow's 
 cake and the widow's cruize." 
 
 Morton gratefully accepts the poor widow's hospitality, 
 with the remark that, having been a soldier, nothing can 
 come amiss to him in the way of entertainment. 
 
 Widow Maclure was blind in addition to being poor. 
 Struck by her loneliness, Morton asks if she has no one 
 beside her except the little girl whom he observed in the 
 cottasfe, 
 
 o 
 
 "None, sir," said his old hostess; "I dwell alone, 
 like the widow of Zarephath." 
 
 Elijah's restoring to life the widow's son, forms the sub- 
 ject of an argument on the intercession of saints between 
 Father Eustace and Henry Warden, in Tlie Monastery. 
 The supposed death of Halbert Glendinning has naturally 
 thro^Ti his mother's, household into grief and mourning ; 
 but when he was afterwards discovered to be alive and 
 well. Father Eustace says to Edward Glendinning, "Let 
 thy sorrowing mother know that her son is restored to 
 her from the grave, like the child of the widow of Zar- 
 ephath, at the intercession," he added, looking at Henry 
 Warden, " of the blessed saint whom I invoked in his 
 behalf." "Deceived thyself," said Warden instantly, 
 "thou art a deceiver of others. It was no dead man, no 
 
 H 
 
98 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 creature of clay, whom the blessed Tishbite invoked 
 when, stung by the reproach of the Shunammite mother, 
 he prayed that her son's soul might come unto him again." 
 
 There is a reference in Warden's rej^ly to another of 
 the miracles wrought by Elijah ; for that of raising the 
 widow's son at Zarephath is a distinct and separate act 
 from the restoring to life the child of the Shunammite 
 mother. 
 
 In The Fortunes of Nigel, we have the adventures of a 
 young Scottish nobleman who went to London in the 
 hope of obtaining, from King James, a sum of money 
 which His Majesty, when James VI. of Scotland, had 
 borrowed from Nigel's father. The payment of this 
 money was necessary to prevent the sale of the castle 
 and estate of Glenvarloch. Nigel finds a friend at 
 Court in the person of Lord Huntinglen, who, from the 
 fact of his having saved James from threatened assassina- 
 tion, was privileged to ask an annual boon of the king. 
 His lordship lays the petition of Nigel before James, who 
 thinks there need be no difficulty about the money, but 
 as regards the estate he had a strong wish to retain it, 
 seeing that "it contained the best hunting-ground in 
 Scotland." Lord Huntinglen listened with great com- 
 posure, and answered : " An' it please your Majesty, there 
 was an answer yielded by Naboth when Ahab coveted 
 his vinej^ard : ' The Lord forbid that I should give the 
 inheritance of my fathers unto thee.' " 
 
 This application of the Scripture narrative had the 
 desired effect upon the king, for he hastily wrote an 
 order on the Scottish exchequer for the amount of the 
 
Solomon and the Kings. 99 
 
 loan, saying, as he did so, " Ye see, my Lord of Huntin- 
 glen, that I am neither an untrue man to deny you the 
 boon whilk I became bound for, nor an Ahab to covet 
 Naboth's vineyard." 
 
 In JFoodstock^ Albert Lee is brought before Cromwell, 
 and, after a brief interview, is ordered to be tried before 
 a court-martial. " One word," said young Lee as he was 
 led from the room. 
 
 "Stop, stop," said Cromwell; "let him be heard." 
 
 " You love texts of Scripture," said Lee. " Let this be 
 the subject of your next homily — ' Had Zimri peace who 
 slew his master?'" This bold allusion to Cromwell's 
 share in the execution of Charles I. is quoted from the 
 question asked by Jezebel of Jehu, when the latter arrived 
 at Jezreel after slaying Joram, the King of Israel. 
 
 In those volumes of the Waverley Novels which are 
 mainly devoted to describing times of great religious 
 excitement either in England or Scotland, there is a 
 wonderful profusion and w^ealth of Scripture language 
 and reference. Such volumes specially indicate how 
 accurately and how intimately Sir Walter knew the 
 Sacred History. No one who did not know the Bible 
 thoroughly, could have written such books as Old Mortality 
 and JFoodstoch Those two novels contain numerous and 
 powerfully-drawn portraits of clergymen, preachers, re- 
 ligious enthusiasts, and men of moderate views in religion. 
 Some of these people preach sermons, others make long 
 prayers, and almost all of them speak in language savour- 
 ing strongly of that of Scripture ; and the particular 
 portion of Scripture which they seem most frequently to 
 
loo TJic Bible in Wave7dey, 
 
 employ is that of the time of the Kings of Judah and 
 Israel. Kettledrunmile, in his sermon to the Cameron- 
 ians after the battle of Drumclog, enlarges on the doctrine 
 of armed resistance to Charles 11. , and as he warms up 
 to his subject, he confers on the king such names as 
 "Jeroboam, Omri, Ahab, Shallum, Pekah, and every 
 other evil monarch recorded in the Chronicles." Balfour 
 calls Bothwell a "railing Eabshakeh;" the poor blind 
 widow Maclure speaks of the dragoons billeted in her 
 cottage as "men of Belial;" and such expressions as 
 " the priests of Baal," " flattering Ziphites," " the sons of 
 Zeruiah," and many more like these are of frequent oc- 
 currence in Old Mortality. Expressions of this kind are 
 used by the extreme section of the Cameronians, who, 
 according to Sir Walter, have no hesitation whatever in 
 detaching from their context many of the commands 
 given to the Jews, and use such commands against all 
 whom they consider the oppressors of Scotland. For 
 example, the more moderate among the clergymen pro- 
 pose that, previous to making an attack on Tillietudlem, 
 the ladies should be summoned to surrender, on the 
 strength of an offer to send them under a safe escort in 
 peace and quietness as far as Edinburgh. Mucklewrath, 
 however, on hearing such a proposal cries out, "Who 
 talks of safe conduct and of peace 1 ... I say, take the 
 . . . daughters and the mothers of the house, and hurl 
 them from the battlements of their trust, that the dogs 
 may fatten on their blood, as they did on that of Jezebel, 
 the spouse of Ahab." 
 
 In the same novel there is another scene in which 
 
Solomon and the Kings. i o i 
 
 Mucklewrath again appears. The scene we refer to is, 
 to our thinking, at once the most dramatic and the most 
 exciting in all the Waverley Novels ; and it comes into 
 its place here, in its historical order, as having reference 
 to King Hezekiah. Henry Morton escapes from Both- 
 well Bridge after an unsuccessful attempt to rally the 
 forces under his command. Seeking refuge in a farm- 
 house, he finds it filled with fugitives like himself, but of 
 the extreme section of the Cameronians. They regard 
 the entrance of Morton with anything but favour, and 
 so far forget themselves, in their zeal for the Covenant, 
 as to seize hold of him and sentence him to be slain when 
 the hand on the clock-face announces that the Sabbath 
 is past. Fearing that the enemy may come up before 
 the hour, the "maniac preacher" starts to his feet ex- 
 claiming, " I take up my song against him. As the sun 
 went back on the dial ten degrees for intimating the 
 recovery of holy Hezekiah, so shall it now go forward, 
 that the wicked may be taken away from among the 
 people, and the Covenant established in its purity." 
 
 The preacher then sprang to a chair with the attitude 
 of frenzy, in order to anticipate the fatal moment by 
 putting the index of the clock forward : while several of 
 the party began to make ready for the immediate execu- 
 tion of their victim. The trampling of horses, however, 
 was heard, and the timely arrival of Claverhouse with a 
 party of dragoons prevented the slaughter of Henry 
 j\Iorton. 
 
 There is another reference to Hezekiah where Hugo 
 de Lacy, in The Betrothed, stands before the Prelate, 
 
102 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 overwhelmed in doubt lest his preference of the con- 
 tinuance of his own house to the rescue of the Holy 
 Sepulchre should be punished by the disease which 
 threatens his nephew's life. "Come," said the Prelate, 
 *' noble De Lacy, the judgment provoked by a moment's 
 presumption may be even yet averted by prayer and 
 penitence. The dial Avent back at the prayer of the good 
 King Hezekiah — down, down upon thy knees, and doubt 
 not that, with confession, and penance, and absolution, 
 thou mayest atone for thy falling away from the cause 
 of Heaven." 
 
 We have in the Waverley Novels several interesting 
 references to Naaman the Syrian. On her journey to 
 London, as described in Tlie Heart of Midlothian, Jeanie 
 Deans hears and sees for the first time the Episcopalian 
 service in church. Unlike all that she has been accustomed 
 to observe in the act of public worship, she felt confused 
 by the change of position adopted in different parts of the 
 ritual. She prudently resolved, however, to imitate as 
 nearly as she could the postures and observances of her 
 fellow-worshippers. "The prophet," she thought, "per- 
 mitted Naaman the Syrian to bow even in the house of 
 Eimmon. Surely if I, in this streight, worship the God 
 of my fathers in mine own language, although the manner 
 thereof be strange to me, the Lord will pardon me in this 
 thing." 
 
 While soldiering on the Continent, our old friend 
 Captain Dalgetty, in A Legend of Montrose, was " pricked 
 in conscience" as to going to church and hearing mass. 
 Asking advice from the reformed Dutch pastor on the 
 
Solomon and the Kifigs. 103 
 
 matter, the clergyman replied " that he considered there 
 would be no harm done in Dalgetty's going to mass, see- 
 ing that the prophet permitted Naaman, a mighty man of 
 valour, and an honourable cavalier of Syria, to follow his 
 master into the house of Eimmon, a false god or idol to 
 whom he had vowed service, and to bow down when the 
 king was leaning upon his hand." 
 
 Observing that Jeanie Deans was a seriously-disposed 
 young woman, the Eector, the Eev. Mr. Staunton, in- 
 vited her to attend family worship in the hall. Her 
 Presbyterian scruples, however, made her hesitate before 
 accepting the invitation, which induced the Eector to 
 remark that he had no wish to force anything on her 
 conscience, but to remind her that Divine grace does not 
 confine its streams only to Presbyterian countries like 
 Scotland, but that it extends its springs, various in 
 character, yet alike efficacious in virtue, throughout 
 the Christian world. 
 
 "Ah, but," said Jeanie, "though the water may 
 be alike, yet, with your worship's leave, the blessing 
 upon them may not be equal. It would have been in 
 vain for Naaman the Syrian leper to have bathed in 
 Pharpar and Abana, rivers of Damascus, when it was 
 only the waters of Jordan that were sanctified for the 
 cure." 
 
 In the story of The SurgeorCs Daughter, the Fakir ex- 
 presses himself greatly astonished at Hartley's refusal to 
 accept of a present. "A Feringi can then refuse gold ! 
 I thought they took it from every hand, whether pure 
 as that of an Houri, or leprous like Gehazi's." 
 
THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 
 
 Short as the Book of Esther is, we have several allu- 
 sions in the Waverley Novels to the outstanding incidents 
 of its interesting narrative. There is the beauty of 
 Esther, the divorce of Vashti, the gallows for Haman, the 
 unchanging laws of the Medes and Persians, and the 
 Oriental magnificence of Ahasuerus. 
 
 Gwenwyn, the fierce and warlike Welsh chief in The 
 Betrothed, while visiting the Garde Doloureuse, sees for 
 the first time Eveline, the only daughter of Sir Raymond 
 Berenger. Greatly struck by her beauty, he resolves 
 upon asking her hand in marriage, after divorcing his 
 childless wife Brengwain. Taking his chaplain into 
 confidence, the chief instructs him how to proceed 
 in the matter; and in the letter which the former 
 wrote to Sir Raymond, there was a moral application 
 in which were many allusions to Vashti, Esther, and 
 Ahasuerus. 
 
 " Hang as high as Haman " is an expression which 
 Sir Walter frequently uses. Cromwell tells Wildrake, 
 in Woodstock, that if he betrays counsel he shall " hang 
 as high as Haman ;" and when in the Tolbooth of Glas- 
 gow, and temporarily a prisoner by the flight of Dougal, 
 
Book of Esther. 105 
 
 Bailie Nicol Jarvie, in Boh Rojj, calls out for hammers, 
 and threatens when again at liberty that he " will hang 
 the Highland blackguard as high as Haman." 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian, Reuben Butler does all he 
 can to dissuade Jeanie Deans from going to London alone 
 to plead her sister's cause before the king and queen in 
 person. He points out the difficulties which she will have 
 to encounter, pictures the grandeur and magnificence sur- 
 rounding the throne, and expresses his fears that she will 
 find it next to impossible even to see their Majesties. 
 But Jeanie replies, "I have thought of a' that, Reuben, 
 and it shall not break my spirit. Nae doubt their 
 claiths will be very grand, wi' their crowns on their 
 heads, and their sceptres in their hands, like the great 
 King Ahasuerus when he sat upon his royal throne for- 
 nent the gate o' his house, as we are told in Scripture. 
 But I have that within me that will keep my heart from 
 failing, and I am amaist sure that I shall be strengthened 
 to speak the errand I came for." 
 
THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 Having indicated, in the preceding chapters, how 
 largely and how frequently Sir Walter draws upon the 
 historical portion of the Old Testament for illustration, 
 let us now turn to the poetical and prophetical books to 
 see in Avhat way they are employed in the pages of the 
 Waverley Novels. 
 
 Beginning wdth the Book of Job, we find that the 
 first reference to it is connected w^ith our old acquaint- 
 ance, David Deans, who once more comes before us 
 with his family trials and sorrows. The reference is to 
 Satan making his appearance among the sons of God, as 
 described in the opening chapter of the sacred poem. 
 When Deans sees the ofl&cers of justice arrive at his 
 cottage with a warrant to search for and apprehend his 
 unfortunate daughter, Efiie, the old man falls senseless on 
 the floor. As his consciousness returns, he raises himself 
 from the ground and, addressing his other daughter, 
 Jeanie, gives expression to these terrible words, " 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 1 Bring her before me, that I may 
 kill her with a word and a look." 
 
Book of Job. 107 
 
 In The Monastery, Father Eustace relates to the Abbot 
 the adventures and mishaps of Philip the Sacristan on 
 his homeward journey from Glendearg. Father Eustace 
 adds that he is inclined to think the Sacristan's brain 
 is affected, seeing he had sung, laughed, and wept in the 
 same breath. 
 
 " A wonderful thing it is to us," said the Abbot, " that 
 Satan has been permitted to put forth his hand thus far 
 on one of our sacred brethren." 
 
 "True," said Father Eustace, "but for every text 
 there is a paraphrase ; and I have my suspicions that if 
 the drenching of Father Philip cometh of the Evil One, 
 yet it may not have been altogether without his own 
 personal fault." 
 
 " How ! " said the Father Abbot, " I will not believe 
 that thou makest doubt that Satan in former days hath 
 been permitted to afflict saints and holy men, even as he 
 afflicted the pious Job," 
 
 In his argument with God, Satan insinuates that Job 
 had come so far out of his trials with honour only because 
 he had not been touched in his own person. " Skin for 
 skin," said the tempter, " all that a man hath will he 
 give for his life." We can never read these words 
 without thinking of a scene in Roh Roy, where Morris, 
 the timid revenue officer, begs in the most piteous terms 
 for his life when he falls into the hands of Helen 
 Macgregor. In the dreadful situation of the moment he 
 would indeed have given all that he had for his life. 
 Morris fell prostrate before the female chief with an 
 effort to clasp her knees, from which she drew back, as 
 
io8 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 if liis touch had been poUution, so that all he could do 
 in token of the extremity of his humiliation was to kiss 
 the hem of her plaid. " I never heard entreaties for life 
 poured forth with such agony of spirit," says Frank 
 Osbaldistone, who witnessed the scene. " The ecstasy of 
 fear was such that instead of paralysing his tongue, as 
 on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him eloquent ; 
 and, with cheeks pale as ashes, hands compressed in 
 agony, eyes that seemed to be taking their last look of 
 all mortal objects, he protested, with the deepest oaths, 
 his total ignorance of any design on the person of Rob 
 Roy, whom, he swore, he loved and honoured as his 
 o^^^l soul. . . . He prayed but for life — for life lie, u-ould 
 give all he had in the tvorld — it was but life he asked — 
 life, if it were to be prolonged under tortures and 
 j^rivations, he asked only breath, though it should be 
 drawn in the damps of the lowest caverns of their hills." 
 
 The wretched petitioner for the poor boon of simj^le 
 existence pleaded in vain. Half naked and manacled, he 
 was thrown over a cliff into the lake below, and " the unit 
 of that life, for which he had pleaded so strongly, was 
 for ever withdrawn from the sum of human existence." 
 
 Crushed to the dust by the successive calamities which 
 befell Job, he had yet the wisdom to see God's hand in 
 all that had happened. His words of faith and resigna- 
 tion are Cjuoted by Sir Walter in A Legend of Montrose^ 
 where the clergyman replies to the broken-hearted Lady 
 Campbell of Ardenvohr, when something in her husband's 
 speech to Dugald Dalgetty reminded her of the loss of 
 their children : 
 
Book of Job. 109 
 
 "He who gave," said the clergyman, addressing her 
 in a solemn tone, " hath taken away. ]\Iay you, honour- 
 able lady, be long enabled to say, Blessed be His name." 
 
 In The Siirgeoiis Dawjliter, Dr. Hartley is called to the 
 residence of General Witherington to prescribe for his 
 two sick children. \Yhen able to announce the welcome 
 news to the General and his wife that the children are 
 likely soon to recover, the lady, in the fulness of her joy, 
 yet trembling with emotion, exclaims "May the God of 
 Israel bless thee, young man ; thou hast wiped the tear 
 from the eye of the despairing mother. And yet — alas ! 
 alas ! still it must flow when I think of my cherub 
 Reuben. Oh, Mr. Hartley.! why did we not know you 
 a week sooner'? my darling had not then died." 
 
 "God gives and takes away, my lady," answered 
 Hartley, " and you must remember that two are restored 
 to you out of three." 
 
 The poverty of Job is often referred to, or used as an 
 illustration. Thus Baby Yellowley, in The Pirate^ 
 declares she never knew a witch, such as Noma, who 
 was not " as poor as Job." Alan Fairford, in Red- 
 gauntlet, describes Peter Peebles to be not only as " poor 
 as Job, but as mad as a March hare," and Dame Ursula 
 says to Margaret Ramsay, A^dth reference to Lord Nigel, 
 that "a Scots nobleman is as proud as Lucifer, and as 
 poor as Job." 
 
 Though Job came out of his trials with patience and 
 resignation, his wife lost heart and hope. There is a 
 reference to her in JFoodstock, where Sir Henrj^ Lee 
 angrily replies to his daughter Alice, who had com- 
 
1 1 o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 municated to him her uncle's advice that it might be 
 well for the old knight to act courteously to the com- 
 missioners appointed to sequestrate the parks and pro- 
 perty at AYoodstock. " By the blessed Rood, thou hast 
 well-nigh led me into the heresy of thinking thee no 
 daughter of mine. Ah ! my beloved companion, who art 
 now far from the sorrows and cares of this weary world, 
 couldst thou have thought that the daughter thou didst 
 clasp to thy bosom, would, like the wicked wife of Job, 
 become a temptress to her father in the hour of affliction, 
 and recommend him to make his conscience truckle to 
 his interest, and to beg back at the bloody hands of his 
 master's, and perhaps his son's murderers, a wretched 
 remnant of the royal property he has been robbed of ! " 
 
 Describing how wretchedly disappointed he was in 
 his friends, Job complains that they had dealt deceitfully 
 mth him, and passed awaj^ like the summer-dried brook. 
 So David Deans, in Tlie, Heart of Midlothian, bewails the 
 loss of the loved associations that had clustered round his 
 daughter Effie. Sternly resolved never again to see her, 
 he says to Jeanie, " She was the bairn of prayers, and 
 may not prove an utter castaway. But never, Jeanie, 
 never more let her name be spoken between you and me. 
 She hath passed from us like the brook which vanisheth 
 when the summer waxeth warm ; as patient Job saith, 
 let her pass and be forgotten." 
 
 Job upbraids his friends for their unkind usage of 
 him. "Miserable comforters are ye all," he says. In 
 The Fortunes of Nigel there is a "Job's Comforter "in 
 the case of Sir Mungo Malagrowther, a crabbed old 
 
Book of Job. 1 1 1 
 
 Scotch courtier, who visits Lord Nigel while confined in 
 the Tower of London, and comforts him, after his fashion, 
 with a minute account of the process of mutilation of the 
 hand — a punishment to which Nigel had rendered him- 
 self liable for his offence against Lord Dalgarno. And, 
 in Quentin Burward, Louis XL is arrested by the Duke 
 of Burgundy, on hearing of the murder of the Bishop, 
 and imprisoned in the fortress of Peronne. The old 
 warder or seneschal intimates to the King that the apart- 
 ment, set apart for his Majesty's use, is one which had 
 never been inhabited by any prisoner since the time of 
 King Charles the Simple. 
 
 " King Charles the Simple ! " echoed Louis ; " I know 
 
 the history of the tower now He was here murdered 
 
 by his treacherous vassal. . . . ^er^, then, my pre- 
 decessor was slain ! " 
 
 " Not here, not exactly here," said the warder, a gar- 
 rulous old man, " not here, but in the side chamber a little 
 onward, which opens from your Majesty's bedchamber." 
 
 The seneschal then conducts the King into the 
 small chamber. "If it please your Majesty," he says, 
 "to look upon this little wicket behind the arras, it 
 opens into the little old cabinet in the thickness of the 
 wall where Charles was slain; and there is a secret 
 passage from below which admitted the men who were 
 to deal with him. And your Majesty, whose eyesight is 
 better than mine, may see the blood still on the oak 
 floor, though the thing was done five hundred years 
 ago." A Job's comforter, truly ! 
 
 Replying to Job, Eliphaz relates in sublime and strik- 
 
1 1 2 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 ing language the manner in which a vision had appeared 
 before him. ]\Iany scenes and incidents in the Waverley 
 Novels have apparently been suggested to Sir AValter by 
 this vision of Eliphaz. Thus Master Holdenough tells 
 Colonel Everard how he had seen a vision of an old college 
 companion, while sitting writing in a half-furnished apart- 
 ment in the Lodge of AYoodstock. He had been so 
 emjjloyed for about three hours, when " a strange thrilling 
 came over my senses, and the large and old-fashioned 
 apartment seemed to wax larger, more gloomy, and more 
 cavernous, while the air of the night grew more cold and 
 chill. I know not if it was that the fire began to decay, 
 or whether there cometh before such things as were then 
 about to happen, a breath and atmosphere, as it were, of 
 terror, as Job saith in a well-known passage, ' Fear came 
 upon me, and trembling, which make my bones to shake;' 
 and there was a tingling noise in my ears, and a dizziness 
 in my brain, so that I felt like those who call for aid 
 when there is no danger, and was even prompted to flee, 
 when I saw no one to pursue." 
 
 Fergus Maclvor relates to Waverley that he had seen 
 the Bodach Glas or Gray Spectre, and that, consequently, 
 he would be either captive or dead before the morning. 
 Downcast and dispirited by the disastrous march of the 
 Highland army into England, Fergus one evening left his 
 quarters, and walked out in hopes that the keen frosty 
 air would brace his nerves and revive his spirits. To his 
 great surprise he saw a tall figure in the moonlight, and 
 keep what pace he would, the figure kept regularly about 
 four yards in advance. The description which Sir Walter 
 
Book of Job. 1 1 3 
 
 gives of the poor chief's terror was evidently suggested 
 by that of the sacred poet in the vision of EHphaz. " I 
 felt an anxious throbbing at my heart," said Maclvor, 
 . . . "my hair bristled, and my knees shook." The figure 
 spoke and told the chief to " beware of to-morrow." The 
 following evening Fergus was made a prisoner, and he 
 and Waverley never again met each other until the fatal 
 day at Carlisle, a little while before the former was led 
 out to execution. 
 
 When Jeanie Deans, in The Heart of Midlothian^ went 
 to visit her sister in the prison of Edinburgh, " O Effie," 
 she said, " how could you conceal your situation from 
 me 1 . . . 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 re- 
 moved 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 
 
 I 
 
1 1 4 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 the roots, and flung out to waste in the highway, that 
 man and beast may tread it under foot." 
 
 The well-known description of the horse in the Book 
 of Job is frequently used by Sir Walter while relating 
 battle -scenes, or drawing the portrait of some of his 
 military heroes and adventures. In Tlie Betrothed, 
 Genvil's love of battle, " like that of the war-horse of 
 Job, kindles at the sight of the spears, and at the sound 
 of the trumpet." Henry Wynd or Smith, in the Fair 
 Maid of Perth, says to Simon Glover, "St. John knows 
 I have heard a summons to battle as willingly as war- 
 horse ever heard the trumpet ; " and when Claverhouse, 
 in Old Mortality, was informed that the Whigs were 
 gathering at Drumclog, one of his officers, Bothwell, 
 welcomed the news, for, "like the war-horse of Scrip- 
 ture, he snuffed the battle afar off." 
 
 The sea-monster, too, 
 
 ' ' By liis titles 
 Of Leviathan, Behemoth, and so forth," 
 
 is, in these lines, referred to in the motto to the thirtieth 
 chapter of The Antiquary. And, in Quentin Dunvard, 
 Louis XI. thus speaks of his approaching interview with 
 the Duke of Burgundy : " I am to face this Leviathan, 
 Charles, who will presently swim hitherward, cleaving 
 the deep before him." 
 
 We close these illustrations from the Book of Job by 
 quoting one well-known verse, which is introduced in 
 Henry Morton's reflections, in Old Mortality, when he 
 had finished looking at the papers, and reading the 
 verses, which he had found in the secret pocket of Both- 
 
Book of Job. 1 1 5 
 
 well, who was killed in the skirmish at Drumclog : " Our 
 resolutions, our passions, are like the waves of the sea, 
 and, without the aid of Him who formed the human 
 breast, we cannot say to its tides, 'Thus far shall ye 
 come, and no farther.' " 
 
THE PSALMS. 
 
 The Book of Psalms contains much that seems to 
 have interested Sir Walter, for we find him frequently 
 referring to or quoting from it. Many of its expressions 
 and illustrations appear to glide into the composition of 
 his novels, and prove by their presence, if any proof 
 were wanted, how thoroughly the Sacred Scriptures, as a 
 whole, were known to the author of Waverley. Thus 
 the Bishop of Lincoln, in Kenilworth, speaks of the 
 Queen's countenance being a lamp to the paths of her 
 ministers; and the pedlar, in Waverley , congratulates 
 Gilfillan on the lines of the latter having fallen in pleasant 
 places in being the owner of some fertile land in Ayr- 
 shire. 
 
 In the story of The Black Dwarf there is an incident 
 which was no doubt suggested to Sir Walter by the ex- 
 pression, " Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's 
 vessel," occurring in the second Psalm. Declaring what 
 he would do to the person, were any such to be found, 
 who could do him the greatest possible harm either in 
 body or soul, the Dwarf in one of his fierce and mis- 
 anthropic moods says to Earnscliff, "Were that man's 
 fortunes and life in my power as this frail potsherd " — 
 
The Psalms, 1 1 7 
 
 he snatched up an earthen cup which stood beside him 
 — " I would not dash him into atoms thus " — he flung 
 the vessel with fury against the wall — " No ! I would 
 pamper him with wealth and power," the Dwarf went 
 on to say, "until his enemy were as friendless and as 
 miserable as himself." 
 
 In T]u Fair Maid of Perth, Catherine Glover ad- 
 ministers a rebuke to Father Clement when he persuades 
 her to receive the addresses of the Duke of Rothesay, 
 and tempts her ^vith the possibihty of her being thereby 
 in a position to help forward the reformation of the 
 Church. But she repudiates the idea as unprincipled, 
 and the Father confesses himself corrected by her ad- 
 monition. "By the mouths of babes and sucklings," 
 said he, quoting an expression from the eighth Psalm, 
 " hath He rebuked those who would seem wise in their 
 generation. I thank Heaven, that hath taught me better 
 thoughts than my own vanity suggested, through the 
 medium of so kind a monitress." 
 
 In The Abbot, Queen Mary, while a prisoner in Loch 
 Leven Castle, turns to one of her ladies-in-waiting, and 
 says Avith reference to the youthful Roland Graeme and 
 Catherine Seyton, "Are they not a lovely couple, my 
 Fleming*? and is it not heartrending to think that I 
 must be their ruin ? " 
 
 " Not so," said Roland, " it is we, gracious Sovereign, 
 who will be your deliverers." 
 
 " Ex oribus parvulorum ! " said the Queen looking up- 
 ward ; "it is by the mouths of these children that 
 Heaven calls me to resume the stately thoughts which 
 
1 1 8 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 become my birth and my rights ; Thou wilt grant them 
 Thy protection, and to me the power of rewarding their 
 zeal." 
 
 From the same Psalm the following quotation is made, 
 and it occurs in The Pirate, where Sir \Yalter, at the 
 close of the novel, describes the last days of the high- 
 minded and imaginative Minna Troil. After all her 
 trials and disappointments she turned her thoughts 
 from the world, and gave her time and her heart to 
 minister to those who needed help and comfort; and 
 when she died, her friends were consoled " by the fond 
 reflection that the humanity which she then laid down, 
 was the only circumstance which had placed her, in the 
 words of Scripture, ' a little lower than the angels.' " 
 
 In The Betrothed, there is an incident which forms an 
 interesting commentary on the character of the righteous 
 or godly man, as brought out in the fifteenth Psalm in 
 the form of question and answer. Wilkin, the Fleming, 
 goes to Father Aldrovand and asks his advice in the 
 following circumstances. Stating his case, Wilkin says 
 that he had promised to his neighbour, Jan Vanwelt, 
 that he would give him his daughter Eose in marriage. 
 He had also accepted of a sum of money which was to 
 be the earnest of his promise being carried out. The 
 Fleming, however, came to feel that he could not give 
 away his daughter, and he ^vished to know if he could, 
 in conscience, withdraw from the promise he had made. 
 The Father thought that in the circumstances Wilkin 
 might withdraw, but if he did so, he must at the same 
 time pay back the money he had received from his 
 
The Psalms. 1 1 9 
 
 neighbour. This Wilkin could not see his way to do, 
 as the Welsh had destroyed his substance, and the 
 money was all he had wherewith to begin the world 
 anew. 
 
 "Nevertheless, son Wilkin," said Aldrovand, "thou 
 must keep thy word, or pay the forfeit ; for what saith 
 the text % Qiiis habitabit in tabemacido, quis requiescet in 
 monte sando ? — Who shall ascend to the tabernacle, and 
 dwell in the holy mountain ? Is it not answered again, 
 Qui jurat p-oximo et non decipit ? Go to, my son — break 
 not thy plighted word for a little filthy lucre — better is 
 an empty stomach and a hungry heart, with a clear 
 conscience, than a felled ox with iniquity and word- 
 breaking." 
 
 In Old Mortality, Bothwell brings his rearguard and 
 prisoners along very rough and uneven ground. Among 
 the prisoners are Kettledrummle the preacher, and old 
 Mause Headrigg, both of whom are sorely distressed at 
 the brutality of the troopers compelling them to leap 
 their horses over drains and gullies. Thinking of the 
 Psalmist's troubles and deliverances, as recorded in the 
 eighteenth Psalm, Mause exclaims, "Through the help 
 of the Lord I have luppen ower a wall," as her horse 
 was, by a rude attendant, brought up to leap the turf en- 
 closure of a deserted field. 
 
 The well-known expression in the twenty -third 
 Psalm, " the valley of the shadow of death," affords Sir 
 Walter some interesting illustrations in a variety of 
 ways. An incident in The Talisman brings before us 
 the valley in its literal form and aspect. The Crusader 
 
1 20 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 and the Saracen are riding together across "the awful 
 wilderness of the forty days' fast, and the scene of the 
 actual personal temptation, wherewith the Evil Principle 
 was permitted to assail the Son of Man." As they pene- 
 trate the gloomy recesses of the mountains, the Crusader 
 remonstrates mth his fellow-traveller on the ill-timed 
 and misplaced frivolity of singing a love song. " I blame 
 not," he said, "the love of minstrelsy, and of the gaie 
 science ; albeit we yield unto it even too much room in 
 our thoughts when they should be bent on better things. 
 But prayers and holy psalms are better fitting than lays 
 of love, or of wine-cups, when men walk in this Valley 
 of the Shadow of Death, full of fiends and demons, whom 
 the prayers of holy men have driven forth from the 
 haunts of humanity to wander amidst scenes as accursed 
 as themselves." 
 
 In the Legend of Montrose, the Valley is referred to in 
 illustration of the force of fear or unwillingness to face 
 a particular danger. Thus, among the Highlanders 
 assembled at the house of Angus MacAulay, ready to 
 take up arms under Montrose, no one could be found to 
 undertake the perilous duty of accompanying Sir Duncan 
 Campbell on an embassy to the Marquis of Argyle. 
 "One would have thought," observes Sir Walter, "In- 
 veraray had been the Valley of the Shadow of Death, 
 the inferior chiefs showed such reluctance to approach it." 
 
 Before setting out for London, and while Reuben 
 Butler was searching for the papers for MacCallum More, 
 Jeanie Deans, in The Heart of Midlothian, took up her 
 lover's Bible; "I have marked a Scripture," she said, as 
 
The Psalms. 1 2 
 
 she again laid it (io\vii, " with your kylevine pen, that 
 will be useful to us baith." After she had gone " Butler 
 flew to the Bible, the last book which Jeanie had touched. 
 To his extreme surprise, a paper, containing two or three 
 pieces of gold, dropped from the book. With a black lead 
 pencil she had marked the sixteenth and twenty-fifth 
 verses of the thirty-seventh Psalm — ' A little that a right- 
 eous man hath, is better than the riches of the wicked.' 
 ' I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen 
 the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.' 
 Deeply impressed with the affectionate delicacy which 
 shrouded its own generosity under the cover of a pro- 
 vidential supply to his wants, he pressed the gold to his 
 lips mth more ardour than ever the metal was greeted 
 by a miser." This twenty-fifth verse is again quoted in 
 Tlrie Bride of Lammermoor, in connection with the scene 
 where Caleb Balderstone made ojF to Wolf's Crag with 
 the wild -fowl which was roasting on the spit, and in- 
 tended for the Christmas dinner in the house of Gilbert 
 the cooper. The cooper could have borne the loss more 
 complacently had the savoury roast been given to " some 
 poor body," or, indeed, to any one but Caleb's master, 
 the descendant of that Eavenswood who " rade in the 
 wicked troop 0' militia when it was commanded out 
 against the sants at Both well Brig." " Aweel, Gilbert," 
 said the minister, " and dinna ye see a high judgment 
 in this 1 — The seed of the righteous are not seen begging 
 their bread — think of the son of a powerful oppressor 
 being brought to the pass of supporting his household 
 from your fulness ! " 
 
122 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Following Jeanie Deans on her way to London, we find 
 her falling into the hands of a lot of ruffians, who 
 detained her as their prisoner in an old hovel or barn. 
 Left to her own sad reflections, she sought refuge in reli- 
 gion, and felt much strengthened as she thought of her 
 father's winter evening tales, with their numerous in- 
 stances of how the martyrs of the suffering Church of 
 Scotland had been preserved from dangers infinitely 
 greater than her own. "I bethought myself," Jeanie 
 thus continues her reflections, " that the same help that 
 was wi' them in their strait, wad be wi' me in mine, an' 
 I can but watch the Lord's time and opportunity for 
 delivering my feet from their snare ; and I minded the 
 Scripture of the blessed Psalmist, whilk he insisteth on, 
 as weel in the forty-second as in the forty-third Psalm, 
 'Why art thou cast down, my soul, and why art 
 thou disquieted within me % Hope in God, for I shall 
 yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, 
 and my God.'" 
 
 In her letter to the unfortunate Master of Eavens- 
 wood, in The Bride of Lammermoor, Lady Ashton desires 
 him to banish from his mind all thoughts of marrying 
 her daughter Lucy. Brighter though his prospects now 
 apj^ear to be, yet she saj^s with reference to this, and to 
 the fact of Ravenswood's ancestors having been on dif- 
 ferent sides of religion and politics from those of her own 
 family, " It is not a flightering blink of prosperity which 
 can change my constant opinion in this regard, seeing 
 it has been my lot before now, like holy David, to see 
 the Avicked great in poAver, and flourishing like a green 
 
The Psabns. 1 2 3 
 
 bay tree ; nevertheless I passed, and they were not, and 
 the place thereof knew them no more." 
 
 In the opening chapter of Woodstock there is a remark- 
 able scene in the church where the Presbyterian preacher, 
 Mr. Holdenough, is rudely pulled down the pulpit stairs 
 by a soldier, one of Cromwell's "military saints." A 
 violent struggle ensues, and in the end the preacher 
 leaves the church, while the soldier mounts to the pulpit. 
 Taking a Bible from his pocket he selected his text from 
 the forty-fifth Psalm — "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 
 most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty; and in 
 thy majesty ride prosperously." Upon this theme the 
 novelist tells us that the "military saint" commenced 
 one of those wild declamations common at the period, in 
 which men were accustomed to wrest and pervert the 
 language of Scripture, by adapting it to modern events. 
 In its literal sense, the language of this Psalm applies to 
 King David, and, typically, to the coming of the Messiah ; 
 but in the opinion of the military orator it was most 
 properly applicable to Oliver Cromwell, and to him he 
 therefore applied it in the course of a long and rambling 
 sermon. 
 
 In the novel of Kenilivorth^ there is an interesting illus- 
 tration of the meaning of that expression in the seventy- 
 third Psalm which states that the wicked "have no 
 bands in their death" — that is, they appear to feel 
 neither pain nor agony, remain firm to the end, and 
 scarcely feel themselves to be in the last mortal struggle. 
 After a life of villainy, Varney was arrested for his share 
 in the murder of the Countess Amy. He showed no 
 
124 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 remorse. "I was not born," he said, "to drag on the 
 remainder of life a degraded outcast — nor will I so die, 
 that my fate shall make a holiday to the village herd." 
 He was found dead in his cell from the effects of poison 
 which he had concealed about his person. " Nor did he 
 appear to have suffered much agony, his countenance 
 presenting, even in death, the habitual expression of 
 sneering sarcasm which was predominant while he lived. 
 'The wicked man,' saith Scripture, 'hath no bonds in 
 his death.'" 
 
 In his vivid description of the skirmish at Drumclog, 
 Sir Walter reproduces the historical account of the 
 Cameronians uniting their voices and reciting, in solemn 
 modulation, the two first verses of the seventy -sixth 
 Psalm, according to the metrical version of the Church 
 of Scotland: 
 
 ' ' In Judah's land God is well known, 
 His name's in Israel great ; 
 In Salem is his Tabernacle, 
 In Zion is His seat. 
 
 " There arrows of the bow He brake, 
 The shield, the sword, the war ; 
 More glorious Thou than hills of prey, 
 More excellent art far." 
 
 After a short pause the third and fourth stanzas were 
 recited by the Covenanters, who applied the destruction 
 of the Assyrian host to their own impending conflict : 
 
 " Those that were stout of heart were spoil'd, 
 They slept their sleep outright ; 
 And none of those their hands did find, 
 That were the men of might. 
 
Ji^^^ 
 
 The Psalms. 
 
 'UH 
 
 OP THK 
 125 
 
 " When Thy rebuke, Jacob's God, 
 Had forth against them past. 
 Their horses and their chariots both 
 Were in a deep sleep cast." 
 
 This incident reminds us of another occasion on which 
 one of the Psalms was recited on the eve of battle. This 
 time the incident is narrated in the novel of Peveril of the 
 Peak, where the Puritans, before their assault on Martin- 
 dale Castle, lift up their voices and recite one of those 
 triumphant songs in which the Israelites used to celebrate 
 their victories over the heathen inhabitants of the pro- 
 mised land : 
 
 " Let God arise, and then His foes 
 Shall turn themselves to flight, 
 His enemies for fear shall run, 
 And scatter out of sight. 
 
 *' And as wax melts before the fire, 
 And wind blows smoke away, 
 So in the presence of the Lord, 
 The wicked shall decay. 
 
 " God's army twenty thousand is 
 Of angels bright and strong. 
 The Lord also in Sinai 
 Is present them among. 
 
 " Thou didst, Lord, ascend on high, 
 And captive led'st them all, 
 Who, in times past, Thy chosen fold 
 In bondage did enthral. " 
 
 These stanzas form part of Sternhold's version of the 
 sixty-eighth Psalm, with some slight variations. 
 
 In a variety of ways Sir Walter illustrates one of the 
 verses of the hundred and fourth Psalm, "Wine that 
 
The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 maketh glad the heart of man." Inviting Jeanie Deans 
 to his mansion in London, the Duke of Argyle presented 
 her to the Duchess and her daughters, by whom she was 
 received with much kindness and attention. Before 
 leaving, the Duke poured out a glass of wine and offered 
 it to his guest. But Jeanie declined it, saying that she 
 never tasted wine in her life. 
 
 "How comes that, Jeanie 1" said the Duke; "wine 
 maketh glad the heart, j^ou know." 
 
 "Ay, sir, but my father is like Jonadab, the son of 
 Rechab, who charged his children that they should drink 
 no wine." 
 
 In Tlie Talisman, King Richard speaks of wine as 
 "that lightener of the human heart." Wilkin, the 
 Fleming, in The Betrothed, feels the want of this reviving 
 property of mne as he asks the butler for a flagon of 
 Rhenish, "for," says he, "my heart is low and poor 
 within me." AVatch the delight of the poor lay brother 
 as he takes with a trembling hand a cup of wine which 
 the Abbot, in the novel of the same name, pours out for 
 him. " He drained the cup with protracted delight, as 
 if bidding adieu in future to such a delicious potation." 
 But, perhaps, the finest instance in Sir Walter's writings 
 of the exhilarating power of wine is to be found in The 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. Exhausted by the effort in re- 
 citing his Lay, the Duchess tells her page to bring a 
 goblet of wine for the aged minstrel : 
 
 " The precious juice the minstrel quaff'd, 
 And he, embolden'd by the draught, 
 Look'd gaily back to them and laugh'd ; 
 
The Psalms. 1 2 7 
 
 The cordial nectar of the bowl 
 
 Swell'd his old veins and cheer'd his soul." 
 
 But with all this mention of the exliilarating property 
 of wine, Sir Walter does not fail to point out that there 
 is enjoyment in its use, only in so far as that use is not 
 abused. " The juice of the grape," says the Crusader, 
 in The Talisman, to the Saracen Emir, "is given to him 
 that will use it Avisely, as that which cheers the heart of 
 man after toil, refreshes him in sickness, and comforts 
 him in sorrow. He who so enjoy eth it may thank God 
 for his wine-cup as for his daily bread; and he who 
 abuseth the gift of Heaven, is not a greater fool in his 
 intoxication than thou in thine abstinence." 
 
 Adam Woodcock, in The Abbot, advises Eoland Graeme 
 to "beware of the pottle-pot — it has drenched the judg- 
 ment of wiser men than you." 
 
 The Baron Bradwardine, in Waverley, detested those 
 who swallowed wine for the "mere delectation of the 
 gullet," and approved of it only in so far as it " cheered 
 the heart and gladdened the face." And what a social 
 wreck is poor Nanty Ewart, in Redgauntlet, who gave 
 way to the desire for strong drink, and came to realise 
 for himself the melancholy truth that brandy was slowly 
 but surely killing him. 
 
 Before leaving the hundred and fourth Psalm, we are 
 reminded, in Waverley, of an interesting reference to the 
 conies mentioned in the eighteenth verse. The Baron 
 Bradwardine remarks to Waverley, when the latter came 
 to visit him while still a fugitive after the disasters of 
 1745, "Now I have gotten a house that is not unlike a 
 
1 2 S The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 domus idtima" — they were standing at the time iDelow 
 the Baron's hiding-place in the face of a rock, — "We 
 poor Jacobites are now like the conies in Holy Scripture 
 (which the great traveller Pococke calleth Jerboa), a 
 feeble people, that make our abode in the rocks." 
 
 Having succeeded in her mission to London, and 
 obtained a pardon for her sister, Jeanie Deans is wel- 
 comed home by her father in the most touching and 
 affectionate terms. The old man gives expression to his 
 gratitude and joy in language borrowed from, or at least 
 suggested by, that of the hundred and twenty -sixth 
 Psalm. "Jeanie, my ain Jeanie — my best — my maist 
 dutiful bairn — the Lord of Israel be thy father, for I am 
 hardly worthy of thee ! Thou hast redeemed our captivity 
 — brought back the honours of our house. Bless thee, 
 my bairn, with mercies promised and purchased ! But 
 He has blessed thee, in the good of which He has made 
 thee the instrument." 
 
 In Ivanhoe there is also a reference to this Psalm. At 
 the close of her trial for the imputed crime of sorcery, 
 Rebecca piteously looks round the court of the Grand- 
 Master and asks, in an imploring tone, if there is any 
 one present who, either for the love of a good cause or 
 for ample hire, will do the errand of one in great straits. 
 Higg, the son of Snell, offers his services. " I -will do 
 thine errand," he said, addressing Eebecca, " as well as 
 a crippled object can." To which she gratefully replies, 
 " God is the Disposer of all. He can turn the caiotivity of 
 Judah, even by the weakest instrument. To execute His 
 message, the snail is as sure a messenger as the falcon." 
 
TJie Psalms. 129 
 
 The gracious manner in which Lady Peveril received 
 the Puritans at Martindale Castle had a singularly 
 soothing effect upon the sectaries, who had expected a 
 very different reception. Even Solsgrace, the Presby- 
 terian parson, did not escape the sympathetic infection, 
 for he recited aloud the first verse of the hundred and 
 thirty-third Psalm, as best expressive of the feelings of 
 all present on the occasion : — 
 
 ' ' what a happy thing it is 
 And joyful for to see 
 Brethren to dwell together in 
 Friendship and unity." 
 
 There is a text in the hundred and twenty-fourth 
 Psalm which Sir Walter quotes very frequently — " Our 
 soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers." 
 When arrested for alleged complicity in the assault upon 
 Dousterswivel, old Edie Ochiltree, in The AntiqiLary, 
 thanked his friends for their sympathy and offers of assist- 
 ance. He assured them, at the same time, that he had 
 " gotten out 0' mony a snare when I was waur deserving 0' 
 deliverance. I shall escape like a bird from the fowler." 
 
 Describing the feelings of Isaac the Jew when he was 
 thrown into the dungeon of Torquilstone Castle, Sir 
 Walter explains that the Jews in England at the time 
 of the story, Ivanhoe, had, by the very frequency of their 
 fears on all occasions, their minds prepared for every 
 sort of tyranny which could possibly be practised upon 
 them. Nor was this the first time that Isaac had been 
 placed in circumstances so dangerous. " He had there- 
 fore experience to guide him, as well as hope, that he 
 
 K 
 
130 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 might again, as formerly, be delivered as a prey from the 
 fowler." 
 
 When Alan Fairford arrives at Mount Sharon, in 
 JRedgauntlet, he is kindly and hospitably received by Miss 
 Geddes. She informs him that her brother has gone to 
 Cumberland to get the magistrates of that county inter- 
 ested in the case of Darsie Latimer. Beset by many 
 dangers, both by land and sea, the gentle lady yet ex- 
 presses the hope that her brother will be preserved by 
 " Him who directeth all things, and ruleth over the waves 
 of the sea, who overruleth the devices of the mcked, and 
 who can redeem us even as a bird from the fowler's net." 
 
 When Darsie Latimer was made a prisoner by Red- 
 gauntlet he was closely confined, and allowed to see no 
 one. But he contrived to open a communication with 
 Wandering Willie, the blind musician, whom he heard 
 playing beneath the mndow of his apartment. Among 
 musical people there is a sort of freemasonry by means 
 of which they can, by the mere choice of some particular 
 tune or song, express a great deal to the hearers. Darsie 
 commenced the experiment by selecting something more 
 expressive of his captivity than any song which he could 
 recollect. He therefore sang two or three lines of the 
 hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm — 
 
 " By Babel's streams we sat and wept '' — 
 the meaning of which was instantly caught up by the 
 musician outside, who replied by playing a tune, the 
 words of which conveyed hope and encouragement to the 
 prisoner. 
 
 We close this chapter by pointing out one or two in- 
 
The Psalms. 131 
 
 teresting illustrations of the text, " Put not your trust in 
 princes," in the hundred and forty-sixth Psalm. The 
 Earl of Leicester, in Kenilworth^ in a conversation which 
 he has with Yarney, observes — "And so men talk of 
 the Queen's favour toward mef 
 
 " Ay, my good lord," said Varney, " of what can they 
 €lse, since it is so strongly manifested f 
 
 " She is indeed my good and gracious mistress," said 
 Leicester after a pause, "but it is written, 'Put not thy 
 trust in Princes.'" 
 
 In The Fair Maid of Perth, Sir John Eamorny twice 
 quotes the text to the Prince of Scotland himself, who 
 would not listen to the ambitious designs which the 
 former ventured to propose, and dared him to renew the 
 theme on peril of his life. To which Sir John replied, 
 " If I have said anything which could so greatly exas- 
 perate your Highness, it must have been by excess of 
 zeal mingled with imbecility of understanding. . . . 
 Alas ! my only future views must be to exchange lance 
 and saddle for the breviary and the confessional. The 
 convent of Lindores must receive the maimed and im- 
 poverished Knight of Eamorny, who will have ample 
 leisure to meditate upon the text, ' Put not thy faith in 
 Princes.'" And further on in the story, Sir John is 
 asked to state where he was, or what he was doing, on 
 the night when Oliver Proudfute was murdered. He 
 replies that he can prove by the evidence of his late 
 royal master that he was in his own lodgings, lying ill 
 at ease, on the night in question. The Prince confirmed 
 this statement, but said, further, that he knew nothing 
 
The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 of what Sir John's attendants might be doing, and that 
 it was quite possible some of them may have committed 
 the crime. Angry at the insinuation contained in the 
 latter portion of the Prince's speech, Eamorny replied, 
 " I thank your Highness for your cautious and limited 
 testimony in my behalf. He was Avise who -wrote, ' Put 
 not your faith in Princes.'" 
 
 The proud and ambitious Maclvor, in JVaverley, states 
 his claims and expectations to Prince Charles Edward, 
 who graciously listens, but desires him, as a personal 
 favour, not to press them at that particular time. This 
 request so offended the chief that, in relating to his 
 friend Waverley an account of the interview, he closes 
 by saying, in bitter irony and disappointment, ^^ After 
 this, put your trust in Princes." 
 
POETICAL BOOKS OF SOLOMON. 
 
 Our present study has brought us up to those Poetical 
 Books of the Bible which bear the name of Solomon as 
 their author; and the first reference to them in our 
 Waverley notes is to the text, " Wisdom's ways are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." In our 
 introductory chapter we had occasion specially to refer 
 to Sir Walter's use of this text, so that we do not require 
 to say more about it now, but proceed to the considera- 
 tion of others requiring our attention. 
 
 " In the multitude of counsellors there is safety," says 
 the royal sage. This text is quoted in Kenihvorth in 
 connection with the incident of Wayland Smith pre- 
 scribing for the Earl of Sussex, on condition that the 
 patient is not disturbed during the period of lethargy 
 produced by the medicine. When Queen Elizabeth's 
 physician calls at her request to see the Earl, he is, of 
 course, refused admittance. At this the Queen exj^resses 
 great surprise ; but when she learns that the patient has 
 risen from his sleep, greatly strengthened and refreshed, 
 she says to Ealeigh, "By my word, I am glad he is 
 better. But thou wert over bold to deny the access 
 of my Doctor Masters. Know'st thou not that Holy 
 
134 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Writ saith, ' In the multitude of counsel there is 
 safety"?" 
 
 " Ay, madam," said "Walter, " but I have heard learned 
 men say that the safety spoken of is for the physicians, 
 not for the patient." 
 
 "By my faith, child, thou hast pushed me home," 
 said the Queen, laughing, " for my Hebrew learning does 
 not come quite at a call." Here her Majesty asked the 
 Bishop of Lincoln if Ealeigh had rightly interpreted the 
 text ; but the Bishop replied in such a rambling sort of 
 way as to show that he, too, was not sure of his Hebrew, 
 and so the Queen graciously interrupted him, and passed 
 on to another subject. 
 
 AVhen Tyrrel arrives at St. Eonan's he observes to 
 our old friend, Mrs. Dods, the landlady of the inn, that 
 while she is arranging about the rooms he is to occupy, 
 he will go to the stable and see after his horse. 
 
 " The merciful man," said Mrs. Dods, when her guest 
 had left the kitchen, "is merciful to his beast." In this 
 way Sir Walter invariably paraphrases the text, " The 
 righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." 
 
 Fond of animals as the author of Waverhy always 
 was, this verse seems to have been a great favourite with. 
 him, for it is quoted, or illustrated in some way or other, 
 in almost every novel he wrote. We have just seen 
 how he makes Meg Dods quote it ; and when he tells us, 
 in another part of the story of St. Eonan's, that Meg 
 sternly refused to connive at the postilions exchanging, 
 for porter and whisky, the corn which should feed their 
 horses, we have the meaning of the text brought out in 
 
Poetical Books of Solomon. 1 3 5 
 
 the landlady's consideration for the animals, and her regard 
 for their health and strength in the work they had to do. 
 
 It is delightful to meet so many varied illustrations 
 of this text cropping up, every now and again, in every 
 novel of the Waverley series. In her flight from Loch 
 Leven, in The Ahhot, Queen Mary teUs Roland, her page, 
 to see to the comfort of Rosabelle, her pony. Christie of 
 the Clinthill, in The Monastery^ chafes impatiently at Sir 
 Piercie Shafton keeping the horses standing so long in 
 the cold after the hard riding they have had. When the 
 Master of Eavenswood and Bucklaw arrive at AVolf's 
 Crag, in The Bride of LammerTnoor, it is their horses that 
 they request old Caleb to look after first, before attending 
 to themselves or to anything else. The Baron Bradwar- 
 dine, in Waverley, fondly strokes his reeking horse after 
 the victory and pursuit at Preston, and as he dismounts 
 and gives him in charge to the groom, he warns the man 
 to mind the charger and not to leave him to look for 
 plunder on the field. While Dandie Dinmont, in G^iy 
 Mannering, is enjoying his own dinner at the little road- 
 side inn, he casts an eye from time to time to see how 
 his horse, Dumple, is getting on. Before Hayraddin the 
 Bohemian is led off to execution, he has a request to 
 make of Quentin Durward. "Tell me thy request," 
 says Quentin, "I will grant it if it be in my power." 
 
 " Nay, it is no mighty demand — it is only in behalf 
 of poor Klepper, my palfrey, the only li\ing thing that 
 may miss me. . . . Take him and make much of him. . . . 
 He will never fail you at need — night and day, rough 
 and smooth, fair and foul, warm stables and the winter 
 
136 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 sky, are the same to Klepper. . . . AVill you be kind to 
 Klepperf 
 
 "I swear to you that I will," answered Quentin, 
 affected by what seemed a trait of tenderness in a 
 character so hardened. 
 
 It is not, however, until we take up the Legend of 
 Montrose that we find the fullest development of the 
 meaning of the text in Dugald Dalgetty's extraordinary 
 attachment to his horse. He calls him his companion, 
 and refuses to let any of M'Aulay's grooms rub him 
 down or attend him in any way; he does everything 
 himself. This companionship between man and horse 
 continues all through the story : to such a degree, indeed, 
 that there is an impression left on the mind of the reader 
 that this particular novel of the Waverley series is 
 specially illustrative of Sir Walter's paraphrase, "The 
 merciful man is merciful to his beast." 
 
 But Sir Walter does not confine the text to horses. 
 Mary Avenel, in The Monastery^ nurses her pigeons 
 "with the tenderness of a mother." The Black Dwarf 
 is greatly affected as he sees his favourite goat throttled 
 by Hobbie Elliot's deer-hound. While dining at the 
 country inn, the Cat and Fiddle, a mastiff came and sat 
 down before Julian Peveril, licking his chops, and fol- 
 lo\ving with his eye every morsel which the traveller 
 raised to his mouth. 
 
 "Here, my poor fellow," said Peveril, "thou hast had 
 no fish, and needest this supernumerary trencher-load 
 more than I do. I cannot withstand thy mute supplica- 
 tion any longer." When Jeanie Deans returns from 
 
Poetical Books of Solomon. 1 3 7 
 
 London, and is being conducted over the new farm-yard 
 by old May Hettly, the cows acknowledge the presence of 
 their mistress by lowing, turning round their heads, and 
 exhibiting visible signs of pleasure as she approaches 
 to caress each in their turn. 
 
 "The very brute beasts are glad to see ye again," 
 said May, " but nae wonder, Jeanie, for ye were aye kind 
 to beast and body." 
 
 We have several very interesting illustrations of the 
 truth contained in the text, " Hope deferred maketh the 
 heart sick." The gentle and amiable girl, Jenny Caxon, 
 in The Antiquary, is every day expecting a letter from her 
 lover. Lieutenant TafFril, who is absent on duty. She sum- 
 mons courage to go to the Post Office to make inquiry, but 
 is told by the gossiping and heartless postmistress to come 
 back next morning at ten. The poor girl " could only draw 
 her cloak about her to hide the sigh of disappointment, 
 and return meekly home to endure, for another night, the 
 sickness of the heart occasioned by hope delayed." 
 
 Sir Halbert Glendinning, in The Abbot, has been several 
 weeks absent from Avenel Castle, and now he is daily 
 expected home. But day after day passes, and still he 
 does not come. The date which his affectionate wife had 
 fondly calculated in her own mind for meeting her hus- 
 band has long since passed, and so hope delayed began to 
 make the heart grow sick. Alan Fairford is wearying to 
 have his friend Darsie Latimer back to Edinburgh once 
 more. " I am sick at heart," he writes, " and cannot keep 
 the ball up." And further on, in the same book, Hed- 
 gauntlet, Alan, in pleading the cause of poor Peter Peebles, 
 
1 3 8 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 describes his client as " a victim to protracted justice, and 
 to that hope delayed which sickens the heart." 
 
 The Highland widow experiences this sickness of 
 heart as she anxiously waits and longs for the return of 
 her beloved son. And, in Anne of Geierstein, Queen 
 Margaret's head gets giddy and her heart sick, as she 
 wearily waits for the restoration of the line of Lancaster. 
 
 At the interview between the Duke of Argyle and 
 Jeanie Deans, in The Heart of Midlothian, his Grace tells 
 Jeanie to hold herself in readiness to attend him in the 
 course of next day, or the day after, for the purpose of 
 accompanying him to the Queen's presence, there to plead 
 for a pardon to Effie Deans. The day after the interview 
 was spent in that " hope delayed which maketh the heart 
 sick." As " minutes glided after minutes — hours fled after 
 hours — it became too late to have any reasonable expect- 
 ation of hearing from the Duke that day ; yet the hope 
 which she disowned she could not altogether relinquish, 
 and her heart throbbed, and her ears tingled with the 
 casual sound in the shop below. It was in vain. The 
 day wore away in the anxiety of protracted and fruitless 
 expectation." But this heart-sickness fled when next day 
 brought the welcome summons for Jeanie to attend upon 
 the Duke; and so suddenly did the messenger come, that 
 there was no time allowed even for a change of dress. 
 
 As poor Madge Wildfire lay on her death-bed, in the 
 same novel, she found relief in singing some of her old 
 snatches of song and obsolete airs. But as her end 
 approached, reason seemed to dawn; and as if feeling 
 weary and wanting to be at rest, she gave expression to 
 
Poetical Books of Solomon. 1 39 
 
 her sickness of heart by singing, in soft and affecting 
 tones, two stanzas of a hymn : — 
 
 " When the fight of Grace is fought, 
 "When the marriage vest is wrought, 
 When Faith hath chased cold doubt away, 
 And hojpc hut sickens at delay, 
 
 " When Charity, imprisoned here, 
 Longs for a more expanded sphere, 
 Doff thy robes of sin and clay ; 
 Christian, rise, and come away." 
 
 Sir Arthur Wardour, addressing an old domestic with 
 reference to an incident which had happened some time 
 previously, says, "Eobert, I was angry and you were 
 wrong : go about your work, and never answer a master 
 that speaks to you in a passion." 
 
 " Nor any one else," said the Antiquary, " for a soft 
 answer turneth away wrath." 
 
 When the Duke of Argyle was expected at Eoseneath, 
 in The Heart of Midlothian, his fussy and self-important 
 agent, Captain Knockdunder, advised Jeanie Deans to 
 tell her father to put his Cameronian nonsense out of his 
 head for a few days, and get his beasts all in order. 
 But to this imprudent advice Jeanie turned away the 
 wrath that might have been stirred by an angry reply, 
 for she only smiled, and expressed the hope that his 
 Grace would find everything to his entire satisfaction. 
 
 In a lonely part of the King's Park at Edinburgh, 
 Reuben Butler sees the figure of a man approaching, and 
 thinking it probable that the person had come there to 
 settle some affair of honour, he resolves to speak — a 
 
140 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 resolution formed, no doubt, as he recollects the text, 
 " A word spoken in due season how good is it." "There 
 are times," thought Butler to himself, "when the sHghtest 
 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." Butler, 
 accordingly, spoke and relieved his mind by giving the 
 stranger the advice which we have alreadj^ had occasion 
 to quote, while writing on the subject of Cain killing his 
 brother Abel. 
 
 In Woodstock^ there is a discussion between Cromwell 
 and Mr. Holdenough, the Presbyterian divine, regarding 
 the merits of lay and ordained preaching. Holdenough 
 naturally exalts the latter, while Cromwell prefers the 
 former, and in doing so says : " You may talk of your 
 regular Gospel-meals, but a word spoken in season by 
 one whose heart is with your heart just, perhaps, when you 
 are riding on to encounter an enem}^, or about to jump 
 a breach, is to the poor spirit like a rasher on the coals, 
 which the hungry shall feel preferable to a great banquet, 
 at such times when the full soul loatheth the honey-comb." 
 
 Old Edie Ochiltree, in Tlie Antlqiianj^ quotes a well- 
 known text as he muses over what particular place he 
 will select for his lodging that night. He had been at 
 Glenallan House, and as he returns, he soliloquises in the 
 following strain : — "I dinnaken how it is, but I am nicer 
 about my quarters this night than ever I mind having 
 been in my life. I think, having seen a' the braws yonder, 
 and finding out ane may be happier without them, has 
 made me proud o' my ain lot. But I wuss it bode me 
 
Poetical Books of Solomon. 1 4 1 
 
 gude, ioT ^ride goeth before destruction. . . . Sae I'll e'en 
 settle at ance, and put in for Ailie Sim's." 
 
 In The Fortunes of Nigel there is an affecting scene, 
 where old John Christie goes in search of his wife, who 
 had eloped with Lord Dalgarno. He at length finds her 
 beside the lifeless body of her seducer. She sinks down 
 at her husband's feet as he thus addresses her, " Kneel 
 not to me, woman, but kneel to the God thou hast 
 offended, more than thou could'st offend such another 
 worm as thyself. How often have I told thee when thou 
 wert at the gayest and the lightest, that 'pride goeth 
 before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.'" 
 It accords not with our present purpose to quote the pass- 
 age in full, but we commend it to the readers of Nigel 
 for the touching pathos in which the injured and broken- 
 hearted husband closes his appeal, and expresses his inten- 
 tion not to let her, who had been his first and only love, 
 be an utter castaway if it lies mth him to prevent it. 
 
 Among the numerous instances of good advice and 
 wise counsel given by Solomon in the Proverbs, there is 
 one which receives several interesting illustrations in the 
 Waverley Novels. We refer to the text, "Cease, my 
 son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the 
 words of knowledge." At the ceremony of betrothal 
 between Lucy Ashton and Bucklaw, in The Bride of Lam- 
 7nermoo7% the clergyman invites the company to join him 
 in a short extempore prayer. With the simplicity of 
 the times, and the privilege of his profession, which 
 permitted him to make strong personal allusion, Mr. 
 Bide-the-bent, in the course of his supplication, prayed 
 
142 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 "that the bridegroom might be weaned from those 
 follies which seduce youth from the path of knowledge 
 . . . and cease from the society that causeth to err." 
 
 Jeanie Deans listens to the story that George Staunton 
 has to tell her about Effie, and when he asks her to be 
 guided by his advice and direction while in London, she 
 replies, "I will do what is fitting for a sister, and a 
 daughter, and a Christian woman to do, but do not tell 
 me any of your secrets. It is not good that I should 
 come into your counsel, or listen to the doctrine which 
 causeth to err." 
 
 Solomon compares the laughter of the fool to the 
 crackling of thorns under a pot. This is a favourite 
 simile with Sir Walter. Effie Deans, in speaking to her 
 sister, says, " I can laugh yet sometimes — but God pro- 
 tect you from such mirth. My father — I mean your 
 father — would say it was like the idle crackling of thorns ; 
 but the thorns keep their poignancy, they remain uncon- 
 sumed." The Dwarf, in Peveril of the Peak, likens youth 
 with its fashions, follies, and frolics, to the "crackling 
 of thorns under a pot ; " and the preacher in The Allot 
 says of life that " it was not lent us to be expended in 
 that idle mirth which resembles the crackling of thorns 
 under the pot." Alan Fairford, in Bedgauntlet, had too 
 heavy a heart to enjoy the jests and laughter at Provost 
 Crosbie's dinner-party. All the fun was to him "like 
 the idle crackling of thorns under the pot," "with this 
 difference," adds Sir Walter, "that it did not accompany or 
 second any such useful operation as the boiling thereof." 
 
 The text which Thackeray loved so much to quote, 
 
Poetical Books of Solomon. 1 4 3 
 
 and the meaning of which he has illustrated so well, is 
 very seldom used by Sir Walter. We refer to " Vanity 
 of vanities, all is vanity." On the front of the conser- 
 vatory at Mount Sharon, the house of Joshua Geddes and 
 his sister Eachel, also in Redgauntlet^ there was carved the 
 armorial scutcheon of the family, with the pious motto. 
 Trust in God, and the date 1537. Quaker though Joshua 
 was, he seemed not a little proud of this ancient date, al- 
 though he declaimed to his guest, Darsie Latimer, upon the 
 vanity usually begotten on the subject of ancient ancestry. 
 " Vanity of vanities," saith the preacher, Joshua began 
 moralising, "if we ourselves are nothing in the sight of 
 Heaven, how much less than nothing mustbe our derivation 
 from rotten bones and mouldering dust, whose immortal 
 spirits have long since gone to their private account ! " 
 
 The only other reference to this text which we have 
 met, in the course of our present study, is in Woodstock, 
 where Holdenough and Dr. RocheclifFe recognise each 
 other after a long separation. Talking over old memories 
 and their associations, the former asks his friend if he 
 remembers Caius College % 
 
 "Remember Caius College!" said Rochecliffe, "Ay, 
 and the good old ale we drank, and our parties to Mother 
 Huffcap's." 
 
 " Vanity of vanities," said Holdenough, smiling kindly 
 at the same time, and still holding his recovered friend's 
 arm enclosed and hand-locked in his. 
 
 But though we have the text quoted in its literal form 
 in only a few instances we have, throughout the Waverley 
 Novels, numerous instances of its spirit and meaning. In 
 
1 44 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Guy Mannering, Godfrey Bertram allows himself to be 
 worried out of all serenity by the thought, which vexes 
 and annoys him, that he has not been made a justice of 
 the peace. Glossin gets what he had long set his heart 
 upon — possession of the Ellangowan estate ; but when he 
 does enter upon possession, he finds nothing in it but vex- 
 ation of spirit. The Earl of Leicester, in Kenilwortk, moves 
 heaven and earth to gain the favour of Queen Elizabeth, 
 and when he has succeeded beyond his utmost expectation, 
 it is only to experience the bitterness and the wrath of the 
 Queen, as she hears of his secret marriage and his duplicity 
 towards herself. And though Effie Deans, in The Heart 
 of Midlothian, rises to be Lady Staunton — "the ruling 
 belle, the blazing star, the universal toast of the winter, 
 . . . and really the most beautiful creatiu-e that was seen 
 at Court upon the birthday," she yet experiences, to the 
 full, the truth of the sacred text, "Vanity of vanities; all 
 is vanity." 
 
 We have some interesting illustrations of the text, 
 " Curse not the king, no not in thy thoughts : and curse 
 not the rich in thy bed-chamber; for a bird of the air shall 
 carr}^ the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the 
 matter." Two of these illustrations are to be found in 
 Bob PiOij. The first is where Die Yernon quietly advises 
 Frank Osbaldistone to take her advice, when he has any- 
 thing to say about Rashleigh, and " go up to the top of 
 Otterscope Hill, where — when you can see for twenty 
 miles around you in every direction — stand on the very 
 peak and speak in whispers ; and, after all, don't be too 
 sure that the bird of the air will not carry the matter." 
 
Poetical Books of Solo^non. 1 45 
 
 Bailie Nicol Jarvie thus paraphrases the text, when he 
 says to Frank that he has no wish to "speak ony ill of 
 this MacCallum More : — ' Curse not the rich in your bed- 
 chamber,' saith the son of Sirach, ' for a bird of the air 
 shall carry the clatter, and pint-stoups hae lang lugs.'" 
 Here is another paraphrase of the text — this time by 
 Louis XI., who advises Quentin Durward to mind what 
 he is saying while in the neighbourhood of the Castle of 
 Plessis-les-Tours : " One great danger of these precincts 
 is, that the very leaves of the trees are like so many ears 
 which carryall which is spoken to the King's own cabinet." 
 In Peveril of the Peak, Alice Bridgenorth advises Julian 
 Peveril to leave the Isle of Man, to be on his guard, to 
 distrust everything, and trust not even "the very stones 
 of the most secret apartment in Holm Peel, for that 
 which hath wings shall carry the matter." In the same 
 novel we have an instance of Solomon's warning being 
 transgressed. Mrs. Chiffinch determines, contrary to 
 her husband's caution, to attend King Charles on his 
 excursion down the Thames. To her great chagrin, 
 however, she was ordered to fall out of the royal pro- 
 cession, which so vexed and mortified her that she cried 
 for very spite, and cursed the king most heartily. 
 
 According to Solomon, the slothful man excuses him- 
 self from the performance of duty by the presence of 
 imaginary difficulty or danger in the way — " There is a 
 lion in the path." The Eegent Murray, in The Abbot, is 
 the "lion in the path" which bars the road against Queen 
 Mary's army attempting to reach Dumbarton. The A^dow 
 Maclure, in Old Mortality, advises Burley not to go the 
 
146 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 way he had indicated to Morton. " If you be of our 
 ain folk," she says, " gangna up the pass the night for 
 your lives. There is a lion in the path that is there. 
 The curate of Brotherstone and the soldiers have beset 
 the path to hae the lives of any of our puir wanderers 
 that venture that gate." Allan M'Aulay, in the Legend 
 of Montrose, is about to pass his broadsword through the 
 prostrate body of Eanald MacEagh, when the point of 
 his weapon is suddenly struck upward by Dalgetty, who 
 suddenly interposes. 
 
 " Fool," said Allan, " stand aside, and dare not come 
 between the tiger and his prey." 
 
 But Dalgetty stepped across the body of MacEagh, and 
 gave Allan to understand that if he called himself a 
 tiger, he was likely to find a lion in his path. 
 
 The insatiable appetite of the leech is referred to in 
 Peveril of the Peak, where Sir Walter describes the needy 
 adventurers who were to be foimd haunting the ante- 
 chambers of the Duke of Buckingham, as "genuine 
 descendants of the horse-leech, whose cry is Give, give !" 
 
 In a note added to his last edition of the Waverley 
 Novels, Sir AValter tells his readers that these tales 
 wiU, in all probability, be the last which it ^vill be 
 his lot to submit to the public. On the eve of going 
 abroad for the sake of rest and change, he feels that 
 had he continued to prosecute his literary labours, it 
 seems probable that at his advancing years "the bowl, 
 to use the pathetic language of Scripture, would have 
 been broken at the fountain."^ 
 
 ^ Eccles. xii. 6. 
 
THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 An incident in The Heart of Midlothian introduces us 
 to the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. On her journey to 
 London, Jeanie Deans experiences much kindness from 
 the Rev. Mr. Staunton, who recommends her to the care 
 of his housekeeper, Mrs. Dalton. This good and kind- 
 hearted woman was so much pleased with Jeanie, and 
 with her staid and quiet demeanour, that one day after 
 dinner she took up a Bible and asked, at the same time, 
 if she could read this Book ? 
 
 "I hope sae, madam," replied Jeanie; "my father 
 wad hae wanted mony a thing ere I had wanted that 
 schuling." 
 
 " The better sign of him, young woman. . . . Take 
 thou the Book then, for my eyes are something dazed, 
 and read where thou listest — it's the only book thou 
 canst not happen wrong in." 
 
 Jeanie was at first tempted to turn up the parable 
 of the Good Samaritan, but her conscience checked her, 
 as if it were a use of Scripture, not for her own edifica- 
 tion, but to work upon the mind of others for the relief 
 of her worldly afflictions. Under this scrupulous sense 
 of duty she selected, in preference, a chapter of the 
 
148 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 p'ophet Isaiah, and read it, notwithstanding her northern 
 accent and tone, with a devout propriety which greatly- 
 edified Mrs. Dalton. 
 
 Scattered throughout the Novels, we find a great 
 many of the well-known texts from Isaiah woven into 
 Sir Walter's sentences. In The Allot, for example, the 
 old gardener advises Eoland Grseme to leave the public 
 service, leat his sword into a pruning-hook, and make a 
 dibble of his dagger. That dissolute and swaggering 
 cavalier, Wildrake, in TVoodstock, was the first to an- 
 nounce to Charles II. the news of the Restoration, 
 and as he did so, he borrowed an expression from 
 a well-known text in Isaiah, "I bring good news," 
 he said, " glorious news — the King shall enjoy his own 
 again. My feet are heautiful on the mountains" adding, 
 as an explanation of his unwonted use of Scripture 
 figures, that he had lived with Presbyterians so long 
 that he had caught their language. 
 
 Towards the close of The Pirate, Sir Walter describes 
 the great change which passed over Noma, who now 
 lived a very difi'erent life, abandoned all her former 
 pretensions, and gave herself up to the study of the 
 Bible. To the poor ignorant people who came, as for- 
 merly, to invoke her power over the elements, the 
 only reply she would give them was, in the sublime 
 words of the prophet, " The uinds are in the hoUotv of His 
 hand." 
 
 Through the prophet Isaiah, God gives expression to 
 His utter detestation of the mere ritual or outward 
 observance of pubhc worship. "Bring no more vain 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 49 
 
 oblations ; incense is an abomination to me ; the new 
 moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot 
 away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." 
 These words seem to be in the thoughts of old Edie 
 Ochiltree, in The Antiquary^ as Lovel and he are among 
 the ruins of St. Ruth one moonlight night. " I wad like 
 a wise man to tell me," Edie says, " whether Heaven is 
 most pleased wi' the sight we are looking upon — thae plea- 
 sant and quiet lang streaks o' moonlight that are lying sae 
 still on the floor 0' this auld kirk, and glancing through 
 the great pillars and stanchions o' the carved windows, 
 and just dancing like on the leaves 0' the dark ivy as 
 the breath o' wind shakes it — I wonder whether this is 
 mair pleasing to Heaven than when it was lighted up 
 wi' lamps, and candles, nae doubt, and roughies (links or 
 torches), and wi' the mirth and the frankincent that they 
 speak of in the Holy Scripture, and wi' organs assuredly, 
 and men and women singers, and sackbuts, and dulcimers, 
 and a' instruments of music — I wonder if that was accept- 
 able, or whether it is of these grand parafle 0' ceremonies 
 that holy writ says, ' It is an abomination to me.'" 
 
 As the Countess Amy, in Kenilworth, opens a small 
 parcel from her husband, and displays to view a set of 
 rare and costly jewels, the lady's maid gazes with ad- 
 miration on the articles. " Surely," said Janet, looking 
 at the string of pearls, " surely, the daughters of Tyre 
 wore no fairer t neck -jewels than those." And, after- 
 wards, as the Earl of Leicester himself offers a ring to 
 Janet, with the request that she will wear it for the 
 sake of her mistress, and for his own as well, the Puri- 
 
I 5 o The Bible in Wave^^ey. 
 
 tanic maid refuses the offered gift. "We of the precious 
 Master Holdforth's congregation," she" says, " seek not, 
 like the gay daughters of this world, to twine gold 
 around our fingers, or wear stones upon our necks, like 
 the vain women of Tyre and Sidon." 
 
 The military preacher, in the opening chapter of 
 JFoodstock, drags into his discourse an extraordinary 
 number of Scripture references and incidents, and he 
 finishes up by an illustration of the meaning of Maher- 
 shalalhashbaz — the name by which the prophet Isaiah 
 was directed to call his son. " Ye shall have no com- 
 fort or support," says the preacher to the congregation, 
 " neither from the sequestrated traitor Henry Lee, who 
 called himself Eanger of Woodstock, nor from any on 
 his behalf; for they are coming hither who shall be 
 called Mahershalalhashbaz, because he maketh haste to 
 the spoil." The preacher here refers to Cromwell and 
 the Parliamentary Commissioners appointed for the 
 sequestration of Woodstock. 
 
 Old David Deans laments to Eeuben Butler the sad 
 " defections of the times," and enumerates, one by one, 
 the shortcomings of the National Church. Unwilling 
 to interrupt him, Eeuben listens patiently, but takes the 
 first opportunity of slipping in a word of encouragement. 
 " You have been," says Eeuben, " 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." 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 5 1 
 
 In predicting the final overthrow of Tyre, the prophet 
 Isaiah speaks of that ancient place as " the crowning 
 city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are 
 the honourable of the earth." This description comes 
 to be naturally applicable to the famous countries, cities, 
 and merchants of modem history. Thus, in Anne of 
 Geierstein, the Duke of Burgundy refers to England as 
 he thus addresses the Earl of Oxford, who was travelling 
 in the disguise of an English merchant — " Welcome, you 
 of a nation whose traders are princes, and their merchants 
 the mighty ones of the earth." And in The Fminnes of 
 Nigel the Lady Hermione, while relating her personal 
 history to Margaret Eamsay, says of her father that he 
 was a merchant, "but of a city whose merchants are 
 princes — Genoa." 
 
 We have already referred to Kettledrummle's sermon 
 to the Covenanters after the battle of Drumclog. On that 
 occasion, the preacher chose for his text the last two verses 
 of the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah — " Even the captives 
 of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the 
 terrible shall be delivered : for I will contend with him 
 that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 
 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own 
 flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood, 
 as with sweet wine ; and all flesh shall know that I the 
 Lord am thy Saviour and thy Eedeemer, the Mighty 
 One of Jacob." The first part of this text was applied 
 by Kettledrummle to the incident of his own deliverance 
 and to that of his companions; while the second was 
 employed to describe the punishment which, according 
 
152 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 to the preacher, was soon to be meted out to the per- 
 secuting government. 
 
 When Kettledrummle finished his discourse, his place 
 was occupied by another preacher, but one of a very- 
 different stamp. He was a young man, hardly twenty 
 years of age. But young as he was, he had been t^vice 
 imprisoned for several months, and suffered many seve- 
 rities, which gave him great influence over those of his 
 own sect. His audience listened to an impassioned 
 address with an eagerness like that of " the famished 
 Israelites collecting the heavenly manna." He painted 
 the desolation of the Church, during her time of perse- 
 cution, in the most affecting colours. He described her 
 like Hagar watching the waning life of her infant in the 
 fountainless desert; like Judah under the palm-tree 
 mourning for the devastation of the temple ; like Eachel 
 weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted. 
 But the youthful preacher rose to sublimity when de- 
 scribing the men yet reeking from the battle. Calling on 
 them to remember what great things God had done for 
 them, and to persevere in the career which their victory 
 had opened, he proceeds, in language suggested by the 
 opening verses of the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah, " Your 
 garments are dyed — but not with the juice of the 
 wine-press ; your swords are filled with blood, but not 
 with the blood of goats or lambs ; the dust of the desert 
 on which ye stand is made fat with gore — but not with 
 the blood of bullocks, for the Lord hath a sacrifice in 
 Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea." 
 
 In the conversation between Burley and Henry Mor- 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 5 3 
 
 ton, as narrated in the opening chapters of Old Mortality^ 
 there are many Scriptural illustrations employed. Here 
 are two from the prophecies of Jeremiah. Since Morton 
 cannot see things in the light that Balfour sees them, 
 the latter tells him that he is " yet in the dungeon-house 
 of the law, a pit darker than that into which Jere- 
 miah was plunged, even the dungeon of Malchiah, the 
 son of Hammelech, where there was no water but mire." 
 And speaking of the restoration of King Charles, Balfour 
 declares emphatically that it was accomplished, not by 
 Montrose and his Highland caterans, but by the Cove- 
 nanters, "the workers of the glorious word — the reformers 
 of the beauty of the tabernacle." Then Balfour asks 
 what has been their reward % "In the words of the 
 prophet," he continues ; " We looked for peace, but no 
 good came, and for a time of health, and behold, trouble. 
 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan, the 
 whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his 
 strong ones ; for they are come, and have devoured the 
 land, and all that is in it." 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah abandons himself to sorrow as 
 he thinks on the condition of his country. " Oh that my 
 head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears." 
 This plaintive wail is re-echoed by David Deans, in The, 
 Heart of Midlothian, who exclaims — " Woe to me were I 
 to shed a tear for the "svife of my bosom, when I might 
 weep rivers of waters for this afflicted church, cursed 
 as it is with carnal seekers and with the dead of heart." 
 And when Isaac the Jew, in Ivanhoe, in the extremity 
 of his distress for Eebecca, is asked to read the scroll 
 
I 5 4 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 brought by grateful Higg, the son of Snell, he says to 
 Ben Samuel, " Do thou read, brother, for mine eyes are 
 as a fountain of water." 
 
 In the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet, 
 under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, . presages 
 the desolation of the Jews. It was this chapter which 
 Major Bridgenorth, in Feveril of the Peak, selected as the 
 subject of his lecture at Moultrassie Hall. Though not 
 naturally eloquent, the Major seemed so convinced of 
 the truth of what he was stating, that the chapter 
 " supplied him with language of energy and fire, as he 
 drew a parallel between the abominations of the wor- 
 ship of Baal, and the corruptions of the Church of Rome 
 — so favourite a topic with the Puritans of that period ; 
 and denounced against the Catholics, and those who 
 favoured them, that hissing and desolation which the 
 prophet directed against the city of Jerusalem." 
 
 Addressing Pashur, who had put Jeremiah into the 
 stocks, the prophet says, " The Lord hath not called thy 
 name Pashur, but Magor-missabib. For thus saith the 
 Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to 
 all thy friends." The insane preacher in Old Mortality 
 applies this latter name to himself. " Am I not Hab- 
 akkuk Mucklewrath, whose name is changed to Magor- 
 missabib, because I am made a terror unto myself, and 
 unto all that are around me ? I heard it — when did I 
 hear it 1 Was it not in the tower of the Bass that over- 
 hangeth the wide, wild sea % And it howled in the 
 winds, and it roared in the billows, and it screamed, and 
 it whistled, and it clanged with the screams, and the clang, 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 5 5 
 
 and the whistle of the sea-birds as they floated and flew, 
 and dropped and dived, on the bosom of the waters." 
 
 When Ezekiel received the divine command to re- 
 prove the people of Israel for their rebellious conduct 
 toward God, there appeared to the prophet, in vision, 
 a hand holding a roll, on both sides of which were 
 written "lamentation, and mourning, and woe." Sir 
 "Walter frequently refers to this roll of the prophet. 
 As Lord Nigel finds himself a prisoner in the Tower of 
 London, he sets himself the melancholy task of decipher- 
 ing the names, mottoes, verses, and hieroglyphics mth 
 which his predecessors in captivity had covered the walls 
 of their prison. He saw the names of many a forgotten 
 sufferer, mingled with others which will never be for- 
 gotten so long as English history is read. This record 
 of signatures and inscriptions. Sir Walter says, "was 
 like the roll of the prophet, a record of lamentation and 
 mourning, and yet not unmixed with brief interjections 
 of resignation and sentences expressive of the firmest 
 resolution." Describing the tomb -paved churchyard 
 surrounding the Cathedral of Glasgow, Frank Osbaldi- 
 stone, in Rob Roy, says of the inscriptions on the stones, 
 Avith their sad records of mortality, that they reminded 
 him of the roll of the prophet, on which was written 
 "lamentation, and mourning, and woe." 
 
 The Lady Hermione, in The Fortunes of Nigel, relates 
 her personal history to Margaret Eamsay ; and in the 
 course of doing so, she employs an illustration borrowed 
 from a passage in Ezekiel. Speaking of the state of 
 Scotland, the Lady proceeds — " You have heard of the 
 
1 5 6 TJie Bible in Waverley. 
 
 bitterness of the ancient Scottish feuds, of which it may- 
 be said, in the language of the Scripture, ' The fathers 
 eat sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on 
 edge.' Some such bitterness had divided the lady's 
 house from that of her lover's, and, accordingly, when he 
 came to ask Hermione's hand in marriage, her mother 
 raked up the memory of every injury which the rival 
 families had inflicted on each other, and rejected his 
 proposal of alliance as if it had come from the basest of 
 mankind." 
 
 The Book of Daniel, with its striking historical re- 
 cords, is frequently referred to by Sir Walter. 
 
 While the knight and the hermit, in Ivanhoe, are en- 
 joying their repast in the cell, the former compliments 
 the latter on his looking so well on his diet of "parched 
 pease and cold water." 
 
 "Sir Knight," answered the hermit, "your thoughts, 
 like those of the ignorant laity, are according to the 
 flesh. It has pleased our Lady and my patron saint to 
 bless the pittance to which I restrain myself, even as 
 the pulse and water were blessed to the children Shad- 
 rach, Meshach, and Abednego, who drank the same, 
 rather than defile themselves with the wine and meats 
 which were appointed them by the King of the Saracens." 
 
 With the greatest possible indignation, the Lady 
 Margaret Bellenden listens to the following exposition 
 of Scripture by Mause Headrigg, who had resolutely 
 refused to allow her son to attend the Wappenschaw, or 
 military gathering, as described in the opening chapter 
 of Old Mortality. " There was ance a king in Scripture," 
 
The Prophetical Books, 1 5 7 
 
 Mause proceeds to say, "they ca'd Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 he set up a golden image in the plain of Dura, as it 
 might be in the haugh yonder by the waterside, where 
 the array were warned to meet yesterday; and the 
 princes, and the governors, and the captains, and the 
 judges themsells, forby the treasurers, the counsellors, 
 and the sheriffs, were warned to the dedication thereof, 
 and commanded to fall down and worship at the sound 
 of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds 
 of music." 
 
 " And what 0' a' this, ye fule wife % Or what had 
 Nebuchadnezzar to do with the Wappenschaw of the 
 Upper Ward of Clydesdale?" 
 
 "Only just thus far, my leddy," continued Mause, 
 firmly, " that prelacy is like the great golden image in 
 the plain of Dura ; and that as Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abednego were borne out in refusing to bow down and 
 worship, so neither shall Cuddie Headrigg, your leddy- 
 ship's puir pleughman, at least wi' his auld mither's 
 consent, make murgeons or jennyflections, as they ca' 
 them, in the house of the prelates and curates, nor gird 
 him wi' armour to fight in their cause, either at the 
 sound of kettle-drums, organs, bagpipes, or ony other 
 kind of music whatever." 
 
 In The Ahhot, Father Ambrose is informed from an 
 anonymous letter, placed in his hand by a pilgrim, that 
 a child educated in the Catholic faith is in the Castle of 
 Avenel, whose owner has embraced the cause of the 
 Reformation. The letter expresses the utmost concern 
 for the spiritual safety of the child, whose situation the 
 
I 5 8 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 writer conceived to be as critical and dangerous as 
 that of "the three children who were cast into the fiery- 
 furnace of persecution." 
 
 Among the spectators at the coronation of George III. 
 were Lilias and her uncle Redgauntlet. The latter be- 
 comes greatly excited, not on account of the splendour 
 of the scene, but because, being a Jacobite, he looked 
 upon the vast assembly as only slaves and sycophants 
 bending before the throne of a new usurper. " See," he 
 said to his terrified niece, who entreated him to remember 
 where they were, " yonder boAvs Norfolk, renegade to the 
 
 Catholic faith ; there stoops the Bishop of , traitor 
 
 to the Church of England. . . . But a sign shall be seen 
 this night amongst them — Mene^ Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, 
 shall be read on these walls, as distinctly as the spectral 
 hand^vriting made them visible on those of Belshazzar." 
 At the feast given by the usurping Prince John, in 
 Ivanhoe, the Saxon Cedric produces something like con- 
 sternation in the assembly as he quaffs his goblet to the 
 health of the absent King of England — Richard the 
 Lion-hearted. After the guests disperse. Prince John 
 is greatly afi'ected. In reply to his counsellor, who tries 
 to encourage him, the Prince says, " In vain — they (the 
 Norman nobles) have seen the handwriting on the wall — 
 they have marked the path of the lion in the sand — they 
 have heard his approaching roar shake the wood — nothing 
 will reanimate their courage." 
 
 Intent on the safety and welfare of his daughter, 
 Isaac the Jew, in Ivanhoe, proposes to go to the Pre- 
 ceptory of Templestowe, in the hope that the Grand 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 5 9 
 
 Master may be able to turn aside Bois Guilbert from 
 his evil designs upon Rebecca. 
 
 "Go," said his friend, Nathan Ben Israel, "and be 
 wise, for wisdom availed Daniel in the den of lions into 
 which he was cast ; and may it go well with thee, even 
 as thine heart wisheth." 
 
 In the coronach sung over Duncan's " lowly bier," in 
 The Lady of the Lake, Sir Walter employs some illustra- 
 tions which seem to have been suggested to him by the 
 prophet Hosea. " As for Samaria, her king is cut off as 
 the foam upon the water," and " they shall be as the 
 morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away." 
 How delicately and how effectively is this imagery of 
 the prophet reproduced in the following lines of the 
 coronach referred to : — 
 
 '* Like the de^o on the mountain, 
 Like the/oa???/ on the river, 
 Like the bubble on the fountain, 
 Thou art gone, and for ever ! " 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian, David Deans employs the 
 figure or imagery of " foam upon the water," and quotes, 
 at the same time, another passage from Hosea. In a 
 long letter to Jeanie, during her stay in London, Deans 
 charges his daughter to withdraw her eyes from the 
 vanities of the great city, and not to worship in any of 
 the churches where the Episcopal form of service is used. 
 This service the stern old Cameronian writes of as " an 
 ill-mumbled mass, as it was weel termed by James the 
 Sext, though he afterwards, with his unhappy son, strove 
 to bring it ower back and belly into his native kingdom, 
 
i6o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 wherethrough their race have been cut off as foam upon 
 the water, and shall be as wanderers among the nations — 
 see the prophecies of Hosea, ninth and seventeenth, and 
 the same, tenth and seventh. But us and our house, let 
 us say with the same prophet, 'Let us return to the 
 Lord, for He hath torn, and He "svill heal us — He hath 
 smitten, and He will bind us up.' " 
 
 In The Monastery, there is a text quoted from the 
 prophet Joel. Julian Avenel takes his place at the 
 supper-table, and points to a seat, between himself and 
 Catherine Graeme, for the preacher, Henry Warden, to 
 occupy. But notwithstanding the influence of both 
 hunger and fatigue, the preacher retained his standing 
 posture, not being satisfied with the relationship in which 
 his host and Catherine lived together. 
 
 "Beshrew me," said Julian, "these new-fashioned 
 religioners have fast days, I warrant me — the old ones 
 used to confer that blessing chiefly on the laity." 
 
 " We acknowledge no such rule," said the preacher. 
 " AVe hold that our faith consists not in using or abstain- 
 ing from any special meals on special days ; and in fast- 
 ing, we rend our hearts and not our garments.^' 
 
 The Book of Jonah furnishes the author of Waverley 
 with a number of illustrations. Eeferring to the flight 
 of Dousterswivel, the Antiquary says to Sir Arthur War- 
 dour that the scoundrel never reached Edinburgh, for 
 the coach in which he travelled was upset. " How could 
 it go safe with such a Jonah f 
 
 In the motto to chapter seventeen of The Bride of 
 Lamrmrmoor, the father referred to is Sir William Ashton, 
 
The Prophetical Books. 1 6 1 
 
 through whose head are coursing thoughts and specula- 
 tions on the probability of his daughter being married to 
 the Master of Ravenswood, and thereby healing the feuds 
 between the two families. 
 
 " Here is a father now, 
 Will truck his daughter for a foreign venture, 
 Make her the stop-gap to some canker'd feud, 
 Or fling her o'er, like Jonah to the fishes, 
 To appease the sea at highest." 
 
 In the same novel Lady Ashton, like many other 
 mothers of hot and impatient character, was mistaken in 
 estimating the feelings of her daughter Lucy, "who, 
 under a semblance of extreme indifference, nourished the 
 germ of those passions which sometimes spring up in one 
 night, like the gourd of the prophet^ and astonish the ob- 
 server by their unexpected ardour and intensity." 
 
 In Kenilworth, Varney reminds his master, the Earl of 
 Leicester, that though the latter is strong and powerful, 
 yet he is only so by the reflected light of the Queen's favour. 
 " But let her call back the honour she has bestowed, and 
 the projphefs gourd did not loither more suddenly." 
 
 There is a fine passage in Ivanhoe, where Rebecca, 
 addressing the Templar, says, "Know, proud Knight, 
 we number names amongst us to which your boasted 
 northern nobility is as the gourd compared ivith the cedar — 
 names that ascend far back to those high times when the 
 Divine Presence shook the mercy seat between the Cher- 
 ubim, and which derive their splendour from no earthly 
 prince, but from the awful voice, which bade their fathers 
 be nearest of the Congregation to the vision." 
 
 M 
 
THE GOSPELS. 
 
 "When Sir Walter has occasion to introduce the name 
 of our Lord in the course of his tales and romances, he 
 always does so by using some such reverent term or title 
 as " the Founder of the Christian religion," " the Author 
 of our holy religion," " the Great Physician," or simply 
 as "the Master." The birth of Christ is described as 
 " the great event which brought peace on earth and good- 
 will to the children of men." The work which He came 
 to do, and which He finished on the Cross, is spoken of 
 as "the redemption of man from his fallen state." The 
 White Lady of Avenel is made to say that this redemp- 
 tion extends to the human family alone : 
 
 ' ' For the children of clay was salvation brought, 
 But not for the forms of sea or air." 
 
 There is no mistake as to what the gospel is, 
 when it is mentioned in the Waverley Novels, nor 
 is there any doubt as to the freeness and fulness of 
 its offer to every one. "For the sake of Heaven, that 
 hears and sees us," said . Jeanie Deans to George 
 Staunton, who was speaking in the despairing tones of 
 one predestined to evil both here and hereafter, " dinna 
 speak in this desperate fashion. The gospel is sent to 
 
The Gospels. 163 
 
 the chief of sinners — to the most miserable among the 
 miserable." 
 
 Using Sir Walter's own words in a passage from C(mnt 
 Robert ofFaris, we can trace, in the Waverley pages, some 
 reference or allusion to almost all " the great events de- 
 tailed in the blessed gospel." The birth at Bethlehem, 
 the visit of the Magi, the star in the East, and the bless- 
 ings which our Lord brought mth Him at His birth, are 
 all mentioned, more or less frequently. As Colonel 
 Ashton and Bucklaw, in The Bride of Lammermoo7\ draw 
 their swords and prepare to rush on Eavenswood, the 
 clergyman interrupts them, saying, "In the name of 
 Him who brought peace on earth, and goodwill to man- 
 kind, I implore — I beseech — I command you to forbear 
 violence toward each other. God hateth the bloodthirsty 
 man — he who striketh ^vith the sword shall perish with 
 the sword." 
 
 At the near approach of Christmas-time, as related in 
 Anne of Geier stein, the Duke of Burgundy, addressing Lord 
 Oxford, says, " This is a period of the year when good 
 men forgive their enemies. I know not why — my mind 
 was little apt to be charged with such matters — but I feel 
 an unconquerable desire to stop the approaching combat 
 between you and Campo Basso." 
 
 " My Lord," said Oxford, "it is a small thing you 
 ask of me, since your request only enforces a Christian 
 duty." 
 
 The Song of Simeon — the Nunc Dimittis of the Chris- 
 tian Church — uttered in a transport of joy on seeing the 
 infant Saviour brought into the temple, suggests to Sir 
 
1 64 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Walter an incident in Woodstock. The aged .knight, Sir 
 Henry Lee, welcomes King Charles in his royal progress 
 across Blackheath to London. Overjoyed at seeing the 
 king once more, and in safety, the faithful old royalist 
 leans back on his seat and mutters the Nunc Dimittis. 
 
 As we have now reached that point in the Gospel 
 history where our Lord begins His public ministry, we 
 shall proceed to point out to our readers in what way 
 Sir Walter makes use of some of the outstanding injunc- 
 tions and illustrations embodied in the Divine teaching, 
 as recorded in the gospels of the four Evangelists. 
 
 In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord says of His 
 true followers that they are " the salt of the earth," and 
 that their influence will be felt only so long as the salt 
 retains its savour and its strength. These preserving 
 properties gone, the salt is useless, and life loses all worth 
 living for. Sir Walter employs this illustration, in The 
 Bride of Lammermoor, while describing the effect which 
 the death of the Master of Ravens wood had upon his 
 old servant, Caleb Balderstone. Caleb finds the only 
 vestige that revealed the fate of his master, who per- 
 ished in the quicksands of the Kelpie's Flow. A large 
 sable feather got detached from Ravenswood's hat, and 
 the rippling waves of the rising tide wafted it to Caleb's 
 feet. The old man took it up, dried it, and placed it in 
 his bosom. Thenceforward, the spring of the faithful 
 servant's existence was broken. '^ Life to him had lost 
 its savour. He ate without refreshment, slumbered with 
 out repose, and . . . died within a year after the 
 catastrophe." 
 
The Gospels. 165 
 
 In His exposition of the Third Commandment under 
 the Christian law, our Lord unfolds its meaning, and 
 teaches that it not only forbids false swearing, but all 
 unnecessary expletives or oaths to which, as mere forms 
 of speech, no one pays any attention, or attaches any 
 value. "Swear not at all," He says conclusively. In 
 Redgauntlet^ when Joshua Geddes asks Davies, at the 
 fishing-station on the Solway, to call the men together 
 to receive their instructions, the reply is that the men 
 had all gone ofi', except, said Davies, "little Phil and 
 myself. They have, by ! " 
 
 "'Swear not at all,' John Davies — thou art an honest 
 man ; and I believe, without an oath, that thy comrades 
 love their own bones better than my goods and chattels." 
 
 In the same novel, Alan Fairford arrives at Mount 
 Sharon to make inquiry about his friend Darsie Latimer. 
 Rachel Geddes describes how much her brother had in- 
 terested himself in Darsie's case. " He had gone," she 
 said, "before the Head Judge, whom men call the 
 Sheriff, and would have told him of the youth's peril ; 
 but he would in no way hearken to him unless he would 
 swear unto the truth of his words, which thing he might 
 not do without sin, seeing it is written, ' Swear not at all ' 
 — also that our conversation shall be yea or nay." 
 
 When Halbert Glendinning fears that he has fatally 
 wounded Sir Piercie Shafton, he is overwhelmed with 
 remorse and grief. He implores the aid of an old man 
 whom he sees coming up the glen, and on returning with 
 him to the place where the duel had been fought, he is 
 surprised to find that the body of Sir Piercie is nowhere 
 
1 66 The Bible in Wave^dey. 
 
 to be seen. Thinking that he has been imposed upon, 
 the old man reproves the youth for having stated what 
 was apparently not true. But Halbert persists in assert- 
 ing the truth of what he had said, and was proceding to 
 " swear by the Blessed Heaven ^^ 
 
 "'Swear not at all,'" said the stranger, interrupting 
 him, " neither by heaven, for it is God's throne ; nor by 
 earth, for it is His footstool — nor by the creatures whom 
 He hath made, for they are but earth and clay as we are. 
 Let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay." 
 
 And further on, in the same novel, The Monastery, 
 Halbert and this same old man, who turns out to be 
 Henry Warden, the reformed preacher, come before us 
 once more in connection with this same text. Locked 
 up in different apartments in the Castle of Avenel, they 
 yet find it possible to communicate with each other by 
 means of speech. The preacher advises his companion 
 to make an attempt at escape ; and as the latter does so, 
 he puts his hand on an iron stanchion of the "wandow more 
 in despair than hope. To his great surprise, however, 
 the bar parted asunder and came away in his hands. He 
 immediately whispered, "By Heaven, the bar has given 
 way in my hand ! " 
 
 "Thank Heaven, my son, instead of swearing by it," 
 answered Warden from his dungeon. 
 
 In Count Bohert of Paris, the Emperor is asked whether 
 it is still his intention to carry out the sentence of death 
 on his unfortunate and misguided son-in-law. Replying 
 in the affirmative, he states, in addition, that all the 
 arrangements have been made, "by which I swear " 
 
The Gospels. 167 
 
 '" Swear not at all,'" said the Patriarch. "I forbid 
 thee, in the name of that Heaven whose voice, though 
 unworthy, speaks in my person, to quench the smoking 
 flax, or destroy the slight hope which there may re- 
 main." 
 
 Cromwell, in Woodstock^ asks from Wildrake a descrip- 
 tion of Woodstock House, and hazards the remark that 
 no doubt it has plenty of corners for concealing priests 
 about the premises. 
 
 "Your Honour's Excellency," said Wildrake, "may 
 swear to that." 
 
 " I swear not at all," replied the General drily. 
 
 We get an interesting illustration, in Old Mortality, of 
 at least a portion of the meaning which our Lord gives 
 while expounding the second table of the law. Balfour 
 states to Morton and Poundtext, the clergyman, that it 
 has been decided to put their prisoner. Lord Evandale, 
 to death unless Tillietudlem be surrendered by daybreak. 
 Morton asks what law would justify the commission of 
 such an atrocity 1 
 
 "If thou art ignorant of it," replied Burley, "thy 
 companion is well aware of the law which gave the 
 men of Jericho to the sword of Joshua, the son of 
 Nun." 
 
 "But we," answered the divine, "live under a better 
 dispensation, which instructeth us to pray for those who 
 despitefully use us and persecute us." 
 
 Both in the Lord's Praj^'er and in the awful agony in 
 the Garden of Gethsemane, submission to the Divine 
 will is taught in these sublime and tender words, "Thy 
 
1 68 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 mil be done." Perhaps there is no New Testament 
 lesson which receives more interesting illustration in the 
 pages of the Waverley Novels than this prayer for sub- 
 mission and resignation. When the two Philipsons lose 
 their way during the snowstorm on the Alps, the elder 
 gives his consent to allow the younger, his son, to go on 
 in advance for the purpose of procuring assistance at the 
 Castle of Geierstein. Terrified by the thundering crash 
 of a falling rock, Philipson dreads that his son is lost. 
 The grief of the father is afi*ecting to the last degree. 
 "Holding up his hands, and lifting his eyes towards 
 heaven, (he) said in accents of the deepest agony, mingled 
 with devout resignation. Fiat voluntas tua ! (Thy will be 
 done !) He was my last, and loveliest, and best beloved, 
 and most worthy of my love." 
 
 In Tlie Black Dicarf, Hobbie Elliot reaches home to 
 find that a great calamity has happened in his absence — 
 his house burned down, and Grace Armstrong carried off 
 by a band of armed and masked moss-troopers. Over- 
 whelmed mth grief, Hobbie allows himself to be led to a 
 seat by his grandmother, who, with the affecting serenity 
 which sincere piety can throw over the most acute feel- 
 ings, tried to soothe him under his great trial. 
 
 " My bairn," she said, " when thy grandfather was 
 killed in the wars, and left me with six orphans around 
 me, with scarce bread to eat, or a roof to cover us, I had 
 strength — not of mine own — but I had strength given 
 me to say, The Lord's will be done ! . . . My son, . . . 
 pray for strength to say, His will be done 1 " 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! urge me not — I cannot — not now 
 

 77/e Gospels. ^£4lj;^Q^"^ 
 
 — I am a sinful man, and of a hardened race. Masked 
 — armed — Grace carried off ! Give me my sword, and 
 my father's knapsack — I will have vengeance if I should 
 go to the pit of darkness to seek it." 
 
 " my bairn, my bairn ! be patient under the rod. 
 Who knows when He may lift His hand off from us?" 
 The aged grandmother then explains that EarnsclifF and 
 other friends are away in pursuit of the troopers ; but as 
 Hobbie still persists in his intention to follow the robbers, 
 she continues to urge upon him patience and resignation. 
 
 " Urge me not, mother — not now." He was rushing 
 out, when looking back he observed his grandmother 
 make a mute attitude of affliction. He returned hastily, 
 threw himself into her arms, and said, "Yes, mother, I 
 can say His will be done, since it will comfort you." 
 
 "May He go forth — may He go forth with you, my 
 dear bairn ; and, oh, may He give you cause to say on 
 your return, His name be praised ! " 
 
 Poor Saunders Mucklebackit and his wife, in The 
 Antiquary^ find it no less hard, than Hobbie Elliot does, 
 to submit with resignation when the hour of trial comes. 
 They have lost their son Steenie, and the grief of the 
 parents is well-nigh uncontrollable. " He has sailed the 
 coble wi' me since he was ten years auld, and there wasna 
 the like o' him drew a net betwixt this and Buchan-ness. 
 They say folks maun submit — Itoill try. " The mother of the 
 drowned fisher-lad tries to listen to the clergyman's at- 
 tempts at consolation ; but from her half-stifled sobs in 
 reply, we feel that she, too, finds it hard to learn the 
 lesson, "Thy will be done." "Yes, sir, yes," she says. 
 
I/O The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 as the clergyman pauses. ^^ It's our duty to submit. But, 
 oh dear ! my poor Steenie, . . . what for is thou lying 
 there ! and, oh ! what for am I left to greet for ye ?" 
 
 David Deans, of stronger and sterner feelings than 
 either the Border farmer or the fisherman and his wife, 
 says in reply to a neighbour who inquires what he pro- 
 poses to do now, when a great family trial has overtaken 
 him — "Nothing," answered Deans firmly, "but to abide 
 the dispensation that the Lord sees meet to send us. 
 if it had been His will to take the gray head to rest before 
 this awful visitation on my house and name ! But His 
 will he done. I can smj that yet, though I can say little 
 mair." 
 
 An incident in The Monastery illustrates the truth ex- 
 pressed by our Lord that " where your treasure is, there 
 will your heart be also." Sir Piercie Shafton, the gay 
 and handsome English Knight, with an especial passion 
 for fine clothing, seeks refuge in Scotland, and while 
 there, receives a letter intimating that there had been 
 forwarded to him two mails filled with wearing apparel, 
 " rich crimson silk doublets slashed out, and lined with 
 cloth of gold," along with numerous other fineries. The 
 Abbot and the Sub-Prior bring these in their train while 
 on a visit to the tower of Glendearg, and when Sir Piercie 
 hears of his clothes, he says to the churchmen, " I pray 
 you, pardon me — I must needs see how matters stand 
 with (the clothes) without further dallying." So saying 
 he left the room. The Sub -Prior, looking after him 
 significantly added, "Where the treasure is, there will 
 the heart be also." 
 
The Gospels. 171 
 
 The impossibility of serving two masters is illustrated 
 in various ways by Sir Walter. Elias Henderson, the 
 chaplain in The Abbot ^ seeks to induce Roland Graeme to 
 transfer his services from Queen Mary to Lady Loch- 
 leven, the latter of whom was ready, even that day, to 
 employ the page in certain important missions on the 
 mainland. But Eoland felt that any increase of confi- 
 dence on the part of Lady Lochleven and her family 
 would only render his situation, in a moral point of 
 view, doubly embarrassing. "One cannot serve two 
 masters," he reasoned, "and I much fear that my mis- 
 tress Avill not hold me excused for taking employment 
 under another." 
 
 A less conscientious servant than Roland Graeme, 
 Michael Lambourne, says that he will at least try the 
 experiment of serving two masters. Prefixed to the 
 fourth chapter of Kenihvoiih are the following lines, which 
 refer to an arrangement by which Lambourne is to enter 
 the service of the Earl of Leicester and Richard Varney : 
 
 ' * Not serve two masters ! Here's a youtli will try it — 
 Would fain serve God, yet give the devil his due : 
 Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy, 
 And returns his thanks devoutly, when 'tis acted." 
 
 In describing Hereward's ramble through the streets of 
 Constantinople and the terraces along the margin of the 
 Bosphorus, Sir Walter pictures out how the inhabitants 
 of the city were, in various ways, enjoying their ease 
 and whiling away their leisure on the public promenade. 
 Unconsciously, in perhaps the lowest possible sense, they 
 were acting on our Lord's injunction of taking no thought 
 
172 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 for the morrow ; for, adds Sir Walter, the people spent 
 "their time. as if their sole object was to make as much 
 of the day as it passed, and let the cares of to-morrow 
 answer for themselves." 
 
 Coupled with this injunction is the assurance that 
 "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" — a text 
 which Sir Walter often quotes. While Quentin Dur- 
 ward was on guard in the hall, he was strictly enjoined 
 by the king to keep off all intruders, and to remember 
 his secret orders. Perplexing and difficult as these 
 secret orders were to keep in mind, the youthful Scot 
 derived much consolation from the thought that it was 
 time enough to think what was to be done when the 
 emergency actually arrived, and that, in any case, 
 " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." 
 
 Darsie Latimer, in Redgcmntlet^ records in his journal 
 that rarely, in the course of his own experience, has he 
 known what it was to sustain a moment's real sorrow. 
 " What I have called such," he says, " was, I am now well 
 convinced, only the weariness of mind which, having 
 nothing actually present to complain of, turns upon it- 
 self and becomes anxious about the past and the future : 
 those periods with which human life has so little con- 
 nection that Scripture itself has said, ' Sufficient for the 
 day is the evil thereof.' " 
 
 Clara Mowbray begs of her brother John not to annoy 
 and worry her with details of the coming private theatri- 
 cals at St. Ronan's. She will attend and do the part 
 assigned to her, but to think of it beforehand makes 
 both her head and heart ache. She comforts herself. 
 
The Gospels. 173 
 
 however, with the sacred assurance that " Sufficient for 
 the day is the evil thereof." 
 
 Sir Walter had no doubt this text in mind when, in 
 Bjob Roy, he gives it as his conviction " that of all the 
 propensities which teach mankind to torment themselves, 
 that of causeless fear is the most irritating, busy, painful, 
 and pitiable." And we can trace it in Woodstock also, 
 where the good-natured Joliffe tells Phoebe to put her 
 scanty store of wine into a flask and take it to Sir Henry 
 Lee. " The knight," he says, " must not lack his evening 
 draught. . . . There is enough for supper, and to-mmrow 
 is a new day." 
 
 The injunction in the passage " Give not that which 
 is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before 
 swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn 
 again and rend you," involves the idea of moral fitness 
 and adaptation on the part of the person conveying 
 certain specific information or instruction, and the person 
 or persons to whom such information is to be imparted, 
 or not imparted, as the case may be. Sir "Walter illus- 
 trates the meaning of the passage in several very inter- 
 esting examples. In The Antiquary, the Earl of Glenallan 
 had a confidential and secret interview with old Edie 
 Ochiltree ; and when it was over, his Lordship gave in- 
 structions to Francie Macraw, that the mendicant should 
 be seen fairly out of the house and off the grounds, 
 without conversation or intercourse with any of the 
 domestics. Considering, however, that the restriction 
 did not extend to himself, who was the person entrusted 
 with the convoy, Francie used every measure in his 
 
1 74 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 power to extort from Edie what had passed at the inter- 
 view. But Edie had been, in his time, accustomed to 
 cross-examination, and easily evaded that of his quon- 
 dam comrade. " The secrets of grit folk," said Ochiltree 
 within himself, " are just like the wild beasts that are 
 shut up in cages ; keep them hard and fast snecked up, 
 and it's a' very weel or better, but ance let them out, they 
 will turn and rend you." 
 
 Conversing -with the Marquis of Montrose, Captain 
 Dalgetty thinks that any effort made to instruct the 
 Highlanders in military movements and discipline would 
 only be so much good time thrown away. He grants 
 them to be brave and active, but even supposing he were 
 to try and discipline such a "breechless mob," where, 
 Dalgetty asks, were the chances that he would be under- 
 stood in the first place, and obeyed in the second % And 
 then he closes his argument by remarking, "Truly, well 
 saith Holy Writ, ' If ye cast your pearls before swine 
 they will turn again and rend ye.' " 
 
 In Ivanhoe, Prince John haughtily observes that using 
 courtesy to the Lady Rowena and her party of Saxon 
 attendants is only " casting pearls before swine." And 
 the officer in Count Robert of Paris says to Hereward, with 
 reference to Eastern affairs, that to show the "fine 
 meshes of Grecian policy to the coarse eye of an un- 
 practised barbarian like thee, is much like casting pearls 
 before swine — a thing forbidden in the blessed Gospel." 
 Sir Philip de Comines intimates to Louis XL, in Quentin 
 Durward, that there is a report of the approach of an 
 envoy from La Marck. "This," he said, "is like to 
 
The Gospels, 175 
 
 drive the Duke (of Burgundy) frantic with rage. I trust 
 he has no letters, or the like, to show on your Majesty's 
 partr' 
 
 " Letters to a Wild Boar ! " answered the King ; "no, 
 no. Sir Philip, I was no such fool as to cast pearls before 
 swine. What little intercourse I had with the brute 
 animal was by message, in which I always employed 
 such low-bred slaves and vagabonds, that their evidence 
 would not be received on a trial for robbing a hen- 
 roost." 
 
 Vamey and Antony Foster, in Kenilworth^ meet at 
 dinner, both dressed so much more smartly than usual 
 that the former sarcastically observes : " Thou art gay as 
 a goldfinch, Antony. . . . Methinks thou wilt whistle a 
 jig anon — but I crave your pardon — that would secure 
 your ejection from the zealous butchers, the pure-hearted 
 weavers, and the sanctified bakers of Abingdon, who let 
 their ovens cool while their brains get heated." 
 
 "To answer you in the spirit, Master Varney," said 
 Foster, " were — excuse the parable — to fling sacred and 
 precious things before swine. So I will speak to thee in 
 the language of the world which he, who is king of the 
 world, hath taught thee to understand and to profit by 
 no common measure." 
 
 The golden rule of equity, as taught by our Lord, is 
 to do to others as we would they should do to us. In 
 Rob Roy, Mr. Osbaldistone's managing clerk, Owen, puts 
 the golden rule into the following quaint and curious 
 arithmetical form. Addressing the head of the firm 
 with reference to the case of Frank, Owen says : "Mr. 
 
176 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Francis seems to understand the fundamental principle 
 of all moral accounting, the great ethic rule of three : 
 let A do to B as he would have B do to him ; the pro- 
 duct will give the rule of conduct required." And in 
 the same novel, Bailie Nicol Jarvie warmly congratulates 
 old Mr. Osbaldistone and Owen on the return of pros- 
 perity, without at the same time affecting to disclaim 
 that he had done his best to serve them when matters 
 looked otherwise. "He had," the worthy magistrate 
 observes, " only just acted as he would be done by." 
 
 Simon of Hackburn, in Tlie Black Dwarf, looks at the 
 golden rule in a different light from the Bailie. While 
 Hobbie Elliot's friends and neighbours are assembling to 
 form a party to go in pursuit of the moss-trooper who 
 had burned his house and carried off Grace Armstrong, 
 "Ay, ay," exclaimed Simon, "that's the gate to take it, 
 Hobbie ; let women sit and greet at hame, men must do 
 as they have been done by; it's the Scripture says 't." 
 
 "Hand your tongue, sir," said one of the seniors, 
 sternly ; " dinna abuse the Word in that gate ; ye dinna 
 ken what ye speak about." 
 
 In Quentin Durward, Sir Walter draws the picture of a 
 selfish man in the person of Ludovic Lesly, an archer of 
 the Scottish guard. In fact, so utterly selfish was he, 
 that he was seldom able " to proceed far in any subject 
 without considering how it applied to himself, or, as it 
 was called, making the case his own, though not upon feel- 
 ings connected ivith the golden ride, but such as was very 
 different." In the same novel, however, there is another 
 character occupying a much more lowly position than 
 
The Gospels, 177 
 
 the Scottish archer, but of a very different disposition. 
 This is the Flemish guide in attendance upon Quentin 
 Durward and the Lady Isabelle. During their journey 
 towards Brabant the good-natured guide, minding the 
 golden rule, and doing as he desired to be done by, 
 removed from them the restraint of a third party, and 
 left Quentin and the Lady free to continue their con- 
 versation. There is, in Anne of Geierstein, another char- 
 acter whose name we always associate with the golden 
 rule. Of Annette, the waiting-maid. Sir Walter himself 
 says that she wished " always to do as she would wish 
 to be done by." On one occasion she was delighted 
 "with the thought that, by her observance of the golden 
 rule, she had been the means of bringing the two lovers, 
 Arthur Philipson and Anne of Geierstein, together, and 
 that on the eve of what seemed to be their inevitable 
 separation for ever. 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian, we are reminded of "the 
 strait gate and the narrow way," through and along 
 which the Divine Teacher urges us all to pass. Address- 
 ing Jeanie Deans, Madge Wildfire says, " Ye are a decent 
 man's daughter . . . and may be yell can teach me 
 to find out the narrow way and the strait path, for I 
 have been burning bricks in Egypt, and walking 
 through the weary wilderness of Sinai for lang and 
 mony a day." 
 
 The illustration of the house built on the sand, with 
 which our Lord concludes His Sermon on the Mount, is 
 very frequently employed by Sir Walter. At the close 
 of The Pirate, in the parting words on the character of 
 
 N 
 
1 7 8 The Bible m Waver ley. 
 
 Minna Troil, he tells us that though she had been gifted 
 with much depth of feeling and enthusiasm, yet she had 
 seen both blighted even in early youth, because, with 
 the inexperience of a disposition equally romantic and 
 ignorant, she had built the fabric of her happiness on 
 a quicksand instead of a rock 
 
 Varney and Foster are discussing their prospects of 
 advancement in the service of the Earl of Leicester and 
 the Countess Amy. " We must found our future for- 
 tunes on her good liking," remarks Yarney. 
 
 ^^JVe build on sand, then" said Foster, "for, sup- 
 posing that she sails away to court in all her lord's dig- 
 nity and authority, how is she to look back upon me 
 who am her jailor, as it were, to detain her here against 
 her will, keeping her a caterpillar on an old wall, when 
 she would fain be a painted butterfly in a court 
 garden?" 
 
 In Count Rohert of Paris, Hereward tells us of an old 
 countryman of his who, when too old for the active life 
 of a soldier, passed his time in attending the lectures of 
 the philosophers. "But I have understood from him," 
 Hereward adds, " that the masters of this idle science 
 make it their business to substitute, in their argumenta- 
 tions, mere words instead of ideas. . . . Their theories, 
 as they call them, are built on the sand, and the tvind and 
 tide shall prevail against them." 
 
 In Woodstock, Harrison tries to induce Everard to 
 join him in seeking to "repair the breaches in Zion." 
 He feels certain that they two would be chosen pillars 
 and buttresses, under Cromwell, for supporting and sus- 
 
The Gospels. 179 
 
 taining the Church ; and were they able to endow her 
 with proper revenues and incomes, both spiritual and 
 temporal, there might be hopes of her remaining estab- 
 lished and firm; otherwise, it is Harrison's opinion, 
 "owr foundation mil be on the loose sand." The grand- 
 mother of Roland Graeme puts the security of the 
 Church into the keeping of God alone. Endowed with 
 strong faith, she says, "God will defend His own, 
 though it be forsaken and despised of men. Better to 
 dwell on the sand under His latu, than fly to the rock of human 
 trust." 
 
 In sending out the twelve apostles to proclaim that 
 the kingdom of heaven was near at hand, our Lord 
 intimates to them that they would have many difficulties 
 to encounter, trials to face, and unsympathetic audiences 
 to address. "I send you forth," He says, "as sheep in 
 the midst of wolves, be ye therefore wise as serpents 
 and harmless as doves." This text is frequently quoted 
 by Sir Walter, but not always in the sense in which it 
 is used in Scripture. Wayland Smith, in Kenilworth, 
 privately warns Janet Foster that an old man is on his 
 way to Cumnor Place with designs against her mistress. 
 Describing his appearance, and his manner, Wayland 
 proceeds to say, " He brings the venom of the asjpic under 
 the assumed innocence of the dove. What precise mischief 
 he meditates towards you I cannot guess, but death and 
 disease have ever dogged his footsteps." 
 
 In Feveril of the Peak, the Countess of Derby sends 
 Julian on a secret mission to London. He expresses 
 his doubts and fears as to the policy of mixing himself 
 
i8o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 up with the Catholics of the Metropolis. In the course 
 of soothing these fears, and seeking to dispel these 
 doubts, the Countess observes, " Though you Protestants 
 deny our priesthood the liarmlessness of the dove, you are 
 ready enough to allow us a full share of the ivisdom of the 
 serpent" 
 
 Describing to Eoland Graeme the state of the Catholics 
 in Scotland at the time of the Keformation, and the 
 hopelessness of their ever again being able to recover 
 the supremacy they had lost, the Abbot, in the novel of 
 that name, despondingiy remarks, "As well might the 
 hound say to the hare, use not these wily turns to 
 escape me, but contend with me in pitched battle, as 
 the armed and pow^erful heretic demand of the down- 
 trodden and oppressed Catholic to lay aside the ivisdom 
 of the serpent, by which alone they may hope to raise up 
 the Jerusalem over which they weep, and which it is 
 their duty to rebuild." 
 
 Our Lord compares those who had listened unmoved 
 to the ministry of John the Baptist, to children sitting 
 in the market-place playing at rejoicing and lamenting. 
 There was no impression made. In Count Bolert of Paris, 
 the Princess Anna Comnena is attracted by the Count, 
 and shows him great attention. He sits, however, in 
 a fit of apparent abstraction or preoccupation, and has 
 nothing to say in reply to all that was being done to 
 interest him. Unable to endure such conduct any 
 longer, the Princess says, " JFe have piped to you and you 
 have not danced. We have sung to you the jovial chorus 
 of Evoe, evoe, and you will neither worship Comus nor 
 
The Gospels. i8i 
 
 Bacchus." The Count curtly replies that he is a Christian 
 man, and bids " defiance to Apollo, Bacchus, Comus, and 
 all other heathen deities whatsoever." 
 
 In the twenty -third chapter of St. Matthew, our 
 Lord denounces, in scathing and withering terms, the 
 hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. From this 
 chapter we have numerous quotations scattered through- 
 out the Waverley Novels, and plenty of references to 
 the greetings in the market-place, the long prayers, the 
 tithing of mint and anise and cummin to the omission 
 of much weightier matters of the law, the cleansing of 
 cups and platters, the whited sepulchres, and the genera- 
 tion of vipers. 
 
 In the novel of Redgauntlet, Sir Walter draws the full- 
 length portrait of a hypocrite in the person of Thomas 
 Trumbull, the sanctimonious smuggler. Alan Fairford, 
 still in search of his friend Darsie Latimer, arrives at 
 the town of Annan, and, with the assistance of a young 
 lad, seeks out the house of Trumbull. Listening at the 
 door they hear, within, the uplifting of a Psalm. " They 
 are at exercise, sir," said the lad, motioning at the same 
 time that it would not be proper to enter until prayers 
 were over. 
 
 Alan, however, could not wait, and as he knocked at 
 the door with the end of his riding-whip the singing 
 ceased, and Trumbull himself appeared with his Psalm- 
 book in his hand, demanding to know the meaning of 
 this unseasonable interruption. "Do you want me, 
 sir ? " he said to Fairford. " We were engaged, and it 
 is the Saturday night." 
 
1 82 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Alan's preconceptions as to the man's appearance 
 and manner were so completely dispelled by the 
 reality, that he stood for a moment bewildered, and 
 would as soon have thought of giving a cant pass- 
 word to a clergyman descending from the pulpit, as 
 to the apparently respectable father of a family just 
 interrupted in his prayers. Hastily concluding that 
 some idle jest had been passed upon him, or rather 
 that he had mistaken the person to whom he 
 was directed, he asked if he spoke to Mr. Trum- 
 bull. 
 
 "To Thomas Trumbull," answered the old man. 
 " What may be your business, sir ? " and he glanced his 
 eye to the book he held in his hand with a sigh like 
 that of a saint desirous of dissolution. 
 
 Explaining that he had been directed thither by Mr. 
 Maxwell of Summertrees, Alan inquired, "Is there 
 another of your name in this town of Annan % " 
 
 " None," replied Trumbull, " since my worthy father 
 was removed; he was indeed a shining light — I wish 
 you good even, sir." 
 
 "Stay one single instant," said Fairford, "this is a 
 matter of life and death." 
 
 " Not more than the casting the burden of our sins 
 where they should be laid," said Thomas Trumbull, 
 about to shut the door in the inquirer's face. 
 
 "Do you know," said Alan Fairford, "the Laird of 
 Eedgauntlet ? " 
 
 " Now Heaven defend me from treason and rebellion ! " 
 exclaimed Trumbull : " young gentleman, you are im- 
 
The Gospels. 183 
 
 portunate. I live here among my own people, and do 
 not consort mth Jacobites and mass-mongers." 
 
 Here Alan produced the password with which he 
 had previously been provided. In a low tone of voice 
 he said, " At least you can tell me what age the moon 
 is?" 
 
 The pass had the desired effect, and Alan was at 
 once invited to enter the house. Putting his head into 
 an apartment, which the murmurs within announced to 
 be filled with the members of his family, Trumbull said 
 aloud, " A work of necessity and mercy ! Malachi, 
 take the book — you will sing six double verses of the 
 hundred and nineteen — and you may lecture out of the 
 Lamentations. And Malachi " — this he said in an under- 
 tone — " see you give them a screed of doctrine that will 
 last them till I come back." 
 
 Directing Alan to follow him, Trumbull led the way 
 out of the house, through a garden, and eventually into 
 a subterranean vault. Here a conversation took place 
 between Trumbull and another person, to whom he 
 introduced Alan as being bound for Cumberland on 
 pressing business, and desirous of speech with Red- 
 gauntlet. We need not follow the details of the narra- 
 tive, but pass on until Trumbull and Alan arrive, after 
 a perilous progress along the roofs of two or three 
 houses, at an inn, which they enter by an attic room. 
 Here they met Nanty Ewart, to whom Trumbull ob- 
 served, "It is not my custom, Mr. Ewart, as you well 
 know, to become a chamberer or carouser thus late on 
 Saturday at e'en, but I wanted to recommend to your 
 
1 84 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 attention a young friend of ours." Alan was then 
 introduced to Ewart, the captain of a smuggling craft. 
 Sitting down to the bowl of punch, Nanty seized the 
 ladle and proceeded to fill the glasses. Trumbull, how- 
 ever, arrested the smuggler's hand until he had, as the 
 hypocrite expressed himself, sanctified the liquor by a long 
 grace. Thoroughly disgusted with such conduct, Alan 
 rose from the table, craved and obtained leave to stretch 
 himself on a couch, and tried to procure some rest before 
 the ship should sail with the morning tide. 
 
 After a short and troubled sleep, Alan was requested 
 to leave the house with the two boon companions. As 
 they walked to where the ship was lying, Trumbull re- 
 minded Alan that the next day was the honourable Sab- 
 bath, and became extremely discursive in an attempt to 
 exhort him to keep it holy according to the command- 
 ment. Sensible, perhaps, that from the effects of the 
 liquor he was fast becoming unintelligible, he thrust a 
 volume into Fairford's hand, hiccuping at the same time, 
 "good book, good book — fine hymn-book — fit for the 
 honourable Sabbath, which awaits us to-morrow morn- 
 ing." Here the iron tongue of time tolled five from the 
 townsteeple of Annan, to the further confusion of Mr. 
 Trumbull's already disordered ideas. " Ay ? Is Sunday 
 come and gone already 1 Heaven be praised ! Only it 
 is a marvel the afternoon is so dark for the time of the 
 year — Sabbath has slipped ower quietly, but we have 
 reason to bless oursells it has not been altogether mis- 
 employed. I heard little of the preaching — a cauld 
 moralist, I doubt, served that out — but eh ! the prayer 
 
The Gospels. 185 
 
 — I mind it as if I had said the words ray sell." Here he 
 repeated one or two petitions, which were probably a 
 part of his family devotions. " I never remember a Sab- 
 bath pass so cannily off in my life." Then he recollected 
 himself a little, and said to Alan, " You may read that 
 book, Mr. Fairford, to-morrow all the same, though it be 
 Monday ; for, you see, it was Saturday when we were 
 thegither, and now it's Sunday, and it's dark night — 
 so the Sabbath has slipped clean away through our 
 fingers, like water through a sieve, which abideth not ; 
 and we have to begin again to-morrow morning, in the 
 weariful, base, mean, earthly employments, which are 
 unworthy of an immortal spirit, always excepting the 
 way of business." 
 
 At length Alan got on board the Jumping Jenny. 
 After a short and feverish sleep he rises and has recourse 
 to his pocket for the copy of Sallust which he had 
 brought with him, that the perusal of a classic author 
 might help to pass away a weary hour. Instead of Sal- 
 lust, however, he pulled from his pocket the supposed 
 hymn-book with which he had been presented a few 
 hours before by Trumbull. But what was Alan's aston- 
 ishment to read on the title-page the following words, 
 " Merry Thoughts for Merry Men : or, Mother ^lidnight's 
 Miscellany for Small Hours." Turning over the leaves, 
 he was disgusted with profligate tales and more profli- 
 gate songs, ornamented with figures corresponding in 
 infamy with the letterpress. " Good God ! " thought 
 Alan, " and did this hoary reprobate summon his family 
 together, and with such a disgraceful pledge of infamy in . 
 
1 86 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 his bosom venture to approach the throne of his Creator % 
 It must be so. The book is bound after the manner of 
 those dedicated to devotional subjects, and doubtless the 
 wretch, in his intoxication, confounded the book he car- 
 ried with him as he did the days of the week." With 
 unutterable loathing and disgust Alan flung the volume 
 from him over the ship's side, as far away into the sea 
 as possible. 
 
 We have other hypocrites in the Waverley Novels, 
 but none so contemptible, out and out, as this same 
 sanctimonious smuggler. "If you want a hypocrite," 
 says Lambourne to Varney, in Kenilivorth^ "you may 
 take Anthony Foster who, from his childhood, had some 
 sort of phantom haunting him which he called religion, 
 though it was that sort of godliness which always ' ended 
 in being great gain.' " 
 
 Foster himself seems to confirm the truth of what 
 Lambourne says of him, for, listen to him as he is think- 
 ing aloud about his daughter and about the life he leads 
 at Cumnor Hall. " No contagious vapour shall breathe 
 on Janet — she shall remain as a blessed spirit, were it 
 but to pray God for her father. I need her prayers, for 
 I am at a hard pass. Strange reports are abroad concern- 
 ing my way of life. The congregation look cold on me, 
 and when Master Holdforth spoke of hypocrites being 
 like a whited sepulchre, which within ivas full of dead men's 
 honeSy methought he looked full at me. ... I will read 
 my Bible ere I again open mine iron chest." 
 
 In the novel of The Monastery we are told that, gloomy 
 and depressed, the Sacristan leaves the room where the 
 
The Gospels. 187 
 
 dying Lady of Avenel lay. Dame Glendinning, afraid at 
 first to speak, at length hazards the hope that the lady 
 had made an easy shrift, for, having lived five years with 
 her, she could safely say that no woman lived better. 
 
 "Woman!" said the Sacristan sternly, "thou speak- 
 est thou knowest not what ! What avails cleaning the 
 outside of the ijlatter, if the inside be foul with heresy?" 
 
 The poor dame, taking these latter words in a literal 
 sense, began to wipe the imaginary dust from the plates 
 on the table before her ; but the Sacristan assured her 
 that the foulness, of which he spoke, was the heresy 
 which was daily spreading and leavening the whole 
 Church. 
 
 Speaking of the education which Eoland Graeme had 
 received at Avenel Castle, the lad's grandmother, stern 
 and enthusiastic Catholic as she was, nevertheless com- 
 mended it as an effort to train up the young in " strong 
 morality, and choke every inlet of youthful folly." Her 
 companion, however, could see nothing in the education 
 of a youth brought up in a family who had embraced 
 the reformed faith, but a cleansing of the outside of the cup, 
 and a whitening of the sepulchre. Much in the same spirit, 
 though in exactly the opposite direction from the Church 
 stand-point of view, does Tomkins, the Presbyterian sol- 
 dier, in TVoodstocJc, regret that Sir Henry Lee should be 
 " such a malignant cavalier, and that he should, like the 
 rest of that generation of vipers, have clothed himself with 
 curses as with a garment." 
 
 In the form of a proverbial saying, our Lord teaches 
 this important truth, that no one can do anything well 
 
1 88 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 unless his undivided attention be given to whatever he 
 has taken in hand to do. "No man," He says, "having 
 put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for 
 the kingdom of God." This is a truth which receives 
 several very interesting illustrations in the Waverley 
 Novels. In Old MmialHy Burley says to Morton, with 
 reference to his joining the Cameronian cause, "When 
 I ])ut my hand to the plough, I entered into a covenant with 
 my Avorldly affections that I should not look back on the 
 things I left behind me." Further on, in the same novel, 
 Morton also joins the same cause ; but seeing and hear- 
 ing much that pained and vexed him, he resolved to 
 sever his connection and have nothing more to do with 
 the party. Burley asks where he is going. 
 
 " Anywhere — I care not whither ; but here will I 
 abide no longer." 
 
 " Art thou so soon weary, young man ? " said Burley. 
 " Thy hand is but now put to the plough, and wouldst thou 
 already abandon it ? Is this thy adherence to the cause 
 of thy father?" Morton indignantly declares, in self- 
 defence, that no cause can prosper where so much bitter 
 feeling exists, and which is broken up into so many 
 parties distrusting and suspecting each other. 
 
 In a high strain of enthusiasm, Magdalen Graeme 
 devotes her life to the interests of Queen Mary and the 
 Church. She calls upon saints and angels to witness that 
 no earthly consideration will induce her to withdraw her 
 " hand from the pilough when it shall pass through the 
 devoted furrow." The Prelate, in The Betrothed, receives 
 the High Constable very coldly on learning that he seeks 
 
The Gospels. 189 
 
 to evade his vows of going to Palestine to fight for the 
 cross, and characterises such conduct as " a fickle and 
 selfish wish to uitMraw his hand from the plotigh." The 
 Crusaders, in Count Robert of Paris, unlike the High 
 Constable, hold to their solemn vow not to turn their 
 back upon Palestine " now that they had set their hands 
 to the plough^ Eesolute or irresolute, Wildrake is told 
 by Cromwell, in strong and unmistakable terms, that 
 " whosoever jj^6//t'//t his hand to the plough in the great 
 actings which are now on foot in these nations had best 
 be aware that he do not look back ; " and then the Pro- 
 tector significantly adds, " Eely upon my simple word 
 that if you fail me, I will not spare on you one foot's 
 length of the gallows of Haman." In the course of the 
 same novel of JFoodstock, Cromwell again uses the text 
 in addressing Colonel Everard on the lukewarmness of 
 many of their supporters. " Because we look back after 
 we have put our hand to the plough, therefore is our force 
 waxed dim." 
 
 In his address to the seventy disciples sent out to 
 preach " into every city and place whither He Himself 
 would come," our Lord tells them that they need have 
 no hesitation in accepting of any kindness or hospitality 
 offered ; for, as an equivalent, they bring the blessings 
 of peace to every house into which they enter. " The 
 labourer is worthy of his hire " — an expression which 
 has now become proverbial. Let us see in what way it 
 comes before us in the Waverley Novels. When one of 
 Henry Morton's followers was sent to report the evacu- 
 ation of Tillietudlem Castle, and its occupation by the 
 
190 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 insurgent forces, Burley was rather driven to fury than 
 pleased to learn such good news. " I have watched," 
 he said, " I have fought — I have plotted — I have striven 
 for the reduction of this place, . . . and when the men 
 were about to yield themselves to my hand, . . . cometh 
 this youth (Henry Morton), and takes it on him to thrust 
 his sickle into the harvest, and rends the prey from the 
 spoiler. Surely the labourer is worthy of his hire, and the 
 city, with its captives, should be given to him that wins it." 
 
 In The Pirate Yellowley thinks, when he finds a 
 hornful of old coins below the hearthstone in one of the 
 old rooms at Stourburgh, that he has a right to the best 
 share. " Surely the labourer," he reasons, " as one may 
 call the finder, is worthy of his hire." In St. Pionan's, 
 Mowbray goes to his legal adviser to negotiate for the 
 loan of a sum of money. Seeing nothing but ruin 
 in store for his family, the agent concludes his ex- 
 pressions of regret and sympathy by saying, " It brings 
 tears into my auld een." 
 
 "Never weep for the matter, Mick," answered Mow- 
 bray, " some of the money will stick in your pockets if 
 not in mine. Your service will not be altogether gratu- 
 itous, my old friend — the labourer is worthy of his hire." 
 
 In Kenihvmih, Foster grumbles at having to under- 
 take both the trouble and the risk of looking after 
 Tressilian, so as to secure and detain him. He thinks 
 that Varney should also take his share of the danger. 
 "But this comes," he says, "of being leagued with one 
 who knows not even so much of Scripture as that the 
 labourer is wmihy of his hire." 
 
The Gospels. 191 
 
 In the dread predictions uttered by our Lord in the 
 twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, He says that the 
 desolations of the evil day will come as surely as the 
 birds of prey come to a dead carcase that lies exposed in 
 the open field, or, proverbially put, " Wheresoever the 
 carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." 
 As the day of adversity came upon Sir Arthur Wardour, 
 in The Antiquary^ and the crisis of his affairs approached, 
 his affectionate daughter anxiously inquires if they are 
 not now irretrievably ruined. The Antiquary, to whom 
 the question was put, hopes that all is not lost ; but Sir 
 Arthur himself fears the very worst, for his creditors 
 are crowding in with their claims as they scent the ruin 
 that is approaching. " Where the slaughter is," says the 
 imfortunate gentleman, quoting the text, "the eagles 
 will be gathered together." And he adds this com- 
 mentary from his own experience, " I am like a sheep 
 which I have seen fall down a precipice, or drop down 
 from sickness — if you had not seen a single raven or 
 hooded crow for a fortnight before, he will not be on the 
 heather ten minutes before half a dozen will be picking 
 out his eyes." 
 
 "Corbies dinna gather without they smell carrion," 
 says our old friend Andrew Fairservice, by way of para- 
 phrasing the text. The Highland clans, scenting the 
 carnage afar off, " came like eagles to the slaughter " of 
 the insurgent Cameronians. The hungry group of 
 hangers-on in the ante-chamber of the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham was like a " gathering of the eagles to the slaughter" 
 — a needy lot of adventurers living upon the wants of 
 
192 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 greatness, or stimulating the desires of lavish extrava- 
 gance. 
 
 Incensed at the indignity put upon Christ in the 
 garden of Gethsemane, one of those who stood by 
 Him drew a sword and struck a servant of the high 
 priest. Our Lord desired him to desist, and put the 
 weapon back again to its place, adding, " For all they 
 that take the sword shall perish by the sword." This 
 text forms the subject of Henry Warden's sermon before 
 the assembled household of Avenel Castle — a sermon 
 preached for the special benefit of Ronald Graeme, in the 
 hope that it might teach him to restrain his violent 
 temper, and calm his stormy bursts of passion. 
 
 Indulging in vain and unavailing regrets about the 
 fate of her brother, under sentence of death in Carlisle 
 Castle, and lamenting the share that she had herself 
 taken in spurring on his fiery temper to join the rebellion. 
 Flora Maclvor says to Waverley, " Oh that I could re- 
 collect that I had but once said to him, ' He that striketh 
 with the sicord shall die hy the sivord.' " 
 
 The parabolic teaching of our Lord supplies much 
 valuable material to Sir AValter. Taking the first of the 
 parables which comes before us, not in its chronological 
 or harmonised arrangement, but simply in the place 
 which it occupies in our note-book, we find that it is that 
 of the sower going forth to sow. We do not, of course, 
 expect to find that the novelist will treat the parable as 
 a whole, or in its complete and finished form, with all 
 the lessons that can be drawn from it ; the lecturer or 
 the preacher will do that. But we find, in great abund- 
 
The Gospels. 193 
 
 ance, illustrations suggested by the good ground^ the stony 
 ground, and the thorns ivhich sprang up and choked the 
 growing corn. Eoland Graeme states the reason of his 
 interfering in the street brawl at Edinburgh, and go- 
 ing to the rescue of Lord Seyton, whose life he thought 
 in danger. No one, he imagines, could have stood by 
 and seen an honourable man borne to the earth by over- 
 powering odds if his single arm could help him. Such, 
 at least, was the lesson he had been taught in chivalry 
 at the castle of Avenel. 
 
 " The good seed hath fallen into good ground, young 
 man," said Seyton, " but, alas, if thou practise such hon- 
 ourable war in these dishonourable days, where right is 
 everywhere borne down by mastery, thy life, my poor 
 boy, will be but a short one." 
 
 In The Chronicles of the Canongate, Chrystal Croftangry 
 proposes to write a family history when he can find lei- 
 sure to bring forward evidence in support of the facts 
 which he requires to state. "Mere words," he says, 
 " when they are unsupported by proofs, are like seed 
 sown on the naked rock, or like an house biggit on the 
 flitting and faithless sands." 
 
 The good clergyman, in the tragic tale of The Highland 
 Widow, embraced every opportunity of teaching and in- 
 structing the widow's son, and though the seed had, as 
 yet at least, only fallen " among the brambles and thorns of 
 a wild and uncultivated disposition, it had not yet been 
 entirely checked or destroyed." 
 
 In the motto prefixed to the sixth chapter of The 
 Monastery, Sir Walter pictures out in a few lines the 
 
 o 
 
194 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 whole spirit and meaning of the parable of the tares 
 among the wheat. 
 
 " Now let us sit in conclave. That these weeds 
 Be rooted from the vineyard of the church, 
 That these foul tares be severed from the wheat, 
 "We are, I trust, agreed. Yet how to do this, 
 Nor hurt the wholesome crop and tender vine-plants. 
 Craves good advisement." 
 
 In the chapter to which these lines are prefixed, there 
 is a description given of the alarm which was agitating 
 and upheaving the Church on account of the rapid spread 
 of the reformed doctrines. The Abbot, in the novel 
 bearing his name, has received instructions from the 
 Primate to seek out all heretical persons within the 
 bounds of his authority, and have them watched or de- 
 tained under confinement. The difficulty is not so much 
 to point out who these persons are, as how to get at 
 them, and pull up the tares without endangering the 
 life of the surrounding wheat. 
 
 Another difficulty crops up further on in the same 
 novel, when Henry Warden, one of the preachers of the 
 reformed faith, is in the power of the Church. How is 
 he to be silenced % The Sub-Prior has misgivings as to 
 the wisdom of sending the preacher to the Monastery, 
 where he would be summarily dealt with and disposed 
 of ; but in the present state of public feeling, and the 
 daily increasing strength of the heretics, the Sub-Prior 
 felt that to take such a measure might only tend to 
 make matters worse. No. Let the tares grow up with 
 the wheat. The consolation is, that if Warden remains 
 
The Gospels, 195 
 
 at Glendearg and attempts to sow a fresh crop of tares 
 among the wheat, the ground is far too dry and hard 
 and barren for them to take root. 
 
 Elsewhere, in the other novels, Sir Walter has the 
 parable in mind when he compares the seeds of disagree- 
 ment sown among friends to " the tares sown by the 
 enemy among the wheat." Neville, in The Talisman, de- 
 clares that this same enemy " hath most interest to sow 
 tares among the wheat, and bring dissension into our 
 councils." And in Roh Roy Sir Walter defines jealousy 
 as that "sentiment which springs up with love as natur- 
 ally as the tares with the wheat." 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian we find a reference to the 
 parable of the leaven where Jeanie Deans, in reflecting 
 upon the incidents of her sister's misfortunes, says, "But 
 who could have expected such a growth of evil from one 
 grain of human leaven in a disposition so kind and 
 candid and generous?" And in The Abbot there is 
 another, where the Lady of Lochleven tells Roland 
 Graeme of tll^ revels which were being held at Kinross. 
 These revels she describes as the " continued workings 
 of the ancient leaven of folly which the Romish priests 
 have kneaded into the very souls of the Scottish pea- 
 santry." 
 
 From the parable of the labourers in the vineyard 
 we derive the expression, the eleventh hour, signifying 
 the length, or it may be the shortness, of time in which 
 some one may have been employed. The time is indeed 
 far spent when but one hour remains out of the twelve. 
 In fVoodstock, Mr. Holdenough entreats Cromwell for the 
 
196 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 life of "Wildrake ; and if he will not grant this request 
 he prefers another. " Let me go to him as a di\ine, to 
 watch with him, in case he may yet be admitted into the 
 vineyard at the latest hour — yet brought into the sheepfold, 
 though he has neglected the call of the pastor till time 
 is well-nigh closed upon him." 
 
 Great was the consternation in the convent when 
 news arrived of the lost battle near Kennaquhair, in 
 The Monastery. Some of the monks counselled flight, 
 others advised that the church plate should be offered to 
 bribe the English officer, but the Abbot himself was un- 
 moved and undaunted. Addressing his clerical brethren, 
 he implored them to remain at the post of duty, and be 
 prepared, if need be, to die under the ruins of the shrines 
 to the service of which they had all devoted themselves. 
 " Highly honoured are we all in this distinguished sum- 
 mons," the Abbot proceeds to say, "from our dear brother 
 Nicholas, whose gray hairs have been preserved until 
 they should be surrounded by the crown of martyrdom, 
 down to my beloved son Edward, who, arriving at the 
 vineyard at the latest hour of the day^ is yet permitted to 
 share its toils with those who have laboured from the 
 morning." 
 
 In Count Rohert of Paris the Emperor asks Briennius 
 if he has anything to allege why the doom of death 
 should not be executed. Short as the time is, the Em- 
 peror reminds him that " even at this eleventh hour thy 
 tongue is unloosed to speak mth freedom what may 
 concern thy life." 
 
 In the parable of the marriage feast one of the guests 
 
The Gospels. 197 
 
 is represented as having appeared without the wedding 
 garment. On this subject Major Bridgenorth dehvered 
 a long lecture to his adherents while they were the 
 guests, along with a party of the Cavaliers, of Lady 
 Peveril, at the castle of Martindale. The Presbyterian 
 teacher explained to his hearers " that outward apparel 
 was not alone meant by that scriptural expression, but 
 also a suitable frame of mind for enjoyment of peaceful 
 festivity; and therefore he exhorts the brethren, that 
 whatever might be the errors of the poor blinded malig- 
 nants (the Cavaliers) with whom they were in some sort 
 to eat and drink upon the morrow, they ought not on 
 this occasion to show any evil will against them, lest 
 they should therein become troublers of the peace of 
 Israel." 
 
 One of the excuses given for not accepting an invita- 
 tion to the " great supper " which a certain man made, 
 in another parable, was that he had married a wife, and 
 therefore could not come. When it was feared, in Old 
 Mortality, that Lord Evandale would again join "that 
 dreadful Claverhouse and his army," his lordship's sister 
 says to Miss Bellenden, his betrothed bride, " I believe 
 you are the only one who can keep him at home." 
 
 " And how is it in my power 1 " said Miss Bellenden. 
 
 " You can furnish him with the scriptural apology for 
 not going forth with the host — he has married a tdfe, and 
 therefore cannot come." 
 
 There are a few scattered allusions to the parable of 
 the ten virgins, but of such a passing nature that they 
 are of little or no interest apart from their context. Let 
 
1 98 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 us, however, introduce one which we find in The Pirate. 
 Mordaunt's old housekeeper and the yagger, or pedlar, 
 are chaffering over buying and selling. She greatly 
 delights him by stating that there ^svill be some napery 
 needed soon, and as there is no mistress of the house, 
 and none in it who can spin, the goods will require to be 
 got from the pedlar. 
 
 "That's what I ca' walking by the word," said the 
 yagger. " Go unto those that buy and sell ; there's muckle 
 profit in that text." 
 
 The parable of the Good Samaritan, from the very 
 nature of its narrative, comes in for a fair share of quota- 
 tion by Sir Walter. When Eatcliffe, the turnkey in the 
 prison of Edinburgh, learns that Jeanie Deans has re- 
 solved to go on foot to London, he expresses the fear 
 that she may meet with "rough customers on the Borders, 
 or in the Midlands," ere she reaches her destination. 
 Anxious to be of service to her, and knowing all the 
 tramps and suspicious characters on the road, he scrawls 
 a few lines on a piece of paper, as a pass, and directs her 
 to produce this paper in the event of her having " ony 
 fasherie wi' ony o' St. Nicholas's clerks." 
 
 "Alas," said Jeanie, "I do not understand what you 
 mean." 
 
 "I mean, if ye fall among thieves, my precious — that is 
 a scripture phrase, if ye will hae ane — the bauldest o' 
 them will ken a scart o' my guse feather." 
 
 Disguised as a monk, Wamba, in Ivanhoe, gains admit- 
 tance into the castle of Front-de-Boeuf, and is asked who 
 and what he is. He replies that he is a poor servant of 
 
The Gospels. 199 
 
 St. Francis, travelling through the forest, where he jell 
 among thieves, who sent him to the castle to do his ghostly 
 office on two persons suffering imprisonment. 
 
 In the opening chapter of The Heart of Midlothian, Sir 
 Walter details the narrative of a daring robbery from the 
 person of the Collector of Customs at Pittenweem, in 
 Fife. Several persons were passing in the street at the 
 time ; but thinking that the noise they heard was only a 
 dispute between the Collector and the people of the 
 house, they paid no attention to the circumstance, and 
 "Hke the Levite in the parable, they passed on the ojyposite 
 side of the luay." 
 
 The stranger, in ;S'^. Ronan's Well, acts the part of the 
 good Samaritan when he pulls Touchwood out of the 
 stream. And when Eichie Moniplies, in The Fmiunes of 
 Nigel, is brought into the shop of David Eamsay, severely 
 bruised in a street riot, George Heriot, who happened to 
 be conversing with Ramsay at the time, says, "Come, 
 off with his cloak, and let us bear him to his couch. I 
 will send for Dr. Irving, the king's chirurgeon, he does 
 not live far off, and that shall be my share of the good 
 Samaritan^ s duty." 
 
 Chrystal Croftangry thus describes his medical ad- 
 viser — " I had left him a middle-aged man ; he was now 
 an elderly one ; but still the same benevolent Samaritan, 
 who went about doing good, and thought the blessings 
 of the poor as good a recompense of his professional 
 skill as the gold of the rich." 
 
 The mention of Chrystal's name reminds us that it 
 is associated with another of our Lord's parables — that 
 
200 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 of the prodigal son. Consulting some papers connected 
 with the history of the Croftangry family, Chrystal 
 quotes the following passage from an old compiler who 
 says of voluptuaries and fast-livers that they devour 
 the " patrimony bequeathed to them by their forebears 
 in chambering and wantonness, so that they come, with 
 the prodigal son, to the husks and the sivine-trough." 
 
 On Jeanie Deans' return from London she goes to 
 examine the cow-house at the new home in company 
 with May Hettly, the faithful old domestic servant. 
 The sight of one of the animals brings back many re- 
 collections of Effie. May, who had been watching her 
 with a sympathising expression, observed in an under- 
 tone, " The gudeman aye sorts that beast himsel', and is 
 kinder to it than any beast in the byre. ... 0, if 
 the puir prodigal wad return, sae blithely as the gude- 
 man wad kill the fatted calf — adding with charming 
 simphcity, " though Brockie's calf will no be fit for kill- 
 ing this three weeks yet." 
 
 The unjust steward, in the parable of that name, is 
 summoned by his lord to give an account of his steward- 
 ship — an expression which has now passed into the 
 language of every-day life. It comes frequently under 
 our notice in the Waverley Novels. 
 
 In The Fortunes of Nigel, Eichie Moniplies places at the 
 disposal of King James certain sums of money which 
 are to be held free of all pledge or usury, on condition 
 that his Majesty will interest himself in the case of Lord 
 Glenvamock, then a prisoner in the Tower. Regarding 
 this as a bribe, the king exclaims, "How, man! . . . 
 
The Gospels. 201 
 
 What is that you dare to say to us % Sell our justice ! 
 Sell our mercy ! and we a crowned king sworn to do 
 justice to our subjects in the gate, and responsible for 
 our stewardship to Him that is over all kings." 
 
 Old Dame Urfried, in Ivanhoe, speaking of Torquil- 
 stone to Cedric, who was disguised as a priest, says, 
 " This castle for ten years has opened for no priest, save 
 the debauched Norman chaplain who partook the nightly 
 revels of Front-de-Boeuf, and he has long gone to render 
 an account of his stewardship." 
 
 Dreading the future that was in store for him, the 
 unjust steward took such precautionary measures with 
 his lord's debtors that when the worst should arrive at 
 the worst these debtors would, in the course of human 
 nature, be disposed to invite him to their houses, where 
 he could remain either until some other appointment 
 should turn up, or his lord's anger be abated and the 
 affair forgotten. The steward is commended for having 
 done so : not because he had acted falsely to his em- 
 ployer, but because he had done wisely for himself. 
 There is an incident in Kenilworth which was no doubt 
 suggested to Sir Walter by this conduct on the part of 
 the unjust steward. The crisis in the life of the Earl 
 of Leicester approaches, and he dreads that the incensed 
 and angry queen may carry out her threat of having 
 his head. Thinking over the friends who may be able 
 to interest themselves in his case, he retires to his 
 private apartment, takes his writing tablets from his 
 pockets, and begins to write. Speaking partly to him- 
 self and partly to Varney, we overhear him saying. 
 
202 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 "There are many of them close bounden to me, and 
 especially those in good estate and high office; many 
 who, if they look back towards my benefits, or forward 
 toward the perils which may befall themselves, will not, 
 I think, be disposed to see me stagger unsupported. 
 Let me see — Knollis is sure, and through his means 
 Guernsey and Jersey. Horsey commands in the Isle of 
 "Wight. Through Bedford I lead the Puritans, with 
 their interest, so powerful in all the boroughs. My 
 brother of Warwick is equal, well-nigh to myself, in 
 wealth, followers, and dependencies. Sir Owen Hop- 
 ton is at my devotion; he commands the Tower of 
 London, and the national treasure deposited there. My 
 father and grandfather needed never to have stooped 
 their heads to the block Md they thus forecast their enter- 
 prises.^^ 
 
 In His commentary on the character of the unjust 
 steward, our Lord proceeds to say that " the children 
 of this world are in their generation wiser than the 
 children of light." The meaning of this observation 
 comes clearly out in several incidents of the Waverley 
 Novels. In Waverley, Major Melville proposes to send 
 Waverley forward to Stirling Castle as a state prisoner 
 under charge of Gilfillan, the Cameronian officer. Ex- 
 pecting to see a stronger escort, the officer explains to 
 the Major that he had left several of his troopers 
 behind "for the out -pouring of the afternoon ex- 
 hortation." 
 
 "And have you, sir," said Major Melville, "when 
 the rebels are about to spread themselves through the 
 
The Gospels. 203 
 
 country, actually left a great part of your command at 
 a field-preaching f 
 
 Gilfillan smiled scornfully as he made this in- 
 direct answer, "Even thus are the children of this 
 world wiser in their generation than the children of 
 light." 
 
 As Henry Morton directs his movements towards 
 Bothwell Bridge during the battle, he is followed by 
 about a hundred of those who are devotedly attached 
 to his command. Burley turns to MacBriar and says, 
 "Providence points us the way through the worldly 
 wisdom of this latitudinarian youth. — He that loves 
 the light let him follow Burley." But the preacher dis- 
 suades him from going in the same direction as Morton. 
 "I fear treachery to the host from this Nullafidian 
 Achan." 
 
 "Hinder me not," replied Burley; "Morton hath 
 well said that all is lost if the enemy win the bridge, 
 therefore let (hinder) me not. Shall the children of this 
 generation he called wiser or braver than the children of the 
 sanctuanj ?"' 
 
 Continuing His commentary, our Lord says, " Make 
 to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness" 
 — that is, do as the steward did with his lord's goods 
 in making himself the friend of his lord's debtors. 
 
 Prior Aymer, in Ivanhoe, falls into the hands of the 
 outlaws, and is told that he must pay a heavy ransom, 
 or his convent would be likely to be called to a new 
 election, and the place that now knows him would soon 
 know him no more. 
 
204 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 "Are ye Christians?" said the Prior, "and hold this 
 language to a Churchman % " To which the chief outlaw 
 replies that they are not only Christians, but that they 
 have a chaplain with them who will expound to him a 
 text which has reference to this matter. Friar Tuck 
 then appears and says to the Prior, ^^ Make to yourself 
 friends of the iimmmon of unrighteousness,^^ adding, "for no 
 other friend is likely to serve your turn." The Prior is 
 afterwards compelled to pay a ransom fixed by the Jew, 
 who, in his turn, is appraised by the Prior, who fixes his 
 price at a thousand crowns. Further on in the same 
 novel Brother Ben Samuel, the physician, tries to soothe 
 the grief of Isaac, whose daughter, Eebecca, is about to 
 be tried as a sorceress. " Be of good comfort, brother," 
 said the physician, " thou canst deal with the Nazarenes 
 as one possessing the mammon of unrighteousness, and canst 
 therefore purchase immunity at their hands — it rules the 
 savage minds of these ungodly men, even as the signet 
 of the mighty Solomon was said to command the evil 
 genii." 
 
 Miss Geddes relates to Alan Fairford the steps her 
 brother had taken to get Darsie Latimer set at liberty. 
 " I will take my horse, even Solomon," said Joshua, in 
 the narrative related to his sister, " and ride swiftly into 
 Cumberland, and I will make myself friends ivith mammon 
 of unrighteousness among the magistrates of the Gentiles, 
 and among their mighty men ; and it shall come to pass 
 that Darsie Latimer shall be delivered, even if it were at 
 the expense of half my substance." 
 
 The parable of the rich man and Lazarus supplies 
 
The Gospels. 205 
 
 Sir "Walter with numerous illustrations. In addressing 
 Albert Lee, but who was supposed to be the fugitive 
 King Charles, Cromwell says, " Thou art weary, young 
 man, and thy nature requires rest and refection, being 
 doubtless dealt with delicately, as one who had fed on 
 the fat, and drunk of the sweet, and who hath been 
 clothed in purple and fine linen.''' 
 
 The difference in worldly position between the rich 
 man and Lazarus comes out in Redgauntlet, where Alan 
 Fairford and his father are speaking of the legal pro- 
 fession. Alan states that he is quite aware there is 
 much hard work in store for him ere he attains to any 
 eminence in it, to which his father replies that in the 
 medical profession the young doctor, who would get to 
 the bedside of palaces, must first "walk the hospitals, 
 and cure Lazarus of his sores, before he be admitted to 
 prescribe for Dives, when he has got gout or indigestion." 
 And in the weird story that Wandering Willie tells, in 
 the same novel of Redgauntlet, we fancy that Sir Walter, 
 while "svriting it, was thinking of the rich man's torment 
 when he makes WilHe say, " Terribly the Laird roared 
 out for cauld water to his feet, and wine to cool his 
 throat : and Hell, hell, hell, and its flames, was aye the 
 word in his mouth." 
 
 The " great gulf " which separated Dives and Lazarus 
 is frequently alluded to. Bidding farewell to Frank, 
 Diana Vernon says, in Roh Roy, " Yes, Frank, for ever ! 
 There is a great gulf heiween us — a gulf of absolute per- 
 dition." In The Ahhot, Catherine Seyton says to Eoland 
 Graeme that when she returns home to her father's house, 
 
2o6 The Bible in Wave7dey. 
 
 " There is a gulf hetiveen us you may not pass but with 
 peril of your life." And in Ivanhoe, when Rowena 
 entreats Eebecca to remain in England, where she and 
 her father could have nothing to fear, the latter replies, 
 "Thy speech is fair, and thy purpose fairer; but it may 
 not be — there is a gulf behvixt its." 
 
 The parable of the unjust judge who feared not God, 
 neither regarded man, is mainly used by Sir Walter in 
 illustration of the character of desj^eradoes and lawless 
 men. Thus, in The Monastery, the vanguard of the 
 Regent Murray's army was composed of "picked wild 
 desperates, resolute for mischief, such as neither fear God 
 nor regard their fellow-creatures, but understand themselves 
 bound to hurry from the road whatever is displeasing to 
 themselves." And in the same novel, Dame Glendinning 
 advises her son to keep clear of men who "have broad- 
 sword and lance both — there are enow of rank riders in 
 this land that neither fear God nm' regard ma7i." 
 
 In the letter of Jeanie Deans to her father, there is a 
 reference to the parable of the pounds which the king 
 entrusted to his servants before setting out for a far 
 country. The Laird of Dumbiedykes had lent Jeanie a 
 purse of money to defray her expenses on the journey 
 to London. Referring to this, Jeanie writes, "Will ye 
 let the laird ken that we have had friends strangely 
 raised up to us, and that the talent whilk he lent me 
 will be thankfully repaid 1 I hae some of it to the fore, 
 and the rest of it is not knotted up in ane purse or napkin, 
 but in a wee bit paper, as is the fashion here." 
 
 Enraged at the want of hospitality shown by Yellow- 
 
The Gospels. 207 
 
 ley and his sister, in The Pirate^ Noma affronts them by 
 paying for what she had eaten and drunk. "Beware," 
 said Noma, as she saw the astonished pair looking at the 
 gold coin she had laid down, "Beware how you use it ! 
 It thrives not with the sordid or the mean-souled — it 
 was won with honourable danger, and must be expended 
 with honourable liberality. The treasure which lies 
 under a cold hearth will one day, like the hidden talent^ 
 bear witness against its avaricious possessors." 
 
 "We have already had occasion to refer to the sermon 
 preached by Henry Warden before the assembled house- 
 hold of Avenel Castle. In it he exhorts his hearers not 
 to rely on their own strength in fighting against sin or 
 in resisting temptation ; and then he brings in, for the 
 sake of illustration, the parable of the Pharisee and the 
 Publican. "The Pharisee," said the preacher, "perhaps 
 deemed himself humble while he stooped in the temple, 
 and thanked God that he was not as other men, or even 
 as this publican. But while his knees touched the 
 marble pavement, his head was as high as the topmost 
 pinnacle of the Temple." 
 
 There is little to note on the subject of Sir Walter's 
 use of the miracles as recorded in the four gospels. The 
 miracles, of course, do not supply materials for the use 
 of the novelist in the same way, or at least to the same 
 extent, as the parables do. Accordingly in the Waverley 
 Novels we meet with little that bears on this portion of 
 the gospel narrative. The following references are nearly 
 all that we have been able to find. Mrs. Dods is angry 
 at the clergyman who, in his sermon, compares the well 
 
2o8 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 at St. Ronan's to the Pool of Befhescla. In Old MmialUy 
 Burley says to Poundtext, " Thou art one of those who 
 reap where thou hast not sowed, and divide the spoil 
 while others fight the battle : thou art one of those that 
 follow the gospel for the loaves and for the fishes.^' The 
 subject of demoniacal possession is more frequently 
 referred to than any of the other miracles, but in such 
 general terms that we need not here produce the re- 
 ferences. 
 
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 In The Chronicles of the Canongate we are reminded of 
 an incident in the history of the early Christian Church 
 — the possessors of lands and houses selling their pro- 
 perty, and placing the proceeds at the feet of the Apostles 
 for the common good. In the Chronicles, Chrystal Croft- 
 angry relates that when his mother's affairs underwent 
 some temporary inconvenience, Christie Steel " stood in 
 the gap, and having sold a small inheritance which had 
 descended to her, brought the purchase-money to her 
 mistress, with a sense of devotion as deep as that which 
 inspired the Christians of the first age, when they sold 
 all they had, and followed the Apostles of the Church." 
 Like the early Christians, Ananias and Sapphira sold 
 their possessions, but unlike them, they "kept back part 
 of the price." This incident is employed by Sir Walter 
 as an illustration in Peveril of the Peak, where Major 
 Bridgenorth, under feelings of shame and anger, refuses 
 to give a hostile meeting to Sir Geoffrey Peveril. The 
 Eev. Mr. Solsgrace approaches his friend, grasps him 
 cordially by the hand, and offers his warmest sympathy. 
 "Noble brother," he said, with unwonted kindness of 
 manner, " though a man of peace, I can judge what this 
 
 p 
 
2 I o TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 sacrifice hath cost to thy manly spirit. But God will 
 not have from us an imperfect obedience. We must not, 
 like Ananias and Sapphira^ reserve behind some darling 
 lust, some favourite sin, while we pretend to make 
 sacrifice of our worldly affections. What avails it to say 
 that we have but secreted a little matter, if the slightest 
 remnant of the accursed thing remain hidden in our 
 tent ? " 
 
 Henry Warden, a preacher of the reformed faith, is 
 conveyed a prisoner for conscience' sake to Glendearg, 
 where he is brought before the Sub-Prior, who recognises 
 him as an old friend and college companion. Before 
 leaving the tower to return to the monastery, the Sub- 
 Prior entreats the preacher not to teach any of Dame 
 Glendinning's family, or inculcate any of his new doc- 
 trines. Warden replies, "Be assured, my old friend, 
 that no willing act of mine shall be to thy prejudice. 
 But if my Master shall place work before me, / 77mst 
 obey God rather than man " — an answer which reminds us 
 of Peter's reply to the high priest who also sought to 
 prevent the apostles from teaching the doctrines of Jesus 
 of Nazareth. In almost the same terms old Mause 
 Headrigg replies to Lady Margaret Bellenden, who 
 threatens to turn her and her son off the estate unless 
 they comply with her commands. " I canna prefer the 
 commands of an earthly mistress to those of a heavenly 
 Master," says Mause, "and sae I am e'en ready to suffer 
 for righteousness' sake." 
 
 We have several very interesting references to the 
 martyrdom of St. Stephen. The only picture, the only 
 
Acts of the Apostles. 21 1 
 
 ornament indeed, which the Earl of Glenallan's apartment 
 contained, was a large painting representing the death 
 by stoning of the first Christian martyr. King James, 
 in The, Fortunes of Nigel, called his favourite, the Duke 
 of Buckingham, by the name of ' " Steenie," from a sup- 
 posed resemblance between his handsome countenance 
 and that with which the Italian artists represented the 
 Martyr Stephen. Nanty Ewart's misconduct was the 
 means of hastening his father's death, and one of his 
 companions told him that if he felt sorry for his errors, 
 and wished to atone for them by undergoing the fate of 
 the first martyr, he had only to return to his "native 
 village, where the very stones of the street would rise up 
 against him as his father's murderer." And when Lam- 
 bourne visits Foster at Cumnor Hall, he addresses his 
 old comrade by a name which Foster would willingly 
 forget, Tony Fire-the-Fagot. 
 
 "Why!" said Michael Lambourne, "you were wont 
 to glory in the share you had in the death of the two old 
 heretical bishops." 
 
 "That," said Foster, "was while I was in the gall of 
 bitterness and bond of iniquity, and applies not to my 
 walk or my ways, now that I am called forth into the 
 lists. Mr. Melchisedek Maultext compared my mis- 
 fortune in that matter to that of the Apostle Paul, who 
 kept the clothes of the witnesses who stoned Saint 
 Stephen. He held forth on the matter three Sabbaths 
 past, and illustrated the same by the conduct of an 
 honourable person present, meaning me." 
 
 This expression, "gall of bitterness and bond of 
 
2 1 2 The Bible in Wave7'ley. 
 
 iniquity," quoted by Foster from Peter's stern rebuke 
 administered to Simon Magus, crops up very frequently 
 in the Waverley Novels. As Henry Morton is carried 
 off from his uncle's house, a prisoner in charge of Both- 
 well and a party of dragoons, the faithful old housekeeper, 
 Mrs. Alison Wilson, breaks forth into a torrent of invec- 
 tives against Mause Headrigg. "Ill luck be to the 
 graning corse o' thee — the prettiest lad in Clydesdale 
 this day maun be a sufferer, and a' for your daft 
 whiggery." 
 
 "Gae wa," replied Mause, "I trow ye are ijet in the 
 bonds of sin, and gall of iniquity, to grudge your bonniest 
 and best in the cause of Him that gave ye a' ye hae." 
 
 In The Bride of Lammermoor, Eavenswood suddenly 
 appears at the Castle and sternly demands to hear from 
 Lucy's own lips whether or not she has broken off their 
 mutual engagement of marriage. The clergyman is the 
 first to speak, and in the course of his address he says, 
 "Alas, the workings of the ancient Adam are strong 
 even in the regenerate — surely we should have long 
 suffering "wath those who, being yet in the gall of bitterness 
 and bond of iniquity, are swept forward by the uncon- 
 trollable current of worldly passion." 
 
 Lady Peveril sa3^s to Bridgenorth, " You were wont 
 to be moderate in (your religious) sentiments — compara- 
 tively moderate, at least, and to love your own religion 
 without hating that of others." 
 
 " What I was while in the gall of bitterness and in the 
 bond of iniquity it signifies not to recall," he answered ; "I 
 was then like to Gallio, who cared for none of these 
 
Ads of the Apostles. 2 1 3 
 
 things." Further on in the novel of Peveril of the Peak 
 Bridgenorth again uses the expression, this time in 
 speaking to Julian Peveril. "Farewell," he says, "do 
 not answer me now ; thou art yet in the gall of bitterness, 
 and it may be that strife (which I desire not) should fall 
 between us." 
 
 The mention of the name of Gallio, the Eoman pro- 
 consul who refused to be a judge of such matters as the 
 Jews brought against Paul, reminds us that the name 
 occurs now and again in the other novels, and on each 
 occasion it is employed as a synonym for indifference or 
 lukewarmness in religious matters. In Old Mortality^ 
 Burley thus addresses Henry Morton shortly after the 
 skirmish at Drumclog. " The council of the army of the 
 Covenant, confiding that the son of Silas Morton can 
 never prove a lukewarm Laodicean, or an indifferent 
 Gallio, in this great day, have nominated you to be a 
 captain of their host, with the right of a vote in their 
 council, and all authority fitting for an officer who is to 
 command Christian men." Morton's sympathies, how- 
 ever, are not with Burley's section of the Covenanting 
 army; accordingly we are not surprised to find that, 
 elsewhere in the same novel, the son of Silas Morton is 
 unjustly termed a Gallio for no other reason than that 
 of his avowed toleration for those who hold religious 
 opinions and observances differing from his own. 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian, David Deans advises 
 Widow Butler to train her grandson to the work of the 
 Christian ministry. " Never," he says, " was there mair 
 need o' poorfu' preachers than e'en now in these cauld 
 
2 1 4 TJie Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 Gallio days, when men's hearts are hardened like the 
 nether millstone, till they come to regard none of these 
 things^ And further on in the same book, Deans con- 
 siders it beneath his notice to argue the subject of pre- 
 paration for the pulpit with Captain Knockdunder, since 
 he has only got a Gallio to deal with. 
 
 We find an interesting reference to the conversion of 
 the Philippian jailor in the incident which we have 
 already had occasion to quote, namely, Henry Warden 
 being brought as a prisoner to Glendearg, and the Sub- 
 Prior's anxiety that he should not teach the new doc- 
 trines to any of Dame Glendinning's family. The alarmed 
 priest even hints at imprisonment being resorted to, in 
 the event of the preacher not complying with his request. 
 But Warden bravely replies, " Thou mayest indeed cast 
 me into a dungeon, but can I foretell that my Master 
 hath not task-work for me to perform even in that 
 dreary mansion? The chains of saints have, ere now, 
 been the means of breaking the bonds of Satan. In a 
 prison, holy Paul found the jailor whom he brought to 
 believe the word of salvation, he and all his house." 
 
 " Nay," said the Sub-Prior, in a tone betwixt anger 
 and scorn, "if you match yourself with the blessed 
 Apostle^ it were time we had done — prepare to endure 
 what thy folly as well as thy heresy deserves. Bind him, 
 soldier." 
 
 In Imnhoe, Cedric the Saxon, disguised as a priest, is 
 asked by Front-de-Boeuf to carry a scroll to the castle of 
 Philip de Malvoisin. Leading the way to a postern 
 door the Norman thrusts into Cedric's reluctant hand a 
 
Acts of the Apostles. 2 1 5 
 
 piece of gold, adding these threatening words, "Re- 
 member, I will flay off both cowl and skin, if thou failest 
 in thy purpose." 
 
 Glad of his freedom, Cedric looked round and, throwing 
 the piece of gold back to the donor, exclaimed, "False 
 Norman, thy money perish with thee!" — words which 
 remind us of Peter's indignant rejection of the money 
 which Simon Magus offered for power to bestow the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The effect of Paul's preaching at Ephesus was shoAvn 
 upon his hearers in different ways. Many who were 
 brought to believe the gospel came, "confessed, and 
 showed their deeds. Many of them also which used 
 curious arts brought their books together, and burned 
 them before all men." In The Fir ate we are told that 
 when Noma of the Fitful Head died, there was found a 
 clause in her will which specially directed that all the 
 books, implements of her laboratory, and other things 
 used in her former studies, should be destroyed by being 
 committed to the flames, like those of Ephesus. 
 
 The incident of Eutychus falling from the gallery 
 during the preaching of Paul is quoted in Woodstock. 
 CromAvell and some of his soldiers are eagerly engaged 
 in trying to find out the subterranean passages which 
 are reported to be at the Royal Lodge of Woodstock. 
 The spirits of the men begin to sink, and at last absolute 
 terror seizes them as they recollect that, all the while, 
 they may possibly be near a particular apartment which 
 is said to be balanced on an axis, and which precipitates 
 whoever steps upon it into a black and bottomless abyss 
 
2 1 6 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 below. One of the soldiers hints that he had that 
 morning consulted the Scriptures by way of lot, and his 
 fortune had been to alight on the passage, Eutychus fell 
 down from the third loft, and icas taken vjy dead — an ominous 
 warning not to go farther in case of reaching this dread- 
 ful room and sharing the fate of Eutychus. A few pages 
 further on in the novel, Corporal Grace-be-here is ordered 
 to mount the platform of a window in the tower. Ap- 
 parently afraid of the height, the Corporal climbs the 
 window very reluctantly, saying as he does so that the 
 place is as high as the pinnacle of the temple, " and it is 
 written, that Eutychus fell down from the third loft, and was 
 taken up dead^ 
 
 " Because he slept upon his post," answered Cromwell 
 readily. 
 
 Searching for King Charles, Cromwell's party came 
 upon Albert Lee, whom they bring before the Protector. 
 The young Eoyalist is disguised so as to resemble his 
 master as closely as possible. Thinking he is really 
 addressing Charles, Cromwell asks, in the words of the 
 chief captain who rescued Paul from the \dolence of 
 the Jews at Jerusalem, "Art not thou that Egyptian 
 which, before these days, madest an uproar and leddest 
 out into the wilderness many thousand men who were 
 murderers f and then Cromwell exultingly adds, "Ha, 
 youth, I have hunted thee from Stirling to Worcester, 
 from Worcester to Woodstock, and we have met at last ! " 
 
 Scourged and uncondemned, Paul asks the centurion 
 if it is lawful thus to treat a Eoman citizen. The 
 centurion refers him to the chief captain, who boasts 
 
Acts of the Apostles. 2 1 7 
 
 that with a great sum he had obtained his freedom, 
 to which his prisoner replied, "But I was free-born." 
 This incident is alluded to in OU Mortality, where Henry 
 Morton and his faithful servant Cuddie, are lamenting 
 the loss of their liberty in being forcibly detained by 
 Bothwell and his dragoons. Morton speaks of his 
 chartered rights as a free-born British subject, and ex- 
 presses his determination to use every possible means to 
 regain his freedom. 
 
 " Ye speak o' a charter," said Cuddie. " Now, these 
 are things that only belang to the like o' you that are a 
 gentleman, and it mightna bear me through that am but 
 a husbandman." 
 
 "The charter that I speak of," said Morton, "is 
 common to the meanest Scotchman. It is that freedom 
 from stripes and bondage which was claimed, as you 
 may read in Scripture, by the Apostle Paul himself, and 
 which every man who is free-born is called upon to 
 defend, for his own sake and that of his countrymen." 
 
 " Hegh, sirs," replied Cuddie, " it wad hae been lang 
 or my Leddy Margaret, or my mither either, wad hae 
 fund out sic a wise-hke doctrine in the Bible ! The tane 
 was aye graning about giving tribute to Csesar, and the 
 tither is as daft wi' her whiggery." 
 
 In The Talisman, Saladin sends his own physician to 
 wait upon King Eichard during the sickness of the 
 latter. The Laird of Gilsland, the King's devoted 
 attendant, feels burdened in conscience at the thought of 
 his royal master being nursed and tended by an unbe- 
 liever. He consults the Archbishop of Tyre, who greatly 
 
2 1 8 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 relieves him by the advice he gives. The Archbishop 
 thinks that " men may use the assistance of pagans and 
 infidels in their need, and there is reason to think that 
 one cause of their being j^ermitted to remain on earth is, 
 that they might minister to the convenience of true 
 Christians. There is no doubt," the Archbishop proceeds 
 to say, and quoting from an incident in the narrative of 
 the shipwreck of St. Paul, " that the primitive Christians 
 used the services of the unconverted heathen — thus, in 
 the ship of Alexandria, in which the blessed Apostle 
 Paul sailed to Italy, the sailors were doubtless pagans ; 
 yet what saith the holy saint when their ministry was 
 needful : Nisi hi in navi manserint, vos salvi fieri non 
 potestis — unless these men abide in the ship, ye cannot 
 be saved." 
 
 In the course of our present study we meet with 
 references to many more incidents recorded in the Acts 
 of the Apostles : such as Peter in prison, Paul at Athens, 
 the appeal to Csesar, and the declaration of Agrippa that 
 he felt almost persuaded to become a Christian. These 
 are so slight, however, that a single sentence will hold 
 them all. The turnkeys in Kenihvorth and Anne of Geier- 
 stein swear by St. Peter of the Fetters ; the scene in the 
 Cathedral of Glasgow reminds the readers of Bob Boy of 
 what may have been the expression on the faces of those 
 who listened to St. Paul at Athens ; the hearing of 
 Nigel's case is appealed from Charles the prince to James 
 the king ; and Eoland Crseme, in The Abbot, is almost 
 persuaded to embrace the reformed faith under the 
 teaching of the chaplain of Lochleven Castle. 
 
A ds of the Apostles. 2 1 9 
 
 One other incident concludes our Waverley references 
 to the Acts of the Apostles, and it is in The Heart of 
 Midlothian. On her way to London, Jeanie Deans rests 
 for a short time at York. In a letter written to her 
 father from that city Jeanie says, "The folk here are 
 civil, and, like the barbarians unto the holy apostle, hae 
 shown me much kindness." The citizens of York may 
 not appreciate the comparison ; but in the simplicity of 
 her heart it was perhaps the best compliment that Jeanie 
 Deans could pay them. 
 
THE EPISTLES. 
 
 Turning to the Epistles, and reverently laying aside a 
 great mass of material in the shape of expressions and 
 sentences which seem to have been suggested to Sir 
 "Walter by this portion of the New Testament, we find, 
 nevertheless, that as much remains behind as will furnish 
 us with some interesting illustrations, in every-day life, 
 of several of the familiar and outstanding apostolic argu- 
 ments and injunctions. In stating the great gospel doc- 
 trine of justification by faith, St. Paul, in his Epistle to 
 the Eomans, points out that the foundation of all justi- 
 fication is in the death of Jesus Christ. And as he pro- 
 ceeds with his argument he reminds us how rarely, in 
 human history, do we find or hear of any one laying down 
 his life for another. But he hazards the peradventure 
 that for a good man some would even dare to die. 
 Keeping to this illustration in its human aspect only, we 
 find in the ^Yaverley Novels numerous instances of noble 
 self-sacrifice and devotion, even to death if need be. It 
 is not likely, we think, that any reader of The Abbot will 
 be found who can lightly pass over the self -consecration 
 of Magdalen Graeme to the cause of the unfortunate 
 Queen Mary. Threatened by the Lady of Lochleven 
 
The Epistles. 2 2 1 
 
 with the doom of a dreadful death, the queen intercedes 
 with the lady for the life of her faithful adherent. 
 Magdalen interposes, however, and says, "Plead no 
 more for me, my gracious sovereign, nor abase yourself 
 to ask so much as a gray hair of my head at her hands. 
 I knew the risk at which I served my church and my 
 queen, and tvas emr p'ompt to pay aivay my ])00fr life as the 
 ransom." 
 
 But there is a much more affecting illustration of self- 
 sacrifice than this. It occurs in JFaverley, during the 
 trial of Fergus Maclvor at Carlisle. As Evan Dhu Mac- 
 combich hears the sentence of death pronounced on his 
 chief, he requests permission from the presiding judge 
 to address the Court. Commanding silence, the Judge 
 encourages Evan to proceed. 
 
 " I was only ganging to say, my lord, that if your 
 excellent honour, and the honourable Court, would let 
 Vich Ian Vohr go free just this once, and let him gae 
 back to France, and no to trouble King George's govern- 
 ment again, that ony six of the very best of his dan will be 
 willing to be justified in his stead ; and if you'll just let me 
 down to Glennaquoich, I'll fetch them up to ye mysell, 
 to head or to hang, and ye may begin wi' me the very first 
 man." 
 
 Notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, a sort 
 of laugh was heard in the Court at the extraordinary 
 nature of the proposal. The Judge checked this inde- 
 cency, and Evan, looking sternly around when the mur- 
 mur abated, " If the Saxon gentlemen are laughing," he 
 said, " because a poor man such as me thinks my life, oi- 
 
222 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 the life of six of my degree, is worth that of Yich Ian 
 Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right; but if 
 they laugh because they think I would not keep my 
 word aiid come hack to redeem him, I can tell them they 
 ken neither the heart o' a Hielandman nor the honour of 
 a gentleman." 
 
 In Quentin Diirwarcl, the Prior describes AVilliam de 
 la Marck, the most notorious robber and murderer on all 
 the frontier, as "lapis offensionis, et petra scandali — a 
 stumUing-stone and rock of offence to the countries of Bur- 
 gundy and Flanders." And in The Talismxin King 
 Eichard, addressing the Council, says, in offering to 
 give up the chief command to any one whom the meet- 
 ing can name, "Let us rather look forward to our future 
 measures, and believe me, brethren, you shall not find 
 the pride, or the wrath, or the ambition of Richard, a 
 stumbling-block of offence in the path to which religion and 
 glory summon you, as with the trumpet of an archangel." 
 
 In support of his exhortation, "Avenge not your- 
 selves, but rather give place unto wrath," St. Paul quotes 
 this authority from Deuteronomy thirty-second and thirty- 
 fifth, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." 
 In our introductory chapter we referred to the latter text 
 as being specially illustrated in the tragic tale of The Bride 
 of hammer mom' . But in almost every tale that the great 
 novelist wrote, we find this text quoted or illustrated in 
 some way or other. In The Heart of Midlothian and The 
 Legend of Montrose we see the effects of indulging the 
 "monstrous passion" of revenge; but we gladly turn 
 from such lawless scenes as the execution of Porteous by 
 
The Epistles. 223 
 
 the mob of Edinburgh, and the terrible, tenfold vengeance 
 wreaked upon the Children of the Mist, to those other 
 novels of the series, where the restraining influence of 
 God's grace and His divine government of the world are 
 put forth as a check and restraint against the wrath and 
 the cruelty of man. Old Ballenkeiroch may think, now 
 and again, that the time has at last arrived for taking ven- 
 geance on the Baron Bradwardine for having slain his 
 fair-haired son in a Highland foray ; Fergus Maclvor may 
 let his fur}^ against Prince Charles subside into feelings of 
 deep and burning vengeance to be gratified at the first and 
 earliest opportunity ; and Helen Macgregor may declare 
 that everything can be forgotten but the loss of honour 
 and the desire for revenge. But all these have to learn 
 the lesson that vengeance does not belong to them, but 
 to God alone. "Revenge," says the mother of poor 
 Madge Wildfire, " is the best reward the devil gives 
 us for our hire here and hereafter. I have wrought hard 
 for it ; I have suffered for it ; I have sinned for it ; and 
 I will have it, or there is neither justice in heaven nor in 
 hell." Vain and impotent words for any human being 
 to use ! It is to God alone that vengeance belongs, no 
 matter who has wrought hard for it, suffered for it, or 
 sinned for it. As George Staunton relates to Jeanie 
 Deans the story of Wilson's execution, he remarks that 
 after his companion's death there remained only one 
 thing to be accomplished, and that was vengeance ! 
 
 "Oh, sir," said Jeanie, "did the Scripture never 
 come into your mind % — ' Vengeance is mine ; and I will 
 repay it.' " 
 
2 24 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 But, minister's son though he was, Staunton had to 
 confess that he had never opened a Bible for the last five 
 years. 
 
 In Old Mortality, Lady Bellenden beseeches Claver- 
 house for the life of his prisoner, Henry Morton. 
 Claverhouse replies by expressing the hope that she will 
 spare him the j^ain of resisting her passionate appeal on 
 behalf of a traitor, when she thinks of the noble blood of 
 her own house that has been shed by such as Morton. 
 But the lady nobly refuses to take vengeance. " Colonel 
 Graham," she says, " I leave vengeance to God, who 
 calls it his own. The shedding of this young man's 
 blood will not call back the lives that were dear to 
 me ; and how can it comfort me to think that there has, 
 maybe, been another widowed mother made childless, like 
 myself, by a deed done at my very door-stane ^ " 
 
 In Keniluwih, Tressilian relates to the curate that he 
 had at last discovered the place of Amy Eobsart's retreat 
 at Cumnor Hall, in the company, as he supposed, of the 
 villain Varney. " But for a strange mishap," continued 
 Tressilian, " my sword had avenged all our injuries, as 
 well as hers, on his worthless head." 
 
 " Thank God that kept thine hand from blood-guilti- 
 ness, rash young man," answered the curate ; " 'Ven- 
 geance is mine, saith the Lord ; and I will repay it.' " 
 
 Hobbie Elliot is speaking to Earnscliflf about the fatal 
 quarrel in which the father of the latter had fallen. 
 Hobbie thinks that, notwithstanding the long time that 
 has elapsed since the affair happened, it is not yet too 
 late to have revenge. But Earnscliff thus rebukes him : 
 
The Epistles. 225 
 
 " Oh ! For shame, Hobbie ; you that profess reli- 
 gion to stir your friend up to break the law, and take 
 vengeance at his own hands." 
 
 As old John Christie looks upon the lifeless body of 
 Lord Dalgarno, he repeats the solemn words of Scripture, 
 " ' Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord ; and I will repay 
 it.' " And he continues — " I, whom thou hast injured, 
 will be the first to render thee the decent offices due to 
 the dead." 
 
 At the death-bed of Miss Mowbray, Tyrrel is greatly 
 afi'ected. "My life," he says, "till I avenge her." He 
 hurries do^vnstairs, is about to leave the inn, when he 
 is stopped by Touchwood, who has just alighted from his 
 carriage. Asking Tyrrel where he is going, the latter 
 replies : 
 
 " For revenge, for revenge. Give way, I charge you 
 on your peril." 
 
 "Vengeance belongs to God," answered Touchwood, 
 "and His bolt has fallen." He then relates how Mow- 
 bray had within the last half -hour met the Earl of 
 Etherington, and killed him on the spot. 
 
 In The Fair Maid of Perth, Simon Glover implores 
 Henry Smith not to avenge the death of the murdered 
 bonnet-maker, as Heaven will take its own time and way 
 in revenging the foul deed. Queen Mary leaves ven- 
 geance to God in the matter of old Dryfesdale's attempts 
 to poison her ; and the monk in The Monastery advises 
 Edward Glendinning to put aside his Border creed, and 
 leave vengeance to God for the supposed murder of his 
 brother. 
 
 Q 
 
2 26 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 In enjoining obedience to lawfully constituted autho- 
 rity, St. Paul reminds us that " the powers that be are 
 ordained of God," and that the magistrate bears not the 
 sword in vain when lie acts as a terror to evil-doers, and 
 is a praise to them who do well. David Deans remarks 
 to Bailie Middleburgh that whatever the authorities of 
 Edinburgh may be at the time of his speaking, he is 
 aware that there was " ance in a day, a just and God- 
 fearing magistracy in the city, that did not bear the 
 sword in vain, but were a terror to evil-doers, and a 
 praise to such as kept the path." When Mr. Holdenough 
 is ousted from his pulpit by the Independent soldier, 
 he appeals to the Mayor of Woodstock for help. 
 ''Master mayor," he cries, "wilt thou be among those 
 wicked magistrates who bear the sword in vain ? Citi- 
 zens, will you not help your pastor % Worthy aldermen, 
 will you see me strangled on the pulpit stairs by this 
 man of buff and Belial ? " 
 
 Bailie Nicol Jarvie explains to Frank Osbaldistone 
 the then existing state of the Scottish Highlands. Con- 
 trasting them with the rest of Scotland generally, and 
 with his own city of Glasgow in particular, the worthy 
 bailie proceeds to say : "They are clean another set frae 
 the like o' huz — there's nae bailie courts among them — 
 nae magistrates that dinna bear the sword in vain, like 
 the worthy deacon that's awa', and, I may say't, like 
 mysell and other present magistrates in this city." 
 
 We are reminded of the apostolic injunction, " Owe 
 no man anything," in the reply which Nigel gives to 
 George Heriot, who suggests that the poor young Scottish 
 
The Epistles. 227 
 
 noble should appear at Court, and personally plead his 
 case before King James. " I know not why I should be 
 ashamed of speaking the truth," said Nigel ; " I have no 
 dress suitable for appearing at Court. / am determined 
 to incur no expense luhich I cannot discharge'^ And in this 
 connection our old friend, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, again 
 appears before us to vindicate his father's good name 
 and memory. Major Galbraith rather disparagingly 
 remarks that the bailie's father was a prick-eared cur in 
 having fought against the king at Both well Brig. ^^ He 
 paid tvhat he ought, and ivhat he bought, Mr. Galbraith," 
 said the Bailie, " and was an honester man than ever 
 stude in your shanks." And when Eavenswood in- 
 timates to Caleb, his faithful domestic, his intention of 
 going abroad, he also expresses his desire to go with the 
 reputation of an honest man, leaving no debt behind 
 him, at least of his own contracting. 
 
 Ere venturing to the monastery. Father Philip salutes 
 Dame Glendinning in the apostolic fashion. "I see 
 Martin hath my mule in readiness," he observes to the 
 widow, "and I will but salute you with the kiss of 
 sisterhood, which malj:eth not ashamed." 
 
 In the same book, The Monastery, the Sub-Prior ex- 
 presses the hope that Henry Warden, his former friend 
 and college companion, now a preacher of the reformed 
 faith, will yet hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and 
 return to the fold of what he believes to be the true 
 Church. But the preacher holds out no hope of such a 
 return. " The errors which I combat," he replies, " are 
 like those fiends which are only cast out by fasting and 
 
2 2 8 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 prayer. Alas ! not many wise, not many learned, are 
 chosen. The cottage and the hamlet shall in our day 
 bear witness against the schools and their disciples. 
 The very wisdom which is foolishness hath made thee, 
 as the Greeks of old, hold as foolishness that which is 
 the only true wisdom." In this reply the reader will be 
 reminded of St. Paul's words when he describes, in his 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians, the different effects of 
 his preaching upon different hearers. It was to "the 
 Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. 
 . . . But not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
 mighty, not many noble are called." 
 
 When the Sub-Prior proposes to leave Henry Warden 
 as a prisoner on parole at the tower of Glendearg, he 
 tries to get this promise from the preacher, "that while 
 thus left at liberty, thou wilt not preach or teach, 
 directly or indirectly, any of those pestilent heresies 
 by which so many of our souls have been in our day 
 won over from the kingdom of light to the kingdom of 
 darkness." 
 
 " There we break off our treaty," said Warden firmly, 
 quoting, at the same time, the words of the Apostle 
 when he, too, felt that necessity was laid upon him to 
 speak out, " TFoe unto me if I ]jreacli not the Gospel" 
 
 As Mr Holdenough prepares to mount the pulpit 
 stair in Woodstock Church, he is interrupted by the 
 soldier, who thus addresses him, " Friend, is it thy pur- 
 pose to hold forth to these good people ? " " Ay, marry, 
 is it," replied the clergyman ; " and such is my bounden 
 duty. IFoG to me if I p' each not the Gosj)el" 
 
The Epistles, 229 
 
 In The Fair Maid of Perth, Father Clement, a Car- 
 thusian monk in danger of persecution from having em- 
 braced what were held as heretical opinions, shrinks not 
 from his convictions, even when, as Simon Glover tells 
 him, they savour of "blazing tar." Kecounting the 
 hardships he has to endure for conscience' sake, the 
 brave monk has yet the courage to say to his friend the 
 Glover: "But were all these evils multiplied an hundred- 
 fold — the fire within must not be stifled ; the voice which 
 says within me speak — must receive obedience. Woe 
 unto me if I p' each not the Gospel, even should I at length 
 preach it from amidst the pile of flames." 
 
 As a set-off against these instances of determination 
 to preach the Gospel under all circumstances and at any 
 cost, we have, in The Highland Widow, the case of the 
 clergyman who greatly regrets his shyness and timidity 
 in having done so little in the matter of conversing on 
 religious subjects with the widow's unfortunate son. 
 And as the latter lies under sentence of death in Dum- 
 barton Castle, the clergyman endeavours to make up for 
 his neglect in the past by affording all the spiritual con- 
 solation he can give during the few hours the young 
 soldier has yet to live. 
 
 The great Apostle of the Gentiles writes of having 
 "fought with beasts at Ephesus" — an expression which 
 is generally accepted as figurative language to express 
 his contention with men of fierce and violent passions. 
 Andrew Fairservice uses the expression figuratively 
 when he says to Frank, who had asked him how long he 
 had been in the service of the Osbaldistone family, "I have 
 
2 30 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 been fighting with wild beasts for the best part of these 
 four -and -twenty years." And when Yellowley, in The 
 Pirate, is asked by Cleveland what business has brought 
 him to Orkney, he replies, " I am weary of fighting with 
 wild beasts at Ephesus yonder," pointing to Shetland, 
 *'and I just came over to see how my orchard was 
 thriving which I had planted four or five miles from 
 Kirkwall, it may be a year by-gane." 
 
 In distinguishing between the letter and the spirit of 
 the New Testament, St. Paul states that the former 
 takes away life, while the latter gives it : " the letter 
 killeth, but the spirit giveth life." The monk, in The 
 Betrothed, says to the Fleming, " Knowest thou not that 
 the letter of the Scripture slayeth, and that it is the exposition 
 which maketh to live ? " And, in The Monastery, another 
 Churchman says to Dame Glendinning, who had told 
 him how the gentle Lady of Avenel had spent much of 
 her time in reading the Holy Scriptures, " I tell thee, 
 Elspeth, the wm'd slayeth — that is, the text alone, read 
 with unskilled eye and unhallowed lips, is like those 
 strong medicines which sick men take by the advice of 
 the learned. Such patients recover and thrive; while 
 those dealing in them, at their own hand, shall perish by 
 their own deed. ... Of this, good woman, be assured, 
 the word, the mere ivord, slayeth." 
 
 The Christian paradox which the Apostle uses when 
 he says, " When I am weak, then am I strong," is appar- 
 ently in the thoughts of poor David Deans during an 
 incident in the trial of his unfortunate daughter. As 
 her sister is produced as a witness, the prisoner exclaims 
 
The Epistles. 231 
 
 through her tears, "0 Jeanie, Jeanie, save me." This 
 proves too much for the old man, their father. He 
 changes his seat, sits down by the side of Dumbiedykes, 
 and says, " 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 servants weakness." 
 
 In his Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul exhorts them 
 to be no longer without any fixed resolution — " tossed to 
 and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine." 
 This exhortation is very frequently quoted by Sir Walter. 
 Mr. Holdenough imagines that he has still some influence 
 with the mayor, the aldermen, and the better classes of 
 Woodstock, but as for the lower classes of the town he 
 declares that they are blown about by every ivind of doctrine. 
 Mr. Fairford senior considers Darsie Latimer so un- 
 settled in his opinions concerning kirk and State, that any 
 moment some sudden wind of doctrine might produce an 
 entire change. And in the same novel of Redgauntlet, 
 Squire Foxley is described as an old magistrate possessed 
 of so little resolution and strength of character that he is 
 blown about by every wind of doctrine. 
 
 "Be ye angry and sin not," writes the Apostle in his 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. But as one great and common 
 danger in anger is to allow it to sink deeper and deeper 
 into the heart until it settles into a fixed desire for ven- 
 geance, St. Paul adds, "Let not the sun go down upon 
 your wrath." George Heriot admits that Nigel has good 
 cause to be angry at Eichie Moniplies in having pre- 
 sented his own supplication to King James instead of his 
 master's; but he advises Nigel to overlook the fault, 
 
2 32 The Bible in Waverley. 
 
 "and I judge you will have the better service of him 
 another time." 
 
 Sir William Ashton and his daughter are forced dur- 
 ing a thunderstorm to seek shelter at Wolf's Crag, the 
 impoverished home of Sir William's mortal enemy, the 
 Master of Eavenswood. The Master entertains them to 
 the best of his power ; but it is not without considerable 
 apprehension that he dreads there may something happen 
 ere the day closes. Sir William has his apprehensions 
 too, for he thus addresses Eavenswood, with some em- 
 barrassment, " I hope you understand the Christian law 
 too well to suffer the sun to set upon your anger. ''^ But the 
 Master quietly replied that he had no occasion that 
 evening to exercise the duty enjoined upon him by the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 Sir Walter gives us several interesting illustrations of 
 the apostolic injunction to "redeem the time," and make 
 the most of every opportunity to improve it. In The 
 Antiquary, Lovel awakes after a troubled night's rest, and 
 hears through the half-open window of his apartment a 
 female voice singing with much taste and simplicity 
 something between a hymn and a song, in words to the 
 following effect : — 
 
 " 'Why sitt'st thou by that ruin'd hall, 
 Thou aged carle so stern and gray ? 
 Dost thou its former pride recall, 
 Or ponder how it passed away ? 
 
 Know'st thou not me ! ' the deep voice cried 
 * So long enjoyed, so oft misused — 
 Alternate, in thy fickle pride, 
 Desired, neglected, and accused ? 
 
 (C ( 
 
The Epistles. 233 
 
 " ' Before my breath, like blazing flax, 
 Man and his marvels pass away ; 
 And changing empires wane and wax, 
 Are founded, flourish, and decay. 
 
 " ' Redeem 'mine Jiours — the space is brief — 
 While in my glass the sand-grains shiver. 
 And measureless thy joy or grief, 
 
 When Time and thou shalt part for ever ! ' " 
 
 During divine service in Glasgow Cathedral, Frank 
 Osbaldistone's thoughts, as he tells us in Roh Roy, fell a- 
 wandering among other themes and memories than those 
 suggested by the preacher. This mood of inattention 
 recalled the time of his boyhood when, with his father's 
 hand in his, he used to walk to the chapel of Mr. Shower, 
 who often laid upon him the earnest injunction to " re- 
 deem the time because the days are evil." And in The 
 Heart of Midlothian, Eobertson and Wilson, two criminals 
 under sentence of death, are, according to the custom of 
 the time, taken to church to hear and join in public wor- 
 ship on the Sunday 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. The clergyman specially 
 directed part of an affecting discourse to the two criminals, 
 and 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. "Therefore," urged the good man, his 
 
2 34 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 voice trembling with emotion, ^^ redeem the time 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." 
 
 In exhorting the Philippians to work out their own 
 salvation, St. Paul adds, "with fear and trembling." 
 This latter clause is used by the chaplain of Lochleven, 
 in The Ahhot, when he hears Queen Mary tell her page 
 to make the most of his time during a visit to Kinross. 
 " Dance, sing, run, and leap — all may be done merrily on 
 the mainland." "Alas, madam," said the chaplain, "to 
 what is it you exhort the youth, while time presses and 
 eternity summons? Can our salvation be ensured by 
 idle mirth, or our good work wrought out without fear 
 and trembling?" 
 
 The Queen replies that she can neither fear nor 
 tremble ; but if weeping and sorrow on her part will 
 atone for the page's enjoying an hour of boyish pleasure, 
 she will cheerfully pay the penance. On this the chap- 
 lain remarks that our tears and sorrows are all too little 
 for our own faults and follies, and that they cannot be 
 transferred to others to bear for us. 
 
 The expression " filthy lucre " occurs three times in 
 the Epistles, and in each case it is used while stating 
 negatively the qualifications of a bishop. One holding 
 such an office, the Apostle says, should not be given to 
 filthy lucre : should be above accepting such an office for 
 the sake of worldly preferment or gathering money. 
 David Deans asks Eeuben Butler if he were to receive 
 
The Epistles, 235 
 
 the offer of a presentation to "a regular kirk under the 
 present establishment," would he be free to accept if? 
 Butler thinks he would be free, provided he proved 
 acceptable and useful to the parish calling him. 
 
 "Eight, Eeuben, very right, lad," answered Deans; 
 " your ain conscience is the first thing to be satisfied — 
 for how sail he teach others that has himsell sae ill 
 learned the Scriptures as to grip for the lucre of foul 
 earthly preferment, sic as gear and manse, money and 
 victual, that which is not his in a spiritual sense — or wha 
 makes his kirk a stalking-horse from behind which he 
 may take aim at his stipend ?" 
 
 When Eeuben is at length comfortably settled as the 
 parish minister of Knocktarlitie, another question is put 
 to him — not this time by David Deans, but by Sir George 
 Staunton, who asks what he would think of an English 
 living of twelve hundred pounds yearly. " What," Sir 
 George continued, "would Mr. Butler think of as an 
 answer, if the offer should be made to him?" Butler 
 replies that he would not accept it, stating, at the same 
 time, that he had no desire to enter into the various 
 points of difference between the Churches of England and 
 Scotland. But having chosen the latter, he was satisfied 
 with the truth of her doctrines, and desired no change. 
 
 "What may be the value of your preferment f said 
 Sir George Staunton, " unless I am asking an indiscreet 
 question." 
 
 " Probably one hundred a year, one year ^vith an- 
 other, besides my glebe and pasture ground." 
 
 " And you scruple to exchange that for twelve hun- 
 
236 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 dred a year, without alleging any damning difference of 
 doctrine betwixt the two Churches of England and 
 Scotland?" 
 
 " I hope I have done, and am in the course of doing, 
 my Master's work in this Highland parish," replied 
 Butler, " and it would ill become me, for the sake of lucre, 
 to leave my sheep in the wilderness. Bat even in the 
 temporal view which you have taken of the matter, Sir 
 George, this hundred pounds a year of stipend hath fed 
 and clothed us, and left us nothing to wish for. ... So 
 I leave it to you, sir, to think if I were -wise, not having 
 the wish or opportunity of spending three hundred a 
 year, to covet the possession of four times that sum." 
 
 "This is philosophy," said Sir George. "I have 
 heard of it, but I never saw it before." 
 
 "It is common-sense," replied Butler, "which accords 
 with philosophy and religion more frequently than ped- 
 ants or zealots are apt to admit." 
 
 Moralising on " the filthy lucre of gain that men gie 
 themselves up to," Bailie Nicol Jarvie winds up by quot- 
 ing what his worthy father the deacon used to say on the 
 subject : " The penny siller slew mair souls than the 
 naked sword slew bodies." 
 
 In charging Timothy to mind his health, St. Paul 
 advises him to use no longer water, but " a little wine 
 for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." In 
 The Monastery, Abbot Boniface has just finished his 
 evening meal. A lay brother removes the dishes, but 
 leaves the wine on the table. As Father Eustace enters 
 the apartment, the Abbot invites him to sit down and 
 
The Epistles. 237 
 
 take a cup of wine — " For thy stomach's sake, brother — 
 you know the text." 
 
 The Father, however, declines to act upon the Apostle's 
 advice and the Abbot's invitation. " It is a dangerous 
 one to handle alone," he says, " or at late hours. Cut 
 off from human sympathy, the juice of the grape be- 
 comes a perilous companion of solitude, and I ever shun 
 it." 
 
 The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts 
 them, while running the Christian race of every-day life 
 and duty, to " lay aside every weight and the sin which 
 doth so easily beset us." In The Fair Maid of Perth, 
 Henry Smith is told well what his besetting sins are. 
 Catherine Glover entreats him to abjure the sins of 
 pride and anger which most easily beset him, and fling 
 from him those " accursed weapons to the fatal and 
 murderous use of which thou art so easily tempted." 
 Again she urges him to " resign utterly the manufacture 
 of weapons of every description, and deserve the forgive- 
 ness of Heaven by renouncing all that can lead to the 
 sin which most easily besets you." And, once more, 
 she bids him hate in himself " the sins of vanity and 
 wrath by which he is ever most easily beset." 
 
 In Woodstock, Wildrake forms the resolution of " re- 
 nouncing some of the sins which most easily beset him, 
 and especially that of intemperance, to which, like 
 many of his wild compeers, he was too much addicted." 
 
 St. James in his Epistle teaches us to dread an unruly 
 tongue [as one of the greatest and most pernicious of 
 evils. He shows how it needs to be watched and 
 
238 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 guarded to prevent much mischief. In the Waverley 
 Novels we have a great many illustrations of the truth 
 of what the Apostle says of this unruly evil — an un- 
 bridled tongue. Out of sincere and heartfelt gratitude 
 for the assistance Edie Ochiltree had rendered to Sir 
 Arthur Wardour and his daughter during a time of 
 extreme peril, the latter expresses her anxiety to pro- 
 vide a home for their preserver. She suggests that if 
 he would care to reside at the castle she would give 
 orders to the servants and menials that 
 
 " They should tend the old man well," 
 
 But Edie interposes by saying that Sir Arthur and 
 Miss Wardour can, no doubt, do much for his ease and 
 comfort if he cares to take up his abode at the castle, 
 but there were some things which neither a master nor 
 a mistress could do. " Trow ye," he asks Miss Wardour, 
 "that Sir Arthur's command could forbid the gibe 0' 
 the tongue, or the blink 0' the e'e, or gaur them gie me 
 my food wi' the look 0' kindness that gaurs it digest sae 
 weel, or that he could make them forbear a' the slights 
 and taunts that hurt ane's spirit mair nor downright 
 misca'ing?" And so Edie prefers his wandering inde- 
 pendence to the gibes and taunts of the servants' tongues 
 at Knockwinnock Castle. 
 
 In Tlie Heart of Midlothian, RatclifFe objects to being 
 classed among murderers, " I never shed blood," he says. 
 
 " But ye sauld it, Ratten," replied Sharpitlaw, "Ye 
 hae sauld blood mony a time. Folk kill wi' the tongue 
 as well as m' the hand — wi' the word as well as m' the 
 guUy." 
 
The Epistles. 239 
 
 In numerous other instances throughout the novels 
 we have illustrations of the mischief which can be caused 
 by an evil tongue, and many regrets expressed that it 
 had not been ruled in time. Mrs. Dods is sorry that 
 she indulged in rather too plain speaking to her guest, 
 Mr. Tyrrel ; but she resolves that for the future she will 
 guide her tongue better, for, " as the minister says, it is 
 an unruly member — troth, I am whiles ashamed o't 
 mysell." 
 
 St. Peter, in seeking to prove that a state of apostasy 
 is worse than a state of ignorance, quotes, by way of 
 illustration, this proverb — "The dog is turned to his 
 own vomit again ; and the sow that was washed to her 
 wallowing in the mire." The latter part of this proverb 
 is very frequently quoted by Sir Walter. In CaslU 
 Dangerous, the bishop advises Turnbull to adhere to the 
 resolution he has made of giving no occasion for quarrel- 
 ling while in the presence of an Englishman. "Do not 
 be," says the prelate, " like the sow that has wallowed 
 in the mire, and having been washed, repeats its act of 
 pollution, and becomes again yet fouler than it was be- 
 fore." David Deans says to Widow Butler, with refer- 
 ence to the principles of her deceased husband, that " he 
 trusts her son, who is preparing for the work of the 
 ministry, 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." 
 
 Among the names of persons incidentally mentioned 
 in the Epistles we have Demas, Diotrephes, and Gaius, 
 
240 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 all of whom are referred to in the Waverley Novels. 
 The preacher in Old Mortality brackets Lord Evandale's 
 name with that of "an ambitious Diotrephes," and 
 Sergeant Both well's with that " of a covetous and world- 
 following Demas." The name of Gains, whom St. Paul 
 calls " mine host," comes in, however, for more honour- 
 able mention. At Newark, where Jeanie Deans rests 
 for a short while on her journey to London, she asks 
 her host what his charges are, in order that she may 
 discharge them before setting out. But "mine host" 
 will take nothing. "The Saracen's Head," he says, 
 "can spare a mouthful o' meat to a stranger like o' 
 thee." Well may Sir Walter call this kind-hearted man 
 Jeanie's "Lincolnshire Gaius." In Old Mortality, we 
 read of the widow whose husband kept the principal 
 inn of the burgh, and who had been a Presbyterian of 
 such strict principle and profession that he was known 
 among his sect by the name of " Gaius, the publican." 
 
 We cannot leave these references to the Epistles 
 without pointing out how very heartily Sir Walter 
 enters into the spirit of the Apostle's injunction, so fre- 
 quently expressed, of exercising hospitality one toward 
 another. A warm-hearted and generous host himself, 
 the author of JFaverley's love of hospitality finds expres- 
 sion in some shape or other in almost every novel he 
 wrote. We specially associate The Pirate with this 
 apostolic injunction, for it illustrates in a most interest- 
 ing manner both the general exhortation of St. Paul 
 on this point, and that of St. Peter, who adds that 
 hospitality is to be exercised without grudging. The 
 
The Epistles. 241 
 
 pirate Cleveland is forgotten in the frank and generous 
 Magnus Troil, whose house and table are free and open 
 to mainlander and islander alike. There is neither stint 
 nor grudging in his hospitality ; but it is very different 
 with the mean and sordid Yellowley the factor, and his 
 sister Barbara, or Baby, as she is generally called in the 
 novel. This close-fisted and close-hearted pair grudge 
 not only everything in the shape and taste of meals, but 
 even the very wood used to kindle the fire which is to 
 cook them. Noma of the Fitful Head helps herself to 
 refreshment from the inhospitable table of Yellowley 
 and his sister, but not being made welcome to it, she 
 pays for what she takes. Mordaunt Mertoun seeks 
 shelter from the raging tempest, meat and drink and 
 fire, a bed for the night, and a sheltie next morning to 
 carry him home. And though Baby opens out into an 
 unusual fit of hospitality, and gives him what he asks, we 
 still feel how grudgingly everything is done. The 
 smoked goose is consigned to the pot, but Mordaunt 
 lives in Baby's memory afterwards as the youth who 
 had " snapped up her goose as light as if it had been a 
 sandie laverock." 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from such grudging hospitality 
 to the groaning tables and open house of Magnus Troil ; 
 and from him, again, to other hospitable scenes and 
 people in the Waverley Novels. In The Surgeon's 
 Daughter, Dr. Gray cordially joins in his wife's hospitable 
 request, and invites Mr. Lawford to remain and dine 
 with them ; and all the more cordial is this invitation, 
 when it is recollected that there is to be something 
 
 Pw 
 
242 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 better than usual that day to dinner — "lamb and 
 spinage, and a veal Florentine." Sir Geoffrey Peveril's 
 unbounded joy at the restoration of King Charles found 
 most adequate expression in the form of a great feast at 
 Martindale Castle, to which the whole neighbourhood 
 was invited, and hospitality dispensed on the most liberal 
 scale to Cavaliers and Roundheads ahke. Dame Glen- 
 dinning held hospitality to be a duty quite as essential 
 as any other pressing call upon her conscience, and so 
 we find that when her visitors arrived from the mon- 
 astery, she not only waited upon them personally, but 
 eagerly watched "every trencher as it waxed empty, 
 and loaded it Avith fresh supplies ere the guest could 
 utter a negative." Old Mr. Fairford, in Redgauntlet, was 
 a scrupulous observer of the rites of hospitality, but he 
 seemed to exercise them rather as a duty than a pleasure. 
 Harry Bertram (Brown) greatly enjoys the genial hos- 
 pitality of Dandie Dinmont at Charlieshope. On the 
 former remarking that he fears he must resume his 
 journey next morning, "The fient a bit o' that," ex- 
 claimed the Borderer, " I'll no part wi' ye at ony rate 
 for a fortnight." Fergus Maclvor retrenches and econom- 
 ises wherever possible, in order that he may not stint 
 the hospitality with which he so lavishly entertains his 
 friend Waverley during his visit to Glennaquoich. 
 
 So sacred in Sir Walter's eyes is the exercise of 
 hospitality one toward another, that he invariably lets us 
 feel what a serious offence any one commits who neglects 
 the apostolic injunction on this point. The charge of in- 
 hospitality is an extremely grave one. The Marquis, in 
 
The Epistles. 243 
 
 The Bride of Lammermoor, demands the meaning of the 
 inhospitable reception which his kinsman, the Master of 
 Ravenswood, receives at the hands of Sir William Ash- 
 ton's family. "What a picture of blank astonishment we 
 get when Bailie Nicol Jarvie and party arrive at the inn 
 of Aberfoil, and are actually refused admittance, and 
 only get it by force. How contemptible a community 
 the inhabitants of Bale appear, when they refuse the 
 rites of hospitality to the Swiss Deputies, as narrated 
 in Anne of Geierstein. In the Legend of Montrose, Sir 
 Duncan Campbell visits Darnlinvarach, and while there 
 he receives a message from Angus M'Aulay, to the effect 
 that the cavalier who is to accompany him is ready and 
 waiting, and that all is prepared for his return to Inver- 
 aray. Indignant at the affront which such a message 
 conveyed, Sir Duncan started up, and looking towards 
 M'Aulay exclaimed, " I little expected this. I little 
 thought that there was a chief in the West Highlands 
 who . . . would have bid the knight of Ardenvohr leave 
 his castle, when the sun was declining from the meridian, 
 and ere the second cup had been filled. But, farewell, 
 sir, the food of a churl does not satisfy the appetite ; 
 when I next revisit Darnlinvarach, it shall be with a 
 naked sword in one hand, and a firebrand in the other." 
 Sir Duncan, however, was never permitted to carry out 
 this threat. It was not to him that vengeance belonged, 
 for he died in battle shortly after the incident here 
 noticed. 
 
THE EEVELATIOK 
 
 The mention of Patmos, the lonely island to which 
 St. John was banished, reminds us that, in connection 
 with our present study, we have now entered upon the 
 last book of the New Testament — the Revelation. 
 
 Patmos is twice mentioned in the Waverley Novels, 
 curiously enough, so early in the series as the first and 
 third, and in none of the others. In Waverley, it gives 
 name to the Baron Bradwardine's hiding-place after the 
 "affair" of 1745, and in 'The Antiqiiarij, Edie Ochiltree 
 calls the ledge of sea-surrounding rock on which he. Sir 
 Arthur, and Miss Wardour take refuge during their 
 perilous adventure with the rising tide, " this Patmos o' 
 ours." 
 
 The seven-branched golden candlestick, and the seven 
 stars, which the Apostle saw in the apocalyptic vision, are 
 respectively used to designate the house 'or inn of the 
 Cameronian, Ebenezer Cruickshanks, at Cairnvreckan, 
 and that of Mrs. Bickerton in the Castlegate of York. 
 
 In the letter to the angel or minister of the church at 
 Ephesus, there occurs this warning, " I will remove thy 
 candlestick out of his place except thou repent." In Mr. 
 Pembroke's parting exhortation to Waverley, who is 
 
The Revelation. 245 
 
 preparing to set out for Dundee, there to join his regi- 
 ment, the worthy clergyman remarks from his stand- 
 point of view, that it had pleased heaven to place Scot- 
 laud, "doubtless for the sins of their ancestors in 1642, 
 in a more deplorable state of darkness than even this 
 unhappy kingdom of England. Here, at least, although 
 the candlestick of the Church of England has been in some 
 degree removed from its 2)lace, it yet afforded a glimmering 
 light. . . . But in Scotland it was utter darkness ; and 
 excepting a sorrowful, scattered, and persecuted remnant, 
 the pulpits were everywhere abandoned to Presbyterians, 
 and, he feared, to sectaries of every description." 
 
 In a long letter addressed to Lady Peveril, Major 
 Bridgenorth grieves to say " that our candlestick leing alout 
 to he removed, the land (of England) will most likely be 
 involved in deeper darkness than ever." When the 
 Lady's husband afterwards reads this letter, the stout 
 old Eoyalist is much puzzled by the peculiar language 
 in which it is couched. " What he means by moving of 
 candlesticks," remarks Sir Geoffrey, "I cannot guess; 
 unless he means to bring back the large silver candle- 
 stick which my grandsire gave to be placed in the altar 
 at Martin dale -Moultrassie, and which his crop-eared 
 friends, like sacrilegious villains as they are, stole and 
 melted down." 
 
 In JFoodstock, Mr. Holdenough says to Colonel Ever- 
 ard when the former learned that Sir Henry Lee and his 
 family have been allowed to return to the home of their 
 fathers, " The paths in which you tread are dangerous, 
 you are striving to raise the papistical candlestick which 
 
246 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Heaven in its justice removed out of its place — to bring to 
 this hall of sorcerers those very sinners who are bewitched 
 with them." 
 
 In Old Mortality, Habakkuk Mucklewrath summons 
 Claverhouse to appear before the tribunal of God to 
 answer for all the blood which he had shed. He then 
 repeats the solemn invocation from Revelation sixth and 
 tenth, " How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not 
 judge and avenge the blood of thy saints." "With the 
 last of these words on his lips the preacher fell back, 
 and, without an attempt to save himseK, was dead ere 
 his body touched the floor. 
 
 In the vision which St. John saw of the opening of 
 the seals, he describes in sublime and awful language 
 the dread and terror which seized upon " the kings of 
 the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief 
 captains, and the mighty men," at the opening of the 
 sixth seal. To the mountains and to the rocks they 
 cried, " Fall on us, and hide us . . . from the wrath 
 of the Lamb." Sir Walter refers to this scene when he 
 describes the astonishment and terror with which the 
 Earl of Leicester was seized, when the incensed and in- 
 dignant Queen Elizabeth burst in upon him, dragging 
 with her the terrified Countess Amy. Waving aside 
 the lords and ladies grouped round the Earl under an 
 arcade, the Queen calls out in tones which alarmed 
 and thrilled all who heard her, " Where is my Lord of 
 Leicester f 
 
 Supporting with one hand the sinking form of the 
 almost lifeless Countess, and with the fingers of the 
 
The Revelation. 247 
 
 other pointing to the pale features of the unhappy 
 lady, the Queen demands in a voice that sounded in 
 the ears of the astonished nobleman like the last dread 
 trumpet-call that is to summon body and spirit to the 
 judgment -seat, "Knowest thou this woman?" "As," 
 continues Sir Walter, " at the blast of that last trumpet, 
 the guilty shall call upon the mountains to cover them, 
 Leicester's inward thoughts invoked the stately arch 
 which he had built in his pride, to burst its strong con- 
 junction, and overwhelm him in its ruin." 
 
 In Woodstock^ Colonel Everard says to Wildrake, who 
 was speaking of former merry days and playhouse me- 
 mories, "They were like most worldly pleasures, sweet in 
 the mouth and bitter in digestion." There is an allusion 
 here to the little book which the Apostle is told to take 
 from the angel's hand and eat, adding, " It shall make 
 thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet 
 as honey." 
 
 In this same novel, and in Old Mortality, with all 
 their graphic descriptions of the religious excitement 
 which agitated England and Scotland at the respective 
 periods of each tale, we have a great deal of the lan- 
 guage of the Book of Revelation introduced and quoted. 
 Some of the characters in both novels interpret the 
 language of this part of Scripture after their own 
 fancies, and indulge the belief that the Second Advent 
 of the Messiah, and the millennium, or reign of the 
 saints upon earth, is close at hand. Thus Harrison says 
 to Everard, " Am I not the champion chosen and com- 
 missioned to encounter and to conquer the great Dragon 
 
248 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 and the Beast which cometh out of the sea "? Am I not 
 to command the left wing, and two regiments of the 
 centre, when the saints shall encounter with the count- 
 less legions of Gog and Magog ? I tell thee that my 
 name is written on the sea of glass mingled with fire, 
 and that I will keep this place of Woodstock against all 
 mortal men, and against all devils, whether in field or 
 chamber, in the forest or in the meadow, even till the 
 saints reign in the fulness of their glory." 
 
 Take another specimen, this time from Old Mmiality. 
 Old Manse Headrigg lifts up her testimony against 
 Bothwell and all his party. "Philistines ye are, and 
 Edomites . . . piercing serpents ye are, and allied 
 baith in name and nature with the great Red Dragon : 
 Revelations, twalfth chapter, third and fourth verses." 
 
 The expression " mark of the beast," which occurs 
 several times in the Revelation, is frequently used in 
 the Waverley Novels. As in the scriptural sense it is 
 understood to apply to those who array themselves on 
 the side of the enemies of the Church, so in the novels 
 it is applied to all who are oj^posed to the existing 
 government, or the established religion of the country 
 referred to in the tale. Thus in Bedgauntlet, the laird 
 of that name is a Jacobite, and when Alan Fairford 
 asks Mr. Maxwell if he knows Redgauntlet, the reply 
 is, "You must not be angry, Mr. Fairford, that the 
 poor persecuted nonjurors are a little upon the qui vive, 
 when such clever young men as you are making in- 
 quiries. . . . Redgauntlet is, you may have heard, 
 still under the lash of the law, the mark of the least is 
 
The Revelation. 
 
 still on his forehead, poor gentleman, and that makes 
 us cautious." In Peveril of the Peak, Topham says to 
 Dangerfield and Everett while commissioning them to 
 go down to Derbyshire, "You must put on your Pro- 
 testant spectacles, and show me where there is the shadow 
 of a priest, or a priest's favourer." Everett replies that 
 he " will take in hand to discover the mark of the beast 
 on every one of them between sixteen and seventy as 
 plainly as if they crossed themselves with ink instead 
 of holy water." And in The Fortunes of Nigel, George 
 Heriot waits upon King James to show him a piece of 
 plate of such cunning and curious workmanship that he 
 deems it advisable and respectful to submit the plate to 
 his Majesty's inspection before offering it for sale to 
 any of his subjects. The king asks the goldsmith where 
 he had procured the work. 
 
 "From Italy, may it please your Majesty," replied 
 Heriot. 
 
 "It has naething in it tending to papistrie ?" said the 
 king, looking graver than his wont. 
 
 "Surely not, please your Majesty," said Heriot; 
 " I were not wise to bring anything to your presence 
 that had the mark of the beast." 
 
 " You would be the mair beast yourself to do so," 
 said the king; "it is weel kend that I wrestled wi' 
 Dagon in my youth, and smote him on the ground-sill 
 of his own temple ; a gude evidence that I should be 
 in time called, however unworthy, the Defender of the 
 Faith." 
 
 In the pouring out of the vials described in the six- 
 
2 50 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 teenth chapter of the Revelation, the Apostle saw "three 
 unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the 
 beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." 
 From this passage the Rev. Mr. Holdenough preached a 
 sermon at Joliffe, whose violent conduct in ousting the 
 preacher from the pulpit of Woodstock church had 
 neither been forgiven nor forgotten. Mr. Holdenough 
 always spoke of JolifFe in private as a " lying mis- 
 sionary, into whom Satan had put the spirit of de- 
 lusion." 
 
 References to the woman whom St. John saw in 
 vision sitting on seven moimtains, arrayed in purple 
 and scarlet, are of frequent occurrence in the Waverley 
 Novels. The first occurs in the opening chapter of The 
 Monastery^ as 
 
 "Yonder Harlot 
 Throned on the seven hills with her cup of gold." 
 
 In The Antiquary^ the scarlet woman is a synonym 
 for the Roman Catholic persuasion in the incident 
 where the maid calls at the fisherman's cottage, and 
 relates to Maggie Mucklebackit the news of the death 
 of the Catholic Countess of Glenallan. Speaking of the 
 funeral, Jenny says, "It will be the grandest show ever 
 was seen." 
 
 "Troth, hinny," answered Maggie, "if they let nae- 
 body but papists come there, it'll no be muckle o' a show 
 in this country, for the auld harlot, as honest Mr. 
 Blattergrowl ca's her, has few that drink o' her cup o' 
 enchantments in this corner of our chosen lands." And 
 in Bedgauntletj the hypocritical smuggler is asked if he 
 
The Revelation. 2 5 1 
 
 knows Mr. Maxwell of Summertrees, to which he replies 
 that he has no personal acquaintance with him, being, as 
 he had heard, a papist, for the woman " that sitteth on 
 the seven hills ceaseth not yet to pour forth the cup of 
 her abominations in these parts." 
 
 In speaking to Colonel Everard of the trees in the 
 park at Woodstock, General Harrison alludes to the tree 
 of life which St. John saw in the New Jerusalem as de- 
 scribed in the last chapter of Eevelation. " The former 
 possessors of Woodstock," says the General, " assembled 
 in this their abode of pleasure many strange trees and 
 plants, though they gathered not of the fruit of that tree 
 which beareth twelve manner of fruits, or of those leaves 
 which are for the healing of the nations." 
 
 In Kenilivoiih there is an interesting reference to the 
 New Jerusalem, and such as are not to be allowed within 
 her walls. Varney employs Alasco, the chemist and 
 astrologer, to make up a poisonous draught which is to 
 be given to the unfortunate Countess of Leicester. Foster 
 is asked to take the cup to the lady's apartment, and 
 when he returns to the laboratory Varney asks if " the 
 bird has sipped." 
 
 "She has not, nor shall she, from my hands," replied 
 Foster. "Would you have me do murder in my 
 daughter's presence % " 
 
 The two heartless villains endeavour to reason with 
 Foster, and convince him that the elixir will not endanger 
 life, but he steadily refuses to have any hand in admini- 
 stering the draught so long as his daughter Janet remains 
 in the house as the lady's maid and companion. " In 
 
252 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 one thing I am bound up," says Foster resolutely, "that 
 fall back, fall edge, I will have one in this place that may 
 pray for me, and that one shall be my daughter. I have 
 lived ill, and the world has been too weighty with me ; 
 but she is as innocent as ever she was when on her 
 mother's lap, and she, at least, shall have her portion in 
 that happy city, whose walls are of pure gold, and the 
 foundations garnished with all manner of precious 
 stones." 
 
 The Astrologer gives his exposition of the vision 
 beheld by St. John, but Foster replies that he had never 
 heard it expounded in that way by the clergyman. 
 " Moreover, Doctor Alasco, the Holy Writ says that the 
 gold and the precious stones of the Holy City are in no 
 sort for those who work abomination, or who frame lies." 
 
 " Well, my son," said the doctor, " and what is your 
 inference from thence 1 " 
 
 "That those," said Foster, "who distil poisons, and 
 administer them in secrecy, can have no portion in those 
 unspeakable riches." 
 
 Our present study of the Waverley Novels draws near 
 to its close. It has, we trust, helped the reader to see 
 how largely and how frequently Sir Walter Scott employs 
 the sacred narrative in the composition and construction 
 of these famous tales and romances. Gathering together 
 his references to the Bible, and his quotations from it, we 
 find, after arranging them as we have done in the pre- 
 ceding pages, that they begin at the first chapter of 
 Genesis ; we see that they crop up out of almost every 
 
The Revelation. 253 
 
 Book onward, and we take leave of them at the last 
 chapter of Eevelation. But intimate and accurate as was 
 Sir Walter's knowledge of the Sacred History in its letter 
 and in its details, he was at the same time filled with the 
 spirit of its teaching. Quietly and unostentatiously this 
 latter point comes out in his writings, and if our readers 
 will keep us company during one or two chapters more, 
 we shall try to point out some of the great novelist's 
 illustrations of the leading truths of our holy religion, his 
 sympathy and humanity, his pictures of the family circle, 
 and his thoughts upon death, judgment, and the life 
 which awakens to new and glorified realities when all is 
 over here. 
 
SCOTT AS A EELIGIOUS TEACHER 
 
 If we glance over a list of modern novelists and the 
 books which they have written, the first thing that will 
 probably impress us is, not the extraordinary mass of 
 work produced, but the great variety of "schools" or 
 classes into which these novelists may be divided. Every 
 mode of life, and almost every shade of opinion — educa- 
 tional, artistic, philosophical, scientific, and social— have 
 been described in the modern novel. To none of these 
 schools, however, does Sir Walter Scott belong. We 
 associate his name with the historical novel, which he may 
 be said to have created, and with no other. Having 
 pointed out in the preceding chapters in what way, and 
 to what extent, Sir Walter employs the Bible in the con- 
 struction and composition of the Waverley Novels; having 
 seen in what an interesting way he illustrates many of 
 the more outstanding narratives and lessons of the Sacred 
 Scriptures ; it may be thought that it is our present in- 
 tention to claim for the author of Waverley a place 
 among our religious writers, or at all events, to associate 
 his name more with the religious novel than with the 
 historical. But we have no such intention. Much as 
 Sir Walter Scott makes use of the Bible in his novels, we 
 
Scott as a Religious Teacher. 255 
 
 yet see that he does so, not for the purpose of supporting 
 some doctrine which he is trying to teach, but simply and 
 solely to illustrate the story he has in hand. He is de- 
 scribing, let us suppose, some lovely landscape or pleasant 
 retreat ; then the beauty of the primitive Eden or the 
 joys of Paradise are quoted to heighten the effect. He 
 is relating how the fond old King of Scotland is broken- 
 hearted by the news of his son's death ; this reminds him 
 of the wail of lamentation by the bereaved King of Israel 
 over the death of his much-loved Absalom. The despair 
 of Jeanie Deans, while in the hands of the robbers, is 
 dispelled by the consolations of religion and the thoughts 
 of the Psalmist as he, too, when in affliction, calls upon 
 his soul not to be disquieted, but trust in God, who is the 
 health of his countenance and the strength of his heart. 
 What new and fresh meaning Sir Walter throws around 
 such scriptural texts as " Put not your trust in princes," 
 "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," "Vengeance is 
 mine, saith the Lord ! " and many others. How interest- 
 ing is his use of the teaching and the parables of our 
 Lord, and how practical and sensible are his illustrations 
 of some of the apostolic injunctions ! 
 
 But, notwithstanding all this wealth of Bible instruc- 
 tion in the Waverley Novels, we do not usually think of 
 their author as being anything else than a romancer and 
 a story-teller. The reason is sufficiently obvious. He 
 makes no pretension to anything else than a romancer 
 and a story-teller : he is not given to posing as a moral 
 and religious teacher, but he is a great moral and religious 
 teacher all the while. What we get of the teaching of 
 
256 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 the Bible in the Waverley Novels is got from our walk 
 and conversation with a thoroughly true and healthy man 
 who knows men and books well, but the meaning and 
 teaching of the Sacred Scriptures infinitely better. 
 
 In Sir Walter's hands the Bible is always treated as 
 the Bible — the revealed will of God, and placed above 
 every other kind of book. In The Fortunes of Nigel, he 
 makes King James say of the sacred volume that it " is 
 indeed pincipium et fans " — the fountain and the source 
 of religion as revealed to man. In The Monastery, he 
 declares the Bible to be " the volume on which Christi- 
 anity itself is founded ; " and who that has read that 
 romance can forget what the White Lady of Avenel says 
 in reply to Halbert Glendinning, who asks what mystery 
 there is in the volume which she has t^vice recovered 
 from those who wished the book concealed 1 
 
 " Witliin tliat aAAi'ul volume lies 
 The mystery of mysteries ! . 
 Happiest they of human race, 
 To whom God has granted grace 
 To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
 To lift the latch and force the way ; 
 And better had they ne'er been born. 
 Who read to doubt, or read to scorn." 
 
 These lines are so often read only in connection with 
 the story, that they are forgotten as soon as they are 
 read ; but if we detach them from their context we shall 
 find much in the lines worth remembering. Paraphrased, 
 they remind us that the " awful volume " here referred 
 to is the Bible, with its divine revelation of God mani- 
 fest in the flesh. Thrice happy are they to whom the 
 
Scott as a Relmous Teacher. 257 
 
 '<b 
 
 Holy Spirit has been given to read aright the lessons of 
 the present life ; to hope and pray for the blessed real- 
 ities of the future. Better had they never been born 
 who refuse to become " as a little child," and read the 
 Sacred Volume only to doubt its divine revelation, or 
 scorn its awful mysteries. 
 
 We have here a kind of confession or creed on the 
 part of Sir Walter. It comes unexpectedly, and it comes 
 unsolicited. In all his writings he is true to this creed ; 
 his faith in the unseen and eternal is strong and un- 
 wavering — simple and child-like. God is ever in his 
 thoughts, not the cold abstraction of Theology \ not the 
 unknown and unknowable God of Agnosticism ; but the 
 God of the Lord's Prayer — our Father in heaven, from 
 whom His children on earth are never separated ; ever 
 near enough to hear their cry for daily bread ; always 
 present when danger, or approaching death, seems to 
 brush aside all mortal things, and reveals the presence 
 of Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our 
 being." Illustrations of the fatherhood of God are so 
 numerous in the Waverley Novels that we need only 
 point out one or two representative instances. In Wood- 
 stock Colonel Everard says to Sir Henry Lee, the stout 
 old Eoyalist, " I hope the time will soon come when 
 Englishmen of all sects and denominations will be free 
 in conscience to worship in common the great Father, 
 whom they all, after their manner, call by fhat affectionate 
 name." In Castle Dangerous the Minstrel, while wishing 
 good -night to the boy, recommends him, at the same 
 time, to commit himself to God, " who is the Friend and 
 
 S 
 
/ 
 
 258 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Father of ns all." And Kebecca asks Ivanhoe to believe 
 that a Jew may do service to a Christian without desir- 
 ing any other reward than the blessing of the "great 
 Father ivho iimde both Jew and Gentile" 
 
 By other names than the Father, God is frequently 
 mentioned in the Waverley Novels as the great Creator, 
 the Almighty Disposer of Events, the King of Kings, 
 and other attributive titles. 
 
 Sir Walter encourages us to have faith in the di\dne 
 government of the world. Though many things may 
 look mis-sorted from the human point of view, he asks 
 us to recollect that " Eternal Wisdom " has designed 
 this world to be "a place of mixed good and evil — a 
 place of trial at once and of suffering, where even the 
 worst ills are checkered with something that renders 
 them tolerable to humble and patient minds, and where 
 the best blessings carry with them a necessary alloy of 
 embittering depreciation." It is pleasant to note a few 
 examples here, out of the great many to be found in the 
 Waverley Novels, of faith and trust in G-od amidst much 
 that is discouraging and apparently hopeless. In Gkiy 
 Mannering, Harry Bertram, when a child of only five 
 years old, is carried off by a party of smugglers. He is 
 eventually given up for lost. In the meantime his 
 father dies, but so strong is the faith of the boy's aunt, 
 so certain does she feel that God's hand is about him, 
 that she bequeathes all her property to her nephew, con- 
 vinced that he will be restored to his native land in due 
 time. When he does return it becomes necessary, of 
 course, to produce proof that he is the heir of Ellangow an 
 
Scott as a Religious Teacher. 259 
 
 While the law-agent sees difficulty in procuring such 
 proof, the young heir's faithful old tutor sees none. He 
 believes that God, who guided the boy all these years, 
 will not leave His work imperfect. And so, eventually, 
 all comes well. 
 
 When the Earl of Etherington, in St. Ronan^s Well, 
 tells Clara Mowbray that she is now in his power, she 
 replies — 
 
 " Not so, proud man, God gave not one potsherd the 
 power to break another, save by His Divine permission 
 — my fate is in the will of Him without whose will even 
 a sparrow falls not to the ground. Begone — I am strong 
 in faith of heavenly protection ! " 
 
 In Anne of Geierstein, the elder Philipson is tried 
 before that dreadful tribunal the Holy Vehme. When 
 the worst comes to the worst, he falls back upon his last 
 and only hope — " Then God be gracious to me, for 
 I have no trust save in Heaven." When Halbert 
 Glendinning meets the preacher on his way to Avenel 
 Castle, Halbert warns him that if he goes self-invited, 
 and without assurance of safety, he runs a great risk of 
 losing his life. But Warden replies, "I am in God's 
 hand ; it is on His errand that I traverse these wilds, 
 amidst dangers of every kind ; while I am useful for my 
 Master's service they shall not prevail against me, and 
 when, like the barren fig-tree, I can no longer produce 
 fruit, what imports it when or by whom the axe is laid 
 to the root 1 " 
 
 The unfortunate Countess of Leicester casts herself 
 upon the protection of God in her sore hour of trial. " I 
 
26o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 am certain," she says to her faithful attendant, " the God I 
 have served will not abandon me in this dreadful crisis." 
 And another unfortunate lady commits herself to God 
 in a time of supreme peril. Addressing the licentious 
 Templar, Rebecca the Jewess tells him that her " resolu- 
 tion is anchored on the Rock of Ages. ... I waste no 
 more words on thee; the time that remains on earth 
 to the daughter of Jacob must be otherwise spent — 
 she must seek the Comforter, who may hide His face 
 from His people, but who ever opens His ear to the cry 
 of those who seek Him in sincerity and in truth." And 
 when misfortune falls upon Hobbie Elliot, his grand- 
 mother comforts him with the assurance that " God can 
 help when worldly trust is a broken reed." 
 
 Many a touching picture does Sir AValter draw of 
 gratitude expressed to God for mercies received or dan- 
 gers averted. The mention of Hobbie Elliot's name in 
 our last extract reminds us of an interesting scene in his 
 experience. " I am the happiest man in the world," he 
 exclaims in the fulness of his joy when he receives back, 
 all safe and well, his lovely bride, Grace Armstrong. 
 
 " Then, my bairn," said his grandmother, who 
 never lost any opportunity of teaching the lessons of 
 religion at those moments when the heart is best open 
 to receive them, " give praise to Him that brings smiles 
 out of tears, and joy out of grief. . . . Was it not my 
 word that if ye could say His will be done, ye might 
 have cause to say His name be praised % " 
 
 " It was — it was your word. Grannie, and I do praise 
 Him for His mercy, and for leaving me a good parent 
 
Scott as a Religious Teachei^. 261 
 
 when my ain were gane," said honest Hobbie, taking her 
 hand, " that pits me in mind to think of Him baith in 
 happiness and distress." 
 
 Not less touching are other such scenes, where the 
 King of Scotland and his son, the Duke of Eothesay, are 
 reconciled to each other : where Jeanie Deans learns the 
 certainty of her sister's pardon : where Lucy Ashton sees 
 her father rescued from what seemed a dreadful death : 
 and where Magnus Troil is assured that all is well with 
 his two beloved daughters — all scenes, mth many more, 
 of the deepest and sincerest gratitude to God. 
 
 Of the various attributes which we ascribe to God — 
 such as His mercy. His goodness, and His justice — there 
 are many illustrations to be found in Sir Walter's writ- 
 ings. When Harry Bertram is restored to his friends, 
 his affectionate tutor reminds him that among other 
 lessons which had been taught him in his childhood, 
 there was one in particular, and that was ever " to look 
 up to God as the source of all that is goocV 
 
 In The Antiquary, when old Elspeth hears of the 
 death of her former mistress, the Countess of Glenallan, 
 she exclaims, "God assoilzie her. She was a hard- 
 hearted woman, but she's gane to account for it a', and 
 His mercy is infinite." Eeuben Butler implores the mob 
 at Edinburgh to spare the life of Porteous, their un- 
 fortunate prisoner. "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." Turning to the 
 doomed man Butler thus addresses him, in the prospect 
 
262 2^ he Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 of immediate death, " turn to Him in whose eyes time 
 and space have no existence, and to whom a few minutes 
 are as a life-time, and a life-time as a minute." 
 
 In Anne of Geierstein Agnes, daughter of the murdered 
 Albert, after shedding " oceans of blood " in avenging his 
 death, founds the rich abbey of Konigsfeldt. On making 
 a pilgrimage to the cell of a hermit for the purpose of 
 inducing him to take up his abode in the abbey, he 
 listens to the proposal with horror and scorn. 
 
 " God," said the holy man, " will not be served with 
 blood-guiltiness, and rejects the gifts which are obtained 
 by violence and robber}^. The Almighty loves meixy, justice, 
 and humanity, and by the lovers of these only will He be 
 worshipped." 
 
 Having already shown how largely Sir Walter makes 
 use of the teaching of our Lord, we proceed to inquire if 
 there is any reference to the Holy Spirit — the third 
 person of the Trinity. AYe shall see that there is such 
 reference if we take the term grace as indicating the 
 office or work of the Holy Spirit. " For my sins," says 
 Edie Ochiltree to the Earl of Glenallan, " / hae had grace 
 to repent o' them, and to lay them where they may be better 
 borne than by me." AVe have already had occasion to 
 refer to the sermon preached by Henry "Warden before 
 the assembled household at Avenel Castle. Referring to 
 it once more, we find the preacher stating that while self- 
 searching and meditation can do much, it is grace that can 
 do all. He concludes with an earnest exhortation to his 
 hearers " to seek divine grace which is perfected in hu- 
 man weakness;" and in St. Ronan^s JFeU, Hannah IrA\in 
 
 4 
 
Scott as a Religious Teacher. 263 
 
 confesses to the Rev. Mr. Cargill her unhappy spiritual 
 state. "I have rejected the offer of grace," she says, 
 " and not through ignorance, for I have sinned with my 
 eyes open. " The clergyman, however, consoles the peni- 
 tent by imploring her not to despair. He reminds her 
 that " grace is omnipotent — to doubt this is in itself a 
 great crime." 
 
KELIGION AND RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE 
 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 / In general terms, Sir Walter defines religion as "the 
 mother of peace." He tells us that when one of the 
 ancestors of Edward Waverley returned home from the 
 Holy Land, the Crusader found so much to disappoint 
 and dishearten him that he sought in a neighbouring 
 cloister "the peace which passeth not away." Religion 
 may appear to be only of the common conventional type 
 in such characters as Hobbie Elliot, who goes to consult 
 the Black Dwarf about his lost sweetheart. " If ye could 
 gie me but speerings o' puir Grace," says the disconsolate 
 Hobbie, " I would consent to be your slave for life in ony 
 thing that didna touch my salvation." But religion rises 
 into life and reality in such persons as Henry Morton, 
 Rebecca the Jewess, and Jeanie Deans — all of whom 
 experience the consolation and the strength of true re- 
 ligion in the hour of supreme and terrible peril. What 
 a peace, too, religion brings to poor Noma of the Fitful 
 Head. Mordaunt Mertoun seeks to turn her thoughts 
 into other and better channels than the desire to " rule 
 over gibbering ghosts, and howling winds, and raging 
 torrents." "Life will again have charms," Mordaunt 
 
Religion and Religiotis Life. 265 
 
 continues, " and religion loill have comfort for you" Before 
 any change takes place, however. Noma sinks into the 
 depths of spiritual despair, and considers herself as an 
 outcast from divine grace. Shrouded in the occult arts 
 and practices which she had professed to deal in, Noma's 
 study, like that of Chaucer's physician, had been "but 
 little in the Bible." When the change came, however, 
 the Sacred Volume was seldom laid aside ; and to the 
 poor ignorant people who came, as formerly, to invoke 
 her power over the elements. Noma only replied, " The 
 winds are in the hollow of His hand." Her conversion 
 seemed sincere; she appeared deeply to repent of her 
 former presumptuous attempts to interfere with the course 
 of human events ; and she always expressed the bitterest 
 compunction when any of her former pretensions were 
 recalled to her memory. 
 
 In The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter states that it 
 was a belief of the time and the sect to which Jeanie 
 Deans belonged that special answers to prayer were, as 
 the Cameronians expressed it, "borne in upon their 
 minds " in reply to any earnest petition uttered at a time 
 of crisis or diflSculty. Sir Walter enters into no abstract 
 point of divinity on the subject, but he says there is one 
 thing at least which is perfectly 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." 
 
266 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Then referring to the particular instance of prayer which 
 elicited this explanation, Sir Walter adds that Jeanie 
 Deans rose from her devotions with " her heart fortified to 
 endure affliction and encouraged to face difficulties." In 
 The Abbot, the grandmother of Eoland Graeme says that 
 " the time spent in prayer is as a refreshing slumber, and 
 the sense of doing the will of Heaven is a richer banquet 
 than the tables of monarchs can supply." And in Castle 
 Dangerous, the Minstrel thus states his opinion of prayer. 
 " We may," he says, " without offence, intimate in our 
 prayers the end we wish to obtain, but it is not for us, 
 poor mortals, to point out to an all-seeing Providence the 
 precise manner in which our petitions are to be accom- 
 phshed." 
 
 From these remarks on the nature of prayer we turn 
 to some of the instances of its exercise recorded in the 
 novels. We have Julian Peveril, Henry Morton, Quentin 
 Dursvard, and the daughters of Magnus Troil, all com- 
 mitting themselves to God in prayer before retiring to 
 rest for the night. Darsie Latimer begins the day ^vith 
 prayer. He is wakened early by Redgauntlet, who urges 
 him to make haste and accompany him. But Darsie 
 replies, " I must first take the freedom to spend a few 
 minutes alone before beginning the ordinary works of the 
 day." In times of doubt or danger, we have the desire 
 expressed by Dandie Dinmont that he " could mind a bit 
 prayer " before he creeps into the smuggler's cave ; and 
 not knowing what the effect of the medicine may be, or 
 at least very doubtful whether or not he may recover, 
 the Earl of Essex folds his hands and becomes absorbed 
 
Religion and Religious Life. 267 
 
 in mental devotion ere he swallows the draught pre- 
 scribed by Wayland Smith. We have soldiers on the 
 battlefield trying to recollect the prayers of their infancy : 
 thus Waverley hears, among the wounded and dying 
 troopers, a voice in the provincial English of his native 
 county trying to repeat the Lord's Prayer. We have 
 Janet Foster praying for her unhappy mistress, and 
 poor Caleb Balderston retires to his room to pray for his 
 unfortunate master. Listen to the secret prayer of David 
 Deans, overheard by her who was the subject of it : " And 
 as for the other child Thou hast given me to be a 
 comfort and a 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." And what a pathos 
 there is in this same old man's benediction as, one even- 
 ing before retiring to rest, he draws his daughter to him, 
 kisses her forehead, and ejaculates, " The God of Israel 
 bless you, even with the blessings of the promise." 
 
 "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 
 ye 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." 
 
268 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 With David Deans, family worship, or " the exercise," 
 as it was called, was regularly observed, on which 
 occasion a portion of Scripture was read, a psalm was 
 sung, and a prayer was offered. Andrew Fairservice, 
 too, used to assemble some of his neighbours to join him 
 in the family exercise ; and as George Heriot's dinner- 
 party broke up, and all the guests had gone, except Mr. 
 Windsor the clergyman, and Nigel, the worthy gold- 
 smith addressing the latter says, " My lord, we have had 
 our permitted hour of honest and hospitable pastime, 
 and now I would fain delay you for another purpose, as 
 it is our custom, when we have good Mr. Windsor's 
 company, that he reads the prayers of the church for 
 the evening before we separate. Your excellent father, 
 my lord, would not have left before family worship. 
 I hope the same from your lordship." 
 
 "With pleasure, sir," answered Nigel, "and you add 
 in the invitation an additional obligation to those with 
 which you have loaded me. When young men forget 
 what is their duty, they owe deep thanks to the friend 
 who will remind them of it." 
 
 As a general rule, all the entertainments mentioned 
 in the Waverley Novels, such as dinner and supper 
 parties, do not begin until a blessing has been asked on 
 the good things spread before the company. At George 
 Heriot's dinner-party just alluded to, the blessing of the 
 clergyman set the guests at liberty to attack the ex- 
 cellent cheer set before them. And in the same novel 
 of Nigel, King James, before the council breaks up, 
 wishes his Privy Councillors a good appetite for an 
 
Religion and Religious Life. 269 
 
 early supper, and specially asks one of the bishops present 
 to "be pleased to stay and bless our meat." Captain 
 Dalgetty thought the grace at Sir Duncan Campbell's 
 table much too long, while David Deans on a similar 
 occasion elsewhere censured it as being much too short. 
 
 Noma of the Fitful Head, in The Pirate, leaves the 
 inhospitable roof of the close-fisted Yellowleys, The 
 factor stands aghast, not knowing what may be the result 
 of offending one credited with supernatural powers. His 
 sister, however, addresses him and recalls him to a sense 
 of duty with reference to the dinner, which is waiting. 
 " What do ye stand glowering there for 1 You a Saunt 
 Andrew's student ! — you studied lair and Latin human- 
 ities, as ye ca' them, and daunted -vvi' the clavers of an 
 auld randie wife ! Say your lest college grace, man, and 
 witch or nae witch, well eat our dinner and defy her." 
 
 As Darsie Latimer sits down at the table of Eed- 
 gauntlet, the discipline which had trained him to hear 
 the invocation of a blessing before breaking the bread 
 for which we are daily taught to pray, made him pause 
 for a moment, and made his host sensible of what was 
 wanted. With something of a sneer, Eedgauntlet asked 
 one of the two domestics sitting at the lower end of the 
 table to say grace — "the gentleman expects one." But 
 both domestics refused, and it was not until a yoimg 
 girl entered the dining-room that a blessing could be 
 asked. At Redgauntlet's request she did so in a voice 
 of much sweetness and with affecting simplicity of 
 manner. 
 
MOEALITY IN THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 In an article entitled Fiction — Foul and Fai7%^ Mr 
 Euskin states that he cannot make out from Lock- 
 hart's farrago, the first thing he wants to know about 
 Sir Walter — whether or not Scott, after his week- 
 day custom, worked at his books on Sunday mornings. 
 Mr. Ruskin thinks not; and he then proceeds to 
 speculate as to how Sir Walter did spend his Sundays. 
 With this matter we have at present nothing to do ; 
 but we may point out how some of the Waverley charac- 
 ters spend theirs. 
 / ff' In various ways is the Sunday observed in the 
 ' Waverley Novels. In Fob Foy, Sir Walter refers ^to a 
 custom on the English road where those who journeyed 
 on horseback used to halt on the Sunday morning in 
 order that the traveller might attend divine service, and 
 give his horse the benefit of the day of rest. This ob- 
 servance of the Sunday, Sir Walter adds, "is as humane 
 to our brute labourers as profitable to ourselves." 
 Waverley attends church in all the splendour of his 
 new uniform previous to setting out for Scotland to join 
 his regiment at Dundee. At Osbaldistone Hall there 
 ^ Nineteenth Century, October 1880. 
 
Mo7^ality. 2 7 1 
 
 was a religious service held every Sunday morning, but 
 the rest of the day was full of languor and weariness, 
 and peculiarly hard to be got over by the squire and 
 his fox-hunting sons. Bailie Nicol Jarvie rebukes Rob 
 Roy when, in the Tolbooth of Glasgow, the latter hums 
 over the verse of an old song. " Whisht, sir," said the 
 magistrate in an authoritative tone, " lilting and singing 
 sae near the latter end o' the Sabbath ! " And when 
 the Bailie returns to his own house, conscience, which 
 he apostrophises so frequently, seems to check him for 
 having been transacting matters which might have been 
 deferred till a lawful business day. Pausing on the 
 threshold, and in a tone of deep contrition, Frank 
 Osbaldistone hears the Bailie say, " I hae my thoughts 
 on the Sabbath ! " Then, apparently receiving inward 
 consolation, he turns to Frank and says in a soothed and 
 less troubled tone, "But there's balm in Gilead." Colonel 
 Mannering spends a Sunday in Edinburgh. In company 
 with Mr. Pleydell, the advocate, he attends divine 
 service in the Greyfriars' Church, where the celebrated 
 Dr. Erskine officiates. On the way home, Mr. Pleydell 
 and the Colonel discuss the sermon and the points of 
 difference which had split the Church of Scotland into 
 so many conflicting parties. The discussion, however, 
 seems to have little interest for the Colonel, for, being an 
 Episcopalian, his thoughts wandered after other and 
 more congenial associations. 
 
 Returning to the novel of Boy Roy, we find an 
 interesting account of a Sunday spent in Glasgow. 
 Frank Osbaldistone and Andrew Fairservice attend divine 
 
2/2 TJie Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 service in the Cathedral. Long resident in France, 
 Frank had been accustomed to hear and see high mass 
 celebrated with all the pomp and ceremonial which the 
 choicest music, the richest dresses, and the most imposing 
 ceremonies could confer, yet, he declares, it fell short 
 in effect of the simplicity of the Presbyterian worship. 
 The devotion, in which every member of the congregation 
 seemed to share, appeared so superior to that which was 
 recited by musicians as a lesson learned by rote, that it 
 gave the Scotch form of worship all the advantage of 
 reality over acting. The sermon of the officiating clergy- 
 man related chiefly to the abstract points of the Christian 
 faith — subjects grave, deep, and fathomless by mere 
 human reason, but for which, with equal ingenuity and 
 propriety, the preacher sought a key in liberal quotations 
 from the inspired writings. 
 
 If there be one commandment in the moral law 
 which Sir Walter seems to feel the meaning and the 
 spirit of more than any other, that commandment is the 
 sixth. It declares how sacred a thing is human life ; it 
 enjoins the protection and the preservation of it in every 
 possible way; and it emphasises that deed as truly 
 awful which would seek to break into " the tabernacle 
 of life," and scare away the image of God therein en- 
 shrined. In the clearest and most positive terms Sir 
 Walter every now and again, in the Waverley Novels, 
 raises the warning words, " Thou shalt do no murder ; " 
 and if life has been taken, as in the case of the unfor- 
 tunate Morris, who was thrown into the lake at the 
 command of Helen Macgregor, the novelist raises his 
 
Morality. 273 
 
 solemn protest against the deed. "It is," says Bailie 
 Nicol Jarvie, who had witnessed the dreadful scene, 
 " a bloody and cruel murder — it is a cursed deed, and 
 God will avenge it in His due way and time." If, as in 
 the case of Waverley seeing no way out of avenging the 
 insult received from Balmawhapple but by arranging for 
 a " hostile meeting " or duel. Sir Walter seems to make 
 an exception to this law, and lightly or irreverently 
 substitute in its place the " law of honour " for the law 
 of God, it is well to remember that he is only describing 
 a practice which was common among gentlemen at the 
 time of the tale. Common or not common, however, 
 Sir Walter denounces the unlawful and sinful practice 
 of duelling in terms which can neither be mistaken nor 
 misunderstood. Thus, in aS'^. Ronan's Well, Touchwood 
 says to Captain MacTurk with regard to duelling, "I 
 tell you, sir, that, besides its being forbidden both by 
 law and Gospel, it's an idiotical and totally absurd prac- 
 tice." When the Antiquary suspects that Lovel and 
 Hector Maclntyre have arranged to have a hostile meet- 
 ing, the old gentleman affectionately warns Lovel to 
 take heed to his present feelings, and, as for duelling, he 
 characterises it as a " practice unknown to the civilised 
 ancients, and of all the absurdities introduced by the 
 Gothic tribes the most gross, impious, and cruel." Dis- 
 regarding this friendly admonition, Lovel and Hector 
 actually do meet, but they are interrupted by old Edie 
 Ochiltree, who thus appeals to them : " What are ye 
 come here for, young men ? Are ye come amongst the 
 most lovely works of God to break His laws 1 Have ye 
 
 T 
 
2 74 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 left the works of man, the houses and the cities that are 
 but clay and dust, like those that built them ; and are 
 ye come here among the peaceful hills, and by the quiet 
 waters, that will last whiles aught earthly shall endure, 
 to destroy each other's lives, that will have but an unco 
 short time, by the course of nature, to make up a long 
 account at the close o't % O sirs ! hae ye brothers, 
 sisters, fathers, that hae tended ye, and mothers that 
 hae travailed for ye, friends that hae ca'd ye like a piece 
 o' their ain heart % and is this the way ye tak to make 
 them childless and brotherless and friendless % Ohon ! 
 it's an ill feight whar he that wins has the warst o't. 
 Think on't, bairns ! I'm a puir man — but I'm an auld 
 man too, and what my poverty takes awa frae the weight 
 o' my counsel, grey hairs and a truthfu' heart should 
 add to it twenty times." But all this impassioned and 
 touching appeal goes for nothing. Even the seconds 
 attached to each of the duellists recommend that the 
 quarrel should be made up. Nothing, however, will 
 satisfy the " law of honour " but blood, and accordingly 
 the two young men fire at each other, one of whom falls 
 and the other goes off like a second Cain, believing that 
 his fellow's blood is on his head, and with something in 
 his heart which makes it heavier than lead. 
 
 In Peveril of the Peak there is an instance of a gentle- 
 man refusing to fight a duel. Sir Jasper Cranbourne 
 delivers the message of Sir Geoffrey Peveril to Major 
 Bridgenorth, who, after reading the letter, makes this 
 reply — " Bear back my respects to Sir Geoffrey Peveril. 
 According to his light, his meaning may be fair toward 
 
Morality. 275 
 
 me; but tell him that our quarrel had its rise in his 
 OAvn wilful agression toward me, and that, though I wish 
 to be in charity with all mankind, I am not so wedded 
 to his friendship as to break the laws of God, and run 
 the risk of suffering or committing murder in order to 
 regain it." 
 
 This reply was not made without a tear of anger and 
 a feeling of shame ; but the Major's friend, the Eev. 
 Mr. Solsgrace, came to his assistance, and exhorted him 
 to remember in his prayers the thanks due to Heaven, 
 "which enabled thee to resist the strong temptation." 
 To which Bridgenorth replies, "Reverend and dear 
 friend, I feel that you speak the truth. Bitterer, indeed, 
 and harder to the old Adam, is the text which ordains 
 him to suffer shame, than that which bids him do 
 valiantly for the truth." 
 
 Unlike too many novelists of the present day, 
 Sir Walter steers clear as much as possible of those 
 scenes of life which lie around, or are guarded by the 
 seventh commandment. All the purer are the Waverley 
 Novels in consequence. In The Heart of Midlothian we 
 have the fall of Effie Deans, but her fall only brings 
 into greater relief the most spiritually-minded and re- 
 ligious character which Sir Walter has ever drawn — 
 Jeanie Deans. How precious, in Sir Walter's estimation, 
 is purity of heart, speech, and behaviour ! How delicate 
 are his touches in the portraiture of the tender attach- 
 ment which indicates the dawn or the presence of love ! 
 Rose Bradwardine writes to Waverley when the latter 
 is on a visit to Fergus Maclvor in the Highlands. 
 
2/6 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Rose's letter originally commenced with Bear Sir ; but 
 these words had been carefully erased, and the mono- 
 syllable Sir substituted in their place. The whole letter 
 is a model of propriety. "Forgive me," says the young 
 lady, "if I am -syrong in what I am doing, for alas ! Mr. 
 Waverley, I have no better advice than my own feelings; 
 my dear father is gone from this place, and when he 
 can return to my assistance and protection, God alone 
 knows." 
 
 Alarmed and anxious about the capture of Henry 
 Morton, Edith Bellenden writes to her uncle on the 
 matter. But though this is the object and the subject 
 of her letter, she says not a word about Morton until 
 she reaches the inevitable P.S. of a lady correspondent, 
 when she reveals what is uppermost in her thoughts, 
 and states her case with the utmost modesty and pro- 
 priety. On reading the letter, the gallant soldier ex- 
 claims, " 'The poor lad ; my old cronie's son !' And the 
 silly wench sticks it into her 2^ost scriptuin, as she calls it, 
 at the tail of all this trumpery about old gowns and new 
 romances." 
 
 Similar instances of Scott's delicacy in handling such 
 matters are of frequent recurrence in the Waverley 
 Novels. The scene where Catherine Glover, the Fair 
 Maid of Perth, chooses her valentine for the year is one 
 of the most charming little pictures which Sir Walter 
 has ever drawn. And how skilful and healthy is his 
 treatment of such incidents as Margaret Eamsay's visit to 
 Nigel in the Tower of London, or the escapade of Mysie 
 Happer's flight to Edinburgh with Sir Piercie Shafton. 
 
Morality. 277 
 
 A writer of such high moral tone as Sir Walter does 
 not hesitate, when occasion requires, to paint in their 
 true colours the disastrous consequences of impurity 
 and unchastity. What " a pre-eminently wretched 
 woman," to use her own words, is Noma, in Tlie Pirate^ 
 as she relates the tale of her early guilt and sorrow. 
 The memory of poor Catherine, the beautiful and de- 
 voted mistress of Julian Avenel, haunts us as we lay 
 down The Monastery. On the field she seeks for him 
 who had promised to marry her, and when she finds 
 only his lifeless body, she dies in the excess of her grief 
 and affection. The child of her sorrow is taken care of 
 by Halbert Glendinning, who relates the incident to the 
 Eegent Murray. Eemembering, perhaps, the associa- 
 tions and circumstances connected with his own birth, 
 the Eegent remarks to the Earl of Morton, who stood 
 by his side, " What have they to answer for, Douglas, 
 who thus abuse the sweetest gifts of affection ! " 
 
 As we follow the fortunes of Catherine's orphan 
 child, who becomes the Eoland Graeme of The Allot ^ the 
 memory of his mother's sorrow is transfused into feelings 
 of chastened joy and gladness as we learn that, instead 
 of Eoland being the illegitimate child of Julian Avenel 
 and Catherine Graeme, he is really the offspring of a 
 secret but lawful marriage duly celebrated and attested 
 by Father Philip, who lodges all the necessary attest- 
 ations thereof with the Abbot of St. Mary's, under seal 
 of the confessional, until the time arrives when every- 
 thing may be made public. And having made the 
 matter public, Sir Walter himself seems to breathe more 
 
278 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 freely, as he dismisses the handsome page, not to be 
 known any longer as Eoland Graeme, but as Eoland 
 Avenel. 
 
 In his examination before the magistrate, EatclifFe, a 
 notorious thief, but afterwards reformed and employed 
 as a turnkey in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, is asked 
 to describe his occupation. He replies by asking, in 
 return, "What is't, again, that the aught command 
 says?" 
 
 " Thou shalt not steal," answered the magistrate. 
 
 " Are you sure of that ? " replied Eatcliflfe. " Troth, 
 then, my occupation and that command are sair at odds, 
 for I read it, thou slialt steal, and that makes an unco 
 difference, though there's but a wee bit word left out." 
 
 All the difference, indeed ! Andrew Fairservice, too, 
 notwithstanding all his affected piety, has rather hazy 
 ideas regarding the spirit of the eighth commandment — 
 so hazy that his new master, Frank Osbaldistone, has to 
 set him right. In their journey to Scotland, Andrew 
 had taken one of the horses from Osbaldistone Hall 
 without leave being asked or granted. 
 
 "How is this, sir?" said Frank when he recognised 
 the animal. "This is Mr. Thorncliff's mare." 
 
 " I'll no say but she may aiblin hae been his honour's 
 in her day — but she's mine now." 
 
 "You have stolen her, you rascal." 
 
 Andrew then proceeds to explain that the squire had 
 borrowed money from him to go to York races, and had 
 never repaid him. " Steal the mear ! " he continues, in in- 
 dignant astonishment at the charge of dishonesty. " Na, 
 
Morality. 279 
 
 naj far be the sin 0' theft frae Andrew Fairservice — I 
 have just arrested her jurisdidionis fandandy causey" 
 
 Frank Osbaldistone, however, could look at the matter 
 in no other light than simply a breach of the eighth 
 commandment, and, accordingly, he wrote to his uncle 
 explaining the circumstances under which the mare had 
 been taken away, and stating the arrangements made for 
 her being returned to Osbaldistone Hall. 
 
 So faithfully does Sir Walter describe human nature 
 that he shows us, as the Bible shows us, the weak and 
 imperfect side of character as well as the healthy, the 
 strong, and the good. In literature as in daily life, in 
 the sacred narrative as in the world of fiction, it is with 
 something like a shock to the feelings when we hear any 
 one deliberately state as a truth what he knows perfectly 
 well to be a falsehood. Abraham saying of Sarah that 
 she was his sister; Jacob deceiving his aged father; 
 Gehazi declaring that he had not gone after Naaman; 
 and Peter's denial of his Lord, are the Bible incidents 
 we refer to. In the Waverley Novels there are numerous 
 similar instances of human imperfection. Like Louis 
 XIV., Caleb Balderstone, in The Bride of Lammermoor, 
 hesitates to carry finesse the length of open falsehood ; 
 but he is quite content to deceive, if possible, without 
 directly lying. When George Heriot visits Lord Nigel 
 in the Tower of London, the former starts at seeing a 
 muffled figure in the same apartment. More anxious, 
 apparently, to prevent this figure being recognised than 
 to keep his own affairs private, Nigel unblushingly says 
 to Heriot, " 'Tis a page of mine : you may speak freely 
 
28o The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 before him. He is of France, and knows no Eng- 
 lish." 
 
 The goldsmith suspects, however, that the truth is 
 not being told. Accordingly, he takes hold of the sup- 
 posed page's cloak, and, after some gentle degree of 
 violence, discloses to view the detected daughter of the 
 old chronologist, Margaret Eamsay. 
 
 The scene is a painful one to all concerned. The girl 
 is asked to explain why she is in such a questionable 
 situation and in such a guise. "I cannot explain it 
 further," she says, in tones of deep regret and shame, 
 "further than that the Lady Mansel sent me here, in 
 spite of my earnest prayers, tears, and entreaties. I was 
 not afraid of anything, for I knew I should be protected. 
 But I could have died then — could die now — for very 
 shame and confusion." 
 
 AATiile this and further explanation serves to put 
 matters right with Margaret Eamsay, we feel that the 
 falsehood remains with Lord Nigel, and that nothing can 
 ever atone for any falsehood but the bitter tears and the 
 sincere repentance of a fallen Peter. 
 
 In such exhibitions of human failings as uttering un- 
 truths, we are involuntarily led to the contemplation of 
 the infinite beauty and the priceless worth of truth itself. 
 The Countess Amy, in Kenihcorth, pleads with her hus- 
 band to be downright, true, and honest; urges him to 
 forsake his deceitful policy, and return to the straight 
 path which is at once the best and the safest. " Oh, my 
 good Lord," she says, "make no faction in a peaceful 
 state ! There is no friend can help so well as our own 
 
Morality. 281 
 
 candid truth and honour. Bring but these to our assist- 
 ance, and you are safe amidst a whole army of the 
 envious and the malignant. Leave these behind you, 
 and all other defence will be fruitless." 
 
 The story of The Heart of Midlothian affords one of 
 the most remarkable illustrations in English literature of 
 obedience to the injunctions of the ninth commandment. 
 The turning-point of the tale may be said to lie in the 
 refusal of Jeanie Deans to perjure herself, save her 
 sister's life, and so to render unnecessary the famous 
 journey to London to petition for the unhappy girl's 
 pardon. But Jeanie can see no way in which she is free 
 to state that her sister ever communicated to her one 
 word suggestive of her condition. For some time 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. She was wrung with 
 terror, too, on her sister's account, rendered all the more 
 acute by reflecting that the means of saving her life lay 
 in Jeanie's own power. But conscience prohibited her 
 from using this power, and so she fell back upon her faith 
 in God, and the resolution to do nothing, and say nothing, 
 which was not strictly true. 
 
 The mind is apt to speculate upon what would have 
 happened had Jeanie Deans borne false witness in order 
 to save the life of her sister. It is abundantly clear that 
 Jeanie would have been a very wretched woman all the 
 remaining days of her life ; and great as were the trials 
 which she encountered on the long and weary walk to 
 
282 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 London, she would rather have experienced them fifty 
 times over, than be guilty of a breach of the ninth com- 
 mandment, either in her o"vvn heart or under the awful 
 oath prescribed by the presiding judge at Effie's trial in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
SCOTT'S HUMANITY AND SYMPATHY. 
 
 Traces of the large -heartedness, humanity, and sym- 
 pathy which bulked so largely in Sir Walter's personal 
 character are to be found in all his novels — plentiful as 
 the blaeberries among the heather on his Border hills. 
 He seems unable to paint even the worst and most 
 dissolute characters without putting something of good 
 into them. They draw out his sympathy even in their 
 greatest wretchedness, for he feels they are fellow-men, 
 and that the image of God can never be wholly blotted 
 out of the human soul. Dirk Hatteraick, the smuggler, 
 is redeemed from utter villainy by his one virtue of in- 
 tegrity to his employers. " I was always faithful," he 
 says, "to my ship-owners — always accounted for cargo 
 to the last stiver." Galium Beg, Fergus Maclvor's 
 handsome but utterly unscrupulous page, has yet a 
 tender place in his heart for his mother. On the march 
 of the Highland army into England, Galium took the 
 cloak which had covered the dying English soldier and 
 concealed it among the furze on the moor, carefully 
 marking the spot for the purpose of recognising the 
 place on the expected return northward, when he pro- 
 posed to take home the cloak as a present to his mother. 
 
284 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 Ratcliffe, the turnkey in The Heart of Midlothian, is not 
 without some good quality to balance much that is evil 
 in his character and habits. Hardened as he is, he feels 
 unable to witness the meeting of Jeanie Deans and her 
 sister in the prison cell. It seems too much for him : 
 with a gentleness that has something of reverence in it, 
 Ratcliffe partly closes the window shutter, and, by ex- 
 cluding the bright sunshine, contrives to throw a veil over 
 a scene so sad and sorrowful. And in this same novel, 
 Staunton says to Jeanie, during the interview at Muschat's 
 Cairn, "I am a villain steeped in guilt and wretched- 
 ness, but not wicked enough to do you any harm." 
 
 Sir Walter's kindness of heart — his love of the brother- 
 hood — finds expression in many different ways. Great 
 as the risk is, he makes Henry Morton not only find a 
 shelter for Burley in one of the out-houses of Milnwood, 
 but, at a greater risk still, he provides the fugitive with 
 a supper. No opportunity seems to be lost of slipping 
 a gratuity into somebody's hand, either in recognition of 
 some service rendered, or to atone for the mortification 
 produced by the non-acceptance of proffered attention. 
 Edie Ochiltree characterises Isabella Wardour as one who 
 " has aye been kind to ilka forlorn heart that came near 
 her." And Lady Peveril tells her indulged and author- 
 itative housekeeper to deal civilly and kindly with De- 
 borah, the nurse, who had suddenly left the Castle, " for," 
 added the lady, "though a light-hearted young woman, 
 she was kind to the children." 
 
 There is a touching scene of genuine sympathy in 
 The Antiquary, where Monkbarns goes to visit Saunders 
 
Humanity and Sympathy. 285 
 
 Mucklebackit after Steenie's funeral. " I am glad, 
 Saunders, that you feel able to make this exertion," says 
 the Antiquary, as he finds the old fisherman trying to 
 mend his boat. 
 
 " And what would you have me to do V answered the 
 old man gruffly, " unless I wanted to see four children 
 starve, because ane is drowned % It's weel wi' you gentles 
 who can sit in the house wi' handkerchers at your een 
 when ye lose a friend, but the like o' us maun to our 
 work again, if our hearts were beating as hard as my 
 hammer." 
 
 Blunt as this reply was, Monkbarns took the old 
 fisherman kindly by the arm. " Come, come," he said, 
 " Saunders, there is no work for you this day — I'll send 
 down Shavings, the carpenter, to mend the boat, and he 
 may put the day's work into my account, and you had 
 better not come out to-morrow, but stay to comfort your 
 family under this dispensation, and the gardener will 
 bring you some vegetables and meal from Monkbarns." 
 
 "I thank ye, Monkbarns," answered the poor fisher. 
 "I am a plain spoken man, and hae little to say for my- 
 sell. . . . When ye laid Steenie's head in the grave, — 
 and many thanks for the respect, — ye saw the mouls 
 laid on an honest lad who liked you weel, though he 
 made little phrase about it." 
 
 Melted at the recollection of his son, the old man's 
 grief found refuge in tears. Large drops also fell from 
 the sympathising Antiquary's face, as, with much tender- 
 ness and compassion, he gently led the sorrowing 
 Saunders away to his bereaved and sorely-stricken home. 
 
2 86 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 "Nothing," observes Sir Walter in Kenilworth, "no- 
 thing can so soon attract the unfortunate as real or seem- 
 ing sympathy with their sorrows." And, in the same 
 novel, he draws an affecting scene of another old man in 
 great sorrow for the loss of a beloved daughter. Tres- 
 silian returns to Lidcote Hall after an unsuccessful 
 expedition to recover and bring back with him Amy 
 Kobsart, who had been wiled away from home. Her 
 father, old Sir Hugh, awakens from a state of stupor by 
 the entrance of him whom he had fondly hoped to call 
 his son-in-law. Sighing heavily, a slight convulsion 
 passes over Sir Hugh's features ; he opens his arms with- 
 out speaking a word, and as Tressilian throws himself 
 into them, the broken-hearted father folds him to his 
 bosom. " There is something left to live for yet," were 
 the first and the only words he could utter, and then he 
 gives vent to his feelings in a paroxysm of weeping, the 
 tears chasing each other down his sun-burnt cheeks and 
 long white beard. 
 
 The scene was a touching one to all who witnessed it. 
 " I never thought to have thanked God to see my master 
 weep," said Will Badger, an old domestic, "but now I 
 do, though I am like to weep for company." 
 
 Sir Walter's sympathy also takes the form of offering 
 help in the way of lending money or giving credit — 
 either of which is about as good a test of sincerity as can 
 well be imagined. Deacon Bearchff, in Guy Mannering, 
 speaking to the hostess of the Gordon Arms on the sub- 
 ject of the misfortunes that have overtaken poor old Mr. 
 Bertram and his family, — " I am sure," says the deacon, 
 
Humanity and Sympathy. 287 
 
 " ony sma' thing they might want frae my shop, under 
 seven, or eight, or ten pounds, I would book them as 
 readily for it as the first in the county." In the most 
 delicate way possible, the Antiquary offers the loan of 
 money to his young friend Lovel, whom he supposes in 
 low spirits from, perhaps, the want of pecuniary help. 
 "If — if" — making an effort — "if there be any pecuniary 
 inconvenience — I have fifty — or a hundred guineas at 
 your service — till — till Whitsunday — or indeed as long 
 as you please." Dandie Dinmont is not able to let Cap- 
 tain Brown (Harry Bertram) leave Charlieshope without 
 offering the loan of " a hundred or two" to help his pro- 
 motion in the army. " The bit scrape 0' your pen," adds 
 the genial farmer, " would be as good to me as the siller, 
 and ye might jist take yer ain time o' settling it." Bailie 
 Nicol Jarvie makes a similar offer to his kinsman, Rob 
 Eoy j and when poor Lord Nigel arrives in London, he 
 meets with a warm friend in the person of George Heriot. 
 "I am a goldsmith," says Heriot, " and live by lending 
 money, as well as by selling plate. I am ambitious to 
 put an hundred pounds to be at interest in your hands 
 till your affairs are settled." Under the impulse of 
 genuine compassion at the sorrows of the family of David 
 Deans, the young laird of Dumbiedykes gropes for his 
 purse, and ejaculates, as he looks across to her whose 
 sorrows move him most, "Jeanie, woman! Jeanie, 
 woman ! Dinna greet — it's sad wark, but siller will 
 help it." 
 
THE FAMILY CIECLE. 
 
 Among the happy homes of the Waverley Novels we 
 have that of honest Dandie Dinmont, the Liddesdale 
 farmer. As he returns home to Charlieshope from Cum- 
 berland, what joy and gladness he brings to wife and 
 children. Eegardless of the presence of a stranger 
 whom Dandie had brought with him, his wife, never- 
 theless, in the tumult of her joy at her husband's 
 return, affectionately embraces him. "Deil's in the 
 wife," said Dandie, shaking off his wife's embrace, but 
 gently and with a look of great affection, " deil's in ye, 
 Ailie — d'ye no see the stranger gentleman?" 
 
 " Troth, I was sae weel pleased to see the gudeman, 
 
 that " she suddenly stopped as she observed streaks 
 
 of blood both on the stranger's head and on that of her 
 husband. " Ye've been fighting again, Dandie, wi' 
 some o' the Bewcastle horse-coupers ! Wow, man, a 
 married man, wi' a bonny family like yours, should ken 
 better what a father's life's worth in the warld." The 
 tears stood in the good woman's eyes as she spoke. 
 
 Dandie, however, satisfactorily accounted for the 
 presence of blood, and then came a scene with the 
 children. Their father hugged them all round, dis- 
 
The Family Circle. 289 
 
 tributed whistles, penny trumpets, and gingerbread; 
 and lastly, when the excitement got beyond bearing, the 
 farmer exclaimed to his guest, "This is a' the gude wife's 
 fault, Captain — she will gie the bairns a' their ain way." 
 
 "Me! Lord help me!" said Ailie; "how can I help 
 it? I have naething else to gie them, poor things !" 
 
 One of the most afTecting chapters in JFaverley is that 
 where Sir Walter describes a brave man in sorrow. 
 Colonel Talbot, while on duty in Scotland, receives 
 news of the death of his infant child — the long-ex- 
 pected heir — and the precarious state of his wife's 
 health. Reaching a miniature portrait of his wife to 
 Waverley, the Colonel observes in tones which betray 
 his mental agony, "She is a woman, my young friend, who 
 may justify even a soldier's tears ; and yet, God knows, 
 what you see of her there, is the least of the charms 
 which she possesses — possessed, I should perhaps say, — 
 but God's will be done!" 
 
 Tired of his bachelor life, Bailie Nicol Jarvie pro- 
 moted Mattie, his faithful housekeeper, from her wheel 
 by the kitchen fire to the upper end of his table, in 
 the character of Mrs. Jarvie. Some of his acquaint- 
 ances in the Town Council made much merriment over 
 the matter; "but," said the worthy magistrate, "let 
 them say their say, I'll ne'er fash mysell, nor lose my 
 liking for sae feckless a matter as a nine days' clash. 
 My honest father, the deacon, had a byword, 
 
 " Brent brow and lily skin, 
 A loving heart, and a leal within, 
 Is better than gowd or gentle kin." 
 U 
 
290 The Bible in Wave74ey. 
 
 When Dr. Gray, in The Surgeon's Daughter, lost his 
 wife, the sunshine of his existence was gone. Every 
 morning he missed the affectionate charges which en- 
 joined him not to forget his o^vn health, while labour- 
 ing so hard to restore and preserve that of his patients. 
 Every evening as he returned from his weary rounds in 
 the country, it was with the consciousness that for him 
 there was now no more the affectionate welcome from 
 her who had always been so eager to relate, and so 
 much interested in hearing, all the events of the day. 
 
 But as in daily life, so also in the Waverley Novels, 
 there are homes where husband and wife do not seem 
 suited to each other. The only unpleasant part of 
 Guy Mannering is that where the alienation between 
 the Colonel and his mfe is related. Mrs. Mannering 
 delighted in petty mysteries and intrigues, and yet 
 trembled to see the indignation which such conduct 
 excited in the mind of her husband. 
 
 Sir William Ashton and his lady, in The Bride of 
 Lammermoor, don't get on well together. Much as Sir 
 William falls in the estimation of the reader, as his 
 schemes of political cunning and duplicity gradually 
 unfold themselves, he falls lower still when, terrified 
 and disconcerted by the sudden return of Lady Ashton 
 from England, he sees no hope for his projects and 
 schemes but the possibility of her ladyship's coach 
 being upset, and her neck broken ! She arrives at 
 the Castle all safely, however, and the scene which 
 follows between wife and husband is not an edifying 
 one. Lady Ashton scatters to the wind — tears into 
 
The Family Circle. 291 
 
 shreds, as it were — the apostolic injunction, "Wives 
 submit yourselves to your husbands," and prepares the 
 way, as fast as possible, for the catastrophe which 
 awaits her unhappy daughter, the Bride of Lammer- 
 moor. 
 
 Of all the family life, however, which Sir Walter 
 describes so well, there is none which is done with so 
 much loving and tender grace as that of a widower left 
 with an only daughter. The memory of the departed 
 mother is as sacred incense which sanctifies and sweetens 
 the bereaved home. Beginning with the Baron Brad- 
 wardine and his daughter Eose, we get a succession of 
 delightful portraits in almost every novel until we reach 
 the last, and, in some [respects, the most charming of 
 them all — Simon Glover and his daughter Catherine, 
 the Fair Maid of Perth. The love which unites father 
 and daughter so closely and so endearingly, is the 
 sweetest and the holiest thing which comes from Sir 
 Walter's pen. It reaches to the heart, and awakens 
 feelings which sometimes only find relief in tears. 
 
 The pictures of father and son are also an interesting 
 study. They form some interesting illustrations of the 
 obedience enjoined in the fifth commandment, and the 
 promise annexed to the pious and faithful discharge of 
 its sacred duties. Old Mr. Fairford is very anxious that 
 his son should consent to undertake the cause of poor 
 Peter Peebles. When Alan signifies his willingness to 
 do so, the old man replies in great delight, " Well, well, 
 my boy; the Lord will make your days long in the 
 land for the honour you have done to my grey hairs. 
 
292 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 You may find wiser advisers, Alan, but none that can 
 wish you better." 
 
 Here and there, we find instances where the father 
 acts with perhaps too much harshness, or, at all events, 
 with too little sympathy. So much so that we feel, in 
 such instances, it would have been well had they recol- 
 lected and put in practice the apostolic injunction to 
 fathers, not to provoke their children to wrath, lest they 
 be discouraged. The novel of Bob Boy opens in this way. 
 The harsh and unsympathetic conduct of old Mr. Osbal- 
 distone, the rich and prosperous city merchant, creates 
 a temporary estrangement between himself and his son 
 Frank, who entertains a strong disinclination to business. 
 Hear how Mr. Owen, the confidential clerk, pleads with 
 Frank to remain with his father and become a partner 
 in the great concern of Osbaldistone, Tresham, & Co. 
 " For the love of heaven," says Owen, " look at both 
 sides of the account. Think of what you are going to 
 lose — a noble fortune, sir — one of the finest houses in 
 the city. . . . Do, my dear Mr. Francis, think of the 
 honour due to your father, that your days may be long 
 in the land." 
 
 Filling up the spaces on the walls of the Waverley 
 gallery, containing the pictures of father and daughter 
 and father and son, there are numerous delightful 
 sketches of filial devotion and duty on the part of young 
 people to their parents. For all the wealth of India, 
 Menie Gray, the surgeon's daughter, would not leave her 
 father's house to get married without her father's full 
 and free consent. Devoted to her father. Die Vernon 
 
The Family Circle. 293 
 
 accompanies him through all his perilous adventures in 
 Scotland. Minna Troil says that every silver hair on 
 her father's head is to her as precious as " the treasure 
 of the unsunned mine." In all the grandeur of her 
 magnificent apartments at Cumnor Hall, but in all the 
 unhappiness of her secret marriage, the Countess Amy's 
 heart is yearning and breaking to see her father to assure 
 him that all is well, and that she is really a lawfully 
 married woman, and the wedded wife of the noble Lei- 
 cester. Bailie Nicol Jarvie is constantly quoting the 
 memory of his father, and Henry Morton idolises the 
 memory of his. So solicitous is Arthur Philipson about 
 his father's safety, that, after the rescue of the former 
 from the perilous precipice by Anne of Geierstein, the 
 first request he makes is permission to go in search of 
 his father. " The life which I owe to your assistance," 
 says Arthur to the young lady, " can scarce be called 
 welcome to me, unless I am permitted to hasten to my 
 father's rescue." Cuddie Headrigg does much for his 
 mother, old Mause : he joins the Covenanting party at 
 her desire, and, greatly amused as we generally are at 
 everything Cuddie says or does, we yet feel that he 
 perceptibly falls in our estimation when he loses patience 
 on one occasion, and speaks of his mother as an " auld 
 jade." That expression, however, was only human 
 nature seeking a vent in exceptional and trying circum- 
 stances ; but, when the heat is off, and matters return to 
 their normal condition, Cuddie rises once more to his 
 former level. 
 
THE PEINCIPLES OF GOOD AND EVIL. 
 
 In the Waverley Novels we are constantly meeting with 
 the two opposing principles of good and evil, or con- 
 science and the evil one. As in Scripture, so in these 
 works we find Satan moving to and fro, mixing him- 
 self up in the affairs of men, and ever seeking whom he 
 may tempt or destroy. By a great many different names 
 is he mentioned by Sir Walter — the Prince of Darkness, 
 the old Enemy, the Arch-fiend, the Destroyer of man- 
 kind, the Author of Evil, and many others, suggestive of 
 his nature and character. His existence is indisputable, 
 and, as Bucldaw says, in The Bride of Lamwurmoor, "he 
 is always at one's elbow." The preacher, in TFoodstock, 
 reminds Everard that the "inward tempter is ever on 
 the watch to. bring us to his lure." And in St. Bonan's 
 JVell, Hannah Irwin, while confessing the guilt of her 
 past life, says to the clergyman, " The fiend, always 
 watchful, presented a tempter at the moment when it 
 was most dangerous." 
 
 But, persevering and constant as are Satan's tempta- 
 tions, we have the sacred assurance, as stated by St. James, 
 that if we resist the devil he will flee from us. Jeanie 
 Deans reminds Madge Wildfire, when the latter relates 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
Principles of Good and Evil. 295 
 
 that while she thinks of her errors, and has the confession 
 of them on her tongue, that " then comes the Devil and 
 brushes my lips with his black wing, and lays his broad 
 black loof on my mouth — for a black loof it is, Jeanie — 
 and sweeps away a' my good thoughts, and dits up my 
 gude words, and pits a wheen fule sangs and idle vanities 
 in their place." Jeanie replies by recommending poor 
 Madge to " settle your mind and make your breast clean, 
 and you will find your heart easier. Just resist the 
 devil, and he will flee from you, and mind that, as my 
 worthy father tells me, there is nae devil sae deceitfu' 
 as our ain wandering thoughts." 
 
 In 8t. RonarCs Well, there is a striking scene where 
 Mowbray is assailed by the tempter, and where, after a 
 fierce resistance, he flees from his victim. Maddened by 
 his desperate fortunes and heated with wine, Mowbray 
 threatens to take the life of his sister Clara. Grasping 
 her by the shoulder, he flung her with great violence 
 from him. As she rose from the floor, imploring his 
 pity and mercy, he turned suddenly round, ran to the 
 open window, and threw himself as far as he could, 
 ■without falling out. With streaming eyes and up-lifted 
 hands, the unhappy Clara approached her brother, and 
 anxiously asked what it was that he appeared to be 
 looking after so eagerly. " After the devil ! " he 
 answered fiercely; then, dramng in his head, and taking 
 her hand, " By my soul, Clara — it is true, if ever there 
 was truth in such a tale 1 He stood by me just now, 
 and urged me to murder thee ! What else could have 
 put my hunting-knife into my thought 1 Ay, by God, 
 
296 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 and into my very hand at such a moment. Yonder I 
 could almost fancy I see him fly, the wood, and the rock, 
 and the water, gleaming back the dark-red furnace light 
 that is shed on them by his dragon wings ! By 
 my soul ! I can hardly suppose it fancy ! I can hardly 
 think but that I was under the influence of an evil 
 spirit, under an act of fiendish possession ! But, gone as 
 he is, gone let him be — and thou, too ready implement 
 of evil, be thou gone after him ! " He drew from his 
 pocket his right hand, which had all the time held his 
 hunting-knife, and threw the implement into the court- 
 yard as he spoke. With a subdued quietness and 
 solemnity of manner, Mowbray shut the window, and 
 led his sister by the hand to her seat, which, but for his 
 assistance, she would not have been able to reach. 
 
 As if checkmating all the designs of Satan, and foil- 
 ing him in his temptations and suggestions, we have 
 conscience also making its presence felt, and stirring up 
 to better things when the power of evil preferred to let 
 matters remain as they were. Conscience is frequently 
 on the lips of Bailie Nicol Jarvie, and seems to be his 
 favourite exclamation of surprise. But it goes further 
 than the lips in other cases, and asserts its tremendous 
 power, even though it may only speak with — 
 
 "the still 
 Small voice, which is the voice of God. " 
 
 The Laird of Dumbiedykes has lived the life of a 
 selfish, profligate, and extortionate landlord, keeping 
 down conscience and forbidding it to speak. But on 
 the Laird's deathbed, conscience asserts itself and de- 
 
Principles of Good and Evil. 297 
 
 mands to be heard and listened to. This demand was 
 made in the midst of a transport of language, so violent 
 and profane, that both clergyman and doctor had to 
 leave the apartment. Sinking his voice to a lower tone, 
 he says to the attorney, who alone had the courage to 
 remain beside the Laird, " There's ae thing — 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." Probably for the first time in 
 his life, the attorney tried his hand at spiritual advice, 
 and recommended, as an opiate to the agonised con- 
 science of the Laird, reparation of the injuries he had 
 done to the Deanses. But this called Mammon up to 
 struggle with remorse, and the utmost conscience could 
 do in the struggle, was to get the expiring sinner to 
 charge his son to let the tenants remain "at a moderate 
 mailing, and hae bite and sup : it will maybe be the better 
 wi' your father whare he's gaun, lad." 
 
 Glossin, the wily and unscrupulous agent on the 
 EUangowan estate, sold himself to work iniquity. But 
 conscience speaks at last, and tells him distinctly that, 
 now he has got matters very much as he wanted, 
 his day of reckoning is at hand. This dread voice 
 lets him feel that his situation is perilous in the ex- 
 treme, for the schemes of a life of villainy are crumb- 
 ling around and above him. One night, as he sleeps, 
 conscience awakes and presents to the vision of Glossin 
 a strange and awful phantasmagoria — his patron, with 
 the paleness of death on his features ; the murdered 
 
298 The Bible in Waver ley, 
 
 Frank Kennedy, all smashed and gory as he lay on the 
 beach at Warroch Point ; the dungeon with Dirk Hat- 
 teraick confessing the crime to a clergyman, and stating 
 that only one man knew all about it, in addition to him- 
 self, and that man was Glo " "No, I deny it — it 
 
 was not I," cried Glossin, as, struggling in his agony to 
 express his denial, he awoke. Then conscience and he 
 stand face to face, and we feel how tremendous is its 
 power, and how God-given is its authority. 
 
 But, in gentler moods and scenes than these, we meet 
 with conscience doing its duty. It forbids the Antiquary 
 to reprove the coachman for being late in starting from 
 Edinburgh, because he himself was behind time in 
 arriving at the coach-stand in the High Street. It re- 
 minds Mrs. Dods that her guests must not be supplied 
 with more liquor, as they have already had enough, and 
 more than enough. It tells the Duke of Rothesay that 
 he has failed in his duty to his affectionate father, and 
 it says to Lord Nigel that Ritchie Moniplies is perfectly 
 right in warning him that he, Lord Nigel, is not living 
 the life in London that he ought to be living. Chrystal 
 Croftangry leaves his lodging in the Canongate of 
 Edinburgh so suddenly that he does not stop to receive 
 the change due to him on settling with his landlady. 
 Wrapping this change in a piece of paper, conscience 
 tells the good woman to put the money aside as it does 
 not belong to her. Twenty years elapse, and Chrystal 
 revisits his former lodging in the Canongate, and makes 
 himself known to old Janet, his Highland landlady. 
 After a warm welcome, Janet goes in search of a little 
 
Principles of Good and Evil. 299 
 
 parcel, which, being opened, is found to contain fifteen 
 shillings, the change she had so conscientiously treasured 
 all these twenty years ! "Here they are," said Janet in 
 honest triumph, " just the same I was holding out to ye 
 when ye ran as if ye had been fey. Shanet has had 
 siller, and Shanet has wanted siller, many a time since 
 that — and the ganger has come, and the factor has come, 
 and the butcher, and baker — Cot bless us — just like to 
 tear poor auld Shanet to pieces ; but she took good care 
 of Mr. Croftangry's fifteen shillings." Truly, this is a 
 striking instance of the power of conscience. 
 
DEATH AND THE FUTUEE LIFE. 
 
 The subject of death, with its solemn associations of 
 judgment and the future life, seems to be much in the 
 mind, and often in the thoughts, of the men and women 
 whom we meet in the pages of the Waverley Novels. 
 As Henry Morton proceeds up the ravine which leads to 
 the lonely cottage of Bessie Maclure, the widow, the 
 brawling brook at his feet turns his thoughts upon the 
 course of human life and its ultimate absorption in the 
 great ocean of eternity. Thoughts of a similar import 
 seem to be in the thoughts of Sir George Staunton as he 
 and the Eev. Mr. Butler are being rowed up the Gareloch 
 to the manse of the latter. Sir George looks upon death 
 as merely the consummation of human existence ; but the 
 clergyman looks "across the flood," and, true to the 
 commission he bears as a minister of the Gospel, he de- 
 clares that "death is to us change, not consummation, 
 and the commencement of a new existence, corresponding 
 in character to the deeds which we have done in the 
 body." 
 
 The Black Priest, in Anne of Geierstein, reminds us 
 not only of the certainty of death, but of the possibility 
 of its approach at any moment, and from the most unex- 
 
Death and the Future Life. 301 
 
 pected quarter. "Death," he says, "waits upon life as 
 surely as night upon day, or the shadow upon the sun- 
 beam, though we know not from whence it is to come 
 upon us." And in the following lines, prefixed to the 
 twenty -fifth chapter of The Fortunes of Nigel, we have an 
 intimation of how suddenly death may come and remove 
 us for ever from all our cherished earthly associations 
 and possessions — 
 
 *' Death finds us 'mid our playthings — snatches us, 
 As a cross nurse might do a wayward child, 
 From all our toys and baubles. His rough call 
 Unlooses all our favourite ties on earth ; 
 And well if they are such as may be answered 
 In yonder world, where all is judged of truly." 
 
 Well, indeed; "the readiness is all," as Hamlet says. 
 
 How solicitous for the immortal welfare of the soul, is 
 Catherine Glover when the atheistic apothecary, Dwining, 
 speaks of the probably near approach of his death, and 
 his soon being in " the place where all mysteries shall be 
 cleared." 
 
 "Old man," said Catherine, "if thou be indeed so 
 near the day of thy deserved doom, other thoughts were 
 far wholesomer than the vain-glorious ravings of a vain 
 philosophy. Ask to see a holy man." 
 
 Equally solicitous is Harry Bertram, in Guy Mannering, 
 as he looks upon the dying Meg Merrilies. " Is there no 
 clergyman near," he anxiously asks, "to assist this un- 
 happy woman's devotions'?" When the clergyman is 
 brought, he seeks to administer consolation and comfort, 
 but the patient seems to mind him not. When all is 
 
302 TJie Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 over, Bertram takes the clergyman's hands and asks if he 
 has any hope in her death. 
 
 " My dear sir," says the good man, " I trust this poor 
 woman had remaining sense to feel and join in the import 
 of my prayers. To Him who can alone weigh our crimes 
 and errors against our efforts towards virtue, we consign 
 her with awe, but not without hope." 
 
 Perhaps the saddest death described by Sir Walter is 
 that of the Bohemian juggler and fortune-teller in Quentin 
 Durward. Deeply interested in his welfare, and anxious 
 to get the poor man into a proper frame of mind in the 
 prospect of immediate execution, Durward speaks to him 
 of his immortal soul. 
 
 "Name not that word again," said Hayraddin, his 
 countenance assuming a dreadful expression ; " there is — 
 there can be — there shall be — no such thing ! It is a 
 dream of priestcraft !" 
 
 " Unhappy — most unhappy being ! Think better ! — 
 let me speed for a priest. . . . What canst thou expect, 
 dying in such opinions, and impenitent?" 
 
 In vain, however, does Quentin Durward reason and 
 plead with the unhappy man, who died in the hope and 
 expectation that his humanity would dissolve into the 
 general mass of nature, and be no more. 
 
 But we turn from such deaths as those of the atheistic 
 apothecary and the materialistic Bohemian to others full 
 of hope, and anticipation of a better world when all is over 
 here. Feeling his end approaching, David Deans ex- 
 pressed his gratitude to God for all the blessings and 
 mercies he had received and enjoyed. He prayed 
 
Death and the Future Life. 303 
 
 earnestly for his affectionate daughter and family, and in 
 a pathetic petition, too well understood by those who 
 knew the circumstances, "he besought the Shepherd of 
 souls, while gathering His flock, not to forget the little 
 one that had strayed from the fold, and even then might 
 be in the hands of the ravening wolf." In the full spirit 
 of charity with all men, the aged saint, about an horn- 
 after pouring out these last earthly prayers, peacefully 
 *' slept in the Lord." 
 
 In the following incidents we get, expressed in the 
 simplest possible way. Sir Walter's trust and belief in the 
 reality of a future state. Queen Margaret, in Anne of 
 Geierstein, speaks of her departed husband as having 
 exchanged the state of " a suffering saint upon earth for 
 that of a glorified saint in heaven." The clergyman 
 comforts the Highland widow's son under sentence of 
 military execution, and reminds him that he will soon 
 exchange his "short and miserable existence here, for 
 a life in which you will experience neither sorrow nor 
 pain." 
 
 Widow MacCandlish, in Guy 3fannering, speaks of her 
 husband having been called to a better place : so does 
 Dame Glendinning of her husband; and Bailie Nicol 
 Jarvie thinks of his deceased father, not as dead or lost 
 to him, but in a state of happiness elsewhere. 
 
 What strength and consolation does Ephraim Macbriar, 
 the preacher in Old Mortality, find in his hope of another 
 and a better world, during the awful tortures to which 
 he was subjected before the Scottish Privy Council at 
 Edinburgh ! In answer to the Lord President, who asks 
 
304 The Bible in Waver ley. 
 
 if the martyr has anything to say, Macbriar replies, " I 
 forgive you, my Lords, for what you have appointed and 
 I have sustained. And why should I not % You send 
 me to a happy exchange — to the company of angels, and 
 the spirits of the just, for that of frail dust and ashes ; 
 jQ send me from darkness into day ; from mortality to 
 immortality ; and, in a word, from earth to heaven ! If 
 the thanks, therefore, and pardon of a dying man can do 
 you good, take them at my hand, and may your last 
 moments be as happy as mine." 
 
 With a countenance all radiant from joy and gladness, 
 the martyr was taken to the place of execution where, 
 within an hour after receiving sentence of death, he died in 
 the " sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal 
 life through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Our present study is finished. During its entire 
 course we have followed Sir Walter, not as a novelist, 
 but for the purpose of seeing in what way he uses the 
 sacred Scriptures in the composition of his world-famous 
 tales and romances. The wealth of Scripture illustration 
 and teaching, which he employs so happily, and in such 
 rich abundance, is, no doubt, the outcome and the result 
 of the strictly religious education which Sir Walter, as a 
 child, received from his affectionate parents. This lay 
 at the bottom of all his education, and coloured, more or 
 less, all that he ever wrote. The old ballads, songs, and 
 legends which he afterwards read and collected so eagerly, 
 reappeared in the Border Minstrelsy and the Lay of the Last 
 Minstrel: the recollection of a tour in the Highlands 
 
 ( 
 
Death and the Future Life. 305 
 
 blossomed and bore fruit in The Lady of the Lake and 
 Waverleij : the repetition of some marvellous tale or 
 affecting incident suggested the remaining volumes of the 
 series. But, underlying all these ballads, songs, legends, 
 recollections, tales, and incidents, were the earlier lessons, 
 scenes, and incidents of Bible history, which, in some form 
 or other, crop out in every novel of the Waverley series. 
 In some form or other, too, Scott's moral and religious 
 character impresses itself upon all his writings ; and if 
 we have learned anything at all in this new study of the 
 Waverley Novels, we have surely learned to feel how 
 true are Mr. Lockhart's words when he says that Sir 
 Walter's "works teach the practical lessons of morality 
 and Christianity in the most captivating form — unobtru- 
 sively and unaffectedly," 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED OR REFERRED TO. 
 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 Chap, 
 xii. 
 
 Ver. 
 13 
 
 Page. 
 31, 279 
 
 Chap, 
 xii. 
 
 Ver. 
 35 
 
 Page. 
 43 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 xiii. 
 
 21 
 
 46, 48, 
 
 i. 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 xiii. 
 
 8 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 i. 
 
 . 27 
 
 8 
 
 xiv. 
 
 23 
 
 32 
 
 xiv. 
 
 25 
 
 44 
 
 i. 
 
 . 28 
 
 10 
 
 xvi. 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 XV. 
 
 1 
 
 46 
 
 ii. 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 xviii. 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 XV. 
 
 20 
 
 46 
 
 ii. 
 
 '. 7 
 
 11 
 
 xix. 
 
 26 
 
 33 
 
 XV. 
 
 23 
 
 47 
 
 ii. 
 
 . 7 
 
 12 
 
 xxi. 
 
 16 
 
 152 
 
 xvi. 
 
 3 
 
 47 
 
 ii. 
 
 . 8 
 
 13, 255 
 
 xxii. 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 xvi. 
 
 13 
 
 48 
 
 ii. 
 
 . 15 
 
 14 
 
 xxii. 
 
 13 
 
 33 
 
 xvi. 
 
 15 
 
 48, 152 
 
 ii. 
 
 . 20 
 
 14 
 
 XXV. 
 
 13 
 
 34 
 
 xvii. 
 
 6 
 
 50 
 
 ii. 
 
 . 21 
 
 14 
 
 xxvii. 
 
 19 
 
 279 
 
 xvii. 
 
 12 
 
 48 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 1 
 
 15 
 
 xxix. 
 
 20 
 
 35 
 
 xix. 
 
 18 
 
 49 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 6 
 
 16 
 
 xxix. 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 XX. 
 
 8 
 
 184, 270 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 7 
 
 17 
 
 xxx. 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 XX. 
 
 12 267, 291 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 16 
 
 17 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 XX. 
 
 13 272 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 17 
 
 17 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 5 
 
 37 
 
 XX. 
 
 14 
 
 275 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 20 
 
 19 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 28 
 
 36 
 
 XX. 
 
 15 
 
 278 
 
 iii. 
 
 . 24 
 
 18 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 7 
 
 37 
 
 XX. 
 
 16 
 
 279, 281 
 
 iv. 
 
 . 8 
 
 19, 274 
 
 xlix. 
 
 4 
 
 37 
 
 xxi. 
 
 14 
 
 61 
 
 V. 
 
 . 27 
 
 21 
 
 xlix. 
 
 14 
 
 38 
 
 xxii. 
 
 18 
 
 55,56 
 
 vi. 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 19 
 
 62 
 
 vii. 
 
 . 8 
 
 23 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 6 
 
 261, 262 
 
 'vii. 
 
 . 11 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 26 
 
 62 
 
 viii. 
 
 . 4 
 
 26 
 
 i. 
 
 14 
 
 177 
 
 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 . 11 
 
 24 
 
 ii. 
 
 12 
 
 40 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 ix. 
 
 . 13 
 
 24 
 
 iii. 
 
 2 
 
 41 
 
 
 
 
 iix. 
 
 . 20 
 
 25 
 
 iii. 
 
 22 
 
 43 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 20 
 
 61 
 
 ix. 
 
 . 22 
 
 25 
 
 iv. 
 
 2 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 
 , X. 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 iv. 
 
 26 
 
 61 
 
 
 
 
 1 • 
 xi. 
 
 . 9 
 
 27 
 
 vii. 
 
 11 
 
 41 . 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 xii. 
 
 . 4 
 
 29 
 
 x. 
 
 23 
 
 42 
 
 XX. 
 
 11 
 
 50 
 
3o8 
 
 Index. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page. 
 
 
 RUTH 
 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. Page. 
 
 xxii. 
 
 23 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 
 X. 
 
 1 93, 94 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 10 
 
 53 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page. 
 
 xi. 
 
 1 94 
 
 XXX. 
 
 3 
 
 59 
 
 i. 
 
 9 
 
 74 
 
 xii. 
 
 8 95 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 11 
 
 64 
 
 i. 
 
 16 
 
 73 
 
 xiii. 
 
 33 100 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 12 
 
 64 
 
 
 
 
 xvi. 
 x^a. 
 
 25 100 
 30 100 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 SAMUEL. 
 
 x\ii. 
 
 6 96 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. ] 
 
 iv. 
 
 21 
 
 75 
 
 xvii. 
 
 9 97 
 
 
 
 
 V. 
 
 3 
 
 249 
 
 xvii. 
 
 22 97 
 
 xiv. 
 
 21 
 
 62 
 
 X. 
 
 11 
 
 76 
 
 xxi. 
 
 3 98 
 
 xix. 
 
 xix. 
 
 xix. 
 
 xxvii. 
 
 6 
 14 
 21 
 17 
 
 64 
 62 
 61 
 62 
 
 XV. 
 
 x,vi. 
 xvi. 
 xvii. 
 
 32 
 14 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 77 
 78 
 79 
 80 
 
 2 KINGS, 
 ii. 11 96 
 
 xxxii. 
 
 35 
 
 4,222, 
 255 
 
 xvii. 
 
 7 
 
 81 
 
 iv. 
 
 13 183 
 
 
 
 x\di. 
 
 38 
 
 81 
 
 iv. 
 
 35 98 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 1 
 
 53 
 
 xvii. 
 
 39 
 
 81 
 
 V. 
 
 12 103 
 
 
 
 
 xvii. 
 
 50 
 
 82 
 
 V. 
 
 , 18 102 
 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 xviii. 
 
 1 
 
 87 
 
 V. 
 
 25 279 
 
 
 
 
 xviii. 
 
 9 
 
 84 
 
 V. 
 
 27 103 
 
 vi. 
 
 20 
 
 64 
 
 xxii. 
 
 1 
 
 84 
 
 ix. 
 
 31 99 
 
 vi. 
 
 21 
 
 167 
 
 xxii. 
 
 2 
 
 85 
 
 ix. 
 
 36 100 
 
 vii. 
 
 1 
 
 64, 210 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 20 
 
 84 
 
 X. 
 
 19 100 
 
 ix. 
 
 21 
 
 64 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 23 
 
 86 
 
 XV. 
 
 15 100 
 
 XX. 
 
 2 
 
 64 
 
 XXX. 
 
 22 
 
 100 
 
 XV. 
 
 25 100 
 
 XX. 
 
 3 
 
 64 
 
 
 
 
 xviii. 
 
 XX. 
 
 19 100 
 9 101 
 
 
 
 
 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 
 
 
 JUDGES. 
 
 i. 
 
 25 
 
 87 
 87 
 
 1 CHRONICLES. 
 
 iv. 
 
 2 
 
 66 
 
 i. 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 iv. 
 
 21 
 
 65 
 
 iii. 
 
 39 
 
 100 
 
 XX. 
 
 3 90 
 
 V. 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 xii. 
 
 3 
 
 88 
 
 XX. 
 
 6 83 
 
 vi. 
 
 37 
 
 66 
 
 xii. 
 
 7 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 xiv. 
 
 18 
 12 
 
 67 
 67 
 
 xii. 
 xiv. 
 
 20 
 3 
 
 89 
 91 
 
 
 ESTHER. 
 
 XV. 
 
 14 
 
 67 
 
 xviii. 
 
 33 
 
 91, 255 
 
 i. 
 
 4 105 
 
 xvi. 
 
 7 
 
 2, 68 
 
 xxi. 
 
 20 
 
 83 
 
 i. 
 
 16 104 
 
 xvi. 
 
 17 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 
 i. 
 
 19 104 
 
 xvi. 
 
 19 
 
 69 
 
 
 1 KINGS. 
 
 ii. 
 
 7 104 
 
 xvi. 
 
 21 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 
 10 104 
 
 xvi. 
 
 25 
 
 70 
 
 ii. 
 
 37 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 30 
 
 70 
 
 iii. 
 
 13 
 
 93 
 
 
 JOB. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 16 
 
 70 
 
 iii. 
 
 16 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 xxi. 
 
 25 
 
 72 
 
 iv. 
 
 29 
 
 93 
 
 i. 
 
 6 106 
 
 
 
 
 ix. 
 
 28 
 
 93 
 
 i. 
 
 21 109 
 
Index. 
 
 309 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page 
 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 ii. 
 
 4 
 
 107 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii. 
 
 7 
 
 107 
 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. Page. 
 
 Chap. Ver. Page. 
 
 ii. 
 
 9 
 
 109 
 
 
 iii. 
 
 17 6,133 
 
 i. 1 183 
 
 iv. 
 
 15 
 
 112 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 14 133 
 
 
 vi. 
 
 15 
 
 110 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 10 134 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 2 
 
 no 
 
 
 xiii. 
 
 12 137,255 
 
 
 xix. 
 
 9 
 
 113 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 1 139 
 
 ii. 10 155 
 
 xix. 
 
 10 
 
 113 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 23 140 
 
 xviii. 2 156 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 23 
 
 262 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 18 141 
 
 
 xxxviii. 
 
 11 
 
 115 
 
 
 xix. 
 
 27 141 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 25 
 
 114 
 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 13 145 
 
 
 xl. 
 
 15 
 
 114 
 
 
 XXX. 
 
 15 146 
 
 i. 15 156 
 
 xli. 
 
 1 
 
 114 
 
 
 
 
 iii. 5 157 
 
 xli. 
 
 24 
 
 214 
 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 iii. 21 158 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V. 5 158 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 
 i. 
 
 2 143 
 
 V. 25 158 
 
 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 
 6 142 
 
 vi. 16 159 
 
 ii. 
 
 9 
 
 116 
 
 
 X. 
 
 20 144 
 
 
 viii. 
 viii. 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 117 
 118 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 6 146 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 XV. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 1 
 6 
 
 119 
 116 
 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 vi. 1 160 
 X. 7 159 
 
 xviii. 
 
 29 
 
 119 
 
 
 i. 
 
 1 147 
 
 xiii. 3 159 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 4 
 
 119 
 
 
 i. 
 
 13 148 
 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 16 
 
 121 
 
 
 ii. 
 
 4 148 
 
 JOEL. 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 25 
 
 121 
 
 
 iii. 
 
 19 149 
 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 35 
 
 122 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 3 150 
 
 ii. 13 160 
 
 xlii. 
 
 11 
 
 122,255 
 
 xxi. 
 
 11 150 
 
 
 xliii. 
 
 5 122,255 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 8 151 
 
 JONAH. 
 
 xlv. 
 
 3 
 
 123 
 
 
 xl. 
 
 12 148,265 
 
 
 1. 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 
 xlii. 
 
 3 167 
 
 i. 15 161 
 
 Ii. 
 
 17 
 
 46 
 
 
 xlix. 
 
 25 151 
 
 iv. 10 161 
 
 Ixviii. 
 
 1 
 
 125 
 
 
 Iii. 
 
 7 148 
 
 
 Ixviii. 
 
 13 
 
 239 
 
 
 Ixiii. 
 
 1 152 
 
 ST. MATTHEW. 
 
 Ixxiii. 
 
 4 
 
 123 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ixxvi. 
 civ. 
 
 1 
 15 
 
 124 
 126 
 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 ii. 1 163 
 ii. 2 163 
 
 civ. 
 
 18 
 
 127 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 15 153 
 
 ii. 11 163 
 
 cxix. 
 
 
 183 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 22 271 
 
 ii. 18 152 
 
 cxix. 
 
 105 
 
 116 
 
 
 ix. 
 
 1 153 
 
 v. 13 164 
 
 cxxiv. 
 
 7 
 
 129 
 
 
 xviii. 
 
 2 154 
 
 V. 34 165 
 
 cxxvi. 
 
 1 
 
 128 
 
 
 XX. 
 
 3 154 
 
 V. 38 61 
 
 cxxxiii. 
 
 1 
 
 129 
 
 
 XXV. 
 
 9 154 
 
 V. 44 167 
 
 cxxxvii. 
 
 1 
 
 46, 
 
 30 
 
 xxxi. 
 
 15 152 
 
 vi. 9 257 
 
 cxlvi. 
 
 3 
 
 5, 
 
 31, 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 6 126 
 
 vi. 10 167,260 
 
 
 
 
 255 
 
 xxxviii. 
 
 6 153 
 
 vi. 21 170 
 
310 
 
 Index. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page. 
 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. Page. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. 
 
 Page. 
 
 vi. 
 
 24 
 
 171 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 17 217 
 
 XX. 
 
 46 
 
 181 
 
 vi. 
 
 34 
 
 172 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 40 181 
 
 xxii. 
 
 57 
 
 279 
 
 vii. 
 
 6 
 
 173 
 
 
 xiv. 
 
 71 279 
 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 
 12 175 
 
 
 
 
 ST. JOHN. 
 
 \'ii. 
 
 14 
 
 177 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 
 24 
 
 178 
 
 
 ST 
 
 . LUKE. 
 
 v. 
 
 2 
 
 208 
 
 vii. 
 
 X. 
 
 xi. 
 
 26 
 16 
 17 
 
 178 
 179 
 180 
 
 
 ii. 
 ii. 
 
 14 163 
 29 163 
 28 167 
 
 V. 
 
 vi. 
 
 xi. 
 
 35 
 11 
 25 
 
 182 
 208 
 304 
 1 
 279 
 
 xiii. 
 xiii. 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 193 
 193 
 
 
 vi. 
 
 31 175 
 48 178 
 
 xiv. 
 xviii. 
 
 17 
 
 xiii. 
 
 8 
 
 193 
 
 
 vi. 
 
 49 178 
 
 
 
 
 xiii. 
 
 25 
 
 194 
 
 
 \^i. 
 
 32 180 
 
 
 ACTS. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 33 
 
 195 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 6 193 
 
 iv. 
 
 34 
 
 209 
 
 xiv. 
 
 19 
 
 208 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 7 193 
 
 V. 
 
 2 
 
 209 
 
 xvii. 
 
 18 
 
 208 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 8 193 
 
 V. 
 
 29 
 
 210 
 
 xvii. 
 
 21 
 
 227 
 
 
 viii. 
 
 27 208 
 
 V. 
 
 41 
 
 275 
 
 xix. 
 
 17 
 
 261 
 
 
 ix. 
 
 62 188 
 
 vii. 
 
 58 
 
 211 
 
 XX. 
 
 6 
 
 195 
 
 
 X. 
 
 7 189 
 
 y\\\. 
 
 20 
 
 215 
 
 xxi. 
 
 19 
 
 259 
 
 
 X. 
 
 30 147, 198 
 
 viii. 
 
 23 
 
 211 
 
 xxii. 
 
 11 
 
 197 
 
 
 X. 
 
 31 199 
 
 xii. 
 
 6 
 
 218 
 
 xxii. 
 
 21 
 
 217 
 
 
 X, 
 
 35 199 
 
 xvi. 
 
 33 
 
 214 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 7 
 
 181 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 2 167, 257 
 
 xvii. 
 
 22 
 
 218 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 13 
 
 181 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 39 181, 187 
 
 xviii. 
 
 17 
 
 212 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 14 
 
 181 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 42 181 
 
 xix. 
 
 19 
 
 215 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 23 
 
 181 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 43 181 
 
 XX. 
 
 9 
 
 215 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 25 
 
 181, 
 
 187 
 
 xii. 
 
 34 170 
 
 xxi. 
 
 38 
 
 216 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 27 
 
 181, 
 
 186, 
 
 xiii. 
 
 21 195 
 
 xxii. 
 
 28 
 
 217 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 xiii. 
 
 24 177 
 
 xxv. 
 
 11 
 
 218 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 33 
 
 181, 
 
 187 
 
 xiv. 
 
 20 197 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 28 
 
 218 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 28 
 
 191 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 16 200 
 
 xxvii. 
 
 31 
 
 218 
 
 xxv. 
 
 9 
 
 198 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 23 200 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 2 
 
 219 
 
 XXV. 
 
 24 
 
 208 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 2 201 
 
 
 
 
 xx\a. 
 xx\d. 
 
 42 
 
 72 
 
 167, 
 279 
 
 260 
 
 xvi. 
 xvi. 
 
 8 201, 202 
 
 9 203 
 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 52 
 
 163, 
 
 192 
 
 xvi. 
 
 13 171 
 
 V. 
 
 7 
 
 220 
 
 
 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 19 205 
 
 ix. 
 
 33 
 
 222 
 
 
 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 20 205 
 
 xii. 
 
 13 
 
 5, 240 
 
 ST. MARK. 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 24 205 
 
 xii. 
 
 19 
 
 4,222, 
 
 iv. 
 
 5 
 
 193 
 
 
 x-^i. 
 
 26 205 
 
 
 
 255 
 
 iv. 
 
 7 
 
 193 
 
 
 xvii. 
 
 37 191 
 
 xiii. 
 
 1 
 
 226 
 
 iv. 
 
 8 
 
 193 
 
 
 xviii. 
 
 2 206 
 
 xiii. 
 
 4 
 
 226 
 
 V. 
 
 8 
 
 208 
 
 
 xviii. 
 
 11 207 
 
 xiii. 
 
 • 8 
 
 226 
 
 ix. 
 
 29 
 
 227 
 
 
 xix. 
 
 20 206 
 
 xvi. 
 
 16 227 
 
 xi. 
 
 13 
 
 259 
 
 
 xix. 
 
 22 208 
 
 xvi. 
 
 23 
 
 239 
 
Index. 
 
 311 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 Chap. Ver. Page. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Ver. Page. 
 
 
 iii. 20 292 
 
 iv. 
 
 9 
 
 5. 240 
 
 Chap. Ver. Page. 
 
 iv. 5 232 
 
 V. 
 
 2 234' 
 
 i. 23 228 
 
 
 V. 
 
 14 227 
 
 i. 26 228 
 
 1 THESSALONIANS. 
 
 
 
 
 ix. 16 228 
 XV. 32 229 
 
 v. 26 227 
 
 2 
 
 PETER. 
 
 xvi. 20 227 
 
 1 TIMOTHY. 
 
 ii. 
 
 22 
 
 239 
 
 2 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 iii. 2 5, 240 
 iii. 3 234 
 
 iii. 
 
 8 
 
 262 
 
 iii. 6 230 
 
 V. 23 236 
 
 3 JOHN, 
 
 xii. 10 230 
 
 vi. 6 186 
 
 
 9 239 
 
 xiii. 12 227 
 
 2 TIMOTHY. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 iv. 10 239 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i. 
 
 9 
 
 244 
 
 iv. 14 231 
 
 TITUS. 
 
 i. 
 
 12 
 
 244 
 
 iv. 26 231, 232 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 244 
 
 V. 16 232 
 
 i. 7 234 
 
 ii. 
 
 5 
 
 244 
 
 V. 22 288, 291 
 
 i. 8 5, 240 
 
 vi. 
 
 10 
 
 246 
 
 V. 25 289 
 
 i. 11 234 
 
 vi. 
 
 16 
 
 246 
 
 vi. 1 292 
 
 
 X. 
 
 9 
 
 247 
 
 vi. 4 292 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 xii. 
 
 3 
 
 248 
 
 
 xii. 1 237 
 
 XV. 
 
 2 
 
 248 
 
 PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 1 
 
 249 
 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 2 
 
 248 
 
 ii. 12 234 
 
 iii. 8 237 
 
 xvi. 
 xvii. 
 
 13 
 4 
 
 250 
 250 
 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 
 iv. 7 294 
 
 XX. 
 
 8 
 
 248 
 
 
 
 xxi. 
 
 2 2.51 
 
 iii. 18 288 
 
 1 PETER. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 27 
 
 252 
 
 iii. 19 289 
 
 ii. 17 284 
 
 xxii. 
 
 2 
 
 251 
 
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