..■#^ 
 
 »Km 
 
 \e^- 
 
 ^ * 
 
 
 .^A 
 
■FP.OM -THE- LIBRARY- OF - 
 A. n'. Ryder 
 
Minna on tlw Cliff 
 
 Drawn and Etched bv Herbert Dicksee 
 
lUuetrated Sterling Gditioii 
 
 THE PIRATE 
 
 The Fortunes of Nigel 
 
 BY 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 
 
 BOSTON 
 DANA ESTES ».^- COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 

 1^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 THE PIRATE 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Minna on the Cliff Frontispiece 
 
 The Udaller's Home — Magnus Troil and His Family x 
 The Storm, with Mordaunt Rescuing Cleveland . 75 
 XoRMA Performing Her Curative Spell on Minna 
 
 Troil 293 
 
 The Altercation between the Pedlar and Cleve- 
 land at the Fair of Kirkwall .... 337 
 Sir Walter Scott in His Study (Castle Street, 
 
 Edinburgh) 376 
 
 Minna Taking the Pistol from Bunce to Defend 
 
 Herself and Her Sister 386 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 ««I SEE BRAVE LINES HERE,* SAID UrSULA " ... 92 
 
 '• The whole train were uncovered excepting the 
 
 Prince of Wales" 175 
 
 "'Stand off, old Pilory, let me make Scotch collops 
 
 OF him 
 
 265 
 
 mS9o'90 
 
INTRODUCTIOX TO THE PIRATE. 
 
 Quoth he, there was a ship. 
 
 This brief preface may begin like the tale of the " An- 
 cient Mariner/' since it was on shipboard that the Author 
 acquired the very moderate degree of local knowledge and 
 information, both of people and scenery, which he has en- 
 deavored to embody in the romance of the " Pirate." 
 
 In the summer and autumn of ISli, the Author was in- 
 vited to Join a party of Commissioners for the Northern 
 Lighthouse Service, who proposed making a voyage round 
 the coast of Scotland, and through its various groups of 
 islands, chiefly for the purpose of seeing the condition of the 
 many lighthouses under their direction — edifices so important 
 whether regarding them as benevolent or political institu- 
 tions. Among the commissioners who manage this important 
 public concern, the sheriff of each county of Scotland which 
 borders on the sea holds " ex officio " a place at the Board. 
 These gentlemen act in every respect gratuitously, but have 
 the use of an armed 3'acht, well found and fitted up, when 
 they choose to visit the lighthouses. x'Vn excellent engineer, 
 Mr. Robert Stevenson, is attached to the Board, to afford the 
 benefit of his professional advice. The Author accompanied 
 this expedition as a guest; for Selkirkshire, though it calls 
 him sheriff, has not, like the kingdom of Bohemia in Cor- 
 poral Trim's story, a seaport in its circuit, nor its magistrate, 
 of course, any place at the Board of Commissioners — a cir- 
 cumstance of little consequence where all were old and inti- 
 mate friends, bred to the same profession, and disposed to 
 accommodate each other in everv' possible manner. 
 
 The nature of the important business which was the prin- 
 cipal purpose of the voyage was connected with the amuse- 
 ment of visiting the leading objects of a traveler's curiosity; 
 for the wild cape or formidable shelve which requires to be 
 marked out by a lighthouse is generally at no great dis- 
 tance from the most magnificent scenery of rocks, caves, and 
 billows. Our time, too, was at our own disposal, and, as most 
 of us were fresh-water sailors, we could at any time make a 
 
iv INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE. 
 
 fair wind out of a foul one, and run before the gale in quest 
 of some object of curiosity which lay under our lee. 
 
 With these purposes of public utility, and some personal 
 amusement, in view, we left the port of Leith on the 26th 
 July, 1814, ran along the east coast of Scotland, viewing its 
 different curiosities, stood over to Zetland and Orkney, where 
 we were some time detained by the wonders of a country 
 which displayed so much that was new to us; and having 
 seen what was curious in the Ultima Thule of the ancients, 
 where the sun hardly thought it worth while to go to bed, 
 since his rising was at this season so early, we doubled the 
 extreme northern termination of Scotland, and took a rapid 
 survey of the Hebrides, where we found many kind friends. 
 There, that our little expedition might not want the dignity 
 of danger, we were favored with a distant glimpse of what 
 was said to be an American cruiser, and had opportunity to 
 consider what a pretty figure we should have made had the 
 voyage ended in our being carried captive to the United 
 States. After visiting the romantic shores of Morven and 
 the vicinity of Oban, we made a run to the coast of Irelajid 
 and visited the Giant's Causeway, that we might compare it 
 with Staffa, which we had surveyed in our course. At length, 
 about the middle of September, we ended our voyage in the 
 Clyde, at the port of Greenock.* 
 
 And thus terminated our pleasant tour, to which our equip- 
 ment gave unusual facilities, as the ship's company could 
 form a strong boat's crew, independent of those who might 
 be left on board the vessel, which permitted us the freedom 
 to land wherever our curiosity carried us. Let me add, 
 while reviewing for a moment a sunny portion of my life, that 
 among the six or seven friends who performed this voyage 
 together, some of them doubtless of different tastes and pur- 
 suits, and remaining for several weeks on board a small ves- 
 sel, there never occurred the slightest dispute or disagree- 
 ment, each seeming anxious to submit his own particular 
 wishes to those of his friends. By this mutual accommoda- 
 tion all the purposes of our little expedition were attained, 
 while for a time we might have adopted the lines of Allan 
 Cunningham's fine sea-song: 
 
 The world of waters was our home, 
 And merry men were we ! 
 
 * See Lockbart'8 " Life," vol. iv. pp. ISO-aWX 
 
INTRODUCTION TO TBt; PIRATE. ^ 
 
 But sorrow mixes her memorials with tlie purest remem- 
 brances of pleasure. On returning from the voyage which 
 had proved so satisfactory, I found that fate had deprived 
 her country most unexpectedly of a lady qualified to adorn 
 the high rank which she held, and who had long admitted 
 me to a share of her friendship.* The subsequent loss of one 
 of those comrades who made up the party, and he the most 
 intimate friend I had in the world,t casts also its shade on 
 recollections which, but for these embitterments, would be 
 othennse so pleasing. 
 
 I may here briefly observe, that my business in this voyage, 
 so far as I could be said to have any, was to endeavor to dis- 
 cover some localities which might be useful in the " Lord of 
 the Isles," a poem with which 1 was then threatening the pub- 
 lic, and [which] was afterward printed without attaining re- 
 markable success. But as at the same time the anonymous 
 novel of " Waverley " was making its way to popularity, I 
 already augured the possibility of a second effort, in this de- 
 partment of literature, and I saw much in the wild islands of 
 the Orkneys and Zetland which I judged might be made in 
 the highest degree interesting, should these isles ever be- 
 come the scene of a narrative of fictitious events. I learned 
 the history of Gow the pirate from an old sibyl (see Note 14, 
 p. 454), whose principal subsistence was by a trade in favor- 
 able winds, which she sold to mariners at Stromness. Noth- 
 ing could be more interesting than the kindness and hos- 
 pitalitv of the gentlemen of Zetland, which was to me the 
 more affecting as several of them had been friends and cor- 
 respondents of my father. 
 
 T was induced to go a generation or two farther back to 
 find materials from which I might trace the features of the 
 old Norwegian udaller. the Scottish gentry having in general 
 occupied the place of that primitive race, and their language 
 and peculiarities of manner having entirely disappeared. 
 
 * Harriet Katherine, Duchess of Bucclench, died 24th Anciist, 19.14. — Laliif;. 
 
 + William Erskine of Kinedder, -on of an Episci'pal minister in Pertli-liire. wap edu- 
 cated for the lesal profession, and passed advocate 3d July, 1790. Fie was apyioinfed 
 Sheriff-Depute of Orkney 6th June, 1809, and in that capacity was accompanied hy 
 Scott in the Lishthousr vovace round the coast. He was raised to the bench, and took 
 his seat as Lord Kinedder '29th January, 1822. Unfortuiia'ely he did not lon<: enj'vv 
 this honor, as he d'ed nnexpectedly on tlie 14th of .^iiirust following, to the great ifrief 
 of sir Walter, who at this verv time was wholly occnijicd with the arrantremenls con- 
 nertcd with George IV.'s visit to KilinlHirirh. T.ord Kinedder, to whom Scott had from 
 bovhood been deeply attached, was a mo-t amiaMeand accomplished man. 
 
 In 1788. when the " Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the HiEhlands'' wa< first 
 published ("which the Wartons thought superior to the other works of Collins, but wnirh 
 Dr. Johnson savs, "no search has yet found "\ Mr. Krskine wrote several siipplem<;nt- 
 nrv st;in7,as, intended to commemorate some ScMtti-b snp.erstitions omilti'd hy Collins, 
 The.-e verses first appeared in the Edinburgh Magazine for April, 17SS. — Z.ai/iS'. 
 
Ti INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE. 
 
 The only difference now to be observed betwixt the gentry oi 
 these islands and those of Scotland in general is, that the 
 wealth and property is more equally divided among our more 
 northern countrymen, and that there exists among the resi- 
 dent proprietors no men of very gi'eat wealth, whose display 
 of its luxuries might render the others discontented with 
 their own lot. From the same cause of general equality of 
 fortunes, and the cheapness of living which is its natural con- 
 sequence, I found tlie officers of a veteran regiment who had 
 maintained the garrison at Fort Charlotte, in Lerwick, dis- 
 composed at the idea of being recalled from a country where 
 their pay, however inadequate to the expenses of a capital, 
 was fully adequate to their wants, and it was singular to hear 
 natives of merry England herself regretting their approaching 
 departure from the melancholy isles of the Ultima Thule. 
 
 Such are the trivial particulars attending the origin of that 
 publication, which took place several years later than the 
 agreeable journey from which it took its rise. 
 
 The state of manners which I have introduced in the ro- 
 mance was necessarily in a great degree imaginary, though 
 founded in some measure on flight hints, which, showing 
 what was, seemed to give reasonable indication of what must 
 once have been, the tone of the society in these sequestered 
 but interesting islands. 
 
 In one respect I was judged somewhat hastily, perhaps, 
 when the character of Noma was pronounced by the critics a 
 mere copy of Meg Merrilies. That I had fallen short of what 
 I wished and desired to express is unquestionable, otherwise 
 my object could not have been so widely mistaken; nor can I 
 yet think that any person who will take "the trouble of reading 
 the " Pirate " with some attention can fail to trace in Noma 
 — the victim of remorse and insanity, and the dupe of her 
 own imposture, her mind, too, flooded with all the wild liter- 
 ature and extravagant superstitions of the North — something 
 distinct from the Dumfriesshire gypsy, whose pretensions to 
 supernatural powers are not beyond those of a Norwood 
 prophetess. The foundations of such a character may be 
 perhaps traced, though it be too true that the necessary super- 
 structure cannot have been raised upon them, otherwise these 
 remarks would have been unnecessary. There is also great 
 improbabilitv in the statement of Noma's possessing power 
 and opportunity to impress on others that belief in her super- 
 natural gifts which distracted her own mind. Yet, amid a 
 very credulous and ignorant population, it is astonishing 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE. vu 
 
 what success may be attained by an impostor who is, at the 
 same time, an enthusiast. It is such as to remind us of the 
 couplet which assures us that 
 
 The pleasnra is as great 
 
 In being cheated as to cheat. 
 
 Indeed, as I have observed elsewhere, the professed expla- 
 nation of a tale, where appearances or incidents of a super- 
 natural character are referred to natural causes, has often, in 
 the winding up of the story, a degree of improbability almost 
 equal to an absolute goblin narrative. Even the genius of 
 Mrs. Eadcliffe could not always surmount this difficulty. 
 
 Abbotsfokd, 1st May, 1831. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The purpose of the following narrative is to give a detailed 
 and accurate account of certain remarkable incidents which 
 took place in the Orkney Islands, concerning which the more 
 imperfect traditions and mutilated records of the country 
 only tell us the following erroneous particulars: 
 
 In the month of January 172-i~25, a vessel, called the 
 " Eevenge," bearing twenty large guns and six smaller, com- 
 manded by John Gow, or Goiie, or Smith, came to the 
 Orkney Islands, and was discovered to be a pirate by various 
 acts of insolence and villainy committed by the crew. These 
 were for some time submitted to, the inhabitants of these re- 
 mote islands not possessing arms nor means of resistance; and 
 so bold was the captain of these banditti, that he not only 
 came ashore and gave dancing-parties in the village of Strom- 
 ness, but, before his real character was discovered, engaged 
 the affections, and received the troth-plight, of a young lady 
 possessed of some property. A patriotic individual, James 
 Fea, younger of Clestron, formed the plan of securing the 
 buccanier, which he effected by a mixture of courage and ad- 
 dress, in consequence chiefly of Gow's vessel having gone on 
 shore near the harbor of Calfsound, on the Island of Eda, no' 
 far distant from a house then inhabited by Mr. Fea. In the 
 various stratagems by which Mr. Fea contrived finally, at tht 
 peril of his life (they being well armed and desperate), t« 
 make the whole pirates his prisoners, he was much aided b- 
 Mr. James Laing, the grandfather of the late Malcolm Laing 
 
VUi INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATJiJ. 
 
 Esq.,* the acute and ingenious historian of Scotland during 
 the seventeenth century, 
 
 Gow and others of his crew suffered, by sentence of the 
 High Court of Admiralty, the punishment their crimes had 
 long deserved. He conducted himself with great audacity 
 when before the court; and, from an account of the matter 
 by an eye-watness, seems to have been subjected to some un- 
 usual severities in order to compel him to plead. The words 
 are these: "John Gow would not plead, for which he was 
 brought to the bar, and the Judge ordered that his thumbs 
 should be squeezed by two men, with a wdiip-cord, till it did 
 break; and then it should be doubled, till it did again break, 
 and then laid threefold, and that the executioners should pull 
 with their whole strength; which sentence Gow endured with 
 a great deal of boldness." The next morning (2Tth May, 
 1725), when he had seen the terrible preparations for pressing 
 him to death, his courage gave way, and he told the marshal 
 of court that he would not have given so much trouble had 
 he been assured of not being hanged in chains. He was then 
 tried, condemned, and executed, with others of his crew. 
 
 It is said that the lady whose affections Gow had engaged 
 went up to London to see him before his death, and that, 
 arriving too late, she had the courage to request a sight of 
 his dead body; and then, touching the hand of the corpse, she 
 formally resumed the troth-plight which she had bestowed. 
 Without going through this ceremony, she could not, ac- 
 cording to the superstition of the country, have escaped a visit 
 from the ghost of her departed lover, in the event of her be- 
 stowing upon any living suitor the faith which she had 
 plighted to the dead. This part of the legend may serve as a 
 curious commentary on the fine Scottish ballad f which 
 begins: 
 
 There came a ghost to Margaret's door, etc. 
 
 The common account of this incident farther bears, that 
 Mr. Fea, the spirited individual by whose exertions Gow's 
 career of iniquity was cut short, was so far from receiving any 
 reward from Government, that he could not obtain even 
 countenance enough to protect him against a variety of sham 
 
 * This gentleman was calleci to the Scotch Bar in the year 1784 but the infirm state 
 of hie health indured him, in 1810, to leave the profession, and to reside on his paiernal 
 
 Eropertv near Kirkwall, devotin? himself to agricultural pursuits. He died in Novem- 
 er, 1818, aged fif ly-five, and was interred in the nave of St, Magnus's Cathedral — Laincf. 
 tTliis ballad of "Willie's Ghost" is printed in Herd's "Collection," vol. i. p. 76, 
 It is not so well known as Mallet's version, " Willie and Margaret," which begins, 
 " 'Twas at the fearful midnight hour."— Zai/iff. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE. ix 
 
 suits, raised against hira by N'ewgate solicitors, who acted in 
 the name of Gow and others of the pirate's crew; and the 
 various expenses, vexatious prosecutions, and other legal con- 
 sequences, in which his gallant exploit involved him, utterly 
 ruined his fortune and his family; making his memory a 
 notable example to all who shall in future take pirates on 
 their own authority. 
 
 It is to be supposed, for the honor of George the First's 
 Government, that the last circumstance, as well as the dates, 
 and other particulars of the commonly received story, are in- 
 accurate, since they will be found totally irreconcilable with 
 the following veracious narrative, compiled from materials to 
 which he himself alone has had access, by 
 
 The Author of " Waverley.'' 
 
Tiie Udaller's home — Magnus Troil and his tamily. 
 
2 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 almost buried the ruins of the buildings; but in the end of 
 the seventeenth century a part of the earl's mansion was still 
 entire and habitable. It was a rude building of rough stone, 
 with nothing about it to gratify the eye or to excite the imagi- 
 nation; a large old-fashioned narrow house, with a very steep 
 roof, covered with flags composed of gray sandstone, would 
 perhaps convey the best idea of the place to a modern reader. 
 The windows were few, very small in size, and distributed 
 up and down the building with utter contempt of regularity. 
 Against the main structure had rested, in foi-mer times, cer- 
 tain smaller copartments of the mansion-house, containing 
 offices, or subordinate apartments, necessary for the accommo- 
 dation of the earl's retainers and menials. But these had be- 
 come ruinous; and the rafters had been taken down for fire- 
 wood or for other purposes; the walls had given way in many 
 places; and, to complete the devastation, the sand had already 
 drifted amongst the ruins, and filled up what had been once 
 the chambers they contained, to the depth of two or three 
 feet. 
 
 Amid this desolation, the inhabitants of Jarlshof had con- 
 trived, by constant labor and attention, to keep in order a few 
 roods of land, which had been inclosed as a garden, and 
 which, sheltered by the walls of the house itself from the re- 
 lentless sea-blast, produced such vegetables as the climate 
 could bring forth, or rather as the sea-gale would permit to 
 grow; for these islands experience even less of the rigor of 
 cold than is encountered on the mainland of Scotland; but, 
 unsheltered by a wall of some sort or other, it is scarce pos- 
 sible to raise even the most ordinary culinary vegetables; and 
 as for shrubs or trees, they are entirely out of the question, 
 such is the force of the sweeping sea-blast. 
 
 At a short distance from the mansion, and near to the sea- 
 beach, just where the creek forms a sort of imperfect harbor, 
 in which lay three or four fishing-boats, there were a few most 
 wretched cottages for the inhabitants and tenants of the 
 township of Jarlshof, who held the whole dist^ct of the land- 
 lord upon such terms as were in those days usually granted to 
 persons of this description, and which, of course, were hard 
 enough. The landlord himself resided upon an estate which 
 he possessed in a more eligible situation in a different part of 
 the island, and seldom visited his possessions at Sumburgh 
 Head. He was an honest, plain Zetland gentleman, some- 
 what passionate, the nece8S.ary result of being surrounded by 
 dependents; and somewhat over-convivial in his habits, the 
 
THE PIUATK 3 
 
 consequence, perhaps, of having too much time at his dis- 
 posal; but frank-tempered and generous to his people, and 
 kind and hospitable to strangers. He was descended also 
 of an old and noble Norwegian family — a circumstance which 
 rendered him dearer to the lower orders, most of whom are 
 of the same race; while the lairds, or proprietors, are gener- 
 ally of Scottish extraction, who, at that early period, were 
 still considered as strangers and intruders. Magnus Troil, 
 who deduced his descent from the \qtj earl who was supposed 
 to have founded Jarlshof, was peculiarly of this opinion. 
 
 The present inhabitants of Jarlshof had experienced, on 
 several occasions, the kindness and good-^dll of the proprie- 
 tor of the territory. When Mr. Mertoun — such was the name 
 of the present inhabitant of the old mansion — ^first arrived in 
 Zetland, some years before the story commences, he had been 
 received at the house of Mr. Troil ^nth that warm and cordial 
 hospitality for which the islands are distinguished. No one 
 asked him whence he came, where he was going, what was 
 his purpose in visiting so remote a corner of the empire, or 
 what was likely to be the term of his stay. He arrived a 
 perfect stranger, yet was instantly overpowered by a succes- 
 sion of invitations; and in each house which he visited he 
 found a home as long as he chose to accept it, and lived as 
 one of the family, unnoticed and unnoticing, until he thought 
 proper to remove to some other dwelling. This apparent in- 
 difference to the rank, character, and qualities of their guest 
 did not arise from apathy on the part of his kind hosts, for 
 the islanders had their full share of natural curiosity; but 
 their delicacy deemed it would be an infringement upon the 
 laws of hospitality to ask questions which their guest might 
 have found it difficult or unpleasing to answer; and instead 
 of endeavoring, as is usual in other countries, to wring out of 
 Mr. Mertoun such communications as he might find it agree- 
 able to ^vithhold, the considerate Zetlanders contented them- 
 selves with eagerly gathering up such scraps of information 
 as could be collected in the course of conversation. 
 
 But the rock in an Arabian desert is not more reluctant to 
 afford water than Mr. Basil Mertoun was niggard in impart- 
 ing his confidence, even incidentally; and certainly the 
 politeness of the gentry of Thule was never put to a more 
 severe test than when they felt that good-breeding enjoined 
 them to abstain from inquiring into the situation of so mys- 
 terious a personage. 
 
 All that was actually known of him was eafcily summed up. 
 
4 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 Mr. Mertoun had come to Lerwick, then rising into some im- 
 portance, but not yet acknowledged as the principal town of 
 the island, in a Dutch vessel, accompanied only by his son, 
 a handsome boy of about fouri;een years old. His own age 
 might exceed forty. The Dutch skipper introduced him to 
 some of the very good friends with whom he used to barter 
 gin and gingerbread for little Zetland bullocks, smoked geese, 
 and stockings of lambs' wool; and although Meinherr could 
 only say that, " Meinherr Mertoun hab bay his bassage like 
 one gentlemans, and hab given a kreitz-dollar beside to the 
 crew," this introduction served to establish the Dutchman's 
 passenger in a respectable circle of acquaintances, which 
 gradually enlarged, as it appeared that the stranger was a man 
 of considerable acquirements. 
 
 This discovery was made almost " per force "; for Mertoun 
 was as unwilling to speak upon general subjects as upon his 
 own affairs. But he was sometimes led into discussions, 
 which showed, as it were in spite of himself, the scholar and 
 the man of the world; and at other times, as if in requital of 
 the hospitality which he experienced, he seemed to compel 
 himself, against his fixed nature, to enter into the society of 
 those around him, especially when it assumed the grave, mel- 
 ancholy, or satirical cast which best suited the temper of his 
 own mind. Upon such occasions, the Zetlanders were uni- 
 versally of opinion that he must have had an excellent edu- 
 cation, neglected only in one striking particular, namely, 
 that Mr. Mertoun scarce knew the stem of a ship from the 
 stern; and in the management of a boat a cow could not be 
 more ignorant. It seemed astonishing, such gross ignorance 
 of the most necessary art of life, in the Zetland Isles at least, 
 should subsist along with his accomplishments in other re- 
 spects; but so it was. 
 
 Unless called forth in the manner we have mentioned, the 
 habits of Basil Mertoun Avere retired and gloomy. From 
 loud mirth he instantly fled; and even moderated cheerfulness 
 of a friendly party had the invariable effect of throwing him 
 into deeper dejection than even his usual demeanor indicated. 
 
 AVomen are always particularly desirous of investigating 
 mystery and of alleviating melancholy, especially when these 
 circumstances are united in a handsome man about the prime 
 of life. It is possible, therefore, that amongst the fair- 
 haired and blue-eyed daughters of Thule this mysterious and 
 pensive stranger might have found someone to take upon 
 herself the task of consolation, had he shown any willingness 
 
THE PIRATE. 6 
 
 to accept such kindly ofRces; but, far from doing so, he 
 seemed even to shun the presence of the sex to which in our 
 distresses, whether of mind or body, we generally apply for 
 pity and comfort. 
 
 To these peculiarities ]\Ir. Mertoun added another, wliich 
 was particularly disagreeable to his host and principal patron, 
 Magnus Troil. This magnate of Zetland, descended by the 
 father's side, as we have already said, from an ancient Nor- 
 wegian family, by the marriage of its representative with a 
 Danish lady, held the devout opinion that a cup of Geneva 
 or Nantz was specific against all cares and afflictions what- 
 ever. These were remedies to which Mr. Mertoun never ap- 
 plied: his drink was water, and water alone, and no persua- 
 sion or entreaties could induce him to taste any stronger 
 beverage than was afforded by the pure spring. Now this 
 Magnus Troil could not tolerate; it was a defiance to the an- 
 cient Northern laws of conviviality, which, for his own part, 
 he had so rigidly observed that, although he was wont to 
 assert that he had never in his life gone to bed dmnk (that is, 
 m his own sense of the word), it would have been impossible 
 to prove that he had ever resigned himself to slumber in a 
 state of actual and absolute sobriety. It may be therefore 
 asked. What did this stranger bring into society to compen- 
 sate the displeasure given by his austere and abstemious 
 habits? He had, in the first place, that manner and self- 
 importance which mark a person of some consequence; and 
 although it was conjectured that he could not be rich, yet it 
 was certainly known by his expenditure that neither was he 
 absolutely poor. He had, besides, some powers of conversa- 
 tion, when, as we have already hinted, he chose to exert them, 
 and his misanthropy or aversion to the business and inter- 
 course of ordinary life was often expressed in an antithetical 
 manner, which passed for wit, when better was not to be had. 
 Above all, Mr. Mertoun's secret seemed impenetrable, and 
 his presence had all the interest of a riddle, which men love 
 to read over and over, because they cannot find out the mean- 
 ing of it. 
 
 Notwithstanding these recommendations, Mertoun differed 
 in so many material points from his host, that, after he had 
 been for some time a guest at his principal residence, Magnus 
 Troil was agreeably surprised when, one evening, after they 
 had sat two hours in absolute silence, drinking brandy and 
 water — that is, Magnus drinking the alcohol and Mertoun 
 the element — the guest asked his host's permission to occupy. 
 
6 WAVERLET AOVELS. 
 
 as his tenant, this deserted mansion of Jarlshof, at the ex- 
 tremity of the territory called Dunrossness, and situated just 
 beneath Sumburgh Head. "I shall be handsomely rid of 
 him," quoth Magnus to himself, " and his kill-joy visage will 
 never again stop the bottle in its round. His departure will 
 ruin me in lemons, however, for his mere look was quite suiii- 
 cient to sour a whole ocean of punch." 
 
 Yet the kind-hearted Zetlander generously and disinter- 
 estedly remonstrated with Mr. Mertoun on the solitude and 
 inconveniences to which he was about to subject himself. 
 " There were scarcely," he said, " even the most necessary 
 articles of furniture in the old house; there was no society 
 within many miles; for provisions, the principal article of 
 food would be sour sillocks, and his only company gnlls and 
 gannets." 
 
 " ]\Iy good friend," replied Mertoun, " if you could have 
 named a circumstance which would render the residence more 
 eligible to me than any other, it is that there would be neither 
 human luxury nor human society near the place of my re- 
 treat: a shelter from the weather for my own head and for 
 the boy's is all I seek for. So name your rent, Mr. Troil, and 
 let me be your tenant at Jarlshof." 
 
 " Eent! " answered the Zetlander; " why, no great rent for 
 an old house which no one has lived in since my mother's 
 time — God rest her! — and as for shelter, the old walls are 
 thick enough, and will bear many a bang yet. But, Heaven 
 love you, Mr. Mertoun, think what you "are purposing. For 
 one of us to live at Jarlshof were a ^ald scheme enough; but 
 you, who are from another country, whether English, Scotch, 
 or Irish, no one can tell " 
 
 " Nor does it greatly matter," said Mertoun, somewhat 
 abruptly. 
 
 " Not a herring's scale," answered the laird; " only, that I 
 like you the better for being no Scot, as I trust you are not 
 one. Hither they have come like the clack-geese: every 
 chamberlain has brought over a flock of his own name, and 
 his own hatching, for what I know, and here they roost for- 
 ever; catch them returning to their o^vn barren Highlands or 
 Lowlands, when once they have tasted our Zetland beef and 
 seen our bonny voes and lochs. No, sir " — here Magnus pro- 
 ceeded with great animation, sipping from time to time the 
 half-diluted spirit, which at the same time animated liis re- 
 sentment against the intruders and enabled him to endure 
 the mortifying reflection which it suggested — "no, sITj the 
 
THE PIRATE. * 
 
 ancient days and the genuine manners of these islands are no 
 more; for our ancient possessors — our Patersons, our Feas, 
 our Schlagbrennei-s, our Thorbiorns— have given place to 
 Giffords, Seotts, Mouats, men whose names bespeak them or 
 their ancestors strangers to the soil which we the Troils have 
 inhabited long before the days of Turf-Einar, who first taught 
 these isles the mvstery of burning peat for fuel, and who has 
 been handed down to a grateful posterity by a name which 
 records the discovery." 
 
 This was a subject upon which the potentate of Jarlshof 
 was usually very diffuse, and Mertoun saw him enter upon it 
 ^nth pleasure, because he knew he should not be called upon 
 to contribute any aid to the conversation, and might therefore 
 indulge his own saturnine humor while the Xorwegian Zet- 
 lander declaimed on the change of times and inhabitants. 
 But Just as Magnus had arrived at the melancholy conclusion, 
 "How probable it was that, in another century, scarce a 
 'merk,' scarce even an ' ure,' of land would be in the pos- 
 session of the Norse inhabitants, the true Udallers* of Zet- 
 land," he recollected the circumstances of his guest, and 
 stopped suddenly short. " I do not say all this," he added, 
 interrupting hiniself, " as if I were unwilling that you should 
 settle on my estate, Mr. Mertoun. But for Jarlshof— the 
 place is a wdld one. Come from where you will, I warrant 
 you will say, like other travelers, you came from a better 
 climate than ours, for so say you all. And yet you think of 
 a retreat which the very natives run away from. Will you 
 not take your glass? — (This was to be considered as inter- 
 jectional.)" — Then here's to you." 
 
 " My good sir," answered Mertoun, " I am indifferent to 
 chmate: if there is but air enough to fill my lungs, I care not 
 if it be the breath of x4rabia or of Lapland." 
 
 " Air enough you may have," answered Magnus, " no lack 
 of that; somewhat damp, strangers allege it to be, but we 
 know a corrective for that. Here's to you, Mr. Mertoun. 
 You must learn to do so, and to smoke a pipe; and then, as you 
 say, you will find the air of Zetland equal to that of Arabia. 
 But have you seen Jarlshof?" 
 
 The stranger intimated that he had not. 
 
 " Then," replied Magnus, " you have no idea of your 
 
 undert<iking. If you think it a comfortable roadstead like 
 
 this, ^nth the house situated on the side of an inland voe, 
 
 that brings the herrings up to your door, you are mistaken, 
 
 * See Note 1. 
 
8. WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 my heart. At Jarlshof you will see naught but the wild 
 waves tumbling on the bare rocks, and the Koost of Sum- 
 burgh running at the rate of fifteen knots an hour." 
 
 " I shall see nothing at least of the current of human pas- 
 sions," replied Mertoun. 
 
 " You will hear nothing but the clanging and screaming 
 of scaxts, sheerwaters, and sea-gulls from daybreak till sun- 
 set." 
 
 " I will compound, my friend," replied the stranger, " so 
 that I do not hear the chattering of women's tongues." 
 
 " Ah," said the Norman, " that is because you hear just 
 now my little Minna and Brenda singing in the garden with 
 your Mordaunt. Now, I would rather listen to their little 
 voices than the skylark which I once heard in Caithness, or 
 the nightingale that I have read of. What will the girls do 
 for want of their playmate Mordaunt? " 
 
 " They will shift for themselves," answered Mertoun: 
 " younger or elder, they will find playmates or dupes. But 
 the question is, Mr. Troil, will you let to me, as your tenant, 
 this old mansion of Jarlshof? " 
 
 " Gladly, since you make it your option to live in a spot so 
 desolate." 
 
 " And as for the rent? " continued Mertoun. 
 
 " The rent! " replied Magnus; " hum — why, you must have 
 the bit of ' plantie cruive,' * which they once called a garden, 
 and a right in the ' scathold,' and a sixpenny merk of land, 
 that the tenants may fish for you; eight ' lispunds ' of butter 
 and eight shillings sterling yearly is not too much? " 
 
 Mr. Mertoun agreed to terms so moderate, and from 
 thenceforward resided chiefly at the solitary mansion which 
 we have described in the beginning of this chapter, conform- 
 ing not only without complaint, but, as it seemed, with a 
 sullen pleasure, to all the privations which so wild and deso- 
 late a situation necessarily imposed on its inhabitant. 
 
 * See Note 2. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Tis not alone the scene : the man, Anselmo, 
 The man finds sympathies in these wild wastes 
 And roughly tumbling seas, which fairer views 
 And smoother waves deny him. 
 
 — Ancient Brama. 
 
 The few inhabitants of the township of Jarlshof had at 
 first heard with alarm that a person of rank superior to their 
 own was come to reside in the minons tenement which they 
 still called the castle. In those days (for the present times 
 are greatly altered for the better) the presence of a superior, 
 in such a situation, was almost certain to be attended with 
 additional burdens and exactions, for which, under one pre- 
 text or another, feudal customs furnished a thousand apolo- 
 gies. By each of these, a part of the tenants' hard-won and 
 precarious prolits was diverted for the use of their powerful 
 neighbor and superior, the tacksman, as he was called. But 
 the sub-tenants speedily found that no oppression of this 
 kind was to be apprehended at the hands of Basil Mertoun. 
 His own means, whether large or small, were at least fully 
 adequate to his expenses, which, so far as regarded his habits 
 of life, were of the most fiiigal description. The luxuries of 
 a few books, and some philosophical instruments, with which 
 he was supplied from London as occasion offered, seemed to 
 indicate a degree of wealth unusual in those islands; but, on 
 the other hand, the table and the accommodations at Jarlshof 
 did not exceed what was maintained by a Zetland proprietor 
 of the most inferior description. 
 
 The tenants of the hamlet troubled themselves very little 
 about the quality of their superior, as soon as they found 
 that their situation was rather to be mended than rendered 
 worse by his presence; and, once relieved from the appre- 
 hension of his tyrannizing over them, they laid their heads 
 together to make the most of him by various petty tricks of 
 overcharge and extortion, which for a while the stranger sub- 
 mitted to with the most philosophic indifference. An inci- 
 dent, however, occurred which put his character in a new 
 light, and effectually checked all future efforts at extravagant 
 imposition. 
 
 A dispute arose in the kitchen of the castle bet^nxt an old 
 
 9 
 
10 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 gavemante, who acted as housekeeper to Mr. Mertoun, and 
 Swe}'n Erickson, as good a Zetlander as ever rowed a boat to 
 the "' haaf fishing "; which dispute, as is usual in such cases, 
 was maintained with such increasing heat and vociferation as 
 to reach the ears of the master (as he was called), who, 
 secluded in a solitary turret, was deeply employed in examin- 
 ing the contents of a new package of books from London, 
 which, after long expectation, had found its way to Hull, 
 from thence by a whaling vessel to Lerwick, and so to Jarls- 
 hof. With more than the usual thriJl of indignation which 
 indolent people always feel when roused into action on some 
 unpleasant occasion, Mertoun descended to the scene of con- 
 test, and so suddenly, peremptorily, and strictly inquired into 
 the cause of dispute, that the parties, notwithstanding every 
 evasion which they attempted, became unable to disguise 
 from him that their difference respected the several interests 
 to which the honest govemante and no less honest fisherman 
 were respectively entitled in an overcharge of about one hun- 
 dred per cent, on a bargain of rock-cod, purchased by the 
 former from the latter, for the use of the family at Jarlshof. 
 
 When this was fairly ascertained and confessed, ]\Ir. Mer- 
 toun stood looking upon the culprits with eyes in which the 
 utmost scorn seemed to contend with awakening passion. 
 " Hark you, ye old hag," said he at length to the housekeeper, 
 "avoid my house this instant! and know that I dismiss you, 
 not for being a liar, a thief, and an ungrateful quean— for 
 these are qualities as proper to you as your name of woman — 
 but for daring, in my house, to scold above your breath. And 
 for you, you rascal, who suppose you may cheat a stranger as 
 you would flinch a whale, know that I am well acquainted 
 with the rights which, by delegation from your master, Mag- 
 nus Troil, I can exercise over you, if I will. Provoke me to 
 a certain pitch, and you shall learn, to your cost, I can break 
 your rest as easily as you can interrupt my leisure. I knov. 
 the meaning of ' scat,' and ' wattle,' and ' hawkhen,' and 
 ' hagalef ,' and every other exaction by which your lords, in 
 ancient and modern days, have wrung your withers; nor is 
 there one of you that shall not rue the day that you could not 
 be content with robbing me of my money, but must also break 
 in on my leisure with your atrocious Northern clamor, that 
 rivals in discord the screaming of a flight of Arctic gulls." 
 
 Nothing better occurred to Sweyn. in answer to this objur- 
 gation, than the preferring a humble request that his honor 
 would be pleased to keep the cod-fish without payment, and 
 
THE PIRATE. 11 
 
 say no more about the matter; but by this time ]\Ir. Mertoun 
 had worked up his passions into an ungovernable rage, and 
 with one hand he threw the money at the fisherman's head, 
 while with the other he pelted Mm out of the apartment with 
 his own fish, wliich he finally flung out of doors after him. 
 
 There was so much of appalling and tyrannic fury in the 
 stranger's manner on this occasion, that Sweyn neither 
 stopped to collect the money nor take back his commodity, 
 but fled at a precipitate rate to the small hamlet, to tell his 
 comrades that, if they provoked Master ]\Iertoun any farther, 
 he would tiu-n an absolute Pate Stewart * on their hand, and 
 head and hang without either judgment or mercy. 
 
 Hither also came the discarded housekeeper, to consult 
 with her neighbors and kindred (for she too was a native of 
 the village) what she should do to regain the desirable situa- 
 tion from which she had been so suddenly expelled. The old 
 Ranzellaar of the village, who had the voice most potential in 
 the deliberations of tlie township, after hearing what had 
 happened, pronounced that Sweyn Erickson had gone too far 
 in raising the market upon ]\Ir. Mertoun; and that, whatever 
 pretext the tacksman might assume for thus gi^^ng way to 
 his anger, the real grievance must have been the charging 
 the rock cod-fish at a penny instead of a half-penny a pound; 
 he therefore exhorted all the community never to raise their 
 exactions in future beyond the proportion of threepence upon 
 the shilling, at which rate their master at the castle could not 
 reasonably be expected to grumble, since, as he was disposed 
 to do them no harm, it was reasonable to think that, in a 
 moderate way, he had no objection to do them good. " And 
 three upon twelve," said the experienced Ranzellaar, "is a 
 decent and moderate profit, and will bring with it God's 
 blessing and St. Ronald's." 
 
 Proceeding upon the tariff thus judiciously recommended 
 to them, the inhabitants of Jarlshof cheated Mertoun in 
 future only to the moderate extent of twenty-five per cent.— 
 a rate to which all nabobs, army-contractors, speculators in 
 the funds, and others, whom recent and rapid success has 
 enabled to settle in the country upon a great scale, dught to 
 submit as very reasonable treatment at the hand of their 
 rustic neighbors. Mertoun at least seemed of that opinion, 
 
 * Meaning, probably, Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, executed for tyranny and 
 oppresFion. practiced on the inhabitants of those remote islands, in the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century.— His father, Lord Robert Stua't, was a natural eon of James V 
 •-Laing. 
 
12 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 for he gave himself no farther trouble upon the subject of his 
 household expenses. 
 
 The conscript fathers of Jarlshof, having settled their own 
 matters, took next under their consideration the case of 
 Swertha, the banished matron who had been expelled from 
 the castle, whom, as an experienced and useful ally, they were 
 highly desirous to restore to her ofRce of housekeeper, should 
 that be found possible. But as their wisdom here failed 
 them, Swertha, in despair, had recourse to the good offices of 
 Mordaunt Mertoun, with whom she had acquired some favor 
 by her knowledge in old Norwegian ballads, and dismal tales 
 concerning the Trows, or Drows (the dwarfs of the Scalds), 
 with whom superstitious eld had peopled many a lonely 
 cavern a:^'d brown dale in Dunrossness, as in every other dis- 
 trict of Zetland. " Swertha," said the youth, " I can do but 
 little for you, but you may do something for yourself. My 
 father's passion resembles the fury of those ancient champions 
 — those Berserkars,* you sing songs about." 
 
 " Aye— aye, fish of my heart," replied the old woman, with 
 a pathetic whine; " the Berserkars were champions who lived 
 before the blessed days of St. Olave, and who used to run like 
 madmen on swords, and spears, and harpoons, and muskets, 
 and snap them all into pieces, as a finner would go through a 
 herring-net, and then, when the fury went off, they were as 
 weak and unstable as water." 
 
 " That's the very thing, Swertha," said Mordaunt. " Now, 
 my father never likes to think of his passion after it is over, 
 and is so much of a Berserkar that, let him be desperate as he 
 will to-day, he will not care about it to-morrow. Therefore, 
 he has not filled up your place in the household at the castle, 
 and not a mouthful of warm food has been dressed there since 
 you went away, and not a morsel of bread baked, but we have 
 lived just upon whatever cold thing came to hand. Now, 
 Swertha, I will be your warrant that, if you go boldly up to 
 the castle, and enter upon the discharge of your duties as 
 usual, you will never hear a single word from him." 
 
 Swertha hesitated at first to obey this bold counsel. She 
 said, "To her thinking, Mr. Mertoun, when he was angry, 
 looked more like a fiend than any Berserkar of them all: that 
 the fire flashed from his eyes, and the foam flew from his lips; 
 and that it would be a plain tempting of Providence to put 
 herself again in such a venture." 
 
 But, on the encouragement which she received from the 
 
 * See Note 3. 
 
THE PIRATE. 13 
 
 son, she determined at length once more to face the parent; 
 and, dressing herself in her ordinary household attire, for so 
 Mordaunt particularly recommended, she slipped into the 
 castle, and presently resuming the various and numerous 
 occupations which devolved on her, seemed as deeply engaged 
 in household cares as if she had never been out of office. 
 
 The first day of her return to her duty, Swertha made no 
 appeai-ance in presence of her master, but trusted that after 
 his three days' diet on cold meat, a hot dish, dressed with the 
 best of her simple skill, might introduce her favorably to his 
 recollection. AVhen ^lordaunt had reported that his father 
 had taken no notice of this change of diet, and when she her- 
 self observed that, in passing and repassing him occasionally, 
 her appearance produced no effect upon her singular master, 
 she began to imagine that the whole affair had escaped Mr. 
 Mertoun's memor}', and was active in her duty as usual. 
 Neither was she con\nnced of the contrary until one day 
 when, happening somewhat to elevate her tone in a dispute 
 with the other maid-servant, her master, who at that time 
 passed the place of contest, eyed her with a strong glance, and 
 pronounced the single word, " Remember! " in a tone which 
 taught Swertha the government of her tongue for many 
 weeks after. 
 
 If Mertoun was whimsical in his mode of governing his 
 household, he seemed no less so in his plan of educating his 
 son. He showed the youth but few symptoms of parental 
 affection: yet, in his ordinary state of mind, the improvement 
 of Mordaunt's education seemed to be the utmost object of 
 his life. He had both books and information sufficient to 
 discharge the task of tutor in the ordinary branches of knowl- 
 edge; and in this capacity was regular, calm, and strict, not 
 to say severe, in exacting from his pupil the attention neces- 
 sary for his profiting. But in the perusal of histor}% to which 
 their attention was frequently turned, as well as in the study 
 of classic authors, there often occurred facts or sentiments 
 which produced an instant effect upon Mertoun's mind, and 
 brought on him suddenly what Swertha, Sweyn, and even 
 Mordaunt. came to distinguish by the name of his dark hour. 
 He was aware, in the usual case, of its approach, and retreated 
 to an inner apartment, into which he never permitted even 
 ^Mordaunt to enter. Here he would abide in seclusion for 
 days, and even weeks, only coming out at uncertain times, to 
 take ?urh food as thoy had taken care to leave within his 
 reach, which he used in wonderfully omall quantities. At 
 
14 WAVBBLSr NOVELS. 
 
 other times, and especially during the winter solstice, when 
 almost every person spends the gloomy time within doors in 
 feasting and merriment, this unhappy man would wrap liim- 
 self in a dark-colored sea-cloalc, and wander out along the 
 stormy beach, or upon the desolate heath, indulging his own 
 gloomy and wayward reveries under the inclement sky, the 
 rather that he was then most sure to wander unencountered 
 and unobserved. 
 
 As Mordaunt grew older, he learned to note the particular 
 signs which preceded these fits of gloomy despondency, and 
 to direct such precautions as might insure his unfortunate 
 parent from ill-timed interruption (which had always the 
 effect of driving him to fury), while, at the same time, full 
 provision was made for his subsistence. Mordaunt perceived 
 that at such periods the melancholy fit of Ms father was 
 greatly prolonged if he chanced to present himself to his eyes 
 while the dark hour was upon him. Out of respect, there- 
 fore, to his parent, as well as to indulge the love of active 
 exercise and of amusement natural to his period of life, Mor- 
 daunt used often to absent himself altogether from the man- 
 sion of Jarlshof, and even from the district, secure that his 
 father, if the dark hour passed away in his absence, would be 
 little inclined to inquire how liis son had disposed of his lei- 
 sure, so that he was sure he had not watx^hed his own weak 
 moments, that being the subject on which he entertained the 
 utmost jealousy. 
 
 At such times, therefore, all the sources of amusement 
 which the country afforded were open to the younger Mer- 
 toun, who, in these intervals of his education, had an oppor- 
 tunity to give full scope to the energies of a bold, active, and 
 daring character. He was often engaged with the youth of 
 the hamlet in those desperate sports to which the " dreadful 
 trade of the samphire-gatherer " is like a walk upon level 
 ground — often joined those midnight excursions upon the 
 face of the giddy cliffs, to secure the eggs or the young of the 
 sea-fowl; and in these daring adventures displayed an ad- 
 dress, presence of mind, and acti^dty which, in one so young 
 and not a native of the country, astonished the oldest 
 fowlers.* 
 
 At other times, Mordaunt accompanied Sweyn and other 
 fishermen in their long and perilous expeditions to the dis- 
 tant and deep sea, learning under their direction the manage- 
 ment of the boat, in which they equal, or exceed, perhaps, 
 
 * See Accidents to Fowlers. Note 4. 
 
THE PIRATE. 16 
 
 any natives of the British empire. This exercise had charms 
 for Mordaunt independently of the fisliing alone. 
 
 At this time, the old Norwegian sagas were much remem- 
 bered, and often rehearsed, by the fishermen, who still pre- 
 served among themselves the ancient Norse tongue, which 
 was the speech of their forefathers. In the dark romance of 
 those Scandinavian tales lay much that was captivating to a 
 youthful ear; and the classic fables of antiquity were rivaled 
 at least, if not excelled, in Mordaunt's opinion by the strange 
 legends of Berserkars, of sea-kings, of dwarfs, giants, and 
 sorcerers, which he heard from the native Zetlanders. Often 
 the scenes around him were assigned as the localities of the 
 wild poems, which, half-recited, half-chanted by voices as 
 hoarse, if not so loud, as the waves over which they floated, 
 pointed out the very bay on which they sailed as the scene of 
 a bloody sea-fight; the scarce-seen heap of stones that bristled 
 over the projecting cape as the dun, or castle, of some potent 
 earl or noted pirate; the distant and solitary gray stone on 
 the lonely moor as marking the grave of a hero; the wild 
 cavern, up wliich the sea rolled in heavy, broad, and un- 
 broken billows, as the dwelling of some noted sorceress.* 
 
 The ocean also had its mysteries, the effect of which was 
 aided bv the dim twilight, through which it was imperfectly 
 seen for more than half the year. Its bottomless depths 
 and secret caves contained, according to the account of 
 Sweyn and others skilled in legendary lore, such wonders as 
 modem navigators reject with disdain. In the quiet moon- 
 hght bay, where the waves came rippling to the shore, upon a 
 bed of smooth sand intermingled with shells, the mermaid 
 was still seen to glide along the waters, and mingling her 
 voice with the sighing breeze, was often heard to sing of sub- 
 terranean wonders, or to chant prophecies of future events. 
 The Kraken, that hugest of living things, was still supposed 
 to cumber the recesses of the Northern Ocean; and often, 
 when some fog-bank covered the sea at a distance, the eye of 
 the experienced boatman saw the horns of the monstrous 
 leviathan welkingiand waving amidst the wreaths of mist, and 
 bore away with all press of oar and sail, lest the sudden suc- 
 tion, occasioned bv the sinking of the monstrous mass to the 
 bottom, should drag within the grasp of its multifarious 
 feelers his own frail skiff. The sea-snake was also known, 
 which, arising out of the depths of ocean, stretches to the 
 skies his enormous neck, covered with a mane like that of a 
 
 * See Norse Fragments. Not* 5. 
 
16 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 war-horse, and with its broad, ghttering e3^es raised mast- 
 head high, looks out, as it seems, for plunder or for victims. 
 
 Many prodigious stories of these marine monsters, and of 
 many others less known, were then universally received 
 among the Zetlanders, whose descendants have not as yet by 
 any means abandoned faith in them.* 
 
 Such legends are, indeed, everywhere current amongst the 
 vulgar; but the imagination is far more powerfully affected 
 by them on the deep and dangerous seas of the North, amidst 
 precipices and headlands, many hundred feet in height; amid 
 perilous straits, and currents, and eddies; long sunken reefs 
 of rock, over which the vivid ocean foams and boils; dark 
 caverns, to whose extremities neither man nor skiff has ever 
 ventured; lonely, and often uninhabited, isles; and occasion- 
 ally the ruins of ancient Northern fastnesses, dimly seen by 
 the feeble light of the Arctic winter. To Mordaunt, who had 
 much of romance in his disposition, these superstitions 
 formed a pleasing and interesting exercise of the imagination, 
 while, half-doubting, half-inclined to believe, he listened to 
 the tales chanted concerning these wonders of nature and 
 creatures of credulous belief, told in the rude but energetic 
 language of the ancient Scalds. 
 
 But there wanted not softer and lighter amusement, that 
 might seem better suited to Mordaunt's age than the wild 
 tales and rude exercises which we have already mentioned. 
 The season of winter, when, from the shortness of the day- 
 light, labor becomes impossible, is in Zetland the time of 
 revel; feasting, and merriment. Whatever the fisherman has 
 been able to acquire during summer was expended, and often 
 wasted, in maintaining the mirth and hospitality of his hearth 
 during this period; while the landholders and gentlemen of 
 the island gave double loose to their convivial and hospitable 
 dispositions, thronged their houses with guests, and drove 
 away the rigor of the season with jest, glee, and song, the 
 dance, and the wine-cup. 
 
 Amid the revels of this merry, though rigorous, season 
 no youth added more spirit to the dance or glee to the revel 
 than the young stranger, Mordaunt Mertoun. When his 
 father's state of mind permitted, or indeed required, his ab- 
 sence, he wandered from house to house, a welcome guest 
 wherever he came, and lent his ^\^lling voice to the song and 
 his foot to the dance. A boat, or, if the weather, as was often 
 the case, permitted not that convenience, one of the numer- 
 
 * See Sea Monsters. Note 6. 
 
TEE PIRATE. 17 
 
 ous ponies, which, straying in hordes about the extensive 
 moors, ma}' be said to be at any man's command who can 
 catch them, conveyed him from the mansion of one hospitable 
 Zetlander to that of another. Xone excelled him in per- 
 forming the warlike sword-dance, a species of amusement 
 which had been derived from the habits of the ancient Norse- 
 men. He could play upon the " gue," and upon the com- 
 mon violin, the melancholy and pathetic tunes peculiar to the 
 country; and with great spirit and execution could relieve 
 their monotony with the livelier airs of the North of Scot- 
 land. When a party set forth as maskers, or, as they are 
 called in Scotland, " guizards," to visit some neighboring 
 laird or rich Udaller, it augured well of the expedition if Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun could be prevailed upon to undertake the 
 office of " skudler/' or leader of the band. Upon these occa- 
 sions, full of fun and frolic, he led his retinue from house to 
 house, bringing mirth where he went, and leaving regret 
 when he departed. Mordaunt became thus generally known, 
 and beloved as generally, through most of the houses com- 
 posing the patriarchal community of the Main Isle; but his 
 visits were most frequently and most willingly paid at the 
 mansion of his father's landlord and protector, Magnus 
 Troil. 
 
 It was not entirely the hearty and sincere welcome of the 
 worthy old magnate, nor the sense that he was in effect his 
 father's patron, which occasioned these frequent visits. The 
 hand of welcome was indeed received as eagerly as it was sin- 
 cerely given, while the ancient Udaller, raising himself in his 
 huge chair, whereof the inside was lined with well-dressed 
 sealskins, and the outside composed of massive oak, carved by 
 the rude graving-tool of some Hamburgh carpenter, shouted 
 forth his welcome in a tone which might, in ancient times, 
 have hailed the return of Toul, the highest festival of the 
 Goths. There was metal yet more attractive, and younger 
 hearts, whose welcome, if less loud, was as sincere as that of 
 the jolly Udaller. But this is matter which ought not to !>*». 
 discussed at the conclusion of a chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 O, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, 
 
 They were twa bouuie lasses ; 
 They biggit a house on yon Luru-brft«, 
 
 And theekit it ower \vi' rashes. 
 
 Fair Bessy Bell I looed yestreen, 
 
 And thought I ne'er could alter ; 
 But Mar}' Gray's twa pawky een 
 
 Have garr'd ray fancy falter. 
 
 — Scots Song. 
 
 We have already mentioned Minna and Brenda, the daugh- 
 ters of Magnus Troil. Their mother had been dead for many 
 years, and they were now two beautiful girls, the eldest only 
 eighteen, which might be a year or two younger than Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun, the second about seventeen. They were the 
 joy of their father's heart and the light of his old eyes; and 
 although indulged to a degree which might have endangered 
 his comfort and their own, they repaid his affection with a 
 love into wliich even blind indulgence had not introduced 
 slight regard or feminine caprice. The difference of their 
 tempers and of their complexions was singularly striking, 
 although combined, as is usual, with a certain degree of 
 family resemblance. 
 
 The mother of these maidens had been a Scottish lady 
 from the Highlands of Sutherland, the orphan of a noble 
 chief, who, driven from his own country during the feuds of 
 the seventeenth century, had found shelter in those peaceful 
 islands, which, amidst poverty and seclusion, were thus far 
 happy, that they remained unvexed by discord and unstained 
 by civil broil. The father (his name "was St. Clair) pined for 
 his native glen, his feudal tower, his clansmen, and his fallen 
 authority, and died not long after his arrival in Zetland. 
 The beauty of his orphan daughter, despite her Scottish 
 lineage, melted the stout heart of Magnus Troil. He sued 
 and was listened to, and she became his bride; but dying in 
 the fifth year of their union, left him to mourn his brief 
 period of domestic happiness. 
 
 From her mother, Minna inherited the stately fonn and 
 dark eyes, the raven locks and finely-penciled brows, which 
 
 IS 
 
THE PIRATE. 1^ 
 
 showed she was, on one side at least, a stranger to the blood 
 of Thule. Her cheek — 
 
 call it fair, uot pale! 
 
 was so slightly and delicately tinged \nth the rose that many 
 thought the lily had an undue proportion in her complexion. 
 But in that predominance of tlie pder flower there was noth- 
 ing sickly or languid: it was the true, natural color of health, 
 and corresponded in a peculiar degree with features which 
 seemed calculated to express a contemplative and high- 
 minded character. When Minna Troil heard a tale of woe or 
 of injustice, it was then her blood rushed to her cheeks, and 
 showed plainly how warm it beat, notwithstanding the gen- 
 erally serious, composed, and retiring disposition which her 
 coiintenance and demeanor seemed to exhibit. If strangers 
 sometimes conceived that these fine features were clouded by 
 melancholy, for which her age and situation could scarce 
 have given occasion, they were soon satisfied, upon further 
 acquaintance, that the placid, mild quietude of her disposi- 
 tion, and the mental energy of a character which was but 
 little interested in ordinary and trivial occurrences, were the 
 real cause of her gravity; and most men, when they knew that 
 her melancholy had no ground in real sorrow, and was only 
 the aspiration of a soul bent on more important objects than 
 those by wliich she was surrounded, might have wished her 
 whatever could add to her happiness, but could scarce have 
 desired that, graceful as she was in her natural and unaffected 
 seriousness, she should change that deportment for one more 
 gay. In short, notwithstanding our wish to have avoided 
 that hackneyed simile of an angel, we cannot avoid saying 
 there was something in the serious beauty of her aspect, in 
 the measured yet graceful ease of her motions, in the music of 
 her voice, and the serene purity of her eye, that seemed as if 
 Minna Troil belonged naturally to some higher and better 
 sphere, and was only the chance visitant of a world that was 
 not worthy of her. 
 
 The scarcely less beautiful, equally lovely, and equally 
 innocent Brenda was of a complexion as differing from her 
 sister as they differed in character, taste, and expression. 
 Her profuse locks were of that paly brown which receives 
 from the passing sunbeam a tinge of gold, but darkens again 
 when the ray has passed from it. Her eye, her mouth, the 
 beautiful row of teeth, which in her innocent vivacity were 
 frequently disclosed; the fresh, yet not too bright, glow of a 
 
20 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 healthy complexion, tinging a skin like the drifted snow, 
 spoke her genuine Scandinavian descent. A fairy form, less 
 tall than that of Minna, but still more finely molded into 
 symmetry; a careless, and almost childish, lightness of step; 
 an eye that seemed to look on every object with pleasure, from 
 a natural and serene cheerfulness of disposition, attracted 
 even more general admiration than the charms of her sister, 
 though perhaps that which Minna did excite might be of a 
 more intense as well as more reverential character. 
 
 The dispositions of these lovely sisters were not less differ- 
 ent than their complexions. In the kindly affections, neither 
 could be said to excel the other, so much were they attached 
 to their father and to each other. But the cheerfulness of 
 Brenda mixed itself with the everyday business of life, and 
 seemed inexhaustible in its profusion. The less buoyant 
 spirit of her sister appeared to bring to society a contented 
 wish to be interested and pleased with what was going for- 
 ward, but was rather placidly carried along with the stream 
 of mirth and pleasure than disposed to aid its progress by any 
 efforts of her own. She endured mirth rather than enjoyed 
 it; and the pleasures in which she most delighted were those 
 of a graver and more solitary cast. The knowledge which is 
 derived from books was beyond her reach. Zetland afforded 
 few opportunities in those days of studying the lessons be- 
 queathed 
 
 By dead men to their kind ; 
 
 and Magnus Troil, such as we have described him, was not a 
 person within whose mansion the means of such knowledge 
 were to be acquired. But the book of nature was before 
 Minna, that noblest of volumes, where we are ever called to 
 wonder and to admire, even when we cannot understand. 
 The plants of those wild regions, the shells on the shores, and 
 the long list of feathered clans which haunt their cliffs and 
 eyries, were as well known to Minna Troil as to the most ex- 
 perienced fowlers. Her powers of observation were wonder- 
 ful, and little interrupted by other tones of feeling. The in- 
 formation which she acquired by habits of patient attention 
 was indelibly riveted in a naturally powerful memory. She 
 had also a high feeling for the solitary and melancholy 
 grandeur of the scenes in which she was placed. The ocean, 
 in all its varied forms of sublimity and terror; the tremen- 
 dous cliffs, that resound to the ceaseless roar of the billows 
 and t?ie clang of the sea,-fawl, had for Minna a charm in 
 
THE PIRATE. 21 
 
 almost every state in which the changing seasons exhibited 
 them. With tlie enthusiastic feelings proper to the romantic 
 race from which her mother descended, the love of natural 
 objects was to her a passion capable not only of occupying, 
 but at times of agitating, her mind. Scenes upon which her 
 sister looked with a sense of transient awe or emotion, which 
 vanished on her return from witnessing them, continued long 
 to fill Minna's imagination, not only in solitude and in the 
 silence of the night, but in the hours of society. So that some- 
 times when she sat like a beautiful statue, a present member 
 of the domestic circle, her thoughts were far absent, wander- 
 ing on the wild sea-shore, and among the yet wilder moun- 
 tains of her native isles. And yet, when recalled to conversa- 
 tion, and mingling in it with interest, there were few to whom 
 her friends were more indebted for enhancing its enjoyments; 
 and although something in her manners claimed deference 
 (notwithstanding her early youth) as well as affection, even 
 her gay, lovely, and amiable sister was not more generally be- 
 loved than the more retired and pensive Minna. 
 
 Indeed, the two lovely sisters were not only the delight of 
 their friends, but the pride of those islands, where the in- 
 habit-ants of a certain rank were blended, by the remoteness 
 of their situation and the general hospitality of their habits, 
 into one friendly community. A wandering poet and parcel- 
 musician, who, after going through various fortunes, had re- 
 turned to end his days as he could in his native islands, had 
 celebrated the daughters of Magnus in a poem, which he en- 
 titled " Xight and Day"; and in his description of Minna 
 might almost be thought to have anticipated, though only in 
 a rude outline, the exquisite lines of Lord Byron: 
 
 She walks in beauty, like the night 
 
 Of cloudless climes and starry skies ; 
 And all that's best of dark and bright 
 
 Meet in her aspect and her eyes : 
 Thus mellow'd to that tender light 
 
 Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 
 
 Their father loved the maidens both so well that it might 
 be difficult to say which he loved best; saving that, perchance, 
 he liked his graver damsel better in the walk without doors, 
 and his merrv' maiden better by the fireside; that he more 
 desired the society of Minna when he was sad, and that of 
 Brenda when he was mirthful; and, what was nearly the same 
 thing, preferred ^finna before noon, and Brenda after the 
 glass had circulated in the evening. 
 
22 WA VERLET NO VELS. 
 
 But it was still more extraordinary that the affections of 
 Mordau2it Mertoun seemed to hover with the same impar- 
 tiality as those of their father betwixt the two lovely sisters. 
 From his boyhood, as we have noticed, he had been a frequent 
 inmate of the residence of Magnus at Burgh-Westra, although 
 it lay nearly twenty miles distant from Jarlshof. The im- 
 passable character of the country betwixt these places, ex- 
 tending over liills covered with loose and quaking bog, and 
 frequently intersected by the creeks or arms of the sea, which 
 indent the island on either side, as well as by fresh-water 
 streams and lakes, rendered the journey difficult, and even 
 dangerous, in the dark season; yet, as soon as the state of his 
 father's mind warned him to absent himself, Mordaunt, at 
 every risk and under every difficulty, was pretty sure to be 
 found the next day at Burgh-Westra, having achieved his 
 journey in less time than would have been employed perhaps 
 by the most active native. 
 
 He was, of course, set down as a wooer of one of the daugh- 
 ters of Magnus by the public of Zetland; and when the old 
 Udaller's great partiality to the youth was considered, nobody 
 doubted that he might aspire to the hand of either of those 
 distinguished beauties, with as large a share of islets, rocky 
 moorland, and shore fishings as might be the fitting portion 
 of a favored child, and with the presumptive prospect of pos- 
 sessing half the domains of the ancient house of Troil, when 
 their present owner should be no more. This seemed all a 
 reasonable speculation, and^ in theory at least, better con- 
 structed than many that are current through the world as 
 unquestionable facts. But, alas! all that sharpness of obser- 
 vation which could be applied to the conduct of the parties 
 failed to determine the main point, to which of the young 
 persons, namely, the attentions of Mordaunt were peculiarly 
 devoted. He seemed, in general, to treat them as an affec- 
 tionate and attached brother might have treated two sisters, 
 so equally dear to him that a breath would have turned the 
 scale of affection. Or if at any time, which often happened, 
 the one maiden appeared the more especial object of his at- 
 tention, it seemed only to be because circumstances called her 
 peculiar talents and disposition into more particular and 
 immediate exercise. 
 
 Both the sisters were accomplished in the simple music of 
 the North, and Mordaunt. who was their assistant, and some- 
 times their preceptor, when they were practicing this delight- 
 ful art, might be now seen assisting Minna in the acquisition 
 
THE PIRATE. 23 
 
 of those wild, solemn, and simple airs to which Scalds and 
 harpers sung of old the deeds of heroes, and presently found 
 equally active in teaching Brenda the more lively and com- 
 pUcated music which her fathers affection caused to be 
 brought from the English or Scottish capital for the use of 
 his daughters. x\nd wliile conversing with them, Mordaunt, 
 who mingled a strain of deep and ardent enthusiasm with 
 the gay and ungovernable spirits of youth, was equally ready 
 to enter into the wild and poetical visions of ]^Iinna or into 
 the lively and often humorous chat of her gayer sister. In 
 short, so httle did he seem to attach himself to either damsel 
 exclusiveh', that he was sometimes heard to say that Minna 
 never looked so lovely as when her light-hearted sister had 
 induced her, for the time, to forget her habitual gra\aty; or 
 Brenda so interesting as when she sat listening, a subdued and 
 affected partaker of the deep pathos of her sister Minna. 
 
 The pubhc of the Mainland were, therefore, to use the 
 hunter's phrase, at fault in their farther conclusions, and 
 could but determine, after long vacillating betwixt the 
 maidens, that the young man was positively to marry one of 
 them, but which of the two could only be determined when 
 his approaching manhood, or the interference of stout old 
 Magnus, the father, should teach Master Mordaunt Mertoun 
 to know his own mind. " It was a pretty thing indeed," they 
 usually concluded, " that he, no native born, and possessed 
 of no visible means of subsistence that is known to anyone, 
 should presume to hesitate, or affect to have the power of 
 selection and choice, betwixt the two most distinguished 
 beauties of Zetland. If they were Magnus Troil, they would 
 soon be at the bottom of the matter," and so forth; all which 
 remarks were only whispered, for the hasty disposition of the 
 TJdaller had too much of the old Norse fire about it to render 
 it safe for anyone to become an unauthorized intermeddler 
 with his family affairs. And thus stood the relation of Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun to the family of Mr. Troil of Buxgh-Westra 
 when the following incidents took place. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 This is no pilgrim's morning : yon gray mist 
 Lies upon hill, and dale, and field, and foreat, 
 Like the dun wimple of a new-made widow ; 
 And, by my faith, although my heart be soft, 
 I'd rather hear that widow weep and sigh, 
 And tell the virtues of the dear departed, 
 Than, when the tempest sends his voice abroad, 
 Be subject to its fury. 
 
 — The Double Nuptials. 
 
 The spring was far advanced when, after a week spent in 
 sport and festivity at Burgh-Westra, Mordaunt Mertoun bade 
 adieu to the family, pleading the necessity of his return to Jarls- 
 hof. The proposal was combated by the maidens, and more 
 decidedly by Magnus himself: he saw no occasion whatever for 
 Mordaunt returning to Jarlshof. If his father desired to see 
 him, which, by the way, Magnus did not believe, Mr. Mertoun 
 had only to throw himself into the stem of Sweyn's boat, or 
 betake himself to a pony, if he liked a land journey better, 
 and he would see not only his son, but twenty folk besides, 
 who would be most happy to find that he had not lost the 
 use of his tongue entirely during his long solitude, " Al- 
 though I must own," added the worthy Udaller, " that, when 
 he lived among us, nobody ever made less use of it." 
 
 Mordaunt acquiesced both in what respected his father's 
 taciturnity and his dislike to general society; but suggested, 
 at the same time, that the first circumstance rendered his own 
 immediate return more necessary, as he was the usual channel 
 of comrnunication betwixt his father and others; and that the 
 second corroborated the same necessity, since Mr. Mertoun's 
 having no other society whatever seemed a weighty reason 
 why his son's should be restored to him without loss of time. 
 As to his father's coming to Burgh-Westra, " They might as 
 well," he said, " expect to see Sumburgh Cape come thither." 
 
 " And that would be a cumbrous guest," said Magnus. 
 " But you will stop for our dinner to-day? There are the 
 families of Muness, Quendale, Thorslivoe, and I know not 
 who else, are expected; and, besides the thirty that were in the 
 house this blessed night, we shall have as many more as cham- 
 ber and bower, and bam and boat-house, can furnish with 
 
THE PIRATE. 25 
 
 beds or with barley-straw; and you will leave all this behind 
 you! " 
 
 '• And the blithe dance at night," added Brenda, in a tone 
 betwixt reproach and vexation; " and the young men from 
 the Isle of Paba that are to dance the sword-dance, whom 
 shall we find to match them, for the honor of the Main? " 
 
 " There is many a merry dancer on the Mainland, Brenda," 
 replied Mordaunt, " even if I should never rise on tiptoe 
 again. And where good dancers are found, Brenda Troil 
 will always find the best partner. I must trip it to-night 
 through the wastes of Dunrossness." 
 
 " Do not say so, Mordaunt," said Minna, who, during this 
 conversation, had been looking from the window something 
 anxiously; " go not, to-day at least, through the wastes of 
 Dunrossness." 
 
 " And why not to-day, Minna," said Mordaunt, laughing, 
 "any more than to-morrow?" 
 
 " Oh, the morning mist lies heavy upon yonder chain of 
 isles, nor has it permitted us since daybreak even a single 
 ghmpse of Fitful Head, the lofty cape that concludes yon 
 splendid range of mountains. The fowl are winging their 
 way to the shore, and the shelldrake seems, through the mist, 
 as large as the scart.* See, the very sheerwaters and bonxies 
 are making to the cliifs for shelter." 
 
 " And they will ride out a gale against a king's frigate," 
 said her father: " there is foul weather when they cut and 
 run." 
 
 " Stay, then, with us," said Minna to her friend; " the 
 storm will be dreadful, yet it will be grand to see it from 
 Burgh- Westra, if we have no friend exposed to its fury. See, 
 the air is close and sultry, though the season is yet so early, 
 and the day so calm that not a windlestraw moves on the 
 heath. Stay with us, Mordaunt; the storm which these signs 
 announce will be a dreadful one." 
 
 " I must be gone the sooner," was the conclusion of Mor- 
 daunt, who could not deny the signs, which had not escaped 
 his own quick observation. " If the storm be too fierce, I 
 will abide for the night at Stourburgh." 
 
 "What!" said Magnus; "will you leave us for the new 
 chamberlain's new Scotch tacksman, who is to teach all us 
 Zetland savages new ways? Take your own gate, my lad, if 
 that is the song you sing." 
 
 *Se«Note?. 
 
26 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " Nay," said Mordaunt; " I had onl}^ some curiosity to see 
 fhe new implements he has brought." 
 
 " Aye — aye, ferlies make fools fain. I would like to know 
 if his new plow will bear against a Zetland rock? " answered 
 Magnus. 
 
 " I must not pass Stourburgh on the journey," said the 
 youth, deferring to his patron's prejudice against innovation, 
 " if this boding weather bring on tempest; but if it only break 
 in rain, as is most probable, I am not likely to be melted in 
 the wetting." 
 
 " It will not soften into rain alone," said Minna; " see how 
 much heavier the clouds fall every moment, and see these 
 weather-gaws that streak the lead-colored mass with partial 
 gleams of faded red and purple." 
 
 " I see them all," said Mordaunt; '' but they only tell me I 
 have no time to taiTy here. Adieu, Minna; I will send you 
 the eagle's feathers, if an eagle can be found on Fair Isle or 
 Foulah. And fare thee well, my pretty Brenda, and keep a 
 thought for me, should the Paba men dance ever so well." 
 
 " Take care of yourself, since go you will," said both sisters 
 together. 
 
 Old Magnus scolded them formally for supposing there was 
 any danger to an active young fellow from a spring gale, 
 whether by sea or land; yet ended by giving his own caution 
 also to Mordaunt, advising him seriously to delay his journey, 
 or at least to stop at Stourburgh. " For," said he, " second 
 thoughts are best; and as this Scottishman's howf lies right 
 under your lee, why, take any port in a storm. But do not 
 be assured to find the door on latch, let the stonn blow ever 
 so hard; there are such matters as bolts and bars in Scotland, 
 though, thanks to St. Ronald, they are unknown here, save 
 that great lock on the old Castle of Scalloway, that all men 
 run to see; maybe they make part of this man's improve- 
 ments. But go, Mordaunt, since go you will. You should 
 drink a stirrup-cup now, were you three years older; but boys 
 should never drink, excepting after dinner. I will drink it 
 for you, that good customs may not be broken, or bad luck 
 come of it. Here is your bonally, my lad." And so saying, 
 he quaffed a rummer glass of brandy with as much impunity 
 as if it had been spring-water. 
 
 Thus regretted and cautioned on all hands, Mordaunt took 
 leave of the hospitable household, and looking back at the 
 comforts with which it was surrounded, and the dense smoke 
 that rolled upward from its chimneys, he first recollected the 
 
THE PIE ATE. 27 
 
 guestless and solitary desolation of Jarlshof, then compared 
 with tlie sullen and moody melancholy of his father's temper 
 the warm kindness of those whom he was leaving, and could 
 not refrain from a sigh at the thoughts which forced them- 
 selves on his imagination. 
 
 The signs of the tempest did not dishonor the predictions 
 of Minna. Mordaunt had not advanced three hours on his 
 journey before the wind, which had been so deadly still in 
 the morning, began at first to wail and sigh, as if bemoaning 
 beforehand the evils which it might perpetrate in its fury, 
 like a madman in the gloomy state of dejection which pre- 
 cedes his fit of violence; then gradually increasing, the gale 
 howled, raged, and roared with the full fury of a northern 
 storm. It was accompanied by showers of rain mixed with 
 hail, that dashed with the most unrelenting rage against the 
 hills and rocks with wliich the traveler was surrounded, dis- 
 tracting liis attention, in spite of his utmost exertions, and 
 rendering it ver}^ difficult for him to keep the direction of 
 his journey in a country where there is neither road nor even 
 the slightest track to direct the steps of the wanderer, and 
 where he is often interrupted by brooks as well as large pools 
 of water, lakes, and lagoons. All these inland waters were 
 now lashed into sheets of tumbling foam, much of which, 
 caxried off by the fury of the whirlwind, was mingled \ai\i the 
 gale, and transported far from the waves of which it had 
 lately made a part; while the salt relish of the drift which 
 was pelted against his face showed j\Iordaunt that the spray 
 of the more distant ocean, disturbed to frenzy by the storm, 
 was mingled with that of the inland lakes and streams. 
 
 Amidst this hideous combustion of the elements, Mordaunt 
 Mertoun struggled forward as one to whom such elemental 
 war was familiar, and who regarded the exertions which it 
 required to withstand its fury but as a mark of resolution and 
 manliood. He felt even, as happens usually to those who 
 endure great hardships, that the exertion necessary' to sub- 
 due them is in itself a kind of elevating triumph. To see 
 and distinguish his path when the cattle were driven from 
 the hill, and the very fowls from the firmament, was but the 
 stronger proof of his own superiority. " They shall not hear 
 of me at Burgh- Westra," said he to himself, " as they heard 
 of old doited Ringan Ewenson's boat, that foundered betwixt 
 roadstead and key. I am more of a cragsman than to mind 
 fire or water, wave by sea, or quagmire by land." Thus he 
 struggled on, buffeting with the storm, supplying the want 
 
28 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 of the usual signs by which travelers directed their progress 
 (for rock, mountain, and headland were shrouded in mist and 
 darkness) by the instinctive sagacity with which long ac- 
 quaintance with these wilds had taught him to mark every 
 minute object which could serve in such circumstances to 
 regulate his course. Thus, we repeat, he struggled onward, 
 occasionally standing still, or even lying down, when the 
 gust was most impetuous; making way against it when it was 
 somewhat lulled, by a rapid and bold advance even in its very 
 current; or, when this was impossible, by a movement resem- 
 bling that of a vessel working to windward by short tacks, 
 but never yielding one inch of the way which he had fought 
 so hard to gain. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding Mordaunt's experience and resolu- 
 tion, his situation was sufficiently uncomfortable, and even 
 precarious; not because his sailor's jacket and trousers, the 
 common dress of young men through these isles when on a 
 journey, were thoroughly wet, for that might have taken 
 place within the same brief time in any ordinary day in this 
 watery climate; but the real danger was that, notwdthstanding 
 his utmost exertions, he made very slow way through brooks 
 that were sending their waters all abroad, through morasses 
 drowned in double deluges of moisture, which rendered all 
 the ordinary passes more than usually dangerous, and re- 
 peatedly obliged the traveler to perfonn a considerable cir- 
 cuit, which in the usual case was unnecessary. Thus repeat- 
 edly baffled, notwithstanding his youth and strength, Mor- 
 daunt, after maintaining a dogged conflict with wind, rain, 
 and the fatigue of a prolonged journey, was truly happy 
 when, not without having been more than once mistaken in 
 his road, he at length found himself within sight of the house 
 of Stourburgh, or Harfra; for the naxiies were indifferently 
 given to the residence of Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who 
 was the chosen missionary of the chamberlain of Orkney and 
 Zetland, a speculative person, who designed, through the 
 medium of Triptolemus, to introduce into the Ultima Thule 
 of the Eomans a spirit of improvement which at that early 
 period was scarce known to exist in Scotland itself. 
 
 At length, and with much difficulty, Mordaunt reached the 
 house of this worthy agriculturist, the only refuge from the 
 relentless storm which he could hope to meet with for several 
 miles; aud going straight to the door, with the most undoubt- 
 ing confidence of instant admission, he was not a little sur- 
 prised to find it not merely latched, which the weather might 
 
THE PIE ATE. 29 
 
 excuse, but even bolted, a thing which, as Magnus Troil has 
 already intimated, was almost unknown in the archipelago. 
 To knock, to call, and finalh' to batter the door with staff 
 and stones, were the natural resources of the youth, who was 
 rendered alike impatient by the pelting of the storm and by 
 encountering such most unexpected and unusual obstacles to 
 instant admission. As he was suffered, however, for many 
 minutes to exhaust his impatience in noise and clamor, with- 
 out receiving any reply, we will employ them in informing 
 the reader who Triptolemus Yellowley was, and how he came 
 by a name so singular. 
 
 Old Jasper Yellowley, the father of Triptolemus, though 
 born at the foot of Eoseberr}' Topping, had been " come 
 over," by a certain noble Scottish earl, who, proving too far 
 north for canny Yorkshire, had persuaded him to accept of 
 a farm in the ]\Iearns. where, it is unnecessary' to add, he 
 found matters verv- different from what he had expected. It 
 was in vain that the stout farmer set manfully to work to 
 counterbalance, by superior skill, the inconveniences arising 
 from a cold soil and a weeping climate. These might have 
 been probably overcome; but his neighborhood to the Gram- 
 pians exposed him eternally to that species of xasitation from 
 the plaided gentry who dwelt within their skirts which made 
 young Xorval a warrior and a hero, but only converted Jasper 
 Yellowley into a poor man. This was, indeed, balanced in 
 some sort by tlie impression which his ruddy cheek and robust 
 form had the fortune to make upon Miss Barbara Clinkscale, 
 daughter to the umquhile, and sister to the then existing, 
 Clinkscale of that ilk. 
 
 This was thought a horrid and unnatural union in the 
 neighborhood, considering that the house of Clinkscale had 
 at least as great a share of Scottish pride as of Scottish parsi- 
 mony, and was amply endowed with both. But Miss Baby 
 had her handsome fortune of two thousand merks at her own 
 disposal, was a Avoman of spirit, who had been " major " and 
 " sui juris " (as the writer who drew the contract assured her) 
 for full twenty years: so she set consequences and commen- 
 taries alike at defiance, and wedded the hearty Yorkshire yeo- 
 man. Her brother and Iier more wealthy kinsmen drew off in 
 disgust, and almost disowned their degraded relative. But the 
 house of Clinkscale was allied, like every other family in 
 Scotland at the time, to a set of relations who were not so nice 
 — tenth and sixteenth cousins, who not only acknowledged 
 their kinswoman Baby after her marriage with Yellowley, but 
 
3C WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 even condescended to eat beans and bacon * — though the lat- 
 ter was then the abomination of tlie Scotch as niucli as of the 
 Jews — with her husband, and would willingly have cemented 
 the friendship by borrowing a little cash from him, had not 
 his good lady, who understood trap as well as any woman in 
 the Mearns, put a negative on this advance to intimacy. In- 
 deed, she knew how to make young Deilbelicket, old Dougald 
 JBaresword, the Laird of Bandybrawl, and others pay for the 
 hospitality which she did not think proper to deny them, by 
 rendering them useful in her negotiations with the light- 
 handed lads beyond the Cairn, who, finding their late object 
 of plunder was now allied to " kenn'd folks, and owned by 
 them at kirk and market," became satisfied, on a moderate 
 yearly composition, to desist from their depredations. 
 
 This eminent success reconciled Jasper to the dominion 
 which his wife began to assume over him; and which was 
 much confiraied by her proving to be — let me see, what is 
 the prettiest mode of expressing it? — in the family way. On 
 this occasion, Mrs. Yellowley had a remarkable dream, as is 
 the usual practice of teeming mothers previous to the birth 
 of an illustrious offspring. She " was a-dreamed," as her 
 husband expressed it, tliat she was safely delivered of a plow, 
 drawn by three yoke of Angus-shire oxen; and being a mighty 
 investigator into such portents, she sat herself down with her 
 gossips to consider what the thing might mean. Honest 
 Jasper ventured, with much hesitation, to intimate his own 
 opinion that the vision had reference rather to things past 
 than things future, and might have been occasioned by his 
 wife's nerves having been a little startled by meeting in the 
 loan above the house his own great plow with the six oxen, 
 which were the pride of his heart. But the good cummers 
 raised such a hue and cry against this exposition, that Jasper 
 was fain to put his fingers in his ears and to run out of the 
 apartment. 
 
 " Hear to him," said an old Whigamore carline — " hear to 
 him, wi' his owsen, that are as an idol to him, even as the calf 
 of Bethel! Na — na, it's nae pleugh of the flesh that the 
 bonny lad-bairn — for a lad it sail be — sail e'er striddle be- 
 tween the stilts o'; it's the pleugh of the Spirit; and I trust 
 mysell to see him wag the head o' him in a pu'pit; or, what's 
 better, on a hillside." 
 
 " Now, the deil's in your Whiggery," said the old Lady 
 Glenprosing; " wad ye hae our cummer's bonny lad-bairn wag 
 
 * See " Waverley," Note 22, p. 459. 
 
THE PIRATE. 31 
 
 the head aff his shouthers like your godly Mess James 
 Guthrie,* that ye hald such a clavering about? Na — na, he 
 sail walk a mair siccai- path, and be a dainty curate; and say 
 he should Hve to be a bishop, what the waur wad he be? " 
 
 The gauntlet thus fairly flung down by one sibyl was 
 caught up by another, and the controversy between Presby- 
 tery and Episcopacy raged, roared, or rather screamed, a 
 round of cinnamon-water serving only like oil to the flame, 
 till Jasper entered with the plow-staff; and by the awe of his 
 presence, and the shame of misbehaving " before the stran- 
 ger man," imposed some conditions of silence upon the dis- 
 putants. 
 
 I do not know whether it was impatience to give to the 
 light a being destined to such high and doubtful fat-es, or 
 whether poor Dame Yellowley was rather frightened at the 
 hurly-burly which had t-aken place in her presence, but she 
 was taken suddenly ill; and, contrary to the formula in such 
 cases used and provided, was soon reported to be " a good 
 deal worse than was to be expected." She took the oppor- 
 tunity, having still all her wits about her, to extract from her 
 s3TQpathetic husband two promises — first, that he would 
 christen the child, whose birth was like to cost her so dear, 
 by a name indicative of the vision with which she had been 
 favored; and next, that he would educate him for the min- 
 istr}^ The canny Yorkshireman, thinking she had a good 
 title at present to dictate in such matters, subscribed to all 
 she required. A man-child was accordingly bom under these 
 conditions, but the state of the mother did not permit her 
 for many days to inquire how far they had been complied 
 with. When she was in some degree convalescent, she was 
 informed that, as it was thought fit the child should be imme- 
 diately christened, it had received the name of Triptolemus; 
 the curate, who was a man of some classical skill, conceiving 
 that this epithet contained a handsome and classical allusion 
 to the visionar}' plow, wdth its triple yoke of oxen. Mrs. 
 Yellowley was not much delighted with the manner in which 
 her request had been complied with; but grumbling being to 
 as little purpose as in the celebrated case of Tristram Shandy, 
 she e'en sat down contented with the heathenish name, and 
 endeavored to counteract the effects it might produce upon 
 the taste and feelings of the nominee by such an education 
 
 * Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling;, and anthor of the " Caiiseg of the Lord's 
 Wrath." 165.3, was executed at Edinburgh in 1661, and his head affixed on the Nether- 
 bow Port or iiBXt.—Laing. 
 
32 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 as might put liim above the slightest thought of socks, coul- 
 ters, stilts, mold-boards, or anything connected with the 
 servile drudgery of the plow. 
 
 Jasper, sage Vorkshireman, smiled slyly in his sleeve, con- 
 ceiving that young Trippie was likely to prove a chip of the 
 old block, and would rather take after the jolly Yorkshire 
 yeoman than the gentle but somewhat " aigre " blood of the 
 house of Clinkscale. He remarked, with suppressed glee, that 
 the tune which best answered the purpose of a lullaby was 
 the " Plowman's Whistle," and the first words the infant 
 learned to stammer were the names of the oxen; moreover, 
 that the " bem " preferred home-brewed ale to Scotch two- 
 penny, and never quitted hold of the tankard with so much 
 reluctance as when there had been, by some maneuver of Jas- 
 per's own device, a double " straik " of malt allowed to the 
 brewing, above that which was sanctioned by the most liberal 
 recipe of which his dame's household thrift admitted. Be- 
 sides this, when no other means could be fallen upon to divert 
 an occasional fit of squalling, his father observed that Trip 
 could be always silenced by jingling a bridle at his ear. 
 From all which symptoms he used to swear in private that the 
 boy would prove true Yorkshire, and mother and mother's 
 kin would have small share of him. 
 
 Meanwhile, and within a year after the birth of Triptol- 
 emus, Mrs. Yellowley bore a daughter, named after herself, 
 Barbara, who even in earliest infancy exhibited the pinched 
 nose and thin lips by which the Clinkscale family were dis- 
 tinguished amongst the inhabitants of the Mearns; and as her 
 childhood advanced, the readiness with which she seized, and 
 the tenacity wherewith she detained, the playthings of Trip- 
 tolemus, besides a desire to bite, pinch, and scratch, on slight 
 or no provocation, were all considered by attentive observers 
 as proofs that Miss Baby would prove " her mother over 
 again." Malicious people did not stick to say, that the acri- 
 mony of the Clinkscale blood had not on this occasion been 
 cooled and sweetened by that of Old England; that young 
 Deilbelicket was much about the house, and they could not 
 but think it odd that Mrs. Yellowley, who, as the whole world 
 knew, gave nothing for nothing, should be so uncommonly 
 attentive to heap the trencher and to fill the eaup of an idle 
 blackguard ne'er-do-weel. But when folk had once looked 
 upon the austere and awfully virtuous countenance of Mrs. 
 Yellowley, they did full justice to her propriety of conduct 
 and DeillDelicket's delicacy of taste. 
 
THE PIRATE. 38 
 
 Meantime, young Triptolemiis, having received such in- 
 etructions as the curate could give him (for, though Dame 
 Yellowley adhered to the persecuted remnant, her jolly hus- 
 band, edified by the black gown and prayer-book, still con- 
 formed to the church as by law established), was, in due 
 process of time, sent to St. Andrews to prosecute his studies. 
 He went, it is true, but with an eye turned back wdth sad re- 
 membrances on his father's plow, his father's pancakes, and 
 his father's ale, for which the sraalbbeer of the college, com- 
 monly there termed " thorough-go-nimble," furnished a poor 
 substitute. Yet he advanced in his learning, being found, 
 however, to show a particular favor to such authors of an- 
 tiquitj' as had made the improvement of the soil the object 
 of their researches. He endured the "Bucolics" of Virgil; 
 the " Georgic^ " he had by heart; but the "^neid " he could 
 not away with; and he was particularly severe upon the cele- 
 brated line expressing a charge of cavalry, because, as he 
 understand the word " putrem,"* he opined that the combat- 
 ants in their inconsiderate ardor, galloped over a new-manured 
 plowed field. Cato, the Eoman Censor, was his favorite among 
 classical heroes and philosophers, not on account of the strict- 
 ness of his morals, but because of his treatise, " De Re Rus- 
 tica." He had ever in his mouth the phrase of Cicero, 
 " Jam neminem antepones Catoni." He thought well of 
 Palladius and of Terentius Yarro; but Columella was his 
 pocket-companion. To these ancient worthies he added 
 the more modern Tusser, Hartlib, and other writers on rural 
 economics, not forgetting the lucubrations of the " Shepherd 
 of Salisbury Plain," and such of the better-informed philo- 
 maths who, instead of loading their almanacs with vain pre- 
 dictions of political events, pretended to see what seeds would 
 grow and what would not, and direct the attention of their 
 readers to that course of cultivation from which the produc- 
 tion of good crops may be safely predicted; modest sages, in 
 fine, who, careless of the rise and downfall of empires, con- 
 tent themselves with pointing out the fit seasons to reap and 
 sow, with a fair guess at the weather which each month will 
 be likely to present; as, for example, that, if Heaven pleases, 
 M-e shall have snow in January, and the author will stake his 
 reputation that July proves, on the whole, a month of sun- 
 shine. jSTow, although the rector of St. Jjeonard's was greatly 
 pleased in general with the quiet, laborious, and studious bent 
 of Triptplemus Yellowley, and deemed him, in so far, worthy 
 
 * Qnadrftpedumque potrera eonitu qiiatit nugula campnm. 
 
34 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 of a name of four syllables having a Latin termination, yet 
 he relished not, by any means, his exclusive attention to his 
 favorite authors. It savored of the earth, he said, if not of 
 something worse, to have a man's mind always groveling in 
 mold, stercorated or unstercorated; and he pointed out, but 
 m vain, history, and poetry, and divinity as more elevating 
 subjects of occupation. Triptolemus Yellowley was obsti- 
 nate in his own course. Of the battle of Pharsalia, he 
 thought not as it affected the freedom of the world, but dwelt 
 on the rich crop which the Emathian fields were likely to 
 produce the next season. In vernacular poetry, Triptolemus 
 could scarce be prevailed upon to read a single couplet, ex- 
 cepting old Tusser, as aforesaid, whose " Hundred Points of 
 Good Husbandry " he had got by heart; and excepting also 
 " Piers Plowman's Vision," which, charmed with the title, he 
 bought with avidity from a packman, but, after reading the 
 two first pages, flung it into the fire as an impudent and mis- 
 named political libel. As to divinity, he summed that matter 
 up by reminding his instructors that to labor the earth and 
 win his bread with the toil of his body and sweat of his brow 
 was the lot imposed upon fallen man; and, for his part, he 
 was resolved to discharge, to the best of his abilities, a task 
 so obviously necessary to existence, leaving others to specu- 
 late as much as they would upon the more recondite mys- 
 teries of theology. 
 
 With a spirit so much narrowed and limited to the concerns 
 of rural life, it may be doubted whether the proficiency of 
 Triptolemus in learning, or the use he was like to make of his 
 acquisitions, would have much gratified the ambitious hope 
 of his affectionate mother. It is true, he expressed no re- 
 luctance to embrace the profession of a clergyman, which 
 suited well enough with the habitual personal indolence 
 which sometimes attaches to speculative dispositions. He 
 had views, to speak plainly (I wish they were peculiar to 
 himself), of cultivating the glebe six days in the Aveek, preach- 
 ing on the seventh with due regularity, and dining with some 
 fat franklin or country laird, with whom he could smoke a 
 pipe and drink a tankard after dinner, and mix in secret con- 
 ference on the exhaustless subject: 
 
 Quid faciat laetas segetes. 
 
 Now this plan, besides that it indicated nothing of what was 
 then called the root of the matter, implied necessarily the 
 possession of a manse; and the possession, of a manse inferred 
 
TEE PIBATE. 85 
 
 compliance with the doctrines of prelacy and other enormities 
 of the time. Tliere was some quesdou how far manse and 
 glebe, stipend, both victual and money, might have out- 
 balanced the good lady's predisposition toward Presbytery; 
 but her zeal was not put to so severe a trial. She died before 
 her son had completed his studies, leaving her afflicted spouse 
 just as disconsolate as was to be expected. The first act of 
 old Jaspers undivided administration was to recall his son 
 from St. Andrew's, in order to obtain his assistance in his 
 domestic labors. And here it might have been supposed that 
 our Triptolemus. summoned to carry into practice what he 
 had so fondly studied in theory, must have been, to use a 
 simile which he would have thought lively, like a cow entering 
 upon a clover park. Alas, mistaken thoughts and deceitful 
 hopes of mankind! 
 
 A laughing philosopher, the Democritus of our day, once, in 
 a moral lecture, compared human life to a table pierced with 
 a number of holes, each of which has a pin made exactly to fit 
 it, but which pins being stuck in hastily, and without selec- 
 tion, chance leads inevitably to the most awkward mistakes. 
 " For how often do we see," the orator pathetically concluded 
 — " how often, I say, do we see the roimd man stuck into the 
 three-cornered hole! " This new illustration of the vagaries 
 of fortune set everyone present into convulsions of laughter, 
 excepting one fat alderman, who seemed to make the case his 
 own, and insisted that it was no jesting matter. To take up 
 the simile, however, which is an excellent one, it is plain that 
 Triptolemus Yellowley had been shaken out of the bag at 
 least a hundred years too soon. If he had come on the stage 
 in our own time, that is, if he had flourished at any time 
 within these thirty or forty years, he could not have missed 
 to have held the office of vice-president of some eminent 
 agriculttiral society, and to have transacted all the business 
 thereof under the auspices of some noble duke or lord, who, 
 as the matter might happen, either knew, or did not know, 
 the difference betwixt a horse and a cart and a cart-horse. 
 He could not have missed such preferment, for he was ex- 
 ceedingly learned in all those particulars which, being of no 
 consequence in actual practice, go, of course, a great way to 
 constitute the character of a connoisseur in any art, and 
 especially in agriculture. But, alas! Triptolemus Yellowley 
 had, as we already have hinted, come into the world at least 
 a century too soon: for, instead of sitting in an arm-chair, 
 with a hammer in his hand and a bumper of port before liim. 
 
36 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 giving forth the toast — "To breeding, in all its branchee," 
 his father planted him betwixt the stilts of a plow, and in- 
 vited him to guide the oxen, on whose beauties he would, in 
 our day, have descanted, and whose rumps he would not have 
 goaded, but have carved. Old Jasper complained that al- 
 though no one talked so well of common and several, wheat 
 and rape, fallow and lea, as his learned son (whom he always 
 called Tolimus), yet, " dang it," added the Seneca, " naught 
 thrives wi' un — naught thrives wi' un! " It was still worse 
 when Jasper, becoming frail and ancient, was obliged, as 
 happened in the course of a few years, gradually to yield up 
 the reins of government to the academical neopliyte. 
 
 As if nature had meant him a spite, he had got one of the 
 dourest and most intractable farms in the Meams to try con- 
 clusions withal, a place which seemed to yield everytliing but 
 what the agriculturist wanted; for there were plenty of 
 thistles, which indicates dry land; and store of fern, which is 
 said to intimate deep land; and nettles, which show where 
 lime hath been applied; and deep furrows in the most un- 
 likely spots, which intimated that it had been cultivated in 
 former days by the Peghts, as popular tradition bore. There 
 was also enough of stones to keep the ground warm, according 
 to the creed of some farmers, and great abundance of springs 
 to render it cool and sappy, according to the theory of others. 
 It was in vain that, acting alternately on these opinions, poor 
 Triptolemus endeavored to avail himself of the supposed 
 capabilities of the soil. No kind of butter that might be 
 churned could be made to stick upon his own bread, any 
 more than on that of poor Tusser, whose " Hundred Points 
 of Good Husbandry," so useful to others of his day, were 
 never to himself worth as m-any pennies.* 
 
 In fact, excepting an hundred acres of iniield, to which old 
 Jasper had early seen the necessity of limiting his labors, 
 there was not a comer of the farm fit for an}'*thing but to 
 break plow-graith and kill cattle. And then, as for the part 
 which was really tilled with some profit, the expense of the 
 farming establishment of Triptolemus, and his disposition 
 to experiment, soon got rid of any good arising from the culti- 
 vation of it. " The carles and the cart-avers," he confessed, 
 with a sigh, speaking of his farm-servants and horses, " make 
 it all, and the carles and cart-avers eat it all " — a conclusion 
 which might sum up the year-book of many a gentleman 
 farmer. 
 
 y ♦ See Tusser's Poverty. Note is. 
 
THE PIBATE. 37 
 
 Matters would have soon been brought to a close with 
 Triptolemus in the present day. He would have got a bank- 
 credit, maneuvered \nth wind-bills, dashed out upon a large 
 scale, and soon have seen his crop and stock sequestered by 
 the sheriff; but in those days a man could not ruin himself 
 so easily. The whole Scottish tenantry stood upon the same 
 level flat of poverty, so that it was extremely difficult to find 
 any vantage ground by climbing up to which a man might 
 have an opportunity of actually breaking his neck wdth some 
 " eclat." They were pretty much in the situation of people 
 who, being totally without credit, may indeed suffer from in- 
 digence, but cannot possibly become bankrupt. Besides, not- 
 withstanding the failure of Triptolemus' projects, there was 
 to be balanced against the expenditure which they occasioned 
 all the savings which the extreme economy of his sister Bar- 
 bara could effect; and in truth her exertions were wonderful. 
 She might have realized, if anyone could, the idea of the 
 learned philosopher, who pronounced that sleeping was a 
 fancy, and eating but a habit, and who appeared to the world 
 to have renounced both, until it was unhappily discovered 
 that he had an intrigue with the cook-maid of the family, 
 who indemnified him for his privations by giving him private 
 entree to the pantry and to a share of her own couch. But 
 no such deceptions were practiced by Barbara Yellowley. 
 She was up early and down late, and seemed, to her over- 
 watched and over-tasked maidens, to be as " wakerife " as the 
 cat herself. Then, for eating, it appeared that the air was a 
 banquet to her, and she would fain have made it so to her 
 retinue. Her brother, who, besides being lazy in his person, 
 was somewhat luxurious in his appetite, would willingly now 
 and then have tasted a mouthful of animal food, were it but 
 to know how his sheep were fed oif. But a proposal to eat 
 a child could not have startled Mistress Barbara more; and, 
 being of a compliant and easy disposition, Triptolemus recon- 
 ciled himself to the necessity of a perpetual Lent, too happy 
 when he could get a scrap of butter to his oaten cake, or (as 
 they lived on the banks of the Esk) escape the daily necessity 
 of eating salmon, whether in or out of season, six days out of 
 the seven. 
 
 But although Mrs. Barbara brought faithfully to the Joint 
 stock all savings which her awful powers of economy accom- 
 plished to scrape together, and although the dower of their 
 mother was by degrees expended, or nearly so, in aiding them 
 upon extreme occasions, the term at length approached when 
 
38 WAVERLKY ^-OVELS. 
 
 it seemed impossible that they could sustain the conflict any 
 longer against the evil star of Triptolenius, as he called it 
 himself, or the natural result of his absurd speculations, as it 
 was termed by others. Luckily, at this sad crisis, a god 
 jumped down to their relief out of a machine. In plain 
 English, the noble lord who owned their fami arrived at his 
 mansion-house in their neighborhood, with his coach and six 
 and his running footmen,* in the full splendor of the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 This person of quality was the son of the nobleman who 
 had brought the ancient Jasper into the country from York- 
 shire, and he was, like his father, a fanciful and scheming 
 man. He had schemed well for himself, however, amid the 
 mutations of the time, having obtained, for a certain period 
 of years, the administration of the remote islands of Orkney 
 and Zetland,! for payment of a certain rent, with the right of 
 making the most of whatever was the property or revenue of 
 the crown in these districts, under the title of Lord Chamber- 
 lain. Now, his lordship had become possessed with a notion, 
 in itself a very true one, that much might be done to render 
 this grant available, by improving the culture of the crown 
 lands, both in Orkney and Zetland; and then having some 
 acquaintance with our friend Triptolemus, he thought (rather 
 less happily) that he might prove a person capable of further- 
 ing his schemes. He sent for him to the great hall-house, 
 and was so much edified by the way in which our friend laid 
 down the law upon every given subject relating to rural 
 economy that he lost no time in securing the co-operation of 
 so valuable an assistant, the first step being to release him 
 from his present unprofitable farm. 
 
 The terms were arranged much to the mind of Triptol- 
 emus, who had already been taught, by many years' experi- 
 ence, a dark sort of notion that, without undervaluing or 
 doubting for a moment his own skill, it would be quite as well 
 that almost all the trouble and risk should be at the expense 
 of his employer. Indeed, the hopes of advantage which he 
 held out to his patron were so considerable, that the Lord 
 Chamberlain dropped eveiy idea of admitting his dependent 
 into any share of the expected profits; for, rude as the arts 
 of agriculture were in Scotland, they were far superior to 
 those known and practiced in the regions of Thule, and Trip- 
 tolemus Yellowley conceived himself to be possessed of a 
 
 * See " Brifle of Lammermoor," Noto 9, p. 318. 
 t See Administration of Zetland. Note 9. 
 
THE PIRATE. 39 
 
 degree of insight into these mysteries far superior to what 
 was possessed or practiced even in the Mearns. The im- 
 provement, therefore, which was to be expected would bear 
 a double proportion, and the Lord Chamberlain was to reap 
 all the profit, deducting a handsome salary for his steward 
 Yellowley, together with the accommodation of a house and 
 domestic' farm, for the support of his family. Joy seized the 
 heart of Mistress Barbara at hearing this happy "termination 
 of what threatened to be so ver}- bad an affair as the lease of 
 Cauldacres. 
 
 •' If we cannot," she said, ''' provide for our own house 
 when all is coming in and nothing going out, surely we must 
 be worse than infidels! " 
 
 Triptolemus was a busy man for some time, huffing and 
 puffing, and eating and drinking in ever}' change-house, while 
 he ordered and collected together proper implements of agri- 
 culture, to be used by the natives of these devoted islands 
 whose destinies were menaced with this formidable change. 
 Singular tools these would seem if presented before a modern 
 agricultural society; but everything is relative, nor could the 
 heavy cart-load of timber, called the old Scots plow, seem 
 less strange to a Scottish farmer of this present day than the 
 corslets and casques of the soldiers of Cortes might seem to a 
 regiment of our own army. Yet the latter conquered Mexico, 
 and undoubtedly the former would have been a splendid im- 
 provement on the state of agriculture in Thule. 
 
 We have never been able to learn why Triptolemus pre- 
 ferred fixing his residence in Zetland to becoming an inhabit- 
 ant of the Orkneys. Perhaps he thought the inhabitants of 
 the latter archipelago the more simple and docile of the two 
 kindred tribes; or perhaps he considered the situation of the 
 house and farm he himself was to occupy (which was indeed 
 a tolerable one) as preferable to that which he had it in his 
 power to have obtained upon Pomona (so the main island of 
 the Orkneys is entitled). At Harfra, or, as it was sometimes 
 called, Stourburgh, from the remains of a Pictish fort which 
 was almost close to the mansion-house, the factor settled him- 
 self in the plenitude of his authority, determined to honor 
 the name he bore by his exertions, in precept and example, to 
 civilize the Zetlaiiders, and improve their very confined 
 knowledge in the primary arts of human life. 
 
CHAPTEK y. 
 
 The wind blew keen frae north and east ; 
 
 It blew npon the floor. 
 Quo' our goodman to our goodwife, 
 
 " Get up and bar the door." 
 
 " My hand is in my housewifeskep, 
 
 Goodman, as ye may see ; 
 If it shouldna be barr'd this hundred years, 
 
 It's no be barr'd for me ! " 
 
 — Old Song. 
 
 We can only hope that the gentle reader has not found the 
 latter part of the last chapter extremely tedious; hut, at any 
 rate, his impatience will scarce equal that of young Mordaunt 
 Mertoun, who, while the lightning came flash after flash, 
 while the wind, veering and shifting from point to point, 
 hlew with all the fury of a hurricane, and while the rain was 
 dashed against him in deluges, stood hammering, calling, and 
 roaring at the door of the old Place of Harfra, impatient for 
 admittance, and at a loss to conceive any position of existing 
 circumstances which could occasion the exclusion of a stran- 
 ger, especially during such horrible weather. At length, 
 finding his noise and vociferation were equally in vain, he 
 fell back so far from the front of the house as was necessary 
 to enable him to reconnoiter the chimneys; and, amidst 
 " storm and shade," could discover, to the increase of his dis- 
 may, that though noon, then the dinner-hour of these islands, 
 was now nearly arrived, there was no smoke proceeding from 
 the tunnels of the vents to give any note of preparation 
 within. 
 
 Mordaunt's wrathful impatience was now changed into 
 sympathy and alarm; for, so long accustomed to the exuber- 
 ant hospitality of the Zetland Islands, he was immediately 
 induced to suppose some strange and unaccountable disaster 
 had befallen the family; and forthwith set himself to discover 
 some place at which he could make forcible entry, in order 
 to ascertain the situation of the inmates, as much as to obtain 
 shelter from the still increasing storm. His present anxiety 
 was, however, as much thrown away as his late clamorous 
 importunities for admittance had been. Triptolemus and 
 his sister had heard the whole alarm without, and had already 
 had a sharp dispute on the propriety of opening the door. 
 
 40 
 
THE PIRATE. 41 
 
 Mrs. Baby, as we have described her, was no willing Ten- 
 derer of the rites of hospitality. In their farm of Cauldaeres, 
 in the Mearns, she had been the dread and abhorrence of all 
 gaberlunzie men, and traveling packmen, gypsies, long re- 
 membered beggars, and so forth; nor was there one of them 
 so wily, as she used to boast, as could ever say they had heard 
 the clink of her sneck. In Zetland, where the new settlers 
 wxre yet strangers to the extreme honesty and simplicity of 
 all classes, suspicion and fear joined with frugality in her 
 desire to exclude all wandering guests of uncertain character; 
 and the second of these motives had its effect on Triptolemus 
 himself, who, though neither suspicious nor penurious, knew 
 good people were scarce, good farmers scarcer, and had a 
 reasonable share of that wisdom which looks toward self- 
 preservation as the first law of nature. These hints may 
 serve as a commentary on the following dialogue which took 
 place betwixt the brother and sister. 
 
 " Now, good be gracious to us," said Triptolemus, as he sat 
 thumbing his old school-copy of Yirgil, " here is a pure day 
 for the bear seed! Well spoke the wise Mantuan — ' ventis 
 surgentibus ' — and then the groans of the mountains, and 
 the long-resounding shores; but where's the woods. Baby? — 
 tell me, I say, where we shall find the ' nemorum murmur,' 
 sister Baby, in these new seats of ours ? " 
 
 " What's your foolish will? " said Baby, popping her head 
 from out of a dark recess in the kitchen, where she was busy 
 about some nameless deed of housewifery. 
 
 Her brother, who had addressed himself to her more from 
 habit than intention, no sooner saw her bleak red nose, keen 
 gray eyes, with the sharp features thereunto conforming, 
 shaded' by the flaps of the loose " toy " which depended on 
 each side of her eager face, than he bethought himself that 
 his query was likely to find little acceptation from her, and 
 therefore stood another volley before he would resume the 
 topic. 
 
 " I say, Mr, Yellowley," said sister Baby, coming into the 
 middle of the room, " what for are ye crying on me, and me 
 in the midst of my housewifeskep? " 
 
 " Nay, for nothing at all. Baby," answered Triptolemus, 
 " saving that I was saying to myself, that here we had the sea, 
 and the wind, and the rain, sufficient enough, but where's the 
 wood? — where's the wood. Baby, answer me that?" 
 
 "The wood!" replied Baby. "Were I no to take better 
 care of the wood than you, brother, there would soon be no 
 
48 WAVBRLET NOVELS. 
 
 more wood about the town than the barber's block that's on 
 your own shoulders, Triptolemus. If ye be thinking of the 
 wreck-wood that the callants brought in yesterday, tliere was 
 six ounces of it gaed to boil your parritch this morning; 
 though, I trow, a carefu' man wad have ta'en drammoek. if 
 breakfast he behoved to have, rather than waste baith meltitli 
 and fuel in the same morning." 
 
 " That is to say, Baby," replied Triptolemus, who was 
 somewhat of a dry joker in his way, " that when we have fire 
 we are not to have food, and when we have food we are not to 
 have fire, these being too great blessings to enjoy both in the 
 same day! Good luck, you do not propose we should starve 
 with cold and starve with hunger ' unico contextu '? But, to 
 tell you the truth, I could never away with raw oatmeJ, 
 sleekened with water, in all my life. Call it drammoek, or 
 crowd ie, or just what ye list, my vivers must thole fire and 
 water." 
 
 " The mair gowk you," said Baby; " can ye not make your 
 brose on the Sunday, and sup them cauld on the Monday, 
 since ye're sae dainty? Mony is the fairer face than yours 
 that has licked the lip after such a cogfu'." 
 
 " Mercy on us, sister! " said Triptolemus; " at this rate, it's 
 a finished field with me: I must unyoke the pleugh and lie 
 down to wait for the dead-thraw. Here is that in this house 
 wad hold all Zetland in meal for a twelvemonth, and ye 
 grudge a cogfu' of warm parritch to me, that has sic a 
 charge! " 
 
 "Whisht! baud your silly clavering tongue!" said Baby, 
 looking round with apprehension; " ye are a wise man to 
 epeak of what is in the house, and a fitting man to have the 
 charge of it! Hark, as I live by bread, I hear a tapping at 
 the outer yett! " 
 
 " Go and open it then, Baby," said her brother, glad at 
 anything that promised to interrupt the dispute. 
 
 " Go and open it, said he ! " echoed Baby, half-angry, half- 
 frightened, and half-triumphant at the superiority of her 
 understanding over that of her brother. " Go and open it, 
 said he, indeed! is it to lend robbers a chance to take all that 
 is in the house? " 
 
 "Eobbers!" echoed Triptolemus, in his turn; "there are 
 no more robbers in this country than there are lambs at Yule. 
 I tell you, as I have told you an hundred times, there are no 
 Highlandmen to harry us here. This is a land of quiet and 
 honesty. ' fortunati nimium! ' " 
 
THE PIRATE. 43 
 
 "And what good is St. Ninian to do ye, Tolimus? " said 
 his sister, mistaking the quotation for a Catholic invocation. 
 " Besides, if there be no Highlandmen, there may be as bad. 
 I saw sax or seven as ill-looking chields gang past the Place 
 yesterday as ever came frae beyont Clochna-ben; ill-faur'd 
 tools they had in their hands, whaaling-knives they ca'ed 
 them, but they looked as like dirks and whingers as ae bit airn 
 can look like anither. There is nae honest men carry siccan 
 tools." 
 
 Here the knocking and shouts of Mordaunt were very 
 audible betwixt every swell of the horrible blast which was 
 careering without. The brother and sister looked at each 
 other in real perplexity and fear. " If they have heard of the 
 siller," said Baby, her very nose changing with terror from 
 red to blue, " we are but gane folk! " 
 
 " Who speaks now, when they should hold their tongue? " 
 said Triptolemus. " Go to the shot-window instantly, and 
 see how many there are of them, while I load the old Spanish- 
 barreled duck-gun; go as if you were stepping on new-laid 
 
 eggs-" 
 
 Baby crept to the window, and reported that she saw only 
 " one young chield, clattering and roaring as gin he were daft. 
 How many' there might be out of sight, she could not say." 
 
 " Out of sight! nonsense," said Triptolemus, laying aside 
 the ramrod with which he was loading the piece with a trem- 
 bling hand. " I will warrant them out of sight and hearing 
 both; this is some poor fellow catched in the tempest, wants 
 the shelter of our roof, and a little refreshment. Open the 
 door, Baby, it's a Christian deed." 
 
 " But is it a Christian deed of him to come in at the win- 
 dow, then?" said Baby, setting up a most doleful shriek, as 
 Mordaunt Mertoun, who had forced open one of the windows, 
 leaped down into the apartment, dripping with water like a 
 river god. Triptolemus, in great tribulation, presented the 
 gun which he had not yet loaded, while the intruder ex- 
 claimed, " Hold — hold; what the devil mean you by keeping 
 your doors bolted in weather like this, and leveling your gun 
 at folks' heads as you would at a sealgh's? " 
 
 "And who are you, friend, and what want you?" said 
 Triptolemus, lowering the butt of his gun to the floor as he 
 spoke, and so recovering his arms. 
 
 "What do I want?" said Mordaunt; "I want everything. 
 I want meat, drink, and fire, a bed for the night, and a sheltie 
 for to-morrow morning to C9,rry me to Jarlshof." 
 
44 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 "And ye said there were nae caterans or sorners here?" 
 said Baby to the agriculturist reproachfully. " Heard ye 
 ever a breekless loon frae Lochaber tell his mind and his 
 errand mair deftly? Come — come, friend," she added, ad- 
 dressing herself to Mordaunt, " put up your pipes and gang 
 your gate; this is the house of his lordship's factor, and no 
 place of reset for thiggers or somers." 
 
 Mordaunt laughed in her face at the simplicity of the 
 request. " Leave built walls," he said, " and in such a 
 tempest as this? What take you me for? — a gannet or a 
 scart do you think I am, that your clapping your hands and 
 skirling at me like a madwoman should drive me from the 
 shelter into the storm?" 
 
 " And so you propose, young man," said Triptolemus 
 gravely, " to stay in my house, ' volens nolens ' — that is, 
 whether we will or no?" 
 
 " Will! " said Mordaunt; " what right have you to will any- 
 thing about it? Do you not hear the thunder? Do you not 
 hear the rain? Do you not see the lightning? And do you 
 not know this is the only house within I wot not how many 
 miles? Come, my good master and dame, this may be Scot- 
 tish Jesting, but it sounds strange in Zetland ears. You have 
 let out the fire, too, and my teeth are dancing a jig in my 
 head with cold; but I'll soon put that to rights." 
 
 He seized the fire-tongs, raked together the embers upon 
 the heartli, broke up into life the gathering-peat, which the 
 hostess had calculated should have preserved the seeds of fire, 
 without giving them forth, for many hours; then casting his 
 eye round, saw in a comer the stock of drift-wood, which 
 Mistress Baby had served forth by ounces, and transferred 
 two or three logs of it at once to the hearth, which, conscious 
 of such unwonted supply, began to transmit to the chimney 
 such a smoke as had not issued from the Place of Harfra for 
 many a day. 
 
 While their uninvited guest was thus making himself at 
 home. Baby kept edging and jogging the factor to turn out 
 the intruder. But for this undertaking Triptolemus Yel- 
 lowley felt neither courage nor zeal, nOr did circumstances 
 seem at all to warrant the favorable conclusion of any fray 
 into which he might enter with the young stranger. The 
 sinewy limbs and graceful form of Mordaunt Mertoun were 
 seen to great advantage in his simple sea-dress; and with his 
 dark sparkling eye, finely formed head, animated features, 
 close curled dark hair, and bold, free looks, the stranger 
 
THE PIRATE. 45 
 
 formed a very strong contrast with the host on whom he had 
 intruded himself. Triptolemus was a short, clumsy, duck- 
 legged disciple of Ceres, whose bottle-nose, turned up and 
 hajidsomely coppered at the extremity, seemed to intimate 
 something of an occasional treaty with Bacchus. It was like 
 to be no ecjuaJ mellay betwixt persons of such unequal form 
 and strength; and the difference betwixt twenty and fifty 
 years was nothing in favor of the weaker party. Besides, the 
 factor was an honest, good-natured fellow at bottom, and 
 being soon satisfied that his guest had no other views than 
 those of obtaining refuge from the storm, it would, despite 
 his sister's instigations, have been his last act to deny a boon 
 so reasonable and necessary to a youth whose exterior was so 
 prepossessing. He stood, therefore, considering how he 
 could most gracefully glide into the character of the hos- 
 pitable landlord out of that of the ehurhsh defender of his 
 domestic castle against an unauthorized intrusion, when 
 Baby, who had stood appalled at the extreme familiarity of 
 the stranger's address and demeanor, now spoke up for herself. 
 
 " My troth, lad," said she to Mordaunt, " ye are no blate, to 
 light on at that rate, and the best of wood, too: nane of your 
 sharney peats, but good aik timber, nae less maun serve ye! " 
 
 " You come lightly by it, dame," said Mordaunt carelessly; 
 " and you should not grudge to the fire what the sea gives you 
 for nothing. These good ribs of oak did their last duty upon 
 earth and ocean when they could hold no longer together 
 under the brave hearts that manned the bark." 
 
 " And that's true, too," said the old woman, softening; 
 " this maun be awesome weather by sea. Sit down and warm 
 ye, since the sticks are alow." 
 
 " Aye — aye," said Triptolemus, " it is a pleasure to see 
 sicean a bonny bleeze. I havena seen the like o't since I 
 left Cauldacres." 
 
 " And shallna see the like o't again in a hurr)-," said Baby, 
 " unless the house take fire, or there suld be a coal-heugh 
 found out." 
 
 " And wherefore should not there be a coal-heugh found 
 out? " said the factor triumphantly — " I say, wherefore 
 should not a coal-heugh be found out in Zetland as well as in 
 Fife, now that the chamberlain has a far-sighted and de- 
 creet man upon the spot to make the necessarv perquisitions? 
 They are baith fishing-stations, I trow! " 
 
 "I tell you what it is, Tolimus Yellowley." answered his 
 sister, who had practical reasons to fear her brother's opening 
 
46 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 upon any false scent, " if you promise my lord sae mony of 
 these bonnie-wallies, we'll no be wecl hafted here before we 
 are found out and set a-trotting again. If ane was to speak 
 to ye about a gold mine, I ken weel wha would promise he 
 suld have Portugal pieces clinking in his pouch before the 
 year gaed by." 
 
 " And why suld I not? " said Triptolemus. " Maybe your 
 head docs not know there is a land in Orkney called Ophir, 
 or something very like it; and wherefore might not Solomon, 
 the wise king of the Jews, have sent thither his ships and his 
 servants for four hundred and fifty talents? I trow he 
 knew best where to go or send, and I hope you believe in your 
 Bible, Baby?" 
 
 Baby was silenced by an appeal to Scripture, howevei: " mal 
 a propos," and only answered by an inarticulate " humph " of 
 incredulity or scorn, while her brother went on addressing 
 Mordaunt. " Yes, you shall all of you see what a change 
 shall coin introduce even into such an unpropitious country 
 as yours. Ye have not heard of copper, I warrant, nor of 
 ironstone, in these islands, neither? " Mordaunt said he had 
 heard that there was copper near the Cliffs of Konigsburgh. 
 " Aye, and a copper scum is found on the Loch of Swana. too, 
 young man. But the youngest of you, doubtless, thinks him- 
 self a match for such as I am! " 
 
 Baby, who during all this while had been closely and accu- 
 rately reconnoitering the youth's person, now interposed in a 
 manner by her brother totally unexpected. " Ye had mair 
 need, Mr. Yellowley, to give the young man some dr}' clothes, 
 and to see about getting something for him to eat, than to 
 sit there bleezing away with your lang tales, as if the weather 
 were not windy > enow without your help ; and maybe the lad 
 would drink some ' bland,' or sic-like, if ye had the grace to 
 ask him." 
 
 While Triptolemus looked astonished at such a proposal, 
 considering the quarter it came from, Mordaunt answered, he 
 " should be very glad to have dry clothes, but begged to be 
 excused from drinking until he had eaten somewhat." 
 
 Triptolemus accordingly conducted him into another apart- 
 ment, and accommodating him with a change of dress, left 
 him to his arrangements, while he himself returned to the 
 kitchen, much puzzled to account for his sister's unusual fit 
 of hospitality. " She must be fey,"* he said, " and in that 
 case has not long to live, and though I fall heir to her tocher- 
 
 • See Note 10. 
 
THE PIRATE. 47 
 
 good, I am sorry for it; for she has held the house-gear well 
 together: drawn the girth over tight it may be now and then, 
 but the saddle sits the better." 
 
 When Triptolemus returned to the kitchen, he found his 
 suspicions confirmed; for his sister was in the desperate act of 
 consigning to the pot a smoked goose, which, with others of 
 the same tribe, had long hung in the large chimney, mutter- 
 ing to herself at the same time, " It maun be eaten sune or 
 syne, and what for no by the puir callant? " 
 
 ''What is this of it, sister?" said Triptolemus. "You 
 have on the girdle and the pot at ance. What day is this 
 wi'you?" 
 
 " E'en such a day as the Israelites had beside the flesh-pots 
 of Egypt, billie Triptolemus; but ye little ken wha ye have 
 in your house this blessed day." 
 
 " Troth and little do I ken," said Triptolemus, " as little 
 as I would ken the naig I never saw before. I would take 
 the lad for a jagger, but he has rather ower good havings, and 
 he has no pack." 
 
 " Ye ken as little as ane of your ain bits o' nowt, man," 
 retorted sister Baby; " if ye ken na him, do ye ken Tronda 
 Dronsdaughter? " 
 
 "■' Tronda Dronsdaughter!" echoed Triptolemus; " how 
 should I but ken her, when I pay her twal pennies Scots by 
 the day for working in the house here? I trow she works as 
 if the things burned her fingers. I had better give a Scots 
 lass a groat of English siller." 
 
 " And that's the maist sensible word ye have said this 
 blessed morning. Weel, but Tronda kens this lad week and 
 she has often spoke to me about him. They call his father 
 the Silent ]\[an of Sumburgh, and they say he's uncanny." 
 
 " Hout, hout — nonsense, nonsense; they are aye at sic trash 
 as that," said the brother, " when you want a day's wark out 
 of them: they have stepped ower the tangs, or they have met 
 an uncanny body, or they have turned about the boat against 
 the sun, and then there's naught to be done that day." 
 
 " Weel — weel, brother, ye are so wise," said Baby, " because 
 ye knapped Latin at St. xVndrews; and can your lair tell me, 
 then, what the lad has round his halse?" 
 
 " A Barcelona napkin, as wet as a dishclout. and I have 
 just lent him one of my own overlays," said Triptolemus. 
 
 "A Barcelona napkin!" said Baby, elevating her voice, 
 and then suddenly lowering it. as from apprehension of being 
 overheard. " I say a gold chain! " 
 
48 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 "A gold chain! '' said Triptolemiis. 
 
 "In troth is it, hinny; and how lilce yon that? The folk 
 say here, as Tronda tells me, that tlie king of the Drows gave 
 it "to his father, the Silent Man of Sumburgh." 
 
 " I wish you would speak sense, or be the silent woman," 
 said Triptolemus. " The upshot of it all is, then, that this 
 lad is the rich stranger's son, and that you are giving him the 
 goose you were to keep till Michaelmas! " 
 
 " Troth, brother, we maun do something for God's sake, 
 and to make friends; and the lad," added Baby, for even she 
 was not altogether above the prejudices of her sex in favor 
 of outward form — " the lad has a fair face of his ain." 
 
 " Ye would have let mony a fair face," said Triptolemus, 
 " pass the door pining, if it had not been for the gold chain." 
 
 " Nae doubt — nae doubt," replied Barbara; " ye wadna 
 have me waste our substance on every thigger or sorner that 
 has the luck to come by the door in a wet day? But this lad 
 has a fair and a wide name in the country, and Tronda says 
 he is to be married to a daughter of the rich Udaller, Magnus 
 Troil, and the marriage-day is to be fixed whenever he makes 
 choice, set him up! between the twa lasses; and so it wad be 
 as much as our good name is worth, and our quiet forbye, to 
 let him sit unserved, although he does come unsent for." 
 
 " The best reason in life," said Triptolemus, " for letting 
 a man into a house is, that you dare not bid him go by. 
 However, since there is a man of quality amongst them, I 
 will let him know whom he has to do with, in my person." 
 Then advancing to the door, he exclaimed, " ' Heus tibi, 
 Dave! ' " 
 
 " ' Adsum,' " answered the youth, entering the apartment. 
 
 "Hem!" said the erudite Triptolemus, "not altogether 
 deficient in his humanities, I see. I will try him further. 
 Canst thou aught of husbandry, young gentleman? " 
 
 "Troth, sir, not I," answered Mordaunt; "I have been 
 trained to plow upon the sea and to reap upon the crag." 
 
 "Plow the sea!" said Triptolemus; "that's a furrow re- 
 quires small harrowing; and for your harvest on the crag, I 
 suppose you mean these ' scowries,' or whatever you call 
 them. It is a sort of ingathering which the Eanzelman 
 should stop by the law; nothing more likely to break an 
 honest man's bones. I profess I cannot see the pleasure men 
 propose by dangling in a rope's end betwixt earth and heaven. 
 In my case, I had as lief the other end of the rope were fas- 
 tened to the gibbet; I should be sure of not falling, at least." 
 
THE PIRATE. 49 
 
 " Now, I would only advise you to ivy it," replied Mor- 
 daunt. " Trust me, the world has few grander sensations 
 than when one is perched in mid-air between a high-browed 
 cliff and a roaring ocean, the rope by which you are sustained 
 seeming scarce stronger than a silken thread, and the stone 
 on which you have one foot steadied affording such a breadth 
 as the kittiwake might rest upon — to feel and know all this, 
 with the full confidence that your own agility of limb and 
 strength of head can bring you as safe off as if you had the 
 wing of the gosshawk — this is indeed being almost independ- 
 ent of the earth you tread on! " 
 
 Triptolemus stared at this enthusiastic description of an 
 amusement which had so few charms for him; and his sister, 
 looking at the glancing eye and elevated bearing of the young 
 adventurer, answered by ejaculating, '' My certie, lad, but yc 
 are a brave chield! " 
 
 "A brave chield!" returned Yellowley; "I say a brave 
 goose, to be fiichtering and fleeing in the wind when he 
 might abide upon ' terra firma I ' But come, here's a goose 
 that is more to the purpose, when once it is well boiled. Get 
 us trenchers and salt. Baby; but in truth it will prove salt 
 enough — a tasty morsel it is. But I think the Zetlanders be 
 the only folk in the world that think of running such risks 
 to catch geese, and then boiling them when they have 
 done." 
 
 " To be sure," replied his sister (it was the only word they 
 had agreed in that day), " it would be an unco tiling to bid 
 ony gudewife in Angus or a' the Mearns boil a goose, while 
 there was sic things as spits in the warld. But wha's this 
 neist?" she added, looking toward the entrance with great 
 indignation. " My certie. open doors and dogs come in; and 
 wha opened the door to him? " 
 
 " I did, to be sure," replied Mordaunt; " you would not 
 have a poor devil stand beating your deaf door-cheeks in 
 weather like this? Here goes something, though, to help 
 the fire," he added, drawing out the sliding bar of oak with 
 which the door had been secured, and throwing it on the 
 hearth, whence it was snatched by Dame Baby in great wrath, 
 she exclaiming at the same time: 
 
 "It's sea-borne timber, as there's little else here, and he 
 dings it about as if it were a fir-clog! And who be you, an it 
 please you?" she added, turning to the stranger — "a very 
 hallansiiaker loon, as ever crossed my twa een! " 
 
 " I am a jagger, if it like your ladyship," replied the unin- 
 
50 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 vited guest, a stout, vulgar, little man, who had indeed the 
 humble appearance of a peddler, called " jagger " in these 
 islands; " never traveled in a waur day, or was more willing 
 to get to harborage. Heaven be praised for fire and house- 
 room! " 
 
 So saying, he drew a stool to the fire, and sat down without 
 further ceremony. Dame Baby stared " wild as gray goss- 
 hawk," aud was meditating how to express her indignation 
 in something warmer than words, for which the boiling pot 
 seemed to offer a convenient hint, when an old half-starved 
 serving-woman — the Tronda already mentioned — the sharer 
 of Barbara's domestic cares, who had been as yet in some 
 remote corner of the mansion, now hobbled into the room, 
 and broke out into exclamations which indicated some new 
 cause of alarm. 
 
 " Oh, master! " and " Oh, mistress! " were the only sounds 
 she could for some time articulate, and then followed them 
 up with, " The best in the house — the best in the house; set 
 a' on the board, and a' will be little aneugh. There is auld 
 Noma of Fitful Head, the most fearful woman in all the 
 isles! " 
 
 "Where can she have been wandering?" said Mordaunt^ 
 not without some apparent sympathy with the surprise, if not 
 with the alarm, of the old domestic; " but it is needless to 
 ask — the worse the weather, the more likely is she to be a 
 traveler." 
 
 " What new tramper is this? " echoed the distracted Baby, 
 whom the quick succession of guests had driven well-nigh 
 crazy with vexation. " I'll soon settle her wandering, I sail 
 warrant, if my brother has but the saul of a man in him, or if 
 there be a pair of jougs at Scalloway! " 
 
 " The iron was never forged on stithy that would hauld 
 her," said the old maidservant. " She comes — she comes. 
 God's sake, speak her fair and canny, or we will have a raveled 
 hasp on the yarn-windles! " 
 
 As she spoke, a woman, tall enough almost to touch the 
 top of the door with her cap, stepped into the room, signing 
 the cross as she entered, and pronouncing, with a solemn 
 voice, " The blessing of God and St. Eonald on the open door, 
 and their broad malison and mine upon close-handed chiirls!" 
 
 " And wha are ye. that are sae bauld wi' your blessing and 
 banning in other folks' houses? Wliat kind of country is 
 this, that folk cannot sit quiet for an hour, and serve Heaven, 
 and keep their bit gear thegither, without gangrel men and 
 
THE PIRATE. 51 
 
 women coming thigging and sorning ane after another, like 
 a string of wild geese? " 
 
 This speech the understanding reader will easily saddle on 
 Mistress Baby; and what effects it might have produced on 
 the last stranger can only be matter of conjecture, for the old 
 servant and Mordauut applied themselves at once to the party 
 addressed, in order to deprecate her resentment; the former 
 speaking to her some words of Norse, in a tone of interces- 
 sion, and Mordaunt saying in English, " They are strangers, 
 Noma, and know not your name or qualities; they are unac- 
 quainted, too, with the ways of this countr}^, and therefore 
 we must hold them excused for their lack of hospitality." 
 
 " I lack no hospitality, young man," said Triptolemus, 
 " ' miseris suecurrere disco ' : the goose that was destined to 
 roost in the chimney till Michaelmas is boiling in the pot for 
 you; but if we had twenty geese, I see we are like to find 
 mouths to eat them e\Qvy feather. This must be amended." 
 
 " What must be amended, sordid slave? " said the stranger 
 Worna, turning at once upon him with an emphasis that made 
 him start — " tvhnt must be amended? Bring hither, if thou 
 wilt, thy new-fangled coulters, spades, and harrows, alter the 
 implements of our fathers from the plowshare to the mouse- 
 trap; but know thou art in the land that was won of old by 
 the flaxen-haired ' kempions ' of the North, and leave us their 
 hospitality at least, to show we come of what was once noble 
 and generous. I say to you, beware; while Noma looks forth 
 at the measureless waters from the crest of Fitful Head, some- 
 thing is yet left that resembles power of defense. If the men 
 of Thule have ceased to be champions, and to spread the ban- 
 quet for the raven, the women have not forgotten the arts that 
 lifted them of yore into queens and prophetesses." 
 
 The woman who pronounced this singular tirade was as 
 striking in appearance as extravagantly lofty in her preten- 
 sions and in her language. She might well have represented 
 on the stage, so far as features, voice, and stature were con- 
 cerned, the Bonduca or Boadicea of the Britons, or the sage 
 Velleda, Aurinia, or any other fated pythooiess who ever led 
 to battle a tribe of the ancient Goths. Her features were 
 high and well formed, and would have been handsome but for 
 the ravages of time and the effects of exposure to the severe 
 weather of her country. Age, and perhaps sorrow, had 
 quenched, in some degree, the fire of a dark blue eye, whose 
 hue almost approached to black, and had sprinkled snow 
 on such parts of her tresses as had escaped from under 
 
62 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 her cap, and were disheveled by the rigor of the storm. Her 
 upper garment, which dropped with water, was of a coarse, 
 dark-colored stuff, called wadmaal, then much used in the 
 Zetland Islands, as also in Iceland and Norway. But as she 
 threw this cloak back from her shoulders, a short jacket, of 
 dark-blue velvet, stamped with figures, became visible, and 
 the vest, which corresponded to it, was of crimson color, and 
 embroidered with tarnished silver. Her girdle was plated 
 with silver ornaments, cut into the shape of planetary signs; 
 her blue apron was embroidered with similar devices, and 
 covered a petticoat of crimson cloth. Strong, thick, endur- 
 ing shoes, of the half-dressed leather of the country, were 
 tied with straps, like those of the Roman buskins, over her 
 scarlet stockings. She wore in her belt an ambiguous-look- 
 ing weapon, which might pass for a sacrificing knife or dag- 
 ger, as the imagination of the spectator chose to assign to the 
 wearer the character of a priestess or of a sorceress. In her 
 hand she held a staff, squared on all sides, and engraved with 
 Eunic characters and figures, forming one of those portable 
 and perpetual calendars which were used among the ancient 
 natives of Scandinavia, and which, to a superstitious eye, 
 might have passed for a divining-rod. 
 
 Such were the appearance, features, and attire of Noma of 
 the Fitful Head, upon whom many of the inhabitants of the 
 island looked with observance, many with fear, and almost 
 all with a sort of veneration. Less pregnant circumstances 
 of suspicion would, in any other part of Scotland, have ex- 
 posed her to the investigation of those cruel inquisitors who 
 were then often invested with the delegated authority of the 
 privy council, for the purpose of persecuting, torturing, and 
 finally consigning to the flames, those who were accused of 
 witchcraft or sorcery. But superstitions of this nature pass 
 through two stages ere they become entirely obsolete. Those 
 supposed to be possessed of supernatural powers are venerated 
 in the earlier stages of society. As religion and knowledge 
 increase, they are first held in hatred and horror, and are 
 finally regarded as impostors. Scotland was in the second 
 state:* the fear of witchcraft was great, and the hatred against 
 those suspected of it intense. Zetland was as yet a little 
 world by itself, where, among the lower and ruder classes, so 
 much of the ancient Northern superstition remained as 
 cherished the original veneration for those affecting niper- 
 natural knowledge and power over the elements, which made 
 a constituent part of the ancient Scandinavian creed. At 
 
THE PIRATE. 53 
 
 least, if the natives of Thule admitted that one class of 
 magicians performed their teats by their alliance with Satan, 
 they devoutly believed that others dealt with spirits of a 
 different and less odious class — the ancient dwarfs, called in 
 Zetland Trows, or Drows, the modern fairies, and so forth. 
 
 Among those who were supposed to be in league with 
 disembodied spirits, this Noma, descended from, and repre- 
 sentative of, a family which had long pretended to such gifts, 
 was so eminent, that the name assigned to her, which signi- 
 fies one of those fatal sisters who weave the web of human 
 fate, had been conferred in honor of her supernatural powers. 
 The name by which she had been actually christened was 
 carefully concealed by herself and her parents; for to its dis- 
 covery they superstitiously annexed some fatal consequences. 
 In those times, the doubt only occurred, whether her sup- 
 posed powers were acquired by lawful means. In our days, 
 it would have been questioned whether she was an impostor, 
 or whether her imagination was so deeply impressed with the 
 mysteries of her supposed art that she might be in some de- 
 gree a believer in her own pretensions to supernatural knowl- 
 edge. Certain it is, that she performed her part \Wth such 
 undoubting confidence, and such striking dignity of look and 
 action, and evinced, at the same time, such strength of lan- 
 guage and energy of purpose, that it would have been difficult 
 for the greatest skeptic to have doubted the reality of her en- 
 thusiasm, though he might smile at the pretensions to which 
 it gave rise. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 If, by your art, you have 
 Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. 
 
 — Tempest. 
 
 The storm had somewhat relaxed its rigor just before the 
 entrance of Noma, otherwise she must have found it impos- 
 sible to travel during the extremity of its fury. But she had 
 hardly added herself so unexpectedly to the party whom 
 chance had assembled at the dwelling of Triptolemus Yellow- 
 ley, when the tempest suddenly resumed its former vehe- 
 mence, and raged around the building with a fury which 
 made the inmates insensible to anything except the risk that 
 the old mansion was about to fall above their heads. 
 
 Mistress Baby gave vent to her fears in loud exclamations 
 of " The Lord guide us — this is surely the last day; what kind 
 of a country of guizards and gyre-carlines is this? And you, 
 ye fool carle," she added, turning on her brother, for all her 
 passions had a touch of acidity in them, " to quit the bonny 
 Mearns land to come here, where there is naething but sturdy 
 beggars and gaberlunzies within ane's house, and Heaven's 
 anger on the outside on't! " 
 
 " I tell you, sister Baby," answered the insulted agricul- 
 turist, " that all shall be reformed and amended — excepting," 
 he added, betwixt his teeth, " the scaulding humors of an ill- 
 natured jaud, that can add bitterness to the very storm! " 
 
 The old domestic and the peddler meanwhile exhausted 
 themselves in entreaties to Noma, of which, as they were 
 couched in the Norse language, the master of the house 
 understood nothing. 
 
 She listened to them with a haughty and unmoved air, and 
 replied at length aloud, and in English — " I will not. What 
 if this house be strewed in ruins before morning — where 
 would be the world's want in the crazed projector and the 
 niggardly pinch-commons by which it is inhabited? They 
 will needs come to reform Zetland customs, let them try how 
 they like a Zetland storm. You that would not perish, quit 
 this house! " 
 
 The peddler seized on his little knapsack, and began 
 hastily to brace it on his back, the old maidservant cast her 
 
THE PIRATE, 55 
 
 cloak about her shoulders, and both seemed to be in the act 
 of leaving the house as fast as they could. 
 
 Triptolemus Yellowley, somewhat commoved by these ap- 
 pearances, asked Mordaunt, with a voice which faltered with 
 apprehension, whether he thought there was any, that is, so 
 very much danger. 
 
 " I cannot tell," answered the youth, " I have scarce ever 
 seen such a storm. Noma can tell us better than anyone 
 when it will abate; for no one in these islands can judge of 
 the weather like her." 
 
 " And is that all thou thinkest Noma can do? " said the 
 sibyl; " thou shalt know her powers are not bounded within 
 such a naiTow space. Hear me, Mordaunt, youth of a foreign 
 land, but of a friendly heart. Dost thou quit this doomed 
 mansion with those who now prepare to leave it? " 
 
 " I do not — I will not, Noma," replied j\lordaunt; " I 
 know not your motive for desiring me to remove, and I will 
 not leave, upon these dark threats, the house in which I have 
 been kindly received in such a tempest as this. If the owners 
 are unaccustomed to our practice of unlimited hospitality, I 
 am the more obliged to them that they have relaxed their 
 usages and opened their doors in my behalf." 
 
 " He is a brave lad," said Mistress Baby, whose supersti- 
 tious feelings had been daunted by the threats of the sup- 
 posed sorceress, and who, amidst her eager, narrow, and repin- 
 ing disposition, had, like all who possess marked character, 
 some sparks of higher feeling, which made her sympathize 
 with generous sentiments, though she thought it too expen- 
 sive to entertain them at her own cost — " he is a brave lad," 
 she again repeated, " and worthy of ten geese, if I had them 
 to boil for him, or roast either. I'll warrant him a gentle- ^ 
 man's son, and no churl's blood." 
 
 " Hear me, young Mordaunt," said Noma, " and depart 
 from this house. Fate has high views on you; you shall not 
 remain in this hovel to be crushed amid its worthless ruins, 
 with the relics of its more worthless inhabitants, whose life 
 is as little to the world as the vegetation of the house-leek 
 which now grows on their thatch, and which shall soon be 
 crushed amongst their mangled limbs." 
 
 " I — I — I will go forth," said Yellowley, who, despite of 
 his bearing himself scholarly and wisely, was beginning to be 
 terrified for the issue of the adventure; for the house was old, 
 and the walls rocked formidably to the blast. 
 
 " To what purpose? " said his sister. " I trust the Prince 
 
66 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 of the power of the air has not yet such-like power over those 
 that are made in God's image that a good house should fall 
 about our heads because a randy quean (here she darted a 
 fierce glance at the pythoness) should boast us with her 
 glamour, as if we were sae mony dogs to crouch at her 
 bidding! " 
 
 " I was only wanting," said Triptolemus, ashamed of his 
 motion, " to look at the bear-braird, which must be sair laid 
 wi' this tempest; but if this honest woman like to bide wi' us, 
 I think it were best to let us a' sit doun canny fhegither, till 
 it's working weather again." 
 
 "Honest woman!" echoed Baby. "Foul warlock thief! 
 Aroint ye, ye limmer! " she added, addressing Noma directly; 
 " out of an honest house, or. shame fa' me, but I'll take the 
 bittle * to you! " 
 
 Noma cast on her a look of supreme contempt; then, step- 
 ping to the window, seemed engaged in deep contemplation 
 of the heavens, while the old maidservant, Tronda, drawing 
 close to her mistress, implored, for the sake of all that was 
 dear to man or woman, " Do not provoke Noma of Fitful 
 Head! You have no sic woman on the mainland of Scotland: 
 she can ride on one of these clouds as easily as man ever rode 
 on a sheltie." 
 
 " i shall live to see her ride on the reek of a fat tar-barrel," 
 said Mistress Baby; " and that will be a fit pacing palfrey for 
 her." 
 
 Again Noma regarded the enraged Mrs. Baby Yellowley 
 with a look of that unutterable scorn which her haughty 
 features could so well express, and moving to the window 
 which looked to the northwest, from which quarter the gale 
 seemed at present to blow, she stood for some time with her 
 arms crossed, looking out upon the leaden-colored sky, ob- 
 scured as it was by the thick drift, which, coming on in suc- 
 cessive gusts of tempest, left ever and anon sad and dreary 
 intervals of expectation betwixt the dying and the reviving 
 blast. 
 
 Noma regarded this war of the elements as one to whom 
 their strife was familiar; yet the stem serenity of her features 
 had in it a cast of awe, and at the same time of authority, as 
 the cabalist may be supposed to look upon the spirit he has 
 evoked, and which, though he knows how to subject him to 
 his spell, bears still an aspect appalling to fiesh and blood. 
 The attendants stood by in difi'erent attitudes, expressive of 
 
 * See Note 11. 
 
THE PIRATE. SY 
 
 their various feelings. Mordaunt, though not indifferent to 
 the risk in which they stood, was more curious than alarmed. 
 He had lieard of I^orna's alleged power over the elements, and 
 now expected an opportunity of judging for liimself of its 
 reality. Triptolemus Yellowley was confounded at what 
 seemed to be far beyond the bounds of his philosophy; and, 
 if the truth must be spoken, the worthy agriculturist was 
 greatly more frightened than inquisitive. His sister was not 
 in the least curious on the subject; but it was difficult to say 
 whether anger or fear predominated in her shar}? eyes and 
 thin, compressed lips. The peddler and old Tronda, confi- 
 dent that the house would never fall while the redoubted 
 iSTorna was beneath its roof, held themselves ready for a start 
 the instant she should take her departure. 
 
 Having looked on the sky for some time in a fixed attitude, 
 and -oath the most profound silence. Noma at once, yet with 
 a slow and elevated gesture, extended her staff of black oak 
 toward that part of the heavens from which the blast came 
 hardest, and in the midst of its fury chanted a Norwegian 
 invocation, still preserved in the Island of Uist [Unst?], un- 
 der the name of the " Song of the Eeim-kennar," though 
 some call it the " Song of. the Tempest." The following is a 
 ' free translation, it being impossible to render literally many 
 of the elliptical and metaphorical terms of expression, peculiar 
 to the ancient Northern poetry: 
 
 Song of the Eime-kennab. 
 
 "Stern eagle of the far north-west, 
 Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thnnderbolt, 
 Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, 
 Thou the destroyer of herds, thou the scatterer of navies, 
 Thou the breaker down of towers, 
 Amidst the scream of thy rage, 
 Amidst the rushing of thy onward wings, 
 Though tliy scream be loud as the cry of a perishing nation. 
 Though the rnsliing of thy wings be like the roar of ten thousand waves, 
 Yet hear, in thine ire and thy haste. 
 Hear thou the voice of the lleim-kennar. 
 
 " Thou hast met the pine-trees of Drontheim, 
 Their dark-green heads lie prostrate beside their uprooted stems; 
 Thou hast met the rider of the ocean. 
 The tall, the strong bark of the fearless rover, 
 And she has struck to thee the topsail 
 That she had not veiled to a royal armada; 
 Thou has met the tower that bears its crest among the clouds, 
 The battled massive tower of the jarl of former days, 
 And the copestone of the turret 
 Is lying upon its hospitable hearth; 
 But thou too shalt stoop, proud conipeller of clouds, 
 When thou bearest the voice of the Reim-kennar. 
 
58 WAYERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " There are verses that can stop the stag in the forest, 
 Aye, and when the dark colorud dog iw opening on his track; 
 There are verses can make the wild hawk pause on the wing, 
 Like the falcon that wears the hood and the jesses, 
 And who knows the slirill whistle of the fowk-r. 
 Thou who canst mock at the scream of the drowning mariner, 
 And the crash of the ravaged forest. 
 And the groan of the overwhelmed crowds. 
 When the churcli hath fallen in the moment of prayer, 
 There are sounds which thou also nmst list, 
 When they are chanted by the voice of the Reim-kennar. 
 
 " Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the ocean: 
 The widows wring their hands on the beach. 
 Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the land: 
 The husbandman folds his arms in despair. 
 Cease thou the waving of thy pinions. 
 Let the ocean r-^pose in her dark strength; 
 Cease thou the Hashing of thine eye: 
 Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin. 
 
 Be thou still at my bidding, viewless racer of the north-western heaven, 
 Sleep thou at the voice of Noma the Reim-kennar ! " 
 
 We have said that Mordaunt was naturally fond of roman- 
 tic poetry and romantic situation; it is not therefore surpris- 
 ing that he listened with interest to the wild address thus 
 uttered to the wildest wind of the compass, in a tone of such 
 dauntless enthusiasm. But though he had heard so much of 
 the Eunic rhyme and of the Northern spell, in the country 
 where he had so long dwelt, he was not on this occasion so 
 credulous as to believe that the tempest, which had raged so 
 lately, and which was now beginning to decline, was subdued 
 before the charmed verse of Noma. Certain it was, that the 
 blast seemed passing away, and the apprehended danger was 
 already over; but it was not improbable that this issue had 
 been for some time foreseen by the pythoness, through signs 
 of the weather imperceptible to those who had not dwelt long 
 in the country, or had not bestowed on the meteorological 
 phenomena the attention of a strict and close observer. Of 
 Noma's experience he had no doubt, and that went a far way 
 to explain what seemed supernatural in her demeanor. Yet 
 still the noble countenance, half-shaded by disheveled tresses, 
 the air of majesty with which, in a tone of menace as well as 
 of command, she addressed the viewless spirit of the tempest, 
 gave him a strong inclination to believe in the ascendancy of 
 the occult arts over the powers of nature; for, if a woman 
 ever moved on earth to whom such authority over the ordi- 
 nary laws of the universe could belong. Noma of Fitful Head, 
 judging from bearing, figure, and face, was bom to that high 
 destiny. 
 
THE PIRATE. 59 
 
 The rest of the company were less slow in receiving con- 
 fiction. To Tronda and the jagger none was necessary: they 
 had long believed in the full extent of Noma's authority over 
 the elements. But Triptolemus and his sister gazed at each 
 other with wondering and alarmed looks, especially when the 
 wind began perceptibly to decline, as was remarkably visible 
 during llie pauses which Noma made betwixt the strophes of 
 her incantation. A long silence followed the last verse, until 
 Noma resumed her chant, but with a changed and more 
 soothing modulation of voice and tune: 
 
 "Eagle of the far north-western waters, 
 Thou hast lieaid the voice of the Reim-kennar, 
 Thou hast closed thy wide sails at her bidding, 
 And folded them in"peace by thy side. 
 My blessing be on thy retiring pathi 
 "When thou stoopest from thy place on high, 
 Soft be thy slumbers in the caverns of the unknown ocean. 
 Rest till destiny shall again awaken thee; 
 Eagle of the north-west, thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar! " 
 
 " A pretty sang that would be to keep the corn from shak- 
 ing in har'st," whispered the agriculturist to his sister; " we 
 must speak her fair. Baby: she will maybe part with the secret 
 for a hundred pund Scots." 
 
 "An hundred fules' heads! " replied Baby; " bid her five 
 merks of ready siller. I never knew a witch in my life but 
 she was as poor as Job." 
 
 Noma turned toward them as if she had guessed their 
 thoughts; it may be that she did so. She passed them with a 
 look of the most sovereign contempt, and walking to the table 
 on which the preparations for Mrs. Barbara's frugal meal 
 were already disposed, she filled a small wooden quaigh from 
 an earthen pitcher which contained bland, a subacid liquor 
 made out of the serous part of the milk; she broke a single 
 morsel from a barley-cake, and having eaten and drunk, re- 
 turned toward the churlish hosts. " I give you no thanks," 
 she said, " for my refreshment, for you bid me not welcome 
 to it; and thanks bestowed on a churl are Hke the dew of 
 heaven on the clifi's of Foulah, where it finds naught that can 
 be refreshed by its influences. I give you no thanks," she 
 said again, but "drawing from her pocket a leathern purse that 
 seemed large and heavy, she added, " I pay you with what you 
 will value more than the gratitude of the whole inhabitants 
 of Hialtland. Say not that Norna of Fitful Head hath eaten 
 of your bread and drunk of your cup, and left you sorrowing 
 
dO WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 for the charge to which she hath put your house." So say- 
 ing, she laid on the table a small piece of antique gold coin, 
 bearing the rude and half-defaced effigies of some ancient 
 Northern king. 
 
 Triptolemus and his sister exclaimed against this liberality 
 with vehemence; the first protesting that he kept no public, 
 and the other exclaiming, "Is the carline mad? Heard ye 
 ever of ony of the gentle house of Clinkscale that gave meat 
 for siller? " 
 
 " Or for love either? " muttered her brother; " baud to 
 that, tittie." 
 
 "What are ye whittie-whattieing about, ye gowk?" said 
 his gentle sister, who suspected the tenor of his murmurs. 
 " Gie the lady back her bonny die there, and be blithe to be 
 sae rid on't: it will be a sclate-stane the morn, if not some- 
 thing worse." 
 
 The honest factor lifted the money to return it, yet could 
 not help being struck when he saw the impression, and his 
 hand trembled as he handed it to his sister. 
 
 " Yes," said the pythoness again, as if she read the 
 thoughts of the astonished pair, " you have seen that coin 
 before; beware how you use it! It thrives not with the sordid 
 or the mean-souled; it was won with honorable danger, and 
 must be expended with honorable liberality. The treasure 
 which lies under a cold hearth will one day, like the hidden 
 talent, bear witness against its avaricious possessors." 
 
 This last obscure intimation seemed to raise the alarm and 
 the wonder of Mrs. Baby and her brother to the uttermost. 
 The latter tried to stammer out something like an invitation 
 to Noma to tarry with them all night, or at least to take share 
 of the " dinner," so he at first called it; but looking at the 
 company, and remembering the limited contents of the pot, 
 he corrected the phrase, and hoped she would take some part 
 of the " snack, which would be on the table ere a man could 
 loose a pleugh." 
 
 " I eat not here — I sleep not here," replied Noma; " nay, I 
 relieve you not only of my own presence, but I will dismiss 
 your unwelcome guests. Mordaunt," she added, addressing 
 young Mertoun, " the dark fit is past, and your father looks 
 for you this evening." 
 
 "Do you return in that direction?" said Mordaunt. "I 
 will but eat a morsel, and give you my aid, good mother, on 
 the road. The brooks must be out. and the journey perilous." 
 
 " Our roads lie different," answered the sibyl, " and Noma 
 
THE PIRATE. 61 
 
 needs not mortal arm to aid her on the way. I am summoned 
 far to the east, by those who know well how to smooth my 
 passage. For thee, Bryxe Snailsfoot," she continued, speak- 
 ing to the peddler, "speed thee on to Sumburgh: the Roost 
 will afford thee a gallant harvest, and worthy the gathering 
 in. Much goodly ware wall ere now be seeking a new owner, 
 and the careful skipper will sleep still enough in the deep 
 ' haaf ,' and care not that bale and chest are dashing against 
 the shores.'' 
 
 " K^a — na, good mother," answered Snailsfoot, " I desire 
 no man's life for my private advantage, and am just grateful 
 for the blessing of Providence on my sma' trade. But 
 doubtless, one man's loss is another's gain; and as these 
 storms destroy a' thing on land, it is but fair they suld send 
 us something by sea. Sae, taking the freedom, like j'oursell, 
 mother, to borrow a lump of barley-bread and a draught of 
 bland, I will bid good-day and thank you to this good gentle- 
 man and lady, and e'en go on my way to Jarlshof, as you 
 advise." 
 
 " Aye," replied the pythoness, " where the slaughter is, the 
 eagles will be gathered; and where the wreck is on the shore, 
 the jagger is as busy to purchase spoil as the shark to gorge 
 upon the dead." 
 
 This rebuke, if it was intended for such, seemed above the 
 comprehension of the traveling-merchant, who, bent upon 
 gain, assumed the knapsack and ell-wand, and asked Mor- 
 daunt, with the familiarity permitted in a wild country, 
 whether he would not take company along with him? 
 
 '^ I wait to eat some dinner with Mr. Yellowley and Mrs. 
 Baby," answered the youth, " and will set forward in half an 
 hour." 
 
 " Then I'll just take my piece in my hand," said the ped- 
 dler. Accordingly, he muttered a benediction, and, without 
 more ceremony, helped himself to what, in Mrs. Baby's cov- 
 etous eyes, appeared to be two-thirds of the bread, took a long 
 pull at the jug of bland, seized on a handful of the small fish 
 called sillocks., which the domestic was just placing on the 
 board, and left the room without farther ceremony. 
 
 " ily certie," said the despoiled ^Mrs. Baby, " there is the 
 chapman's drouth* and his hunger bnith, as folk say! If 
 
 the laws against vagrants be executed this gate It's no 
 
 that I wad shut the door against decent folk," she said, look- 
 
 *See Note IS. 
 
62 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 ing to Mordaunt, " more especially in such judgment- 
 weather. But 1 se€ the goose is dished, poor thing." 
 
 This she spoke in a tone of att'ection for the smoked goose, 
 which, though it had long been an inanimate inhabitant of 
 her chimney, was far more interesting to Mi's. Baby in that 
 state than when it screamed amongst the clouds. Mordaunt 
 laughed and took his seat, then turned to look for Noma; but 
 she had glided from the apartment during the discussion with 
 the peddler. 
 
 " I am glad she is gane, the dour carline," said Mrs. Baby, 
 " though she has left that piece of gowd to be an everlasting 
 shame to us." 
 
 " Whisht, mistress, for the love of Heaven! " said Tronda 
 Dronsdaughter; " wha kens where she may be this moment? 
 We are no sure but she may hear us, though we cannot see 
 her." 
 
 Mistress Baby cast a startled eye around, and instantly re- 
 covering herself, for she was naturally courageous as well as 
 violent, said, " I bade her aroint before, and I bid her aroint 
 again, whether she sees me or hears me, or whether she's ower 
 the cairn and awa'. And you, ye silly sumph," she said to 
 poor Yellowley, " what do ye stand glowering there for? 
 You a Saunt Andrews student! — you studied lair and Latin 
 humanities, as ye ca' them, and daunted wi' the clavers of an 
 auld randy wife! Say your best college grace, man, and 
 witch, or nae witch, we'll eat our dinner, and defy her. And 
 for the value of the gowden piece, it shall never be said I 
 pouched her siller. I will gie it to some poor body — that is, 
 I will test * upon it at my death, and keep it for a purse-penny 
 till that day comes, and that's no using it in the way of spend- 
 ing siller. Say your best college grace, man, and let us eat 
 and drink in the meantime." 
 
 " Ye had muckle better say an ' oraamus ' to St. Eonald,t 
 and fling a saxpence ower your left shauther, master," said 
 Tronda. 
 
 " That ye may pick it up, ye jaud," said the implacable 
 Mistress Baby; " it will be lang or ye win the wori;h of it ony 
 other gate. Sit down, Triptolemus, and mindna the words of 
 a daft wife." 
 
 " Daft or wise," replied Yellowley, very much discon- 
 certed, "she kens more than I would wish she kenn'd. It was 
 
 * Test upon it, i. «., leave it in my will -a mode of bestowing charity to which many 
 are partial as well as the good dame in the text. 
 t See Mote 13. 
 
THE PIRATE. 63 
 
 awfu' to see sic a wind fa' at the voice of flesh and blood like 
 oursells; and then yon about the hearth-stane. I cannot but 
 think " 
 
 " If ye cannot but think," said Mrs. Baby, very sharply, 
 " at least ye can baud your tongue." 
 
 The agriculturist made no reply, but sate down to their 
 scanty meal, and did the honors of it with unusual heartiness 
 to his new guest, the first of the intruders who had arrived, 
 and the last who left the^m. The sillocks speedily disap- 
 peared, and the smoked goose, with its appendages, took 
 wing so effectually that Tronda, to whom the polishing of the 
 bones had been destined, found the task accomplished, or 
 nearly so, to her hand. After dinner, the host produced his 
 bottle of brandy; but Mordaunt, whose general habits were as 
 abstinent almost as those of his father, laid a very light tax 
 upon this unusual exertion of hospitality. 
 
 During the meal, they learned so much of young Mordaunt 
 and of his father that even Baby resisted his wish to reassume 
 his wet garments, and pressed him (at the risk of an expensive 
 supper being added to the charges of the day) to tarr}^ with 
 them till the next morning. But what Noma had said ex- 
 cited the youth's wish to reach home, nor, however far the 
 hospitality of Stourburgh was extended in his behalf, did the 
 house present any particular temptations to induce him to 
 remain there longer. He therefore accepted the loan of the 
 factor's clothes, promising to return them and send for his 
 own; and took a civil leave of his host and Mistress Baby, the 
 latter of whom, however affected by the loss of her goo?€, 
 could not but think the cost well bestowed (since it was to be 
 expended at all) upon so handsome and cheerful a youth. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 She does no work by halves, yon raving oceas 
 Engulfing those she strangleH, lier wild womb 
 Affords the mariners whom she hath dealt ou, 
 Their death at once, and sepiilcher. 
 
 — Old Play. 
 
 There were ten " lang Scots miles " betwixt Stourburgh 
 and Jarlshof; and though the pedestrian did not number all 
 the impediments which crossed Tarn o' Shanter's path — for in 
 a country where there are neither hedges nor stone inclosures, 
 there can be neither " slaps nor stiles " — yet the number and 
 nature of the " mosses and waters " which he had to cross in 
 his peregrination was fully sufficient to balance the account, 
 and to render his journey as toilsome and dangerous as Tarn 
 o' Shanter's celebrated retreat from Ayr. Neither witch nor 
 warlock crossed Mordaunt's path, however. The length of 
 the day was already considerable, and he arrived safe at Jarls- 
 hof by eleven o'clock at night. All was still and dark round 
 the mansion, and it was not till he had whistled twice or 
 thrice beneath Swertha's window that she replied to the 
 signal. 
 
 At the first sound, Swertha fell into an agreeable dream of 
 a young whale-fisher who some forty years before used to 
 make such a signal beneath the window of her hut; at the 
 second, she waked to remember that Johnnie Fea had slept 
 sound among the frozen waves of Greenland for this many a 
 year, and that she was Mr. Mertoun's governante at Jarlshof; 
 at the third, she arose and opened the window. 
 
 " Whae is that," she demanded, " at sic an hour of the 
 night?" 
 
 " It is I," said the youth. 
 
 "And what for comena ye in? The door's on the latch, 
 and there is a gathering-peat on the kitchen fire, and a spunk 
 beside it; ye can light your ain candle." 
 
 " All well," replied Mordaunt; " but I want to know how 
 my father is." 
 
 " Just in his ordinary, gude gentleman; asking for you, 
 Maister Mordaunt; ye are ower far and ower late in your 
 walks, young gentleman." 
 
THE PIRATE. 65 
 
 " Then the dark hour has passed, Swertha? " 
 
 " In troth has it, Maister Mordaunt," answered the govem- 
 ante; " and your father is very reasonably good-natured for 
 him, poor gentleman. I spake to him twice yesterday with- 
 out his speaking first; and the first time he answered me as 
 civil as you could do, and the neist time he bade me no plague 
 him; and then, thought I, three times were aye canny, so I 
 spake to him again for luck's sake, and he called me a chat- 
 tering old devil; but it was quite and clean in a civil sort of 
 way." 
 
 "Enough — enough, Swertha," answered Mordaunt; "and 
 now get up and find me something to eat, for I have dined 
 but poorly." 
 
 " Then you have been at the new folks' at Stourburgh ; for 
 there is no another house in a' the isles but they wad hae gi'en 
 ye the best share of the best they had. Saw ye aught of 
 Noma of the Fitful Head? She went to Stourburgh this 
 morning, and returned to the town at night." 
 
 "Eeturned! then she is here? How could she travel three 
 leagues and better in so short a time ? " 
 
 " Wha kens how she travels?" replied Swertha; "but I 
 heard her tell the Eanzelman wi' my ain lugs that she in- 
 tended that (lay to have gone on to Burgh-AVestra, to speak 
 with Minna Troil, but she had seen that at Stourburgh — in- 
 deed, she said at Harfra, for she never calls it by the other 
 name of Stourburgh — that sent her back to our towm. But 
 gang your wa3's round, and ye shall have plenty of supper: 
 ours is nae toom pantry', and still less a locked ane, though my 
 master be a stranger, and no Just that tight in the upper rig- 
 ging, as the Eanzelman says." 
 
 Mordaunt walked round to the kitchen accordingly, where 
 Swertha's care speedily accommodated him with a plentiful 
 though coarse meal, which indemnified him for the scanty 
 hospitality he had experienced at Stourburgh. 
 
 In the morning, some feelings of fatigue made young ^ler- 
 toun later than usual in leaving his bed; so that, contrary- to 
 what was the ordinary case, he found his father in the apart- 
 ment where they eat, and which served them indeed for every 
 common purpose, save that of a bedchamber or of a kitchen. 
 The son greeted the father in mute reverence, and waited 
 until he should address him. 
 
 "You were absent yesterday, Mordaunt?" said his father. 
 Mordaunt's absence had lasted a week and more; but he had 
 often observed that bis father never seemed to notice how 
 
66 WA VERLE T NO VEL8. 
 
 time passed during llie period when he was affected with his 
 sullen vapors, lie assented to what the elder Mr. Mertoun 
 had said. 
 
 "And you were at Burgh-Westra, as I think?" continued 
 his father. 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Mordaunt. 
 
 The elder Mertoun was then silent for some time, and 
 paced the floor in deep silence, with an air of somber reflec- 
 tion, which seemed as if he were about to relapse into liis 
 moody fit. Suddenly turning to his son, however, he ob- 
 served, in the tone of a query, " Magnus Troil has two daugh- 
 ters — they must be now young women; they are thought 
 handsome, of course ? " 
 
 " Very generally, sir," answered Mordaunt, rather sur- 
 prised to hear his father making any inquiries aloout the indi- 
 viduals of a sex which he usually thought so light of — a sur- 
 prise which was much increased by the next question, put as 
 abruptly as the former. 
 
 " Which think you the handsomest ? " 
 
 " I, sir? " replied his son with some wonder, but without 
 embarrassment, " I really am no Judge. I never considered 
 which was absolutely the handsomest. They are both very 
 pretty young women." 
 
 "You evade my question, Mordaunt; perhaps I have some 
 very particular reason for my ^Wsh to be acquainted with your 
 taste in this matter. I am not used to waste words for no 
 purpose. I ask you again, which of Magnus Troll's daugh- 
 ters you think most handsome?" 
 
 " Eeally, sir," replied Mordaunt — " but you only jest in 
 asking me such a question." 
 
 " Young man," replied Mertoun, with eyes which began to 
 roll and sparkle with impatience, " I never jest. I desire an 
 answer to my question." 
 
 " Then, upon my word, sir," said Mordaunt, " it is not in 
 my power to form a judgment betwixt the young ladies; they 
 are both very pretty, but by no means like each other. ]\Iinna 
 is dark-haired, and more grave than her sister — more serious, 
 but by no means either dull or sullen." 
 
 " Um," replied his father; " you have been gravely brought 
 up, and this Minna, I suppose, pleases you most? " 
 
 " Ko, sir, really I can give her no preference over her sister 
 Brenda, who is as gay as a lamb in a spring morning; leSiS 
 tall than her sister, but so well formed and so excellent a 
 dancer " 
 
THE PIRATE. 67 
 
 " That she is best qualified to amuse the young man who 
 has a dull home and a moody father? " said Mr. Mertoun. 
 
 Nothing in his father's conduct had ever surprised Mor- 
 daunt so much as the obstinacy with which he seemed to pur- 
 sue a theme so foreign to his general train of thought and 
 habits of conversation; but he contented himself with an- 
 swering once more, " That both the young ladies were highly 
 admirable, but he had never thought of them with the wish 
 to do either injustice by ranking her lower than her sister; 
 that others would probably decide between them, as they hap- 
 pened to be partial to a grave or a gay disposition, or to a 
 dark or fair complexion; but that he could see no excellent 
 quality in the one that was not balanced by something equally 
 captivating in the other." 
 
 It is possible that even the coolness with which Mordaunt 
 made this explanation might not have satisfied his father 
 concerning the subject of investigation; but Swertha at this 
 moment entered with breakfast, and the youth, notwithstand- 
 ing his late supper, engaged in that meal with an air which 
 satisfied Mertoun that he held it matter of more grave im- 
 portance than the conversation which they had just had, and 
 that he had nothing more to say upon the subject explana- 
 tory of the answers he had already given. He shaded his 
 brow with his hand, and looked long fixedly upon the young 
 man as he was busied ^\dth his morning meal. There was 
 neither abstraction nor a sense of being observed in any of his 
 motions: all was frank, natural, and open. 
 
 " He is fancy free," muttered Mertoun to himself, " so 
 young, so lively, and so imaginative, so handsome and so at- 
 tractive in face and person, strange that at his age, and in his 
 circumstances, he should have avoided the meshes which 
 catch all the world beside! " 
 
 When the breakfast was over, the elder Mertoun, instead 
 of proposing, as usual, that his son, who awaited his com- 
 mands, should betake himself to one branch or other of his 
 studies, assumed his hat and staff, and desired that Mordaunt 
 should accompany him to the top of the cliff, called Sum- 
 burgh Head, and from thence look out upon the state of the 
 ocean, agitated as it must still be by the tempest of the pre- 
 ceding day. Mordaunt was at the age when young men will- 
 ingly exchange sedentary pursuits for active exercise, and 
 started up with alacrity to comply with his father's desire; 
 and in the course of a few minutes they were mounting to- 
 gether the hill, which, ascending from the land side in a long, 
 
68 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 steep, and grassy slope, sinks at once from the summit to the 
 sea in an abrupt and tremendous precipice. 
 
 The day was dcliohtful; there was just so much motion in 
 the air as to disturb the little fleecy clouds which were scat- 
 tered on the horizon, and by Hoating them occasionally over 
 the sun, to checker the landscape with that variety of light 
 and shade which often gives to a bare and uninclosed scene, 
 for the time at least, a species of charm approaching to the 
 varieties of a cultivated and planted country. A thousand 
 flitting hues of light and shade played over the expanse of 
 wild moor, rocks, and inlets, which, as they climbed higher 
 and higher, spread in wide and wider circuit around them. 
 
 The elder ]\Iertoun often paused and looked round upon 
 the scene, and for some time his son supposed that he halted 
 to enjoy its beauties; but as they ascended still higher up 
 the hill, he remarked his shortened breath and his uncertain 
 and toilsome step, and became assured, with some feelings of 
 alarm, that his father's strength was, for the moment, ex- 
 hausted, and that he found the ascent more toilsome and 
 fatiguing than usual. To draw close to his side, and offer 
 him m silence the assistance of his arm, was an act of youth- 
 ful deference to advanced age, as well as of filial reverence; 
 and Mertoun seemed at first so to receive it, for he took in 
 silence the advantage of the aid thus afforded him. 
 
 It was but for two or three minutes, however, that the 
 father availed himself of his son's support. They had not 
 ascended fifty yards farther ere he pushed ]\Iordaunt sud- 
 denly, if not rudely, from him; and, as if stung into exertion 
 by some sudden recollection, began to mount the acclivity 
 with such long and quick steps that Mordaunt, in his turn, 
 was obliged to exert himself to keep pace with him. He 
 knew his father's peculiarity of disposition; he was aware, 
 from many slight circumstances, that he loved him not, even 
 while he took much pains with his education, and while he 
 seemed to be the sole object of his care upon earth. But the 
 conviction had never been more strongly or more powerfully 
 forced upon him than by the hasty churlishness with which 
 Mertoun rejected from a son that assistance which most 
 elderly men are willing to receive from youths with whom 
 they are but slightly connected, as a tribute which it is alike 
 graceful to yield and pleasing to receive. Mertoun, however, 
 did not seem to perceive the effect which his unkindness had 
 produced upon his son's feelings. He paused upon a sort of 
 level terrace which thev had now attained, and addressed his 
 
THE PIRATE. 69 
 
 son with an indifferent tone, which seemed in some degree 
 affected. 
 
 " Since you have so few inducements, Mordaunt, to remain 
 in these wild islands, I suppose you sometimes wish to look 
 a little more abroad into the world? " 
 
 " By my word, sir," replied Mordaunt, " I cannot say I 
 ever have a thought on such a subject." 
 
 "And why not, young man?" demanded his father; "it 
 were but natural, I think, at your age. At your age, the 
 fair and varied breadth of Britain could not gratify me, much 
 less the comp<iss of a sea-girdled peat-moss." 
 
 " I have never thought of leaving Zetland, sir," replied the 
 son. " I am happy here, and have friends. You yourself, 
 sir, would miss me, unless indeed " 
 
 " Why, thou wouldst not persuade me," said his father, 
 somewhat hastily, " that you stay here, or desire to stay here, 
 for the love of me? " 
 
 " Why should I not, sir? " answered Mordaunt mildly; " it 
 is my duty, and 1 hope I have hitherto performed it." 
 
 " Oh, aye," repeated Mertoun, in the same tone, " your 
 duty — your duty. So it is the duty of the dog to follow the 
 groom that feeds him." 
 
 " And does he not do so, sir? " said Mordaunt. 
 
 " Aye," said his father, turning his head aside; " but he 
 fawns only on those who caress him." 
 
 " I hope, sir," replied Mordaunt, " I have not been found 
 deficient ? " 
 
 " Say no more on't — say no more on't," said Mertoun 
 abruptly; " we have both done enough by each other; we 
 must soon part. Let that be our comfort, if our separation 
 should require comfort." 
 
 " I shall be ready to obey your wishes," said Mordaunt, not 
 altogether displeased at what promised him an opportunity 
 of looking farther abroad into the world. " I presume it will 
 be your pleasure that I commence my travels with a season at 
 the whale-fishing." 
 
 " Whale-fishing! " replied Mertoun; " that were a mode in- 
 deed of seeing the world; but thou speakest but as thou hast 
 learned. Enough of this for the present. Tell me where 
 you had shelter from the storm yesterday? " 
 
 " At Stourburgh, the house of the new factor from Scot- 
 land." 
 
 " A pedantic, fantastic, visionary schemer," said Mertoun; 
 " and whom saw you there? " 
 
'i^ WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " His sister, sir," replied Mordaunt, " and old Noma of the 
 Fitful Head." 
 
 " What! the mistress of the potent spell,"' answered Mer- 
 toun, with a sneer — " she who can change the wind by pull- 
 ing her curch on one side, as King Erick used to do by turn- 
 ing his cap? The dame journeys far from home; how fares 
 she? Does she get rich by selling favorable winds* to those 
 who are port-bound? " 
 
 " I really do not know, sir," said Mordaunt, whom cer- 
 tain recollections prevented from freely entering into his 
 father's humor. 
 
 " You think the matter too serious to be jested with, or 
 prehaps esteem her merchandise too light to be cared after? " 
 continued Mertoun, in the same sarcastic tone, w^hich was 
 the nearest approach he ever made to cheerfulness; " but con- 
 sider it more deeply. Everything in the universe is bought 
 and sold, and why not wind, if the merchant can find pur- 
 chasers? The earth is rented, from its surface down to its 
 most central mines; the fire, and the means of feeding it, are 
 currently bought and sold; the wretches that sw^eep the bois- 
 terous ocean with their nets pay ransom for the privilege of 
 being drowned in it. What title has the air to be exempted 
 from the universal course of tralhc? All above the earth, 
 under the earth, and around the earth has its price, its sellers, 
 and its purchasers. In many countries the priests will sell 
 you a portion of Heaven; in all countries men are willing to 
 buy, in exchange for health, wealth, and peace of conscience, 
 a full allowance of Hell. Why should not Noma pursue her 
 traffic?" 
 
 " Nay, I know no reason against it," replied Mordaunt; 
 " only I wish she would part with the commodity in smaller 
 quantities. Yesterday she was a wholesale dealer; whoever 
 treated with her had too good a pennyworth." 
 
 " It is even so," said his father, pausing on the verge of the 
 wild promontory wdiich they had attained, where the huge 
 precipice sinks abruptly down on the wide and tempestuous 
 ocean, " and the effects are still visible." 
 
 The face of that lofty cape is composed of the soft and 
 crumbling stone called sand-flag, which gradually becomes 
 decomposed, and yields to the action of the atmosphere, and 
 is split into large masses, that hang loose upon the verge of 
 the precipice, and, detached from it by the violence of the 
 tempests, often descend with great fury into the vexed abyss 
 
 * See Note 14. 
 
THE PIRATE. 11 
 
 which lashes the foot of the rock. Numbers of these huge 
 fragments lie strewed beneath the rocks from which they have 
 fallen, and amongst these the tide foams and rages with a fury 
 peculiar to those latitudes. 
 
 At the period when Mertoun and his son looked from the 
 verge of the precipice, the wide sea still heaved and swelled 
 with the agitation of yesterday's storm, which had been far 
 too violent in its effects on the ocean to subside speedily. 
 The tide therefore poured on the headland with a fury deaf- 
 ening to the ear and dizzying to the eye, threatening instant 
 destruction to whatever might be at the time involved in its 
 current. The sight of nature, in her magnificence, or in her 
 beauty, or in her terrors, has at all times an overpowering 
 interest, which even habit cannot greatly weaken; and both 
 father and son sat themselves down on the cliff to look out 
 upon that unbounded war of waters which rolled in their 
 wrath to the foot of the precipice. 
 
 At once Mordaunt, whose eyes were sharper, and probably 
 his attention more alert, than that of his father, started up 
 and exclaimed, " God in Heaven! there is a vessel in the 
 Eoost! " 
 
 Mertoun looked to the northwestward, and an object was 
 visible amid the rolling tide. " She shows no sail," he ob- 
 served; and immediately added, after looking at the object 
 through his spy-glass, " She is dismasted, and lies a sheer 
 hulk upon the water." 
 
 " And is drifting on the Sumburgh Head," exclaimed Mor- 
 daunt, struck with horror, " without the slightest means of 
 weathering the cape!" 
 
 " She makes no effort," ansrwered his father; " she is prob- 
 ably deserted by her crew." 
 
 " And in such a day as yesterday," replied Mordaunt, 
 " when no open boat could live were she manned with the 
 best men ever handled an oar: all must have perished." 
 
 " It is most probable," said his father, with stem com- 
 posure; " and one day, soon.er or later, all must have perished. 
 What signifies whether the fowler, whom nothing escapes, 
 caught them up at one swoop from yonder shattered deck, or 
 whether he clutched them individually, as chance gave them 
 to his grasp? What signifies it? The deck, the battlefield 
 are scarce more fatal to us than our table and our bed; and we 
 are saved from the one, merely to drag out a heartless and 
 wearisome existence till we perish at the other. Would the 
 hour were come — that hour which reason would teach us to 
 
^2 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 wish for, were it not that nature has implanted the fear of it 
 so strongly within us! You wonder at such a reflection, be- 
 cause life is yet new to you. Ere you have attained my age, 
 it will be the familiar companion of your thoughts." 
 
 " Surely, sir," replied Mordaunt, " such distaste to life is 
 not the necessary consequence of advanced age?" 
 
 " To all who have sense to estimate that which it is really 
 worth," said Mertoun. " Those who, like Magnus Troil, pos- 
 sess so much of the animal impulses about them as to derive 
 pleasure from sensual gratification may, perhaps, like the 
 animals, feel pleasure in mere existence." 
 
 Mordaunt liked neither the doctrine nor the example. He 
 thought a man who discharged his duties toward others as 
 well as the good old Udaller had a better right to have the 
 sun shine fair on his setting than that which he might derive 
 from mere insensibility. But he let the subject drop, for to 
 dispute with his father had always the effect of irritat- 
 ing him, and again he adverted to the condition of the 
 wreck. 
 
 The hulk, for it was little better, was now in the very midst 
 of the current, and drifting at a great rate toward the foot of 
 the precipice, upon whose verge they were placed. Yet it 
 was a long while ere they had a distinct view of the object 
 which they had at first seen as a black speck amongst the 
 waters, and then, at a nearer distance, like a whale, which 
 now scarce shows its back-fin above the waves, now throws to 
 view its large black side. 'Now, however, they could more 
 distinctly observe the appearance of the ship, for the huge 
 swelling waves which bore her forward to the shore heaved 
 her alternately high upon the surface, and then plunged her 
 into the trough or furrow of the sea. She seemed a vessel of 
 two or three hundred tons, fitted up for defense, for they 
 could see her port-holes. She had been dismasted probably 
 in the gale of the preceding day, and lay water-logged on the 
 waves, a prey to their violence. It appeared certain that the 
 crew, finding themselves unable either to direct the vessel's 
 course or to relieve her by pumping, had taken to their boats 
 and left her to her fate. All apprehensions were therefore 
 unnecessary, so far as the immediate loss of human lives was 
 concerned; and yet it was not without a feeling of breathless 
 awe that Mordaunt and his father beheld the vessel — that 
 rare masterpiece by which human genius aspires to surmount 
 the waves and contend with the winds — upon the point of 
 falling a prey to them. 
 
THE PIRATE. IS 
 
 Onward she came, the large black hulk seeming larger at 
 every fathom's length. She came nearer, until she bestrode 
 the summit of one tremendous billow, which rolled on with 
 her unbroken, till the wave and its burden were precipitated 
 against the rock, and then the triumph of the elements over 
 the work of human hands was at once completed. One wave, 
 we have said, made the wrecked vessel completely manifest 
 in her whole bulk, as it raised her and bore her onward 
 against the face of the precipice. But when that wave re- 
 ceded from the foot of the rock, the ship had ceased to exist; 
 and the retiring billow only bore back a quantity of beams, 
 planks, casks, and similar objects, which swept out to the 
 offing, to be brought in again by the next wave, and again 
 precipitated upon the face of the rock. 
 
 It was at this moment that Mordaunt conceived he saw a 
 man floating on a plank or water-cask, which, drifting away 
 from the main current, seemed about to go ashore upon a 
 small spot of sand, where the water was shallow and the waves 
 broke more smoothly. To see the danger and to exclaim, 
 " He lives, and may yet be saved! " was the first impulse of 
 the fearless Mordaunt. The next was, after one rapid glance 
 at the front of the cliff, to precipitate himself — such seemed 
 the rapidity of his movement — from the verge, and to com- 
 mence, by means of slight fissures, projections, and crevices 
 in the rock, a descent which, to a spectator, appeared little 
 else than an act of absolute insanity. 
 
 " Stop, I command you. rash boy! " said his father; " the 
 attempt is death. Stop, and take the safer path to the left." 
 But Mordaunt was already completely engaged in his perilous 
 enterprise. 
 
 "Why should I prevent him?" said his father, checking 
 his anxiety with the stern and unfeeling philosophy whose 
 principles he had adopted. " Should he die now, full of 
 generous and high feeling, eager in the cause of humanity, 
 happy in the exertion of his own conscious activity and 
 youthful strength — should he die now, will he not escape 
 misanthropy, and remorse, and age, and the consciousness of 
 decaying powers, both of body and mind? I will not look 
 upon it, however. I will not — I cannot behold his young 
 light so suddenly quenched." 
 
 He turned from the precipice accordingly, and hastening to 
 the left for more than a quarter of a mile, he proceeded 
 toward a " riva," or cleft in the rock, containing a path, called 
 Erick's Steps, neither safe, indeed, nor easy, but the only one 
 
U WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 by which the inhabitants of Jarlshof were wont, for any pur- 
 pose, to seek access to the foot of the precipice. 
 
 But, long ere Mertoun had reached even the upper end of 
 the pass, his adventurous and active son had accomplished 
 his more desperate enterprise. He had been in vain turned 
 aside from the direct line of descent by the intervention of 
 difficulties which he had not seen from above: liis route be- 
 came only more circuitous, but could not be interrupted. 
 More than once, large fragments to which he was about to 
 intrust his weight gave way before him, and thundered down 
 into the tormented ocean; and in one or two instances such 
 detached pieces of rock rushed after him, as if to bear him 
 headlong in their course. A courageous heart-, a steady eye, 
 a tenacious hand, and a firm foot carried him through his 
 desperate attempt; and in the space of seven minutes he 
 stood at the bottom of the cliff from the verge of wliich he 
 had achieved his perilous descent. 
 
 The place which he now occupied was the small projecting 
 spot of stones, sand, and gravel that extended a little way 
 into the sea, which on the right hand lashed the very bottom 
 of the precipice, and on the left was scarce divided from it by 
 a small wave-worn portion of beach that extended as far as 
 the foot of the rent in the rocks called Erick's Steps, by which 
 Mordaunt's father proposed to descend. 
 
 When the vessel split and went to pieces, all was swallowed 
 up in the ocean which had, after the first shock, been seen to 
 float upon the waves, excepting only a few pieces of wreck, 
 casks, chests, and the like, which a strong eddy, formed by 
 the reflux of the waves, had landed, or at least grounded, upon 
 the shallow where Mordaunt now stood. Amongst these, his 
 eager eye discovered the object that had at first engaged his 
 attention, and which now, seen at nigher distance, proved to 
 be in truth a man, and in a most precarious state. His arms 
 were still wrapt with a close and convulsive grasp round the 
 plank to which he had clung in the moment of the shock, 
 but sense and the power of motion were fled; and, from the 
 situation in which the plank lay partly grounded upon the 
 beach, partly floating in the sea, there was every chance that 
 it might be again washed off shore, in which case death was 
 inevitable. Just as he had made himself aware of these cir- 
 cumstances, Mordaunt beheld a huge wave advancing, and 
 hastened to interpose his aid ere it burst, aware that the reflux 
 might probably sweep away the sufferer. 
 
 Bl€ rushed into the surf, and fastened on the body with 
 
THE PIRATE. 15 
 
 the same tenacity, though under a different impulse, with 
 that wherewith the hound seizes his prey. The strength of 
 the retiring wave proved even greater than he had expected, 
 and it was not witliout a struggle for his own life, as well as 
 for that of the stranger, that Mordaunt resisted being swept 
 off with the receding billow, when, though an adroit swim- 
 mer, the strength of the tide must either have dashed him 
 against the rocks or hurried him out to sea. He stood his 
 ground, however, and ere another such billow had returned, 
 he drew up, upon the small slip of dry sand, both the body of 
 the stranger and the plank to which he continued finnly at- 
 tached. But how to save and to recall the means of ebbing 
 life and strength, and how to remove into a place of greater 
 safety the sufferer, who was incapable of giving any assistance 
 toward his own prsservation, were questions which Mordaunt 
 asked himself eagerly, but in vain. 
 
 He looked to the summit of the cliff on which he had left 
 his father, and shouted to him for his assistance; but his eye 
 could not distinguish his form, and his voice was only an- 
 swered by the scream of the sea-birds. He gazed again on 
 the sufferer. A dress richly laced, according to the fashion 
 of the times, fine linen, and rings upon his fingers, evinced he 
 was a man of superior rank; and his features showed youth 
 and comeliness, notwithstanding they were pallid and dis- 
 figured. He still breathed, but so feebly that his respiration 
 was almost imperceptible, and life seemed to keep such slight 
 hold of his frame that there was every reason to fear it would 
 become altogether extinguished, unless it were speedily re- 
 enforced. To loosen the handkerchief from his neck, to raise 
 him with his face toward the breeze, to support him with his 
 arms, was all that Mordaunt could do for his assistance, whilst 
 he anxiously looked for someone who might lend his aid in 
 dragging the unfortunate to a more safe situation. 
 
 At this moment he beheld a man advancing slowly and 
 cautiously along the beach. He was in hopes, at first, it was 
 his father, but instantly recollected that he had not had time 
 to come round by the circuitous descent to which he must 
 necessarily have recourse, and besides, he saw that the man 
 who approached him was shorter in stature. 
 
 As he came nearer, Mordaunt was at no loss to recognize 
 the peddler whom the day before he had met with at Harfra, 
 and who was known to him before upon many occasions. He 
 shouted as loud as he could, " Bryce, halloo! — Bryce, come 
 hither! " But the merchant, intent upon picking up some of 
 
76 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 the spoils of the wreck, and upon dragging them out of reach 
 of the tide, paid for some time little attention to his shouts. 
 
 When he did at length approach Mordaunt, it was not to 
 lend him his aid, hut to remonstrate with him on his rashness 
 in undertaking the charitable office. "Are you mad?" said 
 he; " you that have lived sae lang in Zetland, to risk the sav- 
 ing of a drowning man? Wot ye not, if you bring him 
 to life again, he will be sure to do you some capital injury.* 
 Come, Master Mordaunt, bear a hand to what's mair to the 
 purpose. Help me to get ane or twa of these kists ashore 
 before anybody else comes, and we shall share, like good 
 Christians, what God sends us, and be thankful." 
 
 Mordaunt was indeed no stranger to this inhuman super- 
 stition, current at a former period among the lower orders of 
 the Zetlanders, and the more generally adopted, perhaps, that 
 it served as an apology for refusing assistance to the unfor- 
 tunate victims of shipwreck, while they made plunder of 
 their goods. At any rate, the opinion, that to save a drown- 
 ing man was to run the risk of future injury from him, 
 formed a strange contradiction in the character of these 
 islanders, who, hospitable, generous, and disinterested on all 
 other occasions, were sometimes, nevertheless, induced by this 
 superstition to refuse their aid in those mortal emergencies 
 which were so common upon their rocky and stormy coasts. 
 We are happy to add, that the exhortation and example of the 
 proprietors have eradicated even the traces of this inhuman 
 belief, of which there might be some observed within the 
 memory of those now alive. It is strange that the minds of 
 men should have ever been hardened toward those involved 
 in a distress to which they themselves were so constantly ex- 
 posed; but perhaps the frequent sight and consciousness of 
 such danger tends to blunt the feelings to its consequences, 
 whether affecting ourselves or others. 
 
 Bryce was remarkably tenacious of this ancient belief; the 
 more so, perhaps, that the mounting of his pack depended 
 less upon the warehouses of Lerwick or Kirkwall than on the 
 consequences of such a northwestern gale as that of the day 
 preceding; for which (being a man who, in his own way, pro- 
 fessed great devotion) he seldom failed to express his grateful 
 thanks to Heaven. It was indeed said of him, that, if he 
 had spent the same time in assisting the wrecked seamen 
 which he had employed in rifling their bales and boxes, he 
 would have saved many lives, and lost much linen. He paid 
 
 ♦ See Reluctance to save Drowning Men. Note 15. 
 
THE PIRATE. 11 
 
 no sort of attention to the repeated entreaties of Mordaunt, 
 although he was now upon the same slip of sand with him. 
 It was well known to Bryce as a place on which the eddy was 
 likely to land such spoils as the ocean disgorged; and, to im- 
 prove the favorable moment, he occupied himself exclusively 
 in securing and appropriating whatever seemed most porta- 
 ble and of greatest value. At length, Mordaunt saw the 
 honest peddler fix his views upon a strong sea-chest, framed 
 of some Indian wood, well secured by bravss plates, and seem- 
 ing to be of a foreign construction. The stout lock resisted 
 all Br\'ce's efforts to open it, until, with great composure, he 
 plucked from his pocket a very neat hammer and chisel, and 
 began forcing the hinges. 
 
 Incensed beyond patience at his assurance, Mordaunt 
 caught up a wooden stretcher which lay near him, and lay- 
 ing his charge softly on the sand, approached Bryce with a 
 menacing gesture, and exclaimed, "•' You cold-blooded, in- 
 human rascal! either get up instantly and lend me your assist- 
 ance to recover this man, and bear him out of danger from 
 the surf, or I will not only beat you to a mummy on the spot, 
 but inform Magnus Troil of your thievery, that he may have 
 you flogged till your bones are bare, and then banish you 
 from the Mainland! " 
 
 The lid of the chest had just sprung open as this rough 
 address saluted Br^-ce's ears, and the inside presented a tempt- 
 ing view of wearing apparel for sea and land, shirts, plain and 
 with lace ruffles, a silver compass, a silver-hilted sword, and 
 other valuable articles, which the peddler well knew to be 
 such as stir in the trade. He was half-disposed to start up, 
 draw the sword, which was a cut-and-thrust, and " darraign 
 battaile," as Spenser says, rather than quit his prize or brook 
 interruption. Being, though short, a stout, square-made 
 personage, and not much past the prime of life, having be- 
 sides the better weapon, he might have given Mordaunt more 
 trouble than his benevolent knight-errantr}- deserved. 
 
 Already, as with vehemence he repeated his injunctions 
 that Bryce should forbear his plunder and come to the assist- 
 ance of the dying man, the peddler retorted with a voice of 
 defiance, " Dinna swear, sir — dinna swear, sir: I will endure 
 no swearing in my presence; and if you lay a finger on me, 
 that am taking the lawful sipoil of the Egyptians, I will give 
 ye a lesson ye shall remember from this day to Yule! " 
 
 ^rorrlniint would speedily have put the peddler's courage 
 to the test, but a Toice behind him suddenly said, " For- 
 
78 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 bear! " It was the voice of Noma of the Fitful Head, who, 
 during the heat of their altercation, had approached them 
 unobserved. " Forbear! " she repeated; " and, Bryce, do 
 thou render Mordaunt the assistance he requires. It shall 
 avail thee more, and it is I who say the word, than all that 
 you could earn to-day besides." 
 
 " It is se'enteen hundred linen," said the peddler, giving a 
 tweak to one of the shirts, in that knowing manner with 
 which matrons and judges ascertain the texture of the loom 
 — " it's se'enteen hundred linen, and as strong as an it were 
 dowlas. Nevertheless, mother, your bidding is to be done; 
 and I would have done Mr. Mordaunt's bidding too," he 
 added, relaxing from his note of defiance into the deferential 
 whining tone with which he cajoled his customers, " if he 
 hadna made use of profane oaths, which made my very flesh 
 grew, and caused me, in some sort, to forget myself." He 
 then took a flask from his pocket, and approached the ship- 
 wrecked man. "It's the best of brandy," he said; "and if 
 that doesna cure him, I ken naught that will." So saying, 
 he took a preliminary gulp himself, as if to show the quality 
 of the liquor, and was about to put it to the man's mouth, 
 when, suddenly withholding his hand, he looked at Noma — 
 " You insure me against all risk of evil from him, if I am to 
 render him my help? Ye ken yourself what folk say, 
 mother." 
 
 For aJl other answer. Noma took the bottle from the ped- 
 dler's hand, and began to chafe the temples and throat of the 
 shipwrecked man; directing Mordaunt how to hold his head, 
 so as to afl^ord him the means of disgorging the sea- water 
 which he had swallowed during his immersion. 
 
 The peddler looked on inactive for a moment, and then 
 said, " To be sure, there is not the same risk in helping him, 
 now he is out of the water, and lying high and dry on the 
 beach; and, to be sure, the principal danger is to those that 
 first touch him; and, to be sure, it is a world's pity to see how 
 these rings are pinching the puir creature's swalled fingers: 
 they make his hand as blue as a partan's back before boiling." 
 So saying, he seized one of the man's cold hands, which had 
 just, by a tremulous motion, indicated the return of life, and 
 began his charitable work of removing the rings, which 
 seemed to be of some value. 
 
 " As you love your life, forbear," said Noma sternly, " or 
 I will lay that on you which shall spoil your travels through 
 the isles." 
 
TEE PIRATE. 79 
 
 "Now, for mercy's sake, mother, say nae mair about it," 
 said the peddler, " and I'll e'en do your pleasure in your ain 
 way! I did feel a rheumatise in my back-spauld yestreen; 
 and it wad be a sair thing for the like of me to be debarred 
 my quiet walk round the country, in the way of trade — mak- 
 ing the honest penny, and helping myself with what Provi- 
 dence sends on our coasts." 
 
 " Peace, then," said the woman — " peace, as thou wouldst 
 not rue it; and take this man on thy broad shoulders. His 
 life is of value, and you will be rewarded." 
 
 " I had muckle need," said the peddler, pensively looking 
 at the lidless chest and the other matters which strewed the 
 sand; " for he has come between me and as muckle spreach- 
 erie as wad hae made a man of me for the rest of my life; and 
 now it maun lie here till the next tide sweep it a' doun the 
 Roost, after them that aught it yesterday morning." 
 
 " Fear not," said Noma, " it \nll come to man's use. See, 
 there come carrion-crows of scent as keen as thine own." 
 
 She spoke truly; for several of the people from the hamlet 
 of Jarlshof were now hastening along the beach, to have their 
 share in the spoil. The peddler beheld them approach with 
 a deep groan. " Aye — aye," he said, " the folk of Jarlshof, 
 they will make clean wark; they are kenn'd for that far and 
 wide; they \\-inna leave the value of a rotten ratlin; and what's 
 waur, there isna ane o' them has mense or sense eneugh to 
 give thanks for the mercies when they have gotten them. 
 There is the auld Eanzelman, Neil Ronaldson, that canna 
 walk a mile to hear the minister, but he will hirple ten if he 
 hears of a ship embayed." 
 
 Noma, however, seemed to possess over him so complete an 
 ascendency, that he no longer hesitated to take the man, who 
 now gave strong symptoms of reviving existence, upon his 
 shoulders: and, assisted by Mordaunt, trudged along the sea- 
 beach with his burden, without farther remonstrance. Ere 
 he was borne off, the stranger pointed to the chest, and at- 
 tempted to mutter something, to which Noma replied, 
 " Enough. It shall be secured." 
 
 Advancing toward the passage called Erick's Steps, by 
 which they were to ascend the cliffs, they met the peo})le from 
 Jarlshof hastening in the opposite direction. jMan and 
 woman, as they passed, reverently made room for Noma, and 
 saluted her, not without an expression of fear upon some of 
 their faces. She passed them a few paces, and then turning 
 back, called aloud to the Eanzelman, who (though the prac- 
 
80 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 tice was more common than legal) was attcndinfi: the rest of 
 the hamlet upon this plundering expedition. " Neil Eonald- 
 son," she said, " mark my words. There stands yonder a 
 chest, from which the lid has been just prized off. Look it 
 be brought down to your own house at Jarlshof, just as it 
 now is. Beware of moving or touching the slightest article. 
 He were better in his grave, that so much as looks at the con- 
 tents. 1 speak not for naught, nor in aught will I be dis- 
 obeyed." 
 
 " Your pleasure shall be done, mother," said Ronaldson. 
 " I warrant we will not break bulk, since sic is your bidding." 
 
 Far behind the rest of the villagers followed an old woman, 
 talking to herself, and cursing her own decrepitude, which 
 kept her the last of the party, yet pressing forward with all 
 her might to get her share of the spoil. 
 
 When they met her, Mordaunt was astonished to recognize 
 his father's old housekeeper. "How now," he said, "Swertha, 
 what make you so far from home? " 
 
 " Just e'en daikering out to look after my auld master and 
 your honor," replied Swertha, who felt like a criminal caught 
 in the manner; for, on more occasions than one, Mr. Mertoun 
 had intimated his high disapprobation of such excursions as 
 she was at present engaged in. 
 
 But Mordaunt was too much engaged with his own 
 thoughts to take much notice of her delinquency. " Have 
 you seen my father? " he said. 
 
 " And that I have," replied Swertha. " The gude gentle- 
 man was ganging to hirsel himsell doun Brick's Steps, whilk 
 would have been the ending of him, that is in no way a crags- 
 man. Sae I e'en gat him wiled away hame; and I was just 
 seeking you that you may gang after him to the hall-house, 
 for to my thought he is far frae weel." 
 
 "My father unwell?" said Mordaunt, remembering the 
 faintness he had exhibited at the commencement of that 
 morning's walk. 
 
 " Fax frae weel — far frae weel," groaned out Swertha, with 
 a piteous shake of the head; " white o' the gills — white o' the 
 gills; and him to think of coming down the riva! " 
 
 " Return home, Mordaunt," said Noma, who was listening 
 to what had passed. " I will see all that is necessary done 
 for this man's relief, and you will find him at the Ranzel- 
 man's when you list to inquire. You cannot help him more 
 than you already have done." 
 
 Mordaunt felt this was true, and, commanding Swertha 
 
THE PIBATE. 81 
 
 to follow him instantly, betook himself to the path home- 
 ward. 
 
 Swertha hobbled reluctantly after her young master in the 
 same direction, until she lost sight of him on his entering the 
 cleft of the rock; then instantly turned about, muttering to 
 herself, "Haste home, in good sooth! — haste home, and lose 
 the best chance of getting a new rokelay and owerlay that I 
 have had these ten years! By my certie, na. It's seldom sic 
 rich godsends come on our shore; no since the ' Jenny and 
 James ' came ashore in King Chariie's time." 
 
 So saying, she mended her pace as well as she could, and, a 
 willing mind making amends for frail limbs, posted on with 
 wonderful dispatch to put in for her share of the spoil. She 
 soon reached the beach, where the Ranzelman. stuffing his 
 own pouches all the while, was exhorting the rest " to part 
 things fair and be neighborly, and to give to the auld and 
 helpless a share of what was going, which," he charitably re- 
 marked, " would bring a blessing on the shore, and send 
 them ' mair wrecks ere winter.' " * 
 
 ♦ See Note 18. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 He was a lovely youth, I guess; 
 The pauthor in the wildiruess 
 
 Was not so fair as he; 
 And wheu he chose to sport and play, 
 No dolphin ever was so gay 
 
 Upon the tropic sea. 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
 The light foot of Mordaunt Mertoun was not long of bear- 
 ing him to Jarlshof. He entered the house hastily, for what 
 he himself had observed that morning coiTesponded in some 
 degree with the ideas which Swertha's tale was calculated to 
 excite. He found his father, however, in the inner apart- 
 ment, reposing himself after his fatigue; and his first ques- 
 tion satisfied him that the good dame had practiced a little 
 imposition to get rid of them both. 
 
 " Where is this dying man, whom you have so wisely ven- 
 tured your own neck to relieve ? " said the elder Mertoun to 
 the younger. 
 
 " Noma, sir," replied Mordaunt, " has taken him under her 
 charge; she imderstands such matters." 
 
 " And is quack as well as witch? " said the elder Mertoun. 
 " With all my heart; it is a trouble saved. But I hasted 
 home, on Swertha's hint, to look out for lint and bandages; 
 for her speech was of broken bones." 
 
 Mordaunt kept silence, well knowing his father would not 
 persevere in his inquiries upon such a matter, and not willing 
 either to prejudice the old governante or to excite his father 
 to one of those excesses of passion into which he was apt to 
 burst when, contrary to his wont, he thought proper to cor- 
 rect the conduct of his domestic. 
 
 It was late in the day ere old Swertha returned from her 
 expedition, heartily fatigued, and bearing with her a bundle 
 of some bulk, containing, it would seem, her share of the 
 spoil. Mordaunt instantly sought her out, to charge her with 
 the deceits she had practiced on both his father and himself; 
 but the accused matron lacked not her reply. 
 
 " By her troth," she said, " she thought it was time to bid 
 Mr. Mertoun gang hame and get bandages, when she had 
 seen, with her ain twa een, Mordaunt ganging down the cliff 
 like a wild-cat; it was to be tliought broken bones would be 
 
 82 
 
TEE PIRATE. 83 
 
 the end, and lucky if bandages wad do any good; and, by her 
 troth, she might weel tell Mordaunt his father was puirly, 
 and liim looking sae white in the gills, whilk, she wad die 
 upon it, was the very word she used, and it was a thing that 
 couldna be denied by man at this very moment." 
 
 " But, Swertha," said Mordaunt, as so^n as her clamorous 
 defense gave him time to speak in reply, " how came you, that 
 should have been busy with your housewifery and your spin- 
 ning, to be out this morning at Erick's Steps, in order to take 
 all this unnecessary care of my father and me? And what 
 is in that bundle, Swertha? for I fear, Swertha, you have 
 been transgressing the law, and have been out upon the 
 wrecking system." 
 
 " Fair fa' your sonsy face, and the blessing of St. Eonald 
 upon you! " said Swertha, in a tone betwixt coaxing and jest- 
 ing; " would you keep a puir body frae mending hersell, and 
 sae muckle gear lying on the loose sand for the lifting? 
 Hout, ]\Iaister Mordaunt, a ship ashore is a sight to wile the 
 minister out of his very pu'pit in the middle of his preaching, 
 muckle mair a puir auld ignorant wife frae her rock and her 
 tow. And little did I get for my day's wark: just some rags 
 o' cambric things, and a bit or twa of coorse claith, and sic- 
 like; the strong and the hearty get a' thing in this warld." 
 
 " Yes, Swertha," replied Mordaunt, " and that is rather 
 hard, as you must have your share of punishment in this 
 world and the next for robbing the poor mariners." 
 
 " Hout, callant, wha wad punish an auld wife like me for a 
 w^heen duds? Folk speak muckle black ill of Earl Patrick; 
 but he was a freend to the shore, and made wise laws against 
 onybody helping vessels that were like to gang on the 
 breakers.* And the mariners, I have heard Bryce Jagger 
 say, lose their right frae the time keel toiiches sand; and, 
 moreover, they are dead and gane, poor souls — dead and gane, 
 and care little about warld's wealth now. Nay, nae mair than 
 the great jarls and sea-kings, in the Norse days, did about 
 the treasures that they buried in the tombs and sepulchers 
 auld langs3'ne. Did I ever tell you the sang, Maister Mor- 
 daunt, how Olaf Tr}'guarson garr'd hide five gold cro\vTis in 
 the same grave with him? " 
 
 " No, Swertha," said Mordaunt. who took pleasure in tor- 
 menting the cunning old plunderer, " you never told me 
 that; but I tell you, that the stranger whom Noma has taken 
 down to the town will be well enough to-morrow to ask where 
 
 ♦ This was literally true. 
 
84 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 you have hidden the goods that you have stolen from t'Coe 
 wreck." 
 
 "But wha will tell him a word about it, hinnie?" said 
 Swertha, looking slyly up in her young mastei-'s face. " The 
 mair by token, since I maun tell ye, that I have a bonny rem- 
 nant of silk amang the lave, that will make a dainty waist- 
 coat to yoursell, the first meiTy-making ye gang to." 
 
 Mordaunt could no longer forbear laughing at the cunning 
 with which the old dame proposed to bribe off his eWdence by 
 imparting a portion of her plunder; and, desiring her to get 
 ready what provision she had made for dinner, he returned to 
 his father, whom he found still sitting in the same place, and 
 nearly in the same posture, in which he had left him. 
 
 When their hasty and frugal meal was finished, Mordaunt 
 announced to his father his purpose of going down to the 
 town, or hamlet, to look after the shipwrecked sailor. 
 
 The elder Mertoun assented with a nod. 
 
 " He must be ill accommodated there, sir," added his son — 
 a hint which only produced another nod of assent. " He 
 seemed, from his appearance," pursued Mordaunt, " to be of 
 very good rank; and admitting these poor people do their best 
 to receive him, in his present weak state, yet " 
 
 " I know what you would say," said his father, interrupting 
 him; " we, you think, ought to do something toward assist- 
 ing him. Go to him, then; if he lacks money, let him name 
 the sum, and he shall have it; but, for lodging the stranger 
 here, and holding intercourse with him, I neither can nor 
 will do so. I have retired to this farthest extremity of the 
 British Isles to avoid new friends and new faces, and none 
 such shall intrude on me either their happiness or their 
 misery. When you have known the world half a score of 
 years longer, your early friends will have given you reason to 
 remember them, and to avoid new ones for the rest of your 
 life. Go, then — why do you stop? — rid the country of the 
 man: let me see no one about me but those vulgar counte- 
 nances, the extent and character of whose petty knavery I 
 know, and can submit to, as to an evil too trifling to cause 
 irritation." He then threw his purse to his son, and signed 
 to him to depart with all speed. 
 
 Mordaunt was not long before he reached the village. In 
 the dark abode of ISTeil Ronaldson, the Ranzelman, he found 
 the stranger seated by the peat-fire, upon the very chest which 
 had excited the cupidity of the devout Bryce Snailsfoot, the 
 peddler. The Ranzelman himself was absent, dividing, with 
 
THE PIRATE. 85 
 
 all due impartiality, the spoils of the wrecked vessel amongst 
 the natives of the community; listening to and redressing 
 their complaints of inequality, and (if the matter in hand had 
 not been, from beginning to end, utterly unjust and indefen- 
 sible) discharging the part of a wise and prudent magistrate 
 in all the details. For at this time, and probably until a 
 much later period, the lower orders of the islanders enter- 
 tained an opinion, common to barbarians also in the same 
 situation, that whatever was cast on their shores became their 
 indispvitable property. 
 
 Margery Bimbister. the worthy spouse of the Ranzelman, 
 was in the charge of the house, and introduced Mordaunt to 
 her guest, saying, with no great ceremony, " This is the young 
 tacksman. You will maybe tell him your name, though you 
 will not tell it to us. If it had not been for his four quar- 
 ters, it's but little vou would have said to anybody, sae lang 
 as life lasted." 
 
 The stranger arose and shook Mordaunt by the hand; ob- 
 serving, he understood that he had been the means of saving 
 his life and his chest. " The rest of the property," he said, 
 "■ is, I see, walking the plank; for they are as busy as the devil 
 in a gale of wind." 
 
 " And what was the use of your seamanship, then," said 
 Margery, "that you couldna keep off the Sumburgh Head? 
 It would have been lang ere Sumburgh Head had come to 
 you." 
 
 " Leave us for a moment, good ^largery Bimbister," said 
 Mordaunt; " I wish to have some private conversation with 
 this gentleman." 
 
 " Gentleman! " said Marger}^ with an emphasis; "not but 
 the man is well enough to look at," she added, again survey- 
 ing him, " but I doubt if there is muckle of the gentleman 
 about him." 
 
 Mordaunt looked at the stranger, and was of a different 
 opinion. He was rather above the middle size, and formed 
 handsomely as well as strongly. Mordaunt's intercourse with 
 society was not extensive: but he thought his new acquaint- 
 ance, to a bold, sunburnt, handsome countenance, which 
 seemed to have faced various climates, added the frank and 
 open manners of a sailor. He answered clieerfuUy the inquir- 
 ies which ^Mordaunt made after his health; and maintained 
 that one night's rest would relieve him from all the effects of 
 the disaster he had sustained. But he spoke with bitterness 
 of the avarice and curiosity of the Ranzelman and his spouse. 
 
86 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 ■' That chattering old woman," said the stranger, " has per- 
 secuted me the whole day for the name of the ship. 1 think 
 she might be contented with the share she has had of it. I 
 was the principal owner of the vessel that was lost yonder, 
 and they have left me nothing but my wearing apparel. Is 
 there no magistrate, or justice of the peace, in this wild coun- 
 try, that would lend a hand to help one when he is among 
 the breakers? " 
 
 Mordaunt mentioned Magnus Troil, the principal proprie- 
 tor, as well as the '' fowd," or provincial judge, of the dis- 
 trict, as the person from whom he was most likely to obtain 
 redress; and regretted that his own youth, and his father's 
 situation as a retired stranger, should put it out of their 
 power to afford him the protection he required. 
 
 " Nay, for your part, you have done enough," said the 
 sailor; " but if I had five out of the forty brave fellows that 
 are fishes' food by this time, the devil a man would I ask to 
 do me the right that I could do for myself! " 
 
 "Forty hands!" said Mordaunt; "you were well manned 
 for the size of the ship." 
 
 " Not so well as we needed to be. We mounted ten guns, 
 besides chasers; but our cruise on the main had thinned us of 
 men, and lumbered us up with goods. Six of our guns were 
 in ballast. Hands! if I had had enough of hands, we would 
 never have miscarried so infernally. The people were 
 knocked up with working the pumps, and so took to their 
 boats, and left me with the vessel, to sink or SAvim. But the 
 dogs had their pay, and I can afford to pardon them. The 
 boats swamped in the current — all were lost — and here am I." 
 
 " You had come north about then, from the West Indies? " 
 said Mordaunt. 
 
 " Aye — aye, the vessel was the ' Good Hope ' of Bristol, a 
 letter of marque. She had fine luck down on the Spanish 
 Main, both with commerce and privateering; but the luck's 
 ended with her now. My name is Clement Cleveland, cap- 
 tain, and part owner, as I said before. I am a Bristol man 
 born; my father was well known on the tollsell — old Clem 
 Cleveland of the College Green." 
 
 Mordaunt had no right to inquire farther, and yet it 
 seemed to him as if his own mind was but half satisfied. 
 There was an affectation of bluntness, a sort of defiance, in 
 the manner of the stranger, for which circumstances afforded 
 no occasion. Captain Cleveland had suffered injustice from 
 the islanders, but from Mordaunt he had only received kind- 
 
TEE PIRATE. 8Y 
 
 ness and protection; yet he seemed as if he involved all the 
 neighborhood in the wrongs he complained of. Mordaunt 
 looked down and was silent, doubting whether it would be 
 better to take his leave or to proceed farther in his olt'ers of 
 assistance. Cleveland seemed to guess at his thoughts, for 
 he immediately added, in a conciliating manner — " I am a 
 plain man, Master Mertoun, for that 1 understand is your 
 name; and I am a ruined man to boot, and that does not mend 
 one's good manners. But you have done a kind and friendly 
 part by me, and it may be I think as much of it as if I {hanked 
 you more. And so before 1 leave this place I'll give you my 
 fowling-piece; she will put a hundred swan-shot through a 
 Dutchman's cap at eighty paces; she will carry ball too: I 
 have hit a wild bull within a hundred and fifty yards; but I 
 have two pieces that are as good or better, so you may keep 
 this for my sake." 
 
 " That would be to take my share of the wreck," answered 
 Mordaunt, laughing. 
 
 " No such matter," said Cleveland, undoing a case which 
 contained several guns and pistols; " you see I have saved my 
 private arm-chest as well as my clothes — that the tall old 
 woman in the dark rigging managed for me. And, between 
 ourselves, it is worth all I have lost; for," he added, lowering 
 his voice and looking round, " when I speak of being ruined 
 in the hearing of these land-sharks, I do not mean ruined 
 stock and block. No, here is something will do more than 
 shoot sea-fowl." So saying, he pulled out a great ammuni- 
 tion-pouch marked swan-shot, and showed ]\Iordaunt, hastily, 
 that it was full of Spanish pistoles and Portagues, as the 
 broad Portugal pieces were then called. " No — no," he 
 added, with a smile, " I have ballast enough to trim the ves- 
 sel again; and now, will you take the piece? " 
 
 " Since you are willing to give it me," said Mordaunt, 
 laughing, " with all my heart. I was just going to ask you, 
 in my father's name," he added, showing his purse, " whether 
 you wanted any of that same ballast." 
 
 " Thanks, but you see I am provided. Take my old ac- 
 quaintance, and may she serve you as well as she has served 
 me; but you will never make so good a voyage with her. You 
 can shoot, I suppose?" 
 
 " Tolerably well," said Mordaunt, admiring the piece, 
 which was a beautiful Spanish-barreled gun, inlaid with gold, 
 small in the bore, and of unusual length, such as is chiefly 
 used for shooting sea-fowl and for ball-practice. 
 
88 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 " With slugs," continued the donor, " never gun shot 
 closer; and with single ball you may Kill a seal two hundred 
 yards at sea from the top of the highest peali of this iron- 
 bound coast of yours. But I tell you again, that the old 
 rattler will never do you the service she has done me." 
 
 "I shall not use her so dexterously, perhaps?" said Mor- 
 daunt. 
 
 " Umph! perhaps not," replied Cleveland; " but that is not 
 the question. What say you to shooting the man at the 
 whe^l, just as we run aboard of a Spaniard? So the Don was 
 taken aback, and we laid him athwart the hawse, and earned 
 her cutlass in hand; and worth the while she was — stout 
 brigantine — ' El Santo Francisco ' — bound for Porto Bello. 
 with gold and negroes. That little bit of lead was worth 
 twenty thousand pistoles." 
 
 " I have shot at no such game as yet," said Mordaunt. 
 
 " Well, all in good time; we cannot weigh till the tide 
 makes. But you are a tight, handsome, active young man. 
 What is to ail you to take a trip after some of this stuff?" 
 laying his hand on the bag of gold. 
 
 " My father talks of my traveling soon," replied Mordaunt, 
 who, born to hold men-of-war's-men in great respect, felt 
 flattered by this invitation from one who appeared a thor- 
 oughbred seaman. 
 
 " I respect him for the thought," said the captain, " and I 
 will visit him before I weigh anchor. I have a consort off 
 these islands, and be cursed to her. She'll find me out some- 
 where, though she parted company in the bit of a squall, un- 
 less she is gone to Davy Jones too. Well, she was better 
 found than we, and not so deep loaded : she must have weath- 
 ered it. We'll have a hammock slung for you aboard, and 
 make a sailor and a man of you in the same trip." 
 
 " I should like it well enough," said Mordaunt, who 
 eagerly longed to see more of the world than his lonely situa- 
 tion had hitherto permitted; " but then my father must 
 decide." 
 
 "Your father! pooh!" said Captain Cleveland; "but you 
 are very right," he added, checking himself. " Gad, I have 
 lived so long at sea that I cannot imagine anybody has a 
 right to think except the captain and the master. But you 
 are very right. I will go up to the old gentleman this in- 
 stant and speak to him myself. He lives in that handsome, 
 modern-looldng building, I suppose, that I see a quarter of a 
 mile off?" 
 
THE PIRATE. 89 
 
 " In that old half-ruined house," said Mordaunt, " he does 
 indeed live; but he will see no visitors." 
 
 " Then you must drive the point yourself, for I can't stay 
 in this latitude. Since your father is no magistrate, I must 
 go to see this same Magnus — how call you him? — who is not 
 justice of peace, but something else that will do the turn as 
 well. These fellows have got two or three things that I must 
 
 and will have back; let them keep the rest, and be d d to 
 
 them. Will you give me a letter to him, just by way of com- 
 mission? " 
 
 " It is scarce needful," said Mordaunt. " It is enough 
 that you are shipwrecked and need his help; but yet I may as 
 well furnish you with a letter of introduction." 
 
 " There," said the sailor, producing a writing-case from his 
 chest, " are your writing-tools. Meantime, since bulk has 
 been broken, I will nail down the hatches and make sure of 
 the cargo." 
 
 While Mordaunt, accordingly, was engaged in writing to 
 Magnus Troil a letter, setting forth the circumstances in 
 which Captain Cleveland had been thrown upon their coast, 
 the captain, having first selected and laid aside some wearing 
 apparel and necessaries enough to fill a knapsack, took in 
 hand hammer and nails, employed himself in securing the lid 
 of his sea-chest by fastening it down in a workman-like man- 
 ner, and then added the corroborating security of a cord, 
 twisted and knotted with nautical dexterity. " I leave this 
 in your charge," he said, " all except this," showing the bag 
 of gold, " and these," pointing to a cutlass and pistols, 
 " which may prevent all further risk of my parting company 
 with my Portagues." 
 
 " You will find no occasion for weapons in this country, 
 Captain Cleveland," replied Mordaunt: " a child might travel 
 with a purse of gold from Sumburgh Head to the Scaw of 
 Unst, and no soul would injure him." 
 
 " And that's pretty boldly said, young gentleman, consider- 
 ing what is ofoing on without doors at this moment." 
 
 " Oh," replied Mordaunt, a little confused, " what comes on 
 land with the tide they reckon their lawful property. One 
 would think they had studied under Sir Arthegal, who pro- 
 nounces: 
 
 "For eqnal right in eqnal things doth stand. 
 
 And what the mighty sea liath once possess'd, 
 
 And phipked quite from all possessors' hands, 
 Or else by wrecks that wretches liave distress'd, 
 
 He may dispose, by his resistless might, 
 As things at random left, to whom he list." 
 
90 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " I shall think the better of plays and ballads as long as I 
 live for these very words," said Captain Cleveland; " and yet 
 I have loved them well enough in my day. But this is good 
 doctrine, and more men than one may trim their sails to such 
 a breeze. What the sea sends is ours, that's sure enough. 
 However, in case that your good folks should think the land 
 as well as the sea may present them with waifs and strays, I 
 will make bold to take my cutlass and pistols. Will you 
 cause my chest to be secured in your own house till you hear 
 from me, and use your influence to procure me a guide to 
 show me the way, and to carr}' my kit? " 
 
 " Will you go by sea or land ? " said Mordaunt, in reply. 
 
 " By sea! " exclaimed Cleveland. " What, in one of these 
 cockle-shells, and a cracked cockle-shell to boot? No — no; 
 land — land, unless I knew my crew, my vessel, and my 
 voyage." 
 
 They parted accordingly, Captain Cleveland being supplied 
 with a guide to conduct him to Burgh- Westra, and his chest 
 being carefully removed to the mansion-house at Jarlshof . 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 This is a gentle trader, and a prudent. 
 
 He's lu) Autolycus, to l)lear your eye 
 
 With quips of worldly j,'iiud3 aud ^auiesomenesg; 
 
 But seiisuns all his glitteiiug nierchHiidise 
 
 With whok'souie doctrines, suited to tlie use, 
 
 As men sauce goose with sage and rosemary. 
 
 —Old Play. 
 
 On the subsequent morning, Mordaunt, in answer to his 
 father's inquiries, began to give him some account of the 
 shipwrecked mariner whom he had rescued from the waves. 
 But he had not proceeded far in recapituhiting the particulars 
 which Cleveland had communicated, when Mr. Mertoun's 
 looks became disturbed; he arose hastily, and, after pacing 
 twice or thrice across the room, he retired into the inner 
 chamber, to which he usually confined himself while under 
 the influence of his mental malady. In the evening he reap- 
 peared, without any traces of his disorder; but it may be easily 
 supposed that his son avoided recurring to the subject which 
 had affected him. 
 
 Mordaunt ]\Iertoun was thus left without assistance to form 
 at his leisure his own opinion respecting the new acquaintance 
 which the sea had sent him; and, upon the whole, he was 
 himself surprised to find the result less favorable to the stran- 
 ger than he could well account for. There seemed to Mor- 
 daunt to be a sort of repelling influence about the man. 
 True, he was a handsome man, of a frank and prepossessing 
 manner, but there was an assumption of superiority about 
 him which Mordaunt did not quite so much like. Although 
 he was so keen a sportsman as to be delighted with his acqui- 
 sition of the Spanish-barreled gun, and accordingly mounted 
 and dismounted it with great interest, paying the utmost 
 attention to the most minute parts about the lock and orna- 
 ments, yet he was, upon the whole, inclined to have some 
 scruples about the mode in which he had acquired it. 
 
 " I should not have accepted it," he thought; " perhaps 
 Captain Cleveland might give it me as a sort of payment for 
 the trifling service I did him; and yet it would have been 
 churlish to refuse it in the way it was offered. I wish he had 
 looked more like a man whom one would have chosen to be 
 obliged to." 
 
 But a successful day's shooting reconciled him to his gun, 
 
 91 
 
92 WAVEELBY NOVELS. 
 
 and he became assured, like most young sportsmen in similar 
 circumstances, that all other pieces were but pop-guns in 
 comparison. But then, to be doomed to shoot gulls and seals, 
 when there were Frenchmen and Spaniards to be come at, 
 when there were ships to be boarded, and steersmen to be 
 marked off, seemed but a dull and contemptible destiny. His 
 father had mentioned his leaving these islands, and no other 
 mode of occupation occurred to his inexperience save that of 
 the sea, with which he had been conversant from his infancy. 
 His ambition had formerly aimed no higher than at sharing 
 the fatigues and dangers of a Greenland fishing expedition; 
 for it was in that scene that the Zetlanders laid most of their 
 perilous adventures. But war was again raging, the history 
 of Sir Francis Drake, Captain Morgan, and other bold ad- 
 venturers, an account of whose exploits he had purchased 
 from Bryce Snailsfoot, had made much impression on his 
 mind, and the offer of Captain Cleveland to take him to sea 
 frequently recurred to him, although the pleasure of such a 
 project was somewhat damped by a doubt whether, in the 
 long run, he should not find many objections to his proposed 
 commander. Thus much he already saw, that he was opin- 
 ionative, and might probably prove arbitrai7; and that, since 
 even his Idndness was mingled with an assumption of su- 
 periority, his occasional displeasure might contain a great 
 deal more of that disagreeable ingredient than could be pala- 
 table to those who sailed under him. And yet, after countinc: 
 all risks, could his father's consent but be obtained, with what 
 pleasure, he thought, would he embark in quest of new scenes 
 and strange adventures, in which he proposed to himself to 
 achieve such deeds as should be the theme of many a tale to 
 the lovely sisters of Burgh-Westra — tales at which Minna 
 should weep and Brenda should smile, and both should 
 marvel! And this was to be the reward of his labors and his 
 dangers; for the hearth of Magnus Troil had a magnetic in- 
 fluence over his thoughts, and however they might traverse 
 amid his day-dreams, it was the point where they finally 
 settled. 
 
 There were times when Mordaunt thought of mentioning 
 to his father the conversation he had held with Captain Cleve- 
 land, and the seaman's proposal to him; but the very short 
 and general account which be had given of that person's his- 
 tory, upon the morning after his departure from the hamlet, 
 had produced a sinister effect on Mr. Mertoun's mind, and 
 discouraged him from speaking farther on any subject con- 
 
THE PIRATE. 93 
 
 nected with it. It would be time enough, he thought, to 
 mention Captain Cleveland's proposal when liis consort should 
 arrive, and when he should repeat his offer in a more formal 
 manner; and these he supposed events likely very soon to 
 happen. 
 
 But days grew to weeks, and weeks were numbered into 
 months, and he heard nothing from Cleveland; and only 
 learned by an occasional visit from Bryce Snailsfoot that the 
 captain was residing at Burgh- Westra as one of the family. 
 Mordaunt was somewhat surprised at this, although the un- 
 limited hospitality of the islands, which Magnus Troil, both 
 from fortune and disposition, carried to the utmost extent, 
 made it almost a matter of course that he should remain in 
 the family until he disposed of himself otherwise. Still it 
 seemed strange he had not gone to some of the northern isles 
 to inquire after his consort; or that he did not rather choose 
 to make Lerwick his residence, where fishing-vessels often 
 brought news from the coasts and ports of Scotland and Hol- 
 land. Again, why did he not send for the chest he had de- 
 posited at Jarlshof? and still farther, Mordaunt thought it 
 would have been but polite if the stranger had sent him some 
 sort of message in token of remembrance. 
 
 These subjects of reflection were connected with another 
 still more unpleasant, and more difficult to account for. 
 Until the arrival of this person, scarce a week had passed 
 without bringing him some kind greeting or token of recol- 
 lection from Burgh-AYestra; and pretenses were scarce ever 
 wanting for maintaining a constant intercourse. Minna 
 wanted the words of a ISTorse ballad; or desired to have, for 
 her various collections, feathers or eggs, or shells, or speci- 
 mens of the rarer sea-weeds; or Brenda sent a riddle to be 
 resolved, or a song to be learned: or the honest old Udaller — 
 in a rude manuscript, which might have passed for an ancient 
 Runic inscription — sent his hearty greetings to his good 
 young friend, with a present of something to make good 
 cheer, and an earnest request he would come to Burgh- Westra 
 as soon, and stay there as long, as possible. These kindly 
 tokens of remembrance were often sent bv special message; be- 
 sides which, there was never a passenger or a traveler \vho 
 crossed from the one mansion to the other who did not bring 
 to Mordaunt some friendly greeting from the Udaller and his 
 family. Of late, this intercourse had become more and more 
 infrequent; and no messenger from Burgh-Westra had visiti^d 
 Jarishof for several weeks. Mordaunt both observed and felt 
 
94 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 this alteration, and it dwelt on his mind, while he questioned 
 Bryce as closely as pride and prudence would peraiit, to ascer- 
 tain, if possible, the cause of the change. Yet he endeavored 
 to assume an indiUerent air while he asked the jagger whether 
 there were no news in the country. 
 
 "Great news," the jagger replied; "and a gay mony of 
 them. That crack-brained carle, the new factor, is for mak- 
 ing a change in the 'bismars' and the 'lispunds'; and our 
 worthy fowd, Magnus Troil, has sworn that, sooner than 
 change them for the still-yard or aught else, he'll fling Factor 
 Yellowley from Brassa Craig." 
 
 "Is that all?" said Mordaunt, very little interested. 
 
 " All and eneugh, I think," replied the peddler. " How 
 are folks to buy and sell, if the weights are changed on 
 them?" 
 
 " Very true," replied Mordaunt; " but have you heard of 
 no strange vessels on the coast?" 
 
 " Six Dutch doggers off Brassa; and, as I hear, a high- 
 quartered galliot thing, with a gaff mainsail, lying in Scallo- 
 way Bay. She will be from Norway." 
 
 " No ships of war, or sloops? " 
 
 " None," replied the peddler, " since the ' Kite ' tender 
 sailed with the impress men. If it was His will, and our men 
 were out of her, I wish the deep sea had her! " 
 
 " Were there no news at Burgh- Westra? Were the family 
 all well?" 
 
 " A' weel, and weel to do, out-taken, it may be, something 
 ower muckle daffing and laughing: dancing ilk night, they 
 say, wi' the stranger captain that's living there — him that 
 was ashore on Sumburgh Head the tother day; less daffing 
 served him then." 
 
 " Daffing! dancing every night! " said Mordaunt, nor par- 
 ticularly well satisfied. " Whom does Captain Cleveland 
 dance with? " 
 
 " Onybody he likes, I fancy," said the jagger; " at ony rate, 
 he gars a' body yonder dance after his fiddle. But I ken 
 little about it, for I am no free in conscience to look upon 
 tha^e flinging fancies. Folk should mind that life is made but 
 of rotten yarn." 
 
 " I fancy that it is to keep them in mind of that wholesome 
 truth that you deal in such tender wares, Bryce," replied 
 Mordaunt, dissatisfied as well with the tenor of the reply as 
 with the affected scruples of the respondent. 
 
 " That's as muckle as to say, that I suld hae minded you 
 
THE PIRATE. 95 
 
 was a flinger and a fiddler yoursell, Maister Mordaunt; but I 
 am an auld man, and maun unburden my conscience. But 
 ye will be for the dance, 1 sail warrant, that's to be at Burgh- 
 Westra on John's Even — Saunt John's, as the blinded crea- 
 tures ca' him, — and nae doubt ye will be for some warldly 
 braws — hose, waistcoats, or sic-like? I hae pieces frae Flan- 
 ders." With that he placed his movable warehouse on the 
 table, and began to unlock it. 
 
 " Dance! " repeated Mordaunt — " dance on St. John's 
 Even? Were you desired to bid me to it, Brj'ce? " 
 
 " Xa; but ye ken weel eneugh ye wad be welcome, bidden 
 or no bidden. This captain — how ca' ye him? — is to be skud- 
 ler, as they ca't — the first of the gang, like." 
 
 " The devil take him! " said Mordaunt, in impatient sur- 
 prise. 
 
 " A' in gude time," rephed the jagger: " hurry no man's 
 cattle; the devil will hae his due, I warrant ye, or it winna be 
 for lack of seeking. But it's true I'm telling you, for a' ye 
 stare like a wild-cat; and this same captain — I watna his name 
 — bought ane of the very waistcoats that I am ganging to show 
 ye, — purple, wi' a gowd binding, and bonnily broidered; and 
 I have a piece for you, the neighbor of it, wi' a green grund; 
 and if ye mean to streek yourself up beside him, ye maun e'en 
 buy it, for it's gowd that glances in the lasses' een nowadays. 
 See — look til't," he added, displacing the pattern in various 
 points of view — " look till it through the light and till the 
 light through it, wi' the grain and against the grain: it shows 
 ony gate; cam frae Antwerp a' the gate. Four dollars is the 
 price; and yon captain was sae weel pleased that he flang down 
 a twenty-shilling Jacobus, and bade me keep the change and 
 be d d! Poor, silly, profane creature, I pity him." 
 
 Without inquiring whether the peddler bestowed his com- 
 passion on the worldly imprudence or the religious de- 
 ficiencies of Captain Cleveland, Mordaunt turned from him, 
 folded his arms, and paced the apartment, muttering to him- 
 self, " Xot asked. A stranger to be king of the feast! " 
 Words which he repeated so^amestly that Bryce caught a 
 part of their import. 
 
 " As for asking, I am almaist bauld to say that ye will be 
 asked, Maister Mordaunt." 
 
 " Did they mention my name, then? " said Mordaunt. 
 
 "I canna preceesely say that," said Bryce Snailsfoot; "but 
 e needna turn away your head sae sourly, like a sealgh when 
 e leaves the shore; for, do you see, I heard distinctly that a' 
 
S6 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the revelers about are to be there; and is't to be thought they 
 would leave out you, an old kenn'd freend, and the lightest 
 foot at sic frolics — Heaven send you a better praise in His ain 
 gude time! — that ever flang at a fiddle-squeak, between this 
 and Unst? Sae I consider ye altogether the same as invited: 
 and ye had best provide yoursell wi' a waistcoat, for brave and 
 brisk will every man be that's there — the Lord pity them! " 
 
 He thus continued to follow with his green glazen eyes the 
 motions of young Mordaunt Mertoun, who was pacing the 
 room in a vei-y pensive manner, which the jagger probablv 
 misinterpreted, as he thought, like Claudio, that, if a man is 
 sad, it must needs be because he lacks money. Bryce, there- 
 fore, after another pause, thus accosted him: "Ye needna be 
 sad about the matter, Maister Mordaunt; for although I got 
 the just price of the article from the captain-man, yet I maun 
 deal freendly wi' you, as a kenn'd freend and customer, 
 and bring the price, as they say, within your purse-mouth; or 
 it's the same to me to let it lie ower till Martinmas, or e'en to 
 Candlemas. I am decent in the warld, Maister Mordaunt; 
 forbid that I should hurry onybody, far mair a freend that has 
 paid me siller afore now. Or I wad be content to swap the 
 garment for the value in feathers or sea-otters' skins, or ony 
 kind of peltrie; nane kens better than yoursell how to come by 
 sic ware, and. I am sure I hae furnished you wi' the primest 
 o' powder. I dinna ken if I tell'd ye it was out o' the kist of 
 Captain Plunket, that perished on the Scaw of Unst, wi' the 
 armed brig ' Mar}^,' sax years syne. He was a prime fowler 
 himself, and luck it was that the kist came ashore dry. I 
 sell that to nane but gude marksmen. And so, I was saying, 
 if ye had ony wares ye liked to coup for the waistcoat, I wad 
 be ready to trock wi' you, for assuredly ye will be wanted at 
 Burgh- Westra on St. John's Even; and ye wadna like to look 
 waur than the captain — that wadna be setting." 
 
 " I will be there at least, whether wanted or not," said Mor- 
 daunt, stopping short in his walk, and taking the waistcoat- 
 piece hastily out of the peddler's hand; " and, as you say, will 
 not disgrace them." 
 
 " Hand a care — baud a care, Maister Mordaunt," exclaimed 
 the peddler; " ye handle it as it were a bale of coarse wad- 
 maal: ye'll fray't to bits; ye might weel say my ware is tender; 
 and ye'll mind the price is four dollars. Sail I put ye in my 
 book for it? " 
 
 " No," said Mordaunt hastily; and, taking out his purse, he 
 flung down the money. 
 
THE PIRATE. 97 
 
 " Grace to ye to wear the garment," said the joyous ped- 
 dler, " and to me to guide the siller; and protect us from 
 earthly vanities and earthly covetousuess; and send you the 
 white linen raiment, whilk is mair to be desired than the mus- 
 lins, and cambrics, and lawns, and silks of tliis world; and 
 send me the talents which avail more than much fine Span- 
 ish gold, or Dutch dollars either; and — but God guide the 
 callant, what for is he wrapping the silk up that gate, like a 
 wisp of hay ? " 
 
 At this moment, old Swertha, the housekeeper, entered, to 
 whom, as if eager to get rid of the subject, Mordaunt threw 
 his purchase, with something like careless disdain; and, tell- 
 ing her to put it aside, snatched his gun, wliich stood in the 
 corner, threw his shooting accouterments about him, and, 
 without noticing Br}^ce's attempt to enter into conversation 
 upon the " braw seal-skin, as saft as doe-leather," which made 
 the sling and cover of his fowling-piece, he left the apartment 
 abruptly. 
 
 The jagger, with those green, goggling, and gain-descr}ing 
 kind of optics which we have already described, continued 
 gazing for an instant after the customer who treated his wares 
 with such irreverence. 
 
 Swertha also looked after him with some surprise. " The 
 callant's in a creel," quoth she. 
 
 " In a creel! " echoed the peddler; " he will be as wovd as 
 ever his father was. To guide in that gate a bargain that 
 cost him four dollars! — very, very fifish, as the east-country 
 fisher-folk say." 
 
 " Four dollars for that green rag! " said Swertha, catching 
 at the words which the jagger had unwarily suffered to escape- 
 "that was a bargain indeed! I wonder whether he is the 
 greater fule or you the mair rogue, Bryce Snailsfoot." 
 
 "I didna sav it cost liim preceesely four dollars," said 
 Snailsfoot; " but if it had, the lad's siller's his ain, I hope; 
 and he is auld eneugh to make his ain bargains. Mair by 
 token, the gudes are weel worth the money and mair." 
 
 " Mair by token," said Swertha coolly, " I will see what his 
 father thinks about it." 
 
 " Ye'll no be sae ill-natured, Mrs. Swertha," said the jag- 
 ger; " that will be but cauld thanks for the bonny owerlay 
 that I hae brought you a' the way frae Lenvick." 
 
 "And a bonny price ye'll be setting on't," said Swertha; 
 "-' for that's the gate your good deeds end." 
 
 " Ye sail hae the fixing of the pricf yoursell; or it may lie 
 
M WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 ower till ye're buying something for the house or for youi 
 master, and it can make a' ae count." 
 
 " Troth, and that's true, Bryce Snailsfoot; I am thinking 
 we'll want some napery sune; for it's no to be thought we can 
 spin, and the like, as if there was a mistress in the house; and 
 sae we make nane at hame." 
 
 " And that's what I ca' walking by the Word," said the 
 jagger. " ' Go unto those that buy and sell '; there's muckle 
 profit in that text." 
 
 " There is a pleasure in dealing wi' a discreet man, that can 
 make profit of onything," said Swertha; " and now that I 
 take another look at that daft callant^fe waistcoat-piece, I think 
 it is honestly worth four dollars." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 I have posseseed the regulation of the weather and the dietribution of the 
 seaeona. The sun has listeued to my dictates, aud passed from tropic to 
 tropic by my direction ; the clouds, at my command, have poured forth 
 their waters. — Hasselas. 
 
 Any sudden cause for anxious and mortifying reflection, 
 which, in advanced age, occasions sullen and pensive inac- 
 tivity, stimulates youth to eager and active exertion; as if, 
 like the hurt deer, they endeavored to drown the pain of the 
 shaft by the rapidity of motion. When Mordaunt caught up 
 his gun and rushed out of the house of Jarlshof, he walked 
 on with great activity over waste and wild, without any de- 
 termined purpose, except that of escaping, if possible, from 
 the smart of his own irritation. His pride was effectually 
 mortified by the report of the jagger, which coincided exactly 
 with some doubts he had been led to entertain, by the long 
 and unkind silence of his friends at Burgh-^Yestra. 
 
 If the fortunes of Caesar had doomed him, as the poet sug- 
 gests, to have been 
 
 But the beet wrestler on the green, 
 
 it is, nevertheless, to be presumed that a foil from a rival in 
 that rustic exercise would have mortified him as much as a 
 defeat from a competitor when he was struggling for the em- 
 pery of the world. And even so Mordaunt Mertoun, de- 
 graded in his own eyes from the height wliich he had occu- 
 pied as the chief amongst the youth of the island, felt vexed 
 and irritated, as well as humbled. The two beautiful sisters, 
 also, whose smiles all were so desirous of acquiring, with 
 whom he had lived on terms of such familiar affection that, 
 with the same ease and ignorance, there was unconsciously 
 mixed a shade of deeper though undefined tenderness than 
 characterizes fraternal love — they also seemed to have for- 
 gotten him. He could not be ignorant that, in the ur.iversal 
 opinion of all Dunrossness, nay, of the whole Mainland, he 
 might have had every chance of being the favored lover of 
 either; and now at once, and without any failure on his part, 
 he was become so little to them that he had lost even the con- 
 sequence of an ordinary acquaintance. The old Udaller, too, 
 whose hearty and sincere character should have made him 
 
 99 
 
100 WAVERLEY A'OVELS. 
 
 more constant in his friendships, seemed to have been as 
 fickle as his daughters, and poor Mordaunt had at once lost 
 the smiles of tlie fair and the favor of the powerful. These 
 Avere uncomfortable reflections, and he doubled his pace, that 
 he might outstrip them if possible. 
 
 Without exactly reflecting upon the route which he pur- 
 sued, Mordaunt walked briskly on through a country where 
 neither hedge, wall, nor inclosure of any kind interrupts the 
 steps of the wanderer, until he reached a very solitary spot, 
 where, embosomed among steep heathy hills, which sunk sud- 
 denly down on the verge of the water, lay one of those small 
 fresh-water lakes which are common in the Zetland Isles, 
 whose outlets form the sources of the small brooks and rivu- 
 lets by which the country is watered, and serve to drive the 
 little mills which manufacture their grain. 
 
 It was a mild summer day; the beams of the sun, as is not 
 uncommon in Zetland, were moderated and shaded by a sil- 
 very haze, which filled the atmosphere, and, destroying the 
 strong contrast of light and shade, gave even to noon the 
 sober livery of the evening twilight. The little lake, not 
 three-quarters of a mile in circuit, lay in profound quiet; its 
 surface undimpled, save when one of the numerous water- 
 fowl which glided on its surface dived for an instant under it. 
 The depth of the water gave the whole that cerulean tint of 
 bluish-green which occasioned its being called the Green 
 Loch; and at present it formed so perfect a mirror to the bleak 
 hills by which it was surrounded, and which lay reflected on 
 its bosom, that it was difficult to distinguish the water from 
 the land; nay, in the shadowy uncertainty occasioned by the 
 thin haze, a stranger could scarce have been sensible that a 
 sheet of water lay before him. A scene of more complete 
 solitude, having all its peculiarities heightened by the ex- 
 treme serenity of the weather, the quiet, gray, composed tone 
 of the atmosphere, and the perfect silence of the elements, 
 could hardly be imagined. The very aquatic birds, who fre- 
 quented the spot in great numbers, forbore their usual flight 
 and screams, and floated in profound tranquillity upon the 
 silent water. 
 
 Without taking any determined aim, without having any 
 determined purpose, without almost thinking what he was 
 about, Mordaunt presented his fowling-piece and fired across 
 ihe lake. The large swan-shot dimpled its surface like a 
 partial showier of hail; the hills took up the noise of the re- 
 port, and repeated it again, and again, and again, to all their 
 
THE PIRATE: 101 
 
 echoes; the water-fowl took to wing in eddying and confused 
 wheel, answering the echoes with a thousand varying screams, 
 from the deep note of the swabie, or swartback, to the queru- 
 lous cry of the tirracke and kittiwake. 
 
 Mordaunt looked for a moment on the clamorous crowd 
 with a feeling of resentment, which he felt disposed at the 
 moment to apply to all nature, and all her objects, animate or 
 inanimate, however little concerned with the cause of his in- 
 ternal mortification. 
 
 " Aye — aye," he said,_ " wheel, dive, scream, and clamor as 
 you will, and all because you have seen a strange sight and 
 heard an unusual sound. There is many a one like you in 
 this round world. But you, at least, shall learn," he added, 
 as he reloaded his gun, " that strange sights and strange 
 sounds, aye, and strange acquaintances to boot, have some- 
 times a little shade of danger connected with them. But 
 why should I wreak my own vexation on these harmless sea- 
 gulls?" he subjoined, after a moment's pause; "they have 
 nothing to do with the friends that have forgotten me. I 
 loved them all so well — and to be so soon given up for the first 
 stranger whom chance threw on the coast! " 
 
 As he stood resting upon his gun, and abandoning his mind 
 to the course of these unpleasant reflections, his meditations 
 were expectedly interrupted by someone touching his shoul- 
 der. He looked around, and saw N"oma of the Fitful Head, 
 wrapped in her dark and ample mantle. She had seen him 
 from the brow of the hill, and had descended to the laks 
 through a small ravine which concealed her, until she came 
 with noiseless step so close to him that he turned round at 
 her touch. 
 
 Mordaunt Merton was by nature neither timorous nor credu- 
 lous, and a course of reading more extensive than usual had, 
 in some degree, fortified his mind against the attacks of super- 
 stition; but he would have been an actual prodigy if, living in 
 Zetland in the end of the seventeenth century, he had pos- 
 sessed the philosophy which did not exist in Scotland gen- 
 erally until at least two generations later. He doubted in his 
 own mind the extent, nay, the \evy existence, of Noma's 
 supernatural attributes, which was a high flight of incredu- 
 lity in the country where they were universally received; but 
 still his incredulity went no "farther than doubts. She was 
 unquestionably an extraordinary woman, gifted with an 
 energy above others, acting upon motives peculiar to her- 
 self, and apparently independent of mere earthly considera- 
 
102 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 tions. Impressed with these ideas, which he had imbibed 
 from his youth, it was not without something like alarm 
 that he beheld this mysterious female standing on a sudden so 
 close beside him, and looking upon him with such sad and 
 severe eyes, as those with which the Fatal Virgins, who, ac- 
 cording to Northern mythology, were called the Valkyriur, 
 or " Choosers of the Slain," were supposed to regard the 
 young champions whom they selected to share the banquet 
 of Odin. 
 
 It was, indeed, reckoned unlucky, to say the least, to meet 
 with Noma suddenly alone, and in a place remote from wit- 
 nesses; and she was supposed, on such occasions, to have been 
 usually a prophetess of evil, as well as an omen of misfor- 
 tune, to those who had such a rencounter. There were few or 
 none of the islanders, however familiarized with her occa- 
 sional appearance in society, that would not have trembled to 
 meet her on the solitary banks of the Green Loch. 
 
 " I bring you no evil, Mordaunt Mertoun," she said, read- 
 ing perhaps something of this superstitious feeling in the 
 looks of the young man. " Evil from me you never felt, and 
 never will." 
 
 " Nor do I fear any," said Mordaunt, exerting himself to 
 throw aside an apprehension which he felt to be unmanly. 
 " Why should I, mother? You have been ever my friend." 
 
 " Yet, Mordaunt, thou art not of our region; but to none 
 of Zetland blood, no, not even to those who sit around the 
 hearthstone of Magnus Troil, the noble descendants of the 
 ancient Jarls of Orkney, am I more a well-wisher than I am to 
 thee, thou kind and brave-hearted boy. When I hung around 
 thy neck that gifted chain, which all in our isles know was 
 wrought by no earthly artist, but by the Drows,* in the 
 secret recesses of their caverns, thou wert then but fifteen 
 years old; yet thy foot had been on the Maiden Skerry of 
 Northmaven, known before but to the webbed sole of the 
 swartback, and thy skiff had been in the deepest cavern of 
 Brinnastir, where the ' haaf-fish ' f had before slumbered in 
 dark obscurity. Therefore I gave thee that noble gift; and 
 well thou knowest that, since that day, every eye in these 
 isles has looked on thee as a son or as a brother, endowed be- 
 yond other- youths, and the favored of those whose hour of 
 power is when the night meets with the day." 
 
 * See Note 17. 
 
 t The larger seal, or sea-calf, which seeks the most solitary recesses for its abodet 
 See Dr. Edmonstoue's " Zetland," vol. ii. p. S94. 
 
THE PIRATE. 103 
 
 " Alas! mother," said Mordaunt, " your kind gift may have 
 given me favor, but it has not been able to keep it for me, or 
 I have not been able to keep it for myself. What matters it? 
 I shall learn to set as little by others as they do by me. My 
 father says that I shall soon leave these islands, and there- 
 fore. Mother Noma, I \nll return to you your fairy gift, that 
 it may bring more lasting luck to some other than it has done 
 to me." 
 
 " Despise not the gift of the nameless race," said Noma, 
 frowning; then suddenly changing her tone of displeasure to 
 that of mournful solemnity, she added, '" Despise them not: 
 but, oh, Mordaunt, court them not! Sit down on that grav 
 stone; thou art the son of my adoption, and I ^\-ill dotf. as far 
 as I may, those attributes that sever me from the common 
 mass of humanity, and speak to you as a parent with a child." 
 
 There was a tremulous tone of grief which mingled with 
 the loftiness of her language and carriage, and was calculated 
 to excite sympathy, as well as to attract attention. Mor- 
 daunt sat down on the rock which she pointed out — a frag- 
 ment which, with many others that lay scattered around, had 
 been torn by some winter storm from the precipice at the 
 foot of which it lay, upon the very verge of the water. Noma 
 took her own seat on a stone at about three feet distance, ad- 
 justed her mantle so that little more than her forehead, her 
 eyes, and a single lock of her gray hair were seen from beneath 
 the shade of her dark wadmaal cloak, and then proceeded in 
 a tone in which the imaginary consequence and importance 
 so often assumed by lunacy seemed to contend against the 
 deep workings of some extraordinary and deeply rooted 
 mental affliction. 
 
 " I was not always," she said, " that which I now am. I 
 was not always the wise, the powerful, the commanding, be- 
 fore whom the young stand abashed and the old uncover their 
 gray heads. There was a time when my appearance did not 
 silence mirth, when I sympathized with human passion, and 
 had my own share in human joy or sorrow. It was a time 
 of helplessness — it was a time of folly — it was a time 
 of idle and unfruitful laughter — it was a time of 
 causeless and senseless tears; and yet, with its follies 
 and its sorrows, and its weaknesses, what would Noma 
 of Fitful Head give to be again the unmarked and 
 happy maiden that she was in her early days! Hear 
 me, Mordaunt, and bear with me; for you hear me utter 
 complaints which have never sounded in mortal ears, and 
 
104 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 which in mortal cars shall never sound ajjain. I will be what 
 I ought," she continued, startling up and extending her lean 
 and withered arm, " the queen and protectress of these wild 
 and neglected isles! I will be her whose foot the wave wets 
 not, save by her permission, aye, even though its rage be at 
 its wildest madness: whose robe the whirlwind respects, when 
 it rends the house-rigging from the roof-tree. Bear me wit- 
 ness, Mordaunt jMertoun: you heard my words at Harfra — you 
 saw the tempest sink before them! Speak, bear me \vitness! " 
 
 To have contradicted her in this strain of high-toned en- 
 thusiasm would have been cruel and unavailing, even had 
 Mordaunt been more decidedly convinced than he was that an 
 insane woman, not one of supernatural power, stood before 
 him. 
 
 " I heard you sing," he replied, " and I saw the tempest 
 abate." 
 
 "Abate!" exclaimed Noma, striking the ground impa- 
 tiently with her staff of black oak; " thou speakest it but half: 
 it sunk at once — sunk in shorter space than the child that is 
 hushed to silence by the nurse. Enough, you know my 
 power; but you know not — mortal man knows not, and never 
 shall know — the price which I paid to attain it. No, Mor- 
 daunt, never for the widest sw^ay that the ancient Norsemen 
 boasted, when their banners waved victorious from Bergen 
 to Palestine — never, for all that the round world contains, 
 do thou barter thy peace of mind for such greatness as 
 Noma's." She resumed her seat upon the rock, drew the 
 mantle over her face, rested her head upon her hands, and, 
 by the convulsive motion which agitated her bosom, appeared 
 to be weeping bitterly. 
 
 " Good Noma," said Mordaunt, and paused, scarce know- 
 ing what to say that might console the unhappy woman — 
 " good Noma," he again resumed, " if there be aught in your 
 mind that troubles it, were you not best to go to the worthy 
 minister at Dunrossness? Men say you have not for many 
 years been in a Christian congregation: that cannot be well, 
 or right. You are yourself well known as a healer of bodily 
 disease; but when the mind is sick, we should draw to the 
 Physician of our souls." 
 
 Noma had raised her person slowly from the stooping pos- 
 ture in which she sat; but at length she started up on her feet. 
 threw back her mantle, extended her arm, and while her lip 
 foamed and her eye sparkled, exclaimed in a tone resembling 
 a scream — " Me did you speak — me did you bid seek out- a 
 
THE PIRATE. 105 
 
 priest! Would you kill the good man with horror? Me in 
 a Christian congre<iation ! "Would you have the roof fall on 
 the sackless assembly, and mingle their blood with their wor- 
 ship? I— I seek to the good Physician! Would you have 
 the fiend claim his prey openly before God and man?" 
 
 The extreme agitation of the unhappy speaker naturally 
 led Mordaunt to the conclusion which was generally adopted 
 and accredited in that superstitious countiy and period. 
 " Wretched woman," he said, " if indeed thou hast leagued 
 thyself with the Powers of Evil, why should you not seek 
 even yet for repentance? But do as thou wilt, I cannot, dare 
 not, as a Christian, abide longer with you; and take again 
 your gift," he said, offering back the ' chain. " Good can 
 never come of it, if indeed evil hath not come already." 
 
 " Be still and hear me, thou foolish boy," said Noma 
 calmly, as if she had been restored to reason by the alarm and 
 horror which she perceived in Mordaunt's countenance — 
 " hear me, I say. I am not of those who have leagued them- 
 selves with the Enemy of Mankind, or derive skill or power 
 from his ministry. And although the unearthly powers were 
 propitiated by a sacrifice which human tongue can never 
 utter, yet, God knows, my guilt in that offering was no more 
 than that of the blind man who falls from the precipice which 
 he could neither see nor shun. Oh, leave me not — shun me 
 not — in this hour of weakness! Kemain with me till the 
 temptation be passed, or I will plunge myself into that lake, 
 and rid myself at once of my power and my wretchedness! " 
 
 Mordaunt, who had always looked up to this singular 
 woman with a sort of affection, occasioned no doubt by the 
 early kindness and distinction which she had shown to him, 
 was readily induced to reassume his seat and listen to what 
 she had further to say, in hopes that she would gi-adually 
 overcome the violence of her agitation. It was not long ere 
 she seemed to have gained the victory' her companion ex- 
 pected, for she addressed him in her usual steady and authori- 
 tative manner. 
 
 " It was not of myself, Mordaunt, that I purposed to speak 
 when I beheld you from the summit of yonder gray rock, and 
 came down the path to meet with you. My fortunes are fixed 
 beyond change, be it for weal or for woe. For myself I have 
 ceased to feel much: but for those whom she loves Noma of 
 the Fitful Head has still those feelings which link her to her 
 kind. Mark me. There is an eagle, the noblest that build- 
 in these airy precipices, and into that eagle's nest there hao 
 
106 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 crept an adder; wilt thou lend thy aid to crush the reptile, 
 and to save the noble brood of the lord of the north sky ? "' 
 
 " You must speak more plainly, Noma," said Mordaunt, 
 " if you would have me understand or answer you. I am no 
 guesser of riddles." 
 
 " In plain language, then, you know well the family of 
 Burgh-Westra — the lovely daughters of the generous old 
 Udaller, Magnus Troil — Minna and Brenda, I mean? You 
 know them, and you love them?" 
 
 " I have known them, mother," replied Mordaunt, " and I 
 have loved them — none knows it better than yourself." 
 
 " To know them once," said Noma, emphatically, " is to 
 know them always. To love them once is to love them for- 
 ever." 
 
 " To have loved them once is to wish them well forever," 
 replied the youth; " but it is nothing more. To be plain with 
 you. Noma, the family at Burgh-Westra have of late totally 
 neglected me. But show me the means of serving them, I 
 will convince you how much I have remembered old kind- 
 ness, how little I resent late coldness." 
 
 " It is well spoken, and I will put your purpose to the 
 proof," replied Noma. " Magnus Troil has taken a serpent 
 into his bosom: his lovely daughters are delivered up to the 
 machinations of a villain." 
 
 " You mean the stranger, Cleveland ? " said Mordaunt. 
 
 " The stranger who so calls himself," replied Noma — " the 
 «ame whom we found flung ashore, like a waste heap of sea- 
 weed, at the foot of the Sumburgh Cape. I felt that within 
 me that would have prompted me to let him lie till the tide 
 floated him off, as it had floated him on shore. I repent me I 
 gave not way to it." 
 
 " But," said Mordaunt, " I cannot repent that I did my 
 duty as a Christian man. And what right have I to wish 
 otherwise? If Minna, Brenda, Magnus, and the rest like that 
 stranger better than me, I have no title to be offended; nay, 
 I might well be laughed at for bringing myself into com- 
 parison." 
 
 "It is well, and I trust they merit thy unselfish friendship." 
 
 " But I cannot perceive," said Mordaunt, " in what you can 
 propose that I should serve them. I have but just learned 
 iDy BrV'Ce, the jagger, that this Captain Cleveland is all in all 
 with the ladies at Burgh-Westra and with the Udaller him- 
 ^If. I would like ill to intrude myself where I am not wel- 
 come, or to place my home-bred merit in comparison with 
 
TEE PIRATE. 107 
 
 Captain Cleveland's. He can tell them of battles, when I 
 can only speak of birds' nests; can speak of shooting French- 
 men, when I can only tell of shooting seals; he wears gay 
 clothes and bears a brave countenance, 1 am plainly dressed 
 and plainly nurtured. Such gay gallants as he can noose the 
 hearts of those he lives with, as the fowler nooses the guille- 
 mot with his rod and line." 
 
 " You do wrong to yourself," replied Noma — " wrong to 
 yourself, and greater wrong to Minna and lirenda. And trust 
 not the reports of Bryce: he is liki.' the greedy chatfer-whale, 
 that vdW change his course and dive for the most petty coin 
 which a fisher can cast at him. Certain it is that, if you have 
 been lessened in the opinion of Magnus Troil, that sordid fel- 
 low hath had some share in it. But let him count his vantage, 
 for my eye is upon him." 
 
 " And why, mother," said Mordaunt, " do you not tell to 
 Magnus what you have told me? " 
 
 " Because," replied Noma, " they who wax wise in their 
 own conceit must be taught a bitter lesson by f^xperience. It 
 was but yesterday that I spoke with Magnus, and what was his 
 reply? — ' Good Noma, you grow old.' And this was spoken 
 by one bounden to me by so many and such close ties — by the 
 descendant of the ancient Norse earls — this was from Magnus 
 Troil to me; and it was said in behalf of one whom the sea 
 flung forth as wreck-weed! Since he despises the counsel of 
 the aged, he shall be taught by that of the young; and well 
 that he is not left to his own folly. Go, therefore, to Burgh- 
 Westra, as usual, upon the Baptist's festival." 
 
 "I have had no invitation," said Mordaunt: "I am not 
 wanted, not wished for, not thought of — perhaps I shall not 
 be acknowledged if I go thither; and yet, mother, to confess 
 the truth, thither I had thought to go." 
 
 "It was a good thought, and to be cherished," replied 
 Noma; " we seek our friends when they are sick in health, 
 why not when they are sick in mind and surfeited with pros- 
 perity? Do not fail to go; it may be, we shall meet there. 
 Meanwhile our roads lie different. Farewell, and speak not 
 of this meeting." 
 
 Thev parted, and Mordaunt remained standing by the lake, 
 with his eyes fixed on Noma, until her tall dark fomi became 
 invisible among the windings of the valley down which she 
 wandered, and Mordaunt retumed to his father's mansion, 
 determined to follow counsel which coincided so well with his 
 own wi^ea. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 All your ancient cnstoms 
 And long-dcscc'uded usage« I'll chiinge. 
 Ye shall not eat, nor drink, nor speak, nor moTe, 
 Think, look, or walk, an ye were wont to do. 
 Even your marriage-beds shall know mutation : 
 The bride shall have the stock, the groom the wall ; 
 For all old practice will I turn and change, 
 And call it reformation— marry will I ! 
 
 — ' Tis Even that we're at Odds. 
 
 The festal day approached, and still no invitation arrived 
 for that guest without whom, but a little space since, no feast 
 could have been held in the island; while, on the other hand, 
 such reports as reached them on every side spoke highly of 
 the favor which Captain Cleveland enjoyed in the good graces 
 of the old Udaller of Burgh- Westra. Swertha and the Ran- 
 zelman shook their heads at these mutations, and reminded 
 Mordaunt, by many a half-hint and innuendo, that he had 
 incurred this eclipse by being so imprudently active to secure 
 the safety of the stranger, when he lay at the mercy of the 
 next wave beneath the cliffs of Sumburgh Head. " It is best 
 to let saut water take its gate," said Swertha: " luck never 
 came of crossing it." 
 
 " In troth," said the Eanzelman, " they are wise folks that 
 let wave and withy hand their aim luck never came of a half- 
 drowned man, or a half-hanged ane either. Who was't shot 
 Will Paterson off the Noss? * The Dutchman that he 
 saved from sinking, I trow. To fling a drowning man a plank 
 or a tow may be the part of a Christian; but I say, keep hands 
 aff him, if ye wad live and thrive free frae his danger." 
 
 " Ye are a wise man, Ranzelman, and a worthy," echoed 
 Swertha, with a groan, " and ken how and whan to help a 
 neighbor as weel as ony man that ever drew a net." 
 
 " In troth, I have seen length of days," answered the Ran- 
 zelman, " and I have heard what the auld folk said to each 
 other anent sic matters; and nae man in Zetland shall go 
 farther than I will in any Christian service to a man on firm 
 land; but if he cry ' Help! ' out of the saut waves, that's an- 
 other story." 
 
 " And yet, to think of this lad Cleveland standing in our 
 Maister Mordaunt's light," said Swertha, " and with Magnus 
 
 * See I^ockha-Tt's "Life of Scott," vol. iv. p. 202. 
 106 
 
THE PIRATE. 109 
 
 Troil, that thought liim the flower of the island but on Whit- 
 sunday last; and Magnus, too, that's both held — when he's 
 fresh, honest man! — the wisest and wealthiest of Zetland! " 
 
 " He canna win by it." said the Eanzelman, with a look 
 of the deepest sagacity. '" There's whiles, Swertha, that the 
 wisest of us, as I am sure I humbly confess myself not to be, 
 may be little better than gulls, and can no more win by doing 
 deeds of folly than I can step over Sumburgh Head. It has 
 been my own case once or twice in my life. But we shall see 
 soon what ill is to come of all tliis, for good there cannot 
 come." 
 
 And Swertha answered, mth the same tone of prophetic 
 \dsdom. '*' Xa — na, gude can never come on it, and that is 
 ower truly said." 
 
 These doleful predictions, repeated from time to time, had 
 some effect upon Mordaunt. He did not indeed suppose that 
 the charitable action of relieving a drowning man had sub- 
 jected him, as a necessary and fatal consequence, to the un- 
 pleasant circumstances in which he was placed; yet he felt as 
 if a sort of spell were drawn around him, of which he neither 
 understood the nature nor the extent; that some power, in 
 short, beyond liis own control was acting upon his destiny, 
 and, as it seemed, ^vith no friendly influence. His curiosity, 
 as well as his anxiety, was highly excited, and he continued 
 determined, at all events, to make his appearance at the ap- 
 proacliing festival, when he was impressed with the belief 
 that something uncommon was necessarily to take place, 
 which should determine liis future views and prospects in 
 life. 
 
 As the elder Mertoun was at this time in his ordinars- state 
 of health, it became necessary that his son should intimate to 
 him his intended visit to Burgh- Westra. He did so; and hi- 
 father desired to know the especial reason of his going 
 at this particular time. 
 
 " It is a time of merr}'-making," replied the youth, " and 
 all the country are assembled." 
 
 " And you are doubtless impatient to add another fool to 
 the number. Go; but beware how you walk in the path which 
 you are about to tread: a fall from the cliffs of Foulah were 
 not more fatal." 
 
 " May I ask the reason of your caution, sir? " replied Mor- 
 daunt, breaking through the reserve which ordinarily sub- 
 sisted betwixt him and his singular parent. 
 
 " Magnus Troil," said the elder Mertoun, " has two daugh- 
 
110 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 ters; you are of the age when men look upon such gauds with 
 eyes of affection, that they may afterward learn to curse the 
 day that first opened their eyes upon heaven! I bid you 
 beware of them; for, as sure as that death and sin 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." 
 
 Mordaunt had sometimes observed his father's marked dis- 
 like to the female sex, but had never before heard him give 
 vent to it in terms so determined and precise. He replied 
 that the daughters of Magnus Troil were no more to him than 
 any other females in the islands. " They were even of less 
 importance," he said, " for they had broken off their friend- 
 ship with him;, without assigning any cause." 
 
 " And you go to seek the renewal of it? " answered his 
 father. " Silly moth, that hast once escaped the taper with- 
 out singeing thy wings, are you not contented with the safe 
 obscurity of these wilds, but must hasten back to the flame, 
 which is sure at length to consume thee? But why should I 
 waste arguments in deterring thee from thy inevitable fate? 
 Go where thy destiny calls thee." 
 
 On the succeeding day, which was the eve of the great 
 festival, Mordaunt set forth on his road to Burgh-Westra, 
 pondering alternately on the injunctions of Noma, on the 
 ominous words of his father, on the inauspicious auguries of 
 Swertha and the Eanzelman of Jarlshof; and not without ex- 
 periencing that gloom with which so many concurring cir- 
 cumstances of ill omen combined to oppress his mind. 
 
 " It bodes me but a cold reception at Burgh-Westra," said 
 he; " but my stay shall be the shorter. I will but find out 
 whether they have been deceived by this seafaring stranger, 
 or whether they have acted out of pure caprice of temper and 
 love of change of company. If the first be the case, I will 
 vindicate my character; and let Captain Cleveland look to 
 himself; if the latter, why, then, good-night to Burgh-Westra 
 and all its inmates." 
 
 As he mentally meditated this last alternative, hurt pride, 
 and a return of fondness for those to whom he supposed he 
 was bidding farewell forever, brought a tear into his eye, 
 which he dashed off hastily and indignantly, as, mending his 
 pace, he continued on his journey. 
 
 The weather being now serene and undisturbed, Mordaunt 
 made his way with an ease that formed a striking contrast to 
 the difficulties which he had encountered when he last trav- 
 
THE PIRATE. Ill 
 
 eled the same route; yet there was a less pleasing subject for 
 comparison within his own mind. 
 
 '* My breast," he said to himself, '" was then against the 
 wind, but my heart within was serene and happy. I would I 
 had now the same careless feelings, were they to be bought by 
 battling with the severest storm that ever blew across these 
 lonely hills! " 
 
 With such thoughts, he arrived about noon at Harfra, the 
 habitation, as the reader may remember, of the ingenious 
 Mr. Yellowley. Our traveler had, upon the present occa- 
 sion, taken care to be quite independent of the niguaidly 
 hospitality of this mansion, which was now become infamous 
 on that account through the whole island, by bringing with 
 him, in his small knapsack, such provisions as might have 
 sufficed for a longer joume}'. In courtesy, however, or 
 rather, perhaps, to get rid of his own disquieting thoughts, 
 Mordaunt did not fail to call at the mansion, which he found 
 in singular commotion. Triptolemus himself, invested with 
 a pair of large jack-boots, went clattering up and down stairs, 
 screaming out questions to his sister and his serving-woman 
 Tronda, who replied with shriller and more complicated 
 screeches. At length, Mrs. Baby herself made her appearance, 
 her venerable person endued with what was then called a 
 Joseph — an ample garment, which had once been green, but 
 now, betwixt stains and patches, had become, like the vesture 
 of the patriarch whose name it bore, a garment of divers 
 colors. A steeple-crowned hat, the purchase of some long- 
 past moment, in which vanity had got the better of avarice, 
 with a feather which had stood as much wind and rain as if 
 it had been part of a seamew's wing, made up her equip- 
 ment, save that in her hand she held a silver-mounted whip 
 of antique fashion. This attire, as well as an air of deter- 
 mined bustle in the gait and appearance of Mrs. Barbara 
 Yellowley, seemed to bespeak that she was prepared to take a 
 journey, and cared not, as the saying goes, who knew that 
 such was her determination. 
 
 She was the first that observed IMordaunt on his arrival, 
 and she greeted him with a degree of mingled emotion. " Be 
 good to us! " she exclaimed, " if here is not the canty callant 
 that wears yon thing about his neck, and that snapped up our 
 goose as light as if it had been a sandie-lavrock! " The ad- 
 miration of the gold chain, which had formerly made so deep 
 an impression on her mmd, was marked in the first part of 
 her speech, the recollection of the untimely fate of the 
 
112 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 smoked goose was commemorated in the second clause. " I 
 will lay the burden of my life," she instantly added, " that he 
 is ganging our gate." 
 
 " I am bound for Burgh-Westra, Mrs. Yellowley," said 
 Mordaunt. 
 
 " And blithe will we be of your company," she added. 
 " It's early day to eat, but if you liked a barley scone and a 
 drink of bland — natheless, it is ill traveling on a full 
 stomach, besides quelling your appetite for the feast that is 
 biding you this day; for all sort of prodigality there will 
 doubtless be." 
 
 Mordaunt produced his own stores, and, explaining that he 
 did not love to be burdensome to them on this second occa- 
 sion, invited them to partake of the provisions he had to offer. 
 Poor Triptolemus, who seldom saw half so good a dinner as 
 his guest's luncheon, threw himself upon the good cheer, like 
 Sancho on the scum of Camacho's kettle, and even the lady 
 herself could not resist the temptation, though she gave way 
 to it with more moderation, and with something like a sense 
 of shame. " She had let the fire out," she said, " for it was 
 a pity wasting fuel in so cold a country, and so she had not 
 thought of getting anything ready, as they were to set out so 
 soon; and so she could not but say that the young gentle- 
 man's 'nacket' looked very good; and, besides, she had some 
 curiosity to see whether the folks in that country cured their 
 beef in the same way they did in the north of Scotland "; 
 under which combined considerations. Dame Baby made a 
 hearty experiment on the refreshments which thus unex- 
 pectedly presented themselves. 
 
 When their extemporary repast was finished, the factor be- 
 came solicitous to take the road; and now Mordaunt dis- 
 covered that the alacrity with which he had been received by 
 Mistress Baby was not altogether disinterested. Neither she 
 nor the learned Triptolemus felt much disposed to commit 
 themselves to the wilds of Zetland without the assistance of 
 a guide; and although they could have commanded the aid 
 of one of their own laboring folks, yet the cautious agricul- 
 turist observed that it would be losing at least one day's work; 
 and his sister multiplied his apprehensions by echoing back. 
 " One day's work! ye may weel say twenty; for set ane of 
 their noses within the smell of a kail-pot, and their lugs 
 within the sound of a fiddle, and whistle them back if ye 
 can!" 
 
 Now the fortunate arrival of Mordaunt, in the very nick 
 
THE PIRATE. W^ 
 
 of time, not to mention the good cheer which he brought with 
 him, made him as welcome as anyone could possibly be to a 
 threshold which, on all ordinary occasions, abhorred the pas- 
 sage of a guest; nor was Mr. Yellowley altogether insensible 
 of the pleasure he promised himself in detailing his plans of 
 improvement to his young companion, and enjoying what his 
 fate seldom assigned him — the company of a patient and ad- 
 miring listener. 
 
 As the factor and his sister were to prosecute their journey 
 on horseback, it only remained to mount their guide and com- 
 panion — a thing easily accomplished where there are such 
 numbers of shaggy, long-backed, short-legged ponies running 
 wild upon the extensive moors, which are the common pastur- 
 age for the cattle of every township, where shellies, geese, 
 swine, goats, sheep, and little Zetland cows are turned out 
 promiscuously, and often in numbers which can obtain but 
 precarious subsistence from the niggard vegetation. There 
 is, indeed, a right of individual property in all these animals, 
 which are branded or tattooed by each owner with his own 
 peculiar mark; but when any passenger has occasional use for 
 a pony, he never scruples to lay hold of the first which he can 
 catch, puts on a halter, and, having rode him as far as he 
 finds convenient, turns the animal loose to find his way back 
 again as he best can — a matter in which the ponies are suffi- 
 ciently sagacious. 
 
 Although this general exercise of property was one of the 
 enormities which in due time the factor intended to abolish. 
 yet, like a wise man, he scrupled not, in the meantime, to 
 avail himself of so general a practice, which he condescended 
 to allow, was particularly convenient for those who, as 
 chanced to be his own present case, had no ponies of their own 
 on which their neighbors could retaliate. Three shelties, 
 therefore, were procured from the hill — little shagged ani- 
 mals, more resembling wild bears than anything of the horse 
 tribe, yet possessed of no small degree of strength and spirit, 
 and able to endure as much fatigue and indifferent usage as 
 any creatures in the world. 
 
 Two of these horses were already provided and fully ac- 
 coutered for the journey. One of them, destined to bear the 
 fair person of Mistress Baby, was decorated with a huge side- 
 saddle of venerable antiquity — a mass, as it were, of cushion 
 and padding, from which depended, on all sides, a housing of 
 ancient tapestiT. which, having been originally intended for a 
 horse of ordinary size, covered up the diminutive palfrev over 
 
114 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 which it was spread, from the ears to the tail, and from the 
 shoulder to the fetlock, leaving nothing visible but its head, 
 which looked fiercely out from these enfoldments, like the 
 heraldic representation of a lion looking out of a bush. Mor- 
 daunt gallantly lifted up the fair Mistress Yellowley, and at 
 the expense of very slight exertion placed her upon the sum- 
 mit of her mountainous saddle. It is probable that, on feel- 
 ing herself thus squired and attended upon, and experiencing 
 the long unwonted consciousness that she was attired in her 
 best array, some thoughts dawned upon Mistress Baby's mind 
 which clieckered for an instant those habitual ideas about 
 thrift that formed the daily and all-engrossing occupation of 
 her soul. She glanced her eye upon her faded Joseph, and on 
 the long housings of her saddle, as she observed, with a smile, 
 to Mordaunt, that " Traveling was a pleasant thing in fine 
 weather and agreeable company, if," she added, glancing a 
 look at a place where the embroidery was somewhat frayed 
 and tattered, " it was not sae wasteful to ane's horse-fur- 
 niture." 
 
 Meanwhile, her brother stepped stoutly to his steed; and as 
 he chose, notwithstanding the serenity of the weather, to 
 throw a long red cloak over his other garments, his pony was 
 even more completely enveloped in drapery than that of his 
 sister. It happened, moreover, to be an animal of an high 
 and contumacious spirit, bouncing and curveting occasionally 
 under the weight of Triptolemus, with a vivacity which, not- 
 withstanding his Yorkshire descent, rather deranged him in 
 the saddle; gambols which, as the palfrey itself was not visible, 
 except upon the strictest inspection, had, at a little dislanc", 
 an effect as if they were the voluntary movements of tiie 
 cloaked cavalier, without the assistance of any other legs than 
 those with which nature had provided him; and, to any who 
 had viewed Triptolemus under such a persuasion, the gravity, 
 and even distress, announced in his countenance must have 
 made a ridiculous contrast to the vivacious caprioles with 
 which he piaffed along the moor. 
 
 Mordaunt kept up with this worthy couple, mounted, ac- 
 cording to the simplicity of the time and country, on the first 
 and readiest pony which they had been able to press into the 
 service, with no other accouterment of any kind than the 
 halter which served to guide him; while Mr. Yellowley, seeing 
 with pleasure his guide thus readily provided with a steed, 
 privately resolved that this rude custom of helping travelers 
 to horses, without leave of the proprietor, should not be 
 
TEE PIRATE. 115 
 
 abated in Zetland until he came to possess a herd of ponies 
 belonging in property to himself, and exposed to suffer in the 
 way of retaliation. 
 
 But to other uses or abuses of the countrv' Triptolemus 
 Yellowley showed himself less tolerant. Long and wearisome 
 were the discourses he held with Mordaunt, or (to speak much 
 more correctly) the harangues which he inflicted upon him, 
 concerning the changes which his own advent in these isles 
 was about to occasion. Unskilled as he was in the modern 
 arts by which an estate may be improved to such a high degre.^ 
 that it shall altogether slip through the proprietors fingers. 
 Triptolemus had at least the zeal, if not the knowledge, of a 
 whole agricultural society in his own person; nor was he sur- 
 passed by any who has followed him in that noble spirit which 
 scorns to balance profit against outlay, but holds the glor}' 
 of effecting a great change on the face of the land to be, like 
 virtue, in a great degree its own reward. 
 
 No part of the wild and mountainous region over which 
 Mordaunt guided him but what suggested to his active im- 
 agination some scheme of improvement and alteration. He 
 would make a road through yon scarce passable glen, where 
 at present nothing but the sure-footed creatures on which 
 they were mounted could tread with any safety. He would 
 substitute better houses for the skeos, or sheds built of dry 
 stones, in which the inhabitants cured or manufactured their 
 fish; they should brew good ale instead of bland; they should 
 plant forests where tree never grew; and find mines of treasure 
 where a Danish skilling was accounted a coin of most respect- 
 able denomination. All these mutations, with many others, 
 did the worthy factor resolve upon, speaking at the same time 
 with the utmost confidence of the countenance and assist- 
 ance which he was to receive from the higher classes, and 
 especially from Magnus Troil. 
 
 " I will impart some of my ideas to the poor man," he said, 
 " before we are both many hours older; and you will mark 
 how grateful he will be to the instructor who brings him 
 knowledge, which is better than wealth." 
 
 " I would not have you build too strongly on that," said 
 Mordaunt, by way of caution. " Magnus Troll's boat is kittle 
 to trim; he likes his o-wn ways, and his country ways, and 
 you will as soon teach your sheltie to dive like a sealgh as 
 bring Magnus to take a Scottish fashion in the place of a 
 Norse one; and yet, if he is steady to his old customs, he may 
 perhaps be as changeable as another in his old friendships." 
 
116 WAVERLEF NOVELS. 
 
 " ' Heus, tu inepte! ' " said the scholar of St. Andrews, 
 "steady or unsteady, what can it matter? Am not I here 
 in point of trust and in point of power? and sthall a fowd, hy 
 which barbarous appellative this Magnus Troll still calls him- 
 self, presume to measure judgment and weigh reasons with 
 me, who represent the full dignity of the chamberlain of the 
 islands of Orkney and Zetland?" 
 
 " Still," said Mordaunt, " I would advise you not to ad- 
 vance too rashly upon his prejudices. Magnus Troil, from 
 the hour of his birth to this day, never saw a greater man 
 than himself, and it is difficult to bridle an old horse for the 
 first time. Besides, he has at no time in his life been a 
 patient listener to long explanations, so it is possible that hj 
 may quarrel with your proposed reformation before you can 
 convince him of its advantages." 
 
 " How mean you, young man? " said the factor. " Is there 
 one who dwells in these islands who is so wretchedly blind 
 as not to be sensible of their deplorable defects? Can a man," 
 he added, rising into enthusiasm as he spoke, " or even a beast, 
 look at that thing there, which they have the impudence to 
 call a corn-mill,* without trembling to think that com should 
 be intrusted to such a miserable molendinary? The wretches 
 are obliged to have at least fifty in each parish, each trun- 
 dling away upon its paltry millstone, under the thatch of a 
 roof no bigger than a bee-skep, instead of a noble and seemly 
 baron's mill, of which you would hear the clack through the 
 haill country, and that casts the meal through the mill-eye 
 by forpits at a time! " 
 
 " Aye — aye, brother," said his sister, " that's spoken like 
 your wise sell. The mair cost the mair honor — that's 
 your word ever mair. Can it no creep into your 
 wise head, man, that ilka body grinds their ain nievefu* 
 of meal in this country, without plaguing themsells 
 about baron's mills, and thirls, and sucken, and the 
 like trade? How mony a time have I heard you bell- 
 the-cat with auld Edie Xetherstane, the miller at Grindle- 
 burn, and wi' his very knave too, about in-town and out-town 
 multures, lock, gowpen, and knaveship,t and a' the lave o't; 
 and now naething less will serve you than to bring in tlie 
 very same fashery on a wheen puir bodies, that big ilk ane a 
 mill for themselves, sic as it is? " 
 
 " Dinna tell me of gowpen and knaveship! " exclaimed the 
 indignant agriculturist; "better pnv the hnlf of the grist to 
 ♦ See Note 18. + See " Monastery," Notes 8 and 9, p. 37V. 
 
THE Pin ATE. 117 
 
 the miller, to have the rest prund in a Christian manner, than 
 put good grain into a bairn's whirligig. Look at it for a 
 moment. Baby. Bide still, ye cursed imp! " This interjec- 
 tion was applied -to his pony, wliich began to be extremely im- 
 patient, while its rider interrupted his journey to point out 
 all the weak points of the Zetland mill. " Look at it, I say 
 — it's just one degree better than a hand-quern: it has neither 
 wheel nor trindle, neither cog nor happer. Bide still, there's 
 a canny beast. It canna grind a bickerfu' of meal in a 
 quarter of an hour, and that will be mair like a mash for horse 
 than a meltith for man's use. Wherefore — Bide still, I say! 
 
 —wherefore — wherefore The deil's in the beast, and nae 
 
 good, I think! " 
 
 As he uttered the last words, the sheltie, which had pranced 
 and curveted for some time with much impatience, at length 
 got his head betwixt its legs, and at once canted its rider into 
 the little rivulet which served to drive the depreciated engine 
 he was survepng; then emancipating itself from the folds of 
 the cloak, fled back toward its own wilderness, neighing in 
 scorn, and flinging out its heels at every five yards. 
 
 Laugliing heartily at his disaster. ]\Iordaunt helped the old 
 man to arise; while his sister sarcastically congratulated him 
 on having fallen rather into the shallow^s of a Zetland rivulet 
 than the depths of a Scottish mill-pond. Disdaining to reply 
 to this sarcasm, Triptolemus, as soon as he had recovered his 
 legs, shaken his ears, and found that the folds of his cloak 
 had .saved him from being much wet in the scanty streamlet, 
 exclaimed aloud, " I will have cussers from Lanarkshire, 
 brood mares from Ayrshire: I will not have one of these 
 cursed abortions left on the islands, to break honest folks' 
 necks. I say, Baby, I will rid the land of them." 
 
 " Ye had better wring your ain cloak, Triptolemus," an- 
 swered Baby. 
 
 Mordaunt meanwhile was employed in catching another 
 pony from a herd which strayed at some distance; and. hav- 
 ing made a halter out of twisted rushes, he seated the dis- 
 mayed agriculturist in safety upon a more quiet, though less 
 active, steed than that which he had at first bestrode. 
 
 But Mr. Yellowley's fall had operated as a considerable 
 sedative upon his spirits, and, for the full space of five miles' 
 travel, he said scarce a word, leaving full course to the melan- 
 choly aspirations and lamentations which his sister Baby be- 
 stowed on the old bridle, which the pony had carried off in 
 its flight, and which, she observed, after having lasted for 
 
lib WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 eighteen years come Martinmas, might now be considered as 
 a castaway thing. Finding she had thus the field to herself, 
 tlie old lady launched forth into a lecture upon economy, ac- 
 cording to her own idea of that virtue, which seemed to 
 include a system of privations which, though observed with 
 the sole purpose of saving money, might, if undertaken upon 
 other principles, have ranked high in the history of a reli- 
 gious ascetic. 
 
 She was but little interrupted by Mordaunt, who, conscious 
 he was now on the eve of approaching Burgh-Westra, em- 
 ployed himself rather in the task of anticipating the nature 
 of the reception he was about to meet with there from two 
 beautiful young women than with the prosing of an old one, 
 however wisely she might prove that small-beer was more 
 wholesome than strong ale, and that, if her brother hal 
 bruised his ankle-bone in his tumble, cumfrey and butter was 
 better to bring him round again than all the doctors' drugs 
 in the world. 
 
 But now the dreary moorlands, over which their path had 
 hitherto lain, were exchanged for a more pleasant prospect, 
 opening on a salt-water lake, or arm of the sea, which ran 
 up far inland, and was surrounded by flat and fertile ground, 
 producing crops better than the experienced eye of Triptole- 
 mus Yellowley had as yet witnessed in Zetland. In the midst 
 of this Goshen stood the mansion of Burgh-Westra, screened 
 from the north and east by a ridge of heathy hills which lay 
 behind it, and commanding an interesting prospect of the 
 lake and its parent ocean, as well as the islands and more dis- 
 tant mountains. From the mansion itself, as well as from 
 almost every cottage in the adjacent hamlet, arose such a 
 rich cloud of vapory smoke as showed that the preparations 
 for the festival were not confined to the principal residence 
 of Magnus himself, but extended through the whole vicinage. 
 
 " My certie," said Mrs. Baby Yellowley, " ane wad think 
 the haill town was on fire! The very hillside smells of their 
 wastefulness, and a hungry heart wad scarce seek better 
 kitchen to a barley scone than just to waft it in the reek that's 
 rising out of yon lums." 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Tliou hast described 
 A hot friend cooling. Ever note, LuciliuB, 
 When love begins to sicken and decay, 
 It useth an enforced ceremony. 
 There are no tricka in plain and simple faith. 
 
 — Julius Ccpsar. 
 
 If the smell which was wafted from the chimneys of 
 
 Burgh- Westra up to the barren hills by which the mansion 
 was surrounded could, as Mistress Barbara opined, have re- 
 freshed the hungr}^, the noise whidi proceeded from thence 
 might have given healing to the deaf. It was a medley of all 
 sounds, and all connected with jollity and kind welcome. 
 Nor were the sights associated with them less animating. 
 
 Troops of friends were seen in the act of arriving — their 
 dispersed ponies flying to the moors in every direction, to re- 
 cover their own pastures in the best way they could; such, as 
 we have already said, being the usual mode of discharging 
 the cavalry wliich had been levied for a day's service. At a 
 small but commodious harbor, connected with the house and 
 hamlet, those visitors were landing from their boats who, liv- 
 ing in distant islands and along the coast, had preferred mak- 
 ing their journey by sea. Mordaunt and his companions 
 might see each party pausing frequently to greet each other, 
 and strolling on successively to the house, whose ever open 
 gate received them alternately in such numl3ers that it seemed 
 the extent of the mansion, though suited to the opulence and 
 hospitality of the owner, was scarce, on this occasion, suffi- 
 cient for the guests. 
 
 Among the confused sounds of mirth and welcome which 
 arose at the entrance of each new company, ]\Iordaunt 
 thought he could distinguish the loud laugh and hearty salu- 
 tation of the sire of the mansion, and began to feel more 
 deeply than before the anxious doubt whether that cordial re- 
 ception, which was distributed so freely to all others, would 
 be on this occasion extended to him. As they came on, they 
 heard the voluntary scrapings and bravura effusions of the 
 gallant fiddlers, who impatiently flung already from their 
 bows those sounds with which they were to animate the even- 
 ing. The clamor of the cook's assistants, and the loud scold- 
 
 119 
 
120 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 ing tones of the cook himself, were also to be heard — soundh. 
 of dissonance at any other time, but which, subdued with 
 others, and by certain happy associations, form no disagree- 
 able part of the full chorus which always precedes a rurai 
 feast. 
 
 Meanwhile, the guests advanced, each full of their own 
 thoughts. Mordaunt's we have already noticed. Baby was 
 wrapt up in the melancholy grief and surprise excited by the 
 positive conviction that so much victuals had been cooked at 
 once as were necessary to feed all the mouths which were 
 clamoring around her — an enormity of expense which, 
 though she was no way concerned in bearing it, affected her 
 nerves, as the beholding a massacre would touch those of the 
 most indifferent spectator, however well assured of his own 
 personal safety. She sickened, in short, at the sight of so 
 much extravagance, like Abyssinian Bruce, when he saw the 
 luckless minstrels of Gondar hacked to pieces by the order of 
 Bas Michael. As for her brother, they being now arrived 
 where the rude and antique instruments of Zetland agri- 
 culture lay scattered in the usual confusion of a Scottish 
 barnyard, his thoughts were at once engrossed in the defi- 
 ciencies of the one-stilted plow; of the " twispar," with which 
 they dig peats; of the sledges, on which they transport com- 
 modities; of all and everything, in short, in which the usages 
 of the islands differed from those of the mainland of Scot- 
 land. The sight of these imperfect instruments stirred the 
 blood of Triptolemus Yellowley, as that of the bold warrior 
 rises at seeing the arms and insignia of the enemy he is about 
 to combat; and, faithful to his high emprise, he thought less 
 of the hunger which his journey had occasioned, although 
 about to be satisfied by such a dinner as rarely fell to his lot, 
 than upon the task which he had undertaken of civilizing the 
 manners, and improving the cultivation, of Zetland. 
 
 " ' Jacta est alea,' " he muttered to liimself ; " this very day 
 shall prove whether the Zetlanders are worthy of our labors, 
 or whether their minds are as incapable of cultivation as their 
 peat-mosses. Yet, let us be cautious, and watch the soft time 
 of speech. I feel, by my own experience, that it were best to 
 let the body, in its present state, take the place of the mind. 
 A mouth fiil of that same roast beef, which smells so deli- 
 cately, will form a.n apt introduction to my grand plan for 
 improving the breed of stock." 
 
 By this time the visitors had reached the low but ample 
 front of Magnus Troll's residence, which seemed of various 
 
I 
 
 THE PIRATE. 121 
 
 dates, with large and ill-imagined additions, hastily adapted 
 to the original building, as the increasing estate, or enlarged 
 family, of successive proprietors appeared to each to demand. 
 Beneath a low, broad, and large porch, supported by two 
 huge carved posts, once the head-ornaments of vessels which 
 had found shipwreck upon the coast, stood Magnus himself, 
 intent en the hospitable toil of receiving and welcoming the 
 numerous guests who successively approached. His strong 
 portly figure was well adapted to the dress which he wore — 
 a blue coat of an antique cut, lined with scarlet, and laced 
 and looped with gold down the seams and button-holes, and 
 along the ample cuffs. Strong and masculine features, ren- 
 dered niddy and brown by frequent exposure to severe 
 weather; a quantity of most venerable silver hair, which fell 
 in unshorn profusion from under his gold-laced hat, and was 
 carelessly tied with a ribbon behind, expressed at once his 
 advanced age, his hasty, yet well-conditioned temper, and his 
 robust constitution. As our travelers approached him, a 
 shade of displeasure seemed to cross his brow, and to inter- 
 rupt for an instant the honest and hearty burst of hilarity 
 with which he had been in the act of greeting all prior 
 arrivals. When he approached Triptolemus Yellowley, he 
 drew himself up, so as to mix, as it were, some share of the 
 stately importance of the opulent TJdaller with the welcome 
 afforded by the frank and hospitable landlord. 
 
 " You are welcome, Mr. Yellowley," was his address to the 
 factor — " you are welcome to Westra; the wind has blown you 
 on a rough coast, and we that are the natives must be kind to 
 you as we can. This, I believe, is your sister. Mistress Bar- 
 bara Yellowley, permit me the honor of a neighborly salute." 
 And so saying, with a daring and self-devoted courtesy which 
 would find no equal in our degenerate days, he actually ven- 
 tured to salute the withered cheek of the spinster, who re- 
 laxed so much of her usual peevishness of expression as to re- 
 ceive the courtesy with something which approached to a 
 smile. He then looked full at Mordaunt Mertoun, and, with- 
 out offering his hand, said, in a tone somewhat broken by sup- 
 pressed agitation, "You, too, are welcome, Master ]\rordaunt." 
 
 ''Did I not think so," said Mordaunt, naturally offended by 
 the coldness of his host's manner, " I had not been here: and 
 it is not yet too late to tuni back." 
 
 "Young man," replied Magnus, "you know better than 
 most that from these doors no man can turn without an 
 offense to their owner. I pray you, disturb not my guests by 
 
122 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 your ill-timed scruples. When Magnus Troil says welcome, 
 all are welcome who are within hearing of his voice, and it is 
 an indiU'erent loud one. Walk on, my worthy guests, and 
 let us see what cheer my lasses can make you within doors." 
 
 So saying, and taking care to make his manner so general 
 to the whole party that Mordaunt should not be able to appro- 
 priate any particular portion of the welcome to himself, nor 
 yet to complain of being excluded from all share in it, the 
 Udaller ushered the guests into his house, where two large 
 outer rooms, which, on the present occasion, served the pur- 
 pose of a modem saloon, were already crowded with guests of 
 evei"y description. 
 
 The furniture was suflficiently simple, and had a character 
 peculiar to the situation of those stormy islands. Magnus 
 Troil was, indeed, like most of the higher class of Zetland 
 proprietors, a friend to the distressed traveler, whether by 
 sea or land, and had repeatedly exerted his whole authority in 
 protecting the property and persons of shipwrecked mariners; 
 yet so frequent were wrecks upon that tremendous coast, and 
 so many unappropriated articles were constantly flung 
 ashore, that the interior of the house bore sufficient witness 
 to the ravages of the ocean, and to the exercise of those rights 
 which the lawyers term " flotsome and jetsome." The chairs, 
 which were arranged around the walls, were such as are used 
 in cabins, and many of them were of foreign construction; the 
 miiTors and cabinets, which were placed against the walls for 
 ornament or convenience, had, it was plain from their form, 
 been constructed for shipboard, and one or two of the latter 
 were of strange and unknown wood. Even the partition 
 which separated the two apartments seemed constructed out 
 of the bulk-head of some large vessel, clumsily adapted to the 
 service which it at present perfonned by the labor of some 
 native joiner. To a stranger these evident marks and tokens 
 of human misery might, at the first glance, form a contrast 
 with the scene of mirth with which they were now associated; 
 but the association was so familiar to the natives that it did 
 not for a moment interrupt the course of their glee. 
 
 To the younger part of these revelers the presence of Mor- 
 daunt was like a fresh charm of enjoyment. All came around 
 him to marvel at his absence, and all, by their repeated in- 
 quiries, plainly showed that they conceived it had been en- 
 tirely voluntary on his side. The youth felt that this general 
 acceptation relieved his anxiety on one painful point. What- 
 ever prejudice the family of Burgh-Westra might have 
 
THE PIRATE. 123 
 
 adopted respecting him, it must be of a private nature; and at 
 least he had not the additional pain of finding that he was 
 depreciated in the eyes of society at large; and his vindica- 
 tion, when he found opportunity to make one, would not re- 
 quire to be extended beyond the circle of a single family. 
 This was consoling; though his heart still throbbed with 
 anxiety at the thought of meeting with his estranged but still 
 beloved friends. Laying the excuse of his absence on his 
 father's state of healtli, he made his way through the various 
 groups of friends and guests, each of whom seemed willing to 
 detain him as long as possible, and having, by presenting 
 them to one or two families of consequence, got rid of his 
 traveling-companions, who at first stuck fast as burs, he 
 reached at length the door of a small apartment, which, open- 
 ing from one of the large exterior rooms we ha.ve mentioned, 
 Minna and Brenda had been permitted to fit up after their 
 own taste, and to call their peculiar property. 
 
 Mordaunt had contributed no small share of the invention 
 and mechanical execution employed in fitting up this favorite 
 apartment, and in disposing its ornaments. It was, indeed, 
 during his last residence at Burgh- Westra, as free to his en- 
 trance and occupation as to its proper mistresses. But now, 
 so much were times altered that he remained with his finger 
 on the latch, uncertain whether he should take the freedom 
 to draw it, until Brenda's voice pronounced the words, " Come 
 in, then," in the tone of one who is interrupted by an unwel- 
 come disturber, who is to be heard and dispatched with all 
 the speed possible. 
 
 At this signal, Mertoun entered the fanciful cabinet of the 
 sisters, which, by the addition of many ornaments, including 
 some articles of considerable value, had been fitted up for the 
 approaching festival. The daughters of ^Magnus, at the mo- 
 ment of Mordaunt's entrance, were seated in deep consulta- 
 tion with the stranger Cleveland and \vith a little, slight-made 
 old man, whose eye retained all the vivacity of spirit which 
 had supported him under the thousand vicissitudes of_ a 
 changeful and precarious life, and which, accompanying him 
 in his old age, rendered his gray hairs less awfully reverend 
 perhaps, but not less beloved, than would a more grave and 
 less imaginative expression of countenance and character. 
 There was even a penetrating shrewdness mingled in the look 
 of curiosity with wliich, as he stepped for an instant aside, 
 he seemed" to watch the meeting of Mordaunt with the two 
 lovely sisters. 
 
124 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 The reception the 3"outh met with resembled, in general 
 character, that which he had experienced from Magnus him- 
 self; but the maidens could not so well cover their sense of 
 the change of circumstances under which they met. Both 
 blushed, as, rising, and without extending the hand, far less 
 ottering the cheek, as the fashion of the times permitted, and 
 almost exacted, they paid to Mordaunt the salutation due to 
 an ordinary acquaintance. But the blush of the elder was 
 one of those transient evidences of flitting emotion that 
 vanish as fast as the passing thought which excites them. In 
 an instant she stood before the youth calm and cold, return- 
 ing, with guarded and cautious courtesy, the usual civilities, 
 which, with a faltering voice, Mordaunt endeavored to present 
 to her. The emotion of Brenda bore, externally at least, a 
 deeper and more agitating character. Her blush extended 
 over ever)^ part of her beautiful skin which her dress per- 
 mitted to be visible, including her slender neck and the upper 
 region of a finely-formed bosom. Neither did she even at- 
 tempt to reply to what share of his confused compliment 
 Mordaunt addressed to her in particular, but regarded him 
 with eyes in which displeasure was evidently mingled with 
 feelings of regret and recollections of former times. Mor- 
 daunt felt, as it were, assured upon the instant that the regard 
 of Minna was extinguished, but that it might be yet possible 
 to recover that of the milder Brenda; and such is the way- 
 wardness of human fancy, that, though he had never hitherto 
 made any distinct difference betwixt these two beautiful and 
 interesting girls, the favor of her which seemed most abso- 
 lutely withdrawn became at the moment the most interesting 
 in his eyes. 
 
 He was disturbed in these hasty reflections by Cleveland, 
 who advanced, with military frankness, to pay his compli- 
 ments to his preserver, having only delayed long enough to 
 permit the exchange of the ordinar}' salutation bet\s4xt the 
 visitor and the ladies of the family. He made his approach 
 with so good a grace,, that it was impossible for Mordaunt, 
 although he dated his loss of favor at Burgh- Westra from this 
 stranger's appearance on the coast and domestication in the 
 family, to do less than return his advances as courtesy de- 
 manded, accept his thanks with an appearance of satisfaction, 
 and hope that his time had passed pleasantly since their last 
 meeting. 
 
 Cleveland was about to answer, when he was anticipated 
 by the little old man, formerly noticed, who, now thrusting 
 
THE PIRATE. 125 
 
 himself forward and seizing Mordaunt's hand, kissed him on 
 the forehead; and then at the same time echoed and answered 
 his question. " How passes time at Burgh- Westra? Was it 
 you that asked it, my prince of the cliff and of the scaur? 
 How should it pass, with all the wings that beauty and joy 
 can add to help its flight! " 
 
 ■' And wit and song, too, my good old friend," said Mor- 
 daunt, half-serious, half-Jesting, as he shook the old man cor- 
 dially by the hand. " These cannot be wanting where Claud 
 Halcro comes! " 
 
 " Jeer me not, Mordaunt, my good lad,'" replied the old 
 man. '" When your foot is as slow as mine, your wit frozen, 
 and your song out of tune " 
 
 " How can you belie )'ourself, my good master? " answered 
 Mordaunt, who was not unwilling to avail himself of his old 
 friend's peculiarities to introduce something like conversadon, 
 break the awkwardness of this singular meeting, and gain 
 time for observation, ere requiring an explanation of the 
 change of conduct which the family seemed to have adopted 
 toward him. '"' Say not so," he continued. " Time, my old 
 friend, lays his hand lightly on the bard. Have I not heard 
 you say, the poet partakes the immortality of his song? and 
 surely the great English poet you used to tell us of was elder 
 than yourself when he pulled the bow-oar among all the wits 
 of London." 
 
 This alluded to a story- which was, as the French term n, 
 Halcro's " cheval de bataille," and any allusion to which was 
 certain at once to place him in the saddle and to push his 
 hobby-horse into full career. 
 
 His laughing eye kindled with a sort of enthusiasm, which 
 the ordinary folk of this world might have called crazed, 
 while he dashed into the subject which he best loved to talk 
 upon. " Alas, alas, my dear Mordaunt Mertoun, silver is sil- 
 -ver, and waxes not dim by use; and pewter is pewter, and 
 grows the longer the duller. It is not for poor Claud Halcro 
 to name himself in the same twelvemonth ^^^th the immor- 
 tal John Dr\'den. True it is. as I may have told you before, 
 that I have seen that great man, nay. T have been in the Wits' 
 Coffee-house, as it was then called, and had once a pinch out 
 of his own very snuff-box. I must have told you all how it 
 happened, but here is Captain Cleveland, who never heard it. 
 I lodged, vou must know, in Russel Street — I question not 
 but vou kHow Russel Street, Covent Garden, Captain 
 Cleveland?" 
 
126 WAVEMLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " I should know its latitude pretty well, Mr. Halcro," said 
 the captain, smiling; " but 1 believe you mentioned the cir- 
 cumstance yesterday, and, besides, we have the day's duty 
 in hand: you must play us this song which we are to 
 study." 
 
 " It will not serve the turn now," said Halcro: " we must 
 think of something that will take in our dear Mordaunt, the 
 first voice in the island, whether for a part or solo. I will 
 never be he will touch a string to you unless Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun is to help us out. What say you, my fairest Night? 
 What think you, my sweet Dawn of Day? " he added, address- 
 ing the young women, upon whom, as we have said elsewhere, 
 he had long before bestowed these allegorical names. 
 
 " Mr. Mordaunt Mertoun," said Minna, " has come too late 
 to be of our band on this occasion: it is our misfortune, but 
 it cannot be helped." 
 
 "How? what?" said Halcro, hastily — "too late — and you 
 have practiced together all your lives? Take my word, my 
 bonny lasses, that old tunes are sweetest, and old friends 
 surest. Mr. Cleveland has a fine bass, that must be allowed; 
 but I would have you trust for the first effect to one of the 
 twenty fine airs you can sing where Mordaunt's tenor joins so 
 well with your own witchery. Here is my lovely Day ap- 
 proves of the change in her heart." 
 
 " You were never in your life more mistaken, father Hal- 
 cro," said Brenda, her cheeks again reddening, more with dis- 
 pleasure, it seemed, than with shame. 
 
 "Nay, but how is this?" said the old man, pausing and 
 looking at them alternately. " What have we got here ? A 
 cloudy night and a red morning? That betokens rough 
 Aveather. What means all this, young women? — where lies 
 the offense? In me, I fear; for the blame is always laid upon 
 the oldest when young folk like you go by the ears." 
 
 " The blame is not with you, father Halcro," said Minna, 
 rising and taking her sister by the arm, " if indeed there be 
 blame anywhere." 
 
 " I should fear then, ]\Iinna." said Mordaunt, endeavoring 
 to soften his tone into one of indifferent pleasantry, " that the 
 newcomer has brought the offense along with him." 
 
 " When no offense is taken," replied Minna, with her usual 
 gravity, " it matters not by whom such may have been 
 offered." 
 
 "Is it possible, Minna!" exclaimed Mordaunt, "and is it 
 you who speak thus to me! And you too, Brenda, can you 
 
THE PIRATE. 127 
 
 too judge so hardly of me, yet without permitting me one 
 moment of honest and frank explanation? " 
 
 " Those who should know best/' answered Brenda, in a low 
 but decisive tone of voice, •'"' have told us their pleasure, and 
 it must be done. Sister, I think we have stayed too long 
 here, and shall be wanted elsewhere. Mr. Mertoun will ex- 
 cuse us on so busy a day.'" 
 
 The sisters linked their arms together. Halcro in vain 
 endeavored to stop them, making, at the same time, a theatri- 
 cal gesture, and exclaiming: 
 
 "Now, Day and Night, but this is woudrous strange! " 
 
 Then turned to Mordaunt Mertoun, and added, " The girls 
 are possessed with the spirit of mutability, showing, as our 
 master Spenser well saith, that 
 
 " Among all living creatures, more or lesse, 
 Change still doth reign, and keep the greater sway. 
 
 Captain Cleveland," he continued, " know ynu anything that 
 has happened to put these two juvenile Graces out of tune? " 
 
 " He wall lose his reckoning," answered Cleveland, " that 
 spends time in inquiring why the wind shifts a point or why 
 a woman changes her mind. Were I Mr. Mordaunt, I would 
 not ask the proud wenches another question on such a 
 subject." 
 
 " It is a friendly advice. Captain Cleveland," replied Mor- 
 daunt, " and I will not hold it the less so that it has been 
 given unasked. Allow me to inquire if you are yourself as 
 indifferent to the opinion of your female friends as it seems 
 you would have me to be?" 
 
 " Who, I? " said the captain, with an air of frank indiffer- 
 ence, " I never thought twice upon such a subject. I never 
 »aw a woman worth thinking twice about after the anchor was 
 a-peak; on shore it is another thing, and 1 will laugh, sing, 
 dance, and make love, if they like it, with twenty girls, were 
 they but half so pretty as those who have left us, and make 
 them heartily welcome to change their course in the sound 
 of a boatswain's whistle. It will be odds but I wear as fast 
 as they can." 
 
 A patient is seldom pleased with that sort of consolation 
 which is founded on holding light the malady of which he 
 complaiue; and Mordaunt felt disposed to be offended with 
 Captain Cleveland both for taking notice of his embarrass- 
 ment aiad intruding upon him his own opinion; and he 
 
128 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 replied, therefore, somewhat sharply, " That Captain Cleve- 
 land's sentiments were only suited to such as had the art to 
 become universal favorites wherever chance happened to 
 throw them, and who could not lose in one place more than 
 their merit was sure to gain for them in another." 
 
 This was spoken ironically; but there was, to confess the 
 truth, a superior knowledge of the world, and a consciousness 
 of external merit at least, about the man which rendered his 
 interference doubly disagreeable. As Sir Lucius O'Trigger 
 says, there was an air of success about Captain Cleveland 
 which was mighty provoking. Young, handsome, and well 
 assured, his air of nautical bluntness sat naturally and easily 
 upon him, and was perhaps particularly well fitted to the 
 simple manners of the remote country in which he found 
 himself; and where, even in the best families, a gi'eater de- 
 gree of refinement might have rendered his conversation 
 rather less acceptable. He was contented, in the present in- 
 stance, to smile good-humoredly at the obvious discontent of 
 Mordaunt Mertoun, and replied, " You are angry with me, 
 my good friend, but you cannot make me angry with you. 
 The fair hands of all the pretty women I ever saw in my life 
 would never have fished me up out of the Roost of Sumburgh, 
 So, pray, do not quarrel with me; for here is ]\Ir. Halcro wit- 
 ness that I have struck both jack and topsail, and should you 
 fire a broadside into me, cannot return a single shot." 
 
 " Aye — aye," said Halcro, " you must be friends with Cap- 
 tain Cleveland, Mordaunt. Never quarrel with your friend 
 because a woman is whimsical. Why, man, if they kept one 
 humor, how the devil could we make so many songs on them 
 as we do? Even old Dryden himself, glorious old John, could 
 have said little about a girl that was always of one mind: as 
 well write verses upon a mill-pond. It is your tides and your 
 roosts, and your currents and eddies, that come and go, and 
 ebb and flow — by Heaven! I run into rhyme when I so much 
 as think upon them — that smile one day, rage the next, flatter 
 and devour, delight and ruin us, and so forth — it is these that 
 give the real soul of poetry. Did you ever hear my ' Adieu 
 to the Lass of Northmaven ' ? That was poor Bet Stim- 
 bister, whom I call Mary for the sound's sake, as I call myself 
 Hacon, after my great ancestor Hacon Goldemund. or Haco 
 with the Golden Mouth, who came to the island with Harold 
 Harfager, and was his chief Scald? Well, but where was I? 
 Oh, aye: poor Bet Stimbister. she — and partly some debt — 
 was the cause of my leaving the isles of Hialtland — better so 
 
THE PIRATE. 129 
 
 called than Shetland, or Zetland even — and taking to the 
 broad world. I have had a tramp of it since that time. I 
 have battled my way through the world, captain, as a man of 
 mold may, that has a hght head, a light purse, and a heart as 
 light as them both; fought my way, and jxiid my way, that is, 
 either with money or wit; have seen kings changed and de- 
 posed as you would turn a tenant out of a scat-hold; knew all 
 the wits of the age, and especially the glorious John Dn'den; 
 what man in the islands can say as much, barring lying? I 
 had a pinch out of his own snuff-box; I will tell you how I 
 came by such promotion." 
 
 " But the song, Mr. Halcro," said Captain Cleveland. 
 
 " The song! " answered Halcro, seizing the captain by the 
 button — for he was too much accustomed to have his audience 
 escape from him during recitation, not to put in practice all 
 the usual means of prevention — " the song! Why, I gave a 
 copy of it, with fifteen others, to the immortal John. You 
 shall hear it — you shall hear them all, if you will but stand 
 still a moment; and you too, my dear boy, ]\Iordaunt Mer- 
 toun, I have scarce heard a word from your mouth these six 
 months, and now you are running away from me." So say- 
 ing, he secured him with his other hand. 
 
 " Xay, now he has got us both in tow," said the seaman, 
 " there is nothing for it but hearing him out, though he spins 
 as tough a yarn as ever an old man-of-wars-man twisted on 
 the watch at midnight." 
 
 " Nay, now, be silent — be silent, and let one of us speak at 
 once," said the poet imperatively; while Cleveland and Mor- 
 daunt, looking at each other with a ludicrous expression of 
 resignation to their fate, waited in submission for the well- 
 known and inevitable tale. " I will tell you all about it," 
 continued Halcro. " I was knocked about the world like 
 other young fellows, doing this, that, and t'other for a liveli- 
 hood; for, thank God, I could turn my hand to anything; but 
 lo\ang still the Muses as much as if the nngrateful jades had 
 found me, like so many blockheads, in my own coach and six. 
 However, I held out till my cousin, old Laurence Linkletter, 
 died, and left me the bit of an island yonder; although, by the 
 wa}', Cultmalindie was as near to him as I was: but Laurence 
 loved wit, though he had little of his own. AVell, he left me 
 the wee bit island — it is as barren as Parnassus itself. What 
 then? I have a penny to spend, a penny to keep my purse, 
 a penny to give to the poor — aye, and a bed and a bottle for 
 a friend, as you shall kijow, boys, if you will go back with me 
 
130 WAVEJiLEY NOVELS. 
 
 when this merriment is over. But where was I in my 
 story ? " 
 
 " Near port, I hope," answered Cleveland; but Halcro was 
 too determined a narrator to be interrupted by the broadest 
 hint. 
 
 "Oh, aye," he resumed, with the self-satisfied air of one 
 who has recovered the thread of a story, " I was in my old 
 lodgings in Eussel Street, with old Timothy Thimblethwaite, 
 the master fashioner, then the best-known man about town. 
 He made for all the wits, and for the dull boobies of fortune 
 besides, and made the one pay for the other. He never de- 
 nied a wit credit save in jest, or for the sake of getting a 
 repartee; and he was in correspondence with all that was 
 worth knowing about town. He had letters from Crowne, 
 and Tate, and Prior, and Tom Brown, and all the famous 
 fellows of the time, with such pellets of wit, that there was 
 no reading them without laughing ready to die, and all end- 
 ing with craving a further term for payment." 
 
 " I should have thought the tailor would have found that 
 jest rather serious," said Mordaunt. 
 
 "Not a bit — not a bit," replied his eulogist, "Tim Thimble- 
 thwaite — he was a Cumberland man by birth — had the soul 
 of a prince — aye, and died with the fortune of one; for woe 
 betide the custard-gorged alderman that came under Tim's 
 goose, after he had got one of those letters — egad, he was sure 
 to pay the kain! Why, Thimblethwaite was thought to be 
 the original of little Tom Bibber, in glorious John's comedy 
 of the ' Wild Gallant'; and I know that he has trusted, aye, 
 and lent John money to boot out of his own pocket, at a time 
 when all his fine court friends blew cold enough. He trusted 
 me too, and I have been two months on the score at a time 
 for my upper room. To be sure, I was obliging in his way — 
 not that I exactly could shape or sew, nor would that have 
 been decorous for a gentleman of good descent; but I — eh, 
 eh — I drew bills — summed up the books " 
 
 " Carried home the clothes of the wits and aldermen, and 
 got lodging for your labor? " interrupted Cleveland. 
 
 "No, no — damn it, no," replied Halcro; "no such thing; 
 you put me out in my story — where was I ? " 
 
 " Nay, the devil help you to the latitude," said the captain, 
 extricating his button from the gripe of the unmerciful bard's 
 finger and thumb, " for I have no time to take an obser\'a- 
 tion." So saying, he bolted from the room. 
 
 "A silly, ill-bred, conceited fool," said Halcro, looking 
 
THE PIRATE. 181 
 
 after him; " with as little manners as wit in his empty cox- 
 comb. I wonder what ]\Iagnus and these silly wenches can 
 see in him. He tells such damnable long-winded stories, too, 
 about his adventures and sea-fights — eveiy second word a li©, 
 I doubt not. Mordaunt, my dear boy, take example by that 
 man — that is, take warning by him — never tell long stories 
 about yourself. You are sometimes given to talk too much 
 about your own exploits on crags and skerries, and the like, 
 which only breaks convei"sation, and prevents other folk from 
 being heard. Now, I see you are impatient to hear out what 
 I was saying. Stop, whereabouts was I ? " 
 
 " I fear we must put it off, Mr. Halcro, until after dinner," 
 said Mordaunt, who also meditated his escape, though de 
 sirous of effecting it with more delicacy toward his old ac- 
 quaintance than Captain Cleveland had thought it necessary 
 to use. 
 
 " Nay, my dear boy," said Halcro, seeing himself about to 
 be utterly deserted, " do not you leave me too: never take so 
 bad an example as to set light by old acquaintance, Mordaunt. 
 I have wandered many a weary step in my day; but they were 
 always lightened when I could get hold of the arm of an old 
 friend like yourself." 
 
 So saying, he quitted the youth's coat, and sliding his hand 
 gentl}' under his arm, grappled him more effectually; to which 
 Mordaunt submitted, a little moved by the poet's observation 
 upon the unkindness of old acquaintances, under which he 
 himself was an immediate sufferer. But when Halcro re- 
 newed his formidable question, "Whereabouts was I?" Mor- 
 daunt, preferring his poetr}^ to his prose, reminded him of 
 the song which he said he had written upon his first leaving 
 Zetland — a song to which, indeed, the inquirer was no stran- 
 ger, but which, as it must be new to the reader, we shall here 
 insert as a favorable specimen of the poetical powers of this 
 tuneful descendant of Haco the Golden-mouthed; for, in the 
 opinion of many tolerable judges, he held a respectable rank 
 among the inditers of madrigals of the period, and was as well 
 qualified to give immortality to his Nancies of the hills or 
 dales as many a gentle sonnetteer of wit and pleasure about 
 town. He was something of a musician also, and on the 
 present occasion seized upon a sort of lute, and, quitting his 
 victim, prepared the instrument for an accompaniment, 
 speaking all the while, that he might lose no time. 
 
 " I learned the lute," he said, " from the same man who 
 taught honest Shadwell — plump Tom, as they used to call 
 
132 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 him — somewhat roughly treated by the glorious John, you re- 
 member — Mordaunt, you remember — 
 
 " Methinks I see the new Arion sail, 
 The hite still trembling underneath thy nail ; 
 At thy well-sharpen'd thumb, from shore to shore 
 The trebles squeak for fear, the basses roar. 
 
 Come, I am indifferently in tune now. What was it to be? 
 Aye, I remember — nay, ' The T.ass of Northmaven ' is the 
 ditty — poor Bet Stimbister! I have called her Mary in the 
 verses. Betsy does well for an English song; but Mary is 
 more natural here." So saying, after a short prelude, he 
 sung, with a tolerable voice and some taste, the following 
 ^erses: 
 
 " Farewell to Northniaven, 
 
 Grey Hillswieke, farewell! 
 To the calms of thy haven, 
 
 The storms on tliy fell, 
 To each breeze that can vary 
 
 The mood of thy main, 
 And to thee, bonny Mary! 
 
 We meet not again. 
 
 * Farfwell the wild ferry, 
 
 Which Hacon could brave, 
 When the peaks of the skerry 
 
 Were white in the wave. 
 There's a maid may look over 
 
 These wild waves in vain 
 For the skiff of her lover : 
 
 He comes not again. 
 
 "The vows thou hast broke, 
 
 On the wild cun-ents fling them ; 
 On the quicksand and rock 
 
 Let the mermaidens sing them. 
 New sweetness they'll give her 
 
 Bewildering strain ; 
 But there's one who will never 
 
 Believe them again. 
 
 "Oh, were there an island, 
 
 Though ever so wild. 
 Where woman coiild smile, and 
 
 No man be beguiled ; 
 Too tempting a snare 
 
 To poor mortals were given, 
 And tlie hope would fix there. 
 
 That should anchor on heaven ! 
 
 " I see you are softened, my young friend," said Halcro 
 when he had finished his song; " so are most who hear thai 
 same ditty. Words and music both mine own; and, without 
 saying much of the w\i of it, there is a sort of eh — eh — sim- 
 
THE PIRATE. 133 
 
 plicity and truth about it which gets its way to most folks' 
 heart. Even your father cannot resist it; and he has a heart 
 as impenetrable to poetry and song as Apollo himself could 
 draw an arrow against. But then he has had some ill luck 
 in his time with the womenfolk, as is plain from his owing 
 them such a grudge. Aye — aye, there the charm lies; none 
 of us but has felt the same sore in our day. But come, my 
 dear boy, they are mustering in the hall, men and women 
 both — plagues as they are, we should get on ill without them; 
 but before we go, only mark the last turn — 
 
 "And the hope would fix there, — 
 
 that is, in the supposed island — a place which neither was nor 
 will be, — 
 
 "That should anchor on heaven. 
 
 Now you see, my good young man, there are here none of your 
 heathenish rants, which Rochester, Etherege, and these wild 
 fellows used to string together. A parson might sing the 
 song, and his clerk bear the burden: but there is the con- 
 founded bell — we must go now; but never mind, we'll get into 
 a quiet corner at night, and I'll tell you ail about it." 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Full in the midst the polish'd tahle shines, 
 And the bright goblets, rich witii geuei'ous wiues ; 
 Now eacli partakes the fcusf, the wiue prepares, 
 Portions the food, and eacli tlie portion shares ; 
 Nor till the rage of thirst and hungei- ceased. 
 To the high host approach'd the sagacious guest. 
 
 — Odyssey. 
 
 The hospitable profusion of Magnus Troil's board, the 
 number of guests who feasted in the hall, the much greater 
 number of retainers, attendants, humble friends, and domes- 
 ties of every possible description, who reveled without, with 
 the multitude of the still poorer and less honored assistants, 
 who came from every hamlet or township within twenty miles 
 round, to share the bounty of the munificent Udaller, were 
 such as altogether astonished Triptolemus Yellowley, and 
 made him internally doubt whether it would be prudent in 
 him at this time, and amid the full glow of his hospitality, to 
 propose to the host who presided over such a splendid ban- 
 quet a radical change in the whole customs and usages of his 
 country. 
 
 True, the sagacious Triptolemus felt conscious that he pos- 
 sessed in his own person wisdom far superior to that of all the 
 assembled feasters, to sav nothing of the landlord, against 
 whose prudence the very extent of his hospitality formed, in 
 Yellowley's opinion, sufficient evidence. But yet the Amphit- 
 ryon with whom one dines holds, for the time at least, an 
 influence over the minds of his most distinguished guests; and 
 if the dinner be in good style and the wines of the right 
 quality, it is humbling to see that neither art nor wisdom, 
 scarce external rank itself, can assume their natural and 
 wonted superiority over the distributor of these good things, 
 until coffee has been brought in. Triptolemus felt the full 
 weight of this temporary superiority, yet he was desirous to 
 do something that might vindicate the vaunts he had made 
 to his sister and his fellow-traveler, and he stole a look at 
 them from time to time, to mark whether he was not sinking 
 in their esteem from postponing his promised lecture on the 
 enormities of Zetland. 
 
 But Mrs. Barbara was busily engaged in noting and regis- 
 tering the waste incurred in such an entertainment as she had 
 
 a34 
 
THE PIRATB. 136 
 
 probably never before looked upon, and m admiring the host's 
 indifference to, and the guests' absolute negligence of, those 
 rules of civility in which her youth had been brought up. 
 The feasters desired to be helped from a dish which was un- 
 broken, and might have figured at supper, with as much free- 
 dom as if it had undergone the ravages of half a dozen guests; 
 and no one seemed to care — the landlord himself least of all 
 whether those dishes only were consumed which, from their 
 nature, were incapable of reappearance, or whether the assault 
 was extended to the substantial rounds of beef, pasties, and 
 so forth, which, by the rules of good housewifely, were des' 
 tined to stand two attacks, and which, therefore, according 
 to Mrs. Barbara's ideas of politeness, ought not to have been 
 annihilated by the guests upon the first onset, but spared, like 
 Outis in the cave of Polyphemus, to be devoured the last. 
 Lost in the meditations to which these breaches of convivial 
 discipline gave rise, and in the contemplation of an ideal 
 larder of cold meat which she could have saved out of the 
 wreck of roast, boiled, and baked, sufficient to have supplied 
 her cupboard fof at least a twelvemonth, ^Irs. Barbara cared 
 very little whether or not her brother supported in its extent 
 the character which he had calculated upon assuming. 
 
 Mordaunt Mertoun also was conversant with far other 
 thoughts than those which regarded the proposed reformer of 
 Zetland enormities. His seat was betwixt two blithe maidens 
 of Thule, who, not taking scorn that he had upon other occa- 
 sions given preference to the daughters of the Udaller, were 
 glad of the chance which assigned to them the attentions of 
 so distinguished a gallant, who, as being their squire at the 
 feast, might in all probability become their partner in the sub- 
 sequent dance. But, whilst rendering to his fair neighbors 
 all the usual attentions which society required, Mordaunt 
 kept up a covert, but accurate and close, observation upon his 
 estranged friends, Minna and Brenda. The Udaller himself 
 had a share of his attention; but in him he could remark 
 notliing, except the usual tone of hearty and somewhat bois- 
 terous hospitality with which he was accustomed to animate 
 the banquet upon all such occasions of general festivity. But 
 in the differing mien of the two maidens there was much 
 more room for painful remark. 
 
 Captain Cleveland sat betwixt the sisters, was sedulous in 
 his attentions to both, and Mordaunt was so placed that he 
 could obsen-e all, and hear a great deal, of what passed be- 
 tween them. But Cleveland's pecuhar regard seemed devoted 
 
136 WAVEIiLEY NOVELS. 
 
 to the elder sister. Of this the younger was perhaps con- 
 scious, for more than once her eye glanced toward Mordaunt, 
 and, as he thought, with something in it whicli resembled re- 
 gret for the interruption of their intercourse, and a sad 
 remembrance of former and more friendly times; while Minna 
 was exclusively engrossed by the attentions of her neighbor; 
 and that it should be so, filled Mordaunt with surprise and 
 resentment. 
 
 Minna, the serious, the prudent, the reserved, whose coun- 
 tenance and manners indicated so much elevation of charac- 
 ter — Minna, the lover of solitude, and of those paths of 
 knowledge in which men w^alk best without company — the 
 enemy of light mirth, the friend of musing melancholy, and 
 the frequenter of fountain-heads and pathless glens — she 
 whose character seemed, in short, the very reverse of that 
 which might be captivated by the bold, coarse, and daring 
 gallantry of such a man as this Captain Cleveland, gave, 
 nevertheless, her eye and ear to him, as he sat beside her at 
 table, with an interest and a graciousness of attention which, 
 to Mordaunt, who well knew how to judge o^ her feelings by 
 her manner, intimated a degree of the highest favor. He 
 observed this, and his heart rose against the favorite by whom 
 he had been thus superseded, as well as against Minna's indis- 
 creet departure from her own character. 
 
 " What is there about the man," he said within himself, 
 " more than the bold and daring assumption of importance 
 which is derived from success in petty enterprises, and the 
 exercise of petty despotism over a ship's crew? His very lan- 
 guage is more professional than is used by the superior officers 
 of the British navy; and the wit which has excited so many 
 smiles seems to me such as Minna would not formerly have 
 endured for an instant. Even Brenda seems less taken with 
 his gallantry than Minna, whom it should have suited so 
 little." 
 
 Mordaunt was doubly mistaken in these his angry specula- 
 tions. In the first place, with an eye which was, in some 
 respects, that of a rival, he criticised far too severely the man- 
 ners and behavior of Captain Cleveland. They were unpol- 
 ished, certainly; which was of the less consequence in a 
 country inhabited by so plain and simple a race as the ancient 
 Zetlanders. On the other hand, there was an open, naval 
 frankness in Cleveland's bearing, much natural shrewdness, 
 some appropriate humor, an undoubting confidence in him- 
 self, and that enterprising hardihood of dispoeition which. 
 
THE PIRATE. 13V 
 
 rt'ithout any other recommendable quality, very often leads 
 to success wdth the fair sex. But Mordaunt was farther mis- 
 taken in supposing that Cleveland was likely to be disagreea- 
 ble to Minna Troil, on account of the opposition of their 
 characters in so many material particulars. Had his knowl- 
 edge of the world been a little more extensive, he might have 
 observed that, as unions are often fonned betwixt couples 
 differing in complexion and stature, they take place still more 
 frequently betwixt persons totally differing in feelings, in 
 taste, in pursuits, and in understanding; and it would not be 
 saying, perhaps, too much, to aver that two-thirds of the mar- 
 riages around us have been contracted betwixt persons who, 
 judging " a priori," we should have thought had scarce any 
 channs for each other. 
 
 A moral and primary cause might be easily assigned for 
 these anomalies, in the wise dispensations of Providence, that 
 the general balance of wit, wisdom, and amiable qualities of 
 all kinds should be kept up through society at large. For, 
 what a world were it if the wise were to intermarry only with 
 the wise, the learned with the learned, the amiable with 
 the amiable, nay, even the handsome with the handsome? 
 and, is it not evident, that the degraded castes of the foolish, 
 the ignorant, the brutal, and the deformed (comprehending, 
 by the way, far the greater portion of mankind), must, when 
 condemned to exclusive intercourse with each other, become 
 gradually as much brutalized in person and disposition as so 
 many ourang-outangs ? When, therefore, we see the " gentle 
 joined to the rude," we may lament the fate of the suffering 
 individual, but we must not the less admire the mysterious 
 disposition of that wise Providence which thus balances the 
 moral good and evil of life; which secures for a family, un- 
 happv in the dispositions of one parent, a share of better and 
 sweeter blood, transmitted from the other, and preserves to 
 the offspring the affectionate care and protection of at least 
 one of those from whom it is naturally due. Without the 
 frequent occurrence of such alliances and unions, mis-sorted 
 as they seem at first sight, the world could not be that for 
 which Eternal Wisdom has designed it— 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 blessinirs carry with them a necessary alloy of embitter- 
 ing depreciation. 
 
 When, indeed, we look a little closer on the causes of those 
 
138 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 unexpected and ill-suited attachments, we have occasion to 
 acknowledge that the means by which they are produced do 
 not infer that complete departure from, or inconsistency 
 with, the character of the parties which we might expect when 
 the result alone is contemplated. The wise purposes which 
 Providence appears to have had in view, by permitting such 
 intermixture of dispositions, tempers, and understandings in 
 the married state, are not accomplished by any mysterious 
 impulse by which, in contradiction to the ordinary laws of 
 nature, men or women are urged to an union with those whom 
 the world see to be unsuitable to them. The freedom of will 
 is permitted to us in the occurrences of ordinary life, as in 
 our moral conduct; and in the former as well as the latter 
 case is often the means of misguiding those who possess it. 
 Thus it usually happens, more especially to the enthusiastic 
 and imaginative, that, having formed a picture of admiration 
 in their own mind, they too often deceive themselves by some 
 faint resemblance in some existing being, whom their fancy, 
 as speedily as gratuitously, invests with all the attributes 
 necessary to complete the " beau ideal " of mental perfection. 
 No one, perhaps, even in the happiest marriage, with an ob- 
 ject really beloved, ever discovered by experience all the 
 qualities he expected to possess; but in far too many cases he 
 finds he has practiced a much higher degree of mental decep- 
 tion, and has erected his airy castle of felicity upon some rain- 
 bow, which owed its very existence only to the peculiar state 
 of the atmosphere. 
 
 Thus Mordaunt, if better acquainted with life and with the 
 course of human things, would have been little surprised that 
 such a man as Cleveland, handsome, bold, and animated — a 
 man who had obviously lived in danger, and who spoke of it 
 as sport, should have been invested, by a girl of Minna's fanci- 
 ful disposition, with an extensive share of those qualities 
 which, in her active imagination, were held to fill up the ac- 
 complishments of a heroic character. The plain bluntness of 
 his manner, if remote from courtesy, appeared at least as 
 widely different from deceit; and, unfashioned as he seemed 
 by forms, he had enough both of natural sense and natural 
 good breeding to support the delusion he had created, at least 
 as far as externals were concerned. It is scarce necessary to 
 add, that these observations apply exclusively to what are 
 called love-matches; for when either party fix their attach- 
 ment upon the substantial comforts of a rental or a jointure, 
 they cannot be disappointed in the acquisition, although 
 
THE PIRATE. 139 
 
 they may be cruelly so in their over-estimation of the happi- 
 ness it was to afford, or in having too slightly anticipated the 
 disadvantages with which it was to be attended. 
 
 Having a certain partiality for the dark beauty whom we 
 have described, we have willingly dedicated this digression, 
 in order to account for a line of conduct which we allow to 
 seem absolutely unnatural in such a narrative as the present, 
 though the most common event in ordinary life; namely, in 
 Minna's appearing to have over-estimated the taste, talent, 
 and ability of a handsome young man, who was dedicating to 
 her his whole time and attention, and whose homage rendered 
 her the envy of almost all the other young women of that 
 numerous party. Perhaps, if our fair readers will take the 
 trouble to consult their own bosoms, they will be disposed to 
 allow that the distinguished good taste exhibited by any indi- 
 vidual who, when his attentions would be agreeable to a whole 
 circle of rivals, selects one as their individual object, entitles 
 him, on the footing of reciprocity, if on no other, to a large 
 share of that individual's favorable, and even partial esteem. 
 At any rate, if the character shall, after all, be deemed incon- 
 sistent and unnatural, it concerns not us, who record the facts 
 as we find them, and pretend no privilege for bringing closer 
 to nature those incidents which may seem to diverge from it, 
 or for reducing to consistence that most inconsistent of all 
 created things — the heart of a beautiful and admired female. 
 
 Necessity, which teaches all the liberal arts, can render us 
 also adepts in dissimulation; and Mordaunt, though a novice, 
 failed not to profit in her school. It was manifest that, in 
 order to observe the demeanor of those on whom his altention 
 was fixed, he must needs put constraint on his own, and ap- 
 pear, at least, so much engaged with the damsels betwixt 
 whom he sat that Minna and Brenda should suppose him in- 
 different to what was passing around him. The ready cheer- 
 fulness of ]\Iaddie and Clara Groatsettar, who were esteemed 
 considerable fortunes in the island, and were at this moment 
 too happy in feeling themselves seated somewhat beyond the 
 sphere of vigilance influenced by their aunt, the good old 
 Lady Glowrowrum, met and requited the attempts which 
 Mordaunt made to be lively and entertaining; and they were 
 soon engaged in a gay conversation, to which, as usual on 
 such occasions, the gentleman contributed wit, or what passes 
 for such, and the ladies their prompt laughter and liberal ap- 
 plause. But, amidst this seeming mirth, ]\Iordaunt failed 
 not, from time to time, as covertly as he might, to observe 
 
140 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the conduct of the two daughters of Magnus; and still it ap- 
 peared as if the elder, wrapt up in the conversation of 
 Cleveland, did not cast away a thought on the rest of the com- 
 pany; and as if Brenda, more openly as she conceived his at- 
 tention withdrawn from her, looked with an expression both 
 anxious and melancholy toward the group of which he him- 
 self formed a part. He was much moved by the diffidence, as 
 well as the trouble, which her looks seemed to convey, and 
 tacitly formed the resolution of seeking a more full explana- 
 tion with her in the course of the evening. Noma, he re- 
 membered, had stated that these two amiable young women 
 were in danger, the nature of which she left unexplained, but 
 which he suspected to arise out of their mistaking the char- 
 acter of this daring and all-engrossing stranger; and he 
 secretly resolved that, if possible, he would be the means of 
 detecting Cleveland and of saving his early friends. 
 
 As he revolved these thoughts, his attention to the Miss 
 Groatsettars gradually diminished, and perhaps he might 
 altogether have forgotten the necessity of his appearing an 
 uninterested spectator of what was passing, had not the signal 
 been given for the ladies retiring from table. Minna, with 
 a native grace, and somewhat of stateliness in her manner, 
 bent her head to the company in general, with a kinder and 
 more particular expression as her eye reached Cleveland. 
 Brenda, mth the blush which attended her slightest personal 
 exertion when exposed to the eyes of others, hurried through 
 the same departing salutation with an embarrassment which 
 almost amounted to awkwardness, but which her youth and 
 timidity rendered at once natural and interesting. Again 
 Mordaunt thought that her eye distinguished him amidst the 
 numerous company. For the first time he ventured to en- 
 counter and to return the glance; and the consciousness that 
 he had done so doubled the glow of Brenda's countenance, 
 while something resembling displeasure was blended with her 
 emotion. 
 
 When the ladies had retired, the men betook themselves to 
 the deep and serious drinking which, according to the fashion 
 of the times, preceded the evening exercise of the dance. Old 
 Masmus himself, by precept and example, exhorted them " to 
 make the best use of their time, since the ladies would soon 
 summon them to shake their feet." At the same time giving 
 the signal to a gray-headed domestic, who stood behind him 
 in the dress of a Dantzic skipper, and who added to many 
 other occupations that of butler, " Eric Scambester," he said, 
 
THE PIRATE. 141 
 
 " has the good sliip the ' Jolly Mariner of Canton ' got hei 
 cargo on board? " 
 
 " Chokeful loaded," answered the Ganymede of Burgh- 
 Westra, " with good Nantz, Jamaica sugar,' Portugal lemons, 
 not to mention nutmeg and toast, and water taken in from 
 the Shellicoat spring." 
 
 Loud and long laughed the guests at this stated and regular 
 jest betwixt the Udaller and his butler, which always sensed 
 as a preface to the introduction of a punch-bowl of enormous 
 size, the gift of the captain of one of the Honorable East 
 India Company's vessels, wdiich, bound from China home- 
 ward, had been driven north about by stress of weather into 
 Lerwick Bay, and had there contrived to get rid of part of the 
 cargo, without very scrupulously reckoning for the king's 
 duties. 
 
 Magnus Troil, having been a large customer, besides other- 
 wise obliging Captain Coolie, had been remunerated, on the 
 departure of the ship, with this splendid veliicle of convivi- 
 ahty, at the very sight of which, as old Eric Scambester bent 
 under its weight, a murmur of applause ran through the com- 
 pany. The good old toasts dedicated to the prosperity of 
 Zetland were then honored with flowing bumpers. " Death 
 to the head that never wears hair! " was a sentiment quaifed 
 to the success of the fishing, as proposed by the sonorous voice 
 of the Udaller. Claud Halcro proposed, wdth general ap- 
 plause, " The health of their worthy landmaster, the sweet 
 sister meat-mistresses; health to man, death to fish, and 
 growth to the produce of the ground." The same recurring 
 sentiment was proposed more concisely by a wdiite-headed 
 compeer of Magnus Troil, in the w^ords, " God open the 
 mouth of the gray fish, and keep his hand about the corn! " * 
 
 Full opportunity was afl^orded to all to honor these int-er- 
 esting toasts. Those nearest the capacious Mediterranean of 
 punch were accommodated by the Udaller with their portions, 
 dispensed in huge rummer glasses by his own hospitable hand, 
 whilst they who sat at a greater distance replenished their 
 cups by means of a rich silver flagon, facetiously called the 
 pinnace; which, filled occasionally at the bowl, served to dis- 
 pense its liquid treasures to the more remote parts of the 
 table, and occasioned many right merry Jests on it« frequent 
 voyages. The commerce of the ZetUmders with foreign ves- 
 sels and homeward-bound West Indiamen had early sen^d to 
 introduce among them the general use of the generous bover- 
 
 *8ee Hibbert'8 "Deecription of the Zetland Islands," p. 470. 
 
142 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 age with which the "" Jolly Mariner of Canton " was loaded; 
 nor was there a man in the archipelago of Thule more skilled 
 in combining its rich ingredients than old Eric Scambester, 
 who, indeed, was known far and wide through the isles by the 
 name of the Punch-maker, after the fashion of the ancient 
 Norwegians, who conferred on Rollo the Walker, and other 
 heroes of their strain, epithets expressive of the feats of 
 strength or dexterity in which they excelled all other men. 
 
 The good liquor was not slow in performing its office of 
 exhilaration, and, as the revel advanced, some ancient Norse 
 drinking-songs were sung with great effect by the guests, 
 tending to show that if, from want of exercise, the martial 
 virtues of their ancestors had decayed among the Zetlanders, 
 they could still actively and intensely enjoy so much of the 
 pleasures of Valhalla as consisted in quaifing the oceans of 
 mead and brown ale which were promised by Odin to those 
 who should share his Scandinavian paradise. At length, ex- 
 cited by the cup and song, the diffident grew bold and the 
 modest loquacious; all became desirous of talking, and none 
 were willing to listen; each man mounted his own special 
 hobby-horse, and began eagerly to call on his neighbors to 
 witness his agility. Amongst others, the little bard, who had 
 now got next to our friend Mordaunt Mertoun, evinced a 
 positive determination to commence and conclude, in all its 
 longitude and latitude, the story of his introduction to glori- 
 ous John Dryden; and Triptolemus Yellowley, as his spirits 
 arose, shaking off a feeling of involuntary awe with which he 
 was impressed by the opulence indicated in all he saw around 
 him, as well as by the respect paid to Magnus Troil by the 
 assembled guests, began to broach to the astonished and some- 
 what offended Udaller some of those projects for ameliorating 
 the islands which he had boasted of to his fellow-travelers 
 upon their journey of the morning. 
 
 But the innovations which he suggested, and the reception 
 which they met with at the hand of Magnus Troil, must be 
 told in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 We'll keep our customs ; what is law itself, 
 
 But old establish'd custom ? What religion 
 
 (I mean, with une-half of the men that use it), 
 
 Save the good use and wont that carries them 
 
 To worship how and where their lathers worship'd? 
 
 All things resolve in custom ; well keep ours. 
 
 — Old Play. 
 
 "We left the comj^any of ilagnus Troil engaged in high 
 wassail and revelry. Mordaunt, who, like his father, shunned 
 the festive cup, did not partake of the cheerfulness which the 
 ship diffused among the guests as they unloaded it, and the 
 pinnace, as it circumnavigated the table. But, in low spirits 
 as he seemed, he was the more meet prey for the story-tell- 
 ing Halcro, who had fixed upon him as in a favorable state 
 to play the part of listener, with something of the same in- 
 stinct that directs the hooded crow to the sick sheep among 
 the flock, which \y\\\ most patiently suffer itself to be made a 
 prey of. Joyfully did the poet avail himself of the advan- 
 tages afforded by Mordaunt's absence of mind and unwilling- 
 ness to exert himself in measures of active defense. With 
 the unfailing dexterity peculiar to prosers, he contrived to 
 dribble out his tale to double its usual length, by the exer- 
 cise of the privilege of unlimited digressions; so that the 
 story, like a horse on the " grand pas," seemed to be advanc- 
 ing with rapidity, wliile, in reality, it scarce was progressive 
 at the rate of a yard in the quarter of an hour. At length, 
 however, he had discussed, in all its various bearings and rela- 
 tions, the history of his friendly landlord, the master fash- 
 ioner in Russel Street, including a short sketch of five of his 
 relations, and anecdotes of three of his principal rivals, to- 
 gether with some general obsen^ations upon the dress and 
 fashion of the period; and haAing marched thus far through 
 the environs and outworks of his story, he arrived at the body 
 of the place, for so the Wits' Cotfee-house might be termed. 
 He paused on the threshold, however, to explain the nature 
 of his landlord's right occasionally to intrude himself into 
 this well-known temple of the Muses. 
 
 " It consisted," said Halcro, " in the two principal points 
 of bearing and forbearing; for my friend Thimblethwaite was 
 a person of wit himself, and never quarreled with any jest 
 
 143 
 
144 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 which the wags who frequented that house were flinging 
 about, like squibs and crackers on a rejoicing-night; and then, 
 though some of the wits — aye, and I dare say the greater num- 
 ber, miglit luive had some dealings with him in the way of 
 trade, he never was the person to put any man of genius in 
 unpleasant remembrance of such trifles. And though, my 
 dear young Master Mordaunt, you may think this is but 
 ordinary civility, because in this country it happens seldom 
 that there is either much bon'owing or lending, and because, 
 praised be Heaven, there are neither bailiffs nor sheriff-offi- 
 cers to take a poor fellow by the neck, and because there are 
 no prisons to put him into when they have done so, yet, let 
 me tell you, that such a lamb-like forbearance as that of my 
 poor, dear, deceased landlord, Thimblethwaite, is truly un- 
 common within the London bills of mortality. I could tell 
 you of such things that have happened even to myself, as well 
 as others, with these cursed London tradesmen, as would make 
 your hair stand on end. But what the devil has put old Mag- 
 nus into such note? He shouts as if he were trying his voice 
 against a northwest gale of wind." 
 
 Loud indeed was the roar of the old Udaller, as, worn out 
 of patience by the schemes of improvement which the fac- 
 tor was now undauntedly pressing upon his consideration, he 
 answered him (to use an Ossianic phrase) like a w^ave upon a 
 rock. 
 
 " Trees, sir factor — talk not to me of trees! I care not 
 though there never be one on the island tall emough to hang 
 a coxcomb upon. We will have no trees but those that rise 
 in our havens — the good trees that have yards for boughs and 
 standing rigging for leaves." 
 
 " But touching the draining of the lake of Braebaster, 
 whereof I spoke to you, Master Magnus Troil," said the perse- 
 vering agriculturist, " whilk I opine would be of so much 
 consequence, there are two ways — down the Linklater glen, 
 or by the Scalmester burn. Now, having taken the level of 
 both " 
 
 " There is a third way. Master Yellowley," answered the 
 landlord. 
 
 " I profess I can see none," replied Triptolemus, with as 
 much good faith as a joker could desire in the subject of his 
 wit, " in respect that the hill called Braebaster on the south, 
 and ane high bank on the north, of whilk I cannot carry the 
 name rightly in my head " 
 
 " Do not tell us of hills and banks, Master Yellowley; there 
 
TEE PIRATE. _46 
 
 is a third way of draining the loch, and it is the onlv way 
 that shall be tried in my day. You say my Lord Chamber- 
 lain and I are the joint proprietors; so be it. Let each of 
 us start an equal proportion of brandy, lime-juice, and sugar 
 into the loch — a ship's cargo or two will do the job — let us 
 assemble all the jolly udallcrs of the country, and in twenty- 
 four hours you shall see dry ground where the loch of Bra'e- 
 baster now is." 
 
 A loud laugh of applause, which for a time actually silence! 
 Triptolemus, attended a jest so very well suited to time and 
 place — a jolly toast was given — a merry song was sung — the 
 ship unloaded her sweets — the pinnace made its genial rounds 
 — the duet betwixt Magnus and Triptolemus, which had at- 
 tracted the attention of the whole company from its superior 
 vehemence, now once more sunk, and merged into the general 
 hum of the convivial table, and the poet Halcro again re- 
 sumed his usurped possessio>n of the ear of Mordauut Mer- 
 toun. 
 
 "'Whereabouts was I?" he said, with a tone which expressed 
 to his weary listener more plainly than words could how much 
 of his desultory tale yet remained to be told. " Oh. I re- 
 member — we were just at the door of the Wits' Coffee-house; 
 it was set up by one " 
 
 " Nay, but, my dear Master Halcro," said his hearer, some- 
 what impatiently, " I am desirous to hear of your meeting 
 with Dryden." 
 
 "What, with glorious John? — true — aye — where was I? 
 At the Wit's Coffee-house. Well, in at the door we got — the 
 waiters, and so forth, staring at me; for as to Thimblethwaite, 
 honest fellow, his was a well-known face. I can tell you a 
 story about that " 
 
 " Nay, but John Drvden? " said Mordaunt, in a tone which 
 deprecated further digression. 
 
 "Aye — aye, glorious John — where was I? Well, as we 
 stood close by the bar, where one fellow sat grinding of coffee, 
 and another putting up tobacco into penny parcels — a pipe 
 and a dish cost just a penny — then and tliere it was that I had 
 the first peep of him. One Dennis sat near him, who " 
 
 " Xay, but John Dr}-den — what like was he?" demanded 
 Mordaunt. 
 
 " Like a little fat old man, with his own gray hair, and in a 
 full-trimmed black suit, that sat close as a glove. Honest 
 Thimblethwaite let no one but himself shape for glorious 
 John, and he had a slashing hand at a sleeve, I promise you. 
 
1 4» WA VERLB Y NO VELS. 
 
 But there is no getting a mouthful of common sense spoken 
 
 here: d n that Scotchman, he and old Magnus are at it 
 
 again! " 
 
 It was very true; and although the interruption did not 
 resemble a thunder-clap, to which the former stentorian ex- 
 clamation of the Udaller might have been likened, it was a 
 close and clamorous dispute, maintained by question, ansAver, 
 retort, and repartee, as closely huddled upon each other as the 
 sounds which announce from a distance a close and sustained 
 fire of musketry. 
 
 " Hear reason, sir? " said the Udaller; " we will hear reason, 
 and speak reason too; and if reason falls short, you shall have 
 rhyme to boot. Ha, my little friend Halcro! " 
 
 Though cut off in tbe middle of his best story, if that could 
 be said to have a middle ^Vhich had neither beginning mor 
 end, the bard bristled up at the summons, like a corps of light 
 infantry when ordered up to the support of the grenadiers, 
 looked smart, slapped the table ^dth his hand, and denoted 
 his becoming readiness to back his hospitable landlord, as be- 
 comes a well-entertained guest. Triptolemus was a little 
 daunted at this re-enforcement of his adversary; he paused, 
 like a cautious general, in the sweeping attack which he had 
 commenced on the peculiar usages of Zetland, and spoke not 
 again until the Udaller poked him with the insulting query, 
 " Where is your reason now. Master Yellowley, that you were 
 deafening me with a moment since? " 
 
 " Be but patient, worthy sir," replied the agriculturist. 
 " What on earth can you or any other man say in defense of 
 that thing called a plow, in this blinded country? Why, even 
 the savage Highlandmen, in Caithness and Sutherland, can 
 make more work, and better, with their gascromh, or what- 
 ever they call it." 
 
 " But what ails you at it, sir?" said the Udaller: " let me 
 hear your objections to it. It tills our land, and what would 
 ye more ? " 
 
 " It hath but one handle or stilt," replied Triptolemus. 
 
 " And who the devil," said the poet, aiming at something 
 smart, " would wish to need a pair of stilts if he can man- 
 age to walk with a single one ? " 
 
 " Or tell me," said Magnus Troil, " how it were possible for 
 Neil of Lupness, that lost one arm by his fall from the crag 
 of Nekbreckan, to manage a plow with two handles? " 
 
 "The harness is of raw seal-skin." said Triptolemus. 
 
 " It will save dressed leather," answered Magnus Troil. 
 
THE PIRATE. 147 
 
 " It is drawn by four wretched bullocks/' said the agricul- 
 turist, " that are yoked breast-fashion; and two women must 
 follow tliis unhappy instrument, and complete the furrows 
 with a couple of shovels." 
 
 " Drink about, Master Yellowley," said the Udaller; " and, 
 as you say in Scotland, ' never fash your thumb.' Our cattle 
 are too high-spirited to let one go before the other; our men 
 are too gentle and well-nurtured to taJte the working-field 
 without the women's company; our plows till our land, our 
 land bears us barley; we brew our ale, eat our bread, and make 
 strangers welcome to their share of it. Here's to you, Master 
 Ydlowley." 
 
 This was said in a tone meant to be decisive of the question; 
 and, accordingly, Halcro whispered to Mordaunt, " That has 
 settled the matter, and now we will get on with glorious John. 
 There he sat in his suit of full-trimmed black — two years dm? 
 was the bill, as mine honest landlord afterward told me — and 
 such an eye in his head! None of your burning, blighting, 
 falcon eyes, which we poets are apt to make a rout about, but 
 a soft, full, thoughtful, yet penetrating glance — never saw the 
 like of it in my life, unless it were little Stephen Kleancogg's, 
 the fiddler, at Papastow, who " 
 
 "Nay, but John Dryden?" said Mordaunt, who, for want 
 of better amusement, had begun to take a sort of pleasure in 
 keeping the old gentleman to his narrative, as men herd in 
 a restifE sheep, when they wish to catch him. He returned to 
 his theme, with his usual phrase of " Aye, true — glorious 
 John. Well, sir, he cast his eye, such as I have described it, 
 on mine landlord, and ' Honest Tim,' said he, ' what hast 
 thou got here? ' and all the wits, and lords, and gentlemen 
 that used to crowd round him, like the wenches round a ped- 
 dler at a fair, they made way for us, and up we came to the 
 fireside, where he had his owm established chair — I have heard 
 it was carried to the balcony in summer, but it was by the fire- 
 side when I saw it — so up came Tim Thimblethwaite, through 
 the midst of them, as bold as a lion, and I followed with a 
 small parcel under my arm, which I had taken up partly to 
 oblige my landlord, as the shop porter was not in the way, 
 and partly that I might be thought to have something to 
 do there, for you are to think there was no admittance at the 
 Wits' for strangers who bad no business there. I have heard 
 that Sir Charles Sedlcy said a good thing about that " 
 
 '* Nay, but you forget glorious John," said Mordaunt. 
 
 " Aye, glorious you may well call him. They talk of their 
 
148 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 Blackmore, and Shadwell. and such-like — not fit to tie the 
 latehets of John's shoes. ' Well,' he said to my landlord, 
 * what have you got there? ' and he, bowing, I warrant, lower 
 than he would to a duke, said he had made bold to come and 
 show him the stuff which Lady Elizabeth had chose for her 
 nightgown. ' And which of your geese is that, Tim, who has 
 got it tucked under his wdng?' ' He is an Orkney goose, if 
 it please you, Mr. Dryden,' said Tim, who had wit at will, 
 ' and he hath brought you a copy of verses for your honor to 
 look at.' ' Is he amphibious? ' said glorious John, taking the 
 pa})er, and methought 1 could rather have faced a battery of 
 cannon than the crackle it gave as it opened, though he did 
 not speak in a way to dash one neither; and then he looked at 
 the verses, and he was pleased to say, in a very encouraging 
 w^ay indeed, with a sort of good-humored smile on his face, and 
 certainly for a fat elderly gentleman — for I would not com- 
 pare it to Minna's smile or Brenda's — he had the pleasantest 
 smile I ever saw — ' Why, Tim,' he said, ' this goose of yours 
 will prove a sw^an on your hands.' With that he smiled a 
 little, and they all laughed, and none louder than those who 
 stood too far off to hear the jest; for everyone knew when he 
 smiled there was something worth laughing at, and so took it 
 upon trust: and the word passed through among the young 
 Templars, and the wdts, and the smarts, and there was nothing 
 but question on question who we were: and one French fellow 
 wa.s trying to tell them it was only Monsieur Tim Thimble- 
 thwaite; but he made such work with his Dumbletate and 
 Timbletate that I tliought his explanation would have 
 lasted " 
 
 " As long as your own story," thought Mordaunt; but the 
 narrative was at length finally cut short by the strong and 
 decided voice of the Udaller. 
 
 " I will hear no more on it, Mr. Factor! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " At least, let me say something about the breed of horses," 
 said Yellowley, in rather a cry-mercy tone of voice. " Your 
 horses, my dear sir, resemble cats in size and tigers in 
 devilry! " 
 
 " For their size," said Magnus, " they are the easier for us 
 to get off and on them (" As Triptolemus experienced this 
 morning," thought Mordaunt to himself), and as for their 
 devilry, let no one mount them that cannot manage them." 
 
 A twinge of self-conviction on the part of the agriculturist 
 prevented him from reply. He darted a deprecatory glance 
 at Mordaunt, as if for the purpose of imploring secrecy re- 
 
THE PIRATE. 149 
 
 specting his tumble; and the Udaller, who saw his advantage, 
 although he was not aware of the cause, pursued it with the 
 high and stern tone proper to one who had all his life been 
 unaccustomed to meet with, and unapt to endure, opposition. 
 
 " By the blood of St. Magnus the Martyr," he said, " but 
 you are a fine fellow, Master Factor Yellowley! You come 
 to us from a strange land, understanding neither our laws, 
 nor our manners, nor our language, and you propose to be- 
 come governor of the countr}', and that we should all be your 
 slaves! " 
 
 '' My pupils, worthy sir — my pupils! " said Yellowley, " and 
 that only for your own proper advantage." 
 
 " We are too old to go to school," said the Zetlander. " I 
 tell you once more, we will sow and reap our grain as our 
 fathers did; we will eat what God sends us, with our doors 
 open to the stranger, even as theirs were open. If there is 
 aught imperfect in our practice, we will amend it in time and 
 season; but the blessed Baptist's holyday was made for ligli! 
 hearts and quick heels. He that speaks a word more of rea- 
 son, as you call it, or anything that looks like it, shall swal- 
 low a pint of sea-water — he shall, by this hand! And so fill 
 up the good ship, the ' Jolly Mariner of Canton,' once more, 
 for the benefit of those that will stick by her; and let the 
 rest have a fling ^nth the fiddlers, who have been summoning 
 us this hour. I will warrant ever}' wench is on tiptoe by this 
 time. Come, Mr. Yellowley, no unkindness, man; why, man, 
 thou f eelest the rolling of the ' Jolly Mariner ' still (for, in 
 truth, honest Triptolemus showed a little unsteadiness of mo- 
 tion as he arose to attend his host); but never mind, we shall 
 have thee find thy land-legs to reel it with yonder bonaiy 
 belles. Come along, Triptolemus; let me grapple thee fast, 
 lest thou trip, old Triptolemus — ha, ha, ha! " 
 
 So saying, the portly though weather-beaten hulk of the 
 Udaller sailed ofi^ like a man-of-war that had braved a hun- 
 dred gales, having his guest in tow like a recent prize. The 
 greater part of the revelers followed their leader with loud 
 jubilee, although there were several stanch topers who, taking 
 the option left them by the Udaller, remained behind to re- 
 lieve the '' Jolly Mariner " of a fresh cargo, amidst many a 
 pledge to the health of their absent landlord, and to the pros- 
 perity of his roof-tree, with whatsoever other wishes of kind- 
 ness could be devised as an apology for another pint-bumper 
 of noble punch. 
 
 The rest soon thronged the dancing-room, an apartment 
 
150 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 which partook of the simplicity of the time and of the coun- 
 try. Drawiug-rooms and saloons were then unknown in Scot- 
 land, save in the houses of the nobihty, and of couree abso- 
 lutely so in Zetland; but a long, low, anomalous store room, 
 sometimes used for the depositation of merchandise, some- 
 times for putting aside lumber, and a thousand other pur- 
 poses, was well known to all the youth of Dunrossness. and of 
 many a district besides, as the scene of the merry dance, which 
 was sustained with so much glee when Magnus Troil gave his 
 frequent feasts. 
 
 The first appearance of this ballroom might have shocked 
 a fashionable party assembled for the quadrille or the waltz. 
 Low as we have stated the apartment to be, it was but im- 
 perfectly illuminated by lamps, candles, ship-lanterns, and a 
 variety of other candelabra, which served to throw a dusky 
 light upon the floor, and upon the heaps of merchandise and 
 miscellaneous articles which were piled around; some of them 
 stores for the winter; some goods destined for exportation; 
 some, the tribute of Neptune, paid at the expense of ship- 
 wrecked vessels, whose owners were unknown; some, articles 
 of barter received by the proprietor, who, like most others 
 at the period, was somewhat of a merchant as well as a land- 
 holder, in exchange for the fish and other articles, the pro- 
 duce of his estate. All these, with the chests, boxes, casks, 
 etc., w^hich contained them, had been drawn aside, and piled 
 one above the other, in order to give room for the dancers, 
 who, light and lively as if they had occupied the most splen- 
 did saloon in the parish of St. James', executed their na- 
 tional dances with equal grace and activity. 
 
 The group of old men who looked on bore no inconsider- 
 able resemblance to a party of aged tritons, engaged in behold- 
 ing the sports of the sea-nymphs; so hard a look had most of 
 them acquired by contending with the elements, and so much 
 did the shaggy hair and beards, which many of them culti- 
 vated after the ancient ISTorwegian fashion, give their heads the 
 character of these supposed natives of the deep. The young 
 people, on the other hand, were uncommonly handsome, 
 tall, well-made, and shapely: the men with long fair hair, 
 and, until broken by the weather, a fresh, ruddy complexion, 
 which, in the females, was softened into a bloom of infinite 
 delicacy. Their natural good ear for music qualified them 
 to second to the utmost the exertions of a band whose strains 
 were by no means contemptible; while the elders, who stood 
 around or sat quiet upon the old sea-chests which served for 
 
THE PIBATE. 151 
 
 chairs, criticised the dancers, as they compared tlieir execution 
 with their own exertions in former days; or, warmed by the 
 cup and flagon, wliich continued to circulate among them, 
 snapped their fingers and beat time with their feet to the 
 music. 
 
 Mordaunt looked upon this scene of universal mirth with 
 the painful recollection that he, thrust aside from his pre- 
 eminence, no longer exercised the important duties of chief 
 of the dancers, or office of leader of the revels, which had 
 been assigned to the stranger Cleveland. Anxious, however, 
 to suppress the feelings of his own disappointment, which he 
 felt it was neither wise to entertain nor manly to display, he 
 approached his fair neighbors to whom he had been so ac- 
 ceptable at table, with the purpose of inviting one of them to 
 become his partner in the dance. But the awfully ancient 
 old lady, even the Lady Glowrowrum, who had only tolerated 
 the exuberance of her nieces' mirth during the time of dinner 
 because her situation rendered it then impossible for her to 
 interfere, was not disposed to permit the apprehended renewal 
 of the intimacy implied in Mertoun's invitation. She there- 
 fore took upon herself, in the name of her two nieces, who 
 sat pouting beside her in displeased silence, to inform Mor- 
 daunt, after thanking him for his civility, that the hands of 
 her nieces were engaged for that evening; and, as he con- 
 tinued to watch the party at a little distance, he had an 
 opportunity of being convinced that the alleged engagement 
 was a mere apologj' to get rid of him, when he saw the two 
 good-humored sisters join the dance under the auspices of 
 the next young men who asked their hands. Incensed at so 
 marked a slight, and unwilling to expose himself to another, 
 Mordaunt Mertoun drew back from the circle of dancers, 
 shrouded himself amongst the mass of inferior persons who 
 crowded into the bottom of the room as spectators, and there, 
 concealed from the obserA-ation of others, digested his own 
 mortification as well as he could — that is to say, ver}- ill — and 
 with all the philosophy of his age — that is to say, with none 
 at all. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 A torch for me ; let wantons, light of heart. 
 Tickle the useless rushes with their heals ; 
 For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase — 
 I'll be a candle-holder, and look on. 
 
 — Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 The youth, says the moralist Johnson, cares not for the 
 boy's hobby-horse, nor the man for the youth's mistress; and 
 therefore the distress of Mordaunt jNIertoun, when exchided 
 from the merry dance, may seem trifling to many of my 
 readers, who would, nevertheless, think they did well to be 
 angry if deposed from their usual place in an assembly of a 
 different kind. There lacked not amusement, however, for 
 those whom the dance did not suit, or who were not happy 
 enough to find partners to their liking. Halcro, now com- 
 pletely in his element, had assembled round him an audience, 
 to whom he was declaiming his poetry with all the enthusi- 
 asm of glorious John himself, and receiving in return the 
 usual degree of applause allowed to minstrels who recite their 
 own rhymes — so long at least as the author is within hearing 
 of the criticism. Halcro's poetry might indeed have inter- 
 ested the antiquary as well as the admirer of the Muses, for 
 several of his pieces were translations or imitations from the 
 Scaldic sagas, which continued to be sung by the fishermen 
 of those islands even until a very late period; insomuch that, 
 when Gray's poems first found their way to Orkney, the old 
 people recognized at once, in the ode of the " Fatal Sisters," 
 the Eunic rhymes which had amused or terrified their infancy 
 under the title of the " Magicians," and which the fishers of 
 North Eonaldsha and other remote isles used still to sing 
 when asked for a Norse ditty. 
 
 Half-listening, half-lost in his own reflections, Mordaunt 
 Mertoun stood near the door of the apartment, and in the 
 outer ring of the little circle formed around old Halcro, while 
 the bard chanted to a low, wild, monotonous air, varied only 
 by the efforts of the singer to give interest and emphasis to 
 particular passages, the following imitation of a Northern 
 war-song: 
 
 152 
 
THE PIRATE. 268 
 
 The Soso of Habold Hakfaqeb. 
 
 "The Sim is rising dimly red, 
 The wind is wailiag low and dread; 
 From his clitY the eagle sallies, 
 Leaves the wolf his darksome valleys ,• 
 In the midst the ravens hover. 
 Peep tr.e »vild-dog8 from the cover, 
 Screaming, croaking, baying, yelling, 
 Each in his wild accents telling, 
 ' Soon we feast on dead and dying, 
 Fair-hair'd Harold's flag is flying.' 
 
 " Many a crest in air is streaming, 
 Many a helmet darkly gleaming. 
 Many an arm the ax iiprears; 
 Doom'd to hew the wood of spears, 
 All along the crowded, ranks. 
 Horses neigh and armor clanks: 
 Chiefs are shouting, clarions ringing, 
 Louder still the hard is singing, 
 ' Gather, footmen — gather horsemen, 
 To the field, ye valiant Norsemen ! 
 
 " Halt ye not for food or slumber, 
 View not vantage, count not number; 
 Jolly reapers, forward still ; 
 Grow the crop on vale or hill, 
 Thick or scattered, stiff or lithe, 
 It shall down before the scythe. 
 Forward with your sickles bright, 
 Reap the harvest of the fight. 
 Onward, footmen — onward, horsemen. 
 To the charge, ye gallant Norsemen ! 
 
 " Fatal Choosers of the Slaughter, 
 O'er you hovers Odin's daughter; 
 Hear the voice she spreads before ye, — 
 Victory, and wealth, and glory; 
 Or old" Valhalla's roaring hail, 
 Her ever-circling mead and ale. 
 Where for eternity iinite 
 The joys of wassail and of fight. 
 Headlong forward, foot and horsemen, 
 Charge and fight, and die like Norsemen! " 
 
 " The poor, unhappy, blinded heathens! " said Triptolemus, 
 with a sigh deep enough for a groan; " they speak of their 
 eternal cups of ale, and I question if they kenn'd how to 
 manage a croft land of grain! " 
 
 " The cleverer fellows they, neighbor Yellowley," answered 
 the poet, " if they made ale without barley." 
 
 " Barley! alack-a-day! " replied the more accurate agri- 
 culturist,'" who ever heard of barley in these parts? Bear, 
 my dearest friend — bear is all they have, and wonderment it 
 is to me that they ever see an awn of it. Ye scart the land 
 with a bit thing ye ca' a pleugh; ye might as weel give it a ritt 
 
154 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 with the teeth of a redding-kame. Oh, to see the sock, and 
 the heel, and the sole-clout of a real steady Scottish pleugh, 
 with a chield like a Samson hetvveen the stilts, laying a weight 
 on them would keep down a mountain; twa stately owsen, 
 and as many broad-breasted horse in the traces, going through 
 soil and till, and leaving a fur in the ground would carry off 
 water like a causeyed syver. They that have seen a sight like 
 that have seen something to crack about in another sort than 
 those unhappy auld-warld stories of war and slaughter, of 
 which the land has seen even but too mickle, for a' your sing- 
 ing and soughing awa' in praise of such bloodthirsty doings. 
 Master Claud Halcro." 
 
 " It is a heresy," said the animated little poet, bridling and 
 drawing himself up, as if the whole defense of the Orcadian 
 Archipelago rested on his single arm — " it is a heresy so much 
 as to name one's native country if a man is not prepared when 
 and how to defend himself — aye, and to annoy another. The 
 time has been that, if we made not good ale and aquavitse, 
 we knew well enough where to find that which was ready 
 made to our hand; but now the descendants of sea-kings, and 
 champions, and Berserkars are become as incapable of using 
 their swords as if they were so many women. Ye may praise 
 them for a strong pull on an oar or a sure foot on a skerry; 
 but what else could glorious John himself say of ye, my good 
 Hialtlanders, that any man would listen to?" 
 
 " Spoken like an angel, most noble poet," said Cleveland, 
 who, during an interval of the dance, stood near the party in 
 which this conversation was held. " The old champions you 
 talked to us about yesternight were the men to make a harp 
 ring — gallant fellows, that were friends to the sea and ene- 
 mies to all that sailed on it. Their ships, I suppose, were 
 clumsy enough; but if it is true that they went upon the 
 account as far as the Levant, I scarce believe that ever better 
 fellows unloosed a topsail." 
 
 " Aye," replied Halcro, " there you spoke them right. In 
 those days none could call their life and means of living their 
 own, unless they dwelt twenty miles out of sight of the blue 
 sea. Why, they had public prayers put up in every church in 
 Europe for deliverance from the ire of the Northmen. In 
 France and England, aye, and in Scotland too, for as high as 
 they hold their head nowadays, there was not a bay or a haven 
 but it was freer to our forefathers than to the poor devils of 
 natives; and now we cannot, forsooth, so much as grow our 
 own barley without Scottish help (here he darted a sarcastic 
 
THE PIE ATE. 166 
 
 glance at the factor). I would I saw the time we were to 
 measure arms with them again! " 
 
 " Spoken like a hero once more," said Cleveland. 
 
 " Ah! " continued the little bard, "■ 1 would it were possible 
 to see our barks, once the water-dragons of the world, swim- 
 ming with the black raven standard waving at the topmast, 
 and their decks glimmering with arms, instead of being 
 heaped up with stock-iish; winning with our fearless hands 
 what the niggard soil denies; paying back all old scorn and 
 modern injury; reaping where we never sowed, and felling 
 what we never planted; living and laughing through tiie 
 world, and smiling when we were summoned to quit it! " 
 
 So spoke Claud Halcro, in no serious, or at least most cer- 
 tainly in no sober mood, his brain (never the most stable) 
 whizzing under the influence of fifty well-remembered sagas, 
 besides five bumpers of usquebaugh and brandy; and Cle\e- 
 land, between jest and earnest, clapped him on the shoulder 
 and again repeated, " Spoken like a hero! " 
 
 " Spoken like a fool, I think," said Magnus Trpil, whose 
 attention had been also attracted by the vehemence of the 
 little bard. " Where would yoti cruise upon, or against 
 whom? We are all subjects of one realm, I trow, and I wfiuld 
 have you to remember that your voyage may bring uj) at exe- 
 cution dock. I like not the Scots — no offense, Mr. Yellowley 
 — that is, I would like them well enough if they would stay 
 quiet in their own land, and leave us at peace with ou*" own 
 people, and manners, and fashions; and if they would but 
 abide there till I ^vent to harry them like a mad old Ber»erkar, 
 I would leave them in peace till the day of judgment. With 
 what the sea sends us, and the land lends us, as the proverb 
 says, and a set of honest neighborly folks to help us to con- 
 sume it, so help me, St. Magnus, as I think, we are evrn but 
 too happy! " 
 
 " I know what war is," said an old man, " and I would as 
 soon sail through Sumburgh Eoost in a cockle-shell, or in a 
 worse loom, as I would venture there again." 
 
 " And, pray, what wars knew^ your valor? " said Halcro, 
 who, though forbearing to contradict his landlord from a 
 sense of respect, was not a whit inclined to abandon his argu- 
 ment to any meaner authority. 
 
 " I was pressed," answered the old triton, " to serve under 
 Montrose,* when he came here about the sixteen hundr^ and 
 fiftj-O'ne, and carried a sort of us off. will ye nill ye ^■q get 
 
 * Se« Montroee in Zetlaod. Kote 19. 
 
156 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 our throats cut in the wilds of Strathnavern. I shall never 
 forget it. We had been hard put to it for victuals: what 
 would I have given for a luncheon of Burgh-Wcstra beef — 
 aye, or a mess of sour sillocks? When our Highlandmeai 
 brought in a dainty drove of kyloes, much ceremony there 
 was not, for we shot and felled, and flayed, and roasted, and 
 broiled, as it came to every man's hand; till just as our beards 
 were the greasiest, we heard — God preserve us — 'a tramp of 
 hoi-se, then twa or three drapping shots — then came a full 
 salvo — and then, when the officers were crying on us to stand, 
 and the maist of us looking which way we might run away, 
 down they broke, horse and foot, with old John Urry, or 
 Hurry,t or whatever they called him — he hurried us that day, 
 and worried us to boot — ^and we began to fall as thick as the 
 stots that we were felling five minutes before." 
 
 " And Montrose," said the soft voice of the graceful Minna 
 — " what became of Montrose, or how looked he ? " 
 
 " Like a lion with the hunters before him," answered the 
 old gentleman; "but I looked not twice his way, for my own 
 lay right over the hill." 
 
 "And so you left him?" said Minna, in a tone of the 
 deepest contempt. 
 
 " It was no fault of mine, Mistress Minna," answered the 
 old man, somewhat out of countenance; " but I was there 
 with no choice of my own; and, besides, what good could I 
 have done? all the rest were running like sheep, and why 
 should I have stayed? " 
 
 " You might have died with him," said Minna. 
 
 " And lived with him to all eternity, in immortal verse! " 
 added Claud Halcro. 
 
 " I thank you. Mistress Minna," replied the plain-dealing 
 Zetlander, "and I thank you, my old friend Claud; but I 
 would rather drink both your healths in this good bicker of 
 ale, like a living man as I am, than that you should be making 
 songs in my honor, for having died forty or fifty years agone. 
 But what signified it? Eun or fight, 'twas all one: they took 
 Montrose, poor fellow, for all his doughty deeds, and they 
 took me that did no doughty deeds at all; and they hanged 
 him, poor man, and as for me " 
 
 " I trust in Heaven they flogged and pickled you," said 
 Cleveland, worn out of patience with the dull narrative of 
 the peaceful Zetlander's poltroonery, of which he seemed so 
 wondrous little ashamed. 
 
 * See Note 20. 
 
THE PIRATE. 157 
 
 " Flog horses and pickle beef," said Magnus. " Why, you 
 have not the vanity to think that, with all your quarter-deck 
 airs, you will make poor old neighbor Haagen ashamed that 
 he was not killed some scores of years since? You have 
 looked on death yourself, my doughty young friend, but it 
 was with the eyes of a young man who wishes to be thought 
 of; but we are a peaceful people — peaceful, that is, as long 
 as anyone should be peaceful, and that is till someone has the 
 impudence to wrong us or our neighbors; and then, perhaps, 
 they may not find our Northern blood much cooler in oui 
 veins than was that of the old Scandinavians that gave us oui 
 names and lineage. Get ye along — get ye along to the sword- 
 dance,* that the strangers that are amongst us may see that 
 our hands and our weapons are not altogether unacquainted 
 even yet." 
 
 A dozen cutlasses, selected hastily from an old arm-chest, 
 and whose rusted hue bespoke how seldom they left the 
 fiheath, armed the same number of young Zetlanders, with 
 whom mingled six maidens, led by Minna Troil; and the min- 
 strelsy instantly commenced a tune appropriate to the ancient 
 Norwegian war-dance, the evolutions of which are perhaps 
 still practiced in those remote islands. 
 
 The first movement was graceful and majestic, the youths 
 holding their swords erect, and without much gesture; but the 
 tune, and the corresponding motions of the dancers, became 
 gradually more and more rapid; they clashed their swords 
 together, in measured time, with a spirit which gave the exer- 
 cise a dangerous appearance in the eye of the spectator, 
 though the firmness, justice, and accuracy with which the 
 dancers kept time with the stroke of their weapons did, in 
 truth, insure its safety. The most singular part of the ex- 
 hibition was the courage exhibited by the female performers, 
 who now, surrounded by the swordsmen, seemed like the 
 Sabine maidens in the hands of their Eoman lovers; now, 
 moving under the arch of steel which the young men had 
 formed by crossing their weapons over the heads of their 
 fair partners, resembled the band of Amazons when they first 
 joined in the Pyrrhic dance with the followers of Theseus. 
 But by far the most striking and appropriate figure was that 
 of Minna Troil, whom Halcro had long since entitled the 
 Queen of Swords, and who, indeed, moved amidst the swords- 
 men with an air which seemed to hold all the drawn blades as 
 the proper accompaniments of her person and the implements 
 
 + See Note 21. 
 
158 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 of her pleasure. And when the mazes of the dance became 
 more intricate, when the close and continuous clash of the 
 weapons made some of her companions shrink and show 
 signs of fear, her cheek, her lip, and her eye seemed rather 
 to announce that, at the moment when the weapons flashed 
 fastest and rung sharpest around her, she was most com- 
 pletely self-possessed and in her own element. Last of all, 
 when the music had ceased, and she remained for an instant 
 upon the floor by herself, as the rule of the dance required, 
 the swordsmen and maidens who departed from around her 
 seemed the guards and the train of some princess, who, dis- 
 missed by her signal, were leaving her for a time to solitude. 
 Her own look and attitude, wrapped, as she probably was, in 
 some vision of imagination, corresponded admirably with the 
 ideal dignity which the spectators ascribed to her; but. almost 
 immediately recollecting herself, she blushed, as if conscious 
 she had been, though but for an instant, the object of un- 
 divided attention, and gave her hand gracefully to Cleveland, 
 who, though he had not joined in the dance, assumed the duty 
 of conducting her to her seat. 
 
 As they passed, Mordaunt Mertoun might observe that 
 Cleveland whispered into Minna's ear, and that her brief re- 
 ply was accompanied with even more discomposure of counte- 
 nance than she had manifested when encountering the gaze 
 of the whole assembly. Mordaunt's suspicions were strongly 
 awakened by what he observed, for he knew Minna's charac- 
 ter well, and with what equanimity and indifference she was 
 in the custom of receiving the usual compliments and gal- 
 lantries with which her beauty and her situation rendered her 
 suflEiciently familiar. 
 
 " Can it be possible she really loves this stranger? " was the 
 unpleasant thought that instantly shot across Mordaunt's 
 mind. " And if she does, what is my interest in the mat- 
 ter? " was the second; and which was quickly followed by the 
 reflection that, though he claimed no interest at any time but 
 as a friend, and though that interest was now withdrawn, he 
 was still, in consideration of their former intimacy, entitled 
 both to be sorry and angry at her for throwing away her 
 affections on one he judged unworthy of her. In this proc- 
 ess of reasoning, it is probable that a little mortified vanity, 
 or some indescribable shade of selfish regret, might be endeav- 
 oring to assume the disguise of disinterested generosity; but 
 there is so much of base alloy in our very best (unassisted) 
 thoughts, that it is melancholy work to criticise too closely 
 
THE PIRATE. 169 
 
 the motives of our most worthy actions; at least we would 
 recommend to everyone to let those of his neighbors pass cur- 
 rent, however narrowly he may examine the purity of his 
 own. 
 
 The sword-dance was succeeded by various other specimens 
 of the same exercise, and by songs, to which the singers lent 
 their whole soul, while the audience were sure, as oc-ca&ion 
 offered, to unite in some favorite chorus. It is upon such 
 occasions that music, though of a simple and even rude char- 
 acter, finds its natural empire over the generous bosom, and 
 produces that strong excitement which cannot be attained by 
 the most learned compositions of the first masters, which are 
 caviare to the common ear, although, doubtless, they afford a 
 delight, exquisite in its kind, to those whose natural capacity 
 and education have enabled them to comprehend and relish 
 those difficult and complicated combinations of harmony. 
 
 It was about midnight when a knocking at the door of the 
 mansion, with the sound of the " gue " and the " langspiel," 
 announced, by their tinkling chime, the arrival of fresh revel- 
 ers, to whom, according to the hospitable custom of the 
 country, the apartments were instantly thrown open. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 My mind misgives, 
 Some consequence, yet hanging in the stare, 
 Shall bitterly begin his fearful date 
 With this night's revels. 
 
 — Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 The newcomers were, according to the frequent custom of 
 such froHckers all over the world, disguised in a sort of 
 masking habits, and designed to represent the tritons and 
 mermaids with whom ancient tradition and popular belie C 
 have peopled the northern seas. The former, called by Zet- 
 landers of that time " shoupeltins," were represented by 
 young men grotesquely habited, with false hair, and beards 
 made of flax, and chaplets composed of sea-ware intenvove;i 
 with shells and other marine productions, with which also 
 were decorated their light-blue or greenish mantles of wad- 
 maal, repeatedly before-mentioned. They had fish-spears 
 and other emblems of their assumed quality, amongst which 
 the classical taste of Claud Halcro, by whom the mask was 
 arranged, had not forgotten the conch-shells, which were 
 stoutly and hoarsely winded from time to time by one or two 
 of the aquatic deities, to the great annoyance of all who stood 
 near them. 
 
 The nereids and water-nymphs who attended on this occa- 
 sion displayed, as usual, a little more taste and ornament than 
 was to be seen amongst their male attendants. Fantastic gar- 
 ments of green silk, and other materials of superior cost and 
 fashion, had been contrived so as to imitate their idea of the 
 inhabitants of the waters, and, at the same time, to show the 
 shape and features of the fair wearers to the best advantage. 
 The bracelets and shells which adorned the neck, arms, and 
 ankles of the pretty mermaids were, in some cases, inter- 
 mixed with real pearls; and the appearance, upon the whole, 
 was such as might have done no discredit to the court of 
 Amphitrite, especially when the long bright locks, blue eyes, 
 fair complexions, and pleasing features of the maidens of 
 Thule were taken into consideration. We do not indeed pre- 
 tend to aver that any of these seeming mermaids had so ac- 
 curately imitated the real siren as commentators have sup- 
 posed those attendant on Cleopatra did, who, adopting the 
 
 ISO 
 
THE PIRATE. 181 
 
 fish's train of their original, were able, nevertheless, to make 
 their '' bends," or " ends " (said commentators cannot tell 
 which), " adomings."* Indeed, had they not left their ex- 
 tremities in their natural state, it would have been impos- 
 sible for the Zetland sirens to have executed the very pretty 
 dance with which they rewarded the company for the ready 
 admission which had been granted to them. 
 
 It was soon discovered that these maskers were no stran- 
 gers, but a part of the guesis, who, stealing out a little time 
 before, had thus disguised themselves, in order to give variety 
 to the mirth of the evening. The muse of Claud Ilalcro, 
 always active on such occasions, had supplied them with an 
 appropriate song, of which we may give the following speci- 
 men. The song was alternate betwixt a nereid or mermaid 
 and a merman or triton — the males and females on either 
 part forming a semi-chorus, which accompanied and b^re 
 burden to the principal singer: 
 
 Mermaid : 
 
 "Fathoms deep beneath the wave, 
 
 Stringing beads of glistering pearl, 
 Singing the achievements brave 
 
 Of many an old Norwegian earl; 
 Dwelling where the tempest's raviqg 
 
 Falls as light upon our ear 
 As the sigh of lover craving 
 
 Pity from his lady dear, 
 Children of wild Thule, we, 
 From the deep caves of the sea, 
 As the lark springs from the lea, 
 Hither come, to share your glee. 
 
 Merman : 
 
 " From reining of the water-horse, 
 
 That bounded till the waves were foaming, 
 Watching the infant tempest's course, 
 
 Chasing the sea-snake in his roaming; 
 From winding charge-notes on the shell. 
 
 When the huge whale and sword-fish duel, 
 Or tolling shroudless seamen's knell. 
 
 When the winds and waves are cruel, 
 Children of wild Thule, we 
 Have plow'd such furrows on the sea 
 As the steer draws on the lea, 
 And hither we come to share your glee. 
 
 Mermaids and Mermen: 
 
 " We heard you in our twilight caves, 
 A hundred fathom deep below 
 For note of joy can pierce the waves. 
 That drown each sound of war and woe. 
 
 ■'Bee some admirable diBcauion on this passage in the Variorum Staakepere. 
 
162 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 Those who dwell beneath the sea 
 
 Love the boiiH of Tluile well; 
 Thus, to aid your mirth, bring we 
 
 Dance, and song, and sounding shelL 
 Children of dark Thuie, know, 
 Those who dwell by liaaf and voe, 
 Where your daring shallops row, 
 Come to share the festal show." 
 
 The jfinal chorus was borne by the whole voices, excepting 
 those carrying the conch-shells, who had been trained to blow 
 them in a sort of rude accompaniment, which had a good 
 effect. The poetry, as well as the performance, of the 
 maskers received great applause from all who pretended to 
 be Judges of such matters; but above all from Triptolemus 
 Yellowley, who, his ear having caught the agricultural sounds 
 of plow and fuiTow, and his brain being so well drenched that 
 it could only construe the words in their most literal accep- 
 tation, declared roundly and called Mordaunt to bear witness, 
 that, though it was a shame to waste so much good lint as 
 went to form the tritons' beards and periwigs, the song con- 
 tained the only words of common sense which he had heard 
 all that long day. 
 
 But Mordaunt had no time to answer the appeal, being en- 
 gaged in attending with the utmost vigilance to the motions 
 of one of the female maskers, who had given him a private 
 signal as they entered, which induced him, though uncertain 
 who she might prove to be, to expect some communication 
 from her of importance. The siren who had so boldly 
 touched his arm, and had accompanied the gesture with an 
 expression of eye which bespoke his attention, was disguised 
 with a good deal more care than her sister-maskers, her man- 
 tle being loose, and wide enough to conceal her shape com- 
 pletely, and her face was hidden beneath a silk mask. He 
 observed that she gradually detached herself from the rest 
 of the maskers, and at length placed herself, as if for the ad- 
 vantage of the air, near the door of a chamber which re- 
 mained open, looked earnestly at him again, and then taking 
 an opportunity, when the attention of the company was fi:xed 
 upon the rest of her party, she left the apartment. 
 
 Mordaunt did not hesitate instantly to follow his mysteri- 
 ous guide, for such we may term the masker, as she paused 
 to let him see the direction she was about to take, and then 
 walked swiftly toward the shore of the voe, or salt-water lake, 
 now lying full before them, its small summer waves glisten- 
 ing and rippling under the influence of a broad moonlight, 
 
THE PIRATE. 1«« 
 
 which, added to the strong twilight of those regions during 
 the summer solstice, left no reason to regret the absence of the 
 sun, the path of whose setting was still visible on the waves of 
 the west, while the horizon on the east side was already be- 
 ginning to glimmer with the lights of dawn. 
 
 Mordaunt had therefore no difficulty in keeping sight of 
 his disguised guide, as she tripped it over height and hollow 
 to the seaside, and, winding among the rocks, led the way to 
 the spot where liis own labors, during the time of his former 
 intimacy at Burgh-Westra, had constructed a sheltered and 
 solitary seat, where the daughters of Magnus were accustomed 
 to spend, when the weather was suitable, a good deal of theii- 
 time. Here, then, was to be the place of explanation; for the 
 masker stopped, and, after a moment's hesitation, sat down 
 on the rustic settle. But from the lips of whom was he to 
 receive it? Noma had first oc-curred to him; but her tall 
 figure and slow, majestic step were entirely different from the 
 size and gait of the more fairy-formed siren, who had pre- 
 ceded him with as light a trip as if she had been a real nereid, 
 who, having remained too late upon the shore, was, under the 
 dread of Amphitrite's displeasure, hastening to regain her 
 native element. Since it was not Noma, it could be only, he 
 thought, Brenda who thus singled him out; and when she 
 had seated herself upon the bench, and taken the mask from 
 her face, Brenda it accordingly proved to be. Mordaunt had 
 certainly done notliing to make liim dread her presence; and 
 yet, such is the influence of bashfulness over the ingenuous 
 youth of both sexes, that he experienced all the embarrass- 
 ment of one who finds himself unexpectedly placed before a 
 person who is justly offended with him. Brenda felt no less 
 embarrassment; but as she had sought this interview, and was 
 sensible it must be a brief one, she was compelled, in spite of 
 herself, to begin the conversation. 
 
 " Mordaunt," she said, with a hesitating voice; then cor- 
 recting herself, she proceeded — '"' You must be surprised, 
 Mr. Mertoun, that I should have taken this uncommon 
 freedom." 
 
 " It was not till this morning, Brenda," replied Mordaunt, 
 " that any mark of friendship or intimacy from you or from 
 your sister could have surprised me. I am far more aston- 
 is/hed that you should shun me without reason for so many 
 hours than that you should now allow me an interview. In 
 the name of Heaven, Brenda, in what have I offended you? 
 or why are we on these unusual terms? " 
 
164 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " May it not be enough to say," replied Brenda, looking 
 downward, " that it is my fathei^'s pleasure? " 
 
 " No, it is not enough," returned Mertoun. " Your father 
 cannot have so suddenly altered his whole thoughts of me, and 
 his whole actions toward me, without acting under the in- 
 fluence of some strong delusion. I ask you but to explain of 
 what nature it is; for I will be contented to be lower in your 
 esteem than the meanest hind in the<e islands if I cannot show 
 that his change of opinion is only grounded upon some in- 
 famous deception or some extraordinary mistake." 
 
 " It may be so," said Brenda — " I hope it is so; that I do 
 hope it is so, my desire to see you thus in private may well 
 prove to you. But it is difficult — in short, it is impossible — 
 for me to explain to you the cause of my fathe.r's resentment. 
 Noma has spoken with him concerning it boldly, and I fear 
 they parted in displeasure; and you well know no light matter 
 could cause that." 
 
 " I have observed," said Mordaunt, " that your father is 
 most attentive to Noma's counsel, and more complacent to 
 her peculiarities than to those of others; this I have observed, 
 though he is no willing believer in the supernatural qualities 
 to which she lays claim." 
 
 " They are related distantly," answered Brenda, " and 
 were friends in youth; nay, as I have heard, it was once sup- 
 posed they would have been married; but Noma's peculiari- 
 ties showed themselves immediately on her father's death, and 
 there was an end of that matter, if ever there was anything in 
 it. But it is certain my father regards her with much inter- 
 est; and it is, I fear, a sign how deeply his prejudices respect- 
 ing you must be rooted, since they have in some degree quar- 
 reled on your account." 
 
 " Now, blessings upon you, Brenda, that you have called 
 them prejudices," said Mertoun warmly and hastily — " a 
 thousand blessings on you! You were ever gentle-hearted: 
 you could not have maintained even the show of unkindness 
 long." 
 
 " It was indeed but a show," said Brenda, softening gradu- 
 ally into the familiar tone in which they had conversed from 
 infancy. " I could never think, Mordaunt — never, that is, 
 seriously believe, that you could say aught unkind of Minna 
 or of me." 
 
 "And who dares to say I have?" said Mordaunt, giving 
 way to the natural impetuosity of hi^ disposition — " who dares 
 to say that I have, and ventures at the same time to hope that 
 
TEE PIRATE. 165 
 
 I will suffer his tongue to remain in safety betwixt his 
 jaws? By St. Magnus the Martyr, I will feed the hawks 
 with it! " 
 
 " Nay, now," said Brenda, " your anger only terrifies me, 
 and will force me to leave you." 
 
 " Leave me," said he, " without telling me either the 
 calumny or the name of the villainous calumniator! " 
 
 '* Oh, there are more than one," answered Brenda, " that 
 have possessed my father with an opinion — which I cannot 
 myself tell you — but there are more than one who say " 
 
 " Were they hundreds, Brenda, I will do no less to them 
 than I have said. Sacred Martyr! to accuse me of speaking 
 unkindly of those whom I most respected and valued under 
 Heaven. I will back to the apartment this instant, and your 
 father shall do me right before all the world." 
 
 "Do not go, for the love of Heaven!" said Brenda — "do 
 not go, as you would not render me the most unhappy wretch 
 in existence! " 
 
 " Tell me then, at least, if I guess aright," said Mordaunt, 
 " when I name this Cleveland for one of those who have slan- 
 dered me? " 
 
 " ISTo — 'Uo," said Brenda vehemently, " you run from one 
 error into another more dangerous. You say you are my 
 friend — I am willing to be yours — be but still for a moment 
 and hear what I have to say: our interview has lasted but too 
 long already, and every additional moment brings additional 
 danger with it." 
 
 " Tell me, then," said Mordaunt, much softened by the 
 poor girl's extreme apprehension and distress, " what is it that 
 you require of me; and believe me, it is impossible for you to 
 ask aught that I will not do my very uttermost to comply 
 with." 
 
 "Well, then, this captain," said Brenda — "this Cleve- 
 land ■" 
 
 "I knew it, by Heaven!" said Mordaunt: "my mind as- 
 sured me that that fellow was, in one way or other, at the 
 bottom of all this mischief and misunderstanding! " 
 
 " If you cannot be silent and patient for an instant," re- 
 plied Brenda, " I must instantly quit you. What I meant to 
 say had no relation to you, but to another — in one word, to 
 my sister Minna. I have nothing to say concerning her dis- 
 like to you, but an anxious tale to tell concerning his atten- 
 tion to her." 
 
 "It is obvious, striking, and marked," said Mordaunt; 
 
166 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " aud, unless my eyes deceive me, it is received as welcome, if, 
 indeed, it is not returned." 
 
 " That is the very cause of my fear," said Brenda. " I, 
 too, was struck with the external appearance, frank manners, 
 and romantic conversation of this man." 
 
 " His appearance! " said Mordaunt; " he is stout and well- 
 featured enough, to be sure; but, as old Sinclair of Quendale 
 said to the Spanish admiral, ' Farcie on his face! I have 
 seen many a fairer hang on the Borough Moor.' From his 
 manners, he might be captain of a. privateer; and, by his con- 
 versation, the trumpeter to his own puppet-show: for he 
 speaks of little else than his own exploits." 
 
 " You are mistaken," answered Brenda: " he speaks but too 
 well on all that he has seen and learned; besides, he has really 
 been in many distant countries and in many gallant actions, 
 and he can tell them with as much spirit as modesty. You 
 would think you saw the flash and heard the report of the 
 guns. And he has other tones of talking too — about the de- 
 lightful trees and fruits of distant climates; and how the peo- 
 ple wear no dress, through the whole year, half so warm as 
 our summer gowns, and, indeed, put on little except cambric 
 and muslin." 
 
 " Upon my word, Brenda, he does seem to understand 
 the business of amusing young ladies," replied Mor- 
 daunt. 
 
 " He does, indeed," said Brenda, with great simplicity. " T 
 assure you that, at first, I liked him better than Minna did; 
 and yet, though she is so much cleverer than I am, I know 
 more of the world than she does; for I have seen more of 
 cities, having been once at Kirkwall; besides that I was thrice 
 at Lerwick, when the Dutch ships were there, and so I should 
 not be very easily deceived in people." 
 
 " And pray, Brenda," said Mertoun, " what was it that 
 made you think less favorably of this young fellow, who seems 
 to be so captivating?" 
 
 " Why," said Brenda, after a moment's reflection, " at first 
 he was much livelier; and the stories he told were not quite 
 so melancholy or so terrible; and he laughed and danced 
 more." 
 
 " And, perhaps, at that time, danced oftener with Brenda 
 than with her sister? " added Mordaunt. 
 
 " No — I am not sure of that," said Brenda; " and yet, to 
 speak plain, I could have no suspicion of him at all while he 
 was attending quite equally to us both; for you know that 
 
THE PIRATE. 167 
 
 then he could have been no more to us than yourself, Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun, or young Swaraster, or any other yuung man 
 in the islands." 
 
 " But, why then," said Mordaunt, " should you not see him, 
 with patience, become acquainted with your sister? He is 
 wealthy, or seems to be so at least. You say he is accom- 
 plished and pleasant. What else would you desire in a lover 
 for Minna ? " 
 
 " Mordaunt, you forget who we are," said the maiden, 
 assuming an air of consequence, which sat as gracefully upon 
 her simplicity as did the different tone in which she had 
 spoken hitherto. '' This is a little world of ours, this Zet- 
 land, inferior, perhaps, in soil and climate to other parts of 
 the earth, at least so strangers say; but it is our own little 
 world, and we, the daughters of Magnus Troil, hold a first 
 rank in it. It would, I think, little become us, who are de- 
 scended from sea-kings and jarls, to throw ourseh-e? nwMv 
 upo-n a stranger, who comes to our coast, like the eider duck 
 in spring, from we know not whence, and may leave it iU 
 autumn, to go we know not where." 
 
 " And who may yet entice a Zetland golden-eye to accom- 
 pany his migration," said Mertoun. 
 
 " I will hear nothing light on such a subject," replied 
 Brenda indignantly. " Minna, like myself, is the daughter of 
 Magnus Troil, the friend of strangers, but the father of Hialt- 
 land. He gives them the hospitality they need; but let not 
 the proudest of them think that they can, at their pleasure, 
 ally with his house." 
 
 She said this in a tone of considerable warmth, which she 
 instantly softened, as she added, " No, Mordaunt, do not sup- 
 pose that Minna Troil is capable of so far forgetting what she 
 owes to her father and her father's blood as to think of mar- 
 rying this Cleveland; but she may lend an ear to him so long 
 as to destroy her future happiness. She has that sort of mind 
 into which some feelings sink deeply. You remember how 
 Ulla Storlson used to go, day by day, to the top of Vossdale 
 Head, to look for her lover's ship that was never to return? 
 When I think of her slow step, her pale cheek, her eye, that 
 grew dimmer and dimmer, like the lamp that is half extin- 
 guished for lack of oil; when I remember the fluttered look 
 of something like hope with which she ascended the cliff at 
 morning, and the deep, dead despair which sat on her fore- 
 head when she returned — when I think on all this, can you 
 wonder that I fear for Minna, whose heart is formed to enter- 
 
lea WAVEIiLEY NOVELS. 
 
 tain, with such deep-rooted fidelity, any affection that may be 
 implanted in it? " 
 
 " I do not wonder," said Mordaunt, eagerly sjinpathizing 
 with the poor girl; for, besides the tremulous expression of her 
 voice, the light could almost show him the tear which trem- 
 bled in her eye, as she drew the picture to which her fancy 
 had assimilated her sister — " I do not wonder that you should 
 feel and fear whatever the purest affection can dictate; and if 
 you can but point out to me in what 1 can serve your sis- 
 terly love, you shall find me as ready to venture my life, if 
 necessary, as I have been to go out on the crag to get you the 
 eggs of the guillemot; and, believe me, that whatever has 
 been told to your father or yourself of my entertaining the 
 slightest thoughts of disrespect or unkindness is as false as a 
 fiend could devise." 
 
 " I believe it," said Brenda, giving him her hand — *' I be 
 lieve it, and my bosom is lighter, now I have renewed my con- 
 fidence in so old a friend. How you can aid us, I know not: 
 but it was by the advice, I may say by the commands, o\ 
 Noma that I have ventured to make this communication; and 
 I almost wonder," she added, as she looked around her, " that 
 I have had courage to carry me through it. At present you 
 know all that I can tell you of the risk in which my sister 
 stands. Look after this Cleveland; beware how you quaiTe) 
 with him, since you must so surely come by the worst with au 
 experienced soldier." 
 
 " I do not exactly understand," said the youth, " how thai 
 should so surely be. This I know, that, with the good limbs 
 and good heart that God hath given me, aye, and with a 
 good cause to boot, I am little afraid of any quarrel which 
 Cleveland can fix upon me." 
 
 " Then, if not for your own sake, for ]\Iinna's sake," said 
 Brenda — " for my father's — for mine — for all our sakes, avoid 
 any strife with him; but be contented to watch him, and, if 
 possible, to discover who he is, and what are his intentions 
 toward us. He has talked of going to Orkney to inquire after 
 the consort with whom he sailed; but day after day and week 
 after week passes, and he goes not; and while he keeps my 
 father company over the bottle, and tells Minna romantic 
 stories of foreign people, and distant wars, in wild and un- 
 known regions, the time glides on, and the stxanger, of whom 
 we know nothing except that he is one, becomes gradually 
 closer and more inseparably intimate in our society. And 
 now farewell. Norna hopes to make your peace wit^h my 
 
THE PTBATB. 169 
 
 father, and entreats you not to leave Burgh-Westra to-mor- 
 row, however cold he and my sister may appear toward you. 
 1 too," she said, stretching her hand toward him, '• must wear 
 a face of cold friendship as toward an unwelcome visitor, but 
 at heart we are still Brenda and Mordaunt. And now sepa- 
 rate quickly, for we must not be seen together." 
 
 She stretched her hand to him, but withdrew it in some 
 slight confusion, laughing and blushing, when, by a natural 
 impulse, he was about to press it to his lips. He endeavored 
 for a moment to detain her, for the interview had for him a 
 degree of fascination which, as often as he had before been 
 alone with Brenda, he had never experienced, But she ex- 
 tricated herself from him, and again signing an adieu, and 
 pointing out to him a path different from that which she was 
 herself about to take, tripped, toward the house, and was soon 
 hidden from his view by the accli^dty. 
 
 Mordaunt stood gazing after her in a state of mind to 
 which, as yet, he had been a stranger. The dubious neutral 
 ground between love and friendship may be long and safely 
 trodden, until he who stands upon it is suddenly called upon 
 to recognize the authority of the one or the other power; and 
 then it most frequently happens that the party who for 
 years supposed himself only a friend, finds himself at once 
 transformed into a lover. That such a change in Mordaunt's 
 feelings should take place from this date, although he him- 
 self was unable exactly to distinguish its nature, was to be 
 expected. He found himself at once received, with the most 
 unsuspicious frankness, into the confidence of a beautiful and 
 fascinating young woman, by whom he had, so short a time be- 
 fore, imagined himself despised and disliked; and, if anything 
 could make a change, in itself so surprising and so pleasing, 
 yet more intoxicating, it was the guileless and open-hearted 
 simplicity of Brenda, that cast an enchantment over every- 
 thing wliich she did or said. The scene, too, might have had 
 its effect, though there was little occasion for its aid. But 
 a fair face looks yet fairer under the light of the moon, and 
 a sweet voice sounds yet sweeter among the whispering sounds 
 of a summer night. Mordaunt, therefore, who had by this 
 time returned to the house, was disposed to listen with un- 
 usual patience and complacency to the enthusia'^tic declama- 
 tion pronounced upon moonlight by Claud Halcro, whose 
 ecstasies had been awakened on the subject by a short turn in 
 the open air, undertaken to qualify the vapors of the good 
 liquor, which he had not spared during the festival. 
 
170 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " The sun, my boy," he said, " is every wretched laborer's 
 day-lantem: it comes glaring yonder, out of the east, to sum- 
 mon up a whole world to labor and to misery; whereas the 
 merry moon lights all of us to mirth and to love." 
 
 " And to madness, or she is much belied," said Mordaunt, 
 by way of saying something. 
 
 " Let it be so," answered Halcro, " so she does not turn us 
 melancholy mad. My dear young friend, the folks of this 
 painstaking world are far too anxious about possessing all 
 their wits, or having them, as they say, about them. At least, 
 I know I have been often called half-witted, and I am sure I 
 have gone through the world as well as if I had double the 
 quantity. But stop — where was I? Oh, touching and con- 
 cerning the moon; why, man, she is the very soul of love and 
 poetry. I question if there was ever a true lover in existence 
 who had not got at least as far as ' Oh, thou,' in a sonnet in 
 her praise." 
 
 " The moon," said the factor, who was now beginning to 
 speak very thick, " ripens com, at least the old folk said so; 
 and she fills nuts also, whilk is of less matter — ' sparge nuces, 
 pueri.' " 
 
 " A fine — a fine," said the Udaller, who was now in his alti- 
 tudes; " the factor speaks Greek. By the bones of my holy 
 namesake, St. Magnus, he shall drink off the yawl full of 
 punch, unless he gives us a song on the spot! " 
 
 " Too much water drowned the miller," answered Triptol- 
 emus. " My brain has more need of draining than of being 
 drenched with more liquor." 
 
 " Sing, then," said the despotic landlord, " for no one shall 
 speak any other language here save honest Norse, jolly Dutch, 
 or Danske, or broad Scots, at the least of it. So, Eric Scam- 
 bester, produce the yawl, and fill it to the brim, as a charge 
 for demurrage." 
 
 Ere the vessel could reach the agriculturist, he, seeing it 
 under way and steering toward him by short tacks (for Scam- 
 bester himself was by this time not over steady in his course), 
 made a desperate effort, and began to sing, or rather to croak 
 forth, a Yorkshire harvest-home ballad, which his father used 
 to sing when he was a little mellow, and which went to the 
 tune of " Hey, Dobbin, away with the wagon." The ruefu! 
 aspect of the singer, and the desperately discordant tones of 
 his voice, formed so delightful a contrast with the jollity of 
 the words and tune, that honest Triptolemus afforded the 
 same sort of amusement which, a reveler might give by appear- 
 
THE PIRATE. 171 
 
 ing on a festival day in the holiday coat of his grandfather. 
 The jest concluded the evening, for even the mighty and 
 strong-headed Magnus himself had confessed the influence 
 of the sleepy god. The guests went off as they best might, 
 each to his separate crib and resting-place, and in a short time 
 the mansion, which was of late so noisy, was hushed into per- 
 fect silence. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 They man their boats, and all the young men arm 
 With whatsoever might the monsters harm; 
 Pikes, halberds, spits, and darts, that wound afar, 
 The tools of peace and implements of war. 
 Now was the time for vigorous lads to show 
 What love or honor could incite them to; — 
 A goodly theater, where rocks are round 
 With reverend age and lovely lasses crown'd. 
 
 — Battle of tke Summer Islands. 
 
 The morning which succeeds such a feast as that of Mag- 
 nus Troil usually lacks a little of the zest which seasoned the 
 revels of the preceding day, as the fashionable reader may 
 have observed at a public breakfast during the race-week in 
 a country town; for, in what is called the best society, these 
 lingering moments are usually spent by the company each 
 apart in their own dressing rooms. At Burgh-Westra, it will 
 readily be believed, no such space for retirement was afforded; 
 and the lasses, with their paler cheeks, the elder dames, with 
 many a wink and yawn, were compelled to meet with their 
 male companions, headaches and all, just three hours after 
 they had parted from each other. 
 
 Eric Scambester had done all that man could do to supply 
 the full means of diverting the " ennui " of the morning 
 meal. The board groaned with rounds of hung beef, made 
 after the fashion of Zetland — with pasties — with baked meats 
 — with fish, dressed and cured in every possible manner; nay, 
 with the foreign delicacies of tea, coffee, and chocolate; for, 
 as we have already had occasion to remark, the situation of 
 these islands made them early acquainted with various articles 
 of foreign luxury, which were, as yet, but little known in 
 Scotland, where, at a much later period than that we write 
 of, one pound of green tea was dressed like cabbage, and an- 
 other converted into a vegetable sauce for salt beef, by the 
 ignorance of the good housewives to whom they had been 
 sent as rare presents. 
 
 Besides these preparations, the table exhibited whatever 
 mighty potions are resorted to by " bons vivans " under the 
 facetious name of a " hair of the dog that bit you." There 
 was the potent Irish usquebaugh — right Nantz — genuine 
 Schiedam — aquavitae ivom Caithness— and Golden Wasser 
 
 178 
 
THE PIRATE. 1'73 
 
 from Hamburgh; there was rum of formidable antiquity, and 
 cordials, from the Leeward Islands. After these details, it 
 were needless to mention the stout home-brewed ale, the Ger- 
 man mum and schwartz beer; and still more would it be be- 
 neath our dignity to dwell upon the innumerable sorts of 
 pottage and flummery, together with the bland and various 
 preparations of milk, for those who preferred thinner 
 potations. 
 
 No wonder that the sight of so much good cheer awakened 
 the appetite and raised the spirits of the fatigued revelers. 
 The young men began immediately to seek out their partners 
 of the preceding evening, and to renew the small talk which 
 had driven the night so merrily away; while Magnus, with 
 his stout old Norse kindred, encouraged, by precept and 
 example, those of elder days and graver mood to a substan- 
 tial flirtation with the good things before them. Still, how- 
 ever, there was a long period to be filled up before dinner; for 
 the most protracted breakfast cannot well last above an hour; 
 and it was to be feared that Claud Halcro meditated the occu- 
 pation of this vacant morning with a formidable recitation of 
 his own verses, besides telling, at its full length, the whole 
 history of his introduction to glorious John Dryden. But 
 fortune relieved the guests of Burgh- Westra from this threat- 
 ened infliction, by sending them means of amusement pe- 
 culiarly suited to their taste and habits. 
 
 Mosit of the guests were using their toothpicks, some were 
 beginning to talk of what was to be done next, when, with 
 haste in his step, fire in his eye, and a harpoon in his hand, 
 Eric Scambester came to announce to the company that there 
 was a whale on shore, or nearly so, at the throat of the voe! 
 Then you might have seen such a joyous, boisterous, and uni- 
 versal bustle as only the love of sport, so deeply implanted in 
 our nature, can possibly inspire. A set of country squires, 
 about to beat for the first woodcocks of the season, were a 
 comparison as petty in respect to the glee as in regard to the 
 importance of the object. The battue upon a strong cover in 
 Ettrick Forest, for the destruction of the foxes; the insurrec- 
 tion of the sportsmen of the Lennox, when one of the duke's 
 deer gets out from Inch-Mirran; nay, the joyous rally of the 
 fox-chase itself, with all its blithe aceom])animents of hound 
 and horn, fall infinitely short of the animation with which the 
 gallant sons of Thuleset off to encounter the monster whom 
 the s=ea had sent for their amusement at so opportune a con- 
 juncture. 
 
1^4 WAVEBLET NOVELS. 
 
 The multifarious stores of Burgh-Westra were rummaged 
 hastily for all sorts of arms which could be used on such an 
 occasion. Harpoons, swords, pikes, and halberds fell to the 
 lot of some; others contented themselves with hay-forks, 
 spits, and whatever else could be found, that was at once long 
 and sharp. Thus hastily equipped, one division, under the 
 command of Captain Cleveland, hastened to man the boats 
 which lay in the little haven, while the rest of the party 
 hurried by land to the scene of action. 
 
 Poor Triptolemus was interrupted in a plan which he, too, 
 had formed against the patience of the Zetlanders, and which 
 was to have consisted in a lecture upon the agriculture and the 
 capabilities of the country, by this sudden hubbub, which put 
 an end at once to Halcro's poetry and to his no less formida- 
 able prose. It may be easily imagined that he took very little 
 interest in the sport which was so suddenly substituted for his 
 lucubrations, and he would not even have deigned to have 
 looked upon the active scene which was about to take place, 
 had he not been stimulated thereunto by the exhortations of 
 Mistress Baby. " Pit yoursell forward, man," said that provi- 
 dent person — " pit yoursell forward; wha kens whare a bless- 
 ing may light ? They say that a' men share and share equals- 
 aquals in the creature's ulzie, and a pint o't wad be worth 
 siller, to light the cruise in the lang dark nights that they 
 speak of. Pit yoursell forward, man — there's a graip to ye — 
 faint heart never wan fair lady; wha kens but what, when it's 
 fresh, it may eat weel enough, and spare butter? " 
 
 What zeal was added to Triptolemus' motions by the pros- 
 pect of eating fresh train-oil instead of butter, we know not; 
 but, as better might not be, he brandished the rural imple- 
 ment (a stable-fork) with which he was armed, and went down 
 to wage battle with the whale. 
 
 The situation in which the enemy's ill fate had placed him 
 was particularly favorable to the enterprise of the islanders. 
 A tide of unusual height had carried the animal over a large 
 bar of sand, into the voe or creek in which he was now lying. 
 So soon as he found the water ebbing, he became sensible of 
 his danger, and had made desperate efforts to get over the 
 shallow water, where the waves broke on the bar; but hitherto 
 he had rather injured than mended his condition, having got 
 himself partly aground, and lying therefore particularly ex- 
 posed to the meditated attack. At this moment the enemy 
 came down upon him. The front ranks consisted of the 
 young and hardy, armed in the miscellaneous manner we have 
 
THE PIRATE. 175 
 
 described; while, to witness and animate their efforts, the 
 young women, and the elderly persons of both sexes took their 
 place among the rocks which overhung the scene of action. 
 
 As the boats had to double a little headland ere they opened 
 the mouth of the voe, those who came by land to the shores of 
 the inlet had time to make the necessary reconnoisances upon 
 the force and situation of the enemy, on whom they were 
 about to commence a simultaneous attack by land and sea. 
 
 This duty the stout-hearted and experienced general, for so 
 the Udaller might be termed, would entrust to no eyes but 
 his own; and, indeed, his external appearance and his sage 
 conduct rendered him alike qualified for the command which 
 he enjoyed. His gold-laced hat was exchanged for a bearskin 
 cap, his suit of blue broadcloth, with its scarlet lining, and 
 loops, and frogs of bullion, had given place to a red flannel 
 jacket, with buttons of black horn, over which he wore a seal- 
 skin shirt curiously seamed and plaited on the bosom, such as 
 are used by the Esquimaux, and sometimes by the Greenland 
 whale-fishers. Sea-boots of a formidable size completed his 
 dress, and in his hand he held a large whaling-knife, which he 
 brandished, as if impatient to employ it in the operation of 
 " flinching " the huge animal which lay before them — that is, 
 the act oi separating its flesh from its bones. Upon closer 
 examination, however, he was obliged to confess that the 
 sport to which he had conducted his friends, however much 
 it corresponded with the magnificent scale of his hospitality, 
 was likely to be attended with its own peculiar dangers and 
 difficulties. 
 
 The animal, upwards of sixty feet in length, was lying per- 
 fectly still, in a deep part of the voe into which it had wel- 
 tered, and where it seemed to await the return of tide, of 
 which it was probably assured by instinct. A council of ex- 
 perienced harpooners was instantly called, and it was agreed 
 that an effort should be made to noose the tail of this torpid 
 leviathan, by casting a cable around it, to be made fast by 
 anchors to the shore, and thus to secure against his escape, in 
 case the tide should make before they were able to dispatch 
 him. Three boats were destined to this delicate piece of 
 service, one of which the Udaller himself proposed to com- 
 mand, while Cleveland and Mertoun were to direct the two 
 others. This being decided, they sat down on the strand, 
 waiting with impatience until the naval part of the force 
 should arrive in the voe. It was during this interval that 
 Triptolemus Yellowley, after measuring with liis eyes the ex- 
 
176 WAVERLE7 NOVe^LS. 
 
 traordinary size of the whale, observed that, in his poor mind, 
 " A wain with six owsen, or with sixty owsen either, if they 
 were the owsen of the country, could not drag siccan a huge 
 creature from the water, where it was now lying, to the sea^ 
 beach." 
 
 Trifling as this remark may seem to the reader, it was con- 
 nected with a subject which always fired the blood of the old 
 Udaller, who, glancing upon Triptolemus a quick and stem 
 look, asked him what the devil it signified, supposing a hun- 
 dred oxen could not drag the whale upon the beach? Mr. 
 Yellowley, though not much liking the tone with which the 
 question was put, felt that his dignity and his profit com- 
 pelled him to answer as follows: "■ Nay, sir, you know yoursell. 
 Master Magnus Troil, and everyone knows that knows any- 
 thing, that whales of siccan size as may not be masterfully 
 dragged on shore by the instrumentality of one wain with six 
 owsen are the right and property of the admiral, who is at 
 this time the same noble lord who is, moreover, chamberlain 
 of these isles." 
 
 " And I tell you, Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley," said the 
 Udaller, " as I would tell your master if he were here, that 
 every man who risks his life to bring that fish ashore shall 
 have an equal share and partition, according to our ancient 
 and loveable ISTorse custom and wont; nay, if there is so much 
 as a woman looking on, that will but touch the cable, she will 
 be partner with us; aye, and more than all that, if she will 
 but say there is a reason for it, we will assign a portion to the 
 babe that is unborn." 
 
 The strict principle of equity which dictated this last ar- 
 rangement occasioned laughter among the men, and some 
 slight confusion among the women. The factor, however, 
 thought it shame to be so easily daunted. " ' Suum cuique 
 tribuito,' " said he: "I will stand for my lord's right and my 
 own." 
 
 "Will you?" replied Magnus; "then, by the Martyr's 
 bones you shall have no law of partition but that of God and 
 St. Olave, which we had before either factor, or treasurer, or 
 chamberlain were heard of! All shall share that lend a hand, 
 and never a one else. So you. Master Factor, shall be busy as 
 well as other folk, and think yourself lucky to share like other 
 folk. Jump into that boat (for the boats had by this time 
 pulled round the headland), and you. my lads, make way for 
 the factor in the stern-sheets: he shall be the first man this 
 blessed day that shall strike the fish." 
 
THE PIE ATE. 177 
 
 The loud, authoritative voice, and the habit of absolute 
 command inferred in the Udaller's whole manner, together 
 with the conscious want of favorers and backers amongst the 
 rest of the company, rendered it difficult for Triptolemus to 
 evade compliance, although he was thus about to be placed 
 in a situation equally novel and perilous. He was still, how- 
 ever, hesitating, and attempting an explanation, with a voice 
 in which anger was qualified by fear, and both thinly dis- 
 guised under an attempt to be jocular, and to represent the 
 whole as a jest, when he heard the voice of Baby maundering 
 in his ear, " Wad he lose his share of the ulzie, and the lang 
 Zetland winter coming on, when the lightest day in Decem- 
 ber is not so clear as a moonless night in the Mearns? " 
 
 This domestic instigation, in addition to those of fear of the 
 Udaller and shame to seem less courageous than others, so 
 inflamed the agriculturist's spirits that he shook his " graij) " 
 aloft, and entered the boat with the air of Neptune himself, 
 carrying on high his trident. 
 
 The three boats destined for this perilous service now ap- 
 proached the dark mass, which lay like an islet in the deepest 
 part of the voe. and suffered them to approach without show- 
 ing any sign of animation. Silently, and with such precau- 
 tion as the extreme delicacy of the operation required, the in- 
 trepid adventurers, after the failure of their first attempt, and 
 the expenditure of considerable time, succeeded in casting a 
 cable around the body of the torpid monster, and in caTr}'ing 
 the ends of it ashore, when an hundred hands were instantly 
 employed in securing them. But, ere this was accomplished, 
 the tide began to make fast, and the Udaller informed his 
 assistants that either the fish miist be killed, or at least greatly 
 wounded, ere the depth of water on the bar was sufficient to 
 float him, or that he was not unlikely to escape from their 
 joint prowess. 
 
 " Wherefore," said he, " we must set to work, and the factor 
 shall have the honor to make the first throw." 
 
 The valiant Triptolemus caught the word: and it is neces- 
 sary to say that the patience of the whale, in suffering himself 
 to be noosed without resistance, had abated his terrors, and 
 very much lowered the creature in his opinion. He pro- 
 tested the fish had no more wit, and scarcely more activity, 
 than a black snail; and. influenced by this undue contempt of 
 the adversary, he waited neither for a further signal, nor a 
 better weapon, nor a more suitable position, but. rising in his 
 energy, hurled his graip with all his force against the unfor- 
 
178 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 tunate monster. The boats had not yet retreated from him 
 to the distance necessaiy to insure safety when this injudi- 
 cious commencement of the war took place. 
 
 Magnus Troil, who had only jested with the factor, and 
 had reserved tiie launching the first spear against the whale 
 to some much more skillful hand, had just time to exclaim, 
 " Mind yourselves, lads, or we are all swamped! " when the 
 monster, roused at once from inactivity by the blow of the 
 factor's missile, blew, with a noise resembling the explosion 
 of a steam-engine, a huge shower of water into the air, and at 
 the same time began to lash the waves with his tail in every 
 direction. The boat in which Magnus presided received the 
 shower of brine which the animal spouted aloft; and the ad- 
 venturous Triptolemus, who had a full share of the immer- 
 sion, was so much astonished and terrified by the conse- 
 quences of his own valorous deed that he tumbled backward 
 amongst the feet of the people, who, too busy to attend to 
 him, were actively engaged in getting the boat into shoal 
 water, out of the whale's reach. Here he lay for some 
 minutes, trampled on by the feet of the boatmen, until they 
 lay on their oars to bale, when the Udaller ordered them to 
 pull to shore and land this spare hand, who had commenced 
 the fishing so inauspiciously. 
 
 "While tliis was doing, the other boats had also pulled off to 
 safer distance, and now, from these as well as from the shore, 
 the unfortunate native of the deep was overwhelmed by all 
 kinds of missiles: harpoons and spears flew against him on all 
 sides, guns were fired, and each various means of annoyance 
 plied which could excite him to exhaust his strength in use- 
 less rage. When the animal found that he was locked in by 
 shallows on all sides, and became sensible, at the same time, 
 of the strain of the cable on his body, the convulsive efforts 
 which he made to escape, accompanied with sounds resem- 
 bling deep and loud groans, would have moved the compas- 
 sion of all but a practiced whale-fisher. The repeated 
 showers which he spouted into the air began now to be 
 mingled with blood, and the waves which surrounded him 
 assumed the same crimson appearance. Meantime, the at- 
 tempts of the assailants were redoubled; but Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun and Cleveland, in particular, exerted themselves to the 
 uttermost, contending who should display most courage in 
 approaching the monster, so tremendous in its agonies, and 
 should inflict the most deep and deadly wounds upon its huge 
 bulk. 
 
THE PIRATE. 179 
 
 The contest seemed at last pretty well over; for, although 
 the animal continued from time to time to make frantic exer- 
 tions for liberty, yet its strength appeared so much exhausted, 
 that, even with the assistance of the tide, which had now risen 
 considerably, it was thought it could scarcely extricate itself. 
 
 Magnus gave the signal to venture nearer to the whale, call- 
 ing out at the same time, *' Close in, lads, he is not half so 
 mad now. The factor may look for a winter's oil for the two 
 lamps at Harfra. Pull close in, lads." 
 
 Ere his orders could be obeyed, the other two boats had 
 anticipated his purpose; and Mordaunt Mertoun, eager to dis- 
 tinguish himself above Cleveland, had, with the whole 
 strength he possessed, plunged a half-pike into the body of 
 the animal. But the leviathan, like a nation Mdiose resources 
 appear totally exhausted by previous losses and calamities, 
 collected his whole remaining force for an effort which proved 
 at once desperate and successful. The wound last received 
 had probably reached through his external defenses of blub- 
 ber, and attained some very sensitive part of the system; for 
 he roared aloud, as he sent to the sky a mingled sheet of brine 
 and blood, and snapping the strong cable like a twig, overset 
 Mertoun's boat with a blow of his tail, shot himself, by a 
 mighty effort, over the bar, upon which the tide had now risen 
 considerably, and made out to sea, carrying with him a whole 
 grove of the implements which had been planted in his body, 
 and leaving behind him, on the waters, a dark red trace of his 
 course. 
 
 " There goes to sea your cruise of oil. Master Yellowley," 
 said Magnus, " and you must consume mutton suet or go to 
 bed in the dark." 
 
 " ' Operam et oleum perdidi,' " muttered Triptolemus; 
 " but if they catch me whale-fishing again, I will consent that 
 the fish shall swallow me as he did Jonah." 
 
 "But where is Mordaunt Mertoun all this while?" ex- 
 claimed Claud Halcro; and it was instantly perceived that the 
 youth, who had been stunned when his boat was stove, was 
 unable to swim to shore as the other sailors did, and now 
 floated senseless upon the waves. 
 
 We have noticed the strange and inhuman prejudice which 
 rendered the Zetlanders of that period unwilling to assist 
 those whom they saw in the act of drowning, though that is 
 the calamity to which the islanders are most frequently ex- 
 posed. Three men, however, soared above this superstition. 
 The first was Claud Halcro, who threw himself from a small 
 
180 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 rock hea"dlong into the waves, forgetting, as he himself after- 
 ward stated, that he could not swim, and, if possessed of the 
 harp of Arion, had no dolphins in attendance. The first 
 plunge which the poet made in deep water reminding him of 
 these deficiencies, he was fain to cling to the rock from which 
 he had dived, and was at length glad to regain the shore, at 
 the expense of a ducking. 
 
 Magnus Troil, whose honest heart forgot his late coolness 
 toward Mordaunt when he saw the youth's danger, would in- 
 stantly have brought him more effectual aid, but Eric Scam- 
 best«r held him fast. 
 
 •' Hout, sir — hout," exclaimed that faithful attendant, 
 " Captain Cleveland has a grip of Mr. Mordaunt; just let the 
 twa strangers help ilk other, and stand by the upshot. The 
 light of the country is not to be quenched for the like of 
 them. Bide still, sir, I say. Bredness Voe is not a bowl of 
 punch, that a man can be fished out of like a toast with a 
 long spoon." 
 
 This sage remonstrance would have been altogether lost 
 upon Magnus had he not observed that Cleveland had, in 
 fact, jumped out of the boat and swum to Mertoun's assist- 
 ance, and was keeping him afloat till the boat came to the aid 
 of both. As soon as the immediate danger which called so 
 loudly for assistance was thus ended, the honest Udaller's 
 desire to render aid terminated also; and recollecting the 
 cause of offense which he had, or thought he had, against 
 Mordaunt Mertoun, he shook off his butler's hold, and turn- 
 ing round scornfully from the beach, called Eric an old fool 
 for supposing that he cared whether the young fellow sank 
 or swam. 
 
 Still, however, amid his assumed indifference, Magnus 
 could not help peeping over the heads of the circle which, 
 surrounding Mordaunt as soon as he was brought on shore, 
 were charitably employed in endeavoring to recall him to life; 
 and he was not able to attain the appearance of absolute un- 
 concern until the young man sat up on the beach and showed 
 plainly that the accident had been attended with no material 
 consequences. It was then first that, cursing the assistants 
 for not giving the lad a glass of brandy, he walked sullenly 
 away, as if totally unconcerned in his fate. 
 
 The women, alwavs accurate in observing the tell-tale emo- 
 tions of each other, failed not to remark that, when the sisters 
 of Burgh-Westra saw Mordaunt immersed in the waves, 
 Minna grew as pale as death, while Brenda uttered successive 
 
THE PIRATE. 181 
 
 shrieks of terror. But, though there were some nods, winks, 
 and hints that auld acquaintance were not easily forgot, it 
 was, on the whole, candidly admitted that less than such 
 marks of interest could scarce have been expected when they 
 saw the companion of their early youth in the act of perish- 
 ing before their eyes. 
 
 Whatever interest Mordaunt's condition excited while it 
 seemed perilous, began to abate as he recovered himself; and 
 when his senses were fully restored, only Claud Halcro, with 
 two or three others, were standing by him. About ten paces 
 off stood Cleveland — his hair and clothes dropping water, 
 and his features wearing so peculiar an expression as imme- 
 diately to arrest the attention of Mordaunt. There was a 
 suppressed smile on his cheek, and a look of pride in his eye, 
 that implied liberation from a painful restraint, and some- 
 thing resembling gratified scorn. Claud Halcro hastened to 
 intimate to Mordaunt that he owed his life to Cleveland; and 
 the youth, rising from the ground, and losing all other feel- 
 ings in those of gratitude, stepped forward with his hand 
 stretched out, to offer his warmest thanks to his preserver. 
 But he stopped short in surprise, as Cleveland, retreating a 
 pace or two, folded his arms on his breast and declined to ac- 
 cept his proffered hand. He drew back in turn, and gazed 
 with astonishment at the ungracious manner, and almost in- 
 sulting look, with which Cleveland, who had formerly rather 
 expressed a frank cordiality, or at least openness of bearing, 
 now, after having thus rendered him a most important .-ervicc, 
 chose to receive his thanks. 
 
 " It is enough," said Cleveland, obsenang his surprise, 
 " and it is unnecessary to say more about it. I have paid 
 back my debt, and we are now equal." 
 
 " You are more than equal with me. Captain Cleveland," 
 answered ^lertoun, " because you endangered your life to do 
 for me what I did for you without the slightest risk; besides," 
 he added, tr}-ing to give the discourse a more pleasant turn, 
 " I have your rifle-gun to boot." 
 
 " Cowards only count danger for any point of the game," 
 said Cleveland. " Danger has been my consort for life, and 
 sailed with me on a thousand worse voyages; and for rifles, I 
 have enough of my own, and you may see, when you will, 
 which can use them best." 
 
 There was something in the tone with which this was said 
 that struck Mordaunt strongly: it was " miching malicho," 
 as Hamlet says, " and meant mischief." Cleveland saw his 
 
182 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 surprise, came close up to him, and spoke in a low tone of 
 voice: "Hark ye, my young brother. There is a custom 
 among us gentlemen of fortune, that, when we follow the 
 same chase, and take the wind out of each other's sails, we 
 think sixty yards of the sea-beach and a brace of rifles are no 
 bad way of making our odds even." 
 
 " I do not understand you, Captain Cleveland," said Mor- 
 daunt. 
 
 " I do not suppose you do — I did not suppose you would," 
 said the captain; and, turning on his heel, with a smile that 
 resembled a sneer, Mordaunt saw him mingle with the guests, 
 and very soon beheld him at the side of Minna, who was talk- 
 ing to him with animated features, that seemed to thank him 
 for his gallant and generous conduct. 
 
 " If it were not for Brenda," thought Mordaunt, " I al- 
 most wish he had left me in the voe, for no one seems to care 
 whether I am alive or dead. Two rifles and sixty yards of 
 sea-beach — is that what he points at? It may come; but not 
 on the day he has saved my life with risk of his own." 
 
 While he was thus musing, Eric Scambester was whispering 
 to Halcro, " If tliese two lads do not do each other a mis- 
 chief, there is no faith in freits. Master Mordaunt saves 
 Cleveland — well. Cleveland, in requital, has turned all the 
 sunshine of Burgh- Westra to his own side of the house; and 
 think what it is to lose favor in such a house as this, where 
 the punch-kettle is never allowed to cool! Well, now that 
 Cleveland in his turn has been such a fool as to fish Mordaunt 
 out of the voe, see if he does not give him sour sillocks for 
 stock-fish." 
 
 " Pshaw — pshaw! " replied the poet, " that is all old 
 women's fancies, my friend Eric; for what says glorious Dry- 
 den — sainted John: 
 
 " The yellow gall that in your bosom floats 
 Engenders all these melancholy thoughts." 
 
 " St. John, or St. James either, may be mistaken in the 
 matter," said Eric; " for I think neither of them lived in Zet- 
 land. I only say that, if there is faith in old saws, these two 
 lads will do each other a mischief; and if they do, I trust it 
 will light on Mordaunt Mertoun." 
 
 " And why, Eric Scambester," said Halcro hastily and 
 angrily, " should you wish ill to that poor young man, that is 
 worth fifty of the other? " 
 
THE PIRATE. 183 
 
 " Let everyone roose the ford as he finds it," replied Eric. 
 *' Master Mordaunt is all for wan water, like his old dog-fish 
 of a father; now Captain Cleveland, d'ye see, takes his glass, 
 like an honest fellow and a gentleman." 
 
 '•' Rightly reasoned, and in thine own division," said Hal- 
 ero; and, breaking off their conversation, took his way back 
 to Burgh- Westra, to which the guests of Magnus were now 
 returning, discussing as they went, with much animation, the 
 various incidents of their attack upon the whale, and not a 
 little scandalized that it should have baffled all their exertions. 
 
 " I hope Captain Donderdrecht of the ' Eintracht ' of 
 Rotterdam will never hear of it," said Magnus; " he would 
 swear, donner and blitzen, we were only fit to fish flounders." * 
 
 ♦ The contest about the whale will remind the poetical reader of Waller's "Battle of 
 the Sommer Islands.'' 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 And helter-skelter have I rode to thee, 
 And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys, 
 And golden times, and happy news of price. 
 
 — Ancient Pistol. 
 
 Fortune, who seems at times to bear a conscience, owed 
 the hospitable Udaller some amends, and accordingly repaid 
 to Burgh-Westra the disappointment occasioned by the un- 
 successful whale-fishing by sending tliither, on the evening 
 of the day in which that incident happened, no less a person 
 than the jagger, or traveling merchant, as he styled himself. 
 Bryce Snailsfoot, who arrived in great pomp, himself on one 
 pony, and his pack of goods, swelled to nearly double its usual 
 Bize, forming the burden of another, which was led by a bare- 
 headed, bare-legged boy. 
 
 As Bryce announced himself the bearer of important news, 
 he was introduced to the dining apartment, where (for that 
 primitive age was no respecter of persons) he was permit- 
 ted to sit down at a side-table, and amply supplied with pro- 
 visions and good liquor; while the attentive hospitality of 
 Magnus permitted no questions to be put to him, until, his 
 hunger and thirst appeased, he announced, with the sense of 
 importance attached to distant travels, that he had just yester- 
 day arrived at Lerwick from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, 
 and would have been here yesterday, but it blew hard off the 
 Fitful Head. 
 
 " We had no wind here," said Magnus. 
 
 " There is somebody has not been sleeping, then," said the 
 peddler, " and her name begins with IST; but Heaven is above 
 all." 
 
 " But the news from Orkney, Bryce, instead of croaking 
 about a capful of wind ? " 
 
 " Such news," replied Bryce, " as has not been heard this 
 thirty years — not since Cromwell's time." 
 
 "There is not another revolution, is there?" said Halero; 
 " King James has not come back, as blithe as King Charlie 
 did, has he?" 
 
 " It's news," replied the peddler, '*' that are worth twenty 
 
 184 
 
THE PIRATE. 185 
 
 kings, and kingdoms to boot of them; for what good did the 
 revolutions ever do us? and I dare say we have seen a dozen, 
 great and sma'." 
 
 "Are any Indiamen come north about?" said Magnus 
 Troil. 
 
 " Ye are nearer the mark, fowd," said the jagger; " but it 
 is nae Indiaman, but a gallant armed vessel, chokeful of mer- 
 chandise, that they part with so easy that a decent man like 
 mysell can afford to give the country the best pennyworths 
 you ever saw; and that you will say when I open that pack, 
 for I count to carry it back another sort lighter than when 
 I brought it here." 
 
 " Aye — aye, Bryce," said the Udaller, " you must have had 
 good bargains if you sell cheap; but what ship was it? " 
 
 " Cannot justly say. I spoke to nobody but the captain, 
 who was a discreet man; but she had been down on the Span- 
 ish Main, for she has silks and satins, and tobacco, I war- 
 rant you, and wine, and no lack of sugar, and bonnie-wallies 
 baith of silver and gowd, and a bonny dredging of gold dust 
 into the bargain." 
 
 " What like was she? " said Cleveland, who seemed to give 
 much attention. 
 
 " A stout ship," said the itinerant merchant, " schooner- 
 rigged, sails like a dolphin, they say, carries twelve guns, and 
 is pierced for twenty." 
 
 " Did you hear the captain's name? " said Cleveland, speak- 
 ing rather lower than his usual tone. 
 
 " I just ca'd him the captain," replied Bryce Snailsfoot; 
 " for I make it a rule never to ask questions of them I deal 
 with in the way of trade; for there is many an honest cap- 
 tain, begging your pardon. Captain Cleveland, that does not 
 care to have his name tacked to his title; and as lang as we 
 ken what bargains we are making, what signifies it wha we 
 are making them wi', ye ken ? " 
 
 " Bryce Snailsfoot is a cautious man," said the Udaller, 
 laughing: " he knows a fool may ask more questions than a 
 wise man cares to answer." 
 
 " I have dealt with the fair traders in my day," replied 
 Snailsfoot, " and I ken nae use in blurting braid out with a 
 man's name at every moment; but I will uphold this gentle- 
 man to be a gallant commander — aye, and a kind one too; for 
 ever}' one of his crew is as brave in apparel as himself nearly: 
 the very foremast-men have their silken scarfs — I have seen 
 many a lady wear a warse, and think hersell nae sma' drink — 
 
186 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS. 
 
 and for siller buttons, and buckles, and the lave of sic vani- 
 ties, there is nae end of them." 
 
 " Idiots ! " muttered Cleveland between his teeth ; and 
 then added, " I suppose they are often ashore, to show all 
 thoir bravery to the lasses of Kirkwall ?" 
 
 " Ne'er a bit of that are they. The captaiu will scarce let 
 them stir ashore without the boatswain go in the boat — as 
 rough a tarpaulin as ever swabb'd a deck, and you may as 
 weel catch a cat without her claws as him without his cutlas.s 
 and his double brace of pistols about him; every man stands 
 as much in awe of him as of the commander himsell." 
 " That must be Hawkins, or the devil," said Cleveland. 
 " Aweel, captain," replied the jagger, " be he the tane or 
 -'-.he tither, or a wee bit o' baith, mind it is you that give him 
 •hese names, and not I." 
 
 " Why, Captain Cleveland," said the Udaller, •' this may 
 "^rove the very consort you spoke of." 
 
 *' They must have had some good luck, then," said Cleve- 
 land, " to put them in better plight than when. I left them. 
 Did they speak of having lost their consort, peddler? " 
 
 " In troth did they," said Bryce; " that is, they said some- 
 thing about a partner that had gone down to Davie Jones in 
 these seas." 
 
 " And did you tell them what you knew of her? " said the 
 Udaller. 
 
 " And wha the deevil wad hae been the fule, then," said the 
 peddler, "that I should say sae? When they kenn'd what 
 came of the ship, the next question wad have been about the 
 cargo; and ye wad not have had me bring down an armed 
 vessel on the coast to harrie the poor folk about a wheen rags 
 of duds that the sea flung upon their shores !" "* 
 
 " Besides what might have been found in your own pack, 
 you scoundrel! " said Magnus Troil — an observation which 
 produced a loud laugh. The Udaller could not help joining 
 in the hilarity which applauded his jest; but, instantly com- 
 posing his countenance, he said, in an unusually grave tone, 
 " You may laugh, my friends; but this is a matter which 
 brings both a curse and a shame on the country; and till we 
 learn to regard the rights of them that suffer by the winds and 
 waves, we shall deserve to be oppressed and hag-ridden, as we 
 have been and are, by the superior strength of the strangers 
 who rule us." 
 
 The company hung their heads at the rebuke of Magnus 
 Troll. Perhaps some, even of the better class, might be con- 
 
THE PIRATE. 187 
 
 science-struck on their own account; and all of them were 
 sensible that the appetite for plunder, on the part of the ten- 
 ants and inferiors, was not at all times restrained with suffi- 
 cient strictness. But Cleveland made answer gayly, " If these 
 honest fellows be my comrades, I will answer for them that 
 they will never trouble the country about a parcel of chests, 
 hammocks, and such trumpery that the Roost may have 
 washed ashore out of my poor sloop. What signifies to them 
 whether the trash went to Bryce Snailsfoot, or to the bottom, 
 or to the devil? So unbuckle thy pack, Bryce, and show the 
 ladies thy cargo, and perhaps we may see something that will 
 please them." 
 
 " It cannot be his consort," said Brenda, in a whisper to her 
 sister; " he would have shown more joy at her appearance." 
 
 "It must be the vessel," answered iMinna; "I saw liis eye 
 glisten at the thought of being again united to the partner of 
 his dangers." 
 
 " Perhaps it glistened," said her sister, still apart, " at the 
 thought of leaving Zetland; it is difficult to guess the thought 
 of the heart from the glance of the eye." 
 
 " Judge not, at least unkindly, of a friend's thought," said 
 Minna; " and then, Brenda, if you are mistaken, the fault 
 rests not with you." 
 
 During this dialogue, Bryce Snailsfoot was busied in un- 
 coiling the carefully arranged cordage of his pack, which 
 amounted to six good yards of dressed sealskin, curiously com- 
 plicated and secured by all manner of knots and buckles. He 
 was considerably interrupted in the task by the Udaller and 
 others, who pressed him with questions respecting the stranger 
 vessel. 
 
 "Were the officers often ashore? and how were they re- 
 ceived by the people of Kirkwall ? " said Magnus Troil. 
 
 " Excellently well," answered Brj'ce Snailsfoot; " and the 
 captain and one or two of his men had been at some of the 
 vanities and dances which went forward in the town; but 
 there had been some word about customs, or king's duties, or 
 the like, and some of the higher folk, that took upon them as 
 magistrates, or the like, had had words with the captain, and 
 he refused to satisfy them; and then it is like he was more 
 coldly looked on, and he spoke of carrying the ship round to 
 Stromness, or the Langhope, for she lay under the guns of the 
 battery at Kirkwall. But he (Br\'ce) thought she wad bide 
 at Kirkwall till the summer fair was over, for all that." 
 
 " The Orkney gentry," said Magnus Troil, " are always in a 
 
188 WA VERLEY NO VEL8. 
 
 hurry to draw the Scotch collar tighter round their own necks. 
 Is it not enough that we must pay ' scat ' and ' wattle," 
 which were all the public dues under our old Norse govern- 
 ment; but must they come over us with king's dues and cus- 
 toms besides? It is the part of an honest man to resist these 
 things. I have done so all my life, and will do so to the end 
 of it." 
 
 There was a loud jubilee and shout of applause among the 
 guests, who were (some of them at least) better pleased with 
 Magnus Troll's latitudinarian principles with respect to the 
 public revenue (which were extremely natural to those living 
 in so secluded a situation, and subjected to many additional 
 exactions) than they had been with the rigor of his judgment 
 on the subject of wrecked goods. But Minna's inexperienced 
 feelings carried her farther than her father, while she whis- 
 pered to Brenda, not unheard by Cleveland, that the tame 
 spirit of the Orcadians had missed every chance which late 
 incidents had given them to emancipate these islands from the 
 Scottish voke. 
 
 " Why," she said, " should we not, under so many changes 
 as late times have introduced, have seized the opportunity to 
 shake off an allegiance which is not justly due from us, and to 
 return to the protection of Denmark, our parent country? 
 Why should we yet hesitate to do this, but that the gentry of 
 Orkney have mixed families and friendship so much with our 
 invaders that they have become dead to the throb of the 
 heroic Norse blood which they derived from their ancestors? " 
 
 The latter part of this patriotic speech happened to reach 
 the astonished ears of our friend Triptolemus, who, having a 
 sincere devotion for the Protestant succession, and the Eevo- 
 lution as established, was surprised into the ejaculation, " As 
 the old cock crows the young cock learns — hen, I should say, 
 mistress, and I crave your pardon if I say anything amiss in 
 either gender. But it is a happy country where the father 
 declares against the king's customs, and the daughter against 
 the king's crown! and, in my judgment, it can end in naething 
 but trees and tows." 
 
 " Trees are scarce among us," said Magnus; " and for ropes, 
 we need them for our rigging, and cannot spare them to be 
 shirt-collars." 
 
 " And whoever," said the captain, " takes umbrage at what 
 this young lady says had better keep his ears and tongue for 
 a safer employment than such an adventure." 
 
 " Aye — aye," said Triptolemus, " it helps the matter much 
 
THE PIRATE. 189 
 
 to speak truths whilk are as unwelcome to a proud stomach as 
 wet clover to a cow's, in a land where lads are ready to draw 
 the whittle if a lassie but looks awry. But what manners are 
 to be expected in a country where folk call a pleugh-sock a 
 markal?" 
 
 " Hark ye, Master Yellowley," said the captain, smiling, " I 
 hope my manners are not among those abuses which you come 
 hither to reform; any experiment on them may be dangerous." 
 
 " As well as difficult," said Triptolemus dryly; '' but fear 
 nothing, Captain Cleveland, from my remonstrances. My 
 labors regard the men and things of the earth, and not the 
 men and things of the sea: you are not of my element." 
 
 " Let us be friends, then, old clod-compeller," said the 
 captain. 
 
 " Clod-compeller! " said the agriculturist, bethinking him- 
 self of the lore of his earlier days. " Clod-compeller pro 
 cloud-compeller, vf^cAT/ypeVa Zeus — GrcBcum est; in which 
 voyage came you by that phrase? " 
 
 " I have traveled books as well as seas in my day," said the 
 captain; " but my last voyages have been of a sort to make me 
 forget my early cruises through classic knowledge. But come 
 here, Bryce; hast cast off the lasliing? Come all hands, and 
 let us see if he has aught in his cargo that is worth looking 
 upon." 
 
 With a proud, and at the same time a wily, smile did the 
 crafty peddler display a collection of wares far superior to 
 those which usually filled his packages, and, in particular, 
 some stuffs and embroideries of such beauty and curiosity, 
 fringed, flowered, and worked, with such art and magnifi- 
 cence, upon foreign and arabesque patterns, that the sight 
 might have dazzled a far more brilliant company than the 
 simple race of Thule. All beheld and admired, while Mis- 
 tress Baby Yellowley, holding up her hands, protested it was 
 a sin even to look upon such extravagance, and worse than 
 murder so much as to ask the price of them. 
 
 Others, however, were more courageous: and the prices de- 
 manded by the merchant, if they were not, as he himself 
 declared, something just more than nothing, short only of an 
 absolute free gift of his wares, were nevertheless so moderate 
 as to show that he himself must have made an easy acquisition 
 of the goods, judging by the rate at which he offered to pari; 
 with them. Accordingly, the cheapness of the articles cre- 
 ated a rapid sale; for in Zetland, as well as elsewhere, wise 
 lolk buy more from the prudential desire to secure a good bar- 
 
100 WAVEULEY liOVELS. 
 
 gain than from any real occasion for the purchase. The lady 
 Glowrowrum boufi^ht seven petticoats and twelve stomachers 
 on this sole principle, and other matrons present rivaled her 
 in this sagacious species of econom_y. The Udaller was also 
 a considerable purchaser; but the principal customer for what- 
 ever could please the eye of beauty was the gallant Captain 
 Cleveland, who rummaged the jagger's stores in selecting 
 presents for the ladies of the party, in which Minna and 
 Brenda Troil were especially remembered. 
 
 " I fear," said Magnus Troil, " that the young women are 
 to consider these pretty presents as keepsakes, and that all 
 this liberality is only a sure sign we are soon to lose you? " 
 
 This question seemed to embarrass him to whom it was put. 
 
 " I scarce know," he said with some hesitation, " whether 
 this vessel is my consort or no; I must take a trip to Kirk- 
 wall to make sure of that matter, and then I hope to return to 
 Dunrossness to bid you all farewell." 
 
 " In that case," said the Udaller, after a moment's pause, 
 " I think I may carry you thither. I should be at the Kirk- 
 wall fair, to settle with the merchants I have consigned my 
 fish to, and I have often promised Minna and Brenda that 
 they should see the fair. Perhaps also your consort, or these 
 strangers, whoever they be, may have some merchandise that 
 will suit me. I love to see my rigging-loft well stocked with 
 goods, almost as much as to see it full of dancers. We will 
 go to Orkney in my own brig, and I can offer you a hammock, 
 if you will." 
 
 The offer seemed so acceptable to Cleveland that, after 
 pouring himself forth in thanks, he seemed detennined to 
 mark his joy by exhausting Bryce Snailsfoot's treasures in 
 liberality to the company. The contents of a purse of gold 
 were transferred to the jagger, with a facility and indifference 
 on the part of its former owner which argued either the 
 greatest profusion or consciousness of superior and inexhaust- 
 ible wealth; so that Baby whispered to her brother that, " If 
 he could afford to fling away money at this rate, the lad had 
 made a better voyage in a broken ship than all the skippers 
 of Dundee had made in their haill anes for a twelvemonth 
 past." 
 
 But the angry feeling in which she made this remark was 
 much mollified when Cleveland, whose object it seemed that 
 evening to be to buy golden opinions of all sorts of men, 
 approached her with a garment somewhat resembling in shape 
 the Scottish plaid, but woven of a sort of wool so soft that it 
 
THE PIRATE. 191 
 
 felt to the touch as if it were composed of eider-down. 
 " This," he said, " was a part of a Spanish lady's dress, called 
 a ' mantilla '; as it would exactly lit the size of Mrs. Baby 
 Yellowley, and was very well suited for the fogs of the climato 
 of Zetland, he entreated her to wear it for his sake." Tlie 
 lady, with as much condescending sweetness as her counte- 
 nance was able to express, not only consented to receive this 
 mark of gallantry, but permitted the donor to arrange the 
 mantilla upon her projecting and bony shoulder-blades, 
 where, said Claud Halcro, " It hung, for all the world, as if 
 it had been stretched betwixt a couple of cloak-pins." 
 
 While the captain was performing this piece of courtesy, 
 much to the entertainment of the company, which, it may be 
 presumed, was his principal object from the beginning. Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun made purchase of a small golden chaplet, with 
 the private intention of presenting it to Brenda, when he 
 should find an opportunity. The price was fixed, and the 
 article laid aside. Claud Halcro also showed some desire of 
 possessing a silver box of antique shape, for depositing to- 
 bacco, which he was in the habit of using in considerable 
 quantity. But the bard seldom had current coin in prompti- 
 tude, and, indeed, in his wandering way of life, had little 
 occasion for any; and Bryce, on the other hand, his having 
 been hitherto a ready-money trade, protested that his very 
 moderate profits upon such rare and choice articles would not 
 allow of his affording credit to the purchase. Mo r daunt 
 gathered the import of this conversation from the mode in 
 which they whispered together, while the bard seemed to 
 advance a wistful finger toward the box in question, and the 
 cautious peddler detained it with the weight of his whole 
 hand, as if he had been afraid it would literally make itself 
 wings and fly into Claud Halcro's pocket. Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun at this moment, desirous to gratify an old acquaintance, 
 laid the price of the box on the table, and said he would not 
 permit Master Halcro to purchase that box, as he had settled 
 in his own mind to make him a present of it. 
 
 " I cannot think of robbing you, my dear young friend," 
 said the poet; " but the truth is, that that siame box does re- 
 mind me strangely of glorious John's, out of which I had the 
 honor to take a pinch at the Wits' Coffee-house, for which I 
 think more highly of my right-hand finger and thumb than 
 any other part of my body; only you must allow me to i)ay 
 you back the price when my Urkaster stock-fish come to 
 market." 
 
192 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " Settle that as you like betwixt you," said the jagger, tak- 
 ing up Mordaunt's money; " the box is bought and sold." 
 
 " And how dare you sell over again," said Captain Cleve- 
 land, suddenly interfering, " what you already have sold to 
 me?" 
 
 All were surprised at this interjection, which was hastily 
 made, as Cleveland, having turned from Mistress Baby, had 
 become suddenly, and, as it seemed, not without emotion, 
 aware what articles Bryce Snailsfoot was now disposing of. 
 To this short and fierce question the jagger, afraid to con- 
 tradict a customer of his description, answered only by stam- 
 mering, that the '' Lord knew he meant nae offense." 
 
 " How, sir! no offense! " said the seaman, " and dispose of 
 my property?" extending his hand at the same time to the 
 box and chaplet; " restore the young gentleman's money, and 
 learn to keep your course on the meridian of honesty." 
 
 The jagger, confused and reluctant, pulled out his leathern 
 pouch to repay to Mordaunt the money he had just deposited 
 in it; but the youth was not to be so satisfied. 
 
 " The articles," he said, " were bought and sold — these 
 were your own words, Bryce Snailsfoot, in Master Halcro's 
 hearing; and I will suffer neither you nor any other to deprive 
 me of my property." 
 
 "Your property, young man?" said Cleveland. "It is 
 mine: I spoke to Bryce respecting them an instant before I 
 turned from the table." 
 
 " I — I — I had not just heard distinctly," said Br3^ce, evi- 
 dentlv unwilling to offend either party. 
 
 " Come — come." said the Udaller, " we will have no quar- 
 reling about baubles; we shall be summoned presently to the 
 rigffing-loft " — so he used to call the apartment used as a 
 ball-room — " and we must all go in a good humor. The 
 things shall remain with Bryce for to-night, and to-morrow I 
 will myself settle whom they shall belong to." 
 
 The laws of the Udaller in his own house were absolute as 
 those of the ]\Iedes. The two young men, regarding each 
 other with looks of sullen displeasure, drew off in different 
 directions. 
 
 It is seldom that the second day of a prolonged festival 
 equals the first. The spirits, as well as the limbs, are jaded, 
 and unequal to the renewed expenditure of animation and 
 exertion; and the dance at Burgh-Westra was sustained with 
 much less mirth than on the preceding evening. It was yet 
 an hour from midnight, when even the reluctant Magnus 
 
THE PIRATE. 198 
 
 Troil, after regretting the degeneracy of the times, and wish- 
 ing he could transfuse into the modern Hialthmders some of 
 the vigor which still animated his own frame, found himself 
 compelled to give the signal for general retreat. 
 
 Just as this took place, Halcro, leading Mordaimt Mer- 
 toun a little aside, said he had a message to him from Captain 
 Cleveland. 
 
 " A message! " said Mordaunt, his heart beating somewhat 
 thick as he spoke. "A challenge, I suppose?" 
 
 "A challenge!" repeated Halcro; "who ever heard of a 
 challenge in our quiet islands? Do you think that 1 look like 
 a carrier of challenges, and to you of all men living? I am 
 none of those fighting fools, as glorious John calls them; and 
 it was not quite a message I had to deliver — only thus far, 
 this Captain Cleveland, I find, hath set his heart upon hav- 
 ing these articles you looked at." 
 
 " He shall not have them, I swear to you," replied Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun. 
 
 "Nay, but hear me," said Halcro; "it seems that, by the 
 marks or arms that are upon them, he knows that they were 
 formerly his property. Now, were you to give me the box, 
 as you promised, I fairly tell you I should give the man back 
 his own." 
 
 " And Brenda might do the like," thought Mordaunt to 
 himself, and instantly replied aloud, "I have thought better 
 of it, my friend. Captain Cleveland shall have the toys he 
 sets such store by, but it is on one sole condition." 
 
 " Nay, you \\\\\ spoil all with your conditions," said Halcro; 
 " for, as glorious John says, conditions are but " 
 
 " Here me, I say, with patience. My condition is, that he 
 keeps the toys in exchange for the rifle-gun I accepted from 
 him, which will leave no obligation between us on either side." 
 
 " I see where you would be: this is Sebastian and Dorax all 
 over. Well, you may let the jagger know he is to deliver the 
 things to Cleveland — I think he is mad to have them — and 
 I will let Cleveland know the conditions annexed, otherwise 
 honest Bryce might come by two payments instead of one; 
 and I believe his conscience would not choke upon it." 
 
 With these words Halcro went to seek out Cleveland; while 
 Mordaunt, obse^^dng Snailsfoot, who, as a sort of privileged 
 person, had thrust himself into the crowd at the bottom of 
 the dancing-room, went up to him, and gave him directions to 
 deliver the disputed articles to Cleveland as soon as he had an 
 opportunity. 
 
194 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 " Ye are in the right, Maister Mordaunt," said the jagger; 
 " ye are a prudent and a sensible lad — a calm answer turneth 
 away wrath; and mysell, I sail be willing to please you in ony 
 trifling matters in my sma' way; for, between the Udaller of 
 Burgh- Westra and Captain Cleveland, a man is, as it were, 
 atween the deil and the deep sea; and it was like that the 
 Udaller, in the end, would have taken your part in the dis- 
 pute, for he is a man that loves justice." 
 
 " Which apparently you care very little about. Master 
 Snailsfoot," said Mordaunt, " otherwise there could have 
 been no dispute whatever, the right being so clearly on my 
 side, if you had pleased to bear witness according to the dic- 
 tates of truth." 
 
 " Maister Mordaunt," said the jagger, " I must own there 
 was, as it were, a coloring or shadow of justice on your side; 
 but then the justice that I meddle with is only justice in the 
 way of trade — to have an ell-wand of due length, if it be not 
 something worn out with leaning on it in my lang and pain- 
 ful journeys, and to buy and sell by just weight and measure, 
 twenty-four merks to the lispund; but I have nothing to do, 
 to do justice betwixt man and man, like a fowd or a lawright- 
 man at a law-ting lang syne." 
 
 " No one asked you to do so, but only to give evidence ac- 
 cording to your conscience," replied Mordaunt, not greatly 
 pleased either with the part the jagger had acted during the 
 dispute or the construction which he seemed to put on his 
 own motives for yielding up the point. 
 
 But Bryce Snailsfoot wanted not his answer. " My con- 
 science," he said, " Maister Mordaunt, is as tender as ony 
 man's in my degree; but she is something of a timorsome 
 nature, cannot abide angry folk, and can never speak above 
 her breath when there is aught of a fray going forward. In- 
 deed, she hath at all times a small and low voice." 
 
 " Which you are not much in the habit of listening to," 
 said Mordaunt. 
 
 " There is that on your ain breast that proves the con- 
 trary," said Bryce resolutely. 
 
 " In my breast! " said Mordaunt, somewhat angrily; " what 
 know I of you? " 
 
 '' I said on your breast, Maister Mordaunt, and not in it. I 
 am sure nae eye that looks on that waistcoat upon your own 
 gallant brisket but will say that the merchant who sold such a 
 piece for four dollars had justice and conscience, and a kind 
 heart to a customer to the boot of a' that; sae ye shouldna be 
 
THE PIRATE. 195 
 
 sae thrawart wi' me for ha^^ng spared the breath of my mouth 
 in a fool's quarrel." 
 
 '•■ I thrawart! " said Mordaunt; " pooh, you silly man! I 
 have no quarrel with you." 
 
 " I am glad of it," said the traveling-merchant. '' I will 
 quarrel with no man, with my will, least of all with an old 
 customer; and if you will walk by my advice, you will quarrel 
 nane with Captain Cleveland. He is like one of yon cutters 
 and slashers that have come into Kirkwall, that think as little 
 of slicing a man as we do of flinching a whale: it's their trade 
 to fight, and they live by it; and they have the advantage of 
 the like of you, that only take it up at your own hand, and in 
 the way of pastime, when you hae nothing better to do." 
 
 The company had now almost all dispersed; and Mordaunt, 
 laughing at the jagger's caution, bade him good-night, and 
 went to his own place of repose, which had been assigned to 
 him by Eric Scambester (who acted the part of chamberlain 
 as well as butler) in a small room, or rather closet, in one of 
 the outhouses, furnished for the occasion with the hammock 
 of a sailor. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 I pass like niglit from land to land, 
 
 I have strange power of speech; 
 So soon as e'er his face I see, 
 I know the man that imist hear me, 
 
 To him my tale I teach. 
 
 — Coleridge's Bime of the Ancient Marines-. 
 
 The daughters of Magnus Troil shared the same bed, in a 
 chamber which had been that of their parents before the 
 death of their mother. Magnus, who suffered grievously 
 under that dispensation of Providence, had become disgusted 
 with the apartment. The nuptial chamber was abandoned 
 to the pledges of his bereaved affection, of whom the eldest 
 was at that period only four years old, or thereabouts; and, 
 having been their nursery in infancy, continued, though now 
 tricked and adorned according to the best fashion of the 
 islands and the taste of the lovely sisters themselves, to be 
 their sleeping-room, or, in the old Norse dialect, their bower. 
 
 It had been for many years the scene of the most intimate 
 confidence, if that could be called confidence where, in truth, 
 there was nothing to be confided; where neither sister had a 
 secret; and where every thought that had birth in the bosom 
 of the one was, without either hesitation or doubt, confided to 
 the other as spontaneously as it had arisen. But, since Cleve- 
 land abode in the mansion of Burgh-Westra, each of the lovely 
 sisters had entertained thoughts which are not lightly or 
 easily communicated, unless sh? who listens to them has pre- 
 viously assured herself that the confidence will be kindly re- 
 ceived. Minna had noticed what other and less interested 
 observers had been unable to perceive, that Cleveland, namely, 
 held a lower rank in Brenda's opinion than in her own; and 
 Brenda, on her side, thought that Minna had hastily and un- 
 justly joined in the prejudices which had been excited against 
 Mordaunt Mertoun in the mind of their father. Each was 
 sensible that she was no longer the same to her sister; and this 
 conviction was a painful addition to other painful apprehen- 
 sions which they supposed they had to struggle with. Their 
 manner toward each other was, in outward appearances, and 
 in all the little cares by which affection can be expressed, even 
 more assiduously kind than before, as if both, conscious that 
 
 196 
 
THE PIRATE. 197 
 
 their internal reserve was a breach of their sisterly union, 
 strove to atone for it by double assiduity in those external 
 marks of affection which, at other times, when there was noth- 
 ing to hide, might be omitted without inferring any con- 
 sequences. 
 
 On the night referred to, in particular, the sisters felt more 
 especially the decay of the confidence which used to exist be- 
 twixt them. The proposed voyage to Kirkwall, and that at 
 the time of the fair, when persons of every degree in these 
 islands repair thither, either for business or amusement, was 
 likely to be an important incident in lives usually so simple 
 and uniform as theirs; and, a few months ago, Minna and 
 Brenda would have been awake half the night, anticipating, 
 in their talk with each other, all that was likely to happen on 
 so momentous an occasion. But now the subject was just 
 mentioned and suffered to drop, as if the topic was likely to 
 produce a difference betwixt them, or to call forth a more 
 open display of their several opinions than either was willing 
 to make to the other. 
 
 Yet such was their natural openness and gentleness of dis- 
 position, that each sister imputed to herself the fault that 
 there was aught like an estrangement existing between them; 
 and when, having finished their devotions and betaken them- 
 selves to their common couch, they folded each other in their 
 arms, and exchanged a sisterly kiss and a sisterly good-night, 
 they seemed mutually to ask pardon and to exchange forgive- 
 ness, although neither said a word of. offense, either offered 
 or received; and both were soon plunged in that light and yet 
 profound repose which is only enjoyed when sleep sinks down 
 on the eyes of youth and innocence. 
 
 On the night to which the story relates, both sisters were 
 visited by dreams, which, though varied by the moods aad 
 habits of the sleepers, bore yet a strange general resemblance 
 to each other. 
 
 Minna dreamed that she was in one of the most lonely re- 
 cesses of the beach, called Swartaster, where the incessant 
 operation of the waves, indenting a calcarious rock, has 
 formed a deep " halier," which, in the language of the island, 
 means a subterranean cavern, into which the tide ebbs and 
 flows. Many of these run to an extraordinary and unascer- 
 tained depth under ground, and are the secure retreat of cor- 
 morants and seals, which it is neither easy nor safe to pursue 
 to their extreme recesses. Amongst these, this halier of 
 Swartaster was accounted peculiarly inaccessible, and shunned 
 
1 98 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 both by fowlers and b}' seamen, on account of sharp angles 
 and turnings in the cave itself, as well as the sunken rocks 
 which rendered it very dangerous for skiffs or boats to ad- 
 vance far into it, especially if there was the usual swell of an 
 island tide. From the dark-browed mouth of this cavern, it 
 seemed to Minna, in her dream, that she beheld a mermaid 
 issue, not in the classical dress of a nereid, as in Claud Hal- 
 cro's mask of the preceding evening, but wdth comb and glass 
 in hand, according to popular belief, and lashing the waves 
 with tliat long scaly train which, in the traditions of the 
 country, forms so frightful a contrast with the fair face, long 
 tresses, and displayed bosom of a human and earthly female 
 of surpassing beauty. She seemed to beckon to Minna, while 
 her wild notes rang sadly in her ear, and denounced, in pro- 
 phetic sounds, calamity and woe. 
 
 The vision of Brenda was of a different description, yet 
 equally melancholy. She sat, as she thought, in her favorite 
 bower, surrounded by her father and a party of his most be- 
 loved friends, amongst whom Mordaunt Mertoun was not for- 
 gotten. She was required to sing; and she strove to enter- 
 tain them with a lively ditty, in which she was accounted 
 eminently successful, and which she sung with such simple 
 yet natural humor as seldom failed to produce shouts of 
 laughter and applause, wdiile all wdio could, or who could not, 
 sing were irresistibly compelled to lend their voices to the 
 chorus. But on this occasion it seemed as if her own voice 
 refused all its usual duty, and as if, while she felt herself un- 
 able to express the words of the well-known air, it assumed, 
 in her own despite, the deep tones and wild and melancholy 
 notes of Noma of Fitful Head, for the purpose of chanting 
 some wild Runic rhyme, resembling those sung by the 
 heathen priests of old, when the victim, too often human, 
 was bound to the fatal altar of Odin or of Thor. 
 
 At length the two sisters at once started from sleep, and, 
 uttering a low scream of fear, clasped themselves in each 
 other's arms. For their fancy had not altogether played 
 them false; the sounds wdiich had suggested their dreams were 
 real, and sung within their apartment. They knew the voice 
 "well, indeed, and yet, knowing to whom it belonged, their sur- 
 prise and fear were scarce the less when they saw the well- 
 known Noma of Fitful Head seated by the chimney of the 
 apartment, which, during the summer season, contained an 
 iron lamp well trimmed, and in wdnter a fire of wood or of 
 turf. 
 
THE PIRATE. 199 
 
 She was wrapped in her long and ample garment of wad- 
 maal, and moved her body slowly to and fro over the pale 
 flame of the lamp, as she sung lines to the following purport, 
 in a slow, sad, and almost an unearthly accent: 
 
 " For leagues along the watery way, 
 
 Through gulf and stream my course has been; 
 The billows kuow my Ruuic lay, 
 
 And smooth their crests to silent green. 
 
 " The billows know my Runic lay, — 
 
 The gulf grows smooth, the stream is still; 
 But human hearts, more wild than they, 
 Know but the rule of wayward will. 
 
 " One hour is mine, in all the year, 
 To tell my woes, and one alone: 
 When gleams this magic lamp, 'tie here ; 
 When dies the mystic light, 'tis gone. 
 
 ** Daughters of northern Magnus, hail ! 
 The lamp is lit, the flame is clear, — 
 To you I come to teU my tale, 
 Awake, arise, my tale to hear ! " 
 
 Noma was well known to the daughters of Troil, but it was 
 not without emotion, although varied by their respective dis- 
 positions, that they beheld her so unexpectedly, and at such 
 an hour. Their opinions with respect to the supernatural 
 attributes t-o which she pretended were extremely different. 
 
 Minna, with an unusual intensity of imagination, although 
 superior in talent to her sister, was more apt to listen to, and 
 delight in, every tale of wonder, and was at all times more 
 willing to admit impressions which gave her fancy scope and 
 exercise, without minutely examining their reality. Brenda, 
 on the other hand, had, in her gayety, a slight propensity to 
 satire, and was often tempted to laugh at the very circum- 
 stances upon which Minna founded her imaginative dreams; 
 and, like all who love the ludicrous, she did not readily suffer 
 herself to be imposed upon, or overawed, by pompous preten- 
 sions of any kind whatever. But, as her nen^es were weaker 
 and more irritable than those of her sister, she often paid 
 involuntary homage, by her fears, to ideas which her reason 
 disowned; and hence Claud Halcro used to say, in reference 
 to many of the traditionary superstitions around Burgh- 
 Westra, that Minna believed them without trembling, and 
 that Brenda trembled without believing them. In our o^sti 
 more enlightened days there are few whose undoubting mind 
 and native courage bave not felt ]\Iinna's high-wrought tone 
 of enthusiasm; and perhaps still fewer who have not, at one 
 
200 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 time or other, felt, like Brenda, their nerves confess the in- 
 fluence of terrors which their reason disowned and despised. 
 Under the power of such different feelings, Minna, when 
 the first moment of surprise was over, prepared to spring 
 from her bed and go to greet Noma, who, she doubted not, 
 had come on some errand fraught with fate; while Brenda, 
 who only beheld in her a woman partially deranged in her 
 understanding, and who yet, from the extravagance of her 
 claims, regarded her as an undefined object of awe, or rather 
 terror, detained her sister by an eager and terrified grasp, 
 while she whispered in her ear an anxious entreaty that she 
 would call for assistance. But the soul of Minna was too 
 highly wrought up by the crisis at which her fate seemed to 
 have arrived to permit her to follow the dictates of her sister's 
 fears; and, extricating herself from Brenda's hold, she hastily 
 threw on a loose nightgown, and, stepping boldly across the 
 apartment, while her heart throbbed rather with high excite- 
 ment than with fear, she thus addressed her singular visitor: 
 
 " jSTorna, if your mission regards us, as your words seem to 
 express, there is one of us, at least, who will receive its import 
 'Vvith reverence, but without fear." 
 
 *'\NoiXia — dear Noma," said the tremulous voice of Brenda, 
 who, feeling no safety in the bed after ]\Iinna quitted it, had 
 followed her, as fugitives crowd into the rear of an advancing 
 army, because they dare not remain behind, and who now 
 stood half concealed by her sister, and holding fast by the 
 skirts of her gown — " Noma — dear Noma," said she, " what- 
 ever you are to say, let it be to-morrow. I will call Euphane 
 Fea, the housekeeper, and she will find you a bed for the 
 night." 
 
 " No bed for me! " said their nocturnal visitor; " no closing 
 of the eyes for me! They have watched as shelf and stack 
 appeared and disappeared betwixt Burgh- Westra and Orkney; 
 they have seen the Man of Hoy sink into the sea, and the 
 Peak of Hengcliff arise from it, and yet they have not tasted 
 of slumber; nor must they slumber now till my task is ended. 
 Sit down, then, Minna, and thou, silly trembler, sit down, 
 while I trim my lamp. Don your clothes, for the tale is long, 
 and ere 'tis done ye will shiver with worse than cold." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, then, put it ofl' till daylight, dear 
 Norna! " said Brenda; "the dawn cannot be far distant, and 
 if you are to tell us of anything frightful, let it be by day- 
 light, and not by the dim glimmer of that blue lamp! " 
 
 " Patience, fool! " said their uninvited guest. " Not by 
 
THE PIRATE. 20V 
 
 daylight should Noma tell a tale that might hlot the sun out 
 of heaven, and blight the hopes of the hundred boats that will 
 leave this shore ere noon to commence their deep-sea fishing 
 — aye, and of the hundred families that will await their return. 
 The demon, whom the sounds will not fail to awaken, must 
 shake his dark wings over a shipless and a boatless sea, as he 
 rushes from his mountain to drink the accents of horror he 
 loves so well to listen to." 
 
 " Have pity on Brenda's fears, good Norna."»said the elder 
 sister, " and \i least postpone this frightful communication 
 to another place and hour." 
 
 "Maiden, no!" replied Noma sternly; "it must be told 
 while that lamp yet burns. ^line is no daylight tale: by that 
 lamp it must be told, which is framed out of the gibbet-irons 
 of the cruel Lord of Wodensvoe. who murdered his brother; 
 and has for its nourishment — but be that nameless — enough 
 that its food never came either from the fis^h or from the 
 frait! See, it waxes dim and dimmer, nor must my tale last 
 longer than its flame endureth. Sit ye down there, while I 
 sit here opposite to you, and place the lamp betwixt us; for 
 within the sphere of its light the demon dares not venture." 
 
 The sisters obeyed, Jlinna casting a slow, awestmck, yet 
 determined look all around, as if to see the being who, ac- 
 cording to the doubtful words of Noma, hovered in their 
 neighborhood; while Brenda's fears were mingled vdih. some 
 share both of anger and of impatience. Noma paid no atten- 
 tion to either, but began her stor}' in the following words :_ 
 
 " Ye know, my daughters, that your blood is allied to mine, 
 but in what degree ye know not; for there was early hostility 
 betwixt your grandsire and him who had the misfortune to 
 call me daughter. Let me term him by his Christian name of 
 Erland. for' that which marks our relation I dare not bestow. 
 Your grandsire Olave was the brother of Erland. But when 
 the wide udal possessions of their father Rolfe Troil, the most 
 rich and well-estated of any who descended from the old 
 Norse stock, were divided betwixt the brothers, the fowd gave 
 to Erland his fathers lands in Orkney, and reserved for Olave 
 those of Hialtland. Discord arose between the brethren: for 
 Erland held that he was wronged: and when the law-ting,* 
 with the raddmen and lawright-men, confirmed the division, 
 he went in wrath to Orkney, cursing Hialtland and its inhab- 
 itants — cursing his brother and his blood. 
 
 " But the love of the rock and of the mountain still 
 
 ♦ See Note 28. 
 
202 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 wrought on Erland's mind, and he fixed his dwelling not on 
 the soft hills of Orphir or the green plains of Graemsay, but 
 in the wild and mountainous Isle of Hoy,* whose summit 
 rises to the sky like the cliffs of Foulah and of Feroe. He 
 knew — that unhappy Erland — whatever of legendary lore 
 Scald and bard had left behind them; and to teach me that 
 knowledge, which was to cost us both so dear, was the chief 
 occupation of his old age. I learned to visit each lonely bar- 
 row, each lofty cairn; to tell its appropriate tale, and to soothe 
 with rhymes in his praise the spirit of the stern warrior who 
 dwelt within. I knew where the sacrifices were made of yore 
 to Thor and to Odin; on what stones the blood of the victims 
 flow^ed; where stood the dark-browed priest; where the crested 
 chiefs, who consulted the will of the idol; where the more dis- 
 tant crowd of inferior worshipers, who looked on in awe or in 
 terror. The places most shunned by the timid peasants had 
 no terrors for me: I dared walk in the fairy circle, and sleep 
 by the magic spring. 
 
 " But, for my misfortune, I was chiefly fond to linger about 
 the dwarfie Stone,t as it is called, a relic of antiquity, which 
 strangers look on with curiosity and the natives with awe. It 
 is a huge fragment of rock, which lies in a broken and rude 
 valley, full of stones and precipices, in the recesses of the 
 Ward Hill of Hoy. The inside of the rock has two couches, 
 hewn by no earthly hand, and having a small passage between 
 them. The doorway is now open to the weather; but beside 
 it lies a large stone, wdiich, adapted to grooves still visible in 
 the entrance, once had served to open and to close this extraor- 
 dinary dwelling, which Trold, a dwarf famous in the North- 
 em sagas, is said to have framed for his own favorite 
 residence. The lonely shepherd avoids the place; for at 
 sunrise, high noon, or sunset the misshapen form of the 
 necromantic owner may sometimes still be seen sitting by the 
 Dwarfie Stone. I feared not the apparition, for, Minna, my 
 heart was as bold and my hand was as innocent as yours. In 
 my childish courage, I Avas even but too presumptuous, and 
 the thirst after things unattainable led me, like our primitive 
 mother, to desire increase of knowledge even by prohibited 
 means. I longed to possess the power of the voluspa? and 
 divining-women of our ancient race; to wield, like them, 
 command over the elements; and to summon the ghosts of 
 deceased heroes from their caverns, that they might recite 
 their daring deeds and impart to me their hidden treasures. 
 
 * See Note 23. + See Note 84. 
 
THE PIRATE. 208 
 
 Often, when watching by the Dwarfie Stone, with mine eyes 
 fixed on the Ward Hill, which rises above that gloomy valley, 
 I have distinguished, among the dark rocks, that wonderful 
 carbuncle,* which gleams ruddy as a furnace to them who 
 view it from beneath, but has ever become invisible to him 
 whose daring foot has scaled the precipices from which it 
 darts its splendor. My vain and youthful bosom burned to 
 investigate these and an hundred other mysteries, which the 
 sagas that 1 perused, or learned from Erland, rather indicated 
 than explained; and in my daring mood I called on the lord 
 of the Dwarfie Stone to aid me in attaining knowledge inac- 
 cessible to mere mortals." 
 
 " And the evil spirit heard your summons? " said Minna, 
 her blood curdling as she listened. 
 
 " Hush," said Noma, lowering her voice, " vex him not 
 with reproach; he is with us — he hears us even now." 
 
 Brenda started from her seat. " I will to Euphane Fea's 
 c?aamber," she said, " and leave you, Minna and Noma, to 
 finish your stories of hobgoblins and of dwarfs at your own 
 leisure. I care not for them at any time, but I will not en- 
 dvire them at midnight, and by this pale lamplight." 
 
 She was accordingly in the act of leaving the room, when 
 her sister detained her. 
 
 " Is this the courage," she said, " of her that disbelieves 
 whatever the history of our fathers tells us of supernatural 
 prodigy? What Noma has to tell concerns the fate, perhaps, 
 of our father and his house; if I can listen to it, trusting that 
 God and my innocence will protect me from all that is malig- 
 nant, you, Brenda, who believe not in such influence, have 
 surely no cause to tremble. Credit me, that for the guiltless 
 there is no fear." 
 
 " There may be no danger," said Brenda, unable to sup- 
 press her natural turn for humor, " but, as the old jest-book 
 says, there is much fear. However, Minna, I will stay with, 
 you; the rather," she added in a whisper, " that I am loth to 
 leave you alone with this frightful woman, and that I have a 
 dark staircase and long passage betwixt [us] and Eui)hane 
 Fea, else I would have her here ere I were five minutes older." 
 
 " Call no one hither, maiden, upon peril of thy life," said 
 Noma, " and interrupt not my tale again; for it cannot and 
 must not be told after that charmed light has ceased to burn." 
 
 " And I thank Heaven," said Brenda to herself, " that the 
 oil burns low in the cruise! I am sorely tempted to lend it 
 
 * See Note !J5, 
 
904 WAYERLEY NOVELS 
 
 a puff, but then Noma would be alone with us in the dark, 
 and that would be worse." 
 
 So saying, she submitted to her fate, and sat down, deter- 
 mined to listen with all the equanimity which she could com- 
 mand to the remaining part of Noma's tale, which went on as 
 follows: 
 
 " It happened on a hot summer day, and just about the 
 hour of noon," continued Noma, " as I sat by the Dwarfie 
 Stone, with my eyes fixed on the Ward Hill, whence the mys- 
 terious and ever-burning carbuncle shed its rays more 
 brightly than usual, and repined in my heart at the restricted 
 bounds of human knowledge, that at length I could not help 
 exclaiming, in the words of an ancient saga: 
 
 " 'Dwellers of the mountain, rise, 
 
 Trold the powerful, Haims the wise! 
 Ye who tanglit weak woman's tongue 
 Words that sway the wise and strong, — 
 Ye who taught weak woman's hand 
 How to wield the magic wand, 
 And wake the gales on Fonlah's steep, 
 Or lull wild Sumburgh's waves to sleep ! 
 Still are ye yet ? Not yours the power 
 Ye knew in Odin's mightier hour. 
 What are ye now but empty names, 
 ♦ Powerful Trold, sagacious Haims, 
 
 That, lightly spoken, lightly heard, 
 Float on the air like thistle's beard ? ' 
 
 " I had scarce uttered these words," proceeded Noma, " ere 
 the sky, which had been till then unusually clear, grew so 
 suddenly dark around me that it seemed more like midnight 
 than noon. A single flash of lightning showed me at once 
 the desolate landscape of heath, morass, mountain, and preci- 
 pice which lay around; a single clap of thunder wakened all 
 the echoes of the Ward Hill, which continued so long to re- 
 peat the sound, that it seemed some rock, rent by the thunder- 
 bolt from the summit, was rolling over cliff and precipice into 
 the valley. Immediately after fell a burst of rain so violent 
 that I was fain to shun its pelting by creeping into the in- 
 terior of the mysterious stone. 
 
 " I seated myself on the larger stone couch, which is cut at 
 the farther end of the cavity, and, with my eyes fixed on the 
 smaller bed, wearied myself with conjectures respecting the 
 origin and purpose of my singular place of refuge. Had it 
 been really the work of that powerful Trold to whom the 
 poetry of the Scalds referred it? Or was it the tomb of some 
 Scandinavian chief, interred with his arms and his wealth, 
 perhaps also with his immolated wife, that what he loved best 
 
TEE PIRATE. 205 
 
 in life might not in death be divided from him? Or was it 
 the abode of penance, chosen by some devoted anchorite of 
 later days? Or the idle work of some wandering mechanic, 
 whom chance, and vvliim, and leisure, had thrust upon such 
 an undertaking? I tell you the thoughts that then floated 
 through my brain, that ye may know that what ensued was 
 not the vision of a prejudiced or prepossessed imagination, 
 but an apparition, as certain as it was awful. 
 
 " Sleep had gradually crept on me, amidst my lucubrations, 
 when I was startled from my slumbers by a second clap of 
 thunder; and, when I awoke, I saw, through the dim light 
 which the upper aperture admitted, the unshapely and indis- 
 tinct form of Trold the dwarf, seated opposite to me on the 
 lesser couch, which his square and misshapen bulk seemed 
 absolutely to fill up. I was startled, but not affrighted; for 
 the blood of the ancient race of Lochlin was warm in my 
 veins. He spoke; and his words were of Norse, so old that 
 few, save my father or I myself, could have comprehended 
 their import — such language as was spoken in these islands 
 ere Olave planted the cross on the ruins of heathenism. His 
 meaning was dark also and obscure, like that which the pagan 
 priests were wont to deliver, in the name of their idols, to the 
 tribes that assembled at the Helgafels.* This was the import: 
 
 " 'A thousand ■winters dark have flown, 
 Since o'er the threshold of my stone 
 A votaress pass'd, my power to own, 
 Yisitor bold 
 Of the mansion of Trold, 
 
 Maiden haughty of heart, 
 Who liast hitlier presumed — 
 Ungifted, undoom'd, 
 
 Thou shalt not depart : 
 The power thou dost covet 
 
 O'er tempest and wave, 
 Shall be thine, thou proud maiden, 
 By beach and by cave, — 
 By stack and by skerry, by nonp and by voe, 
 By air and by wick, and by lielyer and gio. 
 And by every wild Khore which the nortliern winds know, 
 
 And the northern tides lave. 
 But though this shall be given tliee. tlioii desperately brave, 
 I doom thee that never the gift thon shalt have, 
 Till thou reave thy life's giver 
 Of the gift which he gave.' 
 
 " I answered him in nearly the same strain; for the spirit of 
 the ancient Scalds of our race was upon me, and, far from 
 
 * Or consecrated mountain, used by the Scandinavian priests for the jmrposes of their 
 idol-worship. 
 
206 WAVMRLEY NOVELS. 
 
 fearing the phantom, with whom I sat cooped within so nar- 
 row a space, 1 telt the imjjulse of tliat high courage which 
 thrust the ancient champions and Druidesses upon contests 
 with the invisihle worki, when tliey thought that the earth 
 no longer contained enemies worthy to be subdued by them. 
 Therefore did 1 answer him thus: 
 
 "Dark are tliy words, aud severe, 
 
 Thou dweller in the stone; 
 But trembling and fear 
 
 To her are unknown, 
 Who hath Honght thee here 
 
 In thy dwelling lone. 
 Come what comes soever. 
 
 The worst I can endure; 
 Life is but a short fever, 
 
 And death is the cure. 
 
 " The demon scowled at me, as if at once incensed and 
 overawed; and then coiling himself up in a thick and sul- 
 phureous vapor, he disappeared from his place. I did not, 
 till that moment, feel the influence of fright, but then it 
 seized me. I rushed into the open air, where the tempest 
 had passed away, and all was pure and serene. After a mo- 
 ment's breathless pause, I hasted home, musing by the way 
 on the words of the phantom, which I could not, as often 
 happens, recall so distinctly to memory at the time as I have 
 been able to do since. 
 
 " It may seem strange that such an apparition should, in 
 time, have glided from my mind like a vision of the night; 
 but so it was. I brought myself to believe it the work of 
 fancy; I thought I had lived too much in solitude, and had 
 given way too much to the feelings inspired by my favorite 
 studies. I abandoned them for a time, and I mixed with the 
 youth of my age. I was upon a visit at Kirkwall when I 
 learned to know your father, whom business had brought 
 thither. He easily found access to the relation with whom I 
 lived, who was anxious to compose, if possible, the feud which 
 divided our families. Your father, maidens, has been rather 
 hardened than changed by years: he had the same manly 
 form, the same old Norse frankness of manner and of heart, 
 the same upright courage and honesty of disposition, with 
 more of the gentle ingenuousness of youth, an eager desire to 
 please, a willingness to be pleased, and a vivacity of spirits 
 which survives not our early years. But though he was thus 
 worthy of love, and though Erland wrote to me authorizing 
 his attachment, there was another — a stranger, Minna, a fatal 
 
THE PIRATE. 201 
 
 stranger — full of arts unknown to us, and graces which to the 
 plain manners of your father were unknown. Yes, he 
 walked, indeed, among us like a being of another and of a 
 superior race. Ye look on me as if it were stmnge that I 
 should have had attractions for such a lover; but I present 
 nothing that can remind you that Noma of the Fitful Head 
 was once admired and loved as Ulla Troil: the change betwixt 
 the animated body and the corpse after decease is scarce more 
 awful and absolute than 1 have sustained while I yet linger 
 on earth. Look on me, maidens — look on me by this glim- 
 mering light. Can ye believe that these haggard and 
 weather-wasted features; these eyes, which have been almost 
 converted to stone by looldng upon sights of terror; these 
 locks, that, mingled with gray, now stream out, the shattered 
 pennons of a sinking vessel — that these, and she to whom 
 they belong, could once be the objects of fond affection? 
 But the waning lamp sinks fast, and let it sink while I tell my 
 infamy. We loved in secret, we met in secret, till I gave the 
 last proof of fatal and of guilty passion! And now beam out, 
 thou magic glimmer: shine out a little space, thou flame so 
 powerful even in thy feebleness; bid him who hovers near us 
 keep his dark pinions aloof from the circle thou dost illumi- 
 nate; live but a little till the worst be told, and then sink when 
 thou wilt into darkness as black as my guilt and sorrow! " 
 
 While she spoke thus, she drew together the remaining 
 nutriment of the lamp, and trimmed its decaying flame; then 
 again, with a hollow voice and in broken sentences, pursued 
 her narrative. 
 
 " I must waste little time in words. Mv love was discov- 
 ered, but not my guilt. Erland came to Pomona in anger, 
 and transported me to our solitary dwelling in Hoy. He 
 commanded me to see my lover no more, and to receive Mag- 
 nus, in whom he was willing to forgive the offenses of his 
 father, as my future husband. Alas! I no longer deserved 
 his attachment; my only wish was to escape from my father's 
 dwelling, to conceal my shame in my lover's amis. Let me 
 do him justice: he was faithful — too, too faithful; his perfidy 
 would have bereft me of my senses, but the fatal consequences 
 of his fidelity have done me a tenfold injury." 
 
 She paused, and then resumed, with the wild tone of in- 
 sanity, " It has made me the powerful and the despairing 
 sovereign of the seas and winds! " 
 
 She paused a second time after this wild exclamation, and 
 resumed her narrative in a more composed manner. 
 
208 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " My lover came in secret to Hoy, to concert measures for 
 my flight, and I agreed to meet him, that we might fix the 
 time when his vessel should come into the sound. I left the 
 house at midnight." 
 
 Here she appeared to gasp with agony, and went on with 
 her tale by broken and interrupted sentences. " I left the 
 house at midnight. I had to pass my father's door, and I 
 perceived it was open. I thought he watched us; and, that 
 the sound of my steps might not break his slumbers, I closed 
 the fatal door — a light and trivial action, but, God in Heaven! 
 what were the consequences! At morn the room was full of 
 suffocating vapor — my father was dead — dead through my act 
 — dead through my disobedience — dead through my infamy! 
 All that follows is mist and darkness — a choking, suffocating, 
 stifling mist envelops all that I said and did, all that was 
 said and done, until I became assured that my doom was 
 accomplished, and walked forth the calm and terrible being 
 you now behold me — the queen of the elements — the sharer 
 in the power of those beings to whom man and his passions 
 give such sport as the tortures of the dog-fish afford the fisher- 
 man, when he pierces his eyes with thorns, and turns him 
 once more into his native element, to traverse the waves in 
 blindness and agony.* No, maidens, she whom you see be- 
 fore you is impassive to the follies of which your minds are 
 the sport. I am she that have made the offering— I am she 
 that bereaved the giver of the gift of life which he gave me: 
 the dark saying has been interpreted by my deed, and I am 
 taken from humanity, to be something pre-eminently power- 
 ful, pre-eminently wretched! " 
 
 As she spoke thus, the light, which had been long quiver- 
 ing, leaped high for an instant, and seemed about to expire, 
 when Noma, interrupting herself, said hastily, " No more 
 now — he comes — he comes. Enough that ye know me, and 
 the right I have to advise and command you. Approach 
 now, proud spirit! if thou wilt." 
 
 So saying, she extinguished the lamp, and passed out of 
 the apartment with her usual loftiness of step, as Minna could 
 observe from its measured cadence. 
 
 * This cruelty is practiced by eome flsberB, out of a vindictive hatred to tliese raven- 
 ons fishes. 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 Is all the counsel that we two have shared 
 The sisters' vows, the hours tliat we have spent, 
 When we have chid the hasty-footed time 
 For parting us— O, and is all forgot ! 
 
 — Midsummer NighVs Dream,. 
 
 The attention of Minna was powerfully arrested by this 
 tale of terror, which accorded with and explained many 
 broken hints respecting Noma which she had heard from 
 her father and other near relations, and she was for a time so 
 lost in surprise, not unmingled with horror, that she did not 
 even attempt to speak to her sister Brenda. When, at length, 
 she called her by her name, she received no answer, and, on 
 touching her hand, she found it cold as ice. x'Vlarmed to the 
 uttermost, she threw open the lattice and the window- 
 shutters, and admitted at once the free air and the pale glim- 
 mer of the hyperborean summer night. She then became 
 sensible that her sister was in a swoon. All thoughts con- 
 cerning Noma, her frightful tale, and her mysterious connec- 
 tion with the invisible world, at once vanished from Minna's 
 thoughts, and she hastily ran to the apartment of the old 
 housekeeper, to summon her aid, without reflecting for a mo- 
 ment what sights she might encounter in the long dark pass- 
 ages which she had to traverse. 
 
 The old woman hastened to Brenda's assistance, and in- 
 stantly applied such remedies as her experience suggested; 
 but the poor girl's nervous system had been so much agitated 
 by the horrible tale she had just heard that, when recovered 
 from her swoon, her utmost endeavors to compose her mind 
 could not prevent her falling into a hysterical fit of some 
 duration. This also was subdued by the experience of old 
 pAiphane Fea, who was well versed in all the simple pharmacy 
 used by the natives of Zetland, and who, after administering 
 a composing-draught, distilled from simples and wild flowers, 
 at length saw her patient resigned to sleep. IMinna stretched 
 herself beside her sister, kissed her cheek, and courted slum- 
 ber in her turn; but the more she invoked it, the farther it 
 seemed to fly from her eyelids; and if at times she was dis- 
 posed to sink into repose, the voice of the involuntary parri- 
 
 809 
 
210 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 cide seemed again to sound in her ears, and startled her into 
 consciousness. 
 
 The early morning hour at which they were accustomed to 
 rise found the state of the sisters dill'erent from what might 
 have been expected. A sound sleep had restored the spirit of 
 Brenda's lightsome eye, and the rose on her laughing cheek; 
 the transient indisposition of the preceding night having left 
 as little trouble on her look as the fantastic terrors of Noma's 
 tale had bee*n able to impress on her imagination. The looks 
 of Minna, on the contrary, were melancholy, downcast, and 
 apparently exhausted by watching and anxiety. They said 
 at first little to each other, as if afraid of touching a subject 
 so fraught with emotion as the scene of the preceding night. 
 It was not until they had performed together their devotions, 
 as usual, that Brenda, while lacing Minna's bodice (for they 
 rendered the services of the toilet to each other reciprocally), 
 became aware of the paleness of her sister's looks; and having 
 ascertained, by a glance at the mirror, that her own did not 
 wear the same dejection, she kissed Minna's cheek, and said 
 affectionately, " Claud Halcro was right, my dearest sister, 
 when his poetical folly gave us these names of Night and 
 Day." 
 
 " And wherefore should you say so now? " said Minna. 
 
 " Because we each are bravest in the season that we take 
 our name from: I was frghtened well-nigh to death by hear- 
 ing those things last night which you endured with coura- 
 geous firmness; and now, when it is broad light, I can think of 
 them with composure, while you look as pale as a spirit who 
 is surprised by sunrise." 
 
 " You are lucky, Brenda," said her sister gravely, " who 
 can so soon forget such a tale of wonder and horror." 
 
 " The horror," said Brenda, " is never to be forgotten, un- 
 less one could hope that the unfortunate woman's excited 
 imagination, which shows itself so active in conjuring up 
 apparitions, may have fixed on her an imaginary crime." 
 
 " You believe nothing, then," said Minna, " of her inter- 
 view at the Dwarfie Stone, that wondrous place, of which so 
 many tales are told, and which, for so many centuries, has 
 been reverenced as the work of a demon, and as his abode? " 
 
 " I believe," said Brenda, " that our unhappy relative is no 
 impostor; and therefore I believe that she was at the Dwarfie 
 Stone during a thunderstorm, that she sought shelter in it, 
 and that, during a swoon, or during sleep perhaps, some 
 dream visited her, concerned with the popular traditions with 
 
THE PIRATE. 211 
 
 which she was so conversant; but I cannot easily believe 
 more." 
 
 " And yet the event," said Minna, " corresponded to the 
 dark intimations of the vision." 
 
 " Pardon me," said Brenda, " I rather think the dream 
 would never have been put into shape, or perhaps remembered 
 at all, but for the event. She told us herself she had nearly 
 forgot the vision, till after her father's dreadful death; and 
 who shall warrant how much of what she then supposed her- 
 self to remember was not the creation of her own fancy, dis- 
 ordered as it naturally was by the horrid accident? Had she 
 really seen and conversed with a necromantic dwarf, she was 
 likely to remember the conversation long enough — at least I 
 am sure I should." 
 
 " Brenda," replied Minna, " you have heard the good minis- 
 ter of the Cross kirk say, that human wisdom was worse than 
 folly, when it was applied to mysteries beyond its comprehen- 
 sion; and that, if we believed no more than we could under- 
 stand, we should resist the evidence of our senses, which pre- 
 sented us, at ever}' turn, circumstances as certain as they were 
 unintelligible." 
 
 " You are too learned yourself, sister," answered Brenda, 
 " to need the assistance of the good minister of Cross kirk; 
 but I think his doctrine only related to the mysteries of our 
 religion, which it is our duty to receive without investigation 
 or doubt; but in things occurring in common life, as God has 
 bestowed reason upon us, we cannot act wrong in employing 
 it. But you, my dear Minna, have a warmer fancy than 
 mine, and are willing to receive all those wonderful stories for 
 truth, because you love to think of sorcerers, and dwarfs, and 
 water-spirits, and would like much to have a little trow, or 
 fairy, as the Scotch call them, with a green coat, and a pair 
 of wings as brilliant as the hues of the starling's neck, spe- 
 cially to attend on you." 
 
 " It would spare you at least the trouble of lacing my 
 bodice," said Minna, " and of lacing it wrong, too; for in the 
 heat of your argument you have missed two eyelet-holes." 
 
 " That error shall be presently mended," said Brenda; 
 " and then, as one of our friends might say, I will haul tight 
 and belay — but you draw your breath so deeply, that it will 
 be a difficult matter." 
 
 " I only sighed," said Minna, in some confusion, " to think 
 how soon you can trifle with and ridicule the misfortunes of 
 this extraordinai'y woman." 
 
212 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 "I do not ridicule them, God knows!" replied Brenda, 
 somewhat angrily; " it is you, Minna, who turn all I say in 
 truth and kindness to something harsh or wicked. I look on 
 Noma as a woman of very extraordinary abilities, which are 
 very often united with a strong cast of insanity; and I con- 
 sider her as better skilled in the signs of the weather than any 
 woman in Zetland. But that she has any power over the ele- 
 ments I no more believe than I do in the nursery stories of 
 King Erick, who could make the wind blow from the point 
 he set his cap to." 
 
 Minna, somewhat nettled with the obstinate incredulity of 
 her sister, replied sharply, " And yet, Brenda, this woman — 
 half-mad woman, and the veriest impostor — is the person by 
 whom you choose to be advised in the matter next your own 
 heart at this moment! " 
 
 " I do not know what you mean," said Brenda, coloring 
 deeply, and shifting to get away from her sister. But as she 
 was now undergoing the ceremony of being laced in her turn, 
 her sister had the means of holding her fast by the silken 
 string with which she was fastening the bodice, and, tapping 
 her on the neck, which expressed, by its sudden writhe and 
 sudden change to a scarlet hue, as much pettish confusion as 
 she had desired to provoke, she added, more mildly, " Is it 
 not strange, Brenda, that, used as we have been by the stran- 
 ger Mordaunt Mertoun, whose assurance has brought him un- 
 invited to a house where his presence is so unacceptable, you 
 should still look or think of him with favor? Surely, that 
 you do so should be a proof to you that there are such things 
 as spells in the country, and that you yourself labor 
 under them. It is not for naught that Mordaunt wears a 
 chain of elfin gold; look to it, Brenda, and be wise in 
 time." 
 
 " I have nothing to do with Mordaunt Mertoun," answered 
 Brenda hastily, " nor do I know or care what he or any other 
 young man wears about his neck. I could see all the gold 
 chains of all the bailies of Edinburgh, that Lady Glowrow- 
 rum speaks so much of, without falling in fancy with one of 
 the wearers." And, having thus complied with the female 
 rule of pleading not guilty in general to such an indictment, 
 she immediately resumed, in a different tone, " But. to say 
 the truth, Minna, I think you, and all of you, have judged far 
 too hastily about this joung friend of ours, who has been so 
 long our most intimate companion. Mind, Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun is no more to me than he is to you, who best know how 
 
THE PIRATE. 213 
 
 little difference he made betwixt us; and that, chain or no 
 chain, he lived with us like a brother with two sisters; and 
 yet you can turn him off at once, because a wandering sea- 
 man, of whom we know nothing, and a peddling jagger, whom 
 we do know to be a thief, a cheat, and a liar, speak words and 
 carry tales in his disfavor! I do not believe he ever said he 
 could have his cho-ice of either of us, and only waited to see 
 which was to have Burgh- Westra and Bredness Voe. I do 
 not believe he ever spoke such a word, or harbored such a 
 thought, as that of making a choice between us," 
 
 " Perhaps," said Minna coldly, " you may have had reason 
 to know that his choice was already determined." 
 
 "I will not endure this!" said Brenda. giving way to her 
 natural vivacity, and springing from between her sister's 
 hands; then turning round and facing her, while her glowing 
 cheek was rivaled in the deepness of its crimson by as much 
 of her neck and bosom as the upper part of the half-laced 
 bodice permitted to be visible. " Even from you, Minna," 
 she said, "I will not endure this! You know that all my 
 life I have spoken the truth, and that I love the truth; and T 
 tell you that Mordaunt Mertoun never in his life made dis- 
 tinction betwixt you and me, until " 
 
 Here some feeling of consciousness stopped her short, and 
 her sister replied, with a smile, "Until ichen, Brenda? Me- 
 thinks your love of truth seems choked with the sentence you 
 were bringing out." 
 
 " Until you ceased to do him the justice he deserves," said 
 Brenda firmly, " since I must speak out. I have little doubt 
 that he will not long throw away his friendship on you, who 
 hold it so lightly." 
 
 " Be it so," said Minna; " you are secure from my rivalry, 
 either in his friendship or love. But bethink you better, 
 Brenda; this is no scandal of Cleveland's — Cleveland is in- 
 capable of slander — no falsehood of Br}'ce Snailsfoot; not one 
 of our friends or acquaintance but says it has been the com- 
 mon talk of the island, that the daughters of Magnus Troil 
 were patiently awaiting the choice of the nameless and birth- 
 less stranger, Mordaunt Mertoun. Is it fitting that this 
 should be said of us. the descendants of a Norwegian jarl, and 
 the daughters of the first Udaller in Zetland? or would it be 
 modest or maidenly to submit to it unresented, were we the 
 meanest lasses that ever lifted a milk pail? " 
 
 " The tongues of fools are no reproach," replied Brenda 
 warmly; " I will never quit my own thoughts of an innocent 
 
«U WAVEELE7 NOVELS. 
 
 friend for the gossip of the island, which can put the worst 
 meaning on the most innocent actions." 
 
 " Hear but what our friends say," repeated Minna; " hear 
 but the Lady Glowrowrum; hear but Maddie and Clara Groat- 
 settar." 
 
 " If I were to hear Lady Glowrowrum," said Brenda 
 steadily, " I should listen to the worst tongue in Zetland; and 
 as for Maddie and Clara Groatsettar, they were both blithe 
 enough to get Mordaunt to sit betwixt them at dinner the day 
 before yesterday, as you might have observed yourself, but 
 that your ear was better engaged." 
 
 " Your eyes, at least, have been but indifferently engaged, 
 Brenda," retorted the elder sister, " since they were fixed on 
 a young man whom all the world but yourself believes to have 
 talked of us with the most insolent presumption; and even if 
 he be innocently charged. Lady Glowrowrum says it is un- 
 maidenly and bold of you even to look in the direction where 
 he sits, knowing it must confirm such reports." 
 
 " I will look which way I please," said Brenda., growing still 
 warmer. " Ivady Glowrowrum shall neither rule my 
 thoughts, nor my words, nor my eyes. I hold Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun to be innocent — I will look at him as such — I will speak 
 of him as such; and if I did not speak to him also, and be- 
 have to him as usual, it is in obedience to my father, and not 
 for what Lady Glowrowrum and all her neices, had she twenty 
 instead of two, could think, wink, nod, or tattle about the 
 matter that concerns them not." 
 
 "Alas! Brenda," answered Minna, with calmness, "tliis 
 vivacity is more than is required for the defense of the char- 
 acter of a mere friend! Beware! He who ruined Noma's 
 peace forever was a stranger, admitted to her affections 
 against the will of her family." 
 
 " He was a stranger," replied Brenda, with emphasis, " not 
 only in birth but in manners. She had not been bred up 
 with him from her youth; she had not known the gentleness, 
 the frankness of his disposition by an intimacy of many years. 
 He was indeed a stranger, in character, temper, birth, man- 
 ners, and morals; some wandering adventurer, perhaps, whom 
 chance or tempest had thrown upon the islands, and who 
 knew how to mask a false heart with a frank brow. My good 
 sister, take home your own warning. There are other stran- 
 gers at Burgh- Westra besides this poor Mordaunt Mertoun." 
 
 Minna seemed for a moment overwhelmed with the rapidity 
 with which her sister retorted her suspicion and her caution. 
 
THE PIRATE. 215 
 
 But her natural loftiness of disposition enabled her to reply 
 with assumed composure. 
 
 " Were I to treat you, Brenda, with the want of confidence 
 you show toward me, I might reply that Cleveland is no more 
 to me than Mordaunt was; or than young Swaraster, or Lau- 
 rence Ericson, or any other favorite guest of my father's, now 
 is. But I scorn to deceive you, or to disguise my thoughts. 
 I love Clement Cleveland." 
 
 " Do not say so, my dearest sister," said Brenda, abandon- 
 ing at once the air of acrimony with which the conversation 
 had been latterly conducted, and throwing her arms round 
 her sister's neck, with looks, and with a tone, of the most 
 earnest affection — " do not say so, I implore you! I will re- 
 nounce Mordaunt Mertoun, I will swear never to speak to 
 him again; but do not repeat that you love this Cleveland! " 
 
 " And why should I not repeat," said Minna, disengaging 
 herself gently from her sister's grasp, " a sentiment in which 
 I glory? The boldness, the strength and energy, of his char- 
 acter, to which command is natural and fear unknown — these 
 very properties, which alarm you for my happiness, are the 
 qualities which insure it. Eemember, Brenda, that when 
 your foot loved the calm, smooth sea-beach of the summer 
 sea, mine ever delighted in the summit of the precipice when 
 the waves are in fury." 
 
 " And it is even that which I dread," said Brenda; " it is 
 even that adventurous disposition which now is urging you to 
 the brink of a precipice more dangerous than ever was washed 
 by a spring-tide. This man — do not frown, I will say no 
 slander of him — but is he not, even in your own partial judg- 
 ment, stern and overbearing? accustomed, as you say, to com- 
 mand; but, for that very reason, commanding where he has 
 no right to do so, and leading whom it would most become 
 him to follow? rushing on danger, rather for its own sake 
 than for any other object? And can you think of being 
 yoked with a spirit so unsettled and stormy, whose life has 
 hitherto been led in scenes of death and peril, and who, even 
 while sitting by your side, cannot disguise his impatience 
 again to engage in them? A lover, methinks, should love his 
 mistress better than his own life; but yours, my dear Minna, 
 loves her less than the pleasure of inflicting death on others." 
 
 " And it is even for that I love him," said Minna. " I am 
 a daughter of the old dames of Norway, who could send their 
 lovers to battle with a smile, and slay them with their own 
 hands if they returned with dishonor. My lover must scom 
 
216 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 the mockeries by which our degraded race strive for distine- 
 lion, or must practice them only in sport, and in earnest of 
 nobk'r dangers. No whale-striking, bird-nesting favorite for 
 me: my lover must be a sea-king, or what else modem times 
 may give that draws near to that lofty character." 
 
 " Alas, my sister! " said Brenda, " it is now that I must in 
 earnest begin to believe the force of spells and of charms. 
 You remember the Spanish story which you took from me 
 long since, because I said, in your admiration of the chivalry 
 of the olden times of Scandinavia, you rivaled the extrava- 
 gance of the hero. Ah, Minna, your color shows that your 
 conscience checks you, and reminds you of the book I mean; 
 is it more wise, think you, to mistake a windmill for a giant, 
 or the commander of a paltry corsair for a kiempe or a 
 viking? " 
 
 Minna did indeed color with anger at this insinuation, of 
 which, perhaps, she felt in some degree the truth. 
 
 " You have a right," she said, " to insult me, because you 
 are possessed of my secret." 
 
 Brenda's soft heart could not resist this charge of unkind- 
 ness; she adjured her sister to pardon her, and the natural 
 gentleness of Minna's feelings could not resist her entreaties. 
 
 " We are unhappy," she said, as she dried her sister's tears, 
 " that we cannot see with the same eyes; let us not make each 
 other more so by mutual insult and unkindness. You have 
 my secret; it will not, perhaps, long be one, for my father 
 shall have the confidence to which he is entitled, so soon as 
 certain circumstances will permit me to offer it. Meantime, 
 I repeat, you have my secret, and I more than suspect that I 
 have yours in exchange, though you refuse to own it." 
 
 "How, Minna!" said Brenda; "would you have me ac- 
 knowledge for anyone such feelings as you allude to, ere he 
 has said the least word that could justify such a confession? " 
 
 " Surely not; but a hidden fire may be distinguished by 
 heat as well as flame." 
 
 " You understand these signs, Minna," said Brenda, hang- 
 ing down her head, and in vain endeavoring to suppress the 
 temptation to repartee which her sister's remark offered; " but 
 I can only say that, if ever I love at all, it shall not be until 
 I have been asked to do so once or twice at least, which has 
 not yet chanced to me. But do not let us renew our quarrel, 
 and rather let us think why Noma should have told us that 
 horrible tale, and to what she expects it should lead." 
 
 " It must have been as a caution," replied Minna — " a cau- 
 
THE PIRATE. 217 
 
 tion which our situation, and, I will not deny it, which mine 
 in particular, might seem to her to call for; but I am alike 
 strong in my own innocence and in the honor of Cleveland." 
 
 Brenda would fain have replied that she did not confide so 
 absolutely in the latter security as in the first; but she was 
 prudent, and, forbearing to awaken the former painful dis- 
 cussion, only replied, " It is strange that Noma should have 
 said nothing more of her lover. Surely he could not desert 
 her in the extremity of misery to which he had reduced her? " 
 
 " There may be agonies of distress," said Minna, after a 
 pause, " in which the mind is so much Jarred that it ceases to 
 be responsive even to the feelings which have most engrossed 
 it: her sorrow for her lover may have been swallowed up in 
 horror and despair." 
 
 " Or he might have fled from the islands in fear of our 
 father's vengeance," replied Brenda. 
 
 " If for fear or faintness of heart," said Minna, looking 
 upward, " he was capable of flying from the ruin which he 
 had occasioned. I trust he has long ere this sustained the 
 punishment which Heaven reserves for the most base and das- 
 tardly of traitors and of cowards. Come, sister, we are ere 
 this expected at the breakfast board." 
 
 And they went thither, arm in ann, with much more of 
 confidence than had lately subsisted between them; the little 
 quarrel which had taken place having ser\^ed the purpose of a 
 " bourasque," or sudden squall, which dispels mists and 
 vapors, and leaves fair weather behind it. 
 
 On their way to the breakfast apartment, they agreed that 
 it was unnecessary, and might be imprudent, to communicate 
 to their father the circumstance of the nocturnal visit, or to 
 let him obser^'e that they now knew more than formerly of 
 the melancholy history of Noma. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 But lost to me, for ever lost those joys, 
 Which reason scatters, iiud which time destroys. 
 No more the midnight fairy-train I view, 
 All in the merry moonlight tippling dew. 
 Even the last lingering fiction of the braiu, 
 The churchyard ghost, is now at rest again. 
 
 — The Library. 
 
 The moral bard,* from whom we borrow the motto of this 
 chapter, has touched a theme with which most readers have 
 some feelings that vibrate unconsciously. Superstition, when 
 not arrayed in her full horrors, but laying a gentle hand only 
 on her suppliant's head, had charms which we fail not to re- 
 gret, even in those stages of society from which her influ- 
 ence is well-nigh banished by the light of reason and general 
 education. At least, in more ignorant periods, her system of 
 ideal terrors had something in them interesting to minds 
 which had few means of excitement. This is more especially 
 true of those lighter modifications of the superstitious feel- 
 ings and practices which mingle in the amusements of the 
 ruder ages, and are, like the auguries of Hallow-e'en in Scot- 
 land, considered partly as matter of merriment, partly as sad 
 and prophetic earnest. And, with similar feelings, people 
 even of tolerable education have, in our times, sought the cell 
 of a fortune-teller, upon a frolic, as it is termed, and yet not 
 always in a disposition absolutely skeptical toward the re- 
 sponses they receive. 
 
 When the sisters of Burgh- Westra arrived in the apartment 
 destined for a breakfast as ample as that which we have de- 
 scribed on the preceding morning, and had undergone a jocu- 
 lar rebuke from the Udaller for their late attendance, they 
 found the company, most of whom had already breakfasted, 
 engaged in an ancient Norwegian custom of the character 
 which we have just described. 
 
 It seems to have been borrowed from those poems of the 
 Scalds in which champions and heroines are so often rep- 
 resented as seeking to know their destiny from some sorceress 
 or prophetess, who, as in the legend called by Gray the " De- 
 scent of Odin," awakens by the force of Eunic rhyme the 
 ♦ Rev. George Crabbe.— iaing'. 
 ^218 
 
 I 
 
THE PIRATE. 219 
 
 unwilling revealer of the doom of fate, and compels from her 
 answers, often of dubious import, but which were then be- 
 lieved to express some shadow of the events of futurity. 
 
 An old sibyl, Euphane Fea, the housekeeper we have 
 already mentioned, was installed in the recess of a large win- 
 dow, studiously darkened by bearskins and other miscellane- 
 ous drapery, so as to give it something the appearance of a 
 Laplander's hut, and accommodated, like a confessional chair, 
 with an aperture, which permitted the person within to hear 
 with ease whatever questions should be put, though not to see 
 the querist. Here seated, the voluspa, or sibyl, was to Hsten 
 to the rhythmical inquiries which should be made to her, and 
 return an extemporaneous answer. The drapery was sup- 
 posed to prevent her from seeing by what individuals she was 
 consulted, and the intended or accidental reference which the 
 answer given under such circumstances bore to the 
 situation of the person by whom the question was asked 
 often furnished food for laughter, and sometimes, as it 
 happened, for more serious reflection. The sibyl was 
 usually chosen from her possessing the talent of im- 
 provisation in the Norse poetry; no unusual accom- 
 plishment, where the minds of many were stored with 
 old. verses, and where the rules of metrical composition are 
 uncommonly simple. The questions were also put in verse; 
 but as this power of extemporaneous composition, though 
 common, could not be supposed universal, the medium of an 
 interpreter might be used by any querist, which interpreter, 
 holding the consulter of the "oracle by the hand, and standing 
 by the place from which the oracles were issued, had the task 
 of rendering into verse the subject of inquiry.* 
 
 On the present occasion, Claud Halcro was summoned, bv 
 the universal voice, to perform the part of interpreter; and, 
 after shaking his head and muttering some apology for decay 
 of memory and poetical powers, contradicted at once by his 
 own conscious smile of confidence and by the general shout 
 of the company, the light-hearted old man came forward to 
 play his part in the proposed entertainment. 
 
 But, just as it was about to commence, the arrangement of 
 parts was singularly altered. Noma of the Fitful Head, 
 whom everyone excepting the two sisters believed to be at 
 the distance of many miles, suddenly, and without greeting, 
 entered the apartment, walked majestically up to the bear- 
 skin tabernacle, and signed to the female who was therp 
 
 * See Fortune-telling Rhymes. Note 28. 
 
230 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 seated to abdicate her sanctuary. The old woman came forth, 
 shaking her head and looking like one overwhelmed with fear; 
 nor, indeed, were there many in the company who saw with 
 absolute composure the sudden appearance of a person so 
 well known and so generally dreaded as Noma. 
 
 She paused a moment at the entrance of the tent; and, as 
 she raised the skin which formed the entrance, sihe looked up 
 to the north, as if imploring from that quarter a strain of 
 inspiration; then signing to the surprised guests that they 
 might approach in succession the shrine in which she was 
 about to install herself, she entered the tent, and was 
 shrouded from their sight. 
 
 But this was a different sport from what the company had 
 meditated, and to most of them seemed to present so much 
 more of earnest than of game that there was no alacrity shown 
 to consult the oracle. The character and pretensions of Noma 
 seemed, to almost all present, too serious for the part which 
 she had assumed; the men whispered to each other, and the 
 women, according to Claud Halcro, realized the description of 
 glorious John Dryden: 
 
 With horror shuddering, in a heap they ran. 
 
 The pause was interrupted by the loud, manly voice of tha 
 TJdaller. " Why does the game stand still, my masters? 'Are 
 you afraid because my kinswoman is to play our voluspa? It 
 is kindly done in her, to do for us what none in the isles can 
 do so well; and we will not balk our sport for it, but rather 
 go on the merrier." 
 
 There was still a pause in the company, and Magnus Troil 
 added, " It shall never be said that my kinswoman sat in her 
 bower unhalsed, as if she were some of the old mountain 
 giantesses, and all from faint heart. I will speak first my- 
 self; but the rhyme comes worse from my tongue than when I 
 was a score of years younger. Claud Halcro, you must stand 
 by me." 
 
 Hand in hand they approached the shrine of the supposed 
 sibyl, and after a moment's consultation together, Halcro thus 
 expressed the query of his friend and patron. Now, the 
 Udaller, like many persons of consequence in Zetland, who, 
 as Sir Eobert Sibbald has testified * for tl em, had begun thus 
 early to apply both to commerce and navigation, was con- 
 cerned to some extent in the whale-fishery of the season, and 
 
 * " The Description of the Isles of Orkney and Zetland " was published by Sir Robert 
 Sibbald, M. D., Edinburgh, 1711, foWo.—Laing. 
 
THE PIRATE. 221 
 
 the bard had been directed to put into his halting verse an 
 inquiry concerning its success. 
 
 Claud Halcro: 
 
 •' Mother darksome, mother dread. 
 Dweller on the Fitful Head, 
 Thou canst see what deeds are done 
 Under the never-settinj? sun. 
 Look through sleet, and look through frost, 
 Look to Greenland's caves and coast, — 
 By the iceberg is a sail 
 Chasing of the swarthy whale ; 
 Mother doubtful, mother dread, 
 Tell us, has the good ship sped ? " 
 
 The jest seemed to turn to earnest, as all, bendiu^c their 
 heads around, listened to the voice of Noma, who, without a 
 moment's hesitation, answered from the recesses of the tent 
 in which she was inclosed: 
 
 Nokka: 
 
 " The thought of the aged is ever on gear, — 
 On his fishing, his furrow, his flock, and his steer ; 
 But thrive may his fishing, flock, furrow, and herd, 
 While the aged for anguish shall tear his gray beard." 
 
 There was a momentary pause, during which Triptolemus 
 had time to whisper, " If ten witches and as many warlocks 
 were to swear it, I will never believe that a decent man will 
 either fash his beard or himself about anHhing so long as 
 stock and crop goes as it should do." 
 
 But the voice from within the tent resumed its low, mo- 
 notonous tone of recitation, and, interrupting further com- 
 mentary, proceeded as follows: 
 
 NOBNA. 
 
 " The ship, well-laden as bark need be, 
 Lies deep in the furrow of the Iceland sea; 
 The breeze for Zetland blows fair and soft, 
 And gayly the garland is fluttering aloft; 
 Seven good fishes have spouted their last. 
 And their jaw-bones are hanging to yard and mast; 
 Two are for Lerwick, and two for Kirkwall, 
 And three for Burgh-Westra, the choicest of all." * 
 
 " Now the powers above look down and protect us! " said 
 Bryce Snailsfoot; "for it is mair than woman's wit that has 
 spaed out that ferly. I saw them at North Ronaldsha that 
 
 * See Whalins Customs. Note 37. 
 
222 WAVERLIiT NOVELS. 
 
 had seen the good bark, the ' Olave ' of Lerwick, that our 
 worthy patron has such a great share in that she may be called 
 his own in a manner, and they had broomed the ship, and, as 
 sure as there ai'e stars in heaven, she answered them for seven 
 fish, exact as Noma has tolled us in her rhyme! " 
 
 " Umph — seven fish exactly! and you heard it at North 
 Ronaldsha?" said Captain Cleveland, "and I suppose told it 
 as a good piece of news when you came hither? " 
 
 " It never crossed my tongue, captain," answered the ped- 
 dler. " I have kenn'd mony chapmen, traveling-merchants, 
 and such like, neglect their goods to cary clashes and clavers 
 up and down from one countryside to another; but that is no 
 traffic of mine. I dinna believe I have mentioned the 
 • Olave's ' having made up her cargo to three folks since I 
 crossed to Dunrossness." 
 
 " But if one of those three had spoken the news over again, 
 and it is two to one that such a thing happened, the old lady 
 prophesies upon velvet." 
 
 Such was the speech of Cleveland, addressed to Magnus 
 Troil, and heard without any applause. The Udaller's re- 
 spect for his country extended to its superstitions, and so did 
 the interest which he took in his unfortunate kinswoman. If 
 he never rendered a precise assent to her high supernatural 
 pretensions, he was not at least desirous of hearing them dis- 
 puted by others. 
 
 " Noma," he said, " his cousin (an emphasis on the word), 
 held no communication with Bryce Snailsfoot or his acquaint- 
 ances. He did not pretend to explain how she came by her 
 information; but he had always remarkeH that Scotsmen, and 
 indeed strangers in general, when they came to Zetland, were 
 ready to find reasons for things which remained sufficiently 
 obscure to> those whose ancestors had dwelt there for ages." 
 
 Captain Cleveland took the hint, and bowed, without at- 
 tempting to- defend his own skepticism. 
 
 " And now forward, my brave hearts," said the Udaller; 
 "and may all have as good tidings as I have! Three whales 
 cannot but yield — let me think how many hogsheads " 
 
 There was an obvious reluctance on the part of the guests 
 to be the next in consulting the oracle of the tent. 
 
 " Gude news are welcome to some folks, if they came frae 
 the deil himsell," said Mistress Baby Yellowley, addressing 
 the Lady Glowrowrum — for a similarity of disposition in 
 eome respects had made a sort of intimacy betwixt them— 
 " but I think, my leddy, that this has ower mickle of rank 
 
THE PIRATE. 223 
 
 witchcraft in it to have the countenance of douce Christian 
 folks Hke you and me, my leddy." 
 
 '' There may be something in what you say, my dame," re- 
 plied the good Lady Glowrowrum; " but we Hialtlanders are 
 no just like other folks; and this woman, if she be a witch, 
 being the Fowd's friend and near kinswoman, it will be ill 
 ta'en if we haena our fortunes spaed like a' the rest of them; 
 and sae my nieces may e'en step forward in their turn, and 
 nae harm dune. They will hae time to repent, ye ken, in the 
 course of nature, if there be ony thing wrang in it, Mistress 
 Yellowley." 
 
 While others remained under similar uncertainty and ap- 
 prehension, Halcro, who saw by the knitting of the old 
 Udaller's brows, and by a certain impatient shuffle of his 
 right foot, like the motion of a man who with difficulty re- 
 frains from S)tamping, that his patience began to wax rather 
 thin, gallantly declared that he himself would, in his own 
 person, and not as a procurator for others, put the next query 
 to the pythoness. He paused a minute, collected his rhymes, 
 and thus addressed her: 
 
 Claud Halcbo: 
 
 " Mother doubtful, mother dread, 
 Dweller of the Fitful Head, 
 Thou hast conn'd full many a rhyme, 
 That lives upou the surge of time : 
 Tell me, shall my lays be sung. 
 Like Hacon's of the" Golden Tongue, 
 Long after Halcro's dead and gone ? 
 Or shall Hialtland's minstrel own 
 One note to rival glorious John ? " 
 
 The voice of the sibyl immediately replied from her sanc- 
 tuary: 
 
 Noena: 
 
 " The infant loves the rattle's noise; 
 Age, double childhood, hath its toys; 
 But ditierent far the descant rings. 
 As strikes a different hand the strings. 
 The eagle mounts the polar sky; 
 The imber-goose, unskill'd to fly, 
 Must be content to glide along. 
 Where seal and sea-dog list his song." 
 
 Halcro bit his lip, shrugged his shoulders, and then, in- 
 stantly recovering his good humor and the ready, though 
 slovenly, power of extemporaneous composition, with which 
 long habit had invested, liim, gallantly rejoined: 
 
224 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 Claud Halcbo : 
 
 " Be mine the imber-goose to play, 
 And haunt lone cave and silent bay ; 
 The archer's aim so shall I shun, 
 So shall I 'scape tlie level'd gnn, 
 Content my verse's tuneless jingle, 
 With Thule's sounding tides to mingle, 
 While, to the ear of wondering wight, 
 Upon the distant headland's height, 
 Soften'd by murmur of the sea, 
 The rude sounds seem like harmony ! " 
 
 As the little bard stepped back, with an alert gait and 
 satisfied air, general applause followed the spirited manner 
 in which he had acquiesced in the doom which leveled him 
 with an imber-goose. But his resigned and courageous sub- 
 mission did not even yet encourage any ether person to con- 
 sult the redoubted Noma. 
 
 " The coward fools! " said the Udaller. " Are you, too, 
 afraid, Captain Cleveland, to speak to an old woman? Ask 
 her anything — ask her whether the twelve-gun sloop at Kirk- 
 wall be your consort or no." 
 
 Cleveland looked at Minna, and probably conceiving that 
 she watched with anxiety his answer to her father's question, 
 he collected himself, after a moment's hesitation. 
 
 " I never was afraid of man or woman. Master Halcro, you 
 have heard the question which our host desires me to ask; 
 put it in my name, and in your own way. I pretend to as 
 little skill in poetry as I do in witchcraft." 
 
 Halcro did not wait to be invited twice, but, grasping Cap- 
 tain Cleveland's hand in his, according to the form which the 
 game prescribed, he put the query which the Udaller had dic- 
 tated to the stranger, in the following words: 
 
 Claud Halcro: 
 
 "Mother doubtful, mother dread, 
 Dweller of the Fitful Head, 
 A gallant bark from far abroad, 
 St, Magnus hath her in his road, 
 With guns and firelocks not a few, 
 A silken and a scarlet crew, 
 Deep stored with precious merchandise, 
 Of gold and goods of rare device — 
 What interest hath our comrade bold 
 In bark and crew, in goods and gold ? " 
 
 There was a pause of unusual duration ere the oracle would 
 return any answer; and when she replied, it was in a lower, 
 though an equally decided, tone with that which she had 
 hitherto employed: 
 
THE PIRATE. ^26 
 
 Nobka: 
 
 * Gold is ruddy, fair, and free, 
 Blood i.-< crimson and dark to see; — 
 I look'd out on St. ]\Iagnu8 Bay, 
 And I saw a falcon that struck her prey: 
 A gobbet of tlesh in her beak she bore, 
 And talons and singles are dripping with gore; 
 Let him that asks after them look on hie hand, 
 And if there is blood on't, he's one of their band." 
 
 Cleveland smiled scornfully, and held out his hand. " Few 
 men have been on the Spanish Main as often as I have with- 
 out having had to do with the ' guarda-costas ' once and 
 again; but there never was aught like a stain on my hand that 
 a wet towel would not wipe away." 
 
 The Udaller added his voice potential: "There is never 
 peace with Spaniards beyond the line: I have heard Captain 
 Tragendeck and honest old Commodore Eummelaer say so an 
 hundred times, and they have both been down in the Bay of 
 Honduras, and all thereabouts. I hate all Spaniards, since 
 they came here and reft the Fair Isle men of their vivers in 
 1588.* I have heard my grandfather speak of it; and there 
 is an old Dutch history somewhere about the house, that 
 shows what work they made in the Low Countries long since. 
 There is neither mercv nor faith in them." 
 
 " True — true, my old friend," said Cleveland: " they are as 
 jealous of their Indian possessions as an old man of his young 
 bride; and if they can catch you at disadvantage, the mines 
 for your life is the word; and so we fight them mth our colors 
 nailed to the mast." 
 
 " That is the way," shouted the Udaller: " the old British 
 jack should never down! When I think of the wooden walls, 
 I almost think myself an Englishman, only it would be be- 
 coming too like niy Sco'ttish neighbors; but come, no offense 
 to any here, gentlemen — all are friends, and all are welcome. 
 Come, Brenda, go on with the play: do you speak next, you 
 have Norse rhymes enough, we all know." 
 
 " But none that suit the srame we play at, father," said 
 Brenda, drawing back. 
 
 "Nonsense!" said her father, pushing her onward, while 
 Halcro seized on her reluctant hand; "never let mistimed 
 modesty mar honest mirth. Speak for Brenda, Halcro; it is 
 your trade to interpret maidens' thoughts." 
 
 The poet bowed to the beautiful young woman, with the 
 devotion of a po€t and the gallantry of a traveler, and hav- 
 
 ♦ Se« Arma4a in Zetland. TJo.te 28. 
 
226 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 ing, in a whisper, reminded her that she was in no way re- 
 sponsibh' for the nonsense he was about to speak, he paused, 
 looked upward, simpered as if he had caught a sudden idea, 
 and at length set odf in the following verses: 
 
 Claud Halcro: 
 
 "Motlicr doubtful, mother dread, 
 Dweller of the Fitful Head, 
 Well thou know'st it iw thy task 
 To tell what beauty will uot ask. 
 Then steep thy words in wine and milk, 
 And weave a doom of gold and silk; 
 For we would know, shall Brenda prove 
 In love, and happy in her love? " 
 
 The prophetess replied almost immediately from behind her 
 curtain: 
 
 NORNA: 
 
 " Untoueh'd by love, the maiden's breast 
 Is like the snow on Eona's crest, 
 High seated in the middle sky 
 In bright and barren purity; 
 But by the sunbeam gently kiss'd, 
 Scarce by the gazing eye 'tis miss'd, 
 Ere down the lonely valley stealing. 
 Fresh grass and growth its course revealing. 
 It cheers the flock, revives the flower, 
 And decks some happy shepherd's bower." 
 
 " A comfortable doctrine, and most justly spoken," said the 
 Udaller, seizing the blushing Brenda, as she was endeavoring 
 to escape. " Never think shame for the matter, my girl. To 
 be the mistress of some honest man's house, and the means 
 of maintaining some old Norse name, making neighbors 
 happy, the poor easy, and relieving strangers, is the most 
 creditable lot a young woman can look to, and I heartily wish 
 it to all here. Come, who speaks next? Good husbands are 
 going — Maddie Groatsettar — my pretty Clara, come and have 
 your share." 
 
 The Lady Glowrowrum shook her head, and " could not," 
 she said, " altogether approve^ " 
 
 " Enough said — enough said," replied Magnus; " no com- 
 pulsion; but the play shall go on till we are tired of it. Here, 
 Minna, I have got you at command. Stand forth, my girl; 
 there are plenty of things to be ashamed of besides old-fash- 
 ioned and innocent pleasantry. Come, I will speak for you 
 myself, though I am not sure I can remember rhyme enough 
 for it." 
 
 There was a slight color which passed rapidly over Minna's 
 face, but she instantly regained her composure, and stood 
 
THE PIRATE. MV 
 
 erect by her father, as one superior to any little jest to which 
 her situation might give rise. 
 
 Her fatlier, after some rubbing of his brow and other me- 
 chanical efforts to assist his memory, at length recovered 
 verse sufficient to put the following query, though in less gal- 
 lant strains than those of Halcro: 
 
 Magnus Tkoil: 
 
 " Mother, speak, and do not tarry, 
 Here's a maiden fain would marry. 
 Shall she marry, aye or not ? 
 If she marry, what's her lot ? " 
 
 A deep sigh was uttered within the tabernacle of the 
 soothsayer, as if she compassionated the subject of the doom 
 which she was obliged to pronounce. She then, as usual, re- 
 turned her response: 
 
 Nokna: 
 
 " Untouch'd by love, the maiden's breast 
 Is like the snow on Rona's crest; 
 So pure, so free from earthly dye, 
 It seems, whilst leaning on the sky. 
 Part of the heaven to which 'tis nigh; 
 But passion, like the wild March rain. 
 May soil the wreath with many a stain. 
 We gaze — the lovely vision's gone — 
 A torrent fills the bed of stone. 
 That, hurrying to destruction's shock, 
 Leaps headlong from the lofty rock." 
 
 The TJdaller heard this reply with high resentment. " By 
 the bones of the Martyr," he said, his bold visage becoming 
 suddenly ruddy, " this is an abuse of courtesy ! and, were it 
 any but yourself that had classed my daughter's name and 
 the word ' destruction ' together, they had better have left the 
 word unspoken. But come forth of the tent, thou old gal- 
 dragon," he added, with a smile, " I should have known that 
 thou canst not long joy in anything that smacks of mirth, 
 God help thee! " His summons received no answer; and, 
 after waiting a moment, he again addressed her: "• Nay, never 
 be sullen with me, kinswoman, though I did speak a hasty 
 word; thou knowest I bear malice to no one, least of all to 
 thee; so come forth, and let us shake hands. Thou mightst 
 have foretold the wreck of my ship and boats, or a bad her- 
 ring-fishery, and I should have said never a word; but Minna 
 or Brenda, you know, are things which touch me nearer. 
 But come out, shake hands, and there let there be an end 
 on't." 
 
238 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 Noma returned no answer whatever to his repeated in- 
 vocations, and the company began to look upon each other 
 with some surprise, when the Udaller, raising the skin which 
 covered the entrance of the tent, discovered that the interior 
 was empty. The wonder was now general, and not unmixed 
 with fear; for it seemed impossible that Noma could have, 
 in any manner, escaped from the tabernacle in which she was 
 inclosed, without having been discovered by the company. 
 Gone, however, she was, and the Udaller, after a moment's 
 consideration, dropped the skin curtain again over the en- 
 trance of the tent. 
 
 " My friends," he said, with a cheerful countenance, " we 
 have long known my kinswoman, and that her ways are 
 not like those of the ordinary folks of this world. But she 
 means well by Hialtland, and hath the love of a sister for me 
 and for my house; and no guest of mine needs either to fear 
 evil or to take offense at her hand. I have little doubt she 
 will be with us at dinner-time." 
 
 " No, Heaven forbid! " said Mrs. Baby Yellowley; " for, my 
 gude Leddy Glowrowrum, to tell your leddyship the truth, I 
 likena cummers that can come and gae like a glance of the 
 sun or the whisk of a whirlwind." 
 
 " Speak lower — speak lower," said the Lady Glowrowrum, 
 " and be thankful that yon carline hasna ta'en the house- 
 side away wi' her. The like of her have played warse pranks, 
 and so has she hersell, unless she is the sairer lied on." 
 
 Similar murmurs ran through the rest of the company, 
 until the Udaller uplifted his stentorian and imperative voice 
 to put them to silence, and invited, or rather commanded, the 
 attendance of his guests to behold the boats set off for the 
 haaf or deep-sea fishing. 
 
 " The wind had been high since sunrise," he said, " and 
 had kept the boats in the bay; but now it was favorable, and 
 they would sail immediately." 
 
 This sudden alteration of the weather occasioned sundry 
 nods and winks amongst the guests, who were not indisposed 
 to connect it with Noma's sudden disappearance; but without 
 giving vent to observations which could not be but disagree- 
 able to their host, they followed his stately step to the shore, 
 as the herd of deer follows the leading stag, with all manner 
 of respectful observance. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 There was a laughing devil in his sneer, 
 That raised emotions both of rage and fear; 
 And where his frown of hatred darkly fell, 
 Hope withering tied, and Mercy sigh'd farewell. 
 
 — The Corsair, Canto I. 
 
 The ling or white fishery is the principal employment of 
 the natives of Zetland, and was formerly that upon which the 
 gentry chiefly depended for their income, and the poor for 
 their subsistence. The fishing season is, therefore, like the 
 harvest of an agricultural country, the busiest and most im- 
 portant, as well as the most animating, period of the year. 
 
 The fishermen of each district assemble at particular sta- 
 tions, with their boats and crews, and erect upon the shore 
 small huts composed of shingle and covered with turf, for 
 their temporary lodging, and skeos, or drying-houses, for the 
 fish; so that the lonely beach at once assumes the appearance 
 of an Indian town. The banks to which they repair for the 
 haaf fishing are often many miles distant from the station 
 where the fish is dried; so that they are always twenty or 
 thirty hours absent, frequently longer; and under unfavor- 
 able circumstances of wind and tide, they remain at sea, 
 with a very small stock of provisions, and in a boat of a con- 
 struction which seems extremely slender, for two or three 
 days, and are sometimes heard of no more. The departure 
 of the fishers, therefore, on this occupation has in it a charac- 
 ter of danger and of suffering w^hich renders it dignified, and 
 the anxiety of the females who remain on the beach, watch- 
 ing the departure of the lessening boat, or anxiously looking 
 out for its return, gives pathos to the scene.* 
 
 The scene, therefore, was in busy and anxious animation 
 when the Udaller and his friends appeared on the beach. Tho 
 various crews of about thirty boats, amounting each to from 
 three to five or six men, were taking leave of their wives and 
 female relatives, and jumping on board their long Norway 
 skiffs, where their lines and tackle lay ready stowed. Magnus 
 was not an idle spectator of the scene: he went from one 
 place to another, inquiring into the state of their provisions 
 for the voyage, and their preparations for the fishing; now 
 
 * See Fiehennen'B Wives. Note 29. 
 220 
 
230 WAVBBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 and then, with a rough Dutch or ISTorse oath, abusing them 
 for blockheads for going to sea with their boats indifferently 
 found, but always ending by ordering from his own stores a 
 gallon of gin, a lispund of meal, or some similar essential addi- 
 tion to their sea-stores. The hardy sailors, on receiving such 
 favors, expressed their thanks in the brief, gruff manner 
 which their landlord best approved; but the women were 
 more clamorous in their gratitude, which Magnus was often 
 obliged to silence by cursing all female tongues from Eve's 
 downward. 
 
 At length all were on board and ready, the sails were 
 hoisted, the signal for departure given, the rowers began to 
 pull, and all started from the shore, in strong emulation to 
 get first to the fishing-ground, and to have their lines set be- 
 fore the rest — an exploit to which no little consequence was 
 attached by the boat's crew who should be happy enough to 
 perform it. 
 
 While they were yet within hearing of the shore, they 
 chanted an ancient Norse ditty appropriate to the occasion, of 
 which Claud Halcro had executed the following literal trans- 
 lation: 
 
 "Farewell, merry maidens, to song and to laugh, 
 For the brave lads of Westra are bound to the haaf ; 
 And we must have labor, and hunger, and pain, 
 Ere we dance with the maids of Dunrossuess again. 
 
 " For now, in our trim boats of Norroway deal, 
 We must dance on the waves, with the porpoise and seat; 
 The breeze it shall pipe, so it pipe not too high, 
 And the gull be our songstress whene'er she flits by. 
 
 " Sing on, my brave bird, while we follow, like thee, 
 By bank, shoal, and quicksand, the swarms of the sea; 
 And when twenty score fishes are straining our line, 
 Sing louder, brave bird, for their spoils shall be thine. 
 
 " We'll sing while we bait, and we'll sing when we haul, 
 For the deeps of the haaf have enough for us all: 
 There is torsk for the gentle, and skate for tlie carle, 
 And there's wealth for the bold Magnus, the son of the earl. 
 
 " Huzza ! my brave comrades, give way for the haaf. 
 We shall sooner come back to tlie dance and the laugh; 
 For life without mirth is a lamp without oil; 
 Then, mirth and long life to the bold Magnus Troil! " 
 
 The rude words of the song wei'e soon drowned in the 
 ripple of the waves, but the tune continued long to mingle 
 with the sound of wind and sea, and the boats were like so 
 many black specks on the surface of the ocean, diminishing 
 by degrees as they bore far and farther seawaxd; while the ear 
 
THE PIRATE. 231 
 
 could distinguish touches of the Imman voice, almost drowned 
 amid that of the elements. 
 
 The fishermen's wives looked their last after the part- 
 ing sails, and were now departing slowly, with down- 
 cast and anxious looks, toward the huts in which 
 they were to make arrangements for preparing and 
 drying the fish, with which they hoped to see their 
 husbands and friends return deeply laden. Here and 
 there an old sibyl displayed the superior importance 
 of her experience by predicting, from the appearance of the 
 atmosphere, that the wind would be fair or foul, while other.- 
 recommended a vow to the kirk of St. Ninian's for the safely 
 of their men ajid boats (an ancient Catholic superstition not 
 yet wholly abolished), and others, but in a low and timorous 
 tone, regretted to their companions that Xorna of Fitful 
 Head had been suffered to depart in discontent that morning 
 from Burgh-Westra, " and, of all days in the year, that they 
 suld have contrived to give her displeasure on the first day of 
 the white-fishing! " 
 
 The gentry, guests of Magnus Troil, having whiled away 
 as much time as could be so disposed of in viewing the little 
 armament set sail, and in conversing with the poor women 
 who had seen their friends embark in itj began now to sepa- 
 rate into various groups and parties, which strolled in differ- 
 ent directions, as fancy led them, to enjoy what may be called 
 the clair-obscure of a Zetland summer da}', which, though 
 without the brilliant sunshine that cheers other countries dur- 
 ing the fine season, has a mild and pleasing character of its 
 own, that softens while it saddens landscapes which, in their 
 own lonely, bare, and monotonous tone, have something in 
 them stem as well as barren. 
 
 In one of the loneliest recesses of the coast, where a deep 
 indenture of the rocks gave the tide access to the cavern, or, 
 as it is called, the helyer, of Swartaster, Minna Troil was 
 walking with Captain Cleveland. They had probably chosen 
 that walk as being little liable to interruption from others; 
 for, as the force of the tide rendered the place unfit either for 
 fishing or sailing, so it was not the ordinary resort of walkers, 
 on account of its being the supposed habitation of a mermaid, 
 a race which ISTorwegian superstition invests with magical as 
 well as mischievous qualities. Here, therefore, IMinna wan- 
 dered with her lover. 
 
 A small spot of milk-white sand, that stretched beneath one 
 of the precipices which walled in the creek on either side. 
 
232 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 afforded them space for a dry, firm, and pleasant walk of 
 about an hundred yards, terminated at one extremity by a 
 dark stretch of the bay, which, scarce touched by the wind, 
 seemed almost as smooth as glass, and which was seen from 
 between two lofty rocks, the Jaws of the creek, or indentm-e, 
 that approached each other above, as if they wished to meet 
 over the dark tide that separated them. The other end of 
 their promenade was closed by a lofty and almost unscalable 
 precipice, the abode of hundreds of sea-fowl of different kinds, 
 in the bottom of which the huge helyer, or sea-cave, itself 
 yawned, as if for the purjoose of swallowing up the advancing 
 tide, which it seemed to receive into an abyss of immeasurable 
 depth and extent. The entrance to this dismal cavern con- 
 sisted not in a single arch, as usual, but was divided into two, 
 by a huge pillar of natural rock, which, rising out of the sea, 
 and extending to the top of the cavern, seemed to lend its 
 support to the roof, and thus formed a double portal to the 
 helyer, on which the fishermen and peasants had bestowed 
 the rude name of the Devil's Nostrils. In tliis wild scene, 
 lonely and undisturbed but by the clang of the sea-fowl, 
 Cleveland had already met ^^'ith ]\Iinna Troil more than once; 
 for with her it was a favorite walk, as the objects which it 
 presented agreed peculiarly with the love of the wild, the 
 melancholy, and the wonderful. But now the conversation 
 in which she was earnestly engaged was such as entirely to 
 withdraw her attention, as well as that of her companion, 
 from the scenery around them. 
 
 " You cannot deny it," she said, " you have given way to 
 feelings respecting this young man which indicate prejudice 
 and violence — the prejudice unmerited, as far as you are con- 
 cerned at least, and the violence equally imprudent and 
 unjustifiable." 
 
 " I should have thought," replied Cleveland, '' that the 
 service I rendered him yesterday might have freed me from 
 such a charge. I do not talk of my own risk, for I have lived 
 in danger, and love it; it is not everyone, however, would 
 have ventured so near the furious animal to save one with 
 whom they had no connection." 
 
 " It is not everv^one, indeed, who could have saved him," 
 answered Minna gravely; " but everj^one who ha.s courage and 
 generosity would have attempted it. The giddy-brained 
 Claud Halcro would have done as much as you had his 
 strength been equal to his courage; mv father would have 
 done as much, though having such Just cause of resentment 
 
THE PIRATE, 233 
 
 against the young man, for his vain and braggart abuse of 
 our hospitality. Do not, therefore, boast of your exploit too 
 much, my good friend, lest you should make me think that it 
 required too great an effort. I know you love not Mordaunt 
 Mertoun, though you exposed your own life to save his." 
 
 " Will you allow nothing, then," said Cleveland, " for the 
 long misery I was made to endure from the common and 
 prevailing report that this beardless bird-hunter stood be- 
 twixt me and what I on earth coveted most — the affections 
 of Minna Troil?" 
 
 He spoke in a tone at once impassioned and insinuating, 
 and his whole language and manner seemed to express a grace 
 and elegance which formed the most striking contrast with 
 the speech and gesture of the unpolished seaman which he 
 usually affected or exhibited. But his apology was unsatis- 
 factory to Minna. 
 
 " You have known," she said, " perhaps too soon and too 
 well, how little you had to fear — if you indeed feared — that 
 Mertoun or any other had interest with Minna Troil. Nay, 
 truce to thanks and protestations; I would accept it as the 
 best proof of gratitude that you will be reconciled with this 
 youth, or at least avoid every quarrel with him." 
 
 " That we should be friends, Minna, is impossible," replied 
 Cleveland; " even the love I bear you, the most powerful 
 emotion that my heart ever knew, cannot work that miracle." 
 
 " And why, I pray you? " said Minna; " there have been no 
 evil offenses between you, but rather an exchange of mutual 
 services; why can you not be friends? I have many reasons 
 to wish it." 
 
 " And can you, then, forget the slights which he hag 
 cast upon Brenda, and on yourself, and on your father's 
 house? " 
 
 " I can forgive them all," said Minna; " can you not say so 
 much, who have in truth received no offense? " 
 
 Cleveland looked down and paused for an instant; then 
 raised his head and replied, "I might easily deceive you, 
 Minna, and promise you what my soul tells me is an impossi- 
 bility; but I am forced to use too much deceit with others, 
 and with you I will use none. I cannot be friend to this 
 young man: there is a natural dislike — an instinctive aversion 
 — something like a principle of repulsion, in our mutual 
 nature, which makes us odious to each other. Ask himself 
 — he will tell you he has the same antipathv against me. The 
 obligation he conferred on me was a bridle to my resentment; 
 
234 WA VERLET NO VBL8. 
 
 but I was so galled by the restraint that I could have 
 gnawed the curb till my lips were bloody." 
 
 " You have worn what you are wont to call your iron mask 
 so long that your features," replied Minna, " retain the im- 
 pression of its rigidity even when it is removed." 
 
 " You do me injustice, Minna," replied her lover, " and you 
 are angry witli me because I deal with you plainly and hon- 
 estly. I'lainly and honestly, however, will 1 say, that I can- 
 not be Mertoun's friend, but it shall be his own fault, not 
 mine, if I am ever his enemy. I seek not to injure him; but 
 do not ask me to love him. And of this remain satisfied, 
 that it would be vain even if I could do so; for as sure as I 
 attempted any advances toward his confidence, so sure would 
 I be to awaken his disgust and suspicion. Leave us to the 
 exercise of our natural feelings, which, as they will unques- 
 tionably keep us as far separate as possible, are most likely 
 to prevent any possible interference with each other. Does 
 this satisfy you? " 
 
 " It must," said Minna, " since you tell me there is no 
 remedy. And now tell me why you looked so grave when you 
 heard of your consort's arrival — for that it is her I have no 
 doubt — in the port of Kirkwall ? " 
 
 " I fear," replied Cleveland, " the consequences of that ves- 
 sel's arrival with her crew, as comprehending the ruin of my 
 fondest hopes. I had made some progress in your father's 
 favor, and, with time, might have made more, when hither 
 come Hawkins and the rest to blight my prospects forever. 
 I told you on what terms we parted. I then commanded a 
 vessel braver and better found than their own, with a crew 
 who, at my slightest nod, would have faced fiends armed with 
 their own fiery element; but I now stand alone, a single man, 
 destitute of all means to overawe or to restrain them; and 
 they will soon show so plainly the ungovernable license of 
 their habits and dispositions, that ruin to themselves and to 
 me will in all probability be the consequence." 
 
 " Do not fear it," said Minna; " my father can never be so 
 unjust as to hold you liable for the offenses of others." 
 
 " But wliat will Magnus Troil say to my own demerits, fair 
 Minna? " said Cleveland, smiling. 
 
 " My father is a Zetlander, or rather a Norwegian," said 
 Minna, " one of an oppressed race, who will not care whether 
 you fought against the Spaniards, who are the tyrants of the 
 New World, or against the Dutch and English, who have suc- 
 ceeded to their usurped dominions. His own ancestors sup- 
 
THE PIRATE. 235 
 
 ported and exercised the freedom of the seas in those gallant 
 barks whose pennons were the dread of all Europe." 
 
 " I fear, nevertheless," said Cleveland, " that the descend- 
 ant of an ancient sea-king will scarce acknowledge a fitting 
 acquaintance in a modern rover. 1 have not disguised from 
 you that I have reason to dread the English laws; and Mag- 
 nus, though a great enemy to taxes, imposts, scat, wattle, and 
 so forth, has no idea of latitude upon points of a more gen- 
 eral character: he would willingly reeve a rope to the yard 
 arm for the benefit of an unfortunate buccaneer." 
 
 " Do not suppose so," said Minna; " he himself suffers too 
 much oppression from the tyrannical laws of our proud neigh- 
 bors of Scotland. I trust he will soon be able to rise in re- 
 sistance against them. The enemy — such 1 will call them — 
 are now divided amongst themselves, and every vessel from 
 their coast brings intelligence of fresh commotions — the 
 Highlands against the Lowlands, the Williamites against the 
 Jacobites, the Whigs against the Tories, and, to sum the 
 whole, the kingdom of England against that of Scotland. 
 What is there, as Claud Halcro well hinted, to prevent our 
 availing ourselves of the quarrels of these robbers to assert 
 the independence of which we are deprived?" 
 
 " To hoist the raven standard on the Castle of Scalloway," 
 said Cleveland, in imitation of her tone and manner, " and 
 proclaim your father Earl Magnus the First! " 
 
 " Earl ]\Iagnus the Seventh, if it please you," answered 
 Minna; "for six of his ancestors have worn, or were entitled 
 to wear, the coronet before him. You laugh at my ardor, but 
 what is there to prevent all this? " 
 
 '' Nothing will prevent it," replied Cleveland, " because it 
 will never be attempted. Anything miglit prevent it that is 
 equal in strength to the long-boat of a British man-of-war." 
 
 " You treat us with scorn, sir," said Minna; " yet yourself 
 should know what a few resolved men may perform." 
 
 " But they must be armed, Minna," replied Cleveland, 
 " and willing to place their lives upon each desperate adven- 
 ture. Think not of such visions. Denmark has been cut 
 dovv^n into a second-rate kingdom, incapable of exchanging a 
 single broadside with England; Norway is a starving wilder- 
 ness; and, in these islands, the love of independence has been 
 suppressed by a long term of subjection, or shows itself but in 
 a few muttered growls over the bowl and bottle. And, were 
 your men as willing warriors as their ancestors, what could 
 the unarmed crews of a .few fishing-boats do against the Brit- 
 
236 WAYERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 ish navy? Think no more of it, sweet Minna; it is a dream, 
 and I must term it so, though it makes your eye so bright and 
 your stop so noble." 
 
 " It is indeed a dream! " said Minna, looking down, " and 
 it ill becomes a daughter of Hialtland to look or to move like 
 a freewoman. Our eye should be on the ground, and our 
 step slow and reluctant, as that of one who obeys a task- 
 master." 
 
 " There are lands," said Cleveland, " in which the eye may 
 look bright upon groves of the palm and the cocoa, and where 
 the foot may move light as a galley under sail, over fields 
 carpeted with flowers, and savannas surrounded by aromatic 
 thickets, and where subjection is unknown, except that of the 
 brave to the bravest, and of all to the most beautiful." 
 
 Minna paused a moment ere she spoke, and then answered. 
 " No, Cleveland. My own rude country has charms for me, 
 even desolate as you think it, and depressed as it surely is, 
 which no other land on earth can offer to me. I endeavor in 
 vain to represent to myself those visions of trees and of groves 
 which my eye never saw; but my imagination can conceive no 
 sight in nature more sublime than these waves when agitated 
 by a storm, or more beautiful than when they come, as they 
 now do, rolling in calm tranquillity to the shore. Not the 
 fairest scene in a foreign land, not the brightest sunbeam that 
 ever shone upon the richest landscape, would win my 
 thoughts for a moment from that lofty rock, misty hill, and 
 wide-rolling ocean. Hialtland is the land of my deceased an- 
 cestors and of my living father; and in Hialtland will I live 
 and die." 
 
 " Then in Hialtland," answered Cleveland, " vAW I too live 
 and die. I will not go to Kirkvi^all: I will not make my ex- 
 istence known to my comrades, from whom it were else hard 
 for me to escape. Your father loves me, Minna; who knows 
 whether long attention, anxious care, might not bring him to 
 receive me into his family? Who would regard the length of 
 a voyage that was certain to terminate in happiness? " 
 
 " Dream not of such an issue," said Minna; " it is impos- 
 sible. While you live in my father's honse, while you receive 
 his assistance and share his table, yo'u will find him the gen- 
 erous friend and the hearty host; but touch him on what con- 
 cerns his name and family, and the frank-hearted Udaller 
 will start up before you the haughty- and proud descendant 
 of a Norwegian jarl. See you — a moment's suspicion has fal- 
 len on Mordaunt M^rtoun, and he haiS banished from»his favor 
 
THE PIRATE. 237 
 
 the youth whom he so lately loved as a son. No one must ally 
 witli his house that is not of untainted Northern descent." 
 
 " And mine may be so for aught that is known to me upon 
 the subject," said Cleveland. 
 
 "How!" said Minna; "have you any reason to believe 
 yourself of Norse descent? " 
 
 " I have told you before/' replied Cleveland, " that my 
 family is totally unknown to me. I spent my earliest days 
 upon a solitary plantation in the little island of Tortuga, 
 under the charge of my father, then a different person from 
 what he afterward became. We were plundered by the Span- 
 iards, and reduced to such extremity of poverty that my 
 father, in desperation and in thirst of revenge, took up arms, 
 and having become chief of a little band who were in the 
 same circumstances, became a buccanier, as it is called, and 
 cruised against Spain, with various vicissitudes of good and 
 bad fortune, until, while he interfered to check some violence 
 of his companions, he fell by their hands — no uncommon fate 
 among the captains of these rovers. But whence my father 
 came, or what was the place of his birth, I know not, fair 
 Minna, nor have I ever had a curious thought on the sub- 
 ject." 
 
 " He was a Briton, at least, your unfortunate father? " said 
 Minna. 
 
 " I have no doubt of it," said Cleveland; " his name, which 
 I have rendered too formidable to be openly spoken, is an Eng- 
 hsh one; and his acquaintance with the English language, and 
 even with English literature, together with the pains which he 
 took, in better days, to teach me both, plainly spoke him to 
 be an Englishman. If the rude bearing which I display to- 
 ward others is not the genuine character of my mind and 
 manners, it is to my father, Minna, that I owe any share of 
 better thoughts and principles, which may render me worthy, 
 in some small degree, of your notice and approbation. And 
 yet it sometimes seems to me that I have two different charac- 
 ters; for I cannot bring myself to believe that I. who now walk 
 this lone beach with the lovely ^linna Troil, and am permitted 
 to speak to her of the passion which I have cherished, have 
 ever been the daring leader of the bold band whose name was 
 as terrible as a tornado." 
 
 " You had not been permitted," said Minna, " to use that 
 bold language toward the daughter of ^lagnus Troil had you 
 7\ot been the brave and undaunted leader who, with so_ small 
 means, has made Ms name so formidable. My heart is like 
 
238 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 that of a maiden of the ancient days, and is to be won not by 
 fair words, but by gallant deeds."" 
 
 "Alas! that heart," said Cleveland; '"and what is it that I 
 may do — what is it that man can do, to win in it tlie interest 
 which I desire?" 
 
 " Kejoin your friends — pursue your fortunes — leave the 
 rest to destiny," said Minna. " Should you return the leader 
 of a gallant fleet, who can tell what may befall?" 
 
 " And what shall assure me that, when I return — if return 
 I ever shall — I may not find Minna Troil a bride or a spouse? 
 No, Minna, I will not trust to destiny the only object worth 
 attaining which my stormy voyage in life has yet offered me." 
 
 " Hear me," said Minna. " 1 will bind myself to you, if 
 you dare accept such an engagement, by the promise of 
 Odin,* the most sacred of our Northern rites which are yet 
 practiced among us, that I will never favor another until you 
 resign the pretensions which I have given to you. Will that 
 satisfy you? for more I cannot, more I will not give." 
 
 " Then with that," said Cleveland, after a moment's pause, 
 "I must perforce be satisfied; but remember, it is yourself 
 that throw me back upon a mode of life which the laws of 
 Britain denounce as criminal, and which the violent passions 
 of the daring men by whom it is pursued have rendered in- 
 famous." 
 
 " But I," said ]\Iinna, " am superior to such prejudices. In 
 warring with England, I see their laws in no other light than 
 as if you were engaged with an enemy who, in fullness of 
 pride and power, has declared he will give his antagonist no 
 quarter. A brave man will not fight the worse for this; and, 
 for the manners of your comrades, so that they do not infecj; 
 your own, why should their evil report attach to you?" 
 
 Cleveland gazed at her as she spoke with a degree of won 
 dering admiration, in which, at the same time, there lurked 
 a smile at her simplicity. 
 
 " I could not," he said, " have believed that such high cour- 
 age could have been found united with such ignorance of the 
 world, as the world is now wielded. For my manners, they 
 who best know me will readily allow that I have done my 
 best, at the risk of my popularity and of my life itself, to miti- 
 gate the ferocity of my mates; but how can you teach 
 humanity to men burning with vengeance against the world 
 by whom they are proscribed, or teach them temperance and 
 moderation in enjoying the pleasures which chance throws in 
 
 * See Note 30. 
 
THE PIRATE. 239 
 
 their way, to vary a life which would be otherwise one con-. 
 stant scene of peril and hardship? But this prumise, Minna 
 — this promise, which is all I am to receive in guerdon for my 
 faithful attachment — let me at least lose no time in claiming 
 that." 
 
 " It must not be rendered here, but in Kirkwall. We must 
 invoke, to witness the engagement, the spirit which presides 
 over the ancient Circle of Stennis. But perhaps you fear to 
 name the ancient Father of the Slain too, the Severe, the 
 Terrible?" 
 
 Cleveland smiled. 
 
 " Do me the justice to think, lovely Minna, that I am little 
 subject to fear real causes of terror; and for those which are 
 visionar}^ I have no s}Tnpathy whatever." 
 
 " You believe not in them, then? " said Minna, " and are 
 so far better suited to be Brenda's lover than mine." 
 
 " I will believe," replied Cleveland, " in whatever you be- 
 lieve. The whole inhabitants of that Valhalla about which 
 you converse so much with that fiddling, rhyming fool, Claud 
 Halcro — all these shall become living and existing things to 
 my credulity. But, Minna, do not ask me to fear any of 
 them." 
 
 « Fear! — no — not to fear them, surely," replied the maiden; 
 " for, not before Thor or Odin, when they approached in the 
 fullness of their terrors, did the heroes of my dauntless race 
 peld one foot in retreat. Nor do I own them as deities; a 
 better faith prevents so foul an error. But, in our own con- 
 ception, they are powerful spirits for good or evil. And when 
 you boast not to fear them, betliink you that you defy an 
 enemy of a kind you have never yet encountered." 
 
 " Xot in these northern latitudes," said the lover, with a 
 smile, " where hitherto I have seen but angels; but I have 
 faced, in my time, the demons of the equinoctial line, which 
 we rovers suppose to be as powerful and as malignant as those 
 of the North." 
 
 " Have you, then, witnessed those wonders that are beyond 
 the visible world?" said Minna, with some degree of awe. 
 
 Cleveland composed his countenance, and replied: " A short 
 while before my fathers death, I came, though then very 
 young, into the"^ command of a sloop, manned with thirty as 
 desperate fellows as ever handled a musket. We cruised for 
 a long while with bad success, taking nothing but wretched 
 small craft, which were destined to catch turtle, or otherwise 
 loaded with coarse and worthless trumpery. 1 had much ado 
 
340 WA VERLE T NO VELS. 
 
 to prevent my comrades from avengmg upon the crews of 
 those baubling shallops the disappointment which they had 
 occasioned to us. At length we grew desperate, and made a 
 descent on a village where we were told we should intercept 
 the mules of a certain Spanish governor, laden with treasure. 
 We succeeded in carrying the place; but while I endeavored 
 to save the inhabitants from the fury of my followers, the 
 muleteers, with their precious cargo, escaped into the neigh- 
 boring woods. This filled up the measure of my unpopularity. 
 My people, who had been long discontented, became openly 
 mutinous. I was deposed from my command in solemn 
 council, and condemned, as having too little luck and too 
 much humanity for the profession I had undertaken, to be 
 marooned, as the phrase goes, on one of those little sandy, 
 bushy islets which are called, in the West Indies, keys, and 
 which are frequented only by turtle and by sea-fowl. Many 
 of them are supposed to be haunted — some by the demons 
 worshiped by the old inhabitants; some by caziques and 
 others, whom the Spaniards had put to death by torture, 
 to compel them to discover their hidden treasures; and others 
 by the various specters in which sailors of all nations have 
 implicit faith. My place of banishment, called Coffin Key,* 
 about two leagues and a half to the southeast of Bermudas, 
 was so infamous as the resort of these supernatural inhabi- 
 tants that I believe the wealth of Mexico would not have per- 
 suaded the bravest of the scoundrels who put me ashore there 
 to have spent an hour on the islet alone, even in broad 
 daylight; and when they rowed off, they pulled for the ship 
 like men that dared not cast their eyes behind them. And 
 there they left me, to subsist as I might on a speck of unpro- 
 ductive sand, suiTounded by the boundless Atlantic, and 
 haunted, as they supposed, by malignant demons." 
 
 " And what M^as the consequence? " said Minna eagerly 
 
 " I supported life," said the adventurer, " at the expense of 
 such sea-fowl, aptly called boobies, as were silly enough to 
 let me approach so near as to knock them down with a stick; 
 and by means of turtle-eggs, when these complacent birds 
 became better acquainted with the mischievous disposition of 
 the human species, and more shy of course of my advances." 
 
 " And the demons of whom you spoke? " continued Minna. 
 
 " I had my secret apprehensions upon their account," said 
 Cleveland. " In open daylight, or in absolute darkness, I did 
 not crroatly apprehend their approach; but in the misty dawn 
 
 ♦See Note 31. 
 
TEE PIRATE. 241 
 
 of the morning, or when evening was about to fall, I saw, for 
 the first week of my abode on the key, many a dim and unde- 
 fined specter, now resembling a Spaniard, with his 'capa' 
 wrapped around him, and his huge ' sombrero,' as large as an 
 umbrella, upon his head; now a Dutch sailor, with his rough 
 cap and trunk-hose; and now an Indian eazique, with his 
 feathery crown and long lance of cane." 
 
 "Did you not approach and address them?" said Minna. 
 
 " I always approached them," replied the seaman; " but — 
 I grieve to disappoint your expectations, my fair friend — 
 whenever I drew near them, the phantom changed into a 
 bush, or a piece of driftw^ood, or a wreath of mist, or some 
 such cause of deception, until at last 1 was taught by experi- 
 ence to cheat myself no longer with such visions, and con- 
 tinued a solitary inhabitant of Coffin Key, as little alarmed 
 by visionary terrors as I ever was in the great cabin of a stout 
 vessel, with a score of companions around me." 
 
 " You have cheated me into listening to a tale of nothing," 
 said Minna; " but how long did you continue on the island? " 
 
 " Four weeks of wretched existence," said Clevelan 1, 
 " when I was relieved by the crew of a vessel which came 
 thither a-turtling. Yet my miserable seclusion was not 
 entirely useless to me; for on that spot of barren sand I found, 
 or rather forged, the iron mask which has since been my chief 
 security against treason or mutiny of my followers. It was 
 there I formed the resolution to seem no softer-hearted nor 
 better-instructed, no more humane and no more scrupulous, 
 than those with whom fortune had leagued me. I thought 
 over my former story, and saw that seeming more brave, 
 skillful, and enterprising than others had gained me command 
 and respect, and that seeming more gently nurtured and more 
 civilized than they had made them envy and hate me as a 
 being of another species. I bargained with myself then, that, 
 since I could not lay aside my superiority of intellect and 
 education, I would do my best to disguise, and to sink in the 
 rude seaman, all appearance of better feeling and better ac- 
 complishments. I foresaw then what has since happenerl, 
 that, under the appearance of daring obduracy, I should ac- 
 quire such a habitual command over my followers that I 
 might use it for the insurance of discipline, and for relieving 
 the distress of the wretches who fell under our power. I saw, 
 in short, that to attain authority I must assume the external 
 semblance, at least, of those over whom it was to be exercised. 
 The tidings of my father's fate, while il excited me to wrath 
 
242 WAVEBLEr NOVELS. 
 
 and to revenge, confirmed the resolution I had adopted. He 
 also had fallen a victim to his superiority of mind, morals, and 
 manners above those whom he commaiided. They were wont 
 to call him the Gentleman; and, unquestionably, they thought 
 he waited some favorable opi)ortunity to reconcile himself, 
 perhaps at their expense, to those existing forms of society 
 his habits seemed best to suit with, and, even therefore, they 
 murdered him. Nature and justice alike called on me for 
 revenge. I was soon at the head of a new body of the ad- 
 venturers who are so numerous in those islands. I sought not 
 after those by whom I had been myself marooned, but after 
 the ^vretches who had betrayed my father; and on them L 
 took a revenge so severe that it was of itself sufficient to 
 stamp me with the character of that inexorable ferocity which 
 I was desirous to be thought to possess, and which, perhaps, 
 was gradually creeping on my natural disposition in actual 
 earnest. My manner, speech, and conduct seemed so totally 
 changed that those who formerly knew me were disposed to 
 ascribe the alteration to my intercourse with the demons who 
 haunted the sands of Coffin Key; nay, there were some super- 
 stitious enough to believe that I had actually formed a league 
 with them." 
 
 " I tremble to hear the rest! " said Minna; " did you not 
 become the monster of courage and cruelty whose character 
 you assumed ? " 
 
 " If I have escaped being so, it is to you, Minna," replied 
 Cleveland, " that the wonder must be ascribed. It is true, I 
 have always endeavored to distinguish myself rather by acts 
 of adventurous valor than by schemes of revenge or of plun- 
 der, and that at length I could save lives by a rude Jest, and 
 sometimes, by the excess of the measures which I myself pro- 
 posed, could induce those under me to intercede in favor of 
 prisoners; so that the seeming severity of my character has 
 better serv^ed the cause of humanity than had I appeared di- 
 rectly devoted to it." 
 
 He ceased, and, as Minna replied not a word, both remained 
 silent for a little space, when Cleveland again resumed the 
 discourse. 
 
 " You are silent," he said, " Miss Troil, and I have injured 
 myself in your opinion by the frankness with which 1 have 
 laid my character before you. I may truly say that my natu- 
 ral disposition has been controlled, but not altered, by the 
 untoward circumstances in which I am placed." 
 
 " I am uncertain," said Minna, after a moment's considera- 
 
THE PIRATE. 243 
 
 tion, " whether you had been thus candid liad you not known 
 I should soon see your comrades, and discover, from their 
 conversation and their manners, what you would otherwise 
 gladly have concealed." 
 
 "You do me injustice, Minna — cruel injustice. From the 
 instant that you knew me to be a sailor of fortune, an ad- 
 venturer, a buccanier, or, if you will have the broad word, a 
 PIKATE, what had you to expect less than what 1 have told 
 you?" 
 
 " You speak too truly," said Minna : " all this I might have 
 anticipated, and I know not how I should have expected it 
 otherwise. But it seemed to me that a war on the cruel and 
 superstitious Spaniards had in it something ennobling — some- 
 thing that reliued the fierce employment to which you have 
 just now given its true and dreaded name. I thought that 
 the independent warriors of the ^Yestern Ocean, raised up, as 
 it were, to punish the wrongs of so many murdered and 
 plundered tribes, must have had something of gallant eleva- 
 tion, Hke that of the Sons of the North, whose long gaPeys 
 avenged on so many coasts the oppression of degenerate 
 Home. This I thought and this I dreamed; I grieve that T 
 am awakened and undeceived. Yet I blame you not for the 
 erring of my own fancy. Farewell; we must now part." 
 
 " Say at least," said Cleveland, " that you do not hold me 
 in horror for having told you the truth." 
 
 " 1 must have time for reflection," said Minna — " time to 
 weigh what you have said, ere I can fully understand my own 
 feehngs. Thus much, however, I can say even now, that he 
 who pursues the wicked purpose of plunder by means of blood 
 and cruelty, and who must veil his remains of natural re- 
 morse under an affectation of superior profligacy, is not, can- 
 not be, the lover whom Minna Troil expected to find in Cleve- 
 land; and if she still love him, it must be as a penitent and not 
 as a hero." 
 
 So saying, she extricated herself from his grasp (for he still 
 endeavored to detain her), making an imperative sign to him 
 to forbear from following her. " She is gone," said Cleve- 
 land, looking after her; " wild and fanciful as she is, I ex- 
 pected not this. She startled not at the name of my perilous 
 course of life, yet seems totally unprepared for the evil which 
 must necessarily attend it; and so all the merit I have gained 
 by my resemblance to a Norse champion, or king of the sea, 
 is' to be lost at once, because a gang of pirates do not prove to 
 be a choir of saints. 1 would that Rackam, Hawkins, and 
 
244 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the rest had been at the bottom of the Race of Portland — I 
 would the Pentland Firth had swept them to hell rather than 
 to Orkney! I will not, however, quit the chase of this angel 
 for all that these fiends can do. I will — I must to Orkney 
 before the Udaller makes his voyage thither; our meeting 
 might alarm even his blunt understanding, although, thank 
 Heaven, in this wild country, men know the nature of our 
 trade only by hearsay, through our honest friends the Dutch, 
 who take care never to speak very ill of those they make 
 money by. Well, if fortune would but stand my friend with 
 this beautiful enthusiast, I would pursue her wheel no far- 
 ther at sea, but set myself down amongst these rocks, as happy 
 as if they were so manv groves of bananas and palmettoes." 
 With these and such thoughts half rolling in his bosom, 
 half expressed in indistinct hints and murmurs, the pirate 
 Cleveland returned to the mansion of Burgh- Westra. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 There was shaking of hands and sorrow of heart, 
 For the hour was approaching when merry folks must part; 
 So we oall'd for our horses, and ask"d for our way, 
 While the jolly old landlord said, "Nothing's to pay." 
 
 — Lilliput, a Poem. 
 
 We do not dwell upon the festivities of the day, which had 
 nothing in them to interest the reader parlieularly. The 
 table groaned under the usual plenty, which was disposed of 
 by the guests with the usual appetite; the bowl of punch was 
 filled and emptied with the same celerity as usual; the men 
 quaffed, and the women laughed; Claud Halcro rhymed, 
 punned, and praised John Dryden; the Udaller bumpered and 
 sung choruses; and the evening concluded, as usual, in the 
 rigging-loft, as it was Magnus Troil's pleasure to term the 
 dancing-apartment. 
 
 It was then and there that Cleveland, approaching Magnus, 
 where he sat betwixt his two daughters, intimated his inten- 
 tion of going to Kirkwall in a small brig which Bryce Snails- 
 foot, who had disposed of his goods with unprecedented 
 celerity, had freighted thither to procure a supply. 
 
 Magnus heard the sudden proposal of his guest with sur- 
 prise, not unmingled with displeasure, and demanded sharply 
 of Cleveland how long it was since he had learned to prefer 
 Bryce Snailsfoot's company to his own? Cleveland answered, 
 with his usual bluntness of manner, that time and tide tarried 
 for no one, and that he had his own particular reasons for 
 making his trip to Kirkwall sooner than the Udaller proposed 
 to set sail; that he hoped to meet with him and his daughters 
 at the great fair which was now closely approaching, and 
 might perhaps find it possible to return to Zetland along with 
 them. 
 
 While he spoke this, Brenda kept her eye as much upon 
 her sister as it was possible to do without exciting general 
 observation. She remarked, that Minna's pale cheek became 
 yet paler while Cleveland spoke, and that she seemed, by com- 
 pressing her lips and slightly knitting her brows, to be in the 
 act of repressing the effects of strong interior emotion. But 
 she spoke not; and when Cleveland, having bidden adieu to 
 the Udaller, approached to salute her, as was then the custom, 
 
 MS 
 
246 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 she received his farewell without trusting herself to attempt a 
 reply. 
 
 Brenda had her own trial approaching; for Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun, once so much loved by her father, was now in the act of 
 making his cold parting from him, without receiving a single 
 look of friendly regard. There was, indeed, sarcasm in the 
 tone with which Magnus wished the youth a good journey, 
 and recommended to him, if he met a bonny lass by the way, 
 not to dream that she was in love because she chanced to jest 
 with him. Mertoun colored at what he felt as an insult, 
 though it was but half intelligible to him; but he remembered 
 Brenda, and suppressed every feeling of resentment. He 
 proceeded to take his leave of the sisters. Minna, whose 
 heart was considerably softened toward him, received his fare- 
 well with some degree of interest; but Brenda's grief was so 
 visible in the kindness of her manner and the moisture which 
 gathered in her eye, that it was noticed even by the Udaller, 
 who exclaimed, half-angrily, " Why, aye, lass, that may be 
 right enough, for he was an old acquaintance; but mind! I 
 have no will that he remain one." 
 
 Mertoun, who was slowly leaving the apartment, half over- 
 heard this disparaging observation, and half turned round to 
 resent it. But his purpose failed him when he saw that 
 Brenda had been obliged to have recourse to her handkerchief 
 to hide her emotion, and the sense that it was excited by his 
 departure obliterated every thought of her father's unkind- 
 ness. He retired; the other guests followed his example; and 
 many of them, like Cleveland and himself, took their leave 
 over night, with the intention of commencing their home- 
 ward journey on the succeeding morning. 
 
 That night, the mutual sorrow of Minna and Brenda, if it 
 could not wholly remove the reserve which had estranged the 
 sisters from each other, at least melted all its frozen and un- 
 kindly symptoms. ,They wept in each other's arms; and 
 though neither spoke, yet each became dearer to the other; 
 because they felt that the grief which called forth these drops 
 had a source common to them both. 
 
 It is probable that, though Brenda's tears were most abun- 
 dant, the grief of Minna was most deeply seated; for, long 
 after the younger had sobbed herself asleep, like a child, upon 
 her sister's bosom, Minna lay awake, watching the dubious 
 twilight, while tear after tear slowly gathered in her eye, and 
 found a current down her cheek, as soon as it became too 
 heavy to be supported by her long black silken eyelashes. As 
 
THE PIRATE. 247 
 
 she lay, bewildered among the sorrowful thoughts which sup- 
 plied these tears, she was surprised to distinguish, beneath the 
 window, the sounds of music. At first she supposed it was 
 some freak of Claud Halcro, whose fantastic humor some- 
 times indulged itself in such serenades. But it was not the 
 " gue " of the old minstrel, but the guitar, that she heard — 
 an instrument which none in the island knew how to touch 
 except Cleveland, who had learned, in his intercourse with 
 the South-American Spaniards, to play on it with superior 
 execution. Perhaps it was in those climates also that he had 
 learned the song, which, though he now sung it under the 
 window of a maiden of Thule, had certainly never been com- 
 posed for the native of a climate so northerly and so severe, 
 since it spoke of productions of the earth and skies which are 
 there unknown. 
 
 " Love wakes and weeps 
 
 While beauty sleeps : 
 for music's softest uumbera, 
 
 To prompt a theme, 
 
 For beauty's dream, 
 Soft as the pillow of her slumbers! 
 
 " Through groves of palm 
 
 Sigh gales of balm, 
 Fire-flies on the air are wheeling ; 
 
 While through the gloom 
 
 Comes soft perfume, 
 The distant beds of flowers revealing 
 
 " O wake and live. 
 
 No dream can give 
 A shadow'd bliss, the real excelling; 
 
 No longer sleep. 
 
 From lattice peep, 
 And list the tale that Love is telling! " 
 
 The voice of Cleveland was deep, rich, and manly, and ac- 
 corded well with the Spanish air, to which the words, prob- 
 ably a translation from the same language, had been adapted. 
 His invocation would not probably have been fruitless, could 
 Minna have arisen without awaking her sister. But that was 
 impossible; for Brenda, who, as we have already mentioned, 
 had wept bitterly before she had sunk into repose, now lay 
 with her face on her sister's neck, and one arm stretched 
 around her, in the attitude of a child which has cried itself 
 asleep in the arms of its nurse. It was impossible for Minna 
 to extricate herself from her grasp without awaking her; and 
 she could not, therefore, execute her hasty purpose of donning 
 her gown and approaching the window to speak with Cleve- 
 land, who, she had no doubt, had resorted to this contrivance 
 
248 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 to procure an interview. The restraint was sufficiently pro- 
 voking, for it was more than probable that her lover came to 
 take his last farewell; but that J^renda, inimical as she seemed 
 to be of late toward Cleveland, should awake and witness it 
 was a thought not to be endured. 
 
 There was a short pause, in which Minna endeavored more 
 than once, with as much gentleness as possible, to unclasp 
 Brenda's arm from her neck; but whenever she attempted it, 
 the slumberer muttered some little pettish sound, like a child 
 disturbed in its sleep, which sufficiently showed that perse- 
 verance in the attempt would awaken her fully. 
 
 To her great vexation, therefore, Minna was compelled to 
 remain still and silent; when her lover, as if determined upon 
 gaining her ear by music of another strain, sung the following 
 fragment of a sea-ditty: 
 
 "Farewell! farewell! the voice you hear 
 Has left its last soft tone with you; 
 Its next must join the seaward cheer, 
 And shout among the shouting crew. 
 
 " The accents which I scarce could form, 
 Beneath your frown's controlling check, 
 Must give the word, above the storm, 
 To cut the mast and clear the wreck. 
 
 " The timid eye I dared not raise, 
 
 The hand that shook when pressed to thine 
 Must point the guns upon the chase, 
 Must bid the deadly cutlass shine. 
 
 " To all I love, or hope, or fear, 
 Honor, or own, a long adieu! 
 To all that life has soft and dear, 
 Farewell! save memory of you ! " * 
 
 He was again silent; and again she to whom the serenade 
 was addressed strove in vain to arise without rousing her sis- 
 ter. It was impossible; and she had nothing before her but 
 the unhappy thought that Cleveland was taking leave in his 
 desolation without a single glance or a single word. He, too, 
 whose temper was so fiery, yet who subjected his violent mood 
 with such sedulous attention to her will — could she but have 
 stolen a moment to say adieu, to caution him against new 
 quarrels with Mertoun, to implore him to detach himself from 
 such comrades as he had described — could she but have done 
 this, who could say what effect such parting admonitions 
 might have had upon his character — nay, upon the future 
 events of his life? 
 
 * I cannot suppress the pride of snyine, that these lines have been beautifully set to 
 •riginal music by Mrs. Arkwright of Derbyshire. 
 
THE PIRATE. 249 
 
 Tantalized by such thoughts, Minna was about to make 
 another decisive effort, when she heard voices beneath the 
 window, and thought she could distinguish that they were 
 those of Cleveland and Mertoun, speaking in a sharp tone, 
 which, at the same time, seemed cautiously suppressed, as if 
 the speakers feared being overheard. Alarm now mingled 
 with her former desire to rise from bed, and she accomplished 
 at once the purpose which she had so often attempted in vain. 
 Brenda's arm was unloosed from her sister's neck without the 
 sleeper receiving more alann than provoked two or three un- 
 intelligible murmurs; while, with equal speed and silence, 
 Minna put on some part of her dress, with the intention to 
 steal to the window. But, ere she could accomplish this, the 
 sound of the voices without was exchanged for that of blows 
 and struggling, which terminated suddenly by a deep groan. 
 
 Terrified at this last signal of mischief, Minna sprung to 
 the window and endeavored to open it, for the persons were 
 so close under the walls of the house that she could not see 
 them save by putting her head out of the casement. The 
 iron hasp was stiff and rusted, and, as generally happens, the 
 haste with which s'he labored to undo it only rendered the 
 task more difficult. When it was accomplished, and Minna 
 had eagerly thrust her body half out at the casement, those 
 who had erected the sounds which alarmed her were become 
 invisible, excepting that she saw a shadow cross the moon- 
 light, the substance of which must have been in the act of 
 turning a comer, which concealed it from her sight. The 
 shadow moved slowly, and seemed that of a man who sup- 
 ported another upon his shoulders — an indication which put 
 the climax to Minna's agony of mind. The window was not 
 above eight feet from the ground, and she hesitated not to 
 throw herself from it hastily, and to pursue the object which 
 had excited her terror. 
 
 But when she came to the comer of the buildings from 
 which the shadow seemed to have been projected, she dis- 
 covered nothing which could point out the way that the 
 figure had gone; and, after a moment's consideration, became 
 sensible that all attempts at pursuit would be alike wild and 
 fruitless. Besides all the projections and recesses of the 
 many-angled mansion and its numerous offices — besides the 
 various cellars, store-houses, stables, and so forth, which de- 
 fied her solitary search, there was a range of low rocks, 
 stretching down to the haven, and which were, in fact, a con- 
 tinuation of the ridge which formed its pier. These rocks 
 
350 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 had many indentures, hollows, and caverns, into any one of 
 which the fip,ure to which the shadow belonged might have 
 retired with his fatal burden ; for fatal, she feared, it was most 
 likely to prove. 
 
 A moment's reflection, as we have said, convinced Minna 
 of the folly of further pursuit. Her next thought was to 
 alarm the family; but what tale had she to tell, and of whom 
 was that tale to be told? On the other hand, the wounded 
 man — if indeed he were wounded — alas, if indeed he were 
 not mortally wounded! — might not be past the reach of 
 assistance; and, with this idea, she was about to raise hex 
 voice, when she was interrupted by that of Claud Halcro, who 
 was returning apparently from the haven, and singing, in his 
 manner, a scrap of an old Norse ditty, wdiich might run thus 
 in English: 
 
 " And you shall deal the funeral dole 
 Aye, deal it, mother mine, 
 To weary body, and to heavy soul, 
 The white bread and the wine. 
 
 " And you shall deal my horses of pride; 
 Aye, deal them, mother mine; 
 And you shall deal my lands so wide, 
 And deal my castles nine. 
 
 " But deal not vengeance for the deed, 
 And deal not for the crime; 
 The body to its place, and the soul to Heaven's grace, 
 And the rest in God's own time." 
 
 The singular adaptation of these rhymes to the situation in 
 which she found herself seemed to Minna like a warning from 
 Heaven. We are speaking of a land of omens and supersti- 
 tions, and perhaps ^\dll scarce be understood by those whose 
 limited imagination cannot conceive how strongly these 
 operate upon the human mind during a certain progress of 
 society. A line of Virgil, turned up casually, was received in 
 the seventeenth century, and in the court of England,* as an 
 intimation of future events; and no wonder that a maiden of 
 the distant and wild isles of Zetland should have considered 
 as an injunction from Heaven verses which happened to con- 
 vey a sense analogous to her present situation. 
 
 " I will be silent," she muttered — " I will seal my lips — 
 
 " The body to its place, and the soul to Heaven's grace. 
 And the rest in God's own time." 
 
 * The celebrated " eortes Virgilianae " were resorted to by Charles I. and hia conr- 
 tiers as a mode of prying into futurity. 
 
THE PIRATE. 251 
 
 "Who speaks there?" said Claud Halcro, in some alarm, 
 for he had not, in his travels in foreign parts, been able by any 
 means to rid himself of his native superstitions. In the con- 
 dition to which fear and horror had reduced her, Minna was 
 at first unable to reply; and Halcro, fixing his eyes upon the 
 female white figure, which he saw indistinctly (for she stood 
 in the shadow of the house, and the morning was thick and 
 misty), began to conjure her in an ancient rhyme which 
 occurred to him as suited for the occasion, and which had in 
 its gibberish a wild and unearthly sound, which may be lost 
 in the ensuing translation: 
 
 " St. Magnus control thee, that martyr of treason; 
 St. Ronan rebuke thee, with rhyme and with reason; 
 By the mass of St. Martin, the might of St. Mary, 
 Be thou gone, or thy weird shall be worse if thou tarrjl 
 
 If of good, go hence and hallow thee; 
 
 If of ill, let the earth swallow thee; 
 
 If thou'rt of air, let the gray mist fold thee; 
 
 If of earth, let the swart miue hold thee; 
 
 If a pixie, seek thy ring; 
 
 If a nixie, seek thy spring; 
 
 If on middle earth thou'st been 
 
 Slave of sorrow, shame, and sin, 
 
 Hast eat the bread of toil and strife, 
 
 And dree'd the lot which men call life. 
 Begone to thy stone! for thy coffin is scant of thee, 
 The worm, thy playfellow, wails for the want of thee; 
 Hence, houseless ghost! let the earth hide thee, 
 Till Michael shall blow the blast, see that there thou bide thee! 
 Phantom, fly hence! take the Cross for a token. 
 Hence pass "till Hallowmass! — my spell is spoken." 
 
 " It is I, Halcro," muttered Minna, in a tone so thin and 
 low that it might have passed for the faint reply of the con- 
 jured phantom. 
 
 " You I — you! " said Halcro, his tone of alarm changing to 
 one of extreme surprise; " by this moonlight, which is waning, 
 and so it is! Who could have thought to find you, my most 
 lovely Night, wandering abroad in your own element! But 
 you saw them. I reckon, as well as I? bold enough in you to 
 follow them, though." 
 
 " Saw whom? — follow whom? " said Minna, hoping to gain 
 some information on the subject of her fears and anxiety. 
 
 " The corpse-lights which danced at the haven," replied 
 Halcro; "they bode no good, I promise you: you wot well 
 what the old rhyme says: 
 
 " Where corpse -light 
 Dances bright. 
 Be it day or night, 
 Be it by light or dark. 
 There shall corpse lie stiflf and stark. 
 
252 WAVERLE7 NOVELS. 
 
 I went half as far as the haven to look after them, but they 
 had vanished. T think I saw a boat put off, however; some 
 one bound for the haaf, I suppose. I would we had good 
 news of this fishing. There was Noma left us in anger, and 
 then these corpse-lights! Well, God help the while! I am 
 an old man, and can but wish that all were well over. But 
 how now, my pretty Minna, tears in your eyes! And now 
 that I see you in the fair moonlight, barefooted, too, by St. 
 Magnus! Were there no stockings of Zetland wool soft 
 enough for these pretty feet and ankles, that glance so white 
 in the moonbeam? What, silent! — angry, perhaps," he 
 added, in a more serious tone, " at my nonsense? For shame, 
 silly maiden! Eemember I am old enough to be your father, 
 and have always loved you as my child." 
 
 " I am not angry," said Minna, constraining herself to 
 speak, " but heard you nothing? — saw you nothing? They 
 must have passed you." 
 
 " They! " said Claud Halcro; " what mean you by they? 
 Is it the corpse-lights? No, they did not pass by me, but I 
 think they have passed by you, and blighted you with their 
 influence, for you are as pale as a specter. Come — come, 
 Minna," he added, opening a side-door of the dwelling, 
 " these moonlight walks are fitter for old poets than for young 
 maidens. And so lightly clad as you are! Maiden, you 
 should take care, how you give yourself to the breezes of a 
 Zetland night, for they bring more sleet than odors upon 
 their wings. But, maiden, go in; for, as glorious John says — 
 or, as he does not say, for I cannot remember how his verse 
 chimes — but, as I say myself, in a pretty poem, written when 
 my muse was in her teens: 
 
 " Menseful maiden ne'er should rise, 
 Till the first beam tinge the skies; 
 Silk-fringed eyelids still should close, 
 I Till the sun has kiss'd the rose; 
 
 Maiden's foot we should not view, 
 Mark'd with tiny print on dew, 
 Till the opening flowerets spread 
 Carpet meet for beauty's tread 
 
 Stay, what comes next ? — let me see." 
 
 When the spirit of recitation seized on Claud Halcro, he 
 forgot time and place, and might have kept his companion in 
 the cold air for half an hour, giving poetical reasons why 
 she ought to have been in bed. But she interrupted him by 
 the question, earnestly pronounced, yet in a voice which was 
 scarcely articulate, holding Halcro, at the same time, with a 
 
THE PIRATE. 253 
 
 treml)ling and convulsive grasp, as if to support herself from 
 falling, " Saw you no one in the boat which put to sea but 
 now?" 
 
 " Nonsense," replied Halcro; " how could I see anyone, 
 when light and distance only enabled me to know that it was 
 a boat, and not a grampus? " 
 
 " But there must have been someone in the boat," repeated 
 Minna, scarce conscious of what she said. 
 
 " Certainly," answered the poet, " boats seldom work to 
 windward of their own accord. But come, this is all folly; 
 and so, as the queen says in an old play, which was revived 
 for the stage by rare Will D'Avenant, ' To bed — to bed — to 
 bed! ' " 
 
 They separated, and Minna's limbs conveyed her with diffi- 
 culty, through several devious passages, to her own chamber, 
 where she stretched herself cautiously beside her still sleeping 
 sister, with a mind harassed with the most agonizing appre- 
 hensions. That she had heard Cleveland, she was positive; 
 the tenor of the songs left her no doubt on that subject. If 
 not equally certain that she had heard young Mertoun's voice 
 in hot quarrel with her lover, the impression to that elT'ect was 
 strong on her mind. The groan with which the struggle 
 seemed to terminate, the fearful indication from which it 
 seemed that the conqueror had borne off the lifeless body of 
 his victim — all tended to prove that some fatal event had con- 
 cluded the contest. And which of the unhappy men had 
 fallen? which had met a bloody death? — which had 
 achieved a fatal and a bloody victory? These were questions 
 to which the still small voice of interior conviction answered, 
 that her lover Cleveland, from character, temper, and habits, 
 was most likely to have been the survivor of the fray. She 
 received from the reflection an involuntary consolation which 
 she almost detested herself for admitting, when she recol- 
 lected that it was at once darkened with her lovers guilt and 
 embittered with the destruction of Brenda's happiness for- 
 ever. 
 
 " Innocent, unhappy sister! " such were her reflections, 
 " thou that art ten times better than I, because so unpretend- 
 ing — so unassuming in thine excellence! How is it possible 
 that I should cease to feel a pang which is only transferred 
 from my bosom to thine? " 
 
 As these cruel thoughts crossed her mind, she could not 
 refrain from straining her sister so close to her bosom that, 
 after a heavy sigh, Brenda awoke. 
 
264 WAVUBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " Sister," she said, " is it you? I dreamed I lay on one of 
 those monuments which Claud Halcro described to us, where 
 the effigy of the inhabitant beneath lies carved in stone upon 
 the sepulcher. I dreamed such a marble form lay by my 
 side, and that it suddenly acquired enough of life and anima- 
 tion to fold me to its cold, moist bosom; and it is yours, 
 Minna, that is indeed so chilly. You are ill, my dearest 
 Minna! for God's sake, let me rise and call Euphane Fea. 
 What ails you? Has Noma been here again? " 
 
 " Call no one hither," said Minna, detaining her; " noth- 
 ing ails me for which anyone has a remedy — nothing but ap- 
 prehensions of evil worse than even ISToma could prophesy. 
 But God is above all, my dear Brenda; and let us pray to Him 
 to turn, as He only can, our evil into good." 
 
 They did jointly repeat their usual prayer for strength and 
 protection from on high, and again composed themselves to 
 sleep, suffering no word save " God bless you! " to pass be- 
 twixt them when their devotions were finished; thus scrupu- 
 lously dedicating to Heaven their last waking words, if 
 human frailty prevented them from commanding their last 
 waking thoughts. Brenda slept first, and Minna, strongly 
 resisting the dark and evil presentiments which again 
 began to crowd themselves upon her imagination, was at last 
 so fortunate as to slumber also. 
 
 The storm which Halcro had expected began about day- 
 break — a squall, heavy with wind and rain, such as is often 
 felt, even during the finest part of the season, in these lati- 
 tudes. At the whistle of the wind and the clatter of the rain 
 on the shingle-roofing of the fishers' huts, many a poor woman 
 was awakened, and called on her children to hold up their 
 little hands and join in prayer for the safety of the dear hus- 
 band and father who was even then at the mercy of the 
 disturbed elements. Around the house of Burgh-Westra, 
 chimneys howled and windows clashed. The props and 
 rafters of the higher parts of the building, most of them 
 formed out of wreck-wood, groaned and quivered, as fearing 
 to be again dispersed by the tempest. But the daughters of 
 Magnus Troil continued to sleep as softly and as sweetly as if 
 the hand of Chantrey had formed them out of statuary 
 marble. The squall had passed away, and the sunbeams, dis- 
 persing the clouds which drifted to leeward, shone full 
 through the lattice, when Minna first started from the pro- 
 found sleep into which fatigue and mental exhaustion had 
 lulled her, and, raising herself on her arm, began to recall 
 
THE PIRATE. 255 
 
 events, which, after this interval of profound repose, seemed 
 almost to resemble the baseless visions of the night. She 
 almost doubted if what she recalled of horror, previous to her 
 starting from her bed, was not indeed the fiction of a dream, 
 suggested, perhaps, by some external sounds. 
 
 ''1 will see Claud Halcro instantly," she said; "he may 
 know something of these strange noises, as he was stirring at 
 the time." 
 
 With that she sprung from bed, but hardly stood upright 
 on the floor ere her sister exclaimed, " Gracious Heaven! 
 Minna, what ails your foot — your ankle?" 
 
 She looked down, and saw with surprise, which amounted 
 to agony, that both her feet, but particularly one of them, was 
 stained mth dark crimson, resembhng the color of dried 
 blood. 
 
 Without attempting to answer Brenda, she rushed to the 
 window and cast a desperate look on the grass beneath, for 
 there she knew she must have contracted the fatal stain. But 
 the rain, which had fallen there in treble quantity, as well 
 from the heavens as from the eaves of the house, had washed 
 away that guilty witness, if indeed such had ever existed. 
 All was fresh and fair, and the blades of grass, overcharged 
 and bent with raindrops, glittered like diamonds in the bright 
 morning sun. 
 
 While Minna stared upon the spangled verdure, with her 
 full dark eyes fixed and enlarged to circles by the intensity of 
 her terror, Brenda was hanging about her, and with many an 
 eager inquiry pressed to know whether or how she had hurt 
 herself? 
 
 " A piec-e of glass cut through my shoe," said lilinna, be- 
 thinking herself that some excuse was necessar}' to her sister; 
 " I scarce felt it at the time." 
 
 " And yet see how it has bled," said her sister. " Sweet 
 Minna," she added, approaching her with a wetted towel, " let 
 me wipe the blood off — the hurt may be worse than you 
 think of." 
 
 But as she approached, Minna, who saw no other way of 
 preventing discovery that the blood with which she was 
 stained had never flowed in her own veins, harshly and hastily 
 repelled the profi^ered kindness. Poor Brenda. unconscious 
 of any offense which she had given to her sister, drew back 
 two or three paces on finding her service thus unkindly re- 
 fused, and stood gazing at Minna with looks in which there 
 was more of surprise and mortified affection than of reaent- 
 
256 WA VERIFY NO VELS. 
 
 mcnt, but which had yet something also of natural dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Sister," said she, " I thought we had agreed hut last night 
 that, happen to us what might, we would at least love each 
 other." 
 
 '' Much may happen betwixt night and morning! " an- 
 swered Minna, in words rather wrenched from her by her 
 situation than flowing forth the voluntary intei-preters of her 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Much may indeed have happened in a night so stormy," 
 answered Brenda; " for see where the very wall around Eu- 
 phane's plantie cruive has been blown down; but neither winl 
 nor rain, nor aught else, can cool our affection. Minna." 
 
 " But that may chance," replied Minna, " which may con- 
 vert it into " 
 
 The rest of the sentence she muttered in a tone so indis- 
 tinct that it could not be apprehended; while, at the same 
 time, she washed the blood-stains from her feet and left 
 ankle. Brenda, who still remained looking on at some dis- 
 tance, endeavored in vain to assiime some tone which might 
 re-establish kindness and confidence betwixt them. 
 
 " You were right," she said, " Minna, to suffer no one to 
 help you to dress so simple a scratch; standing where I do, it 
 is scarce visible." 
 
 " The most cruel wounds," replied Minna, " are those 
 which make no outward show. Are you sure you see it at 
 all?" 
 
 "• Oh, yes! " replied Brenda, framing her answer as she 
 thought would best please her sister, " I see a very sHght 
 scratch; nay, now you draw on the stocking, I can see 
 nothing." 
 
 " You do indeed see nothing," answered Minna, somewhat 
 wildly; " but the time will soon come that all — aye, all — will 
 be seen and known." 
 
 So saying, she hastily completed her dress, and led the way 
 to breakfast, where she assumed her place amongst the guests; 
 but with a countenance so pale and haggard, and manners 
 and speech so altered and so bewildered, that it excited the 
 attention of the whole company, and the utmost anxiety on 
 the part of her father Magnus Troil. Many and various were 
 the conjectures of the guests concerning a distemperature 
 which seemed rather mental than corporeal. Some hinted 
 that the maiden had been struck with an evil eye, and some- 
 thing they muttered about Noma of the Fitful Head; some 
 
THE PIE ATE. 257 
 
 talked of the departure of Captain Cleveland, and murmured, 
 " It was a shame for a young lady to take on so after a land- 
 louper of whom no one knew anything "; and this contemptu- 
 ous epithet was in particular bestowed on the captain by Mis- 
 tress Baby Yellowley, while she was in the act of wrapping 
 round her old skinny neck the very handsome " owerlay," as 
 she called it, wherewith the said captain had presented her. 
 The old Lady Glowrowrum had a system of her own, which 
 she hinted to Mistress Yellowley, after thanking God that her 
 own connection with the Burgh-Westra family was by the 
 lass's mother, who was a canny Scotswoman, like herself. 
 
 " For, as to these Trolls, you see, Dame Yellowley, for as 
 high as they hold their heads, they say that ken (winking 
 sagaciously) that there is a bee in their bonnet. That Noma, 
 as they call her, for it's not her right name neither, is at 
 whiles far beside her right mind; and they that ken the cause 
 say the Fowd was some gate or other linked in with it, for he 
 will never hear an ill word of her. But I was in Scotland 
 then, or I might have kenn'd the real cause as weel as other 
 folk. At ony rate, there is a kind of wildness in the blood. 
 Ye ken very^ weel daft folk dinna bide to be contradicted; and 
 I'll say that for the Fowd, he likes to be contradicted as ill as 
 ony man in Zetland. But it shall never be said that I said 
 ony ill of the house that I am sae nearly connected wi'. Only 
 ye will mind, dame, it is through the Sinclairs that we are 
 akin, not through the Troils; and the Sinclairs are kenn'd far 
 and wide for a wise generation, dame. But I see there is the 
 stirrup-cup coming round." 
 
 " I wonder," said Mistress Baby to her brother, as soon as 
 the Lady Glowrowrum turned from her, " what gars that 
 muckle wife 'dame, dame, dame,' that gate at me? She 
 might ken the blude of the Clinkscales is as gude as ony 
 Glowrowrum's amang them." 
 
 The guests, meanwhile, were fast taking their departure, 
 scarcely noticed by Magnus, who was so much engrossed with 
 Minna's indisposition that, contrary to his hospitable wont, 
 he suffered them to go away unsaluted. And thus concluded, 
 amidst anxiety and illness, the festival of St. John, as cele- 
 brated on that season at the house of Burgh- Wcstra, adding 
 another caution to that of the Emperor of Ethiopa — with 
 how little security man can reckon upon the days which he 
 destines to happiness. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 But this sad evil which doth her infest, 
 
 Doth course of natural cause far exceed, 
 
 And housed is within her liollow breast, 
 
 That either seems some cursed witch's deed. 
 
 Or evill spright that in her dotli such torment breed. 
 
 — Faery Queene, Book III. Canto III. 
 
 The term had now elapsed, by several days, when jMordaunt 
 Mertoiin, as he had promised at his departure, should have 
 returned to his father's abode at Jarlshof; but there were no 
 tidings of his arrival. Such delay might, at another time, 
 have excited little curiosity, and no anxiety; for old Swertha, 
 who took upon her the office of thinking and conjecturing 
 for the little household, would have concluded that he had 
 remained behind the other guests upon some party of sport or 
 pleasure. But she knew that Mordaunt had not been lately 
 in favor with Magnus Troil; she knew that he proposed his 
 stay at Burgh- Westra should be a short one, upon account of 
 his father's health, to whom, notwithstanding the little en- 
 couragement which his filial piety received, he paid uniform 
 attention. Swertha knew all this, and she became anxious. 
 She watched the looks of her master, the elder Mertoun; but, 
 wrapped in dark and stem uniformity of composure, his 
 countenance, like the surface of a midnight lake, enabled no 
 one to penetrate into what was beneath. His studies, his soli- 
 tary meals, his lonely walks, succeeded each other in unvaried 
 rotation, and seemed undisturbed by the least thought about 
 Mordaunt's absence. 
 
 At length such reports reached Swertha's ear, from various 
 quarters, that she became totally unable to conceal her anx- 
 iety, and resolved, at the risk of provoking her master into 
 fury, or perhaps that of losing her place in his household, to 
 force upon his notice the doubts which affiicted her own 
 mind. Mordaunt's good-humor and goodly person must in- 
 deed have made no small impression on the withered and 
 selfish heart of the poor old woman, to induce her to take a 
 course so desperate, and from which her friend the Ranzel- 
 man endeavored in vain to deter her. Still, however, con- 
 scious that a miscarriage in the matter would, like the loss of 
 Trinculo's bottle in the horse-pool, be attended not only with 
 
 ^ 268 
 
THE PIRATE. 250 
 
 dishonor, but with infinite loss, she determined to proceed on 
 her high emprize with as much caution as was consistent with 
 the attempt. 
 
 \Ye have already mentioned, that it seemed a part of the 
 very nature of this reserved and unsocial being, at least since 
 his retreat into the utter solitude of Jarlshof, to endure no 
 one to start a subject of conversation, or to put any question 
 to him, that did not arise out of urgent and pressing emer- 
 gency. Swertha was sensible, therefore, that, in ordtir to 
 open the discourse favorably which she proposed to hold with 
 her master, she must contrive that it should originate with 
 himself. 
 
 To accomplish this purjDose, while busied in preparing the 
 table for Mr. Mertoun's simple and solitary dinner-meal, she 
 formally adorned the table with two covers instead of one, 
 and made all her other preparations as if he was to have a 
 guest or companion at dinner. 
 
 The artifice succeeded; for Mertoun, on coming from his 
 study, no sooner saw the table thus arranged than he asked 
 Swertha, who, waiting the effect of her stratagem as a fisher 
 watches his ground-baits, was fiddling up and down the room, 
 "Whether Mordaunt was returned from Burgh-Westra? " 
 
 This question was the cue for Swertha, and she answered 
 in a voice of sorrowful anxiety, half-real, half-affected, " Na — 
 na! nae sic divot had dunted at their door. It wad be blithe 
 news indeed to ken that young Maister Mordaunt, puir dear 
 bairn, were safe at hame." 
 
 " And if he be not at home, why should you lay a cover for 
 him, you doting fool?" replied Mertoun, in a tone well cal- 
 culated to stop the old woman's proceedings. But she replied 
 boldly, " That, indeed, somebody should take thought about 
 Maister Mordaunt; a' that she could do was to have seat and 
 plate ready for him when he came. But she thought the 
 dear baim'^had been ower lang awa'; and, if she maun speak 
 out, she had her ain fears when and whether he might ever 
 come hame." 
 
 " Your fears! " said Mertoun, his eyes flashing as they 
 usuallv did when his hour of ungovernable passion ap- 
 proached; " do you speak of your idle fears to me, who know 
 that all of your sex, that is not fickleness, and folly, and self- 
 conceit, and self-will, is a bundle of idiotical fears, vapors, and 
 tremors? What are your fears to me, you foolish old hag? " 
 It is an admirable quality in womankind that, when a 
 breach of the laws of natui-al affection comes under tlieir 
 
260 WAVEELET NOVELS. 
 
 observation, the whole sex is in arms. Let a rumor arise in 
 the street of a parent that has misused a child, or a child that 
 has insulted a parent — I say nothing of the case of husband 
 and wife, where the interest may be accounted for in sym- 
 pathy — and all the women within hearing will take animated 
 and decided part with the sufferer. Swertha, notwithstand- 
 ing her greed and avarice, had her share of the generous feel- 
 ing which does so much honor to her sex, and was, on this oc- 
 casion, so much carried on by its impulse that she confronted 
 her master, and upbraided him with his hard-hearted indif- 
 ference, with a boldness at which she herself was astonished. 
 
 " To be sure, it wasna her that suld be fearing for her 
 young maister, Maister Mordaunt, even although he was, as 
 she might weel say, the very sea-calf of her heart; but ony 
 other father but his honor himsell wad have had speerings 
 made after the poor lad, and him gane this eight daj^s from 
 Burgh-Westra, and naebody kenn'd when or where he had 
 gane. There wasna a bairn in the howff but was maiuing 
 for him; for he made all their bits of boats with his knife; 
 there wadna be a dry eye in the parish if aught worse than 
 weal should befall him — na, no ane, unless it might be his 
 honor's ain." 
 
 Mertoun had been much struck, and even silenced, by the 
 insolent volubility of his insurgent housekeeper; but, at the 
 last sarcasm, he imposed on her silence in her turn with an 
 audible voice, accompanied with one of the most terrific 
 glances which his dark eye and stern features could expres:-. 
 But Swertha, who, as she afterward acquainted the Eanzel- 
 man, was wonderfully supported during the whole scene, 
 would not be controlled by the loud voice and ferocious look 
 of her master, but proceeded in the same tone as before. 
 
 " His honor," she said, " had made an unco wark because 
 a wheen bits of kists and duds, that naebody had use for, had 
 been gathered on the beach by the poor bodies of the town- 
 ship; and here was the bravest lad in the country lost, and 
 cast away, as it were, before his een, and nae ane asking what 
 was come o' him." 
 
 " What should come of him but good, you old fool," an- 
 swered Mr. Mertoun, " as far, at least, as there can be good in 
 any of the follies he spends his time in?" 
 
 This was spoken rather in a scornful than an angry tone, 
 and Swertha, who had got into the spirit of the dialogue, was 
 resolved not to let it drop, now that the fire of her opponent 
 seemed to slacken. 
 
THE PIRATE. 261 
 
 " Oh, aye, to be sure I am an auld fule; but if Maister Mor- 
 daunt should have settled down in the Roost, as mair than ae 
 boat had been lost in that wearifu' squall the other morning 
 — by good luck it was short as it was sharp, or naething could 
 have lived in it; or if he were drowned in a loch coming hame 
 on foot; or if he were killed by miss of footing on a craig — 
 the haill island kenn'd how venturesome he was — who," said 
 Swertha, "will be the auld fule then?" And she added a 
 pathetic ejaculation, that " God would protect the poor 
 motherless bairn! for if he had had a mother, there would 
 have been search made after him before now." 
 
 This last sarcasm afTected Mertoun powerfully: his jaw 
 quivered, his face grew pale, and he muttered to Swertha to 
 go into his study (where she was scarcely ever permitted to 
 enter) and fetch him a bottle which stood there. 
 
 " Oh, ho! " quoth Swertha to herself, as she hastened on 
 the commission, " my master knows where to find a cup 
 of comfort to qualify his water with upon fitting 
 occa.-ions." 
 
 There was indeed a case of such bottles as were usually 
 employed to hold strong waters, but the dust and cobwebs in 
 which they were enveloped showed that they had not been 
 touched for many years. With some difficulty Swertha ex- 
 tracted the cork of one of them by the help of a fork — for 
 corkscrew was there none at Jarlshof — and having ascer- 
 tained by smell, and, in case of any mistake, by moderate 
 mouthful, that it contained wholesome Barbadoes waters, she 
 carried it into the room, where her master still continued to 
 struggle with his faintness. She then began to pour a small 
 quantity into the nearest cup that she could find, wisely judg- 
 ing that, upon a person so much unaccustomed to the use of 
 spirituous liquors, a little might produce a strong effect. But 
 the patient signed to her impatiently to fill the cup, which 
 might hold more than the third of an English pint measure, 
 up to the very brim, and swallowed it down without hesi- 
 tation. 
 
 " Now the saunts above have a care on us! " said Swertha; 
 " he will be drunk as weel as mad, and wha is to guide him 
 then, I wonder? " 
 
 But Mertoun's breath and color returned, without the 
 slightest symptom of intoxication; on the contrary, Swertha 
 aiterward reported that, " Although she had always had a 
 firm opinion in favor of a dram, yet she never saw one work 
 Buch miracles: he spoke mair like a man of the middle world 
 
262 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 than she had ever heard liim since she had. entered his 
 service." 
 
 " Swertha," he said, " you are right in this matter, and I 
 was wrong. Go down to the Ranzelman directly, tell him to 
 come and speak with me without an instant's delay, and 
 bring me special word what boats and people he can com- 
 mand; I will employ them all in the search, and they shall be 
 plentifully rewarded." 
 
 Stimulated by the spur which maketh the old woman pro- 
 verbially to trot, Swertha posted down to the hamlet with all 
 the speed of threescore, rejoicing that her sympathetic feel- 
 ings were likely to achieve their own reward, having given rise 
 to a quest which promised to be so lucrative, and in the profits 
 whereof she was determined to have her share, shouting out 
 as she went, and long before she got within hearing, the 
 names of Neil Ronaldson, Sweyn Erickson, and the other 
 friends and confederates who were interested in her mission. 
 To say the truth, notwithstanding that the good dame really 
 felt a deep interest in Mordaunt Mertoun, and was mentally 
 troubled on account of his absence, perhaps few things would 
 have disappointed her more than if he had at tliis moment 
 started up in her path safe and sound, and rendered unneces- 
 sary, by his appearance, the expense and the bustle of search- 
 ing after him. 
 
 Soon did Swertha accomplish her business in the village, 
 and adjust with the senators of the township her own little 
 share of percentage upon the profits likely to accrue on her 
 mission; and speedily did she return to Jarlshof, with Neil 
 Eonaldson by her side, schooling him to the best of her skill 
 in all the peculiarities of her master. 
 
 " Aboon a' things," she said, " never make him wait for 
 an answer; and speak loud and distinct, as if you were hail- 
 ing a boat, for he downa bide to say the same thing twice over; 
 and if he asks about distance, ye may make leagues for miles, 
 for he kens naething about the face of the earth tliat he 
 lives upon; and if he speak of siller, ye may ask dollars for 
 shillings, for he minds them nae mair than sclate-stanes." 
 
 Thvis tutored, Neil Konaldson was introduced into the 
 presence of ]\Iertoun, but was utterly confounded to find that 
 he could not act upon the system of deception which had 
 been projected. When he attempted, by some exaggeration 
 of distance and peril, to enhance the hire of the boats and of 
 the men (for the search Avas to be by sea and land), he found 
 himself at once cut short by Mertoun, who showed not only 
 
THE PIRATE. 263 
 
 the most perfect knowledo;e of the coimtr)^ but of distances, 
 tides, currents, and all belonging to the navigation of those 
 seas, although these were topics with which he had hitherto 
 appeared to be totally unacquainted. The Kanzelman, there- 
 fore, trembled when they came to spealc of the recompense to 
 be afforded for their exertions in the search; for it was not 
 more unlikely that Mertoun should be well informed of what 
 was just and proper upon this head than upon others; and 
 Neil remembered the storm of his iwvy when, at an early 
 period after he had settled at Jarlshof, he drove Swertha and 
 Sweyn Erickson from his presence. As, however, he stood 
 hesitating betwixt the opposite fears of asking too much or 
 too little, ]Mertoun stopped his mouth and ended his uncer- 
 tainty by promising him a recompense beyond what he dared 
 have ventured to ask, with an additional gratuity in case they 
 returned with the pleasing intelligence that his son was safe. 
 
 When this great point was settled, Neil Eonaldson, like a 
 man of conscience, began to consider earnestly the various 
 places where search should be made after the young man; and 
 having undertaken f;nihfully that the inquiry should be prose- 
 cuted at all the houses of the gentry, both in this and the 
 neighboring islands, he added that, " After all, if his honor 
 would not be angry, there was ane not far off that, if anybody 
 dared speer her a question, and if she liked to answer it, 
 could tell more about Maister Mordaunt than anybody else 
 could. Ye will ken wha I mean, Swertha? Her that was 
 down at the haven this morning." Thus he concluded, ad- 
 dressing himself with a mysterious look to the housekeeper, 
 which she answered with a nod and a wink. 
 
 "How mean you?" said Mertoun; "speak out, short and 
 open — whom do you speak of?" 
 
 " It is Noma of the Fitful Head," said Swertha, " that the 
 Ranzelman is thinking about; for she has gone up to St. 
 Ringan's kirk this morning on business of her own." 
 
 "And what can this person know of my son?" said Mer- 
 toun; " she is, I believe, a wandering madwoman or impostor." 
 
 " If she wanders," said Swertha, " it is for nae lack of 
 means at hame, and that is weel known: plenty of a' thing 
 has she of her ain, forbye that the Fowd himsell would let. 
 her want naething." 
 
 " But what is tliat to my son? " said Mertoun impatiently. 
 
 " I dinna ken; she took unco pleasure in ]\Iaister Mor- 
 daunt from the time she first saw him, and mony a braw thing 
 she gave him at ae time or another, forbye the gowd chain 
 
264 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 that hangs about liis bonny craig. Folk say it is of fairy 
 gold. I kenna what gold it is; but Bryce Snailsfoot says that 
 the value will mount to an hundred pounds English, and that 
 is nae deaf nuts." 
 
 " Go-, Konaldson," said Mertoun, " or else send someone, 
 to seek this woman out — if you think there be a chance of her 
 knowing anytliing of my son." 
 
 " She kens a'thing that happens in tha,e islands," said Neil 
 Eonaldson, " muckle sooner than other folk, and that is 
 Heaven's truth. But as to going to the kirk, or the kirk- 
 yard, to speer after her, there is not a man in Zetland will do 
 it, for meed or for money, and that's Heaven's truth as weel 
 as the other." 
 
 " Cowardly, superstitious fools! " said Mertoun. " But 
 give me my cloak, Swertha. This woman has been at Burgh- 
 Westra — she is related to Troll's family — she may know 
 something of Mordaunt's absence and its cause. I will seek 
 her myself. She is at the Cross kirk, you say? " 
 
 " No, not at the Cross kirk, but at the auld kirk of St. 
 Eingan's. It's a doA\de bit, and far frae being canny; and if 
 your honor," added Swertha., " wad walk by my rule, I wad 
 wait until she came back, and no trouble her when she may 
 be mair busied wi' the dead, for ony thing that we ken, than 
 she is wi' the living. The like of her carena to have other 
 folks' een on them when they are, gude sain us! doing their 
 ain particular turns." 
 
 Mertoun made no answer, but throwing his cloak loosely 
 around him (for the day was misty, with passing showers), 
 and leaving the decayed mansion of Jarlshof, he walked at a 
 pace much faster than was usual with him, taking the direc- 
 tion of the ruinous church, which stood, as he well knew, 
 within three or four miles of his dwelling. 
 
 The Ranzelman and Swertha stood gazing after him in 
 silence, until he was fairly out of ear-shot, when, looking 
 seriously on each other, and shaking their sagacious heads in 
 the same boding degree of vibration, they uttered their re- 
 marks in the same breath. 
 
 " Fools are aye fleet and fain," said Swertha. 
 
 " Fey folk run fast," added the Eanzelman; " and the thing 
 that we are bom to, we cannot win by. I have known them 
 that tried to stop folk that were fey. You have heard of 
 Helen Emberson of Camsey, how she stopped all the boles and 
 windows about the house, that her gudeman might not see 
 daylight, and rise to the haaf-fishing, because she feared foul 
 
THE PIRATE. 265 
 
 weather; and how the boat he should have sailed in was lost 
 in the Roost; and how she came back, rejoicing in her gude- 
 maii's safety; but ne'er may care! for there she found him 
 drowned in his own masking-fat, \\'ithin the wa's of his ain 
 biggin; and moreover " 
 
 But here Swertha reminded the Ranzelman that he must 
 go down to the haven to get off the fishing-boats; " For both 
 that my heart is sair for the bonny lad, and that I ana fear'd 
 he east up of his ain accord before you are at sea; and, as I 
 have often told ye, my master may lead but he winna drive; 
 and if ye do not his bidding and get out to sea, the never a 
 boddle of boat-hire will ye see." 
 
 " Weel — weel, good dame," said the Kanzelman, " we will 
 launch as fast as we can; and, by good luck, neither Clawson's 
 boat nor Peter Grot's is out to the haaf this morning, for a 
 rabbit ran across the path as they were going on board, and 
 they came back like wise men, kenning they wad be called to 
 other wark this day. And a marvel it is to think, Swertha, 
 how few real judicious men are left in this land. There is 
 our great Udaller is weel eneugh when he is fresih, but he 
 makes ower mony voyages in his ship and his yawl to be lang 
 sae; and now they say his daughter. Mistress Minna, is sair 
 out of sorts. Then there is Noma kens muckle mair than 
 other folk, but wise woman ye cannot call her. Our tacks- 
 man here, ]\raister Mertoun, his wit is spnmg in the bowsprit, 
 I doubt; his son is a daft gowk; and I ken few of consequence 
 hereabouts — excepting always myself, and maybe 5^ou, 
 Swertha — but what may, in some sense or other, be called 
 fules." 
 
 "That may be, Neil Ronaldson," said the dame; "but if 
 you do not hasten the faster to the shore, you will lose tide; 
 and. as I naid to my master some short time syne, wha will 
 bethefule then?" • 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 I do love these ancient ruins. 
 We never tread upon them but we set 
 Our foot upon some reverend history; 
 And, questionless, here, in this open court 
 (Which now lies naked to the injuries 
 Of stormy weather), some men lie interr'd, 
 Loved the church so well, and gave so largely to it, 
 They thought it should have canopied their bones 
 Till doomsday; but all things have their end: 
 Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men, 
 Must have like death which we have. 
 
 —Duchess of Half y. 
 
 The ruinous church of St. ISTinian had, in its time, enjoyed 
 great celebrity; for that mighty system of Roman supersti- 
 tion which spread its roots over all Europe had not failed to 
 extend them even to this remote archipelago, and Zetland 
 had, in the Catholic times, her saints, her shrines, and her 
 relics, which, though little known elsewhere, attracted the 
 homage, and commanded the observance, of the simple in- 
 habitants of Thule. Their devotion to this church of St. 
 Ninian, or, as he was provincially tei-med, St. Ringan, situ- 
 ated, as the edifice was, close to the sea-beach, and serving, in 
 many points, as a landmark to their boats, was particularly 
 obstinate, and was connected with so much superstitious 
 ceremonial and credulity that the Reformed clergy thought 
 it best, by an order of the church courts, to prohibit all spir- 
 itual service within its walls, as tending to foster the rooted 
 faith of the simple and rude people around in saint-worship 
 and other erroneous doctrines of the Romish Church. 
 
 After the church of St. Ninian had been thus denounced 
 as a seat of idolatry, and desecrated of course, the public wor- 
 ship was transferred to another church; and the roof, with 
 its lead and its rafters, having been stripped from the little 
 rude old Gothic building, it was left in the wilderness to the 
 mercy of the elements. The fury of the uncontrolled winds, 
 which howled along an exposed space resembling that wliich 
 we have described at Jarlshof, very soon choked up nave and 
 aisle, and on the northwest side, which was chiefly exposed to 
 the wind, hid the outside walls more than halfway up wiih 
 mounds of drifted sand, over which the gable-ends of the 
 building, with the little belfry, which was built above its east- 
 em angle, arose in ragged and shattered nakedness of ruin. 
 
THE PIRATE. 267 
 
 Yet, deserted as it was, the kirk of St. Ringan still retained 
 some semblance of the ancient homage formerly rendered 
 there. The rude and ignorant fishermen of Dunrossness ob- 
 served a practice, of which they themselves had well-nigh for- 
 gotten the origin, and from which the Protestant clergy in 
 vain endeavored to deter them. When their boats were in 
 extreme peril, it was common amongst them to propose to 
 vow an " awmous," as they termed it, that is, an alms, to St. 
 Eingan; and when the danger was over, they never failed to 
 absolve themselves of their vow by coming singly and 
 secretly to the old church, and putting off their shoes and 
 stockings at the entrance of the churchyard, walking thrice 
 around the niins, observing that they did so in the course of 
 the sun. When the circuit was accomplished for the third 
 time, the votary dropped his offering, usually a small silver 
 coin, through the mullions of a .lanceolated window, which 
 opened into a side aisle, and then retired, avoiding carefully 
 to look behind him till he was beyond the precincts which 
 had once been hallowed ground; for it was believed that the 
 skeleton of the saint received the offering in his bony hand, 
 and showed Ms ghastly death's-head at the window into which 
 it was thrown. 
 
 Indeed, the scene was rendered more appalling to weak and 
 ignorant minds because the same stormy and eddying winds 
 which, on the one side of the church, threatened to bury the 
 ruins with sand, and had, in fact, heaped it up in huge quan- 
 tities, so as almost to hide the side wall with its buttresses, 
 seemed in other places bent on uncovering the graves of 
 those who had been laid to their long rest on the southeastern 
 quarter; and, after an unusually hard gale, the coffins, and 
 sometimes the very corpses of those who had been interred 
 \dthout the usual cerements, were discovered, in a ghastly 
 manner, to the eyes of the living. 
 
 It was to this desolated place of worship that the elder 
 Mertoun now proceeded, though without any of those reli- 
 gious or superstitious purposes with which the church of St. 
 Eingan was usvially approached. He was totally without the 
 superstitious fears of the country — nay, from the sequestered 
 and' sullen manner in which he lived, withdrawing liimself 
 from human society even when avssembled for worship, it was 
 the general opinion that he erred on the more fatal side, and 
 believed rather too little than too much of that which the 
 church receives and enjoins to Christians. 
 
 As he entered the little bay, on the shore, and almo&t on 
 
268 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 the beach, of which the ruins are situated, he could not help 
 pausing for an instant, and becoming sensible that the scene, 
 as calculated to operate on human feelings, had been selected 
 with much judgment as the site of a religious house. In 
 front lay the sea, into which two headlands, which formed the 
 extremities of the bay, project-ed their gigantic causeways of 
 dark and sable rocks, on the ledges of which the gulls, 
 scouries, and other sea-fowl appeared like flakes of snow; 
 while, upon the lower ranges of the cliff, stood whole lines of 
 cormorants, drawn up alongside of each other, like soldiers 
 in their battle array, and other living thing was there none 
 to see. The sea, although not in a tempestuous state, was 
 disturbed enough to rush on these capes with a sound like 
 distant thunder, and the billows, which rose in sheets of 
 foam halfway up these sable rocks, formed a contrast of color- 
 ing equally striking and awful. 
 
 Betwixt the extremities, or capes, of these projecting head- 
 lands, there rolled, on the day when Mertoun visited the 
 scene, a deep and dense aggregation of clouds, through which 
 no human eye could penetrate, and which, bounding the 
 vision, and excluding all view of the distant ocean, rendered 
 it no unapt representation of the sea in the ''Vision of Mirza," 
 whose extent was concealed by vapors, and clouds, and storms. 
 The ground rising steeply from the sea-beach, permitting no 
 view into the interior of the country, appeared a scene of 
 irretrievable barrenness, where scrubby and stunted heath, 
 intermixed with the long bent, or coarse grass, which first 
 covers sandy soils, were the only vegetables that could be 
 seen. Upon a natural elevation, which rose above the beach 
 in the very bottom of the bay, and receded a little from the 
 sea so as to be without reach of the waves, arose the half- 
 buried ruin which we have already described, surrounded by 
 a wasted, half-ruinous, and moldering wall, which, breached 
 in several places, served still to divide the precincts of the 
 cemetery. The mariners who were driven by accident into 
 this solitary bay pretended that the church was occasionally 
 observed to be full of lights, and, from that circumstance, 
 were used to prophesy shipwrecks and deaths by sea. 
 
 As Mertoun approached near to the chapel, he adopted, 
 insensibly, and perhaps without much premeditation, meas- 
 ures to avoid being himself seen until he came close under 
 the walls of the burial-ground, which he approached, as it 
 chanced, on that side where the sand was blowing from the 
 graves in the manner we have described. 
 
TEE PIRATE. 269 
 
 Here, looking through one of the gaps in the wall which 
 time had made, he beheld the person whom he sought, occu- 
 pied in a manner which assorted well with the ideas popularly 
 entertained of her character, but which was othenvise suJB&- 
 ciently extraordinary. 
 
 She was employed beside a rude monument, on one side of 
 which was represented the rough outline of a cavalier, or 
 knight, on horseback, while on the other appeared a shield, 
 with the armorial bearings so defaced as not to be intelligible; 
 which escutcheon was suspended by one angle, contrary to 
 the modern custom, which usually places them straight and 
 upright. At the foot of this pillar was believed to repose, as 
 Mertoun had formerly heard, the bones of Eibolt Troil, one 
 of the remote ancestors of Magnus, and a man renowned for 
 deeds of valorous emprize in the fifteenth centur}\ From the 
 grave of this warrior Noma of the Fitful Head seemed busied 
 in shoveling the sand, an easy task where it was so light and 
 loose; so that it seemed plain that she would shortly com- 
 plete what the rude winds had begun, and make bare the 
 bones which lay there interred. As she labored, she mut- 
 tered her magic song; for without the Eunic rhyme no form 
 of Northern superstition was ever performed. We have per- 
 haps preserved too many examples of these incantations; but 
 we cannot help attempting to translate that which follows: 
 
 " Champion, famed for warlike toil, 
 Art thy silent, Ribolt Troil? 
 Sand and dust, and pebbly atones 
 Are leaving bare thy giant bones. 
 Who dared touch the wild bear's skin 
 Ye slumber'd on while life was in? 
 A woman now, or babe, may come, 
 And cast the covering from thy tomb. 
 
 " Yet be not wrathful, chief, nor blight 
 Mine eyes or ears with sound or sight! 
 I come not, with unhallow'd tread, 
 To wake the slumbers of the dead, 
 Or lay thy giant relics bare; 
 But what I seek thou well canst spare. 
 Be it to my hand allow'd 
 To shear a merk's weight from thy shroud; 
 Yet leave thee sheeted lead enough 
 To shield thy bones from weather rough. 
 
 ** See, I draw my magic knife; 
 Never while thou wert in life 
 Laid'st thou still for sloth or fear, 
 When point and edge were glittering near; 
 See, the cerements now I sever. 
 Walien now, or sleep for ever! 
 Thou wilt not wake? the deed is done!— 
 The prize I sought is fairly won. 
 
^10 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " Thanks, Ribolt, thanks; for this the sea 
 yhal'i smooth its ruffled crest lor thee, 
 And while afar its billows foam, 
 Subside to peace near Kibolt's tomb. 
 Thanks, llibolt, thanks; for this the might 
 Of wild winds raging at their height, 
 When to thy place of slumber nigh, 
 Shall soften to a lullaby. 
 
 " She, the dame of doubt and dread, 
 Noma of the Fitful Head, 
 Mighty iu her own despite, 
 Miserable in her might, 
 In despair and frenzj' great, 
 In her greatness desolate, 
 Wisest, wickedest wlio lives, 
 Well can keep the word she gives." 
 
 While Noma chanted the first part of this rhyme, she com- 
 pleted the task of laying bare a part of the leaden coffin of the 
 ancient warrior, and severed from it, with much caution and 
 appai'ent awe, a portion of the metal. She then reverentially 
 threw back the sand upon the coffin; and by the time she had 
 finished her song no trace remained that the secrets of the 
 sepulcher had been violated. 
 
 Mertoun remained gazing on her from behind the church- 
 yard wall during the whole ceremony, not from any impres- 
 sion of veneration for her or her employment, but because he 
 conceived that to interrupt a madwoman in her act of mad- 
 ness was not the best way to obtain from her such intelligence 
 as she might have to impart. Meanwhile, he had full time to 
 consider her figure, although her face was obscured by her 
 disheveled hair and by the hood of her dark mantle, which 
 permitted no more to be visible than a Druidess would prob- 
 ably have exhibited at the celebration of her mystical rites. 
 Mertoun had often heard of jSTorna before; nay, it is most 
 probable that he might have seen her repeatedly, for she had 
 been in the vicinity of Jarlshof more than once since his resi- 
 dence there. But the absurd stories which were in circula- 
 tion respecting her prevented his paying any attention to a 
 person whom he regarded as either an impostor or a mad- 
 woman, or a compound of both. Yet, now that his attention 
 was by circumstances involuntarily fixed upon her person and 
 deportment, he could not help acknowledging to himself that 
 she was either a complete enthusiast or rehearsed her part so 
 admirably that no pythoness of ancient times could have 
 excelled her. The dignity and solemnity of her gesture, the 
 sonorous, yet impressive, tone of voice with which she ad- 
 dressed the depai'ted spirit whose mortal relics she ventured to 
 
THE PIRATE. 371 
 
 disturb, were such as failed not to make an impreesion upon 
 him, careless iiid indilt'erent as he generally appeared to all 
 that went on around him. But no sooner was her singular 
 occupation terminated than, entering the churchyard with 
 some difhculty by clambering over the disjointed ruins of the 
 wall, he made Noma aware of his presence. Far from start- 
 ing or expressing the least surprise at his appearance in a 
 place so solitary, she said, in a tone that seemed to intimate 
 that he had been expected, " So — you have sought me at 
 last?" 
 
 " And found you," replied Mertoun, judging he would best 
 introduce the inquiries he had to make by assuming a tone 
 which corresponded to her own. 
 
 " Yes! " she replied, " found me you have, and in the place 
 where all men must meet — amid the tabernacles of the 
 dead." 
 
 " Here we must, indeed, meet at last," replied Mertoun, 
 glancing his eyes on the desolate scene around, where head- 
 stones, half-covered in sand, and others, from which the same 
 wind had stripped the soil on which they rested, covered with 
 inscriptions, and sculptured with the emblems of mortality, 
 were the most conspicuous objects — " here, as in the house of 
 death, all men must meet at length; and happy those that 
 come soonest to the quiet haven." 
 
 " He that dares desire this haven," said Noma, " must have 
 steered a steady course in the voyage of life. / dare not hope 
 for such quiet harbor. Barest thou expect it? or has the 
 course thou hast kept deserved it?" 
 
 " It matters not to my present purpose," replied Mertoun; 
 " I have to ask you what tidings you know of my son, Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun ? " 
 
 "A father," replied the sibyl, "asks of a stranger what 
 tidings she has of his son! How should I know aught of 
 him? The cormorant says not to the mallard, ' Where is my 
 brood?'" 
 
 " Lay aside this useless affectation of mystery," said Mer- 
 toun: "with the vulgar and ignorant it has its effect, but 
 upon me it is thrown away. The people of Jarlshof have told 
 me that you do know, or may know, something of Alordaunt 
 Mertoun, who has not returned home after the festival of St. 
 John's, held in the house of your relative, Magnus Troil. 
 Give me such information, if indeed ye have it to give; and it 
 shall be recompensed, if the means of recompense are in my 
 power." 
 
272 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " The wide round of earth," replied Noma, " holds noth- 
 ing that I would call a recompense for the slightest word that 
 I throw away upon a living ear. But for thy son, if thou' 
 wouldst see him in life, repair to the approaching fair of 
 Kirkwall, in Orkney." 
 
 " And wherefore thither? " said Mertoun; " I know he had 
 no purpose in that direction." 
 
 "' We drive on the stream of fate," answered Noma, " with- 
 out oar or rudder. You had no purpose this morning of 
 visiting the kirk of St. Eingan, yet you are here; you had no 
 purpose but a minute hence of being at Kirkwall, and yet 
 you will go thither." 
 
 " Not unless the cause is more distinctly explained to me. 
 I am no believer, dame, in those who assert your supernatural 
 powers." 
 
 " You shall believe in them ere we part," said Noma. " As 
 yet you know but little of me, nor shall you know more. 
 But I know enough of you, and could convince you with one 
 word that I do so." 
 
 " Convince me, then," said Mertoun; " for, unless I am so 
 convinced, there is little chance of my following your coun- 
 sel." 
 
 " Mark, then," said Noma, " what I have to say on your 
 son's score, else what I shall say to you on your o^vn will 
 banish every other thought from your memory. You shall 
 go to the approaching fair at Kirkwall; and on the tifth day 
 of the fair you shall walk, at the hour of noon, in the outer 
 aisle of the cathedral of St. Magnus, and there you shall meet 
 a person who will give you tidings of your son." 
 
 " You must speak more distinctly, dame," returned Mer- 
 toun scomfully, " if you hope that I should follow your coun- 
 sel. I have been fooled in my time by women, but never so 
 grossly as you seem willing to gull me." 
 
 " Hearken, then! " said the old woman. " The word which 
 I speak shall touch the nearest secret of thy life, and thrill 
 thee through nerve and bone." 
 
 So saying, she whispered a word into Mertoun's ear, the 
 effect of which seemed almost magical. He remained fixed 
 and motionless with surprise, as, waving her arm slowly aloft, 
 with an air of superiority and triumph, Norna glided from 
 him, turned round a comer of the ruins, and was soon out of 
 sight. 
 
 Mertoun offered not to follow or to trace her. " We flv 
 from our fate in vain! " he said, as he began to recover him- 
 
THE PIRATE. 273 
 
 self; and turning, he left behind him the desolate ruins with 
 their cemetery. As he looked back from the ver}' last point 
 at which the church was visible, he saw the figure of Noma, 
 muffled in her mantle, standing on the very summit of the 
 ruined tower, and stretching out in the sea-breeze something 
 which resembled a white pennon, or flag. A feeling of hor- 
 ror, similar to that excited by her last words, again thrilled 
 through his bosom, and he hastened onward with unwonted 
 speed, until he had left the church of St. Ninian, with its bay 
 of sand, far behind him. 
 
 Upon his arrival at Jarlshof, the alteration in his counte- 
 nance was so great that Swertha conjectured he was about to 
 fall into one of those fits of deep melancholy which she 
 termed his dark hour. 
 
 " And what better could be expected," thought Swertha, 
 " when he must needs go visit Noma of the Fitful Head when 
 she was in the haunted kirk of St. Ringan's?" 
 
 But, without testifying any other symptoms of an aikn- 
 ated mind than that of deep and sullen dejection, her master 
 acquainted her with his intention to go to the fair of Kirk- 
 wall — a thing so contrary' to his usual habits that the house- 
 keeper well-nigh refused to credit her ears. Shortly after he 
 heard, with apparent indifference, the accounts returned by 
 the different persons who had been sent out in que^t of Mor- 
 daunt, by sea and land, who all of them returne'd without any 
 tidings. The equanimity with which ]\Iertoun heard the re- 
 port of their bad success convinced Swertha still more firmly 
 that, in his interview with Noma, that issue had been pre- 
 dicted to him by the sibyl whom he had consulted. 
 
 The township were yet more surprised when their tacks- 
 man, Mr. Mertoun, as if on some sudden resolution, made 
 preparations to visit Kirkwall during the fair, athough he had 
 hitherto avoided sedulously all such places of public resort. 
 Swertha puzzled herself a good deal, without being able to 
 penetrate this mystery; and vexed herself still more concern- 
 ing the fate of her young master. But her concern was much 
 softened by the deposit of a sum of money, seeming, however 
 moderate in itself, a treasure in her eyes, which her master 
 put into her hands, acquainting her at the same time that he 
 had taken his passage for Kirkwall in a small bark belonging 
 to the proprietor of the island of Mousa. 
 
CHAPTEK XXVI. 
 
 Nae langer she wept, her tears were a' spent; 
 Despair it was come, and she thought it content; 
 She thought it content, but lier cheek it grew pale, 
 And she droop'd, like a lily broke down by the hail. 
 
 — Continuation of Auld Robin Gray.* 
 
 The condition of Minna much resembled that of the vil- 
 lage heroine in Lady Ann Lindsay's beautiful ballad. Her 
 natural firmness of mind prevented her from sinking under 
 the pressure of the horrible secret, which haunted her while 
 awake, and was yet more tormenting during her broken and 
 hurried slumbers. There is no grief so dreadful as that which 
 we dare not communicate, and in which we can neither ask 
 nor desire sympathy; and when to this is added the burden 
 of a guilty mystery to an innocent bosom, there is little won- 
 der that Minna's health should have sunk under the burden. 
 
 To the friends around, her habits and manners, nay, her 
 temper, seemed altered to such an extraordinary degree that it 
 is no wonder that some should have ascribed the change to 
 witchcraft, and some to incipient madness. She became un- 
 able to bear the solitude in which she formerly delighted to 
 spend her time; yet, when she hurried into society, it was 
 without either joining in, or attending to, what passed. Gen- 
 erally she appeared wrapped in sad, and even sullen, abstrac- 
 tion, until her attention was suddenly roused by some casual 
 mention of the name of Cleveland or of Mordaunt Mertoun, 
 at which she started, with the horror of one who sees the 
 lighted match applied to a charged mine, and expects to be 
 instantly involved in the effects of the explosion. And when 
 she observed that the discovery was not yet made, it was so 
 far from being a consolation, that she almost wished the worst 
 were known, rather than endure the continued agonies of 
 suspense. 
 
 Her conduct toward her sister was so variable, yet ujii- 
 formly so painful to the kind-hearted Brenda, that it seemed 
 to all around one of the strongest features of her malady. 
 Sometimes Minna was impelled to seek her sister's company, 
 as if by the consciousness that they were common sufferers 
 
 * See Motto ta Chap. xxvi. Note 32. 
 S74 
 
THE PIRATE. 21 o 
 
 by a misfortune of which she herself alone could grasp the ex- 
 tent; and then suddenly the feeling of the injury which 
 Brenda had received through the supposed agency of Cleve- 
 land made her unable to bear her presence, and still less to 
 endure the consolation which her sister, mistaking the nature 
 of her malady, vainly endeavored to administer. Frequently, 
 also, did it happen that, while Brenda was imploring her sis- 
 ter to take comfort, she incautiously tov;ched upon some sub- 
 ject which thrilled to the very center of her soul; so that, un- 
 able to conceal her agony, Minna would rush hastily from the 
 apartment. All these different moods, tliough they too much 
 resembled, to one who knew not their real source, the caprices 
 of unkind estrangement, Brenda endured with such prevail- 
 ing and unruffled gentleness of disposition that Minna was 
 frequently moved to shed floods of tears upon her neck; and, 
 perhaps, the moments in which she did so, though embit- 
 tered by the recollection that her fatal secret concerned the 
 destruction of Brenda's happiness as well as her own, were 
 still, softened as they were by sisterly affection, the most en- 
 durable moments of this most miserable period of her life. 
 
 The effects of the alternations of moping melancholy, fear- 
 ful agitation, and bursts of nervous feeling were soon visible 
 on the poor young woman's face and person. She became 
 pale and emaciated; her eye lost the steady, quiet look of 
 happiness and innocence, and was alternately dim and wild, 
 as she was acted upon by a general feeling of her own distress- 
 ful condition, or by some quicker and more poignant sense of 
 agony. Her very features seemed to change, and become 
 sharp and eager, and her voice, which, in its ordinary tones, 
 was low and placid, now sometimes sunk in indistinct mut- 
 terings, and sometimes was raised beyond the natural key, in 
 hasty and abrupt exclamations. When in company wdth 
 others, she was sullenly silent, and, w^hen she ventured into 
 solitude, was observed (for it was now thought very proper to 
 watch her on such occasions) to speak much to herself. 
 
 The pharmacy of the islands was in vain resorted to by 
 Minna's anxious father. Sages of both sexes, who knew the 
 virtues of every herb which drinks the dew, and augmented 
 those virtues by words of might, used while they prepared and 
 applied the medicines, were attended with no benefit; and 
 Magnus, in the utmost anxiety, was at last induce<l to have 
 recourse to the advice of his kinswoman, Noma of the Fit- 
 ful Head, although, owing to circumstances noticed in the 
 cx>urse of the story, there was at_thia time some eetrangement 
 
276 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 between them. His first application was in vain. Noma 
 was then at her usual place of residence upon the sea-coast, 
 near the headland from which she usually took her designa- 
 tion; but, although Eric Scambester himself brought the mes- 
 sage, she refused positively to see him or to return any answer. 
 
 Magnus was angry at the slight put upon his messen- 
 ger and message; but his anxiety on Minna's account, as well 
 as the respect which he had for Noma's real misfortunes and 
 imputed wdsdom and power, prevented him from indulging, 
 on the present occasion, his usual irritability of disposition. 
 On the contraiy, he determined to make an application to his 
 kinswoman in his own person. He kept his purpose, how- 
 ever, to himself, and only desired his daughters to be in readi- 
 ness to attend him upon a visit to a relation whom he had not 
 seen for some time, and directed them, at the same time, to 
 carry some provisions along with them, as the Journey was 
 distant, and they might perhaps find their friend unprovided. 
 
 Unaccustomed to ask explanations of his pleasure, and hop- 
 ing that exercise and the amusement of such an excursion 
 might be of service to her sister, Brenda, upon whom all 
 household and family charges now devolved, caused the neces- 
 sary preparations to be made for the expedition; and, on the 
 next morning, they were engaged in tracing the long and 
 tedious course of beach and of moorland which, only varied 
 by occasional patches of oats and barley, where a little ground 
 had been selected for cultivation, divided Burgh-Westra from 
 the northwestern extremity of the Mainland (as the principal 
 island is called), which terminates in the cape called Fitful 
 Head, as the southwestern point ends in the cape of Sum- 
 burgh. 
 
 On they went, through wild and over wold, the Udaller 
 bestriding a strong, square-made, well-barreled palfrey, of 
 Norwegian breed, somewhat taller, and yet as stout, as the 
 ordinary ponies of the country; while Minna and Brenda, 
 famed, amongst other accomplishments, for their horseman- 
 ship, rode two of those hardy animals, which, bred and reared 
 with more pains than is usually bestowed, showed, both by the 
 neatness of their form and their activity, that the race, so 
 much and so carelessly neglected, is capable of being im- 
 proved into beauty without losing anything of its spirit or 
 vigor. They were attended by two servants on hoi'seback 
 and two on foot, secure that the last circumstance would be 
 no delay to their journey, because a great part of the way 
 was so rugged, or so marshy, that the horses could only move 
 
THE PIRATE. 277 
 
 at a foot-pace; and that, whenever they met with any con- 
 siderable tract of hard and even ground, they had only to 
 borrow from the nearest herd of ponies the use of a couple 
 for the accommodation of these pedestrians. 
 
 The journey was a melancholy one, and little conversation 
 passed, except when the Udaller, pressed by impatience and 
 vexation, urged his pony to a quick pace, and again, recol- 
 lecting Minna's weak state of health, slackened to a walk, and 
 reiterated inquiries how she felt herself, and whether 
 the fatigue was not too much for her. At noon the party 
 halted and partook of some refreshment, for which they had 
 made ample provision, beside a pleasant spring, the pureness 
 of whose waters, however, did not suit the Udaller's palate, 
 until qualified by a liberal addition of right Xantz. x\fter he 
 had a second, yea, and a third, time filled a large silver travel- 
 ing-cup, embossed with a German Cupid smoking a pipe and 
 a German Bacchus emptying his flask down the throat of a 
 bear, he began to become more talkative than vexation had 
 permitted him to be during the early part of their journey, 
 and thus addressed his daughters: 
 
 " Well, children, we are within a league or two of Noma's 
 dwelling, and we shall soon see how the old spell-mutterer 
 will receive us." 
 
 ^Minna interrupted her father with a faint exclamation, 
 while Brenda, surprised to a great degi-ee, exclaimed, "Is it 
 then to Noma that we are to make this visit? Heaven 
 forbid! " 
 
 " And wherefore should Heaven forbid? " said the Udaller, 
 knitting his brows; " wherefore, I would gladly know, should 
 Heaven forbid me to visit my kinswoman, whose skill may be 
 of use to your sister, if any woman in Zetland, or man either, 
 can be of service to her? You are a fool, Brenda; your 
 sister has more sense. Cheer up, Minna! thou wert ever wont 
 to like her songs and stories, and used to hang about her neck, 
 when little Brenda cried and ran from her like a Spanish 
 merchantman from a Dutch caper." 
 
 " I wish she may not frighten me as much to-day, father," 
 replied Brenda, desirous of indulging Minna in her taci- 
 turnity, and at the same time to amuse her father by sustain- 
 ing the conversation: " I have heard so much of her dwelling, 
 that I am rather alamied at the thought of going there 
 uninvited." 
 
 " Thou art a fool," said Magnus. " to think that a visit from 
 her kinsfolk can ever come amiss to a kind, hearty, Hialtland 
 
878 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 heart like my cousin Noma's. And^ now I think on't, I will 
 be sworu that is the reason why she would not receive Eric 
 Scanibester! It is many a long day since 1 have seen her 
 chimney smoke, and 1 have never cari'ied you thither. She 
 hath indeed some right to call me unkind. But 1 will tell 
 her the truth; and that is, that, though such be the fashion, I 
 do not think it is fair or honest to eat up the substance of 
 lone women-folks, as we do that of our brother udallers, when 
 we roll about from house to house in the winter season, until 
 we gather like a snowball, and eat up all wherever we come." 
 
 " There is no fear of our putting Noma to any distress just 
 now," replied Brenda, "' for I have ample provision of every- 
 thing that we can possibly need — fish, and bacon, and salted 
 mutton, and dried geese^ — more than we could eat in a week, 
 besides enough liquor for you, father." 
 
 "Eight — right, my girl!" said the Udaller: "a well- 
 found ship makes a merry voyage; so we shall only want the 
 kindness of Noma's roof and a little bedding for you; for, as 
 to myself, my sea-cloak and honest dry boards of Norway 
 deal suit me better than your eider-down cushions and mat- 
 tresses. So that Noma will have the pleasure of seeing us 
 without having a stiver's worth of trouble." 
 
 " I wish she may think it a pleasure, sir," replied Brenda. 
 
 " Why, what does the girl mean, in the name of the 
 Martyr? " replied Magnus Troil; " dost thou think my kins- 
 woman is a heathen, who will not rejoice to see her own flesh 
 and blood? I would I were as sure of a good year's fishing! 
 No — no! I only fear we may find her from home at present, 
 for she is often a wanderer, and all with thinking over much 
 on what can never be helped." 
 
 Minna sighed deeply as her father spoke, and the Udaller 
 went on: 
 
 "Dost thou sigh at that, my girl? "Why, 'tis the fault of 
 half the world; let it never be thine own, Minna." 
 
 Another suppressed sigh intimated that the caution came 
 too late. 
 
 " I believe you are afraid of my cousin as well as Brenda 
 is," said the Udaller, gazing on her pale countenance; " if 
 so, speak the word, and we will return back again as if we 
 had the wind on our quarter, and were running fifteen knots 
 by the line." 
 
 " Do, for Heaven's sake, sister, let us return! " said 
 Brenda imploringly; " you know — you remember — you must 
 be well aware that Noma can do naught to help you." 
 
( 
 
 THE PIRATE. 279 
 
 "It is but too true," said Minna, in a subdued voice; " but 
 I know not — she may answer a question — ^a question that only 
 the miserable dare ask of the miserable." 
 
 " Nay, my kinswoman is no miser," answered the Udaller, 
 who only heai'd the beginning of the word. " A good income 
 she has, both in Orkney and here, and many a fair lispund of 
 butter is paid to her. But the poor have the best share of it, 
 and shame fall the Zetlander who begrudges them; the rest 
 she spends, I wot not how, in her journeys through the 
 islands. But you will laugh to see her house, and Nick 
 Strumpfer, whom she calls Pacolet. Many folks think Nick 
 is the devil; but he is flesh and blood, like any of us — his 
 father lived in Graemsay. I shall be glad to see Nick again." 
 
 While the Udaller thus ran on, Breuda, who, in recompense 
 for a less portion of imagination than her sister, was gifted 
 with sound common sense, was debating with herself the 
 probable effect of this visit on her sister's health. She came 
 finally to the resolution of speaking with her father aside, 
 upon the first occasion which their Journey should afford. To 
 him she determined to communicate the whole particulars of 
 their nocturnal interview with Noma, to which, among other 
 agitating causes, she attributed the depression of Minna's 
 spirits, and then make himself the judge whether he ought 
 to persist in his visit to a person so singular, and expose his 
 daughter to all the shock which her nerves might possibly 
 receive from the interview. 
 
 Just as she had arrived at this conclusion, her father, dash- 
 ing the crumbs from his laced waistcoat with one hand and 
 receiving with the other a fourth cup of brandy and water, 
 drank devoutly to the success of their voyage, and ordered 
 all to be in readiness to set forward. Wliilst they were sad- 
 dling their ponies, Brenda, with some difficulty, contrived 
 to make her father understand she \nshed to speak with him 
 in private — no small surprise to the honest Udaller, who, 
 though secret as the grave in the very few things where he 
 considered secrecy as of importance, was so far from practic- 
 ing mystery in general, that his most important affairs were 
 often discussed by him openly in presence of his whole family, 
 servants included. 
 
 But far greater was his astonishnaent when, remaining pur- 
 posely with his daughter Brenda, a little in the wake, as he 
 termed it, of the other riders, he heard the whole account of 
 Noma's visit to Burgh-Westra, and of the communication 
 with which she had then astonished his daughters. For a 
 
280 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 long time he could utter nothing but interjections, and ended 
 with a thousand curses on his kinswoman's folly in telling his 
 daughters such a history of horror. 
 
 " I have often heard," said the Udaller, " that she was quite 
 mad, with all her wisdom and all her knowledge of the sea- 
 sons; and, by the bones of my namesake the Martyr, I begin 
 now to believe it most assuredly! I know no more how to 
 steer than if I had lost my compass. Had I known this be- 
 fore we set out, I think I had remained at home; but now 
 that we have come so far, and that Noma expects us " 
 
 " Expects us, father! " said Brenda; " how can that be pos- 
 sible?" 
 
 " Why, that I know not; but she that can tell how the 
 wind is to blow can tell which way we are designing to ride. 
 She must not be provoked; perhaps she has done my family 
 this ill for the words I had with her about that lad Mordaunt 
 Mertonn, and if so, she can undo it again; and so she shall, 
 or I will know the cause wherefore. But I will try fair words 
 first." 
 
 Finding it thus settled that they were to go forward, 
 Brenda endeavored next to learn from her father whether 
 Noma's tale was founded in reality. He shook his head, 
 groaned bitterly, and, in a few words, acknowledged that thj 
 whole, so far as concerned her intrigue with a stranger and 
 her father's death, of which she became the accidental and 
 most innocent cause, was a matter of sad and indisputable 
 truth. " For her infant," he said, " he could never, by any 
 means, leam what became of it." 
 
 " Her infant! " exclaimed Brenda; " she spoke not a word 
 of her infant! " 
 
 " Then I wish my tongue had been blistered," said the 
 Udaller, " when I told you of it! I see that, young and old, a 
 man has no better chance of keeping a secret from you women 
 than an eel to keep himself in his hold when he is sniggled 
 with a loop of horse-hair: sooner or later the fisher teases him 
 out of his hole, when he has once the noose round his neck." 
 
 " But the infant, my father," said Brenda, still insisting on 
 the particulars of this extraordinary story, " what became 
 of it?" 
 
 " Carried off, I fancy, by the blackguard Vaughan," an- 
 swered the Udaller, with a gruff accent, which plainly be- 
 tokened how weary he was of the subject. 
 
 "By Vaughan!" said Brenda, "the lover of poor Noma 
 doubtless! What sort of a man was he, father? " 
 
THE PIRATE. 281 
 
 " Why, much like other men, I fancy," answered the 
 Udaller. " I never saw him in my life. He kept company 
 with the Scottish families at Kirkwall, and 1 with the good 
 old Norse folk. Ah! if Xorna had dwelt always amongst her 
 own kin, and not kept company with her Scottish acquaint- 
 ance, she would have known nothing of Vaughan, and things 
 might have been otherwise. But then I should have known 
 nothing of your blessed mother, Brenda; and that," he said, 
 his large blue eyes shining with a tear, " would have saved 
 me a short joy and a long sorrow." 
 
 " Xorna could but ill have supplied my mother's place 
 to you, father, as a companion and a friend — that is, 
 judging from all I have heard," said Brenda, with some hesi- 
 tation. 
 
 But Magnus, softened by recollections of his beloved wife, 
 answered her with more indulgence than she expected. " I 
 would have been content," he said, " to have wedded Noma 
 at that time. It would have been the soldering of an old 
 quarrel — the healing of an old sore. All our blood relations 
 wished it, and, situated as I was, especially not having seen 
 your blessed mother, I had little will to oppose their counsels. 
 You must not judge of Noma or of me by such an appear- 
 ance as we now present to you. She was young and beau- 
 tiful, and I gamesome as a Highland buck, and little caring 
 what haven I made for, having, as I thought, more than one 
 under my lee. But Noma preferred tliis man Vaughan, and, 
 as I told you before, it was, perhaps, the best kindness she 
 could have done to me." 
 
 " Ah, poor kinswoman! " said Brenda. " But believe you, 
 father, in the high powers which she claims — in the mysteri- 
 ous vision of the dwarf — in the " 
 
 She was inten-upted in these questions by Magnus, to whom 
 they were obviously displeasing. 
 
 " I believe, Brenda," he said, " according to the belief of 
 my forefathers. I pretend not to be a wiser man than they 
 were in their time; and they all believed that, in cases of great 
 worldly distress. Providence opened the eyes of the mind and 
 afforded the sufferers a vision of futurity. It was but a trim- 
 ming of the boat, with reverence " — here he touched his hat 
 reverentially; "and, after all the shifting of ballast, poor 
 Noma is as hea^dly loaded in the bows as ever was an Orknev- 
 man's yawl at the dog-fishing: she has more than affliction 
 enough on board to balance whatever gifts she may have had 
 in the midst of her calamity. They are as painful to her, 
 
283 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 poor soul, as a crown of thorns would be to her brows, thougli 
 it were the badge of the empire of Denmark. And do not 
 you, Brenda, seek to be wiser than your fathers. Your sister 
 Minna, before she was so ill, had as much reverence for what- 
 ever was produced in Norse as if it had been in the Pope's 
 bull, which is all written in pure Latin." 
 
 " Poor Noma! " repeated Brenda; " and her child — was it 
 never recovered ? " 
 
 " What do I know of her child," said the Udaller, more 
 gruffly than before, " except that she was very ill, both before 
 and after the birth, though we kept her as merry as we could 
 with pipe and harp, and so forth. The child had come be- 
 fore its time into this bustling world, so it is likely it has been 
 long dead. But you know nothing of all these matters, 
 Brenda; so get along for a foolish girl, and ask no more 
 questions about what it does not become you to inquire 
 into." 
 
 So saying, the Udaller gave his sturdy little palfrey the 
 spur, and cantering forward over rough and smooth, while the 
 pony's accuracy and tirmness of step put all difficulties of the 
 path at secure defiance, he placed himself soon by the side 
 of the melancholy Minna, and permitted her sister to have 
 no farther share in his conversation than as it was addressed 
 to them Jointly. She could but comfort herself with the hop? 
 that, as Minna's disease appeared to have its seat in the im- 
 agination, the remedies recommended by Noma might have 
 some chance of being effectual, since, in all probability, they 
 would be addressed to the same faculty. 
 
 Their way had hitherto held chiefly over moss and moor, 
 varied occasionally by the necessity of making a circuit around 
 the heads of those long lagoons, called voes, which run up 
 into and indent the country in such a manner that, though 
 the Mainland of Zetland may be thirty miles or more in 
 length, there is, perhaps, no part of it which is more than 
 three miles distant from the salt water. But they had now 
 approached the northwestern extremity of the isle, and 
 traveled along the top of an immense ridge of rocks, which 
 had for ages withstood the rage of the Northern Ocean, and 
 of all the winds by which it is buffeted. 
 
 At length exclaimed Magnus to his daughters, " There is 
 Noma's dwelling! Look up, Minna, my love; for if this does 
 not mate you laugh, nothing will. Saw you ever anything 
 but an osprey that would have made such a nest for herself as 
 that is? By my namesake's bones, there is not the like of it 
 
THE PIRATE. 283 
 
 that living thing ever dwelt in, having no wings and the use 
 of reason, unless it chanced to be the P>awa Stack * off Papa, 
 where the king's daughter of Xorway was shut up to keep her 
 from her lovers; and all to little purpose, if the tale be true: 
 for, maidens, I would have you to wot that it is hard to keep 
 fl&x from the lowe." 
 
 * S«e Note 3S. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Thrice from the cavern's darksome womb 
 
 Her groaning voice arose; 
 And come, my daughter, fearless come, 
 
 And fearless tell thy woes! 
 
 — Meikle. 
 
 The dwelling of Noma, though none but a native of Zet- 
 land, familiar, during his whole life, with every variety of rock- 
 scenery, could have seen anything ludicrous in this situa- 
 tion, was not unaptly compared by Magnus Troil to the eyrie 
 of the osprey, or sea-eagle. It was very small, and had been 
 fabricated out of one of those dens which are called burghs * 
 and Picts-houses in Zetland, and duns on the mainland of 
 Scotland and the Hebrides, and which seem to be the first 
 effort at architecture — the connecting link betwixt a fox's hole 
 in a cairn of loose stones and an attempt to construct a human 
 habitation out of the same materials, without the use of lime 
 or cement of any kind; without any timber, so far as can be 
 seen from their rematns; without any knowledge of the arch 
 or of the stair. Such as they are, however, the numer- 
 ous remains of these dwellings — for there is one found on 
 every headland, islet, or point of vantage which could afford 
 the inhabitants additional means of defense — tend to prove 
 that the remote people by whom these burghs were cooi- 
 structed were a numerous race, and that the islands had then 
 a much greater population than, from other circumstances, 
 we might have been led to anticipate. 
 
 The burgh of which we at present speak had been altered 
 and repaired at a later period, probably by some petty despot, 
 or sea-rover, who, tempted by the security of the situation, 
 which occupied the whole of a projecting point of rock, and 
 was divided from the mainland by a rent or chasm of some 
 depth, had built some additions to it in the rudest style of 
 Gothic defensive architecture; had plastered the inside with 
 lime and clay, and broken out windows for the admission of 
 light and air; and, finally, by roofing it over, and dividing it 
 into stories, by means of beams of wreck-wood, had converter! 
 the whole into a tower, resembling a pyramidical dovecot, 
 formed by a double wall, still containing within its thickness 
 
 * See Note 34. 
 284 
 
 I 
 
THE PIRATE. 285 
 
 that set of circular galleries, or concentric rings, which is 
 proper to all the forts of this primitive construction, an I 
 which seem to have constituted the only shelter whicn they 
 were originally qualitied to afford to their shivering in- 
 habitants. 
 
 This singular habitation, built out of the loose stones which 
 lay scattered around, and exposed for ages to the vicissitudes 
 of the elements, was as gray, weather-beaten, and wasted as 
 the rock on which it was founded, and from which it could 
 not easily be distinguished, so completely did it resemble in 
 color, and so little did it differ in regularity of shape, from a 
 pinnacle or fragment of the cliff. 
 
 Minna's habitual indifference to all that of late had passed 
 around her was for a moment suspended by the sight of an 
 abode which, at another and happier period of her life, would 
 have attracted at once her curiosity and her wonder. Even 
 now she seemed to feel interest as she gazed upon this singular 
 retreat, and recollected it was that of certain misery and prob- 
 able insanity, connected, as its inhabitant asserted, and 
 Minna's faith admitted, with power over the elements and the 
 capacity of intercourse with the invisible world. 
 
 '' Our kinswoman," she muttered, "' has chosen her dwelling 
 well, with no more of earth than a sea-fowl might rest upon, 
 and all around sightless tempests and raging waves. Despair 
 and magical power could not have a fitter residence." 
 
 Brencla, on the other hand, shuddered when she looked on 
 the dwelling to which they were advancing, by a difficult, 
 dangerous, and precarious path, which sometimes, to her 
 great terror, approached to the verge of the precipice; so that, 
 Zetlander as she was, and confident as she had reason to be, 
 in the steadiness and sagacity of the sure-footed pony, she 
 could scarce suppress an inclination to giddiness, especially 
 at one point, when, being foremost of the party, and turning 
 a sharp angle of the rock, her feet, as they projected fi-om 
 the side of the pony, hung for an instant sheer over the ledge 
 of the precipice, so that there was nothing save empty space 
 betwixt the sole of her shoe and the white foam of the vexed 
 ocean, which dashed, howled, and foamed five hundred feet 
 below. What would have driven a maiden of another country 
 into delirium gave her but a momentars' uneasiness, which was 
 instantly lost in the hope that the impression which the scene 
 appeared to make on her sister's imagination might be favor- 
 able to her cure. 
 
 She could not help looking back to see how Minna should 
 
286 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 pass the point of peril wliicli she lierself had just rounded; 
 and could hear the strong voice o'f the Udaller, though to 
 him such rough paths were familiar as the smooth sea-beach, 
 call, in a tone of anxiety, " Take heed, jarto," as j\linna, with 
 an eager look, (lro])pod her bridle, and stretched forward her 
 arms, and even her body, over the precipice, in the attitude of 
 the wild swan, when, balancing itself and spreading its broad 
 pinions, it prepares to launch from the cliff upon the bosom of 
 the winds. Brenda felt at that instajit a pang of unutterable 
 terror, which left a strong impression on her nerves, even 
 when relieved, as it was instantly was, by her sister recover- 
 ing herself and sitting upright on her saddle, the opportunity 
 and temptation (if she felt it) passing away, as the quiet, 
 steady animal which supported her rounded the projecting 
 angle, and turned its patient and firm step from the verge of 
 the precipice. 
 
 They now attained a more level and open space of ground, 
 being the fiat top of an isthmus of projecting rock, narrow- 
 ing again toward a point where it was terminated by the 
 chasm which separated the small peak, or " stack," occupied 
 by Noma's habitation, from the main ridge of cliff and preci- 
 pice. This natural fosse, which seemed to have been the 
 work of some convulsion of nature, was deep, dark, and 
 irregular, narrower toward the bottom, which could not be 
 distinctly seen, and widest at top, having the appeai'ance as if 
 that part of the cliff occupied by the building had been half 
 rent away from the isthmus which it terminated — an idea 
 favored by the angle at which it seemed to recede from the 
 land and lean toward the sea, with the building which 
 crowned it. 
 
 This angle of projection was so considerable, that it re- 
 quired recollection to dispel the idea that the rock, so much 
 removed from the perpendicular, was about to prerijutato 
 itself seaward, with its old tower; and a timorous person would 
 have been afraid to put foot upon it, lest an addition of 
 weight so inconsiderable as that of a human body should 
 hasten a catastrophe which seemed at every insta-nt im- 
 pending. 
 
 Without troubling himself about such fantasies, the Udaller 
 rode towards the tower, and there dismounting, along with 
 his daughters, gave the ponies in charge to one of their do- 
 mestics, with directions to disencumber them of their burdens 
 and turn them out for rest and refreshment upon the nearest 
 heath. This done, they approached the gate, which seemed 
 
THE PIRATE. 287 
 
 formerly to have been connected with the land by a rude 
 drawbridge, some of the apparatus of which was still visible. 
 But the rest had been long demolished, and was replaced by 
 a stationary footbridge, formed of baiTcl-staves covered with 
 turf, very narrow and ledgeless, and supported by a sort of 
 arch, constructed out of the jaw-bones of the whale. Along 
 this " brigg of dread " the Udaller stepped with his usual 
 portly majesty of stride, which threatened its demolition and 
 his own at the same time; his daughters trode more lightly 
 and more safely after him, and the whole party stood before 
 the low and rugged portal of Noma's habitation. 
 
 " If she should be abroad after all," said Magnus, as he 
 plied the black oaken door with repeated blows; " but if so, 
 we will at least lie by a day for her return, and make Nick 
 Strumpfer pay the demurrage in bland and brandy." 
 
 As he spoke, the door opened and displayed, to the alarm 
 of Brenda, and the surprise of Minna herself, a square-made 
 dwarf, about four feet five inches high, with a head of most 
 portentious size, and features correspondent — namely, a huge 
 mouth, a tremendous nose, with large black nostrils, which 
 seemed to have been slit upwards, blubber lips of an uncon- 
 scionable size, and huge wall-eyes, with which he leered, 
 sneered, rinned, and goggled on the Udaller as an old ac- 
 quaintance, without uttering a single word. The young 
 women could hardly persuade themselves that they did not 
 see before their eyes the very demon Trold who made such a 
 distinguished figure in Noma's legend. Their father went 
 on addressing this uncouth apparition in terms of such con- 
 descending friendship as the better sort apply to their inferi- 
 ors when they wish, for any immediate purpose, to conciliate 
 or coax them— a tone, by the by, which generally contains, 
 in its very familiarity, as much offense as the more direct 
 assumption of distance and superiority. 
 
 "Ha, Nick!— honest Nick!" said the Udaller, "here you 
 are, lively and lovely as St. Nicholas, your namesake, when he 
 is carved with an ax for the head-piece of a Dutch dogger. 
 How dost thou do, Nick, or Pacolet. if you like that better? 
 Nicholas, here are my two daughters, nearly as handsome as 
 thyself, thou seest." 
 
 Nick grinned, and did a clumsy obeisance by way of 
 courtesy, but kept his broad, misshapen person firmly placed 
 in the doorway. 
 
 " Daughters," continued the Udaller. who seemed to have 
 his reasons for speaking this Cerberus fair, at least according 
 
288 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 to his own notions of propitiation — " bhis is Nick Strnmp- 
 fer, maidens, whom his mistress calls Pacolet, being a light- 
 limbed dwarf, as you see, like him that wont to fly about, like 
 a scourie, on his wooden hobby-horse, in the old story-book 
 of ' Valentine and Orson,' that you, Minna, used to read 
 whilst you were a child. I assure you he can Keep his mis- 
 tress' counsel, and never told one of her secrets in his life — ha, 
 ha, ha! " 
 
 The ugly dwarf grinned ten times wider than before, and 
 showed the meaning of the Udaller's jest by opening his im- 
 mense jaws and throwing back his head, so as to discover that, 
 in the immense cavity of his mouth, there only remained the 
 small shriveled remnant of a tongue, capable, perhaps, of 
 assisting him in swallowing his food, but unequal to the 
 formation of articulate sounds. Whether this organ had been 
 curtailed by cruelty or injured by disease it was impossible to 
 guess; but that the unfortunate being had not been originally 
 dumb was evident from his retaining the sense of hearing. 
 Having made this horrible exhibition, he repaid the Udaller'^ 
 mirth with a loud, horrid, and discordant laugh, which had 
 something in it the more hideous that his mirth seemed to be 
 excited by his own misery. The sisters looked on each othsr 
 in silence and fear, and even the Udaller appeared dis- 
 concerted. 
 
 "And how now?" he proceeded, after a minute's pause. 
 " When didst thou wash that throat of thine, that is about 
 the width of the Pentland Firth, with a cup of brandy? 
 Ha, Nick! I have that with me which is sound stuff, 
 boy— ha! " 
 
 The dwarf bent his beetle brows, shook his misshapen head, 
 and made a quick, sharp indication, throwing his right hand 
 up to his shoulder with the thumb pointed backward. 
 
 " What! my kinswoman," said the Udaller, comprehending 
 the signal, "will be angry? Well, shalt have a flask to 
 carouse when she is from home, old acquaintance: lips and 
 throats may swallow though they cannot speak." 
 
 Pacolet grinned a grim assent. 
 
 " And now," said the Udaller, " stand out of the way, Paco- 
 let, and let me carry my daughters to see their kinswoman. 
 By the bones of St. Magnus, it shall be a good turn in thy 
 way! Nay, never shake thy head, man; for if thy mistress be 
 at home, see her we will." 
 
 The dwarf again intimated the impossibility of their being 
 admitted, partly by signs, partly by mumbling some uncouth 
 
THE PIRATE. 289 
 
 and most disagreeable sounds, and the Udaller's mood began 
 to arise. 
 
 ''Tittle tattle, man!" said he; "trouble not me with thy 
 gibberish, but stand out of the way, and the blame, if there 
 be any, shall rest with me." 
 
 So saying, Magnus Troil laid his sturdy hand upon the 
 collar of the recusant dwarf's jacket of blue wadmaal, and 
 with a strong, but not a violent, grasp removed him from the 
 doorway, pushed him gently aside, and entered, followed by 
 his two daughters, whom a sense of apprehension, arising out 
 of all which they saw and heard, kept very close to him. A 
 crooked and dusky passage through which Magnus led the 
 way was dimly enlightened by a shot-hole communicating 
 with the interior of the building, and originally intended, 
 doubtless, to command the entrance by a hagbut or culverin. 
 As they approached nearer, for they walked slowly and with 
 hesitation, the light, imperfect as it was, was suddenly ob- 
 scured; and, on looking upward to discern the cause, Brenda 
 was startled to observe the pale and obscurely seen counte- 
 nance of Noma gazing downward upon them, without speak- 
 ing a word. There was nothing extraordinary in this, as 
 the mistress of the mansion might be naturally enougli look- 
 ing out to see what guests were thus suddenly and uncere- 
 moniously intruding themselves on her presence. Still, how- 
 ever, the natural paleness of her features, exaggerated by the 
 light in which they were at present exhibited; the immova- 
 ble sternness of her look, which showed neither kindness nor 
 courtesy of civil reception; her dead silence; and the singu- 
 lar appearance of everv^thing about her dwelling, augmented 
 the dismay which Brenda had already conceived. Magnus 
 Troil and Minna had walked slowly forward, without observ- 
 ing the apparition of their singular hostess. 
 
CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 The witch then raised her wither'd arm, 
 
 And waved her wand on high, 
 And, while she spolie the inutter'd charm, 
 
 Dark lightning fill'd her eye. 
 
 — Meikle. 
 
 " This should be the stair," said the Udaller, blundering in 
 the dark against some steps of irregular ascent — '' this should 
 be the stair, unless my memory greatly fails me; aye, and there 
 she sits," he added, pausing at a half^open door, " with all her 
 tackle about her as usual, and as busy, doubtless, as the devil 
 in a gale of wind." 
 
 As he made this irreverent comparison, he entered, followed 
 by his daughters, the darkened apartment in which Noma was 
 seated, amidst a confused collection of books of various lan- 
 guages, parchment scrolls, tablets and stones inscribed with 
 the straight and angular characters of the Runic alphabet, and 
 similar articles, which the vulgar might have connected with 
 the exercise of the forbidden arts. There were also lying in 
 the chamber, or hung over the rude and ill-contrived chimney, 
 an old shirt of mail, with the head-piece, battle-ax, and lance 
 which had once belonged to it; and on a shelf were disposed, 
 in great order, several of those curious stone axes, formed of 
 green granite, which are often found in those islands, whera 
 they are called thunderbolts by the common people, who 
 usually preserve them as a chai-m of security against the 
 effects of lightning. There was, moreover, to be seen amid the 
 strange collection a stone sacrificial knife, used perhaps for 
 immolating human victims, and one or tv/o of the brazen 
 implements called celts, the purpose of which has troubled 
 the repose of so many antiquaries. A variety of other arti- 
 cles, some of which had neither name nor were capable of 
 description, lay in confusion about the apartment; and in one 
 corner, on a quantity of withered seaweed, reposed what 
 seemed, at first view, to be a large, unshapely dog, but, when 
 seen more closely, proved to be a tame seal, which it had been 
 Noma's amusement to domesticate. 
 
 This uncouth favorite bristled up in its comer, upon the 
 arrival of so many strangers, with an alertness similar to that 
 which a terrestrial dog would have displayed on a similar 
 
 «80 
 
THE PIRATE. 2»1 
 
 occasion; but Noma remained motionless, seated behind a 
 table of rough granite, propped up by misshapen feet of the 
 same material, which, besides the old book with which she 
 seemed to be busied, sustained a cake of the coarse unleavened 
 bread, three parts oatmeal and one the sawdust of fir, which 
 is used by the poor peasants of Xorway, beside which stood a 
 jar of water. 
 
 Magnus Troil remained a minute in silence gazing upon his 
 kinswoman, while the singularity of her mansion inspired 
 Brenda with much fear, and changed, though but for a mo- 
 ment, the melancholy and abstracted mood of ]\Iinna into a 
 feeling of interest not unmixed with awe. The silence was 
 interrupted by the Udaller, who, unwilling on the one hand 
 to give his kinswoman offense, and desirous on the other to 
 show that he was not daunted by a reception so singular, 
 opened the conversation thus: 
 
 " I give you good e'en, cousin Xorna; my daughters and I 
 have come far to see you." 
 
 Xorna raised her eyes from her volume, looked full at her 
 visitors, then let them quietly sink down on the leaf with 
 which she seemed to be engaged. 
 
 " Nay, cousin," said Magnus, " take your own time: our 
 business with you can wait your leisure. See here, ]\Iinna, 
 ■what a fair prospect here is of the cape, scarce a quarter of a 
 mile off; you may see the billows breaking on it topmast 
 high. Our kinswoman has got a pretty seal, too. Here, 
 sealchie, my man, w-hew, whew! " 
 
 The seal took no further notice of the Udaller's advances 
 to acquaintance than by uttering a low growl. 
 
 " He is not so well trained," continued the Udaller, affect- 
 ing an air of ease and unconcern, " as Peter MacEaw's,* the 
 old piper of Stornoway, who had a seal that flapped its tail to 
 the tune of ' Caberfae,' and acknowledged no other what- 
 ever. Well, cousin," he concluded, observing that Noma 
 closed her book, " are you going to give us a welcome at last, 
 or must we go farther than our blood relation's house to seek 
 one, and that when the evening is wearing late apace? " 
 
 " Ye dull and hard-hearted generation, as deaf as the adder 
 to the voice of the charmer," answered Noma, addressing 
 them, " why come ye to me? You have shghted every warn- 
 ing I could give of the coming harm, and now that it hath 
 come upon you, ye seek my counsel when it can avail you 
 nothing." 
 
 • See Note 35. 
 
292 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " Look you, kinswoman," said the Udaller, with his usual 
 frankness and boldness of manner and accent, " 1 must needs 
 tell you that your courtesy is somethincj of the coarsest and 
 the coldest. I cannot say that I ever saw an adder, in regard 
 there are none in these parts; but touching my own thoughts 
 of what such a thing may be, it cannot be termed a suitable 
 comparison to me or to my daughters, and that I would have 
 you to know. For old acquaintance, and certain other rea- 
 sons, I do not leave your house upon the instant; but as I 
 came hither in all kindness and civility, so I pray vou to re- 
 ceive me with the like, otherwise we will depart, and leave 
 shame on your inhospitable threshold." 
 
 " How," said ISTorna, " dare you use such bold language in 
 the house of one from whom all men, from whom you your- 
 self, came to solicit counsel and aid? They who speak to the 
 Eeim-kennar must lower their voice to her before whom 
 winds and waves hush both blast and billow." 
 
 " Blast and billow may hush themselves if they wall," re- 
 plied the peremptory Udaller, "but that will not I. I speak in 
 the house of my friend as in my own, and strike sail to none." 
 
 " And hope ye," said Noma, " by this rudeness to compel 
 me to answer to your interrogatories? " 
 
 " Kinswoman," replied Magnus Troil, " I know not so 
 much as you of the old Norse sagas; but this I know, that 
 when kempies were wont, long since, to seek the habitations 
 of the galdragons and spae-women, they came with their axes 
 on their shoulders and their good swords drawn in their 
 hands, and compelled the power whom they invoked to listen 
 to and to answer them — aye, were it Odin himself." 
 
 " Kinsman," said Noma, arising from her seat and com- 
 ing forward, " thou hast spoken well, and in good time for 
 thyself and thy daughters; for hadst thou turned from my 
 threshold without extorting an answer, morning's sun had 
 never again shone upon you. The spirits who serve me are 
 jealous, and will not be employed in aught that may bene- 
 fit humanity, unless their service is commanded by the un- 
 daunted importunity of the brave and the free. And now 
 speak, what wouldst thou have of me?" 
 
 " My daughter's health," replied Magnus, " which no reme- 
 dies have been able to restore." 
 
 " Thy daughter's health? " answered Noma; " and what is 
 the maiden's ailment? " 
 
 " The physician," said Troil, " must name the disease. All 
 that I can tell thee of it is -" 
 
THE PIRATE. 293 
 
 *'.Be silent," said Noma, intermptinfr him, "I know all 
 thou canst tell me, and more than thou thyself knowest. Sit 
 down, all of you; and thou, maiden," she said, addressing 
 Minna, " sit thou in that chair," pointing to the place she had 
 just left, " once the seat of Gien^ada, at whose voice the stars 
 hid their beams and the moon herself grew pale." 
 
 Minna moved with slow and tremulous step toward the 
 rude seat thus indicated to her. It was composed of stone, 
 formed into some semblance of a chair by the rough and un- 
 skillful hand of some ancient Gothic artist. 
 
 Brenda, creeping as close as possible to her father, seated 
 herself along with him upon a bench at some distance from 
 Minna, and kept her eyes, ^\'ith a mixture of fear, pity, and 
 anxiety, closely fixed upon her. It would be difficult alto- 
 gether to decipher the emotions by which this amiable and 
 affectionate girl was agitated at the moment. Deficient in 
 her sister's predominating quality of high imagination, and 
 little credulous, of course, to the marvelous, she could not but 
 entertain some vague and indefinite fears on her own account, 
 concerning the nature of the scene which was soon to take 
 place. But these were in a manner swallowed up in her ap- 
 prehensions on the score of her sister, who, with a frame so 
 much weakened, spirits so much exhausted, and a mind so 
 susceptible of the impressions which all around her was calcu- 
 lated to excite, now sat pensively resigned to the agency of 
 one whose treatment might produce the most baneful effects 
 upon such a subject. 
 
 Brenda gazed at Minna, who sat in that rude chair of dark 
 stone, her finely-formed shape and limbs making the strongest 
 contrast with its ponderous and irregular angles, her cheek 
 and lips as pale as clay, and her eyes turned upward, and 
 lighted with the mixture of resignation and excited enthusi- 
 asm which belonged to her disease and her character. The 
 younger sister then looked on Noma, who muttered to her- 
 self in a low, monotonous manner, as, gliding from one place 
 to another, she collected different articles, which she placed 
 one by one on the table. And, lastly, Brenda looked anx- 
 iously to her father, to gather, if possible, from his counte- 
 nance, whether he entertained any part of her own fears for 
 the consequences of the scene which was to ensue, consider- 
 ing the state of ]\Iinna's health and spirits. But Magnus 
 Troil seemed to have no such apprehensions: he viewed with 
 stem composure Noma's preparations, and appeared to wait 
 the event with the composure of one who, confiding in the 
 
294 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 skill of a medical artist, sees him preparing to enter upon 
 some important and painful operation, in the issue of which 
 he is interested by friendship or by aifection. 
 
 Noma, ineanwhile, went onward with her preparations, 
 until she had placed on the stone table a variety of miscel- 
 laneous articles, and among the rest a small chafing-dish full 
 of charcoal, a crucible, and a piece of thin sheet-lead. She 
 then spoke aloud — " It is well that I was aware of your com- 
 ing hither — aye, long before you yourself had resolved it — 
 how should I else have been prepared for that which is now 
 to be done? Maiden," she continued, addressing Minna, 
 " where lies thy pain? " 
 
 The patient answered by pressing her hand to the left side 
 of her bosom. 
 
 " Even so," replied Noma — " even so, 'tis the site of weal or 
 woe. And you, her father and her sister, think not this the 
 idle speech of one who talks by guess: if I can tell thee ill, it 
 may be that I shall be able to render that less severe which 
 may not, by any aid, be wholly amended. The heart — aye, 
 the heart! touch that, and the eye grows dim, the pulse fails, 
 the wholesome stream of our blood is choked and troubled, 
 our limbs decay like sapless seaweed in a summer's sun, our 
 better views of existence are past and gone; what remains is 
 the dream of lost happiness or the fear of inevitable evil. But 
 the Eeim-kennar must to her work; well it is that I have pre- 
 pared the means." 
 
 She threw off her long, dark-colored mantle, and stood be- 
 fore them in her short Jacket of light blue wadmaal, with its 
 skirt of the same stuff, fancifully embroidered with black vel- 
 vet, and bound at the waist with a chain or girdle of silver, 
 formed into singular devices. Noma next undid the fillet 
 which bound her grizzled hair, and shaking her head wildly, 
 caused it to fall in disheveled abundance over her face and 
 around her shoulders, so as almost entirely to hide her fea- 
 tures. She tfien placed a small crucible on the chafing-dish 
 already mentiomed, dropped a few drops from a vial on the 
 charcoal below, pointed toward it her wrinkled forefinger, 
 which she had previously moistened with liquid from another 
 small bottle, and said \\dth a deep voice, " Fire, do thy duty "; 
 and the words were no sooner spoken than, probably by some 
 chemical combination of which the spectators were not aware, 
 the charcoal which was under the crucible became slowly 
 ignited; while Noma, as if impatient of the delay, threw 
 hastily back her disordered tresseS;, and, while her features re- 
 
THE PIRATE. 996 
 
 fleeted the sparkles and red light of the fire, and her eyes 
 flashed from amongst her hair like those of a wild animal 
 from its cover, blew fiercely till the whole was in an intense 
 glow. She paused a moment from her toil, and muttering 
 that the elemental spirit must be thanked, recited, in her 
 usual monotonous, yet wild, mode of chanting, the following 
 verses: * 
 
 " Thou so needful, yet so dread. 
 With cloudy crest and wing of red — 
 Thou, without whose genial breath 
 The North would sleep the sleep of death, 
 Who deign'st to warm the cottage hearth, 
 Yet hurl'st proud palaces to earth, — 
 Brightest, keenest of the powers. 
 Which form and rule this world of ours, 
 With my rhyme of Runic, I 
 Thank thee for thy agency." 
 
 She then severed a portion from the small mass of sheet- 
 lead which lay upon the table, and, placing it in the crucible, 
 subjected it to the action of the lighted charcoal, and, as it 
 melted, she sung: 
 
 " Old Eeim-kennar, to thy art 
 Mother Hertha sends her part; 
 She, whose gracious bounty gives 
 Needful food for all that lives. 
 From the deep mine of the North 
 Came the mystic metal forth, 
 Doom'd. amidst disjointed stones, 
 Long to cere a champion's bones, 
 Disinhumed my charms to aid — 
 Mother Earth, my thanks are paid." 
 
 She then poured out some water from the jar into a large 
 cup, or goblet, and sung once more, as she slowly stirred it 
 round with the end of her staff: 
 
 " Girdle of our islands dear, 
 Element of water, hear. 
 Thou whose power can overwhelm 
 Broken mounds and riiin'd realm 
 
 On the lowly Belgian strand, 
 All thy fiercest rage can never 
 Of our soil a furlong sever 
 
 From our rock-defended land; 
 Play then gently thou thy part. 
 To assist old Noma's art." 
 
 She then, with a pair of pincers, removed the crucible from 
 the chafing-dish, and poured the lead, now entirely melted, 
 into the bowl of water, repeating at the same time: 
 
 " Elements, each other greeting. 
 Gifts and powers attend your meeting ! " 
 
 • See Noma's Spells. Note 36. 
 
296 \VA 7ERLEY NO VEL8. 
 
 The melted lead, spattering as it fell into the water, formed, 
 of eoui'se, the usual combination of irregular forms which is 
 familiar to all who in childhood have made the experiment, 
 and from which, according to our childish fancy, we may 
 have selected portions bearing some resemblance to domestic 
 articles, the tools of mechanics, or the like. Noma seemed 
 to busy herself in some such researches, for she examined the 
 mass of lead with scrupulous attention, and detached it into 
 different portions, without apparently being able to find a 
 fragment in the form which she desired. 
 
 At length, she again muttered, rather as speaking to herself 
 than to her guests, " He, the Viewless, will not be omitted: he 
 will have his tribute even in the work to which he gives noth- 
 ing. Stern compeller of the clouds, thou also shalt hear the 
 voice of the Eeim-kennar." 
 
 Thus speaking, Noma once more threw the lead into the 
 crucible, where, hissing and spattering as the wet metal 
 touched the sides of the red-hot vessel, it was soon again re- 
 duced into a state of fusion. The sibyl meantime turned to 
 a corner of the apartment, and opening suddenly a window 
 which looked to the northwest, let in the fitful radiance of the 
 sun, now lying almost level upon a great mass of red clouds, 
 which, boding future tempests, occupied the edge of the 
 horizon, and seemed to brood over the billows of the boundless 
 sea. Turning to this quarter, from which a low hollow 
 moaning breeze then blew. jSToma addressed the Spirit of the 
 Winds, in tones which seemed to resemble his own: 
 
 " Thou, that over billows dark 
 Safely send'st the fisher's bark, 
 Giving him a path and motion 
 Through the wilderness of ocean — 
 Thou, that when the billows brave ye, 
 O'er the shelves canst drive the navy, 
 Did'st thou chafe as one neglected, 
 While thy bretlii-en were respected? 
 To appease thee, see, I tear 
 This full grasp of grizzled hair. 
 Oft thy breath hath through it sung, 
 Softening to my magic tongue; 
 Now, 'tis thine to Ind it fly 
 Through the wide expanse of sky, 
 'Mid the countless swarms to sail 
 Of wild-fowl wheeling on thy gale. 
 Take thy portion and rejoice; 
 Spirit, thou hast heard my voice! " 
 
 ISTorna accompanied these words with the action which they 
 described, tearing a handful of hair with vehemence from her 
 head, and strewing it upon the wind as she continued her 
 
THE PIRATE. 297 
 
 recitation. She then shut the casement, and again involved 
 the chamber in the dubious twilight which best suited her 
 character and occupation. The melted lead was once more 
 emptied into the water, and the various whimsical conforma- 
 tions which it received from the operation were examined with 
 great care by the sibyl, who at length seemed to intimate by 
 voice and gesture that her spell had been successful. She 
 selected from the fused metal a piece about the size of a small 
 nut, bearing in shape a close resemblance to that of the human 
 heart, and approaching Minna, again spoke in song: 
 
 " She who sits by haunted well 
 Is subject to tlie uixie's spell; 
 She who walks on lonely beach 
 To the meriiiaid"s charmed speech; 
 She who walks round ring of green, 
 Offends the peevish fairy queen; 
 And she who takes rest in the dwarfie's cave, 
 A weary weird of woe shall have. 
 
 "By ring, by spring, by cave, by shore, 
 Minna Troil has braved all this and more: 
 And yet hath the root of her sorrow and ill 
 A source that's more deep and more mystical still." 
 
 Minna, whose attention had been latterly something dis- 
 turbed by reflections on her own secret sorrow, now suddenly 
 recalled it, and looked eagerly on jSTorna. as if she expected 
 to learn from her rhymes something of deep interest. The 
 Northern sibyl meanwhile proceeded to pierce the piece of 
 lead, which bore the form of a heart, and to fix in it a piece of 
 gold wire, by which it might be attached to a chain or neck- 
 lace. She then proceeded in her rhyme: 
 
 " Thou art within a demon's hold, 
 More wise than Heims, more strong than Trold; 
 No siren sings so sweet as he. 
 No fay springs lighter on the lea; 
 No eliin power hath half the art 
 To soothe, to move, to wring the heart, 
 Life-blood from the cheek to drain. 
 Drench the eye, and dry the vein. 
 Maiden, ere we farther go, 
 Dost thou note me, aye or no? " 
 
 Minna replied in the same rhythmical manner, which, in 
 jest and earnest, was frequently used by the ancient Scandi- 
 navians: 
 
 " I mark thee, my motlier, both word, look, and sign; 
 Speak on with the riddle — to read it be mine." 
 
908 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 "Now, Heaven and every saint be praised! " said Magnus; 
 "they are the first words to the purpose which she hath 
 spoken these many days." 
 
 " And they are the last w^hich she shall speak for many a 
 month,"' said Noma, incensed at the interruption, " if you 
 again break the progress of my spell. Turn your faces to the 
 wall, and look not hitherward again, under penalty of my 
 severe displeasure. You, Magnus Troil, from hard-hearted 
 audacity of spirit, and you, Brenda, from wanton and idle dis- 
 belief in that which is beyond your bounded comprehension, 
 are unworthy to look on this mystic work; and the glance of 
 your eyes mingles with and weakens the spell; for the powers 
 cannot brook distrust." 
 
 Unaccustomed to be addressed in a tone so peremptory 
 Magnus would have made some angry reply; but reflecting 
 that the health of Minna was at stake, and considering that 
 she who spoke was a woman of many sorrows, he suppressed 
 his anger, bowed his head, shrugged his shoulders, assumed 
 the prescribed posture, averting his head from the table and 
 turning toward the wall. Brenda did the same, on receiving 
 a sign from her father, and both remained profoundly silent. 
 
 Noma then addressed Minna once more: 
 
 " Mark me! for the word I speak 
 Shall bring the color to thy cheek. 
 This leaden heart, so light of cost, 
 The symbol of a treasure lost, 
 Thou shalt wear iu hope and in peace, 
 That the cause of yonr sickness and sorrow may oeas?, 
 When crimson foot meets crimson hand 
 In the Martyr's aisle, and in Orkney-land." 
 
 Minna colored deeply at the last couplet, intimating, as she 
 failed not to interpret it, that Noma was completely ac- 
 quainted with the secret cause of her sorrow. The same con- 
 viction led the maiden to hope in the favorable issue which 
 the sibyl seemed to prophesy; and not venturing to express 
 her feelings in any manner more intelligible, she pressed 
 Noma's withered hand with all the warmth of affection, first 
 to her breast and then to her bosom, bedewing it at the same 
 time with her tears. 
 
 With more of human feeling than she usually exhibited, 
 Noma extricated her hand from the grasp of the poor girl, 
 whose tears now flowed freely, and then, with more tender- 
 ness of manner than slie had yet shown, she knotted the 
 
THE PIRATE. 299 
 
 leaden heart to a chain of gold, and hung it around Minna's 
 neck, singing, as she performed that last branch of the spell: 
 
 " Be patient, be patient, for patience hath power 
 To ward ns in danger, like mantle in shower. 
 A fairy gift yon best may hold 
 In a chain of fairy gold; 
 
 The chain and the gift are each a true token, 
 That not without warrant old Noma has spoken; 
 But thy nearest and dearest nnist never beliold them, 
 Till time shall accomplish the truths I have told tlieni." 
 
 The verses being concluded, Noma carefully arranged the 
 chain around her patient's neck so as to hide it in her bosom, 
 and thus ended the spell — a spell which, at the moment I 
 record these incidents, it is known has been lately practiced in 
 Zetland, where any decline of health, without apparent cause, 
 is imputed by the lower orders to a demon having stolen the 
 heart from the body of the patient, and where the experiment 
 of supplying the deprivation by a leaden one, prepared in the 
 manner described, has been resorted to within these few years. 
 In a metaphorical sense, the disease may be considered as a 
 general one in all parts of the world; but, as this simple and 
 original remedy is peculiar to the isles of Thule, it were un- 
 pardonable not to preserve it at length, in a narrative con- 
 nected with Scottish antiquities. 
 
 A second time Xorna reminded her patient that, if she 
 showed, or spoke of, the fairy gifts, their virtue would be lost 
 — a belief so common as to be received into the superstitions 
 of all nations. Lastly, unbuttoning the collar which she had 
 just fastened, she showed her a link of the gold chain, which 
 Minna instantly recognized as that formerly given by ISTorna 
 to Mordaunt Mertoun. This seemed to intimate he w>is yet 
 alive, and under Noma's protection; and she gazed on her 
 with the most eager curiosity. But the sibyl imposed her 
 finger on her lips in token of silence, and a second time in- 
 volved the chain in those folds which modestly and closely 
 veiled one of the most beautiful, as well as one of the kindest, 
 bosoms in the world. 
 
 Noma then extinguished the lighted charcoal, and. as the 
 water his,sed upon the glowing embers, commanded Magnus 
 and Brenda to look aro'und and behold her task accomplished. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 See yonder woman, whom our swains revere, 
 
 And dread in secret, while they take her counsel 
 
 When sweetheart shall be kind, or when cross dame shall die; 
 
 Where lurks the thief who stole the silver tankard, 
 
 And how the pestilent murrain may be cured. 
 
 This sage adviser's mad, stark mad, my friend; 
 
 Yet, in her madness hath the art and cunning 
 
 To wring fools' secrets from their inmost bosoms, 
 
 And pay inquirers with the coin they gave her. 
 
 — Old Play. 
 
 It seemed as if Noma had indeed full right to claim the 
 gratitude of the Udaller for the improved condition of his 
 daughter's health. She once more threw open the ^,vindow, 
 and Minna, drying her eyes and advancing with affectionate 
 confidence, threw herself on her father's neck, and asked his 
 forgiveness for the trouble she had of late occasioned to him. 
 It is unnecessary to add that this was at once granted, with 
 a full, though rough, burst of parental tenderness, and as 
 many close embraces as if his child had been just rescued 
 from the jaws of death. When Magnus had dismissed Minna 
 from his arms, to throw herself into those of her sister, and 
 express to her, rather by kisses and tears than in words, the 
 regret she entertained for her late wayward conduct, the 
 Udaller thought proper, in the meantime, to pay his thanks 
 to their hostess, whose skill had proved so efficacious. But 
 scarce had he come out with, " ]\Iuch respected kinswoman, 
 
 I am but a plain old Norseman " when she interrupted 
 
 him by pressing her finger on her lips. 
 
 " There are those around us," she said, " who must hear no 
 mortal voice, witness no sacrifice to mortal feelings: there are 
 times when they mutiny even against me, their sovereign mis- 
 tress, because I am still shrouded in the flesh of humanity. 
 Fear, therefore, and be silent. I, whose deeds have raised 
 me from the low-sheltered valley of life, where dwell its social 
 wants and common charities — I, who have bereft the giver 
 of the gift which he gave, and stand alone on a cliff of im- 
 measurable height, detached from earth, save from the small 
 portion that supports my miserable tread — I alone am fit to 
 cope with those sullen mates. Fear not, therefore, but yet 
 be not too bold, and let this night to you be one of fasting 
 and of prayer." 
 
 30Q 
 
THE PIRATE. 801 
 
 If the Udaller had not, before the commencement of the 
 operation, been disposed to dispute the commands of the 
 sibyl, it may be well believed he was less so now that it had 
 terminated to all appearance so fortunately. So he sat down 
 in silence, and seized upon a volume which lay neai' him as a 
 sort of desperate effort to divert "■ ennui," for on no other 
 occasion had Magnus been known to have recourse to a book 
 for that purpose. It chanced to be a book much to his mind, 
 being the well-known work of Olaus Magnus, upon the man- 
 ners of the ancient Northern nations. The book is unluckily 
 in the Latin language, and the Danske or Dutch were, either 
 of them, much more familiar to the Udaller. But then it 
 was the fine edition published in 1555, which contains repre- 
 sentations of the war-chariots, fishing exploits, warlike exer- 
 cises, and domestic employments of the Scandinavians, exe- 
 cuted on copper-plates; and thus the information which the 
 work refused to the understanding was addressed to the eye, 
 which, as is well known both to old and young, answers the 
 purpose of amusement as well, if not better. 
 
 Meanwhile the two sisters, pressed as close to each other as 
 two flowers on the same stalk, sat with their arms reciprocally 
 passed over each other's shoulder, as if they feared some new 
 and unforeseen cause of coldness was about to separate them, 
 and interrupt the sister-like harmony which had been but just 
 restored. Noma sat opposite to them, sometimes revolving 
 the large parchment volume with which they had found her 
 employed at their entrance, and sometimes gazing on the 
 sisters' with a fixed look, in which an interest of a kind un- 
 usually tender seemed occasionally to disturb the stern and 
 rigorous solemnity of her countenance. All was still and 
 silent as death, and the subsiding emotions of Brenda had 
 not yet pennitted her to wonder whether the remaining hours 
 of the evening were to be passed in the same manner, when 
 the scene of tranquillity was suddenly interrupted by the 
 entrance of the dwarf Pacolet, or, as the Udaller called him, 
 Nicholas Stnimpfer. 
 
 Noma darted an angry glance on the intrader, who seemed 
 to deprecate her resentment by holding up his hands and 
 uttering a babbling sound; then, instantly resorting to his 
 usual mode of conversation, he expressed himself by a variety 
 of signs made rapidly upon his fingers, and as rapidly an- 
 swered by his mistress, so that the young women, who had 
 never heard of such an art, and now saw it practiced by two 
 beings so singular, almost conceived their mutual intelligence 
 
302 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the work of enchantment. When they had ceased their in- 
 tercourse, Noma turned to Magnus Troil with much haughti- 
 ness and said, " How, my kinsman, have you so far forgot 
 yourself as to bring earthly food into the house of the Reim- 
 kennar, and make preparations in the dwelling of power and 
 of despair for refection, and wassail, and revelry? Speak 
 not — answer not,'*' she said; " the duration of the cure which 
 was wrought even now depends on your silence and obedi- 
 ence; bandy but a single look or word with me, and the latter 
 condition of that maiden shall be worse than the first! " 
 
 This threat was an effectual charm upon the tongue of the 
 Udaller, though he longed to indulge it in vindication of his 
 conduct. 
 
 " Follow me, all of you," said Noma, striding to the door 
 of the apartment, " and see that no one looks backward; we 
 leave not this apartment empty, though we, the children of 
 mortality, be removed from it." 
 
 She went out, and the Udaller signed to his daughters to 
 follow and to obey her injunctions. The sibyl moved swifter 
 than her guests down the rude descent (such it might rather 
 be termed than a proper staircase) which led to the lower 
 apartment. Magnus and his daughters, when they entered 
 the chamber, found their own attendants aghast at the pres- 
 ence and proceedings of Noma of the Fitful Head. 
 
 They had been previously employed in arranging the pro- 
 visions which they had brought along with them, so as to 
 present a comfortable cold meal as soon as the appetite of the 
 Udaller, which was as regular as the return of tide, should 
 induce him to desire some refreshment; and now they stood 
 staring in fear and surprise, while Noma., seizing upon one 
 article after another, and well supported by the zealous 
 activity of Pacelot, flung their whole preparations out of the 
 rude aperture which served for a window, and over the cliif, 
 from which the ancient burgh arose, into the ocean, which 
 raged and foamed beneath. " Yifda " (dried beef), hams, 
 and pickled pork flew after each other into empty space, 
 smoked geese were restored to the air, and cured fish to the 
 sea, their native elements indeed, but which they were no 
 longer capable of traversing; and the devastation proceeded 
 so rapidly that the Udaller could scarce secure from the 
 wreck his silver drinking-cup; while the large leathern flask 
 of brandy which was destined to supply his favorite beverage 
 was sent to follow the rest of the supper by the hands of 
 Pacelot, who regarded, at the same time, the disappointed 
 
TEE PIRATE. 308 
 
 Udaller Avith a malicious grin, as if, notwithstanding his own 
 natural taste for the liquor, he enjoyed the disappointment 
 and surprise of Magnus Troil still more than he would have 
 relished sharing his enjoyment. 
 
 The destruction of the brandy flask exhausted the patience 
 of Magnus, who roared out, in a tone of no small displeasure, 
 " Why, kinswoman, this is wasteful madness; where, and on 
 what, would you have us sup ? " 
 
 "Where you will," answered Noma, "and on what you 
 will ; but not in my dwelling, and not on the food with which 
 you have profaned it. Vex my spirit no more, but begone 
 every one of you! You have been here too long for my good, 
 perhaps for your own." 
 
 " How, kinswoman," said Magnus, " would you make out- 
 casts of us at this time of night, when even a Scotchman 
 would not turn a stranger from the door? Bethink you, 
 dame, it is shame on our lineage forever if this squall of 
 yours should force us to slip cables and go to sea so scantily 
 provided." 
 
 " Be silent, and depart," said Noma; " let it suffice you 
 have got that for which you came. I have no harborage for 
 mortal guests, no provision to relieve human wants. There 
 is beneath the cliff a beach of the finest sand, a stream of 
 water as pure as the well of Kildinguie, and the rocks bear 
 dulse as wholesome as that of Guiodin; and well you wot 
 that the well of Kildinguie and the dulse of Guiodin will 
 cure all maladies save Black Death." * 
 
 "And well I wot," said the Udaller, "that I would eat 
 corrapted seaweeds like a starling, or salted seal's flesh like 
 the men of Burraforth, or wilks, buckles, and lampits, like 
 the poor sneaks of Stroma, rather than break wheat bread and 
 drink red wine in a house where it is begmdged me. And 
 yet," he said, checking himself, " I am wrong— ver}' wrong, 
 my cousin, to speak thus to you, and I should rather thank 
 you for what you have done than upbraid you for following 
 your own ways. But I see you are impatient — we will be all 
 under wav presently. And you, ye knaves," addressing his 
 servants. " that were in such huny \\Mh. your service before 
 it was lacked, get out of doors with you presently, and man- 
 age to catch the ponies; for I see we must make for another 
 harbor to-night, if we would not sleep with an empty 
 stomach and on a hard bed." 
 
 The domestics of Magnus, already sufficiently alamied at 
 
 ♦ So at least says an Orkney proverb. 
 
304 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the violence of Noma's conduct, scarce waited the imperious 
 command of their master to evacuate her dwelhng with all 
 dispatch; and the ITdaller, with a daughter on each arm, was 
 in the act of following them, when ISTorna said emphatically, 
 "Stop!" They obeyed, and again turned toward her. She 
 held out her hand to Magnus, which the placable Udaller 
 instantly folded in his own ample palm. 
 
 " Magnus," she said, " we part by necessity, but, I trust, 
 not in anger? " 
 
 " Surely not, cousin," said the warm-hearted Udaller, well- 
 nigh stammering in his hasty disclamation of all unkindness 
 — " most assuredly not. 1 never bear ill-will to anyone, much 
 less to one of my own blood, and who has piloted me with 
 her advice through many a rough tide, as I would pilot a boat 
 betwixt Swona and Stroma, through all the waws, wells, and 
 swelchies of the Pentland Firth." 
 
 " Enough," said Noma, " and now farewell, with such a 
 blessing as I dare bestow — not a word more! Maidens," she 
 added, " draw near and let me kiss your brows." 
 
 The sibyl was obeyed by Minna with awe, and by Brenda 
 with fear; the one overmastered by the warmth of her imag- 
 ination, the other by the natural timidity of her constitution. 
 Noma then dismissed them, and in two minutes afterwards 
 they found themselves beyond the bridge, and standiu'j upon 
 the rocky platform in front of the ancient Pictish burgh 
 which it was the pleasure of this sequestered female to in- 
 habit. The night, for it was now fallen, was unusually 
 serene. A bright twilight, which glimmered far over the 
 surface of the sea, supplied the brief absence of the summer's 
 sun; and the waves seemed to sleep under its influence, so 
 faint and slumberous was the sound with which one after 
 another rolled on and burst against the foot of the cliff on 
 which they stood. In front of them stood the rugged for- 
 tress, seeming, in the uniform grayness of the atmosphere, as 
 aged, as shapeless, and as massive as the rock on which it was 
 founded. There was neither sight nor sound that indicnted 
 human habitation, save that from one nide shot-hole glim- 
 mered the flame of the feeble lamp by which the sibyl was 
 probably pursuing her mystical and nocturnal studies, shoot- 
 ing upon the twilight, in which it was soon lost and con- 
 founded, a single line of tiny light; bearing the same 
 proportion to that of the atmosphere as the aged woman and 
 her serf, the sole inhabitants of that desert, did to the solitude 
 vvith which they were surrounded. 
 
THE PIRATE. 305 
 
 For several minutes the party, thns siulrlenly and unex- 
 pectedly expelled from the shelter where they had reckoned 
 upon spending the night, stood in silence, each wrapt in their 
 own separate reflections. Minna, her thoughts fixed on the 
 mystical consolation which she had received, in vain en- 
 deavored to extract from the words of Xoma a more distinct 
 and intelligible meaning; and the Udaller had not yet recov- 
 ered his surprise at the extrusion to which he had been thus 
 whimsically subjected, under circumstances that proliibited 
 him from resenting as an insult treatment which, in all other 
 respects, was so shocking to the genial hospitality of his 
 nature that he still felt like one disposed to be angry, if he 
 but knew how to set about it. Brenda ^vas the first who 
 brought matt-ers to a point by asking whither they were to 
 go, and how they ^vere to spend the night. The question, 
 which was asked in a tone that, amidst its simplicity, had 
 something dolorous in it, entirely changed the train of her 
 father's ideas; and the unexpected perplexity of their situa- 
 tion now striking him in a comic point of view, he laughed 
 till his very eyes ran over, while every rock around him rang, 
 and the sleeping sea-fowl were startled from their repose by 
 the loud, hearty explosions of his obstreperous hilarity. 
 
 The Udaller's daughters, eagerly representing to their 
 father the risk of displeasing Xorna by this unlimited indul- 
 gence of his mirth, united their efforts to drag him to a 
 farther distance from her dwelling. Magnus, yielding to 
 their strength, which, feeble as it was, his own fit of laughter 
 rendered him incapable of resisting, suffered himself to be 
 pulled to a considerable distance from the burgh, and then 
 escaping from their hands, and sitting down, or rather suffer- 
 ink' himself to drop, upon a large stone which lay conven- 
 ientlv bv the wayside, he again laughed so long and lustily 
 that his vexed and anxious daughters became afraid that there 
 was something more than natural in these repeated con- 
 vulsions. 
 
 At length, his mirth exhausted both itself and the Udaller's 
 strength. He groaned heavily, wiped his eyes, and said, not 
 without feeling some desire to renew his obstreperous 
 cnchinnation, " Xow, by the bones of St. :NTagnus, my ances- 
 tor and namesake, oneVould imagine that being turned out 
 of doors at this time of night was nothing short of an abso- 
 lutely exquisite jest; for I have shaken my sides at it till they 
 ache! There we sat, made snug for the night, and 1 made 
 as sure of a good supper and a can as ever I had been of 
 
306 WAVEIiLEY NOVELS. 
 
 either; and here we are all taken aback! and then poor Bren- 
 da's doleful voice, and melancholy question of, " What is to be 
 done, and where are we to sleep? ' In good faith, unless one 
 of those knaves, who must needs torment the poor woman 
 by their trencher-work before it was wanted, can make 
 amends by telling us of some snug port under our lee, we 
 have no other course for it but to steer through the twilight 
 on the bearing of Burgh- Westra, and rough it out as well as 
 we can by the way. I am sorry but for you, girls; for many 
 a cruise have I been upon when we were on shorter allow- 
 ance than we are like to have now; I would I had but secured 
 a morsel for you and a drop for myself, and then there had 
 been but little to complain of." 
 
 Both sisters hastened to assure the Udaller that they felt 
 not the least occasion for food. 
 
 " Why, that is well," said Magnus, " and so being the case, 
 I will not complain of my own appetite, though it is sharper 
 than convenient. And the rascal, Nicholas Strumpfer — 
 what a leer the villain gave me as he started the good Natz 
 into the salt-water! He grinned, the knave, like a seal on 
 a skerry. Had it not been for vexing my poor kinswoman. 
 Noma, I would have sent his misgotten body and misshapen 
 jolterhead after my bonny flask, as sure as St. Magnus lies 
 at Kirkwall!" 
 
 By this time the ser^^ants returned with the ponies, which 
 they had very soon caught; these sensible animals finding 
 nothing so captivating in the pastures where they had been 
 suffered to stray as inclined them to resist the invitation again 
 to subject themselves to saddle and bridle. The prospects of 
 the party were also considerably improved by learning that 
 the contents of their sumpter pony's burden had not been 
 entirely exhavisted — a small basket having fortunately es- 
 caped the rage of Noma and Pacelot by the rapidity with 
 which one of the servants had caught up and removed it. 
 The same domestic, an alert and ready-witted fellow, had 
 observed upon the beach, not above three miles distant from 
 the burgh, and about a quarter of a mile off their straight 
 path, a deserted " skeo," or fisherman's hut, and suggested 
 that they should occupy it for the rest of the night, in order 
 that the ponies might be refreshed, and the young ladies 
 spend the night under cover from the raw evening air. 
 
 When we are delivered from great and serious dangers, our 
 mood is, or ought to be, grave in proportion to the peril we 
 have escaped and the gratitude due to protecting Providence. 
 
THE PIRATE. 307 
 
 But few things raise the spirits more naturally or more harm- 
 lessly than when means of extrication from any of the lesser 
 embarrassments of life axe suddenly presented to us; and such 
 was the case in the present instance. The Udaller, relieved 
 from the apprehensions for his daughters' suffering from 
 fatigue, and himself from too much appetite and too little 
 food, caroled Norse ditties, as he spurred Bergen through 
 the twilight, \nth as much glee and gallantry as if the night- 
 ride had been entirely a matter of his own free choice. 
 Brenda lent her voice to some of his choruses, which were 
 echoed in ruder notes by the servants, who, in that simple 
 state of society, were not considered as guilty of any breach 
 of respect by mingling their voices with the song. Minna, 
 indeed, was as yet unequal to such an effort; but she com- 
 pelled herself to assume some share in the general hilarity of 
 the meeting; and, contrary to her conduct since the fatal 
 morning which concluded the festival of St. John, she seemed 
 to take her usual interest in what was going on around her, 
 and answered with kindness and readiness the repeated in- 
 quiries concerning her health with which the Udaller every 
 now and then inteiTupted his carol. And thus they pro- 
 ceeded by night, a happier party by far than they had been 
 when they traced the same route on the preceding [that 
 same] morning, making light of the difficulties of the way, 
 and promising themselves shelter and a comfortable night's 
 rest in the deserted hut which they were now about to ap- 
 proach, and which they expected to find in a state of dark- 
 ness and solitude. 
 
 But it was the lot of the Udaller that day to be deceived 
 more than once in his calculations. 
 
 " And which way lies this cabin of yours, Laurie? " said 
 the Udaller, addressing the intelligent domestic of whom we 
 just spoke. 
 
 " Yonder it should be," said Laurence Scholey, " at the 
 head of the voe; but, by my faith, if it be the place, there are 
 folk there before us. God and St. Ronan send that they be 
 canny company! " 
 
 In" truth there was a light in the deserted hut, strong 
 enough to glimmer through every chink of the shingles and 
 wreck-wood of which it was constructed, and to give the whole 
 cabin the appearance of a smithy seen by night. The uni- 
 Yersal superstition of the Zetlanders seized upon Magnus and 
 his escort. 
 
 " They are trows/' said one voice. 
 
808 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 " They are witches," murmured another. 
 
 " They are mermaids/' muttered a third; " only hear their 
 wild singing! " 
 
 All stopped; and, in effect, some notes of music were audi- 
 ble, which Brenda, with a voice that quivered a little, but 
 yet had a turn of arch ridicule in its tone, pronounced to be 
 the sound of a fiddle. 
 
 " Fiddle or fiend," said the Udaller, who, if he believed in 
 such nightly apparitions as had struck terror into his retinue, 
 certainly feared them not — " fiddle or fiend, may the devil 
 fetch me if a witch cheats me out of supper to-night for the 
 second time! " 
 
 So saying, he dismounted, clenched his trusty truncheon 
 in his hand, and advanced toward the hut, followed by Lau- 
 rence alone; the rest of his retinue continuing stationary on 
 the beach beside his daughters and the ponies. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it 
 Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine, 
 Seen by the cnrtal fiiar, who, from some christening 
 Or some blithe bridal, hies belated cell-ward; 
 He starts, and rh,-ui<;es his bold bottle swaj^ger 
 To churchman's pace professional, and ransacking 
 His treacherous memory for some holy hymn, 
 Finds but the roundel of the midnight catch. 
 
 — Old Play. 
 
 The stride of the Udaller relaxed nothing of its length oi 
 of its firmness as he approached the glimmering cabin, from 
 which he now heard distinctly the sound of the fiddle. But, 
 if still long and firm, his steps succeeded each other rather 
 more slowly than usual: for, like a cautious, though a brave, 
 general, Magnus was willing to reconnoiter his enemy before 
 assailing him. 
 
 The trusty Laurence Scholey, who kept close behind his 
 master, now whispered into his ear, " So help me, sir, as I 
 beliere that the ghaist, if ghaist it be, that plays so bravely 
 on the fiddle, must be the ghaist of ]\Iaister Claud Halcro, 
 or his wraith at least; for never was bow drawn across thairm 
 which brought out the gude auld spring of ' Fair and Lucky ' 
 so like his ain." 
 
 Magnus was himself much of the same opinion; for he 
 knew the blithe minstrelsy of the spirited little old man, and 
 hailed the hut with a hearty halloo, which was immediately 
 replied to by the cheer}' note of his ancient messmate, and 
 Halcro himself presently made his appearance on the beach. 
 
 The L''daller now signed to his retinue to come up, while he 
 asked his friend, after a kind greeting and much shaking of 
 hands, " How the devil he came to sit there, playing old 
 tunes in so desolate a place, like an owl whooping to the 
 moon? " 
 
 "And tell me rather, Fowd," said Claud Halcro, "how 
 you came to be within hearing of me? aye, by my word, and 
 with your bonny daughters, too? Jarto Minna and Jarto 
 Brenda. I bid you welcome to these yellow sands; and there, 
 shake hands, as glorious John, or some other body, says upon 
 the same occasion. And how came you here like two fair 
 
 309 
 
310 WAVEELET NOVELS. 
 
 swans, making day out of twilight, and turning all you step 
 upon to silver? " 
 
 " You shall know all about them presently," answered 
 Magnus; " but what messmates have you got in the hut with 
 you? I think I liear someone speaking." 
 
 " None," replied Claud Halcro, " but that poor creature, the 
 factor, and my imp of a boy, Giles. I — but come in — come 
 in; here you will find us stai'ving in comfort — not so much 
 as a mouthful of sour sillocks to be had for love or money." 
 
 " That may be in a small part helped," said the Udaller; 
 " for, though the best of our supper is gone over the Fitful 
 Crags too the sealchies and the dog-fish, yet we have got 
 something in the kit still. Here, Laurie, bring up the 
 ' vifda.' " 
 
 "'Jokul — Jokul!'" was Laurence's joyful answer; and he 
 hastened for the basket. 
 
 " By the bicker of St. Magnus," * said Halcro, " and the 
 burliest bishop that ever quaffed it for luck's sake, there is 
 no finding your locker empty, Magnus! I believe sincerely 
 that, ere a friend wanted, you could, like old Luggie,t the 
 warlock, fish up boiled and roasted out of the pool of 
 Kibister." 
 
 " You are wrong there, Jarto Claud," said Magnus Troil, 
 " for, far from helping me to a supper, the foul fiend, I be- 
 lieve, has earned off great part of mine this blessed evening; 
 but you are welcome to share and share of what is left." This 
 was said while the party entered the hut. 
 
 Here, in a cabin which smelled strongly of dried fish, and 
 whose sides and roof were jet black with smoke, they found 
 the unhappy Triptolemus Yellowley seated beside a fire made 
 of dried seaweed, mingled ^vith some peats and wreck-wood; 
 his sole companion a bare-footed, yellow-haired Zetland boy, 
 who acted occasionally as a kind of page to Claud Halcro, 
 bearing his fiddle on his shoulder, saddling his pony, and 
 rendering him similar duties of kindly observance. The dis- 
 consolate agriculturist, for such his visage betokened him, 
 displayed little surprise, and less animation, at the arrival of 
 the Udaller and his companions, until, after the party had 
 drawn close to the fire (a neighborhood which the dampness 
 of the night air rendered far from disagreeable), the pannier 
 was opened, and a tolerable siipply of barley-bread and hung 
 beef, besides a flask of brandy (no doubt smaller than that 
 which the relentless hand of Pacelot had emptied into the 
 * See Note 37. + See Note 38. 
 
THE PIRATE. 311 
 
 ocean), gave assurances of a tolerable supper. Then, indeed, 
 the worthy factor grinned, chuckled, nibbed his hands, and 
 inquired after all friends at Burg-h-Westra. 
 
 When tliey had all partaken of this needful refreshment, 
 the Udaller repeated his inquiries of Halcro, and more par- 
 ticularly of the factor, how they came to be nestled in such 
 a remote corner at such an hour of night. 
 
 " Maister Magnus Troil," said Triptolemus, when a second 
 cup had given him spirits to tell his tale of woe, " I would 
 not have you think that it is a little thing that disturbs me. 
 I came of that grain that takes a sair wind to shake it. I 
 have seen many a ^lai'tinmas and many a Wliitsunday in my 
 day, whilk are the times peculiarly grievous to those of my 
 craft, and I could aye bide the bang; but I tliink I am like 
 to be dung ower a'thegither in this damned country of yours. 
 Gude forgie me for swearing; but evil communication cor- 
 rupteth good manners." 
 
 " Xow, Heaven guide us," said the Udaller, " what is the 
 matter with the man? Why, man, if jou will put your 
 plow into new land, you must look to have it hank on a 
 stone now and then. You must set us an example of patience, 
 seeing you come here for our improvement." 
 
 " And the deil was in my feet when I did so," said the 
 factor; " I had better have set myself to improve the cairn 
 on Cloch-naben." 
 
 " But what is it, after aJl," said the Udaller, " that has 
 befallen you? what is it that you complain of?" 
 
 " Of everv-thing that has chanced to me since I landed on 
 this island, which I believe was accursed at the very creation," 
 said the agriculturist, " and assigned as a fitting station for 
 sorners, thieves, whores — I beg the ladies' pardon — witches, 
 bitches, and all e^^l spirits! " 
 
 "By my faith, a goodly catalogue!" said Magnus; "and 
 there has been the day that, if I had heard you give out the 
 half of it, I should have turned improver myself, and have 
 tried to amend your manners with a cudgel." 
 
 " Bear with me," said the factor, " Maister Fowd, or Maister 
 Udaller, or whatever else they may call you, and as you are 
 strong be pitiful, and consider the luckless lot of any inex- 
 perienced person who lights upon this earthly paradise of 
 yours. He asks for drink, they bring him sour whey — no 
 disparagement to your brandy, Fowd, which is excellent. 
 You ask for meat, and they bring you sour sillocks that Satan 
 might choke upon. You call your laborers togetlier, and 
 
312 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 bid them work; it proves St. Magnus' day, or St. Ronan's 
 day, or some infernal saint or other's; or else, perhaps, they 
 have come out of bed with the wrong foot foremost, or they 
 have seen an owl, or a rabbit has crossed their path, or they 
 have dreamed of a roasted horse — in short, nothing is to be 
 done. Give them a spade, and they work as if it burned their 
 fingers; but set them to dancing, and see when they will tire 
 of funking and flinging! " 
 
 " And why should they, poor bodies," said Claud Halcro, 
 *' as long as there are good fiddlers to play for them? " 
 
 " Aye — aye," said Triptoleraus, shaking his head, " you are 
 a proper person to uphold them in such a humor. Well, to 
 proceed. I till a piece of my best ground; down comes a 
 sturdy beggar that wants a kail-yard, or a plantie cruive, as 
 you call it, and he claps down an inclosure in the middle of 
 my bit shot of corn, as lightly as if he was baith laird and 
 tenant; and gainsay him wha likes, there he dibbles in his 
 kail-plants! I sit down to my sorrowful dinner, thinking to 
 have peace and quietness there at least, when in comes one, 
 two, three, four, or half a dozen of skelping long lads, from 
 some foolery or anither, misca' me for barring my ain door 
 against them, and eat up the best half of what my sister's 
 providence — and she is not over bountiful — has allotted for 
 my dinner! Then enters a witch, with an ell-wand in her 
 hand, and she raises the wind or lays it, whichever she likes, 
 majors up and down my house as if she was mistress of it, 
 and I am bounden to thank Heaven if she carries not the 
 broadside of it away with her! " 
 
 " Still," said the Fowd, " this is no answer to my question 
 — how the foul fiend I come to find you at moorings here? " 
 
 " Have patience, worthy sir," replied the afilicted factor, 
 " and listen to what I have to say, for I fancy it will be as 
 well to tell you the whole matter. You must know, I once 
 thought that I had gotten a small godsend, that might have 
 made all these matters easier." 
 
 "How! a godsend! Do you mean a wreck. Master Fac- 
 tor? " exclaimed Magnus; " shame upon you, that should 
 have set example to others! " 
 
 ." It was no wreck," said the factor; " but, if you must 
 needs know, it chanced that, as I raised an hearthstane in one 
 of the old chambers at Stourburgh — for my sister is minded 
 that there is little use in mair fireplaces about a house than 
 one, and I wanted the stane to knock bear upon — when what 
 should I light on but a horn full of old coins, silver the maist 
 
THE PIRATE. 313 
 
 feck of them, but wi' a bit sprinkling of gold amang them 
 too.* Weel,' I thought this was a dainty windfa', and so 
 thought Baby, and we were the mair willing to put up with 
 a place where there were siccan braw nest-eggs; and we slade 
 down the stane cannily over the horn, which seemed to me 
 to be the very cornucopia, or horn of abundance; and for 
 furtJier security Baby wad visit the room maybe twenty times 
 in the day, and mysell at an orra time, to the boot of a' that." 
 
 " On my word, and a very pretty amusement," said Claud 
 Halcro, " to look over a horn of one's own siller. I question 
 if glorious John Dryden ever enjoyed such a pastime in his 
 life; I am very sure I never did." 
 
 " Yes, but you forget, Jarto Claud," said the Udaller, 
 " that the factor was only counting over the money for my 
 lord the chamberlain. As he is so keen for his lordship's 
 rights in whales and wrecks, he would not surely forget him 
 in treasure-trove." 
 
 "A-hem! a-hem! a-he — he — hem!" ejaculated Triptole- 
 mus, seized at the moment with an awkward fit of coughing; 
 " no doubt, my lord's right in the matter would have been 
 considered, being in the hand of one, though I say it, as just 
 as can be found in Angusshire, let alone the Meams. But 
 mark what happened of late? One day, as I went up to see 
 that all was safe and snug, and just to count out the share 
 that should have been his lordship's — for surely the laborer, 
 as one may call the finder, is worthy of his hire — nay, some 
 learned men say that, when the finder, in point of trust and 
 in point of power, representeth the ' dominus,' or lord 
 superior, he taketh the whole; but let that pass, as a kittle 
 question ' in apicibus juris,' as we wont to say at St. Andrews 
 — well, sir and ladies, when I went to the upper chamber, 
 what should I see but an ugsome, ill-shaped, and most un- 
 couth dwarf, that wanted but hoofs and horns to have made 
 an utter devil of him, counting over the very hornful of 
 siller! I am no timorous man, ]\Iaster Fowd, but, judging 
 that I should proceed with caution in such a matter — for 
 I had reason to believe that there was devilr}^ in it — T accosted 
 him in Latin — whilk it is maist becoming to speak to aught 
 whilk taketh upon it as a goblin — and conjured him ' in 
 nomine,' and so forth, with such words as my poor learning 
 could furnish of a suddenty. whilk, to say truth, were not so 
 many, nor altogether so purely latineezed, as might have 
 
 * See Antique Coins found in Zetland. Note 89. 
 
314 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS. 
 
 been had I not been few years at college and many at the 
 plengh. Well, sirs, he started at first, as one that heareth 
 that which he expects not; but presently recovering himself, 
 he wawls on me with his gray een, like a wild cat, and opens 
 his mouth, wliilk resembled the mouth of an oven, for the 
 deil a tongue he had in it, that I could spy, and took upon 
 his ugly self altogether the air and bearing of a bull-dog, 
 whilk I have seen loosed at a fair upon a mad staig; where- 
 upon I was something daunted, and withdrew myself to call 
 upon sister Baby, who fears neither dog nor devil when there 
 is in question the little penny siller. And truly she raise 
 to the fray as I hae seen the Lindsays and Ogilvies bristle 
 up, when Donald MacDonnoch, or the like, made a start 
 down frae the Highlands on the braes of Islay. But an auld 
 useless carline, called Tronda Dronsdaughter — they might 
 call her Drone the sell of her, mthout farther addition — 
 flung herself right in my sister's gate, and yelloched and 
 skirled, that you would have thought her a whole generation 
 of hounds; whereupon I judged it best to make ae yoking 
 of it, and stop the pleugh until I got my sister's assistan.ce; 
 whilk when I had done, and we mounted the stair to the 
 apartment in which the said dwarf, devil, or other apparition 
 was to be seen, dwarf, horn, and siller were as clean gane as 
 if the cat had licket the place where I saw" them." 
 
 Here Triptolemus paused in his extraordinary narration, 
 while the rest of the party looked upon each other in sur- 
 prise, and the Udaller muttered to Claud Halcro: "By all 
 tokens, this must have been either the devil or Nicholas 
 Strumpfer; and, if it were him, he is more of a goblin than 
 e'er I gave him credit for, and shall be apt to rate him as 
 such in future." Then addressing the factor, he inquired: 
 " Saw ye naught how this dwarf of yours parted company? " 
 
 " As I shall answer it, no," replied Triptolemus, with a 
 cautious look around him, as if daunted by the recollection; 
 " neither I nor Baby, who had her wits more about her, not 
 having seen this unseemly vision, could perceive any way by 
 whilk he made evasion. Only Tronda said she saw him flee 
 forth of the window of the west roundel of the auld house 
 upon a dragon, as she averred. But, as the dragon is held a 
 fabulous animal, I suld pronounce her averment to rest upon 
 * deceptio visus.' " 
 
 " But, may we not ask farther," said Brenda, stimulated by 
 curiosity to know as much of her cousin Noma's family as 
 was possible, " how all this operated upon Master Yellowley 
 
THE PIRATE. 315 
 
 8o as to occasion his being in this place at so unseasonable an 
 hour? " 
 
 " Seasonable it must be, Mistress Brenda, since it brought 
 us into your sweet company," answered Claud Halcro, whose 
 mercurial brain far outstripped the slow conceptions of the 
 agriculturist, and who became impatient of being so long 
 silent. " To say the truth, it was I, :Mistress Brenda, who rec- 
 ommended to our friend the factor, whose house I chanced 
 to call at just after this mischance — and where, by the way, 
 owing doubtless to the hurry of their spirits, I was but poorly 
 received — to make a visit to our other friend at Fitful Head, 
 well judging from certain points of the story, at which mv 
 other and more particular friend than either (looking at Mag- 
 nus) may chance to form a guess, that they who break a head 
 are the best to find a plaster. And as our friend the factor 
 scrupled traveling on horseback, in respect to some tumbles 
 from our ponies " 
 
 " Which are incarnate devils," said Triptolemus aloud, 
 muttering under his breath, " like every live thing that I 
 have found in Zetland." 
 
 " Well, Fowd," continued Halcro, " I undertook to carr}' 
 him to Fitful Head in my little boat, which Giles and I can 
 manage as if it were an admiral's barge full manned; and 
 Master Triptolemus Yellowley will tell you how seaman-like 
 I piloted him to the little haven, within a quarter of a mile of 
 Noma's dwelling." 
 
 " I wish to heaven you had brought me as safe back again," 
 said the factor. 
 
 " Why, to be sure," replied the minstrel, " I am, as glorious 
 John says: 
 
 " A daring pilot in extremity, 
 Pleased with the danger when the waves go high. 
 I seek the fitfirni; but, for a calm unfit, 
 Will steer too near the sands, to show my wit." 
 
 " I showed little wit in entrusting myself to your charge," 
 said Triptolemus; " and you still less when you upset the boat 
 at the throat of the voe, as you call it, when even the poor 
 bairn, that was mair than half drowned, told you that you 
 were carrying too much sail; and then ye wad fasten the rape 
 to the bit stick on the boat-side, that ye might have time to 
 play on the fiddle." 
 
 "Wliat!" said the Udaller, "make fast the sheets to the 
 thwart? a most unseasonable practice, Clnud Halcro." 
 
 "And sae canae of it," replied the agriculturist; "for the 
 
316 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 neist blast — and we are never lang without ane in these parts 
 — whomled us as a gudewife would whomle a bowie, and ne'er 
 a thing wad Maister Halero save but his fiddle. The puir 
 bairn swam out like a water-spaniel, and I swattered hard for 
 my life, wi' the help of ane of the oars; and here we are, com- 
 fortless creatures, that, till a good wind blew you here, had 
 naething to eat but a mouthful of Norway rusk, that has mair 
 sawdust than rye-meal in it, and tastes liker. turpentine than 
 anything else." 
 
 " I thought we heard you very merry," said Brenda, " as we 
 came along the beach." 
 
 " Ye heard a fiddle. Mistress Brenda," said the factor; '' and 
 maybe ye may think there can be nae dearth, miss, where that 
 is skirling. But then it was Maister Claud Halcro's fiddle, 
 whilk, I am apt to think, wad skirl at his father's death-Led, 
 or at his ain, sae lang as his fingers could pinch the thainn. 
 And it was nae sma' aggravation to my misfortune to have 
 him bumming a' sorts of springs — Norse and Scots, Highland 
 and Lawland, English and Italian, in my lug, as if nothing 
 had happened that was amiss, and we all in such stress and 
 perplexity." 
 
 " Why, I told you sorrow would never right the boat, fac- 
 tor," said the thoughtless minstrel, " and I did my best to 
 make you merry; if I failed, it was neither my fault nor my 
 fiddle's. I have drawn the bow across it before glorious John 
 Dryden himself." 
 
 " I will hear no stories about glorious John Drv'den," an- 
 swered the Udaller, who dreader Halcro's narratives as much 
 as Triptolemus did his music — " I will hear naught of him, 
 but one story to every three bowls of punch — it is our old 
 paction, you know. But tell me, instead, what said Noma 
 to you about your errand? " 
 
 "Aye, there was anither fine upshot," said Master Yellow' ey. 
 " She wadna look at us or listen to us; only she bothered our 
 acquaintance, Master Halero here, who thought he could have 
 sae much to say wi' her, with about a score of questions about 
 your family and household estate. Master ]\Iagnus Troil; and 
 when she had gotten a' she wanted out of him, I thought she 
 wad hae dung him ower the craig, like an empty peacod." 
 
 " And for yourself? " said the Udaller. 
 
 " She wadna listen to my stor\\ nor hear sae much as a word 
 that I had to say," answered Triptolemus; " and sae much for 
 them that seek to witches and familiar spirits! " 
 
 " You needed not to have had recourse to Noma's wisdom. 
 
77:?^ PIRATE. 317 
 
 Master Factor," said Minna, not unwillinjz:, perhaps, to stop 
 his railing against the friend who had so hitely rendered her 
 service: " the youngest child in Orkney could have told you 
 that fairy treasures, if they are not wisely employed for the 
 good of others, as well as of those to whom they are im- 
 parted, do not dwell long with their possessors." 
 
 " Your humble servant to command. Mistress Minnie," said 
 Triptolemus; " I thank ye for the hint, and I am blithe that 
 you have gotten your wits — I beg pardon, I meant your 
 health — into the barn-yard again. For the treasure, I neither 
 used nor abused it — they that live in the house with my sist. r 
 Baby wad find it hard to do either! — and as for speaking of it, 
 whifk they say muckle offends them whom we in Scotland call 
 Good Neighbors, and you call Drows, the face of the auld 
 Norse kings on the coins themselves might have spoken as 
 much about it as ever I did." 
 
 " The factor," said Claud Halcro, not unwilling to seize the 
 opportunity of revenging himself on Triptolemus for disgrac- 
 ing his seamanship and disparaging his music — " the factor 
 was so scrupulous as to keep the thing quiet even from his 
 master, the Lord Chamberlain; but, now that the matter has 
 ta'en \nnd, he is likely to have to account to his master for 
 that which is no longer in his possession; for the Lord Cham- 
 berlain will be in no hurry, I think, to believe the story of 
 the dwarf. Neither do I (winking to the Udaller) that Noma 
 gave credit to a word of so odd a story; and I dare say that was 
 the reason that she received us, I must needs say, in a very 
 dry manner. I rather think she knew that Triptolemus, our 
 friend here, had found some other hiding-hole for the money, 
 and that the story of the goblin was al) his own invention. 
 For my part, I will never believe there was such a dwarf to be 
 seen as the creature Master Yellowley describes until I set my 
 own eyes on him." 
 
 " Then you may do so at this moment," said the factor; 
 
 " for, by " he muttered a deep asseveration as he sprung 
 
 on his feet in great horror, " there the creature is! " 
 
 All turned their eyes in the direction in which he pointed, 
 and saw the hideous, misshapen figure of Pacolet. with his 
 eyes fixed and glaring at them through the smoke. He had 
 stolen upon their conversation unperceived, until the factor s 
 eye lighted upon him in the manner we have described. 
 There was something so ghastly in his sudden and unex- 
 pected appearance that even the Udaller. to whom his form 
 was familiar, could not help starting. Neither pleased with 
 
318 WA VEBLET NO VELS. 
 
 himself for having testified this degree of emotion, however 
 slight, nor with the dwarf who had given cause to it, Magnus 
 asked him sharply what was his business there. Pacolet re- 
 plied by producing a letter, which he gave to the Udaller, 
 uttering a sound resembling the word '' shogh," 
 
 " That is the liighlandman's language," said the Udaller; 
 "didst thou learn that, Nicholas, when you lost your own? " 
 
 Pacolet nodded, and signed to him to read his letter. 
 
 " That is no such easy matter by firelight, my good friend," 
 replied the Udaller; " but it may concern Minna, and we must 
 try." 
 
 Brenda offered her assistance, but the Udaller answered, 
 " No — no, my girl; Noma's letters must be read by those they 
 are written to. Give the knave, Strumpfer, a drop of brandy 
 the while, though he little deserves it at my hands, consider- 
 ing the grin with which he sent the good Nantz down 
 the crag this morning, as if it had been as much ditch- 
 water." 
 
 " Will you be this honest gentleman's cup-bearer — his 
 Ganymede, friend Yellowley, or shall I?" said Claud Halcro 
 aside to the factor; while Magnus Troil, having carefully 
 wiped his spectacles, which he produced from a large copper 
 case, had disposed them on his nose and was studying the 
 epistle of Noma. 
 
 " I would not touch him, or go near him, for all the Carse 
 of Gowrie," said the factor, whose fears were by no means 
 entirely removed, though he saw that the dwarf was received 
 as a creature of flesh and blood by the rest of the company: 
 " but I pray you to ask him what he has done with my horn 
 of coins? " 
 
 The dwarf, who heard the question, threw back his head 
 and displayed liis enormous throat, pointing to it with his 
 finger. 
 
 " Nay, if he has swallowed them, there is no more to be 
 said," replied the factor; " only I hope he will thrive on them 
 as a cow on wet clover. He is dame Noma's servant, it's like 
 — such man, such mistress! But if theft and witchcraft are 
 to go unpunished in this land, mv lo-rd must find another 
 factor; for I have been used to live in a country where men's 
 worldly gear was keepit from infang and outfang thief, as 
 well as their immortal souls from the claws of the deil and his 
 cummers — sain and save us! " 
 
 The agriculturist was perhaps the less reserved in express- 
 ing his complaints that the Udaller was for the present out 
 
THE PIRATE. 319 
 
 of hearing, having drawn Claud Halcro apart into another 
 corner of the liut. 
 
 " And tell me," said he, " friend Halcro, what errand took 
 thee to Suniburgh, since I reckon it was scarce the mere pleas- 
 ure of sailing in partnership with yonder barnacle? " 
 
 " In faith, Fowd," said the bard, " and if you will have the 
 truth, I went to speak to Noma on your affairs." 
 
 " On my afEairs? " replied the Udaller; " on what affairs of 
 mine? " 
 
 " Just touching your daughter's health. I heard that 
 Noma refused your message, and would not see Eric Scam- 
 bester. ' Now,' said I to myself, ' 1 have scarce joyed in 
 meat, or drink, or music, or aught else, since Jarto Minna has 
 been so ill; and I may say, literally as well as figuratively, that 
 my day and night have been made sorrowful to me.' In 
 short, I thought I might have some more interest with old 
 Noma than another, as Scalds and wise women were always 
 accounted something akin; and I undertook the journey vdWx 
 the hope to be of some use to my old friend and his lovely 
 daughter." 
 
 " And it was most kindly done of you, good, warm-hearted 
 Claud," said the Udaller, shaking him warmly by the hand: 
 " I ever said y.ou showed the good old Norse heart amongst all 
 thy fiddling aMd thy folly. Tut, man, never wince for the 
 matter, but be bHthe that thy heart is better than thy head. 
 Well — and I warrant 3'ou got no answer from Noma? " 
 
 " None to purpose," replied Claud Halcro; " but she held 
 me close to question about Minna's illness, too; and I told her 
 how I had met her abroad the other morning in no very good 
 weather, and how her sister Brenda said she had hurt her foot 
 — in short, I told her all and ever}'thing I knew." 
 
 " And something more besides, it would seem." said the 
 Udaller; " for I, at least, never heard before that Minna had 
 hurt herself." 
 
 " Oh, a scratch! — a mere scratch! " said the old man; " but 
 I was startled about it — terrified lest it had been the bite of 
 a dog, or some hurt from a venomous thing. I told all to 
 Noma, however." 
 
 " And w-hat," answerer the Udaller, " did she say, in the 
 way of reply? " 
 
 " She bade me begone about my business, and told me that 
 the issue would be known at the Kirkwall fair; and said just 
 the like to this noodle of a factor; it was all that either of u« 
 got for our labor," said Halcro. 
 
320 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 " That is strange," said Magnus. "" My kinswoman writer 
 me in this letter not to fail going thither with my daughters. 
 This fair runs strongly in her head; one would think she in- 
 tended to lead the market, and yet she has nothing to buy or 
 to sell there that I know of. And so you came away as wise 
 as you went, and swamped your boat at the mouth of the 
 voe?" 
 
 " Why, how could I help it? " said the poet. " I had set the 
 boy to steer, and as the flaw came suddenly off shore, I could 
 not let go the tack and play on the fiddle at the same time. 
 But it is well enough — salt-water never harmed Zetlander, 
 so as he could get out of it, and, as Heaven would have it, we 
 were within man's depth of the shore, and chancing to find 
 this skeo, we should have done well enough, with shelter and 
 fire, and are much better than well with your good cheer and 
 good company. But it wears late, and Night and Day must be 
 both as sleepy as old Midnight can make them. There is an 
 inner crib here, where the fishers slept — somewhat fragrant 
 with the smell of their fish, but that is wholesome. They 
 shall bestow themselves there, with the help of what cloaks 
 you have, and then we will have one cup of brandy, and one 
 stave of glorious John, or some little trifle of my own, and 
 so sleep as sound as cobblers." 
 
 " Two glasses of brandy, if you please," said the Udaller, 
 " if our stores do not run dry; tjut not a single stave of glori- 
 ous John, or anyone else, to-night." 
 
 And this being arranged and executed agreeably to the per- 
 emptory pleasure of the Udaller, the whole party consigned 
 themselves to slumber for the night, and on the next day de- 
 parted for their several habitations, Claud Halcro having pre- 
 viously arranged with the Udaller that he would accompany 
 him and his daughters on their proposed visit to Kirkwall. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 By this hand, thou thiiik'st me as far in the devil's book as thou and Fal- 
 staff, for obduracy and perbi.steucy. Let the end try tlie man. . . Albeit I 
 could tell to thee (as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my 
 frieud), I could be sad, and sad indeed too.— Henry IV. Part II. 
 
 "We must now change the scene from Zetland to Orkney, 
 and request our readers to accompany us to the ruins of an 
 elegant, though ancient, structure called the Earl's Palace. 
 These remains, though much dilapidated, still exist in the 
 neighborhood of the massive and venerable pile which Nor- 
 wegian devotion dedicated to St. Magnus the Martyr, and, 
 being contiguous to the Bishop's Palace, which is also ruin- 
 ous, the place is impressive, as exhibiting vestiges of the 
 mutations both in church and state which have affected 
 Orkney, as well as countries more exposetl to such convul- 
 sions. Several parts of these ruinous buildings might be 
 selected (under suitable modifications) as the model of a 
 Gothic mansion, provided architects would be contented 
 rather to imita'te what is really beautiful in that species of 
 building than to make a medley of the caprices of the order, 
 confounding the military, ecclesiastical, and domestic styles 
 of all ages at random, ^^ith additional fantasies and combi- 
 nations of their own device, " all formed out of the builder's 
 brain." 
 
 The Earl's Palace forms three sides of an oblong square, 
 and has, even in its ruins, the air of an elegant yet massive 
 structure, uniting, as was usual in the residence of feudal 
 princes, the character of a palace and of a castle. A great 
 banqueting hall, communicating with several large rounds, or 
 projecting turret rooms, and having at either end an immense 
 chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the 
 Earls of Orkney, and communicates, almost in the modern 
 fashion, with a gallery or withdrawing room of corresjiondins: 
 dimensions, and having, like the hall, its projecting turrets. 
 The lordly hall itself is lighted by a 'fine Gothic window of 
 shafted stone at one end. and is entered by a spacious and 
 elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stone steps. 
 The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient build- 
 
322 WAVEELET NOVELS. 
 
 ing are also very handsome; but, being totally unprotected, 
 this remnant of the pump and grandeur of earls, who assumed 
 the license as well as the dignity of petty sovereigns, is now 
 fast crumbling to decay, and has suffered considerably since 
 the date of our story. 
 
 With folded arms and downcast looks, the pirate Cleveland 
 was pacing slowly the ruined hall which we have just described 
 — a place of retirement which he had probably chosen because 
 it was distant from public resort. His dress was consider- 
 ably altered from that which he usually wore in Zetland, and 
 seemed a sort of uniform, richly laced, and exhibiting no 
 small quantity of embroidery; a hat with a plume, and a small 
 sword very handsomely mounted, then the constant com- 
 panion of everyone who assumed the rank of a gentleman, 
 showed his pretensions to that character. But if his ex- 
 terior was so far improved, it seemed to be otherwise with his 
 health and spirits. He was pale, and had lost both the firo 
 of his eye and the vivacity of his step, and his whole appear- 
 ance indicated melancholy of mind, or suffering of body, or a 
 combination of both evils. 
 
 As Cleveland thus paced these ancient ruins, a young man, 
 of a light and slender form, whose showy dress seemed to have 
 been studied with care, yet exhibited more extravagance than 
 judgment or taste, whose manner was a jaunty affectation of 
 the free and easy rake of the period, and the expression of 
 whose countenance was lively, with a cast of effrontery, 
 tripped up the staircase, entered the hall, and presented him- 
 self to Cleveland, who merely nodded to him, and pulling 
 his hat deeper over Ms brows, resumed his solitary and dis- 
 contented promenade. 
 
 The stranger adjusted his own hat, nodded in return, took 
 snuff, with the air of a " petit maitre," from a richly chased 
 gold box, offered it to Cleveland as he passed, and being re- 
 pulsed rather coldly, replaced the box in his pocket, folded 
 his arms in his turn, and stood looking with fixed attention 
 on his motions whose solitude he had interrupted. At length 
 Cleveland stopped short, as if impatient of being longer the 
 subject of his observation, and said abruptly, '' Why can I 
 not be left alone for half an hour, and what the devil is it yon 
 want? " 
 
 " I am glad you spoke first," answered the stranger care- 
 lessly; " I was determined 'to know whether you were Clement 
 Cleveland or Cleveland's ghost, and they say ghosts never 
 take the first word, so I now set it down for yourself in life 
 
THE PIRATE. 323 
 
 and limb; and here is a fine old hurly-house you have 
 found out for an owl to hide himsolf in at midday, or a ghost 
 to revisit the pale glimpses of the moon, as the divine Shaks- 
 pere says." 
 
 '' Well — well/' answered Cleveland abruptly, " your jest is 
 made, and now let us have your earnest." 
 
 '" In earnest, then, Captain Cleveland," replied his com- 
 panion, " I think you know me for your friend." 
 
 " I am content to suppose so," said Cleveland. 
 
 " It is more than supposition," replied the young man: " I 
 have proved it — proved it both here and elsewhere." 
 
 " Well — well," answered Cleveland, " I admit you have 
 been always a friendly fellow — and what then?" 
 
 "Well, well — and what then!" rephed the other; "this 
 is but a brief way of thanking folk. Look you, captain, 
 here is Benson, Barlowe, Dick Fletcher, and a few others 
 of us who wished you well, have kept your old com- 
 rade Captain Goffe in these seas upon the lookout for you, 
 when he and Hawkins, and the greater part of the ship's 
 company, would fain have been do^vTi on the Spanish Main, 
 and at the old trade." 
 
 " And I wish to God that you had all gone about your 
 business," said Cleveland, " and left me to my fate." 
 
 " Which would have been to be informed against and 
 hanged, captain, the first time that any of these Dutch or 
 English rascals whom you have lightened of their cargoes 
 came to set their eyes upon you; and no place more likely to 
 meet with seafaring men than in these islands. And here, 
 to screen you from such a risk, we have been wasting our 
 precious time, till folk are grown very peery; and when we 
 have no more goods or money to spend amongst them, the 
 fellows will be for grabbing the ship." 
 
 " Well, then, why do you not sail off without me? " said 
 Cleveland. " There has been fair partition, and all have hiil 
 their share; let all do as they like. I have lost my ship, and 
 having been once a captain, I will not go to sea under com- 
 mand of Goffe or any other man. Besides, you know well 
 enough that both Hawkins and he bear me ill-will for 
 keeping them from sinking the Spanish brig, with the poor 
 devils of negroes on board." 
 
 " Why, what the foul fiend is the matter with thee? " said 
 his companion. " Are you Clement Cleveland, our own old 
 true-hearted Clem of the Cleugh, and do you talk of being 
 afraid of Hawkins and Groffe, and a score of such fellows, 
 
JJ24 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 when yon have myself, and Barlowe, and Dick Fletcher at 
 your back? When was it we deserted you, either in council 
 or in fight, that you should be afraid of our flinching now? 
 And as for serving tinder Goffe, I hope it is no new thing for 
 gentlemen of fortune who are going on the account to change 
 a captain now and then? Let us alone for that — captain you 
 shall be; for death rock me asleep if I serve under that fel- 
 low Goffe, who is as very a bloodhound as ever sucked bitch! 
 No, no, I thank you — my captain must have a little of the 
 gentleman about himj howsoever. Besides, you know, it was 
 you who first dipped ray hands in the dirty water and turned 
 me from a stroller by land to a rover by sea." 
 
 "Alas, poor Bunce! '* said Cleveland, "you owe me little 
 thanks for that service." 
 
 " That is as you take it," replied Bunce; " for my part, T 
 see no harm in levying contributions on the public either o-e 
 way or t'other. But I wish you would forget that name of 
 Bunce and call me Altamont, as I have often desired you t ) 
 do. I hope a gentleman of the roving trade has as good a 
 right to have an ' alias ' as a stroller, and I never stepped on 
 the boards but what I was Altamont at the least." 
 
 " Well, then, Jack Altamont," replied Cleveland, " since 
 Altamont is the word " 
 
 " Yes, but, captain, Jack is not the word, though Altamont 
 be so. Jack Altamont! why, 'tis a velvet coat with paper 
 lace. Let it be Frederick, captain: Frederick Altamont is all 
 of a piece." 
 
 " Frederick be it, then, with all my heart," said Cleveland; 
 " and pray tell me, which of your names will sound best at the 
 head of the ' Last Speech, Confession, and Dying Words of 
 John r)unce, alias Frederick Altamont, who was this morning 
 hansred at Execution Dock for the crime of Piracy upon the 
 High Seas'?" 
 
 " Faith, I cannot answer that question without another 
 can of grog, captain; so, if you will go down with me to Bet 
 Haldane'svon the quay, I will bestow some thought on the 
 matter, with the help of a right pipe of Trinidado. We will 
 have the gallon bowl filled with the best stuff you ever tasted, 
 and I know some smart wenches who will help us to drain it. 
 But you shake your head — you're not i' the vein? Well, 
 then, I will stay with you; for, by this hand. Clem, you shift 
 me not off. Only I will ferret you out this burrow of old 
 stones, and carry you into sunshine and fair air. Where shall 
 we go ? " 
 
THE PIRATE. 325 
 
 " Where you will," said Cleveland, " so that you keep out 
 of the way of our own rascals and all others." 
 
 " Why, then," replied Bunce, " you and I will go up to the 
 Hill of Whitford, which overlooks the town, and walk to- 
 gether as gravely and honestly as a pair of well-employed 
 attorneys." 
 
 As they proceeded to leave the niinous castle, Bunce, turn- 
 ing back to look at it, thus addressed his companion: 
 
 " Plark ye, captain, dost thou know who last inhabited this 
 old cockloft?" 
 
 " An earl of the Orkneys, they say," replied Cleveland. 
 
 " And are you advised what death he died of? " said Bunce; 
 " for I have heard that it was of a tight neck-collar — a 
 hempen fever, or the like." 
 
 " The people here do say," replied Cleveland, " that his 
 lordship, some hundred years ago, had the mishap to become 
 acquainted with the nature of a loop and a leap in the air." 
 
 " Why, la ye there now! " said Bunce; " there was some 
 credit in being hanged in those days, and in such worshipful 
 company. And what might his lordship have done to de- 
 serve such promotion?" 
 
 " Plundered the liege subjects, they say," replied Cleveland; 
 " slain and wounded them, fired upon his Majesty's flag, and 
 so forth." 
 
 " Near akin to a gentleman rover, then," said Bunce, mak- 
 ing a theatrical bow toward the old building; " and, therefore, 
 my most potent, grave, and reverend Signior Earl, I crave 
 leave to call you my loving cousin, and bid you most heartily 
 adieu. I leave you in the good company of rats and mice, and 
 so forth, and I carry with me an honest gentleman, who. hav- 
 ing of late had no more heart than a mouse, is now desirous 
 to run away from his profession and friends like a rat, and 
 would therefore be a most fitting denizen of your earlship's 
 palace." 
 
 " I would advise 3'ou not to speak so loud, my good friend 
 Frederick Altamont, or John Bunce," said Cleveland; " when 
 you were on the stage, you might safely rant as loud as you 
 listed; but, in your present profession, of which you are so 
 fond, every man speaks under correction of the yard-arm and 
 a running noose." 
 
 The comrades left the little town of Kirkwall in silence, 
 and ascended the Hill of Whitford, which raises its brow of 
 dark heath, uninterrupted by inclosures or cultivation of any 
 kind, to the northward of the ancient burgh of St. Magnus. 
 
326 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 The plain at the foot of the hill was already occupied by 
 numbers of persons who were engaged in making preparations 
 for the fair of St, 011a, to be held upon the ensuing day, and 
 which forms a general rendezvous to all the neighboring 
 islands of Orkney, and is even frequented by many persons 
 from the more distant archipelago of Zetland. It is, in the 
 words of the proclamation, " x\ free mercat and fair, holden 
 at the good burgh of Kirkwall on the third of August, being 
 St. Olla's day," and continuing for an indefinite space there- 
 after, extending from three days to a week and upwards. 
 The fair is of great antiquity, and derives its name from 
 Olaus, Olave, Ollaw, the celebrated monarch of Norway, who, 
 rather by the edge of his sword than any milder argument, 
 introduced Christianity into those isles, and was respected as 
 the patron of Kirkwall some time before he shared that honor 
 with St. Magnus the Martyr. 
 
 It was no part of Cleveland's purpose to mingle in the 
 busy scene which was here going on; and, turning their route 
 to the left, they soon ascended into undisturbed solitude, save 
 where the grouse,* more plentiful in Orkney, perhaps, than 
 in any other part of the British dominions, rose in covey, and 
 went off before them. Having continued to ascend till they 
 had well-nigh reached the summit of the conical hill, both 
 turned round, as with one consent, to look at and admire the 
 prospect beneath. 
 
 The lively bustle which extended between the foot of the 
 hill and the town gave life and variety to that part of the 
 scene; then was seen the town itself, out of which arose, like 
 a great mass, superior in proportion as it seemed to the whole 
 burgh, the ancient cathedral of St. Magnus, of the heaviest 
 order of Gothic architecture, but grand, solemn, and stately, 
 the work of a distant age and of a powerful hand. The quay, 
 with the shipping, lent additional vivacity to the scene; and 
 not only the whole beautiful bay, which lies betwixt the 
 promontories of Inganess and Quanteraess, at the bottom of 
 which Kirkwall is situated, but all the sea, so far as visible, 
 and in particular the whole strait bet\vixt the island of Shap- 
 insha and that called Pomona, or the Mainland, was covered 
 and enlivened by a variety of boats and small vessels, 
 freighted from distant islands to convey passengers or 
 merchandise to the fair of St. Olla. 
 
 Having attained the point by which this fair and busy pros- 
 pect was most completely commanded, each of the strangers, 
 
 * See Note 40. 
 
THE PIRATE. 327 
 
 in seaman fashion, had recourse to his spyglass, to assist the 
 naked eye in considering the Bay of Kirkwall and the numer- 
 ous vessels by which it was traversed. But the attention of 
 the two companions seemed to be arrested by different objects. 
 That of Bunce, or Altamont, as he chose to call himself, was 
 riveted to the amied sloop, where, conspicuous by her square 
 rigging and length of beam, with the English jack and pen- 
 non, which they had the precaution to keep flying, she lay 
 among the merchant vessels, as distinguished from them by 
 the trim neatness of her appearance as a trained soldier 
 amongst a crowd of clowns. 
 
 " Yonder she lies," said Bunce; " I wish to God she was in 
 the Bay of Honduras — you captain, on the quarter deck, I 
 your lieutenant, and Fletcher quartermaster, and fifty stout 
 fellows under us — I should not wish to see these blasted 
 heaths and rocks again for a while! And captain you shall 
 soon be. The old brute Goffe gets drunk as a lord every- day, 
 sw-aggers, and shoots, and cuts among the crew, and, besides, 
 he has quarreled with the people here so damnably that they 
 will scarce let water or provisions go on board of us, and we 
 expect an open breach every day." 
 
 As Bunce received no answer, he turned short round on 
 his companion, and, perceiving his attention otherwise en- 
 gaged, exclaimed: ''What the devil is the matter with you? 
 or w^hat can you see in all that trumper}^ of small craft, which 
 is only loaded with stock-fish, and ling, and smoked geese, 
 and tubs of butter that is worse than tallow? — the cargoes of 
 the whole lumped together would not be worth the flash of a 
 pistol. No — no, give me such a chase as we might see from 
 the mast-head off the island of Trinidado. Your Don, roll- 
 ing as deep in the water as a grampus, deep-loaden with rum, 
 sugar, and bales of tobacco, and all the rest ingots, moidores, 
 and gold dust; then set all sail, clear the deck, stand to 
 quarters, up with the Jolly Eoger; * we near her — we make 
 her out to be well manned and armed " 
 
 " Twenty guns on her lower deck," said Cleveland. 
 
 " Forty, if you will," retorted Bunce, " and we have but ten 
 mounted — never mind. The Don blazes away — never mind 
 yet, my brave lads — run her alongside, and on board with 
 you — to work, with your grenadoes, your cutlasses, pole-axes, 
 and pistols. The Don cries ' Misericordia,' and we share the 
 cargo without ' co licencio. Seignior '! " 
 
 * The pirates gave this nnme to Uie black flag, which, with many horrible devices to 
 enhance its terrJrs, was their favorite euBigu. 
 
328 WAVERLET NOVELS, 
 
 " By my faitli," said Cleveland, " thou takest so kindly to 
 the trade that all the world may see that no honest man was 
 spoiled when you were made a pirate. But you shall not pre- 
 vail on me to go farther in the devil's road with you; for you 
 know yourself that what is got over his back is spent — you 
 wot how. In a week, or a month at most, the rum and the 
 sugar are out, the bales of tobacco have become smoke, the 
 moidores, ingots, and gold dust have got out of our hands into 
 tliose of the quiet, honest, conscientious folks who dwell at 
 Port Eoyal and elsewhere, wink hard on our trade as long as 
 we have money, but not a jot beyond. Then we have cold 
 looks, and it may be a hint is given to the judge marshal; for, 
 when our pockets are worth nothing, our konest friends, 
 rather than want, will make money upon our heads. Then 
 comes a high gallows and a short halter, and so dies the gen- 
 tleman rover. I tell thee, I will leave this trade; and, when 
 I turn my glass from one of these- barks and boats to another, 
 there is not the worst of them which I would not row for life 
 rather than continue to be what I have been. These poor 
 men make the sea a means of honest livelihood and friendly 
 communication between shore and shore, for the mutual bene- 
 fit of the inhabitants; but we have made it a road to the ruin 
 of others and to our own destruction here and in eternity. I 
 am determined to turn honest man and use this life no 
 longer! " 
 
 "■ And where will your honesty take up its abode, if it please 
 you?" said Bunce. "You have broken the laws of eveiy 
 nation, and the hand of the law will detect and crush you 
 wherever you may take refuge. Cleveland, I speak to you 
 more seriously than I am wont to do. I have had my re- 
 flections, too; and they have been bad enough, though they 
 lasted but a few minutes, to spoil me weeks of joviality. But 
 here is the matter — what can we do but go on as we have 
 done, unless we have a direct purpose of adorning the yard- 
 arm?" 
 
 " We may claim the benefit of the proclamation to those of 
 our sort who come in and surrender," said Cleveland. 
 
 "Umph!" answered his companion dryly; "the date of 
 that day of grace has been for some time over, and they may 
 take the penalty or grant the pardon at their pleasure. Were 
 I you, I would not put my neck in such a venture." 
 
 " Why, others have been admitted but lately to favor, and 
 why should not I?" said Cleveland. 
 
 " Aye," replied his associate, " Harry Gla&by and some 
 
THE PIRATE. 329 
 
 others have been spared; but Glasby did what was called good 
 service in betraying his comrades and retaking the ' Jolly 
 Fortune '; and that I think you would scorn, even to be re- 
 venged of the brute Gofi'e yonder." 
 
 " I would die a thousand times sooner," said Cleveland. 
 
 " I will be sworn for it," said Bunce; " and the others were 
 forecastle fellows — petty larceny rogues, scarce worth the 
 hemp it would have cost to hang them. But your name has 
 stood too high amongst the gentlemen of fortune for you to 
 get off so easily. You are the prime buck of the herd, and 
 will be marked accordingly." 
 
 "And why so, I pray you?" said Cleveland; "you know 
 well enough my aim. Jack." 
 
 " Frederick, if you please," said Bunce. 
 
 " The devil take your folly! Prithee keep thy wit, and let 
 (is be grave for a moment." 
 
 " For a moment — be it so," said Bunce; " but I feel the 
 spirit of Altamont coming fast upon me. I have been a grave 
 man for ten minutes already." 
 
 " Be so then for a little longer," said Cleveland. " I know, 
 Jack, that you really love me; and, since we have come thus 
 far in this talk, I will trust you entirely. Now tell me, why 
 should I be refused the benefit of this gracious proclamation? 
 I have borne a rough outside, as thou knowest; but, in time of 
 need, I can show the numbers of lives wdiich I have been the 
 means of saving, the property which I have restored to those 
 who owned it, when, without my intercession, it would have 
 be€n wantonly destroyed. In short, Bunce, I can show " 
 
 " That you were as gentle a thief as Eobin Hood himself," 
 said Bunce; " and, for that reason, I, Fletcher, and the better 
 sort among us, love you, as one who saves the character of us 
 gentlemen rovers from utter reprobation. Well, suppose your 
 pardon made out, what are you to do next? — what c'a-s in 
 society will receive you? — with whom will you associate? 
 Old Drake, in Queen Bess' time, could plunder Peru and Mex- 
 ico without a line of commission to show for it, and, blessed 
 be her memory! he was knighted for it on his return. And 
 there was Hal Morgan, the "Welshman, nearer our time, in the 
 days of merry King Charles, brought all his gettings home, 
 had his estate and his country house, and who but he? But 
 that is all ended now: once a pirate, and an outcast forever. 
 The poor devil may go and live, shunned and despised by 
 evervone, in some secure seaport, with such part of his guilty 
 earnings as the courtiers and clerks leave him — for pardons 
 
330 WAVEBLET NOVELS. 
 
 do not pass the seals for nothing — and, when he takes his 
 walk along the pier, if a stranger asks who is the down-look- 
 ing, swarthy, melancholy man for whom all make way, as if 
 he brought the plague in his person, the answer shall be, that 
 is such a one, tL pardoned pirate! No honest man will 
 speak to him, no woman of repute will give him her 
 hand." 
 
 " Your picture is too highly colored, Jack," said Cleveland, 
 suddenly interrupting his friend: " there are women — there is 
 one at least, that would be true to her lover, even if he were 
 what you have described." 
 
 Bunco was silent for a space, and looked fixedly at his 
 friend. " By my soul! " he said, at length, " I begin to think 
 myself a conjurer. Unlikely as it all was, I could not help 
 suspecting from the beginning that there was a girl in the 
 ease. Why, this is worse than Prince Volscius in love — ha! 
 ha! ha! " 
 
 " Laugh as you will," said Cleveland, " it is true: there is 
 a maiden who is contented to love me, pirate as I am; and I 
 will fairly own to you. Jack, that though I have often at 
 times detested our roving life, and myself for following it, 
 yet I doubt if I could have found resolution to make the break 
 which I have now resolved on but for her sake." 
 
 " Why, then, God-a-mercy! " replied Bunce, " there is no 
 speaking sense to a madman; and love in one of our trade, 
 captain, is little better than lunacy. The girl must be a rare 
 creature, for a wise man to risk hanging for her. But, hark 
 ye, may she not be a little touched, as well as yourself? and 
 is it not sympathy that has done it? She cannot be one of 
 our ordinary cockatrices, but a girl of conduct and character." 
 
 " Both are as undoubted as that she is the most beautiful 
 ^nd bewitching creature whom the eye ever opened upon," 
 answered Cleveland. 
 
 " And she loves thee, knowing thee, most noble captain, to 
 be a commander among those gentlemen of fortune whom the 
 vulgar call pirates? " 
 
 " Even so — I am assured of it," said Cleveland. 
 
 " Why, then," answered Bunce, " she is either mad in good 
 earnest, as I said before, or she does not know wh;i a pirate 
 is." 
 
 " You are right in the last point," replied Cleveland. 
 " She has been bred in such remote simplicity, and utter igno- 
 rance of what is evil, that she compares our occupation with 
 that of the old Norsemen, who swept sea and haven with 
 
THE PIRATE. 831 
 
 their victorious galleys, established colonies, conquered coun- 
 tries, and took the name of sea-kings." 
 
 "And a better one it is than that of pirate, and comes 
 much to the same purpose, I dare say," said Bunce. " But 
 this must be a mettled wench! Why did you not bring her 
 aboard? Methinks it was pity to balk her fancy." 
 
 " And do not think," said Cleveland, "• that I could so 
 utterly play the part of a fallen spirit as to avail myself of her 
 enthusiastic error, and bring an angel of beauty and inno- 
 cence acquainted with such a hell as exists on board of yon- 
 der infernal ship of ours? I tell you, my friend, that, were 
 all my former sins doubled in weight and in dye, such a vil- 
 lainy would have outglared and outweighed them all." 
 
 " Why, then, Captain Cleveland," said his confidant, " me- 
 thinks it was but a fool's part to come hither at all. The 
 news must one day have gone abroad that the celebrated pirate 
 Captain Cleveland, with his good ship the ' Eevenge,' had 
 been lost on the Mainland of Zetland, and all hands perished: 
 so you would have remained hid both from friend -and enemy, 
 and might have married your pretty Zetlander, and converted 
 your sash and scarf into fishing-nets, and your cutlass into a 
 harpoon, and swept the seas for fish instead of florins." 
 
 " And so I had detei'mined," said the captain; " but a jag- 
 ger, as they call them here, like a meddling, peddling thief as 
 he is, brought down intelligence to Zetland of your lying here, 
 and I was fain to set off, to see if you were the consort of 
 whom I had told them, long before I thought of leaving the 
 roving trade." 
 
 " Aye," said Bunce, " and so far you judged well. For, as 
 you had heard of our being at Kirkwall, so we should have 
 soon learned that you were at Zetland; and some of us for 
 friendship, some for hatred, and some for fear of your playing 
 Harry Glasby upon us, would have come down for the pur- 
 pose of getting you into our company again." 
 
 " I suspected as much," said the captain, " and therefore 
 was fain to decline the courteous offer of a friend who pro- 
 posed to bring me here about this time. Besides, Jack, I 
 recollected that, as you say, my pardon will not pass the 
 seals without money; my own was waxing low — no wonder, 
 thou know est I was never a churl of it; and so " 
 
 " And so you came for your share of the cobs? " replied 
 his friend. " It was wisely done; and we shared honorably; 
 so far Goffe has acted up to articles, it must be allowed. But 
 keep your purpose of leaving him close in your breast, for I 
 
332 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 dread his pla5dng you some dog's trick or other; for he cer- 
 tainly thought himself sure of your share, and wall hardly 
 forgive your coming alive to disappoint him." 
 
 " I fear him not," said Cleveland, " and he knows that well. 
 I would I were as well clear of the consequences of having 
 been his comrade as I hold myself to be of all those which may 
 attend his ill-will. Another unhappy job I may be troubled 
 with: I hurt a young fellow who has been my plague for 
 some time, in an unhappy brawl that chanced the morning 
 I left Zetland." 
 
 " Is he dead? " asked Bunce. " It is a more serious ques- 
 tion here than it would be on the Grand Caimains or the 
 Bahama Isles, where a brace or two of fellows may be shot in 
 a morning, and no more heard of, or asked about, them than 
 if they were so many wood-pigeons. But here it may be 
 otherwise; so I hope you have not made your friend 
 immortal." 
 
 " I hope not," said the captain, " though my anger has been 
 fatal to those who have given me less provocation. To say 
 the truth, I was sorry for the lad notwithstanding, and espe- 
 cially as I was forced to leave him in mad keeping." 
 
 " In mad keeping! " said Bunce; " why, what means that? " 
 " You shall hear," replied his friend. " In the tirst place, 
 you are to know, this young man came suddenly on me while 
 I was trying to gain Minna's ear for a private interview^ be- 
 fore I set sail, that I might explain my purpose to her. Now, 
 to be broken in on by the accursed rudeness of this young 
 
 fellow at such a moment " 
 
 " The interruption deserv^ed death," said Bunce, " by all 
 the laws of love and honor! " 
 
 " A truce with your ends of plays, Jack, and listen one 
 moment. The brisk youth thought proper to retort, when I 
 commanded him to be gone. I am not, thou knowest, very 
 patient, and enforced my commands with a blow, which he 
 returned as roundly. We struggled, till I became desiro-us 
 that w^e should part at any rate, w^hich I could only effect by 
 a stroke of my poniard, wiiich, according to old use, I have, 
 thou knowest, always about me. I had scarce done this wken 
 I repented; but there was no time to think of anything save 
 escape and concealment, for, if the house rose on me, I was 
 lost: as the fiery old man, who is head of the family, would 
 have done Justice on me had I been his brother. I took the 
 body hastily on my shoulders to carry it dow^n to the sea- 
 shore, with the purpose of throwing; it into a riva, as they call 
 
THE PIRATE. 833 
 
 them, or chasm of great depth, where it wuuld have hcen long 
 enough in being discovered. This done, 1 intended to jump 
 into the boat which I had l}dng ready, and set sail for Kirk- 
 wall. But, as I was walking hastily toward the beach with my 
 burden, the poor young fellow groaned, and so apprised me 
 that the wound had not been instantly fatal. I was by this 
 time well concealed amongst the rocks, and, far from desiring 
 to complete my crime, I laid the young man on the ground, 
 and was doing what I could to stanch the blood, when sud- 
 denly an old woman stood before me. She was a person 
 whom I had frequently seen while in Zetland, and to whom 
 they ascribe the character of a sorceress, or, as the negroes 
 say, an Obi woman. She demanded the wounded man of me, 
 and I was too much pressed for time to hesitate in complying 
 with her request. More she was about to say to me, when we 
 heard the voice of a silly old man, belonging to the family, 
 sin^ng at some distance. She then pressed her finger on her 
 lip as a sign of secrecy, whistled ver\^ low, and a shapeless, 
 deformed brute of a dwarf coming to her assistance, they car- 
 ried the wounded man into one of the caverns with which the 
 place abounds, and I got to my boat and to sea with all ex- 
 pedition. If that old hag be, as they say, connected with the 
 King of the Air, she favored me that morning with a turn of 
 her calling; for not even the West Indian tornadoes, which we 
 have weathered together, made a wilder racket than the squall 
 that drove me so far out of our course that, without a pocket- 
 compass, which I chanced to have about me, I should never 
 have recovered the Fair Isle, for which we run, and where I 
 found a brig which brought me to this place. But, whether 
 the old woman meant me weal or woe, here we came at length 
 in safety from the sea, and here I remain in doubts and diffi- 
 culties of more kinds than one." 
 
 " Oh, the devil take the Sumburgh Head," said Bunce, " or 
 whatever they call the rock that you knocked our clever little 
 ' Revenge ' against! " 
 
 " Do not say / knocked her on the rock," said Cleveland; 
 " have I not told you fifty times, if the cowards had not taken 
 to their boats, though I sliowcd them the danger, and told 
 them they would all be swamped, which happened the instant 
 they cast off the painter, she would have been afloat at this 
 moment? Had they stood by me and the ship, their lives 
 would have been saved; had I gone with them, mine would 
 have been lost; who can say which is for the best?" 
 
 " Well/' replied his friend, " I know your case now, and can 
 
334 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 the better help and advise. I will be true to you, Clement, as 
 the blade to the hilt; but I cannot think that you should leave 
 us. As the old Scottish song says, ' Wae's my heart that we 
 should sunder! ' But come, you will aboard with us to-day, 
 at any rate? " 
 
 " I have no other place of refuge," said Cleveland, with a 
 sigh. 
 
 He then once more ran his eyes over the bay, directing his 
 spyglass upon several of the vessels which traversed its sur- 
 face, in hopes, doubtless, of discerning the vessel of Magnus 
 Troil, and then followed his companion down the hill in 
 silence. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXII. 
 
 X strive like to the vessel in the tide-way, 
 
 Which, lacking favoring breeze, hath not the power 
 
 To stem the powerful current. Even so, 
 
 Resolving daily to forsake my vices, 
 
 Habits, strong ciicunistance, renew'd temptation, 
 
 Sweep me to sea again. O heavenly breath, 
 
 FiU thou my sails, and aid the feeble vessel, 
 
 Which ne'er can reach the blessed port without thee! 
 
 — ' Tis Odds wfien Evens mttt. 
 
 Cleveland, with his friend Bunce, descended the hill for 
 a time in silence, until at length the latter renewed their con- 
 versation. 
 
 " You have taken this fellow's wound more on your con- 
 science than you need, captain: I have known you do more, 
 and think less on't." 
 
 " Not on such slight provocation. Jack," replied Cleveland. 
 " Besides, the lad saved my life; and, say that 1 requited him 
 the favor, still we should not have met on such evil terms; 
 but I trust that he may receive aid from that woman, who 
 has certainly strange skill in simples." 
 
 " And over simpletons, captain," said his friend, " in which 
 class I must e'en put you down, if you think more on this 
 subject. That you should be made a fool of by a young 
 woman, why it is many an honest man's case; but to puzzle 
 your pate about the mummeries of an old one is far too great 
 a folly to indulge a friend in. Talk to me of your Minna, 
 since you so call her, as much as you will; but you have no 
 title to trouble your faithful squire-errant with your old 
 mumping magician. And now here we are once more 
 amongst the booths and tents which these good folk are pitch- 
 ing; let us look, and see whether we may not find some fun 
 and frolic amongst them. In merry England, now, you would 
 have seen, on such an occasion, two or three bands of strollers, 
 as many fire-eaters and conjurers, as many shows of wild 
 beasts; but, amongst these grave folk, there is nothing but 
 what savors of business and of commodity — no, not so much 
 as a single squall from my merry- gossip Punch and his rib 
 Joan." ^ 
 
 As Bunce thus spoke, Cleveland cast his eyes on some very 
 gay clothes, which, with other articles, hung out upon one of 
 
 385 
 
336 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 the booths, that had a good deal more of ornament and ex- 
 terior decoration than the rest. There was in front a small 
 sign of canvas painted, announcing the variety of goods 
 which the owner of the booth, Bryce Snailsfoot, had on sale, 
 and the reasonable prices at which he proposed to offer them 
 to the public. For the further gratification of the spectator, 
 the sign oore on the opposite side an emblematic device re- 
 sembling our first parents in their vegetable garments, with 
 this legend: 
 
 Poor sinners whom the snake deceives 
 Are fain to cover them vrith leaves. 
 Zetland hath no leaves, 'tis true, 
 Because that trees are none, or few; 
 But we have flax and taits of woo', 
 For linen cloth and wadmaal blue; 
 And we have many of foreign knacks 
 Of finer waft than woo' or flax. 
 Ye gallanty Lambmas lads,* appear, 
 J And bring your Lambmas sisters here, 
 
 Bryce Snailsfoot spares not cost or care 
 To pleasure every gentle pair. 
 
 While Cleveland was perusing these goodly rhymes, which 
 brought to his mind Claud Halcro, to whom, as the poet 
 laureate of the island, ready with his talent alike in the serv- 
 ice of the great and small, they probably owed their origin, 
 the worthy proprietor of the booth, having cast his eye upon 
 him, began with hasty and trembling hand to remove some of 
 the garments, which, as the sale did not commence till the 
 ensuing day, he had exposed either for the purpose of airing 
 them or to excite the admiration of the spectators. 
 
 " By my word, captain," whispered Bunce Cleveland, " you 
 must have had that fellow under your clutches one day, and 
 he remembers one gripe of your talons and fears another. 
 See how fast he is packing his wares out of sight, so soon as 
 he set eyes on you! " 
 
 "His wares!" said Cleveland, on looking more attentively 
 at his proceedings. " By Heaven, they are my clothes which 
 I left in a chest at Jarlshof when the ' Revenge ' was lost 
 there. Why, Bryce Snailsfoot, thou thief, dog, and villain, 
 what means this? Have you not made enough of us by cheap 
 buying and dear selling, that you have seized on my trunk 
 and wearing apparel ? " 
 
 Bryce Snailsfoot, who probably would otherwise not have 
 been willing to see his friend the captain, was now by the 
 vivacity of his attack obliged to pay attention to him. He 
 
 * See Note 41. 
 
THE PIRATE. 837 
 
 jSrst whispered to his little foot-page, by whom, as we have 
 already noticed, he was usually attended, " Run to the town- 
 council-house, jarto, and tell the provost and bailies they 
 maun send some of their officers speedily, for here is like to be 
 wild wark in the fair." 
 
 So having said, and having seconded his commands by a 
 push on the shoulder of his messenger, which sent him spin- 
 ning out of the shop as fast as heels could caiTy him, Br}'ce 
 Snailsfoot turned to his old acquaintance, and, with ihat 
 amplification of words and exaggeration of manner which in 
 Scotland is called "making a phrase," he ejaculated: "The 
 Lord be gude to us! the worthy Captain Cleveland, that we 
 were all sae grieved about, returned to relieve our hearts 
 again! Wat have my cheeks been for you (here Bryce wiped 
 his eyes), and blithe am I now to see you restored to your sor- 
 rowing friends! " 
 
 "My sorrowing friends, you rascal!" said Cleveland; "I 
 will give you better cause for sorrow than ever you had on my 
 account, if you do not tell me instantly where you stole all 
 my clothes." 
 
 "Stole!" ejaculated Brj^ce, casting up his eyes; "now the 
 Powers be gude to us! — the poor gentleman has lost his rea- 
 son in that weary gale of \nnd." 
 
 "Why, you insolent rascal!" said Cleveland, grasping the 
 cane which he carried, " do you think to bamboozle me with 
 your impudence? As you would have a whole head on your 
 shoulders, and your bones in a whole skin, one minute 
 longer, tell me where the devil you stole my wearing 
 apparel ? " 
 
 Bryce Snailsfoot once more ejaculated a repetition of the 
 word " Stole! Now Heaven be gude to us! " but at the same 
 time, conscious that the captain was likek to be sudden in 
 execution, cast an anxious look to the town, to see the loiter- 
 ing aid of the civil power advance to his rescue. 
 
 " I insist on an instant answer," said the captain, with up- 
 raised weapon, " or else I will iDcat you to a mummy, and 
 throw out all your frippery upon the common! " 
 
 Meanwhile, Master John Bunce. who considered the whole 
 affair as an excellent good jest, and not the worse one that it 
 made Cleveland very angrs', seized hold of the captain's arm. 
 and, without any idea of ultimately preventing him from exe- 
 cuting his threats, interfered just so much as was necessary 
 to protract a discussion so amusing. 
 
 " Nay, let the honest man speak," he said, " messmate; he 
 
338 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 has as fine a cozening face as ever stood on a knavish pair of 
 shoulders, and his are the true flourishes of eloquence, in the 
 course of which men snip the cloth an inch too short. Now, 
 I wish you to consider that you are both of a trade: he meas- 
 ures bales by the yard, and you by the sword; and so I will not 
 have him chopped up till he has had a fair chase." 
 
 "You are a fool!" said Cleveland, endeavoring to shake 
 his friend off. " Let me go! for, by Heaven, I will be foul of 
 him! " 
 
 " Hold him fast," said the peddler — " good, dear, merry 
 gentleman, hold him fast! " 
 
 " Then say something for yourself," said Bunce: " use your 
 gob-box, man; patter away, or, by my soul, I will let him 
 loose on you! " 
 
 " He says I stole these goods," said Bryce, who now saw 
 himself run so close that pleading to the charge became in- 
 evitable. " Now, how could I steal them when they are mine 
 by fair and lawful purchase? " 
 
 " Purchase! you beggarly vagrant! " said Cleveland; " from 
 whom did you dare to buy my clothes? or who had the im- 
 pudence to sell them?" 
 
 " Just that worthy professor Mrs. Swertha, the housekeeper 
 at Jarlshof, who acted as your executor," said the peddler; 
 " and a grieved heart she had." 
 
 " And so she was resolved to make a heavy pocket of it, I 
 suppose," said the captain; " but how did she dare to sell the 
 things left in her charge ? " 
 
 " Why, she acted all for the best, good woman! " said 
 the peddler, anxious to protract the discussion until the 
 arrival of succors; " and, if you will but hear reason, I 
 am ready to account with you for the chest and all that it 
 holds." 
 
 " Speak out, then, and let us have none of thy damnable 
 evasions," said Captain Cleveland; " if you show ever so little 
 purpose of being somewhat honest for once in thy life, I will 
 not beat thee." 
 
 " Why, you see, noble captain," said the peddler, and then 
 muttered to himself, " Plague on Pate Paterson's crippled 
 knee, they will be waiting for him, hirpling, useless body! " 
 — ^then resumed aloud — " the country, you see, is in great per- 
 plexity — great perplexity, indeed — much perplexity, truly. 
 There was your honor missing, that was loved by great and 
 small — clean missing — nowhere to be heai'd of — a lost man — 
 umquhile — dead — defunct! " 
 
THE PIE ATE. 339 
 
 " You shall find me alive to your cost, you scoundrel! " said 
 the irritated captain. 
 
 " Weel, but take patience, ye will not hear a body speak," 
 said the jagger. " Then there was the lad Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun ''' 
 
 " Ha! " said the captain, " what of him? " 
 
 " Cannot be heard of," said the peddler; " clean, and clear 
 tint — a gone youth — fallen, it is thought, from the craig into 
 the sea: he was aye venturous. I have had dealings with him 
 for furs and feathers, whilk he swapped against powder and 
 shot, and the like; and now he has worn out from among us 
 — clean retired — utterly vanished, like the last puff of an auld 
 wife's tobacco pipe." 
 
 " But what is all this to the captain's clothes, my dear 
 friend?" said Bunco. "I must presently beat you myself 
 unless you come to the point." 
 
 " Weel, weel — patience, patience," said Bryce, waving his 
 hand; " you will get all time enough. Weel, there are two 
 folks gane, as I said, forbye the distress at Burgh- Westra 
 about Mistress Minna's sad ailment " 
 
 " Bring not her into your buffoonery, sirrah," said Cleve- 
 land, in a tone of anger, not so loud, but far deeper and more 
 concentrated than he had hitherto used; " for, if you name 
 her with less than reverence, I will crop the ears out of your 
 head and make you swallow them on the spot! " 
 
 " He, he, he! " faintly laughed the jagger; '' that were a 
 pleasant jest! you are pleased to be witty. But, to say nae- 
 thing of Burgh- Westra, there is the carle at Jarlshof, he that 
 was the auld Mertoun, j\Iordaunt's father, whom men thought 
 as fast bound to the place he dwelt in as the Sumburgh Head 
 itsell, naething maun serve him but he is lost as weel as the 
 lave about whom I have spoken. And there's Magnus Troil 
 — wi' favor be he named — taking horse; and there is pleas- 
 ant Maister Claud Halcro taking boat, whilk he steers worst 
 of any man in Zetland, his head running on rambling rhymes; 
 and the factor body is on the stir — the Scots factor, him that 
 is aye speaking of dikes and dehdng, and such unprofitable 
 wark, which has naething of merchandise in it, and he is on 
 the lang trot, too; so that ye might say, upon a manner, the 
 tae half of the Mainland of Zetland is lost, and the other is 
 running to and fro seeking it — awfu' times! " 
 
 Captain Cleveland had subdued his passion and listened to 
 this tirade of the worthy man of merchandise, with impa- 
 tience indeed, yet not without the hope of hearing some- 
 
340 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 thing that might concern him. But his companion was now 
 become impatient in his turn. " The clothes! " he exclaimed 
 — " the clothes — the clothes — the clothes! " accompanying 
 each repetition of the words with a flourish of his cane, the 
 dexterity of which consisted in coming mighty near the jag- 
 gers ears without actually touching them. 
 
 The Jagger, shrinking from each of these demonstrations; 
 continued to exclaim, " Nay, sir — good sir — worthy sir — for 
 the clothes — I found the worthy dame in great distress on ac- 
 count of her old maister, and on account of her young maister, 
 and on account of worthy Captain Cleveland, and because 
 of the distress of the worthy fowd's family, and the trouble of 
 the great fowd himself, and because of the factor, and in re- 
 spect of Claud Halcro, and on other accounts and respects. 
 Also we mingled our sorrows and our tears with a bottle, as 
 the holy text hath it, and called in the Eanzelman to our 
 council, a w^orthy man, Neil Ronaldson by name, who hath a 
 good reputation.'" 
 
 Here another flourish of the cane came so very near that 
 it partly touched his ear. The jagger started back, and the 
 tnith, or that which he desired should be considered as such, 
 bolted from him without more circumlocution; as a cork, after 
 much unnecessary buzzing and fizzing, springs forth from a 
 bottle of spruce beer. 
 
 " In brief, what the deil mair would you have of it? The 
 woman sold me the kist of clothes: they are mine by purchase, 
 and that is what I will live and die upon." 
 
 " In other words," said Cleveland, " this greedy old hag had 
 the impudence to sell what was none of hers; and you, honest 
 Bryce Snailsfoot, had the assurance to be the purchaser?" 
 
 " Ou dear, captain," said the conscientious peddler. " what 
 wad ye hae had twa poor folk to do? There was yoursell gane 
 that aught the things, and Maister Mordaunt was gane that 
 had them in keeping, and the things were but damply jiut up, 
 where they were rotting with moth and mold, and " 
 
 " And so this old thief sold them, and you bought tbem, I 
 suppose, just to keep them from spoiling?" said Cleveland. 
 
 " Weel then," said the merchant, " I'm thinking, noble cap- 
 tain, that wad be just the gate of it." 
 
 " Well then, hark ye, you impudent scoundrel," said the 
 captain, " I do not wish to dirty my fingers with you, or to 
 make any disturbance in this place " 
 
 "Good reason for that, captain — aha!" said the jagger 
 
 slyly. 
 
THE PIRATE. 341 
 
 " I vdW break your bones if you speak another word," re- 
 plied Cleveland. " Take notice — I offer you fair terms: give 
 me back the black leathern pocket-book with the lock upon 
 it, and the purse with the doubloons, with some few of the 
 clothes I wajit, and keep the rest in the devil's name! " 
 
 " Doubloons! ! ! " exclaimed the jagger, with an exaltation 
 of voice intended to indicate the utmost extremity of surprise. 
 " What do I ken of doubloons? my dealing was for doublets, 
 and not for doubloons. If there were doubloons in the kist, 
 doubtless Swertha ^dll have them in safe keeping for your 
 honor; the damp wouldna harm the gold, ye ken." 
 
 " Give me back my pocket-book and my goods, you rascally 
 thief," said Cleveland, " or without a word more I will beat 
 your brains out! " 
 
 The wily jagger, casting eye around him, saw that succor 
 was near, in the shape of a party of officers, six in number; 
 for several rencounters with the crew of the pirate had taught 
 the magistrates of Kirkwall to strengthen their police parties 
 when these strangers were in question. 
 
 " Ye had better keep the thief to suit yoursell, honored 
 captain," said the jagger, emboldened by the approach of the 
 civil power; " for wha kens how a' these fine goods and bonny 
 dies were come by? " 
 
 This was uttered with such provoking slyness of look and 
 tone, that Cleveland made no further delay, but, seizing upon 
 the jagger by the collar, dragged him over his temporary 
 counter, which was, with all the goods displayed thereon, 
 overset in the scuffle; and, holding him with one hand, in- 
 flicted on him with the other a severe beating with his cane. 
 All this was done so suddenly and with such energy that 
 Bryce Snailsfoot, though rather a stout man, was totally sur- 
 prised by the vivacity of the attack, and made scarce any 
 other effort at extricating himself than by roaring for assist- 
 ance like a bull-calf. The " loitering aid " having at lengtli 
 come up, the officers made an effort to seize on Cleveland, 
 and by their united exertions succeeded in compelling him to 
 quit hold of the peddler in order to defend liimself from their 
 assault. This he did with infinite strength, resolution, and 
 dexterity, being at the same time well seconded by his friend 
 Jack Bunce, who had seen with glee the drubbing sustained 
 by the peddler, and now combated tightly to save his com- 
 panion from the consequences. But, as there had been for 
 some time a gro^^nng feud between the townspeople and the 
 crew of the rover, the former, provoked by the insolent de- 
 
3*2 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 portment of the seamen, had resolved to stand by each other, 
 and to aid the civil power upon such occasions of riot as 
 should occur in future; and so many assistants came up to the 
 rescue of the constables, that Cleveland, after fighting most 
 manfully, was at length brought to the ground and made 
 prisoner. His more fortunate companion had escaped by 
 speed of foot, as soon as he saw that the day must needs be 
 determined against them. 
 
 The proud heart of Cleveland, which, even in its per- 
 version, had in its feelings something of original nobleness, 
 was like to burst when he felt himself borne down in this un- 
 worthy brawl, dragged into the to\vTi as a prisoner, and hur- 
 ried through the streets toward the council-house, where the 
 magistrates of the burgh were then seated in council. The 
 probability of imprisonment, with all its consequences, rushed 
 also upon his mind, and he cursed an hundred times the folly 
 which had not rather submitted to the peddler's knavery than 
 involved him in so perilous an embarrassment. 
 
 But, just as they approached the door of the council-house, 
 which is situated in the middle of the little town, the face of 
 matters was suddenly changed by a new and unexpected 
 incident. 
 
 Bunce, who had designed, by his precipitate retreat, to 
 serve as well his friend as himself, had hied him to the haven, 
 where the boat of the rover was then lying, and called the 
 coxswain and boat's crew to the assistance of Cleveland. 
 They now appeared on the scene^ — fierce desperadoes, as be- 
 came their calling, with features bronzed by the tropical sun 
 under which they had pursued it. They rushed at once 
 amongst the crowd, laying about them with their stretchers; 
 and, forcing their way up to Cleveland, speedily delivered 
 him from the hands of the officers, who were totally unpre- 
 pared to resist an attack so furious and so sudden, and carried 
 him off in triumph toward the quay — two or three of their 
 number facing about from time to time to keep back the 
 crowd, whose efforts to recover the prisoner were the less vio- 
 lent that most of the seamen were armed with pistols and cut- 
 lasses, as well as with the less lethal weapons which alone they 
 had as yet made use of. 
 
 They gained their boat in safety, and jumped into it. carry- 
 ing along with them Cleveland, to whom circumstances 
 seemed to offer no other refuge, and pushed off for their ves- 
 sel, singing in chorus to their oars an old ditty, of which the 
 natives of Kirkwall <^uld only hear the first stanza: 
 
THE PIRATE. 848 
 
 " Robin Rover 
 
 Said to his crew, 
 ' Up with the black flag, 
 
 Dowu with the blue! 
 Fire on the main-top, 
 
 Fire on the bow, 
 Fire on the gun-deck, 
 
 Fire down below! ' " 
 
 The wild chorus of their voices was heard long after the 
 words ceased to be intelligible. And thus was the pirate 
 Cleveland again thrown almost involuntarily amongst those 
 desperate associates from whom he had so often resolved to 
 detach himself. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Parental love, my friend, has power o'er wisdom, 
 And is the charm which, like the falconer's lure, 
 Can bring from heaven the highest soaring spirits. 
 So, when famed Prosper dotf'd his magic robe, 
 It was Miranda pluck'd it from his shoulders. 
 
 —Old Play. 
 
 Our wandering narrative must now return to Mordaunt 
 Mertoun. We left him in the perilous condition of one who 
 has received a severe wound, and we now find him in the con- 
 dition of a convalescent — pale, indeed, and feeble from the 
 loss of much blood and the effects of a fever which had fol- 
 lowed the injury, but so far fortunate, that the weapon, hav- 
 ing glanced on the ribs, had only occasioned a great effusion 
 of blood, without touching any vital part, and was now well- 
 nigh healed; so efficacious were the vulnerary plants and 
 salves with which it had been treated by the sage Noma of 
 Fitful Head. 
 
 The matron and her patient now sat together in a dwelling 
 in a remote island. He had been transported, during his 
 illness, and ere he had perfect consciousness, first to her sin- 
 gular habitation near Fitful Head and thence to her present 
 abode, by one of the fisliing-boats on the station of Burgh- 
 Westra. For such M^as the command possessed by Noma over 
 the superstitious character of her countrymen, that she never 
 failed to find faithful agents to execute her commands, what- 
 ever these happened to be; and, as her orders were generally 
 given under injunctions of the strictest secrecy, men recip- 
 rocally wondered at occurrences which had in fact bt'cn pro- 
 duced by their own agency and that of their neighbors, and in 
 which, had they communicated freely with each other, no 
 shadow of the marvelous would have remained. 
 
 Mordaunt was now seated by the fire, in an apartment in- 
 differently well furnished, having a book in his hand, which 
 he looked upon from time to time with signs of " ennui " and 
 impatience — feelings which at length so far overcame him 
 that, flinging the volume on the table, he fixed his eyes on th(^ 
 fire, and assumed the attitude of one who is engaged in un- 
 pleasant meditation. 
 
 Noma, who sat opposite to him, and appeared busy in the 
 
THE PIRATE. 845 
 
 composition of some drug or unguent, anxiously left her seat, 
 and, approaching Mordaunt, felt his pulse, making at the 
 same time the most affectionate inquiries whether he felt any 
 sudden pain, and where it was seated. The manner in which 
 Mordaunt replied to these earnest inquiries, although worded 
 so as to express gratitude for her kindness, while he dis- 
 claimed any feeling of indisposition, did not seem to give 
 satisfaction to the pythoness. 
 
 "Ungrateful boy!" she said, "for whom I have done so 
 much; you whom 1 have rescued, by my power and skill, from 
 the very gates of death — are you already so weary of me, that 
 you cannot refrain from shoeing how desirous you are to 
 spend at a distance from me the ver}' first intelligent days of 
 the life which I have restored to you?" 
 
 " You do me injustice, my kind preserver," replied Mor- 
 daunt: " I am not tired of your society; but I have duties 
 which recall me to ordinary life." 
 
 " Duties! " repeated Xorna; " and what duties can or ought 
 to interfere with the gratitude which you owe to me? Duties! 
 Your thoughts are on the use of your gun, or on clambering 
 among the rocks in quest of sea-fowl. For these exercises 
 your strength doth not yet fit you; and yet these are the duties 
 to which you are so anxious to return! " 
 
 " Not so, my good and kind mistress," said Mordaunt. 
 " To name one duty, out of many, which makes me seek to 
 leave you, now that my strength permits, let me mention that 
 of a pon to his father." 
 
 " To your father! " said Noma, with a laugh that had some- 
 thing in it almost frantic. " Oh! you know not how we can, 
 in these islands, at once cancel such duties! And, for your 
 father," she added, proceeding more calmly, " what has he 
 done for you, to deserve the regard and duty 3"ou speak of? 
 Is he not the same who, as you have long since told me, left 
 you for so many years poorly nourished among strangers, 
 without inquiring whether you were alive or dead, and only 
 sending, from time to time,"^ supplies in such fashion as men 
 relieve the leprous wretch to whom they fling alms from a dis- 
 tance? And, in these later years, when he had made you the 
 companion of his misery, he has been by starts yoiu- peda- 
 gogue, by starts your tormentor, but never, Mordaunt — never 
 your father." 
 
 "Something of truth there is in what you say," replipf! 
 Mordaunt. "My father is not fond; but be is, and has ever 
 been, effectively kind. Men have not their affections in tlieir 
 
846 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 power; and it is a child's duty to be grateful for the bene- 
 fits which he receives, even when coldly bestowed. My 
 father has conferred instruction on me, and I am convinced 
 he loves me. He is unfortunate; and, even if he loved me 
 not " 
 
 " And he does not love you," said Noma hastily; " he never 
 loved anything, or anyone, save himself. He is unfortunate, 
 but well are his misfortunes deserved. Oh, Mordauiit, you 
 have one parent only — one parent, who loves you as the drops 
 of the heart-blood! " 
 
 "I know I have but one parent," replied Mordaunt: "my 
 mother has been long dead. But your words contradict each 
 other." 
 
 " They do not — they do not," said Noma, in a paroxysm of 
 the deepest feeling; " you have but one parent. Your un- 
 happy mother is not dead — I would to God that she were! — 
 but she is not dead. Thy mother is the only parent that loves 
 thee; and I — I, Mordaunt," throwing herself on his neck, 
 " am that most unhappy, yet most happy, mother." 
 
 She closed him in a strict and convulsive embrace; and 
 tears, the first, perhaps, which she had shed for many years, 
 burst in torrents as she sobbed on his neck. Astonished at 
 what he heard, felt, and saw, moved by the excess of her 
 agitation, yet disposed to ascribe this burst of passion to in- 
 sanity, Mordaunt vainly endeavored to tranquillize the mind 
 of this extraordinary person. 
 
 "Ungrateful boy!" she said, "who but a mother would 
 have watched over thee as I have watched? From the in- 
 stant I saw thy father, when he little thought by whom he 
 was observed, a space now many years back, I knew him well; 
 and, under his charge, I saw you, then a stripling; while 
 nature, speaking loud in my bosom, assured me thou wert 
 blood of my blood and bone of my bone. Think how often 
 you have wondered to see me, when least expected, in your 
 places of pastime and resort! Think how often my eye has 
 watched you on the giddy precipices, and muttered those 
 charms which subdue the evil demons, who show themselves 
 to the climber on the giddiest point of his path, and force him 
 to quit his hold! Did I not hang around thy neck, in pledge 
 of thy safety, that chain of gold, which an elfin king gave to 
 the founder of our race? Would I have given that dear gift 
 to any but to the son of my bosom? Mordaunt. my power 
 has done that for thee that a mere mortal mother would dread 
 to think of. I have conjured the mermaid at midniglit, that 
 
THE PIRATE. 347 
 
 thy bark might be prosperous on the haaf! I have hushed 
 the winds, and navies have flapped their empty sails against 
 the mast in inactivity, that you might safely indulge your 
 sport upon the crags! " 
 
 Mordaunt, perceiving that she was growing yet wilder in 
 her talk, endeavored to frame an answer which should be at 
 once indulgent, soothing, and calculated to allay the rising 
 warmth of her imagination. 
 
 " Dear Noma," he said, " I have indeed many reasons to 
 call you mother, who have bestowed so many benelits upon 
 me; and from me you shall ever receive the affection and duty 
 of a child. But the chain you mentioned — it has vanished 
 from my neck: I have not seen it since the rulHan stabbed 
 me." 
 
 " Alas! and can you think of it at this moment? " said 
 Noma, in a sorrowful accent. " But be it so; and know, it 
 was I took it from thy neck, and tied it around the neck of 
 her who is dearest to you; in token that the union betwixt 
 you, which has been the only earthly wish which I have had 
 the power to form, shall yet — even yet. be accomplished — aye, 
 although hell should open to forbid the banns! " 
 
 "Alas!" said Mordaunt, with a sigh, "you remember not 
 the difference betwixt our situation — her father is wealthy, 
 and of ancient birth." 
 
 " Not more wealthy than will be the heir of Noma of Fit- 
 ful Head," answered the p}^honesp; " not of better or more 
 ancient blood than that which flows in thy veins, derived from 
 thy mother, the descendant of the same jarls and sea-kings 
 from whom Magnus boasts his origin. Or dost thou think, 
 hke the pedant and fanatic strangers who have come amongst 
 us, that thy blood is dishonored because my union with thy 
 father did not receive the sanction of a priest? Know, that 
 we were wedded after the ancient manner of the Norse: our 
 hands were clasped ^Wthin the circle of Odin, with such deep 
 vows of eternal fidelitv as even the laws of these usurping 
 Scots would have sanctioned as equivalent to a blessing before 
 the altar. To the offspring of such a union, :Magnus has 
 naught to object. It was weak, it was criminal, on my part, 
 but it conveyed no infamy to the birth of my son." 
 
 The composed and collected manner in which Norna 
 axgued these points began to impose upon Mordaunt an in- 
 cipient belief in the truth of what she said: and, indeed, she 
 added so manv circumstances, satisfactorily and rationally 
 connected with each other, as seemed to confute the notion 
 
348 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 that her story was altogether the delusion of that insanity 
 which sometimes showed itself in her speech and actions. A 
 thousand confused ideas rushed upon him, when he supposed 
 it possible that tlie unhappy person before him might actually 
 have a right to claim from him the respect and affection due 
 to a parent from a son. He could only surmount them by 
 turning his mind to a different, and scarce less interesting, 
 topic, resolving within himself to take time for farther in- 
 quiry and mature consideration ere he either rejected or ad- 
 mitted the claim which Noma preferred upon his affection 
 and duty. His benefactress, at least, she undoubtedly was, 
 and he could not err in paying her, as such, the respect and 
 attention due from a son to a mother; and so far, therefore, 
 he might gratify Noma without otherwise standing com- 
 mitted. 
 
 " And do you then really think, my mother — since so you 
 bid me term you," said Mordaunt, " that the proud Magnus 
 Troil may, by any inducement, be prevailed upon to relin- 
 quish the angry feelings which he has of late adopted to- 
 ward me, and to permit my addresses to his daughter 
 Brenda?" 
 
 " Brenda! " repeated Noma — " who talks of Brenda? it was 
 of Minna that I spoke to you." 
 
 " But it was of Brenda that I thought," replied Mordaunt, 
 " of her that I now think, and of her alone that I will ever 
 think." 
 
 " Impossible, my son! " replied Noma. " You cannot be so 
 dull of heart, so poor of spirit, as to prefer the idle mirth and 
 housewife simplicity of the younger sister to the deep feeling 
 and high mind of the noble-spirited Minna? Who would 
 stoop to gather the lowly violet that might have the rose 
 for stretching out his hand? " 
 
 " Some think the lowliest flowers are the sweetest," replied 
 Mordaunt, " and in that faith will I live and die." 
 
 " You dare not tell me so! " answered Noma fiercely; then, 
 instantly changing her tone, and taking his hand in the most 
 affectionate manner, she proceeded : " You must not — you will 
 not tell me so, my dear son: you will not break a mother's 
 heart in the very first hour in which she has embraced her 
 child! Nay, do not answer, but hear me. You must wed 
 Minna; I have bound around her neck a fatal amulet, on 
 which the happiness of both depends. The labors of my life 
 have for years had this direction. Thus it must be, and not 
 otherwise: Minna must be the bride of my son!" 
 
THE PIRATE. 349 
 
 "But is not Brenda equally near, equally dear to you?" 
 replied Mordaunt. 
 
 " As near in blood," said Xoma, " but not so dear — no, not 
 half so dear, in affection. Minna's mild, yet high and con- 
 templative, spirit renders her a comj)anion meet for one \vho.~e 
 ways, like mine, are beyond the ordinary ptitlis of this world. 
 Brenda is a thing of common and ordinary life, an idle 
 laugher and scoffer, who would level art with ignorance, and 
 reduce power to weakness, by disbelieving and turning into 
 ridicule whatever is beyond the grasp of her own shallow 
 intellect." 
 
 " She is, indeed," answered Mordaunt, '' neither super- 
 stitious nor enthusiastic, and I love her the better for it. Re- 
 member also, my mother, that she returns my alfection. and 
 that Minna, if she loves anyone, loves the stranger Cleveland." 
 
 " She does not — she dares not," answered Xorna, '* nor 
 dares he pursue her farther. I told him when first he came 
 to Burgh-Westra, that I destined her for you." 
 
 " And to that rash annunciation," said Mordaunt, " I owe 
 this man's persevering enmity, my wound, and well-nigh ih? 
 loss of my life. See, my mother, to what point your intrigues 
 have already conducted us, and, in Heaven's name, prosecute 
 them no farther! " 
 
 It seemed as if this reproach struck Noma with the force 
 at once and vivacity of lightning; for she struck her forehead 
 with her hand, and seemed about to drop from her seat. ]\lor- 
 daunt, greatly shocked, hastened to catch her in his arms, 
 and, though scarce knowing what to say, attempted to utter 
 some incoherent expressions. 
 
 " Spare me, Heaven — spare me! " were the first words 
 which she muttered; " do not let my crime be avenged by hi.= 
 means! Yes, young man," she said, after a pause, " you have 
 dared to tell what I dared not tell myself. You have pressed 
 that upon me which, if it be truth, I cannot believe and 
 yet continue to live! " 
 
 Mordaunt in vain endeavored to interrupt her with prot- 
 estations of his ignorance how he had offended or grieved 
 her, and of his extreme regret that he had unintentionally 
 done either. She proceeded, while her voice trembled wildly, 
 with vehemence. 
 
 " Yes! you have touched on that dark suspicion which poi- 
 sons the consciousness of my power — the sole boon which was 
 given me in exchange for innocence and for peace of mind! 
 Your voice joins that of the demon which, even while the 
 
350 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 elements confess me their mistress, whispers to me, ' Noma, 
 this is but delusion: your power rests but in the idle behef of 
 the ignorant, supported by a thousand petty artifices of your 
 own.' Tliis is what Breuda says — this is what you would 
 say; and false, scandalously false, as it is, there are rebellious 
 thoughts in this wild brain of mine (touching her forehead 
 with her finger as she spoke) that, like an insurrection in an 
 invaded country, arise to take part against their distressed 
 sovereign. Spare me, my son! " she continued, in a voice of 
 supplication — "spare me! the sovereignty of which your 
 words would deprive me is no enviable exaltation. Few 
 would covet to rule over gibbering ghosts, and howling winds, 
 and raging currents. My throne is a cloud, my scepter a 
 meteor, my realm is only peopled with fantasies; but 1 must 
 either cease to be, or continue to be the mightiest as well as 
 the most miserable of beings! " * * 
 
 " Do not speak thus mournfully, my dear and unhappy 
 benefactress," said Mordaunt, much affected; " I will think 
 of your power whatever you would have me believe. But, 
 for your own sake, view the matter otherwise. Turn your 
 thoughts from such agitating and mystical studies — from 
 such wild subjects of contemplation, into another and a bettef 
 channel. Life will again have charms, and religion will have 
 comforts, for you." 
 
 She listened to him with some composure, as if she weighed 
 his counsel, and desired to be guided by it; but, as he ended, 
 she shook her head, and exclaimed: 
 
 " It cannot be. I must remain the dreaded — the mysti- 
 cal — the Keim-kennar — the controller of the elements, or I 
 must be no more! I have no alternative, no middle station. 
 My post must be high on yon lofty headland, where never 
 stood human foot save mine, or I must sleep at the bottom of 
 the unfathomable ocean, its white billows booming over my 
 senseless corpse. The parricide shall never also be denounced 
 as the impostor! " 
 
 " The parricide! " echoed Mordaunt, stepping back in 
 horror. 
 
 " Yes, my son! " answered Noma, with a stem composure 
 even more frightful than her former impetuosity, " within 
 these fatal walls my father met his death by my means. In 
 yonder chamber was he found a* livid and lifeless corpse. Be- 
 ware of filial disobedience, for such are its fruits! " 
 
 So saying, she arose and left the apartment, where Mor- 
 
 ♦ See Character of Norna. Note 42, 
 
THE PIRATE. 351 
 
 daunt remained alone to meditate at leisure upon the extraor- 
 dinary communication which he had received. He himself 
 had been taught by his father a disbelief in the ordinary 
 superstitions of Zetland; and he now saw that Noma, however 
 ingenious in duping others, could not altogether impose on 
 herself. This was a strong circumstance in favor of her 
 sanity of intellect; but, on the other hand, her imputing to 
 herself the guilt oi parricide seemed so wild and improbable 
 as, in Mordaunt's opinion, to throw much doubt upon her 
 other assertions. 
 
 He had leisure enough to make up liis mind on these par- 
 ticulars, for no one approached the solitary dw^elling, of which 
 Noma, her dwarf, and he himself were the sole inhabi- 
 tants. The Hoy Island in which it stood is rude, bold, and 
 lofty, consisting entirely of three hills, or rather one huge 
 mountain divided into three summits, with the chasms, rents, 
 and valleys which descend from its summit to the sea, while 
 its crest, rising to great height, and shivered into rocks 
 which seem almost inaccessible, intercepts the mists as they 
 drive from the Atlantic, and, often obscured from the human 
 eye, forms the dark and unmolested retreat of hawks, eagles, 
 and other birds of prey.* 
 
 The soil of the island is wet, mossy, cold, and unproduc- 
 tive, presenting a sterile and desolate appearance, excepting 
 w^here the sides of small rivulets, or mountain ravines, are 
 fringed with dwarf bushes of birch, hazel, and wild currant, 
 some of them so tall as to be denominated trees in that bleak 
 and bare country. 
 
 But the view of the sea-beach, which was Mordaunt's favor- 
 ite w^alk, when his convalescent state began to permit him to 
 take exercise, had charms which compensated the wild appear- 
 ance of the interior. A broad and beautiful sound, or strait, 
 divides this lonely and mountainous island from Pomona, and 
 in the center of that sound lies, like a tablet composed of 
 emerald, the beautiful and verdant little island of Graemsay. 
 On the distant Mainland is seen the town or village of Strom- 
 ness, the excellence of whose haven is generally evinced by a 
 considerable number of shipping in the roadstead, and, from 
 the bay growing narrower and lessening as it recedes, runs 
 inland into Pomona, where its tide fills the fine sheet of water 
 called the Loch of Stennis. 
 
 On this beach Mordaunt was wont to wander for hours, 
 with an eye not insensible to the beauties of the view, though 
 
 ♦ 8eeNotf43. 
 
862 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 his thoughts were agitated with the most embarrassing medi- 
 tations on his own situation. He was resolved to leave the 
 island as soon as the establishment of his health should per- 
 mit him to travel; yet gratitude to Noma, of whom he was at 
 least the adopted, if not the real, son, would not allow him to 
 depart without her permission, even if he could obtain jneans 
 of conveyance, of which he saw little possibility. It was only 
 by importunity that he extorted from his hostess a promise 
 that, if he would consent to regulate his motions according 
 to her directions, she would herself convey him to the capital 
 of the Orkney Islands, when the approaching fair of St. OUa 
 should take place there. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Hark to the insult lowd, the bitter sneer. 
 The fierce threat answering to the brutal jeer; 
 Oaths fly like pistol-shots, and vengeful word* 
 Clash with each other like conflicting sworda. 
 The robber's quarrel by such sounds is shown, 
 And true men have some chance to gain their own. 
 
 — Captivity, a Poem. 
 
 "\Vhex Cleveland, borne off in triumph from his assailants 
 in Kirkwall, found himself once more on board the pirate 
 ve.^sel. his arrival was hailed with hearty cheers by a con- 
 siderable part of the crew, who rushed to shake hands with 
 him and offer their congratulations on his return; for the 
 situation of a buccanier captain raised him ver}^ little above 
 the level of the lowest of his crew. who. in all social inter- 
 course, claimed the privilege of being his equal. 
 
 When his faction, for so these clamorous friends might be 
 termed, had expressed their own greetings, they hurried 
 Cleveland forward to the stern, where Goffe, their present 
 commander, was seated on a gun, listening in a sullen and 
 discontented mood to the shout which announced Cleveland's 
 welcome. He was a man betwixt forty and fifty, rather under 
 the middle size, but so ver}' strongly made that his crew used 
 to compare him to a sixty-four cut down. Black-haired, bull- 
 necked, and beetle-browed, his clumsy strength and ferocious 
 countenance contrasted strongly with the manly figure and 
 open countenance of Cleveland, in which even the practice of 
 his atrocious profession had not been able to eradicate a natu- 
 ral grace of motion and generosity of expression. The two 
 piratical captains looked upon each other for some time in 
 silence, while the partisans of each gathered around him. 
 The elder part of the crew were the principal adherents of 
 Goffe, while the young fellows, among whom Jack Bunce was 
 a principal leader and agitator, were in general attached to 
 Cleveland. 
 
 At length Goffe broke silence: "You are welcome aboard, 
 Captain Cleveland. Smash my taffrail! I suppose you think 
 
 yourself commodore yet! but that was over, by G , when 
 
 you lost your ship, and be d d! " 
 
 .\nf"' b.ere. once for all, we may take notice that it was the 
 
 353 
 
854 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 gracious custom of this commander to mix his words and 
 oaths in nearly equal proportions, which he was wont to call 
 "shotting " his discourse. As we delight not, however, in the 
 discharge of such artillery, we shall only indicate by a space 
 
 like this the places in which these expletives occurred: 
 
 and thus, if the reader will pardon a very poor pun, we will 
 reduce Captain Goffe's volley of sharp-shot into an explosion 
 of blank cartridges. To his insinuations that he was come on 
 board to assume the chief command, Cleveland replied, that 
 he neither desired nor would accept any such promotion, but 
 would only ask Captain Goffe for a cast of the boat to put 
 him ashore in one of the other islands, as he had no wish 
 either to command Goffe or to remain in a vessel under his 
 orders. 
 
 " And why not under my orders, brother? " demanded 
 
 Goffe very austerely; " are you too good a 
 
 man, with your cheese-toaster and your jib 
 
 there, to serve under my orders, and be d d to 
 
 you, where there are so many gentlemen that are elder and 
 better seamen than yourself?" 
 
 " I wonder which of these capital seamen it was," said 
 Cleveland coolly, "that laid the ship under the fire of yon 
 six-gun battery, that could blow her out of the water, if they 
 had a mind, before you could either cut or slip? Elder and 
 better sailors than I may like to serve under such a lubber, 
 but I beg to be excused for my own share, captain — that's all 
 I have got to tell you." 
 
 " By G , I think you are both mad! " said Hawkins, the 
 
 boatswain: " a meeting with sword and pistol may be devilish 
 good fun in its way when no better is to be had; but who the 
 devil that had common sense amongst a set of gentlemen in 
 our condition would fall a-quarreling with each other, to let 
 these duck-winged, web-footed islanders have a chance of 
 knocking us all upon the head? " 
 
 " Well said, old Hawkins! " observed Derrick, the quarter- 
 master, who was an officer of very considerable importance 
 among these rovers; " I say, if the two captains won't agree 
 to live together quietly, and club both heart and head to de- 
 fend the vessel, why, d n me, depose them both, say I, and 
 
 choose another in their stead! " 
 
 " Meaning yourself, I suppose, Master Quartermaster! " said 
 Jack Bunce; "but that cock won't fight. He that ir- to com- 
 mand gentlemen should be a gentleman himself, I think: and 
 I give my vote for Captain Cleveland, as spirited and as gen- 
 
THE PIRATE. 355 
 
 tleman-like a man as ever daffed the world aside and bid it 
 pass! " 
 
 •' What! you call yourself a gentleman, I warrant! " re- 
 torted Derrick; '* why, your eyes! a tailor would make a 
 
 better out of the worst suit of rags in your strolling wardrobe! 
 It is a shame for men of spirit to have such a Jack-a-dandy 
 scarecrow on board! " 
 
 Jack Bunee was so incensed at these base comparisons that, 
 without more ado, he laid his hand on his sword. The car- 
 penter, however, and boatswain interfered, the former brand- 
 ishing his broad ax, and swearing he would put the skull of 
 the first who should strike a blow past clouting, and the latter 
 reminding thim that, by their articles, all quarreling, striking, 
 or more especially fighting, on board was sthctly prohibited; 
 and that, if any gentlemen had a quarrel to settle, they were 
 to go ashore and decide it with cutlass and pistKDl in pres- 
 ence of two of their messmates. 
 
 " I have no quarrel with anyone, ! " said 
 
 Goffe sullenly. " Captain Cleveland has wandered about 
 
 among the islands here, amusing himself, ! 
 
 and we have wasted our time and property in waiting for him, 
 when we might have been adding twenty or thirty thousand 
 dollars to the stock-purse. However, if it pleases the rest of 
 
 the gentlemen-adventurers, ! why, I shall not 
 
 grumble about it." 
 
 " I propose," said the boatswain, " that there should be a 
 general council called in the great cabin, according to our 
 articles, that we may consider what course we are to hold in 
 this matter." 
 
 A general assent followed the boatswain's proposal; for 
 everyone found his own account in these general councils, in 
 which each of the rovers had a free vote. By far the greater 
 part of the crew only valued this franchise as it allowed them, 
 upon such solemn occasions, an unlimited quantity of liquor 
 — a right which they failed not to exercise to the uttermost — 
 by way of aiding their deliberations. But a few amongst the 
 adventurers, who united some degree of judgment with the 
 daring and profligate character of their profession, were wont. 
 at such periods, to limit themselves within the bounds of 
 comparative sobriety, and by these, under the a])parent form 
 of a vote of the general council, all things of moment relating 
 to the voyage and undertakings of the pirates were in fact de- 
 termined. "The rest of the crew, when they recovered from 
 their intoxication, were easily persuaded that the resolution 
 
366 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 adopted had been the legitimate effort of the combined wis 
 dom of the whole senate. 
 
 Upon the present occasion the debauch had proceeded until 
 the greater part of the crew were, as usual, displaying inebria- 
 tion in all its most brutal and disgraceful shapes: swearing 
 empty and unmeaning oaths; venting the most horrid impre- 
 cations in the mere gayety of their heart; singing songs, the 
 ribaldry of which was only equaled by their profaneness; and, 
 from the middle of this earthly hell, the two captains, together 
 with one or two of their principal adherents, as also the car- 
 penter and boatswain, who always took a lead on such occa- 
 sions, had drawn together into a pandemonium, or privy 
 council, of their own, to consider what was to be done; for, as 
 the boatswain metaphorically obseiwed, they were in a narrow 
 channel, and behoved to keep sounding the tide-way. 
 
 When they began their consultations, the friends of Goffe 
 remarked, to their great displeasure, that be had not observed 
 the wholesome rule to which we have just alluded; but that, 
 in endeavoring to drown his mortification at the sudden ap- 
 pearance of Cleveland, and the reception he met with from 
 the crew, the elder captain had not been able to do so without 
 overflowing his reason at the same time. His natural sullen 
 taciturnity had prevented this from being observed until the 
 council began its deliberations, when it proved impossible to 
 hide it. 
 
 The first person who spoke was Cleveland, who said that, 
 so far from wishing the command of the vessel, he desired no 
 favor at anyone's hand, except to land him upon some island 
 or holm at a distance from Kirkwall, and leave him to shift 
 for himself. 
 
 The boatswain remonstrated strongly against this resolu- 
 tion. " The lads," he said, " all knew Cleveland, and could 
 trust his seamanship, as well as his courage; besides, he never 
 let the grog get quite uppermost, and was always in proper 
 trim, either to sail the ship or to fight the ship, whereby she 
 was never without someone to keep her course when he was on 
 board. And as for the noble Captain Goffe," continued the 
 mediator, " he is as stout a heart as ever broke biscuit, and 
 that I will uphold him; but then, when he has his grog aboard 
 
 — I speak to his face — he is so d d funny with his cranks 
 
 and his Jests, that there is no living with him. You all re- 
 member how nigh he had run the ship on that cursed Horse 
 of Copinsha, as they call it. just by wav of frolic: and then 
 you know how he fired off his pistol under the table when we 
 
THE PIRATE. 357 
 
 w^re at the great council, and shot Jack Jenkins in the knee, 
 and cost the poor devil his leg ^v^th his pleasantry."* 
 
 •' Jack Jenkins was not a chip the worse," said the carpen- 
 ter. " I took the leg off with my saw as well as any loblolly- 
 boy in the land could have done, heated my broad ax, and 
 
 seared the stump — aye, by ! and made a jury-leg that he 
 
 shambles about with as well as ever he did; for Jack could 
 never cut a feather." 
 
 " You are a clever fellow, carpenter," replied the boats- 
 wain — "a d d clever fellow! but I had rather you tried 
 
 your saw and red-hot ax upon the ship's knee-timbers than on 
 mine, sink me! But that here is not the case. The question 
 is, if we shall part with Captain Cleveland here, who is a 
 man of thought and action, whereby it is my belief it would 
 be heaving the pilot overboard when the gale is blowing on a 
 lee-shore. And, I must say, it is not the part of a true heart 
 to leave his mates, who have been here waiting for him till 
 they have missed stays. Our water is well-nigh out, and we 
 have junketed till provisions are low with us. "We cannot sail 
 without provisions; we cannot get provisions without the 
 good-will of the Kirkwall folks. If we remain here longer, 
 the ' Halcyon ' frigate will be down upon us — she was seen 
 off Peterhead two days since — and we shall hang at the yard- 
 arm to be sun-dried. Now, Captain Cleveland will get us out 
 of the hobble, if any can. He can play the gentleman with 
 these Kirkwall folks, and knows how to deal with them on 
 fair terms, and foul too, if there be occasion for it." 
 
 " And so you would turn honest Captain Goffe a-grazing, 
 would ye? " said an old weather-beaten pirate, who had but 
 one eye; " what though he has his humors, and made my eye 
 douse the glim in his fancies and frolics, he is as honest a 
 
 man as ever walked a quarter-deck, for all that; and d n 
 
 me but I stand by him so long as t'other lantern is lit! " 
 
 " Why, you would not hear me out," said Hawkins: " a man 
 might as well talk to so many negers! I tell you, I propose 
 that Cleveland shall only be captain from one ' post 
 meridiem ' to five a. m., during which time Goffe is alwavs 
 drunk." 
 
 The captain of whom he last spoke gave sufficient jiroof of 
 the truth of his words by uttering an inarticulate prowl, and 
 attempting to present a pistol at the mediator Hawkins. 
 
 " Why, look ye now! " said Derrick, " there is all the sense 
 
 ♦ See Avery's Pleasantry. Note 44. 
 
358 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 he has, to get drunk on council-day, like one of these poor, 
 silly fellows! " 
 
 " Aye," said Bunce, " drunk as Davy's sow, in the face of 
 the field, the fray, and the senate! " 
 
 " But, nevertheless," continued Derrick, " it will never do 
 to have two captains in the same day. I think week about 
 might suit better; and let Cleveland take the first turn." 
 
 " There are as good here as any of them," said Hawkins; 
 " howsomdever, I object nothiiig to Captain Cleveland, and I 
 think he may help us into deep water as well as anotlier." 
 
 " Aye," exclaimed Bunce, " and a better figure he will make 
 at bringing these Kirkwallers to order than his sober prede- 
 cessor! So Captain Cleveland forever! " 
 
 " Stop, gentlemen," said Cleveland, w^ho had hitherto been 
 silent; " I hope you will not choose me captain without my 
 own consent ? " 
 
 " Aye, by the blue vault of heaven ^\t.11 we," said Bunce, 
 *' if it be ' pro bono publico '! " 
 
 " But hear me, at least," said Cleveland. " I do consent 
 to take command of the vessel, since you wish it, and because 
 I see you will ill get out of the scrape without me." 
 
 " Why, then, 1 say, Cleveland forever, again ! " shouted 
 Bunce. 
 
 "Be quiet, prithee, dear Bunce! — honest Altamont! " said 
 Cleveland. " I undertake the business on this condition — 
 that when I have got the ship cleared for her voyage, with 
 provisions and so forth, you will be content to restore Cap- 
 tain Goffe to the command, as I said before, and put me 
 ashore somewhere, to shift for myself. You will then be sure 
 it is impossible I can betray you, since I will remain with you 
 to the last moment." 
 
 " Aye, and after the last moment, too, by the blue vault! 
 or I mistake the matter," muttered Bunce to liimself. 
 
 The matter was now put to the vote; and so confident were 
 the crew in Cleveland's superior address and management, 
 that the temporary deposition of Gofie found little resistance 
 even among his own partisans, who reasonably enough ob- 
 served, " He might at least have kept sober to look after hi= 
 own business. E'en let him put it to rights again himself 
 next morning, if he will." 
 
 But when the next morning came, the drunken part of the 
 crew, being informed of the issue of the deliberations of the 
 council, to whicli thf^y were virtually held to have assented, 
 showed such a superioi' sense of Cleveland's merits, that Goife, 
 
THE PIRATE. 359 
 
 pulky and malcontent as he was, judged it wisest for the pres- 
 ent to suppress his feelings of resentment, until a safer oppor- 
 tunity for suffering them to ex])lode, and to submit to the 
 degradation which so frequently took place among a piratical 
 crew. 
 
 Cleveland, on his part, resolved to take upon him, with 
 spirit and without loss of time, the task of extricating his 
 ship's company from their perilous situation. For this pur- 
 pose, he ordered the boat, with the purpose of going ashore 
 in person, carrying ^nth him twelve of the stoutest and best 
 men of the crew, all very handsomely appointed (for the suc- 
 cess of their nefarious profession had enabled the pirates to 
 assume nearly as gay dresses as their oflicers), and above all, 
 each man being sufficently armed with cutlass and pistols, and 
 several having pole-axes and poniards. 
 
 Cleveland himself was gallantly attired in a blue coat, lined 
 with crimson silk, and laced wilh gold very richly, crimson 
 damask waistcoat and breeches, a velvet cap, richly em- 
 broidered, with a white feather, white silk stockings, and red- 
 heeled shoes, which were the extremity of finery among the 
 gallants of the day. He had a gold chain several times folded 
 round his neck, which sustained a whistle of the same metal, 
 the ensign of his authority. Above all, he wore a decoration 
 peculiar to those daring depredators, who, besides one, or per- 
 haps two, brace of pistols at their belt, had usually two ad- 
 ditional brace, of the finest mounting and workmanship, sus- 
 pended over their shoulders in a sort of sling or ^carf of crim- 
 son ribbon. The hilt and mounting of the captain's sword 
 corresponded in value to the rest of his appointments, and his 
 natural good mien was so well adapted to the whole equip- 
 ment that, when he appeared on deck, he was received with 
 a general shout by the crew, who, as in other popular societies, 
 judged a great deal by the eye. 
 
 Cleveland took with him in the boat, amongst others, his 
 predecessor in office, Goffe, who was also very richly dressed, 
 but who, not having the advantage of such an exterior as 
 Cleveland's, looked like a boorish clown in the dress of a 
 courtier, or rather like a vulgar-faced footpad decked in the 
 spoils of someone whom he has murdered, and whose claim 
 to the property of his garments is rendered doubtful in the 
 eyes of all who look upon him by the mixture of awkward- 
 ness, remorse, cruelty, and insolence which clouds his counte- 
 nance. Cleveland probably chose to take Goffe ashore with 
 him to prevent his having any opportunity, daring his ab- 
 
360 WA VERLE Y NO VELS. 
 
 sence, to debauch the crew from their allegiance. In thid 
 guise they left the ship, and, singing to their oars, while the 
 water foamed higher at the chorus, soon reached the qua}' of 
 Kirkwall. 
 
 The command of the vessel was in the meantime intrusted 
 to Bunce, upon whose allegiance Cleveland knew that he 
 might perfectly depend, and, in a private conversation with 
 him of some length, he gave him directions how to act in 
 Buch emergencies as might occur. 
 
 These arrangements being made, and Bunce having been 
 repeatedly charged to stand upon his guard alike against the 
 adherents of Goffe and any attempt from the shore, the boat 
 put off. As she approached the harbor, Cleveland displayed 
 a white tlag, and could observe that their appearance seemed 
 to occasion a good deal of bustle and alarm. People were 
 seen running to and fro, and some of them appeared to bo 
 getting under arms. The battery was manned hastily, and 
 the English colors displayed. These were alarming symp- 
 toms, the rather that Cleveland knew that, though there were 
 no artillerymen in Kirkwall, yet there were many sailors per- 
 fectly competent to the management of great guns, and will- 
 ing enough to undertake such service in case of need. 
 
 Noting these hostile preparations with a heedful eye, but 
 suffering nothing like doubt or anxiety to appear on his coun- 
 tenance, Cleveland ran the boat right for the quay, on which 
 several people, armed with muskets, rifles, and fowling-pieces, 
 and others with half-pikes and whaling-knives, were now 
 assembled, as if to oppose his landing. Apparently, however, 
 they had not positively determined what measures they were 
 to pursue; for, when the boat reached the quay, those imme- 
 diately opposite bore back, and suffered Cleveland and his 
 party to leap ashore without hinderance. They immediately 
 drew up on the quay, except two, who, as their captain had 
 commanded, remained in the boat, which they put off to a 
 little distance — a maneuver which, while it placed the boat 
 (the only one belonging to the sloop) out of danger of being 
 seized, indicated a sort of careless confidence in Cleveland and 
 his party, which was calculated to intimidate their opponents. 
 
 The Kirkwallers, however, showed the old Northern blood, 
 put a manly face upon the matter, and stood upon the quay, 
 with their anus shouldered, directly opposite to the rovers, 
 and blocking up agaiust them the street which leads to the 
 town. 
 
 Cleveland was the first who spoke, as the parties stood thus 
 
777^ PIRATE. 361 
 
 looking upon ea^h other. " How is this, gentlemen burgh- 
 ers?" he said; "are you Orkney folks turned Ilighlandmen, 
 that you are all under arms so early this morning; or have you 
 manned the quay to give me the honor of a salute, upon tak- 
 ing the command of my ship?" 
 
 The burghers looked on each other, and one of them replied 
 to Cleveland: "We do not know who you are; it was that 
 other man," pointing to Goffe, " who used to come ashore as 
 captain." 
 
 " That other gentleman is my mate, and commands in my 
 absence," said Cleveland; " but what is that to the purpose? 
 I wish to speak with your lord mayor, or whatever you call 
 him." 
 
 " The provost is sitting in council with the magistrates," 
 answered the spokesman. 
 
 " So much the better," replied Cleveland. " Where do 
 their worships meet? " 
 
 " In the council-house," answered the other. 
 
 " Then make way for us, gentlemen, if you please, for my 
 people and I are going there." 
 
 There was a whisper among the townspeople; but several 
 were unresolved upon engaging in a desperate, and perhaps 
 an unnecessary, conflict with desperate men; and the more 
 determined citizens formed the hasty reflection that th.? 
 strangers might be more easily mastered in the house, or per- 
 haps in the narrow streets which they had to traverse, than 
 when they stood drawn up and prepared for battle ujion the 
 quay. They suffered them, therefore, to jiroceed unmolested; 
 and Cleveland, moving very slowly, keeping his people clo-e 
 together, suffering no one to press upon the flanks of his little 
 detachment, and making four men, who constituted his rear- 
 guard, turn round and face to the rear from time to time, 
 rendered it, by his caution, a very dangerous task to make 
 any attempt upon them. 
 
 In this manner they ascended the narrow street, and 
 reached the council-house, where the magistrates were actu- 
 ally sitting, as the citizen had informed Cleveland. Here the 
 inhabitants began to press forward, with the purpose of ming- 
 ling with the pirates, and availing themselves of the crowd in 
 the narrow entrance to secure as many as they could, without 
 allowing them room for the free use of their weapons. But 
 thi= also had Cleveland foreseen, and, ere entering the council- 
 room, ho caused the entrance to bo cleared and scoured, com- 
 manding four of Ms men to face down the street, and as many 
 
362 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 to confront the crowd who were thrusting each other from 
 above. The burghers recoiled back from the ferocious, 
 swarthy, and sunburned countenances, as well as the leveled 
 arms, of these desperadoes, and Cleveland, with the rest of his 
 party, entered the council-room, where the magistrates wer^^ 
 sitting in council, with very little attendance. These gen- 
 tlemen were thus separated effectually from the citizens, who 
 looked to them for orders, and were perhaps more completely 
 at the mercy of Cleveland than he, with his little handful of 
 men, could be said to be at that of the multitude by whom 
 they were surrounded. 
 
 The magistrates seemed sensible of their danger; for they 
 looked upon each other in some confusion, when Cleveland 
 thus addressed them: 
 
 " Good-morrow, gentlemen; I hope there is no unkindness 
 betwixt us. I am come to talk with you about getting sup- 
 plies for my ship yonder in the roadstead; we cannot sail ^\dth- 
 out them." 
 
 " Your ship, sir! " said the provost, who was a man of sense 
 and spirit; " how do we know that you are her captain? " 
 
 " Look at me," said Cleveland, " and you will, I think, 
 scarce ask the question again." 
 
 The magistrate looked at him, and accordingly did not 
 think proper to pursue that part of the inquiry, but proceeded 
 to say: " And if you are her captain, whence comes she, and 
 where is she bound for? You look too much like a man-of • 
 war's-man to be master of a trader, and we know that you do 
 not belong to the British navy." 
 
 " There are more men-of-war on the sea than sail under the 
 British flag," replied Cleveland; " but say that I were com- 
 mander of a free-trader here, willing to exchange tobacco, 
 brandy, gin, and such-like for cured fish and hides, why, I 
 do not think I deserve so very bad usage from the merchants 
 of Kirkwall as to deny me provisions for my money? " 
 
 " Look you, captain," said the town-clerk, '' it is not that 
 we are so very strait-laced neither; for, when gentlemen of 
 your cloth come this way, it is as weel, as I tauld the provost, 
 just to do as the collier did when he met the devil; and that 
 is, to have naething to say to them, if they have naething to 
 say to us; and there is the gentleman," pointing to Goffe, 
 " that was captain before you, and may be captain after you 
 — (" The cuckold speaks truth in that," muttered Goffe) — he 
 knows well how handsomely we entertained him, till he and 
 his men took upon them to run through the town like belli- 
 
THE PIRATE. 8G3 
 
 cat devils. I see one of them there! that ^v'as the very fellow 
 that stopped my servant-wench on the street, as she carried 
 the lantern home before me, and insulted her before mv 
 face! " 
 
 " If it please your noble mayorship's honor and glory," said 
 Derrick, the fellow at whom the town-clerk jjoinled, *' it was 
 not I that brought-to the bit of a tender that carried the 
 lantern in the poop: it was quite a different sort of a 
 person." 
 
 *' Who was it, then, sir? " said the provost. 
 
 " Whv, please your majesty's worship," said Derrick, mak- 
 ing several sea bows, and describing as nearly as he could the 
 exterior of the worthy magistrate himself, " he was an elderly 
 gentleman, Dutch-built, round in the stern, with a white wig 
 and a red nose — very like your majesty, I think "; tlien, turn- 
 ing to a comrade, he added, " Jack, don't you think the fellow 
 that wanted to kiss the pretty girl with the lantern t'other 
 night was very like his worship?" 
 
 "By G , Tom Derrick," answered the party appealed 
 
 to, " I believe it is the very man! " 
 
 " This is insolence which we can make you repent of, gen- 
 tlemen," said the magistrate, justly irritated at their elfront- 
 ery; " you have behaved in this town as if you were in an 
 Indian\dllage at Madagascar. You yourself, captain, if cap- 
 tain you be, were at the head of another riot no longer since 
 .than yesterday. We will give you no provisions till we know 
 better whom we are supplying. And do not think to bully 
 us; when I shake this handkerchief out at the window which 
 is at my elbow, your ship goes, to the bottom. Remember she 
 lies under the guns of our battery." 
 
 "And how many of these guns are honeycombed, Mr. 
 Mayor?" said Cleveland. He put the question by chance; 
 but instantly perceived, from a sort of confusion which the 
 provost in vain endeavored to hide, that the artillery of Kirk- 
 wall was not in the best order. " Come— come, Mr. Mayor," 
 he said, " bullying will go down \nth us as little as with you. 
 Your guns yonder will do more harm to the poor old sailors 
 who are to work them than to our sloop; and if we bring a 
 broadside to bear on the town, why, your wives' crockery will 
 be in some clanger. And then to talk to us of seamen being 
 a little frolicsome ashore, why, when are they otherwise? 
 You have the Greenland whalers playing the devil among yon 
 every now and then; and the very Dutchmen cut capers in the 
 Btreets of Ivirkwall, like porpoises before a gale of wind. I 
 
364 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 am told you are a man of sense, and I am sure you and I could 
 settle this matter in the course of a five minutes' palaver." 
 
 " Well, sir," said the provost, " I will hear what you have 
 to say, if you will walk this way." 
 
 Cleveland accordingly followed him into a email interior 
 apartment, and, when there, addressed the provost thus: " I 
 will lay aside my pistols, sir, if you are afraid of them." 
 
 " I) n your pistols! " answered the provost; " I have 
 
 served the king, and fear the smell of powder as little as vou 
 do! " 
 
 " So much the better," said Cleveland, " for you will hear 
 me the more coolly. Now, sir, let us be what perhaps you 
 suspect us, or let us be anything else, what, in the name of 
 Heaven, can you get by keeping us here but blows and blood- 
 shed? for which, believe me, we are much better provided than 
 you can pretend to be. The point is a plain one: you are de- 
 sirous to be rid of us, we are desirous to be gone. Let us 
 have the means of departure, and we will leave you instantly." 
 
 " Look ye, captain," said the provost, " I thirst for no man'? 
 blood. You are a pretty fellow, as there were many among 
 the buccaniers in my time; but there is no harm in" wishing 
 you a better trade. You should have the stores and welcome, 
 for your money, so you would make these seas clear of you. 
 But then, here lies the rub. The ' Halcyon ' frigate is ex- 
 pected here in these parts immediately; when she hears of 
 you she will be at you; for there is nothing the white lapello 
 loves better than a rover: you are seldom without a cargo of 
 dollars. Well, he comes down, gets you under his stern " 
 
 " Blows us into the air, if you please," said Cleveland. 
 
 " Nay, that must be as you please, captain," said the prov- 
 ost; " but then, what is to come of the good town of Kirk- 
 wall, that has been packing and peeling with the king's ene- 
 mies? The burgh will be laid under a round fine, and it may 
 be that the provost may not come off so easily." 
 
 " Well, then," said Cleveland, " I see where your pinch lies. 
 Now, suppose that I run round this island of yours, and get 
 into the roadstead at Stromness? We could get what we want 
 put on board there, without Kirkwall or the provost seeming 
 to have any hand in it; or, if it should be ever questioned, 
 your want of force and our superior strength will make a 
 sufficient apology." 
 
 "That may be." said the provost; "but, if I suffer you to 
 leave your present station and go elsewhere, I must have some 
 security that you will not do harm to the countr}'." 
 
THE PIRATE. 365 
 
 " And we," said Cleveland, '' must have some sccurily, on 
 otir side, that you will not detain us, by dribbling out our 
 time, till the ' Halcyon ' is on the coast. Now, I am myself 
 perfectly willing to continue on shore as a hostage, on the 
 one side, provided you will give me your word not to betray 
 me, and send some magistrate, or some person of con- 
 sequence, aboard the sloop, where his safety will be a guar- 
 antee for mine." 
 
 The jirovost shook his liead. and intimated it would be diffi- 
 cult to find a person willing to place himself as hostage in 
 such a perilous condition; but said he would propose the 
 arrangement to such of the council as were fit to be trusted 
 with a matter of such weight. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 I left my poor plow to go plowing the deep! 
 
 — DiBDIN. 
 
 When the provost and Cleveland had returned into the 
 public council-room, the former retired a second time with 
 such of his brethren as he thought proper to advise with; 
 and, while they were engaged in discussing Cleveland's pro- 
 posal, refreshments were offered to him and his party. These 
 the captain permitted his people to partake of, but with the 
 greatest precaution against surprisal, one party relieving the 
 guard whilst the others were at their food. 
 
 He himself, in the meanwhile, walked up and down the 
 apartment, and conversed upon indifferent subjects with 
 those present, like a person quite at his ease. 
 
 Amongst those individuals he saw, somewhat to his surprise, 
 Triptolemus Yellowley, who, chancing to be at Kirkwall, had 
 been summoned by the magistrates, as representative, in a 
 certain degree, of the Lord Chamberlain, to attend council on 
 this occasion. Cleveland immediately renewed the acquaint- 
 ance which he had formed with the agriculturist at Burgh- 
 Westra, and asked him his present business in Orkney. 
 
 " Just to look after some of my little plans, Captain Cleve- 
 land. I am weary of fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus 
 yonder, and I just cam ower to see how my orchard was thriv- 
 ing, whilk I had planted four or five miles from Kirkwall, it 
 may be a year bygane, and how the bees were thriving, 
 whereof I had imported nine skeps, for the improvement of 
 the country, and for the turning of the heather-bloom into 
 wax and honey." 
 
 "And they thrive, I hope?" said Cleveland, who, however 
 little interested in the matter, sustained the conversation, as 
 if to break the chilly and embarrassed silence wliich hung 
 upon the company assembled. 
 
 "Thrive!" replied Triptolemus; "they thrive like every- 
 thing else in this country, and that is the backward way." 
 
 "Want of care, I suppose?" said Cleveland. 
 
 " The contrary, sir — quite and clean the contrary," replied 
 the factor; " they died of ower muckle care, like Lucky 
 Christie's chickens. I asked to see the skeps, and cunning 
 
THE PIliATE. 367 
 
 and joyful did the fallo\V look who was to have taken care of 
 
 them. " Had there been onybody in charge but niytell,' he 
 said, ' ye might have seen the skeps, or whatever you ca' 
 them; but there wad hae been as mouy solan-geese as flees in 
 them, if it hadua been for my four quarters; for I watched 
 them so closely, that 1 saw them a' creeping out at the little 
 holes one sunny morning, and if 1 had not stopped the leak 
 on the instant with a bit clay, the deil a bee, or flee, or what- 
 ever they are, would have been left in the skeps, as ye ca' 
 them! ' In a word, sir, he had clagged up the hives, as if the 
 puir things had had the pestilence, and my bees were as dead 
 as if they had been smeaked; and so ends my hope ' generandi 
 gloria niellis,' as Virgilius hath it." 
 
 " There is an end of your mead, then," replied Cleveland; 
 " but what is your chance of cider? Hdw does the orchard 
 thrive? " 
 
 " Oh, Captain! this same Solomon of the Orcadian Ophir — 
 I am sure no man need to send thither to fetch either talents 
 of gold or talents of sense! — I say, this wise man had watered 
 the young apple trees, in his great tenderness, Mith hot water, 
 and they are perished, root and branch! But what avails 
 grieving? And I vd^h. you would tell me. instead, what is all 
 the din that these good folks are making about pirates? and 
 what for all these ill-looking men, that are armed like so mony 
 Ilighlandmen, assembled in the judgment-chamber? for 1 am 
 just come from the other side of the island, and I have heard 
 nothing distinct about it. And, now I look at you yoursell, 
 captain, I think you have mair of these foolish pistolets about 
 you than should suffice an honest man in quiet times? " 
 
 " And so I think, too," said the pacific triton, old Haagen, 
 who had been an unwilling follower of the daring Montrose; 
 " if you had been in the Glen of Edderachyllis, when we were 
 sae sair worried by Sir John Woit}^ " 
 
 "You have forgot the whole matter, neighbor Haagen," 
 said the factor; " Sir John Urry was on your side, and was 
 ta'en with Montrose; by the same token, he lost his head." 
 
 " Did he? " said the triton. " I believe you may be right; 
 for he changed sides mair than anes, and wha kens whilk he 
 died for? But always he was there, and so was I; a fight 
 there was, and I never wish to see another! " 
 
 The entrance of the provost here interrupted their desul- 
 tory' conversation. " We have determined," he said, " cap- 
 tain, that your ship shall go round to Stromness, or Sealpa 
 Flow, to take in stores, in order that there may be no more 
 
368 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 quarrels between the fair folks an3 your seamen. And as 
 you wish to stay on shore to see the fair, we intend to send a 
 respectable gentleman on board your vessel to pilot her round 
 the Mainland, as the navigation is but ticklish." 
 
 " Spoken like a quiet and sensible magistrate, Mr. Mayor," 
 said Cleveland, " and no otherwise than as I expected. And 
 what gentleman is to honor our quarter-deck during my 
 absence ? " 
 
 " We have fixed that, too, Captain Cleveland," said the 
 provost; " you may be sure we were each more desirous than 
 another to go upon so pleasant a voyage, and in such good 
 coiapany; but, being fair time, most of us have some affairs 
 in hand. I myself, in respect of my office, cannot l)e well 
 spared — the eldest bailie's wife is lying-in — the treasurer doe 3 
 not agree with the sea — two bailies have the gout — the other 
 two are absent from town — and the other fifteen members of 
 council are all engaged on particular business." 
 
 " All that I can tell you, Mr. Mayor," said Cleveland, rais- 
 ing his voice, " is, that I expect " 
 
 " A moment's patience, if you please, captain," said the 
 provost, interrupting him — " So that we have come to the 
 resolution that our worthy Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who 
 is factor to the Lord Chamberlain of these islands, shall, in 
 respect of his official situation, be preferred to the honor and 
 pleasure of accompanying you." 
 
 "Me!" said the astonished Triptolemus; "what the devil 
 should I do going on your voyages? my business is on dry 
 land." 
 
 " The gentlemen want a pilot," said the provost, whimpering 
 to him, " and there is no eviting to give them one." 
 
 " Do they want to go bump on shore, then? " said the fac- 
 tor; " how the devil should I pilot them, that never touched 
 rudder in my life? " 
 
 " Hush! — hush! — be silent! " said the provost; " if the peo- 
 ple of this town heard you say such a word, your utility, and 
 respect, and rank, and everything else, is clean gone! No 
 man is anything with us island folks unless he can hand, reef, 
 and steer. Besides, it is but a mere form; and we will send 
 old Pate Sinclair to help you. You will have nothing to do 
 but to eat, drink, and be merry all day." 
 
 "Eat and drink! " said the factor, not able to comprehend 
 exactly why this piece of duty was pressed upon him so 
 hastily, and yet not very cnpablo of re=istin<- nv -'r'^-^'-r-'^- 
 himself from the toils of the more knowing provost — " eat 
 
TtiE PIRATE. 369 
 
 and drink! That is all very well; but, to speak truth, the sea 
 does not agree with me any more than with the treasurer, 
 and I liave always a better appetite for eating and drinking 
 ashore." 
 
 " Hush! hush! hush! " again said the provost, in an under- 
 tone of earnest expostulation; " would you actually ruin your 
 character out and out? A factor of the High Chamberlain of 
 the Isles of Orkney and Zetland, and not like the sea! you 
 might as well say you are a Highlander, and do not like 
 whisky! " 
 
 " You must settle it somehow, gentlemen." said Captain 
 Cleveland; "it is time we were under weigh. Mr. Trip- 
 tolemus Yellowley, are we to be honored with your com- 
 pany ? " 
 
 " I am sure, Captain Cleveland," stammered the factor, " I 
 would have no objection to go anywhere with you, only " 
 
 " He has no objection," said the provost, catching at the 
 first limb of the sentence, without awaiting the conclusion. 
 
 " He has no objection," cried the treasurer. 
 
 " He has no objection," sung out the whole four bailies 
 together; and the fifteen councilors, all catching up the same 
 phrase of assent, repeated it in chorus, with the additions of 
 — " good man " — " public-spirited " — " honorable gentle- 
 man " — " burgh eternally obliged " — " where will you find 
 such a worthy factor? " and so forth. 
 
 Astonished and confused at the praises with whicli he was 
 overwhelmed on all sides, and in no shape understanding the 
 nature of the transaction that was going forward, the aston- 
 ished and overwhelmed agriculturist became incapable of re- 
 sisting the part of the Kirkwall Curtius thus insiduously 
 forced upon him, and was delivered up by Captain Clevelanrl 
 to his party, with the strictest injunctions to treat him with 
 honor and attention. Goffe and his companions began now to 
 lead him off, amid the applauses of the whole meeting, after 
 the manner in which the victim of ancient days was gar- 
 landed and greeted by shouts, when consigned to tlie priests, 
 for the purpose of being led to the altar and knocked on the 
 head, a sacrifice for the commonweal. It was while they thu-^ 
 conducted, and in a manner forced, him out of tlie council- 
 chamber, that poor Triptolemus, much alarmed at finding 
 that Cleveland, in whom he had some confidence, was to re- 
 main behind the party, tried, when ju.st goinc: out at the door. 
 the effect of one remonstrating bellow. " Xny. but. provo^l! 
 captain! bailies! treasurer! councilors! if Captain Cleveland 
 
3^0 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 does not go aboard to protect me, it is nae bargain, and go I 
 will not, unless 1 am trailed with cart-ropes! " 
 
 His protest was, however, drowned in the unanimous 
 chorus of the magistrates and councilors, returning him 
 thanks for his public spirit — wishing him a gogd voyage — 
 and praying to Heaven for his happy and speedy reiurn. 
 Stunned and overwhelmed, and thinking, if he had any dis- 
 tinct thoughts at all, that remonstrance was vain, where 
 friends and strangers seemed alike determined to carry the 
 point against him, Triptolemus, without farther resistance, 
 suffered himself to be conducted into the street, where the 
 pirate's boat's crew, assembling around him, began to move 
 slowly towards the quay, many of the townsfolk following 
 out of curiosity, but without any attempt at interference or 
 annoyance; for the pacific compromise which the dexterity of 
 the tirst magistrate had achieved was unanimously approved 
 of as a much better settlement of the disputes betwixt them 
 and the strangers than might have been attained by the dubi- 
 ous issue of an appeal to arms. 
 
 Meanwhile, as they went slowly along, Triptolemus had 
 time to study the appearance, countenance, and dress of those 
 into whose hands he had been thus delivered, and began to 
 imagine that he read in their looks not only the general ex- 
 pression of a desperate character, but some sinister intentions 
 directed particularly toward himself. He was alarmed by 
 the truculent looks of Goffe, in particular, who, holding his 
 arm with a gripe which resembled in delicacy of touch the 
 compression of a smith's vice, cast on him from the outer 
 corner of his eye oblique glances, like those which the eagle 
 throws upon the prey which she has clutched, ere yet she 
 proceeds, as it is technically called, to plume it. At length 
 Yellowley's fears got so far the better of his prudence that he 
 fairly asked his terrible conductor, in a sort of crying whisper, 
 " Are you going to murder me, captain, in the face of the 
 laws baith of God and man? " 
 
 " Hold your peace, if you are wise," said Goffe, who had his 
 own reasons for desiring to increase the panic of his captive: 
 " we have not murdered a man these three months, and why 
 should you put us in mind of it? " 
 
 *' You are but joking, I hope, good worthy captain! " re- 
 plied Triptolemus. " This is worse than witches, dwarfs, 
 dirking of whales, and couping of cobles, put all together! — 
 this is an away-ganging crop, with a vengeance! What good, 
 in Heaven's name, would murdering me do to you? " 
 
THE PIRATE, 371 
 
 " We might have some pleasure in it, at least," said Goffe. 
 " Look these fellows in the face, and see if you see one among 
 them that would not rather kill a man than let it .alone? 
 But we will speak more of that when you have first had a 
 taste of the bilboes — unless, indeed, you come down with a 
 handsome round handful of Chili boards * for your ransom." 
 " As I shall live by bread, captain," answered the factor, 
 " that misbegotten dwarf has carried off the whole hornful of 
 silver! " 
 
 " A cat-and-nine-tails will make you find it again," said 
 Goffe gruffly; " flogging and pickling is an excellent receipt 
 to bring a man's wealth into his mind; twdsting a bowstring 
 round his skull till the eyes start a little is a very good re- 
 membrancer too." 
 
 "Captain," replied Yellowley stoutly, "I have no money; 
 seldom can improvers have. We turn pasture to tillage, and 
 barley into aits, and heather into greensward, and the poor 
 ' yarpha,' as the benighted creatures here call their peat- 
 bogs, into baittle grass-land; but we seldom make an}i:hing of 
 it that comes back to our ain pouch. The carles and the 
 cart-avers make it all, and the carles and the cart-avers eat it 
 all, and the deil clink doun with it ! " 
 
 " -\Vell — well," said Goffe, " if you be really a poor fellow, 
 as you pretend, I'll stand your friend "; then, inclining his 
 head so as to reach the ear of the factor, who stood on tiptoe 
 with anxiety, he said, " If you love your life, do not enter the 
 boat with us." 
 
 " But how am I to get away from you, while you hold me 
 so fast by the arm that I could not get off if the whole year's 
 crop of Scotland depended on it? " 
 
 "Hark ye, you gudgeon," said Goffe, "just when you 
 come to the water's edge, and when the fellows are jumping in 
 and taking their oars, slue yourself round suddenly to the lar- 
 ]t)oard — I will let go your arm — and then cut and run for your 
 life! " , ^ 
 
 Triptolemus did as he was desired, Goffe's willing hand 
 relaxed the grasp as he had promised, the agriculturist tran- 
 dled off like a football that had just received a strong im- 
 pulse from the foot of one of the players, and, with celerity 
 which surprised himself as well as all beholders, fled through 
 the town of Kirkwall. Nay, such was the impetus of his re- 
 treat that, as if the grasp of the pirate was still open to pounce 
 upon liini, he never sto])ped till he had traverse.! the whole 
 
 • Commonly called by landsmen Spauieh dollars. 
 
872 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 town and attained the open country on the other side. They 
 who had seen him that day — his hat and wig lost in the sud- 
 den eifort he had made to bolt forward, his cravat awry, and 
 his waistcoat unbuttoned — and who had an opportunity of 
 comparing his round spherical form and short legs with the 
 portentous speed at which he scoured through the street, 
 might well say that, if fury ministers arms, fear confers 
 wings. His very mode of running seemed to be that peculiar 
 to his fleecy care, for, like a ram in the midst of his race, he 
 ever and anon encouraged himself by a great bouncing at- 
 tempt at a leap, though there were no obstacles in his way. 
 
 There was no pursuit after the agriculturist; and though a 
 musket or two were presented, for the purpose of sending a 
 leaden messenger after him, yet Goffe, turning peacemaker 
 for once in his life, so exaggerated the dangers that would 
 attend a breach of the truce with the people of Kirkwall, 
 that he prevailed upon the boat's crew to forbear any active 
 hostilities, and to pull off for their vessel with all dispatch. 
 
 The burghers, who regarded the escape of Triptolemus as 
 a triumph on their side, gave the boat three cheers by way of 
 an insulting farewell; while the magistrates, on the other 
 hand, entertained great anxiety respecting the probable con- 
 sequences of this breach of articles between them and the 
 pirates; and, could they have seized upon the fugitive very 
 privately, instead of complimenting him with a civic feast in 
 honor of the agility which he displayed, it is likely they might 
 have delivered the runaway hostage once more into the hands 
 of his foemen. But it was impossible to set their face pub- 
 licly to such an act of violence, and therefore they contented 
 themselves with closely watching Cleveland, whom they de- 
 termined to make responsible for any aggression which might 
 be attempted by the pirates. Cleveland, on his part, easily 
 conjectured that the motive which Goffe had for suffering the 
 hostage to escape was to leave him answerable for all conse- 
 quences, and, relying more on the attachment and intelligence 
 of his friend and adherent, Frederick Altamont, alias Jack 
 Bunce, than on anything else, expected the result with con- 
 siderable anxiety, since the magistrates, though they con- 
 tinued to treat him with civility, plainly intimated they would 
 regulate his treatment by the behavior of the crew, though he 
 no longer commanded them. 
 
 It was not, however, without some reason that he reckoned 
 on the devoted fidelity of Bunce; for no sooner did that trusty 
 adherent receive from Goffe and the boat's crew the news of 
 
THE PIRATE. 378 
 
 the escape of Triptolenms, than he immfdiately concluded it 
 had been favored by the late captain, in order that, Cleveland 
 being either put to death or consigned to hopeless im])rison- 
 ment, Goffe might be called upon to resume the command of 
 the vessel. 
 
 " But the drunken old boatswain shall miss his mark," said 
 Bunce to his confederate Fletcher: " or else I am contented to 
 quit the name of Altamont, and be called Jack Bunco, or 
 Jack Dunce, if you like it better, to the end of the chapter." 
 
 Availing himself accordingly of a sort of nautical elo- 
 quence, which his enemies termed slack-Jaw, Bunce set before 
 the crew, in a most animated manner, the disgrace which tliev 
 all sustained by their captain remaining, as he was pleased to 
 term it, in the bilboes, without any hostage to answer for hi> 
 safety; and succeeded so far that, besides exciting a good deal 
 of discontent against Goffe, he brought the crew to the reso- 
 lution of seizing the first vessel of a tolerable appearance, and 
 declaring that the ship, crew, and cargo slioulrl be dealt with 
 according to the usage which Cleveland should receive on 
 shore. It was judged at the same time proper to try the fa'th 
 of the Orcadians, by removing from the roadstead of Kirk- 
 wall, and going round to that of Stromness. where, accord 'n^ 
 to the- treaty betwixt Provost Torfe and Captain Cleveland, 
 they were to victual their sloop. They resolved, in the mean- 
 time, to intrust the command of the vessel to a council, con- 
 sisting of Goffe, the boatswain, and Bunce himself, until 
 Cleveland should be in a situation to resume his command. 
 
 These resolutions having been proposed and acceded t-i, 
 they weighed anchor and got their sloop under sail, without 
 experiencing any opposition or annoyance from the battery. 
 v>hich relieved them of one important apprehension incidental 
 to their situation. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Olftp on more sail, pursue, up with your fights, 
 Give fire— she is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! 
 
 — Shakspeee. 
 
 A VEEY handsome brig, which, with several other vessels, 
 was the property of Magnus Troil, the great Zetland Udaller, 
 had received on board that magnate himself, his two lovely 
 daughters, and the facetious Claud Halcro, who, for friend- 
 ship's sake chiefly, and the love of beauty proper to his poet- 
 ical caJling, attended them on their journey from Zetland to 
 the capital of Orkney, to which Noma had referred them, as 
 the place where her mystical oracles should at length receive 
 a satisfactory explanation. 
 
 They passed, at a distance, the tremendous cliffs of the 
 lonely spot of earth called the Fair Isle, which, at an equal 
 distance from either archipelago, lies in the sea which divides 
 Orkney from Zetland; and at length, after some baffling 
 winds, made the Start of Sanda. Off the headland so named, 
 they became involved in a strong current, well known, by 
 those who frequent these seas, as the Roost of the Start, which 
 carried them considerably out of their course, and, joined to 
 an adverse wind, forced them to keep on the east side of the 
 island of Stronsa, and finally compelled them to lie by for 
 the night in Papa Sound, since the navigation in dark or 
 thick weather, amongst so many low islands, is neither pleas- 
 ant nor safe. 
 
 On the ensuing morning they resumed their voyage under 
 more favorable auspices; and, coasting along the island of 
 Stronsa, whose flat, verdant, and comparatively fertile shores 
 formed a strong contrast to the dun hills and dark cliffs of 
 their own islands, they doubled the cape called the Lamb 
 Head, and stood away for Kirkwall. 
 
 They had scarce opened the beautiful bay betwixt Pomona 
 and Shapinsha, and the sisters were admiring the massive 
 church of St. Magnus, as it was first seen to rise from amongst 
 the inferior buildings of Kirkwall, when the eyes of Magnus 
 and of Claud Halcro were attracted by an object which they 
 thought more interesting. This was an armed sloop, with 
 her sails set, which had just left the anchorage in the bay, 
 
 374 
 
THE PIIiATE. 375 
 
 and was running before the wind by which the brig of the 
 Udaller was beating in. 
 
 " A tight thing tliat, by my ancestors' bones! " said the old 
 Udaller; " but 1 cannot make out of what country, as she 
 shows no colors. Spanish built, I should think her." 
 
 " Aye — aye," said Claud Halcro, '' she has all the look of it. 
 She runs before the wind that we must battle with, which is 
 the wonted way of the world. As glorious John says: 
 
 " With roomy deck, and guns of mighty strength, 
 
 Whose low-laid mouths each mountain billow layes, 
 Deep in her draught, and warlike in her length, 
 She seems a sea-wasp flying on the waves." 
 
 Brenda could not help telling Halcro, when he had spouted 
 this stanza with great enthusiasm, " That though the de- 
 scription was more like a first-rate than a sloop, yet the simile 
 of the sea-wasp served but indifferently for either." 
 
 '• A sea-wasp! " said Magnus, looking with some surprise, as 
 the sloop, shifting her course, suddenly bore down on them. 
 " Egad, I wish she may not show us presently that she has a 
 sting! " 
 
 What the Udaller said in Jest was fulfilled in earnest; for, 
 without hoisting colors or hailing, two shots were discharged 
 from the sloop, one of which ran dipping and dancing upon 
 the water just ahead of the Zetlander's bows, while the other 
 went through his mainsail. 
 
 Magnus caught up a speaking-trumpet and hailed the sloop, 
 to demand what she was and what was the meaning of this 
 unprovoked aggression. He -n'^s only answered by the stern 
 command, "Down topsails instantly, and lay your mainsail 
 to the mast; you shall see who we are presently." 
 
 There were no means within the reach of possibility by 
 which obedience could be evaded, where it would instantly 
 have been enforced by a broadside; and, with much fear on 
 the part of the sisters and Claud Halcro, mixed with anger 
 and astonishment on that of the Udaller, the brig lay-to to 
 await the commands of the captors. 
 
 The sloop immediately lowered a boat, with six armed 
 hands, commanded by Jack IJunce, which rowed dire.ily for 
 their prize. As thev "approached her. Claud Halcro whispered 
 to the Udaller, " If what we hear of buccaniers be true, these 
 men, with their silk scarfs and vests, have the very cut of 
 them." 
 
 " My daughters! my daughters! " nmttered Magnus to lum- 
 
376 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 self, with such an agony as only a father could feel. " Go 
 down below and hide yourselves, girls, while I " 
 
 He threw down his speaking-trumpet, and seized on a hand- 
 spike, while his daughters, more afraid of the consequences 
 of his fiery temper to himself than of anything else, hung 
 round him and begged him to make no resistance. Claud 
 Halcro united liis entreaties, adding, " It were best pacify the 
 fellows with fair words. They might," he said, " be J3un- 
 kirkers, or insolent man-of-war's-men on a frolic." 
 
 " No — no," answered Magnus, " it is the sloop which the 
 jagger told us of. But I will take your advice: I will have 
 patience for these girls' sakes; yet " 
 
 He had no time to conclude the sentence, for Bunce jumped 
 on board with his party, and drawing his cutlass, struck it 
 upon the companion-ladder and declared the ship was theirs. 
 
 " By what warrant or authority do you stop us on the high 
 seas?" said Magnus. 
 
 " Here are half a dozen of warrants," said Bunce, showing 
 the pistols which were hung round him, according to a pirate 
 fashion already mentioned, " choose which you like, old gen- 
 tleman, and you shall have the perusal oi it presently." 
 
 " That is to say, you intend to rob us? " said Magnus. " So 
 be it — we have no means to help it — only be civil to the 
 women, and take what you please from the vessel. There ia 
 not much, but I will and can make it worth more if you use 
 us well." 
 
 " Civil to the women! " said Fletcher, who had also come 
 on board with the gang — " when were we else than civil to 
 them? aye, and kind to boot? Look here. Jack Bunce! what a 
 
 trim-going little thing here is! By G , she shall make a 
 
 cruise with us, come of old Squaretoes what will! " 
 
 He seized upon the terrified Brenda with one hand, and 
 insolently pulled back with the other the hood of the man- 
 tle in which she had muffled herself. 
 
 " Help, father! — help, Minna! " exclaimed the afTrighted 
 girl; unconscious, at the moment, that they were unable to 
 render her assistance. 
 
 Magnus again uplifted the handspike, but Bunce stoppod 
 his hand. " Avast, father! " he said. " or you will make a bad 
 voyage of it presently. And you, Fletcher, let go the girl! " 
 
 "And d n me! why should I let her go?" said 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
 " Because I command you, Dick," said the other, " and be- 
 cause I'll make it a quarrel else. And now let me know, beau- 
 
Sir Walter Scott in his stutiy (Castle street, Edinburgh.) 
 
THE PIRATE. 311 
 
 ties, is there one of you bears that queer heaihen name of 
 Minna, for which I have a certain sort of repani ? " 
 
 " Gallant sir! " said Ilalcro, '' unquestionably it is because 
 you have some poetry in your heart." 
 
 " I have had enough of it in my mouth in my time," an- 
 swered Bunce; '"' but that day is by, old gentleman; however, 
 I shall soon find out which of these girls is Minna. Throw 
 back your mutUings from your faces, and don't be afraid, my 
 Linda.miras: no one here shall meddle with you to do you 
 wrong. On my soul, two pretty wenches! I wish I were at 
 sea in an egg-shell, and a rock under my lee-bow, if I wouhl 
 wish a better leaguer-lass than the worst of them! Hark you, 
 my girls; which of you would like to swing in a rover's ham- 
 mock? you should have gold for the gathering! " 
 
 The terrified maidens clung close together, ami grew 
 pale at the bold and familiar language of the desperate 
 libertine. 
 
 " Xay, don't be frightened," said he; " no one shall servo 
 under the noble Altamont but by her owm free choice: there 
 is no pressing amongst gentlemen of fortune. And do not 
 look so shy rpon me neither, as if I spoke of what you never 
 thought before. One of you, at least, has heard of Captain 
 Cleveland, the rover." 
 
 Brenda grew still paler, but the blood mounted at once in 
 Minna's cheeks, on hearing the name of her lover thus unex- 
 pectedly introduced; for the scene was in itself so confound- 
 ing that the idea of the vessel's being the consort of which 
 Cleveland had spoken at Burgh-Westra had occurred to no 
 one save the Udaller. 
 
 " I see l)ow it is," said Bunce, with a familiar nod, " and I 
 will hold my course accordingly. You need not be afraid of 
 any injury, father," he added, addre>sing Magnus familiarly; 
 " and though I have made many a pretty girl pay tribute in 
 my time, yet yours shall go ashore without either wrong or 
 ransom." 
 
 " If you will assure me of that," said Magnus. " you are as 
 welcome to the brig and cargo as ever I made man wcicome 
 to a can of punch." 
 
 " And it is no bad thing that same can of punch." said 
 Bunce, "if we had anvone here that could mix it well." 
 
 " I will do it," said Claud Halcro, " with any man that ever 
 squeezed lemon — Eric Scambester. the punch-maker of 
 Burgh-Westra, being alone excepted." 
 
 "And you are within a grapnel's length of him, too," said 
 
378 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 the Udaller. " Go down below, my girls," he added, " and 
 send up the rare old man and the punch-bowl." 
 
 "The punch-bowl!" said Fletcher; "I say, the bucket, 
 d n me! Talk of bowls in the cabin of a paltry merchant- 
 man, but not to gentlemen strollers — rovers, I would say," 
 correcting himself, as he observed that Bunce looked sour at 
 the mistake. 
 
 " And I say, these two pretty girls shall stay on deck and 
 fill my can," said Bunce; " I deserve some attendance, at least, 
 for all my generosity." 
 
 " And they shall fill mine, too," said Fletcher — " they shall 
 fill it to the brim! and I will have a kiss for every drop they 
 spill — broil me if I won't! " 
 
 " Why, then, I tell you, you shan't! " said Bunce; " for I'll 
 
 be d d if anyone shall kiss Minna but one, and that's. 
 
 neither you nor I; and her other little bit of a consort shall 
 'scape for company; there are plenty of willing wenches in 
 Orkney. And so, now I think on it, these girls shall go down 
 below and bolt themselves into the cabin; and we shall have 
 the punch up here on deck, ' al fresco,' as the old gentkman 
 proposes." 
 
 " Why, Jack, I wish you knew your own mind," said 
 Fletcher; " I have been your messmate these two year.-, and I 
 love you; and yet flay me like a wild bullock, if you have not 
 as many humors as a monkey! And what shall we have to 
 make a little fun of, since you have sent the girls down 
 below?" 
 
 " Why, we will have Master Punch-maker here," answered 
 Bunce, " to give us toasts and sing us songs. And, in the 
 meantime, you there, stand by sheets and tacks, and get her 
 under way! and you, steersman, as you would keep your brains 
 in your skull, keep her under the stem of the sloop. If you 
 attempt to play us any trick, I will scuttle your sconce as if 
 it were an old calabash! " 
 
 The vessel was accordingly got under way, and moved 
 slowly on in the wake of the sloop, which, as had been pre- 
 viously agreed upon, held her course, not to return to the 
 Bay of Kirkwall, but for an excellent roadstead called Inga- 
 ness Bay, formed by a promontory which extends to the east- 
 ward two or three miles from the Orcadian metropolis, and 
 where the vessels might conveniently lie at anchor, while the 
 rovers maintained any communication with the magistrates 
 which the new state of things seemed to require. 
 
 Meantime, Claud Ilalcro had exerted his utmost talents in 
 
THE PIRATE. 379 
 
 compounding a bucketful of punch for the use of the pirates, 
 which they drank out of large cans; the ordinary seaineu, as 
 well as Bunce and Fletcher, who acted as officers, dipping 
 them into the bucket with very little ceremony, as they came 
 and went upon their duty. Magnus, who was particularly 
 apprehensive that liquor might awaken the brutal passions of 
 these desperadoes, was yet so much astonished at the quanti- 
 ties which he saw them drink, without producing any visible 
 effect upon their reason, that he could not help expressing 
 his surprise to Bunce himself, who, wild as he was, yet ap- 
 peared by far the most civil and conversable of his party, anl 
 whom he was, perhaps, desirous to conciliate by a compliment 
 of which all boon topers know the value. 
 
 " Bones of St. Magnus! " said the Udaller, " I used to th;nk 
 I took off my can like a gentleman; but to see your men swal- 
 low, captain, one would think their stomachs were as bottom- 
 less as the hole of Laifell in Fotila, which I have sounded 
 myself with a line of an hundred fathoms. By my soul, the 
 bicker of St. Magnus were but a sip to them! " 
 
 " In our way of life, sir," answered Bunce, " there is no 
 stint till duty calls or the puncheon is drunk out." 
 
 " By my word, sir," said Claud IJalcro, '' I believe there is 
 not one of your people but could drink out the mickle bicker 
 of Scarpa, which was always offered to the Bishop of Orkney 
 brimful of the best bummock that ever was brewed." 
 
 " If drinking could make them bishops," said Bunce, " I 
 should have a reverend crew of them; but as they have no 
 other clerical qualities about them, I do not propose that thev 
 shall get drunk to-day; so we will cut our drink with a song." 
 
 " And I'll sing it, by ! " said or swore Dick Fletcher, 
 
 and instantly struck up the old ditty: 
 
 " It was a ship, and a ship of fame, 
 Launch'd oflf tlie stocks, bound for the main, 
 With an hundred and fifty brisk young men, 
 All pick'd and chosen every one." 
 
 " I would sooner be keel-hauled than hear that song over 
 again," said Bunce; " and confound your lantern jaws, you 
 can squeeze nothing else out of them! " 
 
 " By ," said Fletcher, " I will sing my song, whether 
 
 you like it or no "; and again he sung, with the doleful tone of 
 a north-easter whistling through sheet and shrouds: 
 
 " Captain Glenn was our captain's name; 
 A very gallant and brisk young man, 
 As bold ft sailor as e'l-r went to Koa; 
 And we were bound for High Earbary." 
 
380 WAVBRLET NOVELS. 
 
 " I tell you again," said Bimce, " we will have none of your 
 
 screech-owl music here; and I'll be d d if you shall sit here 
 
 and make that infernal noise! " 
 
 " Why, then, I'll tell you what," said Fletcher, getting up, 
 *' I'll sing when I walk about, and I hope there is no harm in 
 that, Jack Bunce." And so, getting up from his seat, he be- 
 gan to walk up and down the sloop, croaking out his long and 
 disastrous ballad. 
 
 " You see how I manage them," said Bunce, with a smile 
 of self-applause. " Allow that fellow two strides on his own 
 way, and you make a mutineer of him for life; but I tie 
 him strict up, and he follows me as kindly as a fowler's spaniel 
 after he has got a good beating. And now your toast and 
 your song, sir," addressing Halcro; " or rather your song v.ith- 
 out your toast. I have got a toast for myself. Here is suc- 
 cess to all roving blades, and confusion to all honest men! " 
 
 " I should be sorry to drink that toast, if I could help it,"' 
 said Magnus Troil. 
 
 " What! you reckon yourself one of the honest folks, I 
 warrant? " said Bunce. " Tell me your trade, and I'll tell 
 you what I think of it. As for the punch-maker here, I knew 
 him at first glance to be a tailor, who has, therefore, no more 
 pretensions to be honest than he has not to be mangy. But 
 you are some High-Dutch skipper, I warrant me, that tram- 
 ples on the cross when he is in Japan, and denies his religion 
 for a day's gain." 
 
 " No," replied the Udaller, " I am a gentleman of Zet- 
 land." 
 
 " Oh, what! " retorted the satirical Mr. Bunce, " you are 
 come from the happy climate where gin is a groat a bottle, 
 and where there is daylight forever? " 
 
 " At your service, captain," said the Udaller, suppressing 
 with much pain some disposition to resent these jests on his 
 country, although under every risk and at all disadvantace. 
 
 " At my service! " said Bunce. " Aye, if there was a rope 
 stretched from the wreck to the beach, you would be at my 
 service to cut the hawser, make flotsome and jetsome of ship 
 and cargo, and well if you did not give me a rap on the head 
 with the back of the cutty-ax; and you call yourself honest! 
 But never mind — here goes the aforesaid toast — and do you 
 sing me a song, Mr. Fashioner; and look it be as good as your 
 punch." 
 
 Halcro. internally praying for the powers of a new Timo- 
 theus, to turn his strain and check his auditor's pride, as 
 
THE PIRATE. 381 
 
 glorious John had it, began a heart-soothing ditty with the 
 following lines: 
 
 " Maidens fresh as fairest rose, 
 Listen to this lay of mine." 
 
 " I will hear nothing of maidens or roses," said Bunce; " it 
 puts me in mind what sort of a cargo we have got on board; 
 and, by , I will be true to my messmate and my cap- 
 tain as long as I can! And now 1 think on't, I'll have no 
 more punch either; that last cup made innovation, and 1 am 
 not to play Cassio to-night; and if 1 drink not, nobody else 
 shall." 
 
 So saying, he manfully kicked over the bucket, which, not- 
 withstanding the repeated applications made to it, was still 
 half full, got up from his seat, shook himself a little to rights, 
 as he expressed it, cocked his hat, and, walking the quarter- 
 deck with an air of dignity, gave, by word and signal, the 
 orders for bringing the ships to anchor, which were readily 
 obeyed by both, Goffe being then, in all probability, past any 
 rational state of interference. 
 
 The L'daller, in the meantime, condoled with Halcro on 
 their situation. " It is bad enough," said the tough old 
 Norseman, "for these are rank rogues; and yet, were it not 
 for the girls, I should not fear them. That young vaporing 
 fellow, who seems to command, is not such a bom devil as he 
 might have been." 
 
 " He has queer humors, though," said Halcro; " and I \\nsh 
 we were loose from him. To kick down a bucket half full of 
 the best punch ever was made, and to cut me short in the 
 sweetest song I ever wrote — I promise you, I do not know 
 what he may do next — it is next door to madness." 
 
 Meanwhile, the ships being brought to anchor, the valiant 
 Lieutenant Bunce called upon Fletcher, and, resuming his 
 seat by his unwilling passengers, he told them they should 
 see what message he was about to send to the wittols of ICirk- 
 wall, as they were something concerned in it. " It shall run 
 in Dick's name," he said, " as well as in mine. I love to give 
 the poor young fellow a little countenance now and then — 
 don't I, Dick, you d d stupid ass? " 
 
 " Why, yes. Jack Bunce," said Dick, " I can't say but as 
 you do, only you are always bullocking one about something 
 or other, too; but, howsomdever. d'ye see " 
 
 " Enough said — belay your jaw, Dick," said Bunce. and 
 proceeded to write his epistle, which, being read aloud, proved 
 
382 WAVEELEY NOVELS. 
 
 to be of the following tenor: " For the Mayor and Aldermen 
 of Kirkwall — Gentlemen, As, contrary to your good faith 
 given, you have not sent us on board a hostage for the safety 
 of our captain, remaining on shore at your request, these come 
 to tell you, we are not thus to be trifled with. We have 
 already in our possession a brig, with a family of distinction, 
 its owners and passengers; and as you deal with our captain, 
 so will we deal with them in every respect. And as this is the 
 first, so assure yourselves it shall not be the last, damage 
 which we will do to your town and trade, if you do not send on 
 board our captain, and supply us with stores according to 
 treaty. 
 
 " Given on board the brig ' Mergoose ' of Burgh-AVestra. 
 lying in Inganess Bay. Witness our hands, commanders of 
 the ' Fortune's Favorite,' and gentlemen adventui-ers." 
 
 He then subscribed himself Frederick Altamont, and 
 handed the letter to Fletcher, who read the said subscription 
 with much difficulty; and, admiring the sound of it very 
 much, swore he would have a new name himself, and the 
 rather that Fletcher was the most crabbed word to spell and 
 conster, he believed, in the whole dictionary. He subscribed 
 himself accordingly, Timothy Tugmutton. 
 
 " Will you not add a few lines to the coxcombs? " said 
 Bunce, addressing Magnus. 
 
 " Not I," returned the Udaller, stubborn in his ideas of 
 right and wrong, even in so formidable an emergency. " The 
 magistrates of Kirkwall know their duty, and were I 
 
 they " But here the recollection that his daughters were 
 
 at the mercy of these ruffians blanked the bold visage of Mag- 
 nus Troil, and checked the defiance which was just about to 
 issue from his lips. 
 
 " D n me," said Bunce, who easily conjectured what 
 
 was passing in the mind of his prisoner — " that pause would 
 have told well on the stage: it would have brought down pit, 
 box, and gallery, egad, as Bayes has it." 
 
 " I will hear nothing of Bayes," said Claud Halcro, himself 
 a little elevated, " it is an impudent satire on glorious John; 
 but he tickled Buckingham off for it — 
 
 " In the first rank of these did Zimri stand, 
 A man so various " 
 
 " Hold your peace! " said Bunce, drowning the voice of the 
 admirer of Dryden in louder and more vehement asseveration, 
 " the ' Kehearsal ' is the best farce ever was written; and I'll 
 
THE PIRATE. 383 
 make him kiss the runner's daughter that denies it. D n 
 
 me, 1 was the best Prince Prett}Tiiaii ever walked the boards — 
 " Sometimes a fisher's son, sometimes a prince. 
 
 But let US to business. Hark ye, old gentleman (to Magnus), 
 you have a sort of sulkiness about you, for which sums of my 
 profession would cut your ears out of your head, and broil 
 them for your dinner with red pepper. I have known Goffe 
 do so to a poor devil, for looking sour and dangerous when he 
 saw his sloop go to Davy Jones' locker with his only son on 
 board. But I'm a spirit of another sort; and if you or the 
 ladies are ill-used, it shall be the Earkwall people's fault, and 
 not mine, and that's fair; and so you had better let them know 
 your condition, and your circumstances, and so forth — and 
 that's fair, too." 
 
 Magnus, thus exhorted, took up the pen and attempted to 
 write; but his high spirit so struggled with his paternal anx- 
 iety that his hand refused its office. " I cannot help it," he 
 said, after one or two illegible attempts to write — " I cannot 
 form a letter, if all our lives depended upon it." 
 
 And he could not. with his utmost efforts, so suppress the 
 convulsive emotions w^hich he experienced, but that they agi- 
 tated his whole frame. The wdllow which bends to the tem- 
 pest often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so, 
 in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivo- 
 lous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner 
 than those of a loftier character. In the present case. Claud 
 Halcro was fortunately able to perform the task which the 
 deeper feelings of his friend and patron refused. He took the 
 pen, and, in as few^ words as possible, explained the situation 
 in which they were placed, and the cruel risks to which they 
 were exposed, insinuating at the same time, as delicately as he 
 could express it, that, to the magistrate of the country, the 
 life and honor of its citizens should be a dearer object than 
 even the apprehension or punishment of the guilty; taking 
 care, however, to qualify the last expression as much as possi- 
 ble, for fear of giving umbrage co the pirates. 
 
 Bunco read oVer the letter, which fortunately met his ap- 
 probation; and, on seeing the name of Claud Halcro at the 
 bottom, he exclaimed, in great surprise, and with more ener- 
 getic expressions of asseveration than we chonse to re- 
 cord: " Why, vou are the little fellow that played the fiddle to 
 old Manager Gadabout's company, at Hogs Norton, the first 
 
384 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 season I came out there! I thought I knew your catchword 
 of glorious John." 
 
 At another time this recognition might not have been very 
 gratrful to Halcro's minstrel pride; but. as matters stood with 
 him, the discovery of a golden mine could not have made him 
 more happy. He instantly remembered the very hopeful 
 young performer who came out in '' Don Sebastian," and 
 judiciously added, that the muse of glorious John had never 
 received such excellent support, during the time that he was 
 first (he might ha ire added, and only) violin to Mr. Gadabout's 
 company. 
 
 " Why, yes," aid Bunce, " I believe you are right : I think 
 I might have shaken the scene as well as Booth or Better ton 
 either. But I was destined to figure on other boards (strik- 
 ing his foot upon the deck), and I believe I must stick by 
 them till I find no board at all to support me. But now. 
 old acquaintance, I will do something for you; slue yourself 
 this way a bit — I would have you solus." They leaned over 
 the taffrail, while Bunce whispered with more seriousness than 
 he usually showed, " I am sorry for this honest old heart of 
 Norway pine — blight me if I am not — and for the daughters 
 too; besides, I have my own reasons for befriending one of 
 them. I can be a wild fellow with a willing lass of the game; 
 
 but to such decent and innocent creatures — d n me, I am 
 
 Scipio at Numantia. and Alexander in the tent of Darius. 
 You remember how I touch off Alexander? (here he started 
 into heroics): 
 
 " Thus from the grave I rise to save my love; 
 All draw your swords, with wings of lightning move. 
 When I rush on, sure none will dai'e to stay; 
 'Tis beauty calls, and glory shows the way." 
 
 Claud Halcro failed not to bestow the necessary commenda- 
 tions on his declamation, declaring that, in his opinion as an 
 honest man, he had always thought Mr. Altamont's giving 
 that speech far superior in tone and energy to Betterton. 
 
 Bunce, or Altamont, wrung his hand tenderly. " Ah, you 
 flatter me, my dear friend," he said: "yet, why had not the 
 public some of your judgment! I should not then have been 
 at this pass. Heaven knows, my dear Halcro — Heaven 
 knows with what pleasure I could keep you on board with 
 me, just that I might have one friend who loves as much to 
 hear as I do to recite the choicest pieces of our finest dramatic 
 authors. The most of us are beasts; and, for the Kirkwall 
 hostage yonder, he uses me^ egad, as I use Fletcher, I think, 
 
THE PIRATE. 385 
 
 and huffs me the more, the more I do for him. But how 
 delightful it would be in a tropic night, when the ship was 
 hanging on the breeze, with a broad and steady sail, for me to 
 rehearse ' Alexander,' with you for my pit, box, and gal eryl 
 Nay — for you are a follower of the Muses, as I remember — 
 who knows but you and 1 might be the means of inspiring, 
 like Orpheus and Eurydice, a pure taste into our eompaniun.s, 
 and softening their manners, while we excited their better 
 feelings? " 
 
 This was spoken with so much unction, that Claud llalcro 
 began to be afraid he had both made the actual punch over 
 potent and mixed too many bewitching ingredients in the 
 cup of flattery which he had administered; and that, under 
 the influence of both potions, the sentimental pirate might 
 detain him by force, merely to realize the scenes which his 
 imagination presented. The conjuncture was, however, too 
 delicate to admit of any active effort on Halcro's part to re- 
 deem his blunder, and therefore he only returned the tender 
 pressure of his friend's hand, and uttered the interjection 
 "alas! " in as pathetic a tone as he could. 
 
 Bunce immediately resumed: "You are right, my friend, 
 these are but vain visions of felicity, and it remains but for 
 the unhappy Altamont to sen'e the friend to whom he is now 
 to bid farewell. I have determined to put you and the two 
 girls ashore, with Fletcher for your protection; and so call up 
 the young women, and let them begone before the devi! get 
 aboard of me or of someone else. You will carry my letter 'o 
 the magistrates, and second it with your own eloquence, and 
 assure them that, if they hurt but one hair of Cleveland'? 
 head, there will be the devil to pay, and no pitch hot." 
 
 Relieved at heart by this unexpected termination of 
 Bunce's harangue, Halcro descended the companion-ladder 
 two steps at a time, and, knocking at the cabin door, could 
 scarce find intelligible language enough to say his errand. 
 The sisters hearing, with unexpected joy, that they were to be 
 set ashore, muffled themselves in their cloaks, and, when they 
 learned that the boat was hoisted out, came hastily on deck, 
 where they were apprised, for the first time, to their great 
 horror, that their father was still to remain on board of the 
 pirate. 
 
 " We will remain with him at every risk," said Minna; " we 
 may be of some assistance to him, were it but for an instant: 
 we will live and die with him! " 
 
 " We shall aid him more surely," said Brenda, who com- 
 
386 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 prehended the nature of their situation better than Minna, 
 " by interesting the people of Kirkwall to grant these gentle- 
 men's demands." 
 
 " Spoken like an angel of sense and beauty," said Bunce; 
 
 " and now away with you; for, d n me, if this is not like 
 
 having a lighted linstock in the powder-room: if you speak 
 another word more, confound me if I know how I shall bring 
 myself to part with you! " 
 
 " Go, in God's name, my daughters," said Magnus. " I am 
 in God's hand; and when you are gone I shall care little for 
 myself; and I shall think and say, as long as I live, that this 
 good gentleman deserves a better trade. Go — go — away with 
 you! " for they yet lingered in reluctance to leave him. 
 
 " Stay not to kiss," said Bunce, " for fear I be tempted to 
 ask my share. Into the boat with you — yet stop an instant." 
 He drew the three captives apart. " Fletcher," said he, " will 
 answer for the rest of the fellows, and will see you safe off the 
 seabeach. But how to answer for Fletcher I know not, ex- 
 cept by trusting Mr. Halcro vnih. this little guarantee." 
 
 He offered the minstrel a small double-bareled pistol, 
 which, he said, was loaded with a brace of balls. Minna ob- 
 served Halcro's hand tremble as he stretched it out to take the 
 weapon. " Give it to me, sir," she said, taking it from the 
 outlaw; " and trust to me for defending my sister and myself." 
 
 " Bravo — bravo! " shouted Bunce. " There spoke a wench 
 worthy of Cleveland, the King of Rovers! " 
 
 " Cleveland! " repeated Minrua., " do you then know that 
 Cleveland whom you have twice named?" 
 
 " Know him! Is there a man alive," said Bunce, " that 
 knows better than I do the best and stoutest fellow ever 
 stepped betwixt stem and stem? When he is out of the bil- 
 boes, as, please Heaven, he shall soon be, I reckon to see you 
 come on board of us and reign the queen of every sea we sail 
 over. You have got the little guardian; I suppose you know 
 how to use it? If Fletcher behaves ill to you, you need only 
 draw up this piece of iron with your thumb, so; and if he 
 persists, its but crooking your pretty forefinger thus, and I 
 shall lose the most dutiful messmate that ever man had, 
 though, d n the dog, he will deserve his death if he dis- 
 obeys my orders. And now, into the boat; but stay, one kiss 
 for Cleveland's sake." 
 
 Brenda, in deadly terror, endured his courtesy: but Minna, 
 stepping back with disdain, offered her hand. Bunce 
 laughed, but kiissed, with a theatrical air, the fair hand wliich 
 
i s 
 
TEE PIRATE. 387 
 
 she extended as a ransom for her lips, and at length the sisttrs 
 and Halcro were placed in the boat, which rowed off under 
 Fletcher^s command. 
 
 Bunce stood on the quarter-deck, soliloquizing after the 
 manner of his original profession. " Were this told at Port 
 Koyal now, or at the Isle of Providence, or in the Petits 
 Guaves, I wonder what they would say to me! Why, that 1 
 w^as a good-natured milksop — a Jack-a-Lent — an ass. Well, 
 let them. I have done enough of bad to think about it; it is 
 worth wliile doing one good action, if it were but for the 
 i-arity of the thing, and to put one in good humor with one's 
 self." Then turning to Magnus Troil, he proceeded, " By 
 
 these are bona-robas, these daughters of yours! The 
 
 eldest would make her fortune on the London boards. What 
 a dashing attitude the wench had with her, as she seized the 
 
 pistol! d n me, that touch would have brought the house 
 
 down! What a Eoxalana the jade would have made!" for, 
 in his oratory, Bunce, like Sancho's gossip, Thomas Cecial, 
 was apt to use the most energetic word which came to hand, 
 without accurately considering its propriety. " I would give 
 my share of the next prize but to hear her spout: 
 
 " Away, begone, and give a whirlwind room, 
 Or I'will blow yon up like dust. Avaunt! 
 Madness but meanly represents my rage. 
 
 And then, again, that little, soft, shy, tearful trembler, for 
 Statira, to hear her recite: 
 
 " He speaks the kindest words, and looks such things, 
 Vows with such passion, swears with so much grace, 
 That 'tis a kind of heaven to be deluded by him. 
 
 What a play we might have run up! I was a beast not to 
 think of it before I sent them off — I to be Alexander — Claud 
 Halcro, Lysimachus — this old gentleman might have made a 
 Clytus for a pinch. I was an idiot not to think of it! " 
 
 There was much in this effusion which might have dis- 
 pleased the Udaller; but, to speak truth, he paid no attention 
 to it. His eye, and finally his spyglass, were employed in 
 watching the return of his daughters to the shore. He saw 
 them land on the beach, and, accompanied by Halcro and an- 
 other man (Fletcher, doubtless), he saw them ascend the ac- 
 clivity and proceed upon the road to Kirkwall; and he could 
 even distinguish that Minna, as if considering herself as the 
 guardian of the party, walked a little aloof from the rest, on 
 the watch, as it seemed, against surprise, and ready to act as 
 
888 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 occasion should require. At length, as the Udaller was just 
 about to lose sight of them, he had the exquisite satisfaction 
 to see the party halt, and the pirate leave them, after a space 
 just long enough for a civil farewell, and proceed slowly back, 
 on his return to the beach. Blessing the Great Being who 
 had thus relieved him from the most agonizing fears which a 
 father can feel, the worthy Udaller, from that instant, stood 
 resigned to his own fate, whatever that might be. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Over the mountains and under the waves, 
 Over the fountains and under the graves, 
 Over floods that are deepest, 
 
 Which Neptune obey, 
 Over rocks that are steepest. 
 Love will find out the way. 
 
 — Old Song. 
 
 The parting of Fletcher from Claud Halcro and the sisters 
 of Burgh-Westra, on the spot where it took place, was partly 
 occasioned by a small party of armed men being seen at a 
 distance in the act of advancing from Kirkwall, an apparition 
 hidden from the Udaller's spyglass by the swell of the ground, 
 but quite visible to the pirate, whom it determined to consult 
 his own safety by a speedy return to his boat. He was just 
 turning away, when Minna occasioned the short delay which 
 her father had observed. 
 
 " Stop," she said, " I command you! Tell your leader from 
 me that, whatever the answer may be from Kirkwall, he shall 
 carry his vessel, nevertheless, round to Stromness: and, being 
 anchored there, let him send a boat ashore for Captain Clever- 
 land when he shall see a smoke on the Bridge of Broisgar." 
 
 Fletcher had thought, like his messmate Bunce, of asking 
 a kiss, at least, for the trouble of escorting these beautiful 
 young women; and, perhaps, neither the terror of the ap- 
 proaching: Kirkwall men nor of Minna's weapon might have 
 prevented his being insolent. But the name of his captain, 
 and, still more, the unappalled, dignified, and commanding 
 manner of Minna Troil, overawed him. He made a sea bow, 
 promised to keep a sharp look-out, and, returning to his boat, 
 went on board with his message. 
 
 As Halcro and the sisters advanced toward the party whom 
 they saw on the Kirkwall road, and who, on their part, had 
 halted as if to observe them, Brenda, relieved from the fears 
 of Fletcher's presence, which had hitherto kept her silent, ex- 
 claimed, "Merciful Heaven! Minna, in what hands have we 
 left our dear father? " 
 
 " In the hands of brave men," said Minna steadily. " I 
 fear not for him." 
 
 " As brave as you please," said Claud Halcro, " but very 
 
^90 WAVBBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 dangerous rogues for all that. I know that fellow Altamont, 
 as he calls himself, though it is not his right name neither 
 — as deboshed a dog as ever made a barn ring with blood and 
 blank verse. He began with ' Barnwell/ and everybody 
 thought he would end with the gallows, like the last scene 
 in ' Venice Preserved.' " 
 
 " It matters not," said Minna — " the wilder the waves, the 
 more powerful is the voice that rules them. The name alone 
 of Cleveland ruled the mood of the fiercest amongst them." 
 
 " I am soriy for Cleveland," said Brenda, " if such are his 
 companions; but I care little for him in comparison to my 
 father." 
 
 " Eescrve your compassion for those who need it," said 
 Minna, " and fear nothing for our father. God knows, every 
 sdlver hair on his head is to me worth the treasure of an un- 
 sunned mine; but I know that he is safe while in yonder ves- 
 sel, and I know that he will be soon safe on shore." 
 
 "I would I could see it," said Claud Halcro; "but I fear 
 the Kirkwall people, supposing Cleveland to be such as I 
 dread, will not dare to exchange him against the Udaller. 
 The Scots have very severe laws against theft-boot, as they 
 call it." 
 
 " But who are those on the road before us? " said Brenda; 
 " and why do they halt there so jealously? " 
 
 " They are a patrol of the militia," answered Halcro. 
 " Glorious John touches them off a little sharply; but then 
 John was a Jacobite: 
 
 " Mouths without hands, maintain'd at vast expense, 
 In peace a charge, in war a weak defense; 
 Stout once a month, they march, a bhistering band, 
 And ever, but in time of need, at hand. 
 
 I fancy they halted just now, taking us, as they saw us on the 
 brow of the hill, for a party of the sloop's men; and now they 
 can distinguish that you wear petticoats, they are moving on 
 again." 
 
 They came on accordingly, and proved to be, as Claud Hal- 
 cro had suggested, a patrol sent out to watch the motions of 
 the pirates, and to prevent their attempted descents to dam- 
 age the country. 
 
 They heartily congratulated Claud Halcro, who was well 
 known to more than one of them, upon his escape from cap 
 tivity; and the commander of the party, while offering every 
 assistance to the ladies, could not help condoling with them 
 
TEE PIRATE. 391 
 
 on the circumstances in which their father stood, hinting, 
 though in a delicate and doubtful manner, the diiiiculties 
 which might be in the way of his liberation. 
 
 When they anived at Kirkwall, and obtained an audience 
 of the provost and one or two of the magistrates, these diffi- 
 culties were more plainly insisted upon. " The ' Halcyon ' 
 frigate is upon the coast," said the provost: " she was seen off 
 Duncansbay Head; and, though I have the deepest respect for 
 Mr. Troil of Burgh- Westra, yet I shall be answerable to law 
 if I release from prison the captain of this suspicious vessel, 
 on account of the safety of any individual who may be un- 
 happily endangered by his detention. This man is now known 
 to be the heari: and soul of these buccaniers, and am I at lib- 
 erty to send him abroad, that he may plunder the country, 
 or perhaps go light the king's ship? for he has impudence 
 enough for anything." 
 
 " Courage enough for anything, you mean, Mr. Provost," 
 said Minna, unable to restrain her displeasure. 
 
 " Why, you may call it as you please. Miss Troil," said the 
 worthy magistrate; " but, in my opinion, that sort of courage 
 which proposes to fight singly against two is little better than 
 a kind of practical impudence." 
 
 " But our father? " said Brenda, in a tone of the most ear- 
 nest entreaty — " our father — the friend, I may say the father, 
 of his country — to whom so many look for kindness, and so 
 many for actual support — whose loss would be the extinction 
 of a "beacon in a storm — will you indeed weigh the risk which 
 he runs against such a trifling thing as letting an unfortunate 
 man from prison, to seek his unhappy fate elsewhere? " 
 
 " Miss Brenda is right," said Claud Halcro; " I am for let- 
 a-be for let-a-be, as the boys say; and never fash about a war- 
 rant of liberation, provost, but just take a fool's counsel, and 
 let the goodman of the jail forget to draw his bolt on the 
 wicket, or leave a chink of a window open, or the like, and we 
 shall be rid of the rover, and have the one best honest fellow 
 in Orkney or Zetland on the lee-side of a bowl of punch with, 
 us in five hours." 
 
 The provost replied in nearly the same terms as before, 
 that he had the highest respect for Mr. Magnus Troil of 
 Burgh- Westra, but that he could not suffer his consideration 
 for any individual, however respectable, to interfere with the 
 discharge of his duty. 
 
 Minna then addressed her sister in a tone of calm and sar- 
 castic displeasure. "You forget," she said, " Bcenda, that 
 
392 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 you are talking of the safety of a poor insignificant udaller of 
 Zetland to no less a person than the chief magistrate of the 
 metropolis of Orkney — can you expect so great a person to 
 condescend to such a trifling subject of consideration? It will 
 be time enough for the provost to think of complying with 
 the terms sent to him — for comply with them at length he 
 both must and will — when the church of St. Magnus is beat 
 down about his ears." 
 
 " You may be angry with me, my pretty young lady," said 
 the good-humored Provost Torfe, " but I cannot be offended 
 with you. The church of St. Magnus has stood many a day, 
 and, I think, will outlive both you and me, much more yonder 
 pack of unhanged dogs. And besides that your father is half 
 an Orkneyman, and has both estate and friends among us, I 
 would, I give you my word, do as much for a Zetlander in dis- 
 tress as I would for anyone, excepting ome of our own native 
 Kirkwallers, who are doubtless to be prefen-ed. And if you 
 will take up your lodgings here with my ^nfe and myself, we 
 will endeavor to show 3"0u," continued he, " that you are as 
 welcome in Kirkwall as ever you could be in Lerwick or 
 Scalloway." 
 
 Minna deigned no reply to this good-humored invitation; 
 but Brenda declined it in civil terms, pleading the necessity 
 of taking up their abode with a wealthy widow of Kirkwall, a 
 relation, who already expected them. 
 
 Halcro made another attempt to move the provost, but 
 found him inexorable. " The collector of the customs had 
 already threatened," he said, " to inform against him for 
 entering into treaty, or, as he called it, packing and peeling, 
 with those strangers, even when it seemed the only means of 
 preventing a bloody affray in the town; and, should he now 
 forego the advantage afforded by the imprisonment of Cleve- 
 land and the escape of the factor, he might incur something 
 worse than censure." The burden of the whole was. " That 
 he was sorry for the Udaller, he was sorry even for the lad 
 Cleveland, who had some sparks of honor about him: but his 
 duty was imperious, and must be obeyed." The provost then 
 precluded farther argument by observing that another affair 
 from Zetland called for his immediate attention. A gentle- 
 man named Mertoun. residing at Jarlshof, had made com- 
 plaint against Snailsfoot. the jagger, for having assisted a 
 domestic of his in embezzling some valuable articles which 
 had been deposited in his custody, and he was about to take 
 examinations on the subject, and cause them to be restored to 
 
THE PIRATE. 393 
 
 Mr. Mertoun, who was accountable for them to the right 
 owner. 
 
 In all this information there was nothing which seemed 
 interesting to the sisters excepting the word "Mertoun," which 
 went like a dagger to the heart of Minna, when she recollected 
 the circumstances under which Mordaunt Mertoun had dis- 
 appeared, and which, with an emotion less painful, though 
 still of a melancholy nature, called a faint blush into Brenda's 
 cheek, and a slight degree of moisture into her eye. But it 
 was soon evident that the magistrate spoke not of Mordaunt, 
 but of his father; and the daughters of Magnus, little inter- 
 ested in his detail, took leave of the "provost to go to their 
 own lodgings. 
 
 When they arrived at their relation's, j\Iinna made it her 
 business to learn, by such inquiries as she could make without 
 exciting suspicion, what was the situation of the unfortunate 
 Cleveland, which she soon discovered to be exceedingly pre- 
 carious. The provost had not, indeed, committed him to 
 close custody, as Claud Halcro had anticipated, recollecting, 
 perhaps, the favorable circumstances under which he had sur- 
 rendered himself, and loth, till the moment of the last neces- 
 sity, altogether to break faith with him. But although left 
 apparently at large, he was strictly watched by persons well 
 armed and appointed for the purpose, who had directions to 
 detain tiim by force, if he attempted to pass certain narrow 
 precincts which were allotted to him. He was quartered in a 
 strong room within what is called the King's Castle, and at 
 night his chamber door was locked on the outside, and a suffi- 
 cient guard mounted to prevent his escape. He therefore en- 
 joyed only the degree of liberty which the cat, in her cruel 
 sport, is sometimes pleased to permit to the mouse which she 
 has clutched; and yet, such was the terror of the resources, 
 the courage, and ferocity of the pirate captain, that the prov- 
 ost was blamed by the collector and many other sage citizens 
 of Kirkwall for permitting him to be at large upon any con- 
 ditions. 
 
 It may be well believed that, under such circumstances, 
 Cleveland had no desire to seek any place of public resort, 
 conscious that he was the object of a mixed feeling of curi- 
 osity and terror. His favorite place of exercise, therefore, 
 was the external aisles of the cathedral of St. Magnus, of 
 which the eastern end alone is fitted up for public worship. 
 This solemn old erlifice. having escaperl the ravage which at- 
 tended the first convulsions of the Keformation, still retains 
 
394 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 Bome appearance of Episcopal dignity. This place of wor.-hip 
 is separated by a screen from the nave and western limb of the 
 cross, and the whole is preserved in a state of cleanliness and 
 decency which might be well proposed as an example to the 
 proud piles of Westminster and St. Paul's. 
 
 It was in this exterior part of the cathedral that Cleveland 
 was permitted to walk, the rather that his guards, by watch- 
 ing the single open entrance, had the means, with very little 
 inconvenience to themselves, of preventing any possible at- 
 tempt at escape. The place itself was well suited to his melan- 
 choly circumstances. The lofty and vaulted roof rises upon 
 ranges of Saxon pillars, of massive size, four of which, still 
 larger than the rest, once supported the lofty spire, which, 
 long since destroyed by accident, has been rebuilt upon a 
 disproportioned and truncated plan. The light is admitted 
 at the eastern end through a lofty, well-proportioned, and 
 richly ornamented Gothic window; and the pavement is cov- 
 ered with inscriptions, in different languages, distinguishing 
 the graves of noble Orcadians, who have at different times 
 been deposited within the sacred precincts. 
 
 Here walked Cleveland, musing over the events of a mis- 
 spent life, which, it seemed probable, might be brought to a 
 violent and shameful close, while he was yet in the prime of 
 youth. " With these dead," he said, looking on the pave- 
 ment, " shall I soon be numbered; but no holy man will speak 
 a blessing, no friendly hand register an inscription, no proud 
 descendant sculpture armorial bearings, over the grave of the 
 pirate Cleveland. My whitening bones will swing in the gib- 
 bet-irons, on some wild beach or lonely cape, that will be 
 esteemed fatal and accursed for my sake. The old mariner, 
 as he passes the sound, will shake his head, and t-ell of my 
 name and actions, as a warning to his younger comrades. 
 But, Minna! — Minna! what will be thy thoughts when the 
 news reaches thee? Would to God the tidings were drowned 
 in the deepest whirlpool betwixt Kirkwall and Burgh- Westra, 
 ere they came to her ear! and oh! would to Heaven that we 
 had never met, since we never can meet again! " 
 
 He lifted up his eyes as he spoke, and Minna Troil stood 
 before him. Her face was pale, and her hair disheveled; but 
 her look was composed and firm, with its usual expression of 
 high-minded melancholy. She was still shrouded in the 
 large mantle which she had assumed on leaving the ve-sel. 
 Cleveland's first emotion was astonisliment; his next was joy, 
 not unmixed with awe. He would have exclaimed — he would 
 
THE PIRATE. 395 
 
 have thrown himself at her feet; but she imposed at once 
 silence and composure on him by raising her finger and say- 
 ing, in a low but commanding accent: " Be cautious — we are 
 observed; there are men without — they let me enter with difiBi- 
 cultv. I dare not remain long; they would think — they 
 might believe Oh, Clevelaiid! 1 have hazarded every- 
 thing to save you! " 
 
 "To save me? Alas! poor Minna!" answered Cleveland, 
 "to save me is impossible. Enotigh that I have seen you 
 once more, were it but to say, ' Forever farewell! ' " 
 
 " We must indeed say farewell," said Minna; " for fate, and 
 your guilt, have divided us forever. Cleveland, 1 have seen 
 your associates; need I tell you more — need I say, that i know- 
 now what a pirate is? " 
 
 " You have been in the niflBans' power! " said Cleveland, 
 with a start of agony. " Did they presume " 
 
 " Cleveland," replied Minna, " they presumed nothing: 
 your name was a spell over them. By the power of that spell 
 over these ferocious banditti, and by that alone, I was re- 
 minded of the qualities I once thought my Cleveland's! " 
 
 " Yes," said Cleveland proudly, '" my name has and shall 
 have power over them, when they are at the wildest; and, 
 had they harmed you by one rude word, they should have 
 found Yet what do I rave about? I am a prisoner! " 
 
 " You shall be so no longer," said Minna. " Your safety 
 — the safety of my dear father — all demand your instant free- 
 dom. I have formed a scheme for your liberty, which, boldly 
 executed, cannot fail. The Hght is fading without; muffle 
 yourself in my cloak, and you vdW easily pass the guards. I 
 have given them the means of carousing, and they are deeply 
 engaged. Haste to the Loch of Stennis, and hide yourself 
 till day dawns; then make a smoke on the point, where the 
 land, stretcliing into the lake on each side, divides it nearly 
 in two at the Bridge of Broisgar. Your vessel, which lies not 
 far distant, will send a boat ashore. Do not hesitate an 
 instant! " 
 
 " But you, Minna! Should this wild scheme succeed," said 
 Cleveland, " what is to become of you? " 
 
 " For my share in your escape," answered the maiden. '• the 
 honesty of my own intention will vindicate me in the sight of 
 Heaven; and the safety of my father, whose fate depends on 
 yours, will be my excuse to man." 
 
 In a few words, she gave him the history of their capture, 
 and its consequences. Cleveland cast up his eyes and raised 
 
806 WAVERLE7 NOVELS. 
 
 hia hands to Heaven, in thankfulness for the escape of the 
 sisters from his evil companions, and then hastily added: 
 " But you are right, Minna: I must fly at all rates— for your 
 father's sake I must fly. Here, then, we part — yet not, I 
 trust, forever." 
 
 " Forever! " answered a voice, that sounded as from a 
 sepulchra.1 vault. 
 
 They sttirted, looked around them, and then gazed on each 
 other. It seemed as if the echoes of the building had re- 
 turned Cleveland's Jast words, but the pronunciation was too 
 emphatically accented. 
 
 " Yes, forever! " said Noma of the Fitful Head, stepping 
 ■ forward from behind one of the massive Saxon pillars which 
 support the roof of the cathedral. " Here meet the crimson 
 foot and the crimson hand. Well for both that the wound is 
 healed whence that crimson was derived — well for both, but 
 best for him who shed it. Here, then, you meet, and meet 
 for the last time! " 
 
 " Not so," said Cleveland, as if about to take Minna's hand; 
 " to separate me from Minna, while I have life, must be the 
 work of herself alone." 
 
 " Away! " said Noma, stepping betwixt them — " away with 
 such idle folly! Nourish no vain dreams of future meetings: 
 you part here, and you part forever. The hawk pairs not with 
 the dove; guilt matches not with innocence. ]\Iinna Troil, 
 you look for the last time on this bold and criminal man. 
 Cleveland, you behold Minna for the last time! " 
 
 " And dream you," said Cleveland indignantly, " that your 
 mummery imposes on me, and that I am among the fools who 
 see more than trick in your pretended art? " 
 
 " Forbear, Cleveland — forbear! " said ]\Iinna, her heredi- 
 tary awe of Noma augmented by the circumstance of her sud- 
 den appearance. " Oh, forbear! she is powerful — she is but 
 too powerful. And do you, oh. Noma, remember my father's 
 safety is linked with Cleveland's." 
 
 " And it is well for Cleveland that I do remember it," re- 
 plied the pythoness; " and that, for the sake of one, I am 
 here to aid both. You, with your childish purpose of pass- 
 ing one of his bulk and stature under the disguise of a few 
 paltry folds of ,\^admaal — what would your device have pro- 
 cured him but instant restraint with bolt and shackle? I 
 will save him — I will place him in security on board his 
 bark. But let him renounce these shores forever, and carry 
 elsewhere the terrors of his sable flag and his yet blacker 
 
THE PIRATE. 397 
 
 name; for if the sun rises twice and finds him still at anchor, 
 his blood be on his own head. Aye, look to each other — look 
 the last look that I permit to frail affection, and say, if ye can 
 say it, ' Farewell forever! ' " 
 
 " Obey her/' stammered Minna — " remonstrate not, but 
 obey her." 
 
 Cleyeland, grasping her hand and kissing it ardently, said, 
 but so low that she only could hear it, '' Farewell, Minna, but 
 not forever." 
 
 " And now, maiden, begone," said Noma, " and leave the 
 rest to the Reim-kennar." 
 
 " One word more," said Minna, " and I obey you. Tell me 
 but if I have caught aright your meaning. Is Mordaunt Mer- 
 toun safe and recovered?" 
 
 '' Recovered, and safe/' said Noma; " else woe to the hand 
 that shed his blood! " 
 
 Minna slowly sought the door of the cathedral, and turned 
 back from time to time to look at the shadowy foma of Noma, 
 and the stately and militar}' figure of Cleveland, as they stood 
 together in the deepening gloom of the ancient cathedral. 
 When she looked back a second time they were in motion, and 
 Cleveland followed the matron as, with a slow and solemn 
 step, she glided toward one of the side aisles. When Minna 
 looked back a third time, their figures were no longer visible. 
 She collected herself, and walked on to the eastern door by 
 which she had entered, and listened for an instant to the 
 guard, who talked together on the outside. 
 
 " The Zetland girl stays a long time with this pirate fel- 
 low," said one. '' I wish they have not more to speak about 
 than the ransom of her father." 
 
 " Aye, truly," answered another, " the wenches will have 
 more s\Tnpathy with a handsome young pirate than an old 
 bed-ridden burgher." 
 
 Their discourse was here interrupted by her of whom they 
 were speaking; and, as if taken in the manner, they pulled 
 off their hats, made their awkward obeisances, and looked not 
 a little embarrassed and confused. 
 
 Minna returned to the house where she lodged, much 
 affected, yet, on the whole, pleased with the result of her ex- 
 pedition, which seemed to put her father out of danger, and 
 assured her at once of the escape of Cleveland and of the 
 safety of young Mordaunt. She hastened to communicate 
 both pieces of intelligence to Brenda. who Joined her in 
 thankfulness to Heaven, and was herself well-nigh persuaded 
 
398 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 to believe in Noma's supernatural pretensions, so much was 
 she pleased with the manner in which they had been em- 
 ployed. Some time was spent in exchanging their mutual 
 congratulations, and mingling tears of hope, mixed with ap- 
 prehension, when, at a late hour in the evening, they were 
 interinipted by Claud Halcro, who, full of a fidgeting sort of 
 importance, not unmingled with fear, came to acquaint them 
 that the prisoner, Cleveland, had disappeared from the cathe- 
 dral, in which he had been permitted to walk, and that the 
 provost, having been informed that Minna was accessory to 
 his flight, was coming, in a mighty quandary, to make inquiry 
 into the circumstances. 
 
 When the worthy magistrate arrived, Minna did not conceal 
 from him her own wish that Cleveland should make his 
 escape, as the only means which she saw of redeeming her 
 father from imminent danger. But that she had any actual 
 accession to his flight, she positively denied; and stated, 
 " That she had parted from Cleveland in the cathedral, more 
 than two hours since, and then left him in company with a 
 third person, whose name she did not conceive herself obliged 
 to communicate." 
 
 " It is not needful, ^liss Minna Troil," answered Provost 
 Torfe; " for, although no person but this Captain Cleveland 
 and yourself was seen to enter the kirk of St. Magnus this day, 
 we know well enough that your cousin, old Ulla Troil, whom 
 you Zetlanders call Xorna of Fitful Head, has been cruis- 
 ing up and down, upon sea and land, and air, for what I know, 
 in boats and on ponies, and it may be on broomsticks; and 
 here has been her dumb Drow, too, coming and going, and 
 playing the spy on everyone; and a good spy he is, for he can 
 hear everything, and tells notliing again, unless to his mis- 
 tress. And we know, besides, that she can enter the kirk 
 when all the doors are fast, and has been seen there more 
 than once, God save us from the Evil One! and so, without 
 farther questions asked, I conclude it was old Noma whom 
 you left in the kirk with this slashing blade; and if so, they 
 may catch them again that can. I cannot but say, however, 
 pretty Mistress Minna, that you Zetland folks seem to forget 
 both law and gospel, when you use the help of witchcraft to 
 fetch delinquents out of a legal prison; ^d the least that you, 
 or your cousin, or your father, can do, is to use influence with 
 this wild fellow to go away as soon as possible, without hurt- 
 ing the town or trade, and then there will be little harm in 
 what has chanced; for, Heaven knows, I did not seek the 
 
THE PIRATE. 899 
 
 poor lad's life, so I could get my hands free of him without 
 blame; and far less did I wish that, ihrough his imprisonment, 
 any harm should come to worihy Magnus Troil of Burgh- 
 Westra." 
 
 " 1 see where the shoe pinches you, Mr. Provost," said 
 Claud Plalcro, " and I am sure I can answer for my friend Mr. 
 Troil, as well as for myself, that we will say and do all in our 
 power with this man, Captain Cleveland, to make him leave 
 the coast directly." 
 
 " And I," said Minna, " am so convinced that what you 
 recommend is best for all parties, that my sister and I will set 
 off early to-morrow morning to the House of Stenuis, if Mr. 
 Halcro will give us his escort, to receive my father when he 
 comes ashore, that we may acquaint him with your wish, and 
 to use every influence to induce this unhappy man to leave the 
 country." 
 
 Provost Torfe looked upon her with soma surprise. "It is 
 not every young woman," he said, " would wish to move eight 
 miles nearer to a band of pirates." 
 
 " We run no risk," said Claud Halcro, interfering. " The 
 House of Stennis is strong; and my cousin, whom it belongs 
 to, has men and arms within it. The young ladies are as safe 
 there as in Kirkwall; and much good may arise from an early 
 communication between Magnus Troil and his daughters. 
 And happy am T to see that, in your case, my good old friend, 
 as glorious John says — 
 
 " After much debate, 
 The man prevails above the magistrate." 
 
 The provost smiled, nodded his head, and indicated, as far 
 ns he thought he could do so with decency, how happy he 
 should be if the " Fortune's Favorite " and her disorderly 
 crew would leave Orkney without further interference or 
 violence on either side. He could not authorize their being 
 supplied from the shore, he said; but, either for fear or favor, 
 they were certain to get provisions at Stromness. This pacific 
 magistrate then took leave of Halcro and the two ladies, who 
 proposed the next morning to transfer their residence to the 
 House of Stennis, situated upon the banks of the salt-water 
 lake of the same name, and about four miles by water from the 
 Road of Stromness, where the rover's vessel was lying. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 
 
 Ply, Fleance, fly! Thou mayst escape. 
 
 — Macbeth. 
 
 It was one branch of the various arts by which Noma en- 
 deavored to maintain her pretensions to supernatural powers, 
 that she made herself familiarly and practically acquainted 
 with all the secret passes and recesses, whether natural or <irti- 
 ficial, which she could hear of, whether by tradition or other- 
 wise, and was, by such knowledge, often enabled to perform 
 feats which were otherwise unaccountable. Thus, when she 
 escaped from the tabernacle at Burgh- Westra, it was by a 
 sliding board which covered a secret passage in the wall, 
 known to none but herself and Magnus, who, she was well 
 assured, would not betray her. The profusion, also, with 
 which she lavished a considerable income, otherwise of no use 
 to her, enabled her to procure the earliest intelligence respect- 
 ing whatever she desired to know, and, at the same time, to 
 secure all other assistance necessary to carry her plans into 
 effect. Cleveland, upon the present occasion, had reason to 
 admire both her sagacity and her resources. 
 
 Upon her applying a little forcible pressure, a door, which 
 was concealed under some rich wooden sculpture in the screen 
 which divides the eastern aisle from the rest of the cathedral, 
 opened, and disclosed a dark, narrow, winding passage, into 
 which she entered, telling Cleveland, in a whisper, to follow, 
 and be sure he shut the door behind him. He obeyed, and 
 followed her in darkness and silence, sometimes descending 
 steps, of the number of which she always apprised him. some- 
 times ascending, and often turning at short angles. The air 
 was more free than he could have expected, the passage being 
 ventilated at different parts by unseen and ingeniously con- 
 trived spiracles, which communicated with the open air. At 
 length their long course ended by Xorna drawing aside a 
 sliding panel, which, opening behind a wooden, or box-bed, 
 as it is called in Scotland, admitted them into an ancient, but 
 very mean, apartment, having a latticed window and a groined 
 roof. The furniture was much dilapidated; and its only orna- 
 ments were, on the one side of the wall, a garland of faded rib- 
 
 4O0 
 
THE PIRATE. 401 
 
 bons, such as are used to decorate whale- vessels; and, on the 
 other, an escutcheon, bearing an earl's arms and coronet, sur- 
 rounded with the usual emblems of mortality. The mattock 
 and spade, which lay in one corner, together with the apj ear- 
 ance of an old man, who, in a rusty black coat and slouched 
 hat, sat reading by a teble, announced that they were in the 
 habitation of the church beadle, or sexton, and in the presence 
 of that respectable functionar\\ 
 
 When his attjention was attracted by the noise of the slid in::; 
 panel, he arose, and, testifying much respect, but no surprise, 
 took his shadowy hat from his thin gray locks, and stood un- 
 covered in the presence of Noma with an air of profound 
 humility. 
 
 " Be faithful," said Noma to the old man, " and beware yoa 
 show not any living mortal the secret path to the sanctuary." 
 
 The old man bowed, in token of obedience and of thanks, 
 for she put money in his hand as she spoke. With a faltering 
 voice, he expressed his hope that she would remember his 
 son, who was on the Greenland voyage, that he might return 
 fortunate and safe, as he had done last year, when he brought 
 back the garland, pointing to that upon the wall. 
 
 " My caldron shall boil, and my rhyme shall be said, in hia 
 behalf," answered Noma. " Waits Pacolet without with the 
 horses? " 
 
 The old sexton assented, and the pythoness, commanding 
 Clevelaxid to follow her, went through a back door of the 
 apartment into a small garden, corresponding, in its desolate 
 appearance, to the habitation they had just quitted. The \o^ 
 and broken wall easily permitted them to pass into another 
 and larger garden, though not much better kept, and a gate, 
 which was upon the latch, let them into a long and winding 
 lane, through which. Noma having whispered to her com- 
 panion that it was the only dangerous place on their road, 
 they walked with a hasty pace. It was now nearly dark, and 
 the inhabitants of the poor dwellings on either hand had be- 
 taken themselves to their houses. They saw only one woman, 
 who was looking from her door, but blessed horself, and re- 
 tired into her house with precipitation, when she saw the tall 
 figure of Noma stalk past her with long strides. The lane 
 conducted them into the country, where the dumb dwarf 
 waited with three horses, ensconced behind the wall of a de- 
 serted shed. On one of these Noma instantly seated herself. 
 Cleveland mounted another, and, followed by Pacolet on the 
 third, they moved sharply on through the darkness; the active 
 
402 ^A VERLET NO VELS. 
 
 and spirited animals on which they rode being of a breed 
 rather taller than those reared in Zetland. 
 
 After more than an hour's smart riding, in which Noma 
 acted as guide, they stopped before a hovel, so utterly deso- 
 late in appearance that it resembled rather a cattle-shed than 
 a cottage. 
 
 " Here you must remain till dawn, when your signal can be 
 seen from your vessel," said Noma, consigning the horses to 
 the care of Pacolet, and leading the way into the wretched 
 hovel, whi;eli she presently illuminated by lighting the small 
 iron lamp which she usually carried along with her. " It is 
 a poor," she said, "but a safe place of refuge; for, were we pur- 
 sued hither, the earth would yawn and admit us into its re- 
 cesses ere you were taken. For know, that this ground is 
 sacred to the gods of old Valhalla. And now say, man of 
 mischief and of blood, are you friend or foe to Noma, the 
 sole priestess of these disowned deities?" 
 
 " How is it possible for me to be your enemy? " said Cleve- 
 land. " Common gratitude " 
 
 " Common gratitude," said Noma, interrupting him, " is 
 a common word; and words are the common pay which fools 
 accept at the hands of knaves; but Noma must be requited by 
 actions — by sacrifices." 
 
 " Well, mother, name your request." 
 
 " That you never seek to see Minna Troil again, and that 
 you leave this coast in twenty-four hours," answered Noma. 
 
 "It is impossible," said the outlaw: "I cannot be soon 
 enough found in the sea-stores which the sloop must have." 
 
 " You can. I will take care you are fully supplied; and 
 Caithness and the Hebrides are not far distant — you can de- 
 part if you will." 
 
 "And why should I," said Cleveland, "if I will not?" 
 
 " Because your stay endangers others," said Noma, " and 
 will prove your own destruction. Hear me with attention. 
 From the first moment I saw you lying senseless on the sand 
 beneath the cliffs of Sumburgh, I read that in your counte- 
 nance which linked you with me, and those who were dear 
 to me; but whether for good or evil, was hidden from mine 
 eyes. I aided in saving your life, in preserving your prop- 
 erty. I aided in doing so the very youth whom you have 
 crossed in his dearest affections — crossed by tale-bearing and 
 slander." 
 
 "/ slander Mertoun! " exclaimed Cleveland. "By 
 Heaven, I scarce mentioned his name at Burgh- Westra, if 
 
THE PIRATE. 403 
 
 it is that which you mean. The peddling fellow Bryee, mean- 
 ing, I believe, to be my friend, because he found something 
 could be made by me, did, I have since heard, carry tattle, or 
 truth, I know not which, to the old man, which was confirmed 
 by the report of the whole island. But, for me, I scarce 
 thought of him as a rival; else I had taken a more honorable 
 way to rid myself of him." 
 
 "•' Was the point of your double-edged knife, directed to the 
 bosom of an unarmed man, intended to carve out that more 
 honorable way ? " said ISTorna sternly. 
 
 Cleveland was conscience-struck, and remained silent for an 
 instant, ere he replied, " There, indeed, I was wrong; but he 
 is, I thank Heaven, recovered, and welcome to an honorable 
 satisfaction." 
 
 " Cleveland," said the pythoness, " no! The fiend who 
 employs you as his implement is powerful; but with me he 
 shall not strive. You are of that temperament which the 
 dark Influences desire as the tools of their agency — bold, 
 haughty, and undaunted, unrestrained by principle, and hav- 
 ing only in its room a wild sense of indomitable pride, which 
 such men call honor. Such you are, and as such your course 
 through life has been — onward and unrestrained, bloody and 
 tempestuous. By me, however, it shall be controlled," she 
 concluded, stretching out lier staff, as if in the attitude of 
 determined authority — " aye, even although the demon who 
 presides over it should now arise in his terrors." 
 
 Cleveland laughed scornfully. '' Good mother," he said, 
 " reserve such language for the rude sailor that implores you 
 to bestow him fair wind, or the poor fisherman that asks suc- 
 cess to his nets and lines. I have been long inaccessible botli 
 to fear and to superstition. Call forth your demon, if you 
 command one, and place him before me. The man that has 
 spent years in company with incarnate devils can scarce dread 
 the presence of a disembodied fiend." 
 
 This was said with a careless and desperate bitterness of 
 spirit which proved too powerfully energetic even for the 
 delusions of Noma's insanity; and it was with a hollow and 
 tremulous voice that she asked Cleveland: "For what, then, 
 do you hold me, if you deny the power I have bought so 
 deafly?" 
 
 " You have wisdom, mother," said Cleveland; " at least you 
 have art., and art is power. I hold you for one who knows 
 how to steer upon the current of events^, but I deny your 
 power to change its course. Do not, therefore, waste words 
 
404 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 in quoting terrors for which I have no feeling, but tell me at 
 once, wherefore you would have me depart? " 
 
 " Because I will have you see Minna no more," answered 
 Noma. " Because Minna is the destined bride of him whom 
 men call Mordaunt ]\Iertoim. Because, if you depart not 
 within twenty-four hours, utter destruction awaits you. In 
 these plain words there is no metaphysical delusion. An- 
 swer me as plainly." 
 
 " In as plain words, then," answered Cleveland, " I will not 
 leave these islands — not, at least, till I have seen Minna Troil; 
 and never shall your Mordaunt possess her while I live." 
 
 "Hear him!" said Noma — "hear a mortal man spurn at 
 the means of prolonging his life! Hear a sinful — a most sin- 
 ful being, refuse the time which fate yet affords for repent- 
 ance, and for the salvation of an immortal soul! Behold him 
 how he stands erect, bold and confident in his youthful 
 strength and courage! My eyes, unused to tears — even my 
 eyes, which have so little cause to weep for him, are blinded 
 with sorrow, to think what so fair a form will be ere the sec- 
 ond sun set! " 
 
 " Mother," said Cleveland, firmly, yet with some touch of 
 sorrow in his voice, " I in part understand your threats. You 
 know more than we do of the course of the ' Halcyon,' per- 
 haps have the means — for I acknowledge you have shown 
 wonderful skill of combination in such affairs — of directing 
 her cruise our way. Be it so, I will not depart from my pur- 
 pose for that risk. If the frigate comes hither, we have still 
 our shoal water to trust to; and I think they will scarce cut us 
 out with boats, as if we were a Spanish xebeck. I am there- 
 fore resolved I will hoist once more the flag under which I 
 have cruised, avail ourselves of the thousand chances which 
 have helped us in greater odds, and, at the worst, fight the 
 vessel to the very last; and, when mortal man can do no more, 
 it is but snapping a pistol in the powder-room, and, as we 
 have lived, so will we die." 
 
 There was a dead pause as Cleveland ended; and it was 
 broken by his resuming, in a softer tone: "You have heard 
 my answer, mother; let us debate it no further, but part in 
 peace. I would willingly leave you a remembrance, that you 
 may not forget a poor fellow to whom your services have been 
 useful, and who pairts with you in no unkindness, however 
 unfriendly you are to his dearest interests. Nay. do not shun 
 to accept such a trifle," he said, forcing npon Noma tlie little 
 silver enchased box which had been once the subject of strife 
 
THE PIRATE. 405 
 
 betvvixt Mertoun and him; "it is not for the sake of the 
 metal, which 1 know you value not, but simply as a memorial 
 that you have met him of whom many a strange tale will 
 hereafter be told in the seas which he has traversed." 
 
 " I accept your gift," said Noma, " in token that, if I have 
 in aught been accessory to your fate, it was as the involuntary 
 and grieving agent of other powers. Well did you say w^- 
 direct not the current of the events which hurry us forwarJ, 
 and render our utmost efforts unavailing; even as the wells '^ 
 of Tuftiloe can wheel the §toutest vessel round and round in 
 despite of either sail or steerage. Pacolet!" she exclaimed 
 in a louder voice — " what, ho ! Pacolet ! " 
 
 A large stone, which lay at the side of the wall of the hovel, 
 fell as she spoke, and to Cleveland's surprise, if not somewhat 
 to his fear, the misshapen form of the dwarf was seen, like 
 some overgrown reptile, extricating himself out of a subter- 
 ranean passage, the entrance to which the ^tone had covered. 
 
 Noma, as if impress.ed by what Cleveland had said on the 
 subject of her supernatural pretensions, was so far from en- 
 deavoring to avail herself of this opportunity to enforce them, 
 that she hastened to explain the phenomenon he had 
 witnessed. 
 
 " Such passages," she said, " to which the entrances are 
 carefully concealed, are frequently found in these islands — 
 the places of retreat of the ancient inliabitants, where they 
 sought refuge from the rage of the Normans, the pirates of 
 that day. It was that you might avail yourself of this in case 
 of need, that I brought you hither. Should you observe signs 
 of pursuit, you may either lurk in the bowels of the earth 
 until it has passed by, or escape, if you will, through the far- 
 ther entrance near the lake, by which Pacolet entered but 
 now. And now farewell! Think on w^hat I have said; for 
 as sure as you now^ move and breathe a living man, so surely 
 is your doom fixed and sealed, unless, within four-and-twenty 
 hours, you have doubled the Burgh Head." 
 
 " Farewell, mother! " said Cleveland, as she departed, 
 bending a look upon him, in which, as he could perceive by 
 the lamp, sorrow was mingled with displeasure. 
 
 The interview, vchich thus concluded, left a strong effect 
 even upon the mind of Cleveland, accustomed as he was to 
 imminent dangers and to hair-breadth escapes. He in vain 
 attempted to shake off the impression left by the words of 
 Noma, which he felt the more powerful, because they were 
 
 • See Wells and Waves. Note 46. 
 
406 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 in a great measure divested of her wonted mystical tone, 
 which he contemned. A thousand times he regretted that he 
 had from time to time delayed the resolution, which he had 
 long adopted, to quit his dreadful and dangerous trade; and ;,s 
 often he firmly determined that, could he but see Minna Troil 
 once more, were it but for a last farewell, he would leave the 
 sloop as soon as his comrades were extricated from their peril- 
 ous situation, endeavor to obtain the benefit of the king's 
 pardon, and distinguish himself, if possible, in some more 
 honorable coui*se of warfare. 
 
 This resolution, to which he again and again pledged him- 
 self, had at length a sedative effect on his mental perturbation, 
 and, wrapped in his cloak, he enjoyed, for a time, that imper- 
 fect repose which exhausted nature demands as her tribute, 
 even from those who are situated on the verge of the most 
 imminent danger. But, how far soever the guilty may satisfy 
 his own mind and stupify the feelings of remorse by such a 
 conditional repentance, we may well question whether it is 
 not, in the sight of Heaven, rather a presumptuous aggrava- 
 tion than an expiation of his sins. 
 
 When Cleveland awoke, the gray dawn was already min- 
 gling with the twilight of an Orcadian night. He found him- 
 self on the verge of a beautiful sheet of water, which, close 
 by the place where he had rested, was nearly divided by two 
 tongues of land that approach each other from the opposing 
 sides of the lake, and are in some degree united by the Brid,:ie 
 of Broisgar, a long causeway, containing openings to permit 
 the flow and reflux of the tide. Behind him, and fronting 
 to the bridge, stood that remarkable semicircle of huge up- 
 right stones which has no rival in Britain, excepting the in- 
 imitable monument at Stonehenge. These immense blocks 
 of stone, all of them above 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 this pale light, the earth which thev 
 had plagued by their oppression and polluted by their sins, 
 till they brought down upon it the vengeance of long-suffer- 
 ing Heaven.* 
 
 Cleveland was less interested by this singular monument of 
 antiquity than by the distant view of Stromness, which he 
 could as yet scarce discover. He lost no time in striking a 
 light, by the assistance of one of his pistols, and some wet fern 
 
 * See The Standing Stones of Stennis. Note 46. 
 
THE PIRATE. 407 
 
 supplied him with fuel sufficient to make the appointed sig- 
 nal. It had been earne.<tly watelied for on board the sloop; 
 for Goffe's incapacity became daily more apparent; and even 
 his most steady adherents agreed it would be best to submit 
 to Cleveland's command till they got back to the West Indies. 
 Bunce, who came with the boat to bring off his favorite 
 commander, danced, cursed, shouted, and spouted for joy 
 when he saw him once more at freedom. " They had 
 already," he said, •' made some progress in victualing the sloop, 
 and they might have made more but for that drunken old 
 swab Goffe, who minded nothing but splicing the main- 
 brace.'' 
 
 The boat's crew were inspired with the same enthusiasm, 
 and rowed so hard that, although the tide was against them, 
 and the air of wind failed, they soon placed Cleveland once 
 more on the quarter-deck of the vessel which it was his mis- 
 fortune to command. 
 
 The fii-st exercise of the captain's power was to make known 
 to Magnus Troil that he was at full freedom to depart; that 
 he was willing to make him any compensation in his power 
 for the interruption of his voyage to Kirkwall; and that Cap- 
 tain Cleveland was desirous, if agreeable to Mr. Troil, to pay 
 his respects to him on board his brig, thank him for former 
 favors, and apologize for the circumstances attending his de- 
 tention. 
 
 To Bunce, who, as the most civilized of the crew, Cleve- 
 land had intrusted this message, the old plain-dealing Udal- 
 ler made the following answer: " Tell your captain that I 
 should be glad to think he had naver stopped anyone upon the 
 high sea save such as have suffered as little as I have. Say, 
 too, that, if we are to continue friends, we shall be most so at 
 a distance; for I like the sound of his cannon-balls as little 
 by sea as he would like the whistle of a bullet by land from 
 my rifle-gun. Sav, in a word, that I am sorry I was mistaken 
 in him, and that he would have done better to have reserved 
 for the Spaniard the usage he is bestowing on his country- 
 men." 
 
 " And so that is your message, old Snapcholerick? " said 
 Bunca " Xow, stap my vitals if I have not a mind to do 
 your errand for you over the left shoulder, and teach you 
 more respect for* gentlemen of fortune! But I won't, and 
 chiefly for the sake of your two pretty wenches, not to men- 
 tion my old friend Claud ITalcro, the very visage of whom 
 brought back all the old days of scene-shifting and candle- 
 
408 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 snuffing. So good-morrow to you, Gaffer SealVcap, and all 
 is said that need pass between us." 
 
 No sooner did the boat put off with the pirates, who left 
 the brig and now returned to their own vessel, than Magnus, 
 in order to avoid reposing unnecessary confidence in the 
 honor of these gentlemen of fortune, as they called them- 
 selves, got his brig under way; and, the wind coming favor- 
 ably round, and increasing as the sun rose, he crowded all 
 sail for Scalpa Flow, intending there to disembark and go by 
 land to Kirkwall, where he expected to meet his daughters 
 and his friend Claud Halcro. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Kow, Emma, now the last reflection make, 
 What thou wouldst follow, what thou must forsake. 
 By our ill-omen'd stars and adverse Heaven, 
 No middle object to thy choice is given. 
 
 — Henry and Emma. 
 
 The sun was high in heaven; the boats were busily fetch- 
 ing ofE from the shore the promised supply of provisions and 
 water, which, as many fishing skiffs were employed in the 
 service, were got on board with unexpected speed, and stowed 
 away by the crew of the sloop with equal dispatch. All 
 worked with, good will; for all, save Cleveland himself, were 
 weary of a coast where ever}^ moment increa.=ed their danger, 
 and where, which they esteemed a worse misfortune, there 
 was no booty to be won. Bunce and Derrick took the imme- 
 diate direction of this duty, while Cleveland, walking the declc 
 alone, and in silence, only interfered from time to time, to 
 give some order which circumstances required, and then re- 
 lapsed into his own sad reflections. 
 
 There are two sorts of men whom situations of guilt, ter- 
 ror, and commotion bring forward as prominent agents. The 
 first are spirits so naturally molded and fitted for deeds of 
 horror that they stalk forth from their lurking-places like 
 actual demons, to work in their native element, as the hide- 
 ous apparition of the Bearded Man came forth at Versailles, 
 on the memorable oth October, 1789, the delighted exe- 
 cutioner of the victims delivered up to him by a bloodthirsty 
 rabble. But Cleveland belonged to the second class of these 
 unfortunate beings, who are involved in evil rather by the 
 concurrence of external circumstances than by natural incli- 
 nation, being, indeed, one in whom his first engaging in this 
 lawless mode of life, as the follower of his father, nay, per- 
 haps, even his pursuing it as his father's avenger, carried with 
 it something of mitigation and apology; one also who often 
 considered his guilty situation with horror, and had made re- 
 peated, though ineffectual, efforts to escape from it. 
 
 Such thoughts of remorse were now rolling in hi> mind, 
 and he may be forgiven if recollections of Minna mingled with 
 and aided them. He looked around, too, on his mates, and, 
 profligate and hardened as he knew them to be, he could not 
 
410 WAVEBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 think of their paying the penalty of his obstinacy. "We 
 shall be ready to sail with the ebb tide," he said to himself; 
 '' why should I endangxT these men by detaining them till the 
 hour of danger predicted by that singular woman shall ar- 
 rive? Her intelligence, howsoever acquired, has been always 
 strangely accurate; and her w^aming was as solemn as if a 
 mother were to apprise her erring son of his crimes and of his 
 approaching punishment. Besides, what chance is there that 
 I can again see Minna? She is at Kirkwall, doubtless, and to 
 hold my course thither would be to steer right upon the rocks. 
 No, I will not endanger these poor fellows: I will sail with the 
 ebb tide. On the desolate Hebrides, or on the northwest 
 coast of Ireland, I will leave the vessel and return hither in 
 some disguise; yet, why should I return, since it will perh:ip.=^ 
 be only to see Minna the bride of Mordaunt? No; let the 
 vessel sail wdth this ebb tide without me. I will abide and 
 take my fate." 
 
 His meditations were here interrupted by Jack Bunce. who, 
 hailing him noble captain, said they were ready to sail when he 
 pleased. 
 
 " When you please, Bunce; for I shall leave the command 
 wdth you and go ashore at Stromness," said Cleveland. 
 
 "You shall do no such matter, by Heaven!" answered 
 Bunce. " The command \nth me, truly! and how the devil 
 am I to get the crew to obey me? Why, even Dick Fletcher 
 rides rusty on. me now and then. You know well enough 
 that, wdthout 5^ou, we shall be all at each other's throats in 
 half an hour; and, if you desert us, what a rope's end does it 
 signify whether we are destroyed by the king's cruisers or by 
 each other? Come — come, noble captain, there are black- 
 eyed girls enough in the world, but where will you find so 
 tight a sea-boat as the little ' Favorite ' here, manned as she 
 is with a set of teai-ing lads, 
 
 " Fit to disturb the peace of all the world, 
 And rule it when 'tis wildest? " 
 
 " You are a precious fool. Jack Bunce," said Cleveland, 
 half-angry, and, in despite of himself, half-diverted, by the 
 false tones and exaggerated gesture of the stage-struck pirate. 
 
 " It may be so, noble captain," answered Bunce, " and it 
 may be that I have my comrades in my folly. Here are you, 
 now, going to play ' All for Love, and [or] the World well 
 Lost,' and yet you cannot bear a harmleso bounce in blank 
 Terse. Well, I can talk prose for the matter, for I have news 
 
THE PIRATE. 411 
 
 enough to tell — and strange news, too — aye, and stirring news 
 to boot." 
 
 " Well, prithee deliver them — to speak thy own cant — like 
 a man of this world." 
 
 " The Stromness fishers ^vill accept nothing for their pro- 
 visions and trouble," said Bunce — " there is a wonder for 
 you! " 
 
 " And for what reason, I pray? " said Cievehmd; " it is the 
 first time I have ev( r heard of cash being rtfu.-ed at a seaport." 
 
 ■■ True! they commonly lay the charges on as thick as if 
 they were calking. But here is the matter. The owner of 
 the brig yonder, the father of your fair Imoinda. stands pay- 
 master, by way of thanks for the civility with which we 
 treated his daughters, and that we may not meet our due, as 
 he calls it, on these shores." 
 
 '• It is like the frank-hearted old Udaller! " said Cleveland. 
 " But is he at Stromness? I thought he was to have crossed 
 the island for Kirkwall." 
 
 " He did so purpose," said Bunce; " but more folks than 
 King Duncan change the course of their voyage. He was no 
 sooner ashore than he was met with by a meddling old witch 
 of these parts, who has her finger in every man's pie, and by 
 her counsel he changed his purpose of going to Kirkwall, and 
 lies at anchor for the present in yonder white house, that 
 you may see with your glass up the lake yonder. I am told 
 the old woman clubbed also to pay for the sloop's stores. 
 Why she should shell out the boards I cannot conceive an 
 idea, except that she is said to be a witch, and may befriend 
 us as so many devils." 
 
 " But who told you all tliis? " said Cleveland, without usin^ 
 his spyglass, or seeming so much interested in the news as his 
 comrade had expected. 
 
 " Why," replied Bunce, " I made a trip ashore this morning 
 to the village, and had a can with an old acquaintance, who 
 had been sent by Master Troil to look after matters, and I 
 fished it all out of him, and more, too, than I am desirous of 
 telling you, noble captain." 
 
 '■' And who is your intelligencer? " said Cleveland; " has he 
 got no name? " 
 
 " Why. he is an old, fiddling, foppish acquaintance of mine 
 called Halcro, if you must know," said Bunce. 
 
 "Halcro!" echoed Cleveland, his eyes sparkling with sur- 
 prise — " Claud Halcro? why, he went ashore at Inganess with 
 Minna and her sister. Where are they? " 
 
412 WAVBRLET NOVELS. 
 
 " Why, that is just what 1 did not want to tell you," re- 
 plied the confidant; " yet hang me if I can help it, for I caji- 
 not balk a fine situation. Tliat start had a fine effect. Oh, 
 aye, and the spyglass is turned on the House of Stennis now! 
 Well, yonder they are, it must he confessed — indifferently 
 well guarded, too. Some of the old witch's people are come 
 over from that mountain of an island — Hoy, as they call it; 
 and the old gentleman has got some fellows under arms him- 
 self. But what of all that, nohle captain! give you but the 
 word, and we snap up the wenches to-night — clap them under 
 hatches — man the capstern by daybreak — up topsails — and 
 sail with the morning tide." 
 
 " You sicken me with your villainy," said Cleveland, turn- 
 ing away from him. 
 
 " Umph! villainy, and sicken you! " said Bunce. " Now, 
 pray, what have I said but what has been done a thousand 
 times by gentlemen of fortune like ourselves? " 
 
 " Mention it not again," said Cleveland; then took a turn 
 along the deck, in deep meditation, and, coming back to 
 Bunce, took him by the hand, and said, " Jack, I wall see her 
 once more." 
 
 " With all my heart," said Bunce sullenly. 
 
 " Once more will I see her, and it may be to abjure at her 
 feet this cursed trade, and expiate my offenses " 
 
 " At the gallows! " said Bunce, completing the sentence. 
 " With all my heart! confess and be hanged is a most rev- 
 erend proverb." 
 
 "Nay — but, dear Jack!" said Cleveland. 
 
 "Dear Jack!" answered Bunce, in the same sullen tone, 
 " a dear sight you have been to dear Jack. But hold your 
 ov,'Ti course; I have done with caring for you forever. I 
 should but sicken you with my villainous counsels." 
 
 " Now, must I soothe this silly fellow as if he were a spoiled 
 child," said Cleveland, speaking at Bunce, but not to him; 
 "and yet he has sense enough, and bravery too; and, one 
 would think, kindness enough to know that men don't pick 
 their words during a gale of wind." 
 
 " Why, that's true, Clement," said Bunce, " and there is 
 my hand upon it. And, now I think upon't, you shall have 
 your last interview, for it's out of my line to prevent a part- 
 ing scene; and what signifies a tide? We can sail by to-mor- 
 row's ebb as well as by this." 
 
 Cleveland sighed, for Noma's prediction rushed on his 
 mind; but the opportunity of a last meeting with Minna was 
 
THE PIRATE. 413 
 
 too tempting to be resigned either for presentiment or pre- 
 diction. 
 
 " I \yW\ go presently ashore to the place where they all 
 are," said Bunce; '' and the payment of these stores shall .-erve 
 me for a pretext; and I will carry any letters or message Irora 
 you to Minna with the dexterity of a ' valet-de-chainbre/ " 
 
 " But they have armed men; you may be in danger," said 
 Cleveland. 
 
 " Not a whit— not a whit," replied Bunce. " I protected 
 the wenches when they were in my power; I warrant their 
 father will neither wrong me nor see me wronged." 
 
 " You say true," said Cleveland, '' it is not in his nature. 
 I will instantly write a note to Minna." And he ran down 
 to the cabin for that purpose, where he wasted much paper 
 ere, with a trembling hand and throbbing heart, he achieve 1 
 such a letter as he hoped might prevail on Minna to permit 
 him a farewell meeting on the succeeding morning. 
 
 His adherent, Bunce, in the meanwhile, sought out 
 Fletcher, of whose support to second any motion whateve^r 
 he accounted himself perfectly sure; and, followed by this 
 trusty satellite, he intruded himself on the awful presence of 
 Hawkins, the boatswain, and Derrick, the quartermaster, who 
 were regaling themselves with a can of rumbo, after the 
 fatiguing duty of the day. 
 
 " Here comes he can tell us," said Derrick. *' So, Master 
 Lieutenant, for so we must call you now, I think, let us have 
 a peep into your counsels. When will the anchor be 
 a-trip?" 
 
 "When it pleases Heaven, ^Master Quartermaster," an- 
 swered Bunce, " for I know no more than the stern-post." 
 
 "Why, d n my buttons!" said Derrick, "do we not 
 
 weigh this tide? " 
 
 "Or to-morrow's tide, at farthest?" said the boatswain. 
 " Why, what have we been slaving the whole company for, 
 to get all these stores aboard ? " 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Bunce, " you are to know that Cupid 
 has laid our captain on board, carried the vessel, 'and nailed 
 down his wats under hatches." 
 
 "What sort of play-stuff is all this?" said the boatswain 
 gruffly. " If you have anything to t.ell us, say it in a word, 
 like a man." 
 
 " Howsomdever," sdd Fletcher, " I always think Jack 
 Bunce speaks like a man, and acts like a man too; and so. 
 d'ye see " 
 
414 WAVERLE7 NOVELS. 
 
 "Hold your peace, dear Dick — best of bully-backs, be 
 silent," said Bunce. " Gentlemen, in one word, the captain 
 is in love." 
 
 " Why, now, only think of that! " said the boatswain; " not 
 but that I have been in love as often as any man, when the 
 ship was laid up." 
 
 " Well, but," continued Bunce, " Captain Cleveland is in 
 love. Yes — Prince Volscius is in love; and, though that's 
 the cue for laugliing on the stage, it is no laughing matter 
 here. He expects to meet the girl to-morrow, for the last 
 time; and that, we all know, leads to another meeting, and 
 another, and so on till the ' Halcyon ' is down on us, and then 
 we may look for more kicks than halfpence." 
 
 " By ," said the boatswain, with a sounding oath, 
 
 " we'll have a mutiny, and not allow him to go ashore — eh, 
 Derrick?" 
 
 " And the best way too,'" said Derrick. 
 
 " What d'ye think of it. Jack Bunce ? " said Fletcher, in 
 whose ears this counsel sounded very sagely, but who still 
 bent a wistful look upon his companion. 
 
 " Why, look ye, gentlemen," said Bunce, " I mil mutiny 
 none, and stap my vitals if any of you shall! " 
 
 " Why, then I \\-t)n't for one," said Fletcher; " but what are 
 we to do, since howsomdever " 
 
 " Stopper your jaw, Dick, will you? " said Bunce. " Now, 
 boatsw^ain, I am partly of your mind, that the captain must 
 be brought to reason by a little wholesome force. But you 
 all know he has the spirit of a lion, and will do nothing unless 
 he is allowed to hold on his o^vn course. Well, I'll go ashore 
 and make this appointment. The girl comes to the rendez- 
 vous in the morning, and the captain goes ashore; we take a 
 good boat's crew with us, to row against tide and current, and 
 we will be ready at the signal to jump ashore and hring off 
 the captain and the girl, whether they wdll or no. The pet- 
 child will not quarrel with us, since we bring off his w^hirli- 
 gig along with him; and if he is still fractious, why, we will 
 weigh anchor without liis orders, and let him come to his 
 senses at leisure, and know his friends another time." 
 
 " Why, this has a face wdth it. Master Derrick," said 
 Hawkins. 
 
 " Jack Bunce is always right," said Fletcher; " howsom- 
 dever, the captain mil shoot some of us, that is certain." 
 
 " Hold your jaw, Dick." said Bunce; " pray, who the devil 
 cares, do you tliiuk, whether you are shot or hanged?" 
 
THE PIRATE. 416 
 
 ''"Why, it don't much argufy for the matter of that," re- 
 plied Dick; " howsomdever " 
 
 " Be quiet, 1 tell you," said his inexorable patron, " and 
 hear me out. We ^vdll take liim at unawares, so that he shall 
 ndtlier have time to use cutlass nor pops; and I myself, for 
 the dear love I bear liim, wall be the first to lay him on his 
 back. There is a nice tight-going bit of a pinnace that is a 
 consort of this chase of the captain's; if I have an opportunity, 
 I'll snap her up on my own account." 
 
 " Yes — yes,'' said Derrick, " let you alone for keeping on 
 the lookout for your own comforts." 
 
 " Faith, nay," said Bunce, " I only snatch at them when 
 they come fairly in my way, or are purchased by dint of my 
 own wit; and none of you could have fallen on such a plan 
 at this. We shall have the captain with us, head, hand, and 
 heart and all, besides making a scene fit to finish a comedy. 
 So I will go ashore to make the appointment, and do you 
 possess some of the gentlemen who are still sober, and fit to 
 be trusted, with the knowledge of our intentions." 
 
 Bunce, ^nth his friend Fletcher, departed accordingly, and 
 the two veteran, pirates remained looking at each other in 
 silence, until the boatswain spoke at last. " Blow me, Der- 
 n?k, if I like these two daffadandilly young fellows: they are 
 not the true breed. Why, they are no more like the rovers 
 I have known than this sloop is to a first-rate. Why, there 
 was old Sharpe, that read prayers to his ship's company every 
 Sunday, what would he have said to have heard it proposed 
 to bring two wenches on board ? " 
 
 " And what would tough old Black Beard have said," an- 
 swered his companion, " if they had expected to keep them to 
 themselves? They deserve to be made to walk the plank for 
 their impudence; or to be tied back to back and set a-diving, 
 and I care not how soon." 
 
 " Aye, but who is to command the ship, then? " said 
 Hawkins. 
 
 "Why, what ails you at old Goffe?" answered Derrick. 
 
 " Why, he has sucked the monkey so long and so often," 
 said the"^ boatswain, " that the best of him is buffed. He is 
 little better than an old woman when he is sober, and he is 
 roaring mad when he is drunk; we have had enough of Goffe." 
 " Why, then, what d'ye say to yourself, or to me, boat- 
 swain.'^ " demanded the quartermaster. " I am content to toss 
 up for it." 
 
 "Kot it, no," answered the boatswain, after a moment's 
 
416 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 consideration; "if we were within reach of the trade winds, 
 we might either of us make a shift; but it will take all Cleve- 
 land's navigation to get us there; and so, I think, there is 
 nothing like Bunco's project for the present. Hark, he calls 
 for the boat; I must go on deck and have her lowered for hia 
 honor, d n his eyes." 
 
 The boat was lowered accordingly, made its voyage up the 
 lake with safety, and landed Bunco within a few hundred 
 yards of the old mansion-house of Stennis. Upon arriving in 
 front of the house, he found that hasty measures had been 
 taken to put it in a state of defense, the Lower windows being 
 barricaded, with places left for use of musketry, and a ship- 
 gun being placed so as to command the entrance, which was 
 besides guarded by two sentinels. Bunce demanded admis- 
 sion at the gate, which was briefly and unceremoniously re- 
 fused, with an exhortation to him, at the same time, to be 
 gone about his business before worse came of it. As he 
 continued, however, importunately to insist on seeing some 
 iv.-ne of the family, and stated his business to be of the most 
 argent nature, Claud Halcro at length appeared, and, with 
 more peevishness than belonged to his usual manner, that ad- 
 mirer of glorious John expostulated with his old acquaintance 
 upon his pertinacious folly. 
 
 " You are," he said, " like foolish moths fluttering about 
 a candle, which is sure at last to consume you." 
 
 " And you," said Bunce, " are a set of stingless drones, 
 whom we can smoke out of your defenses at our pleasure, with 
 half a dozen of hand-grenades." 
 
 " Smoke a fool's head! " said Halcro; " take my advice, and 
 mind your own matters, or there will be those upon you will 
 smoke you to purpose. Either begone or tell me in two words 
 what you want; for you are like to receive no welcome here 
 save from a blunderbuss. We are men enough of ourselves; 
 and here is young Mordaunt Mertoun come from Hoy, whom 
 your captain so nearly murdered." 
 
 " Tush, man," said Bunce, " he did but let out a little mala- 
 pert blood." 
 
 "We want no such phlebotomy here," said Claud Halcro; 
 "and, besides, your patient turns out to be nearer allied to 
 us than either you or we thought of; so you may think how 
 little welcome the captain or any of his crew are like to be 
 here." 
 
 " Well, but what if I bring money for the stores sent on 
 board?" 
 
THE PIRATE. 417 
 
 "Keep it till it \% asked of you," said Halcro. '' There are 
 two bad paymasters — he that pays too soon, and he that does 
 not pay at all." 
 
 '' Well, then, let me at least give our thanks to the donor," 
 said Bunce. 
 
 " Keep them, too, till they are asked for," answered the 
 poet. 
 
 " So this is all the welcome I have of you for old acquaint- 
 ance' sake ? " said Bunce. 
 
 "Why, what can I do for you, Master Altamont?" said 
 Halcro, somewhat moved. " If young ^Mordaunt had had his 
 own will, he would have welcomed you with ' the red Bur- 
 gundy, No. 1000.' For God's sake begone, else the stage di- 
 rection will be, ' Enter guard, and seize Altamont.' " 
 
 " I vnl\ not give you the trouble," said Bunce, " but will 
 make my exit instantly. Sta.y a moment; I Imd almost for- 
 got that I have a slip of paper for the tallest of your girls 
 there — Minna, aye, Minna is her name. It is a farewell from 
 Captain Cleveland; you cannot refuse to give it her?" 
 
 " Ah, poor fellow! " said Halcro " I comprehend — I com- 
 prehend. Farewell, fair Armada — 
 
 " 'Mid pikes and 'mid bullets, 'mid tempests and fire, 
 The danger is less than in hopeless desire! 
 
 Tell me but tliis — ^is there poetry in it? " 
 
 " Ohokeful to the seal wdth song, sonnet, and elegy," an- 
 swered Bunce; " but let her have it cautiously and secretly." 
 
 "Tush, man! teach me to deliver a billet-doux! — me, who 
 have been in the Wits' Coffee-house, and have seen all the 
 toasts of the Kit-Cat Club! Minna shall have it, then, for 
 old acquaintance' sake, Mr. Altamont, and for your captain's 
 sake too, who has less of the core of devil about him than his 
 trade requires. There can be no hami in a farewell letter." 
 
 " Farewell, then, old boy, for ever and a day! " said Bunce; 
 and seizing the poet's hand, gave it so hearty a gripe that he 
 left him roaring and shaking his fist, like a dog when a hot 
 cinder has fallen on his foot. 
 
 Leaving the rover to return on board the vessel, we re- 
 main wath the family of Magnus Troil, assembled at their 
 kinsman's mansion of Stennis. where they maintained a con- 
 stant and careful watch against surprise. 
 
 Mordaunt Mertoun had been received with much kindness 
 by Magnus Troil, when he came to his assistance, wdth a smaM 
 party of NDrna's depaidants, placed by her under his com- 
 
418 WA VERLEY NO VELS. 
 
 mand. The Udaller was easily satisfied that, the reports in- 
 stilled into his ears by the jayger, zealous to augment his favoi: 
 toward his more profitable customer, Cleveland, by dimin- 
 ishing that of Mertoun, were without foundation. They had, 
 indeed, been confirmed by the good Lady Glowrowrum and by 
 common fame, both of whom were pleased to represent Mor- 
 daunt Mertoun as an arrogant pretender to the favor of the 
 sisters of Burgh-Westra, who only hesitated, sultan-like, on 
 whom he should bestow the handkerchief. But common 
 fame, Magnus considered, was a common liar, and he was 
 sometimes disposed, where scandal was concerned, to regard 
 the good Lady Glowrowrum as rather an uncommon specimen 
 of the same genus. He therefore received Mordaunt once 
 more into full favor, listened with much surprise to the claim 
 which Noma laid to the young man's duty, and with no less 
 interest to her intention of surrendering to him the con- 
 siderable property which she had inherited from her father. 
 Nay, it is even probable that, though he gave no immediate 
 answer to her hints concerning an union betwixt his eldest 
 daughter and her heir, he might think such an alliance 
 recommended as well by the young man's personal merits as 
 by the chance it gave of reuniting the ver}' large estate which 
 had been divided betwixt his own father and that of Noma. 
 At all events, the Udaller received his young friend with 
 much Idndness, and he and the proprietor of the mansion 
 joined in intrusting to him, as the youngest and most active 
 of the party, the charge of commanding the night-watch, and 
 relieving the sentinels around the House of Stennis. 
 
CHAPTEE XL. 
 
 Of an outlawe, this is the lawe — 
 
 That men him take and biud, 
 Without pitie haiig'd to be, 
 
 And waive with tlie wind. 
 
 — The Ballad of the Nut-Brovm Maid. 
 
 MoRDAUNT had caused the sentinels who had been on duty 
 aince midnight to be relieved ere the peep of day, and hav- 
 ing given directions that the guard should be again changed 
 at sunrise, he had retired to a small parlor, and, placing his 
 arms beside him, was slumbering in an easy-chair, when he 
 felt himself pulled by the watch-cloak in which he was en- 
 veloped. 
 
 "Is it sunrise," said he, "already?" as, starting up, he 
 discovered the first beams lying level upon the horizon. 
 
 " Mordaunt! " said a voice, every note of which thrilled to 
 his heart. 
 
 He turned his eyes on the speaker, and Brenda Troil, to his 
 joyful astonishment, stood before him. As he was about to 
 address her eagerly, he was che«ked by observing the signs of 
 sorrow and discomposure in her pale cheeks, trembling lips, 
 and brimful eyes. 
 
 " Mordaunt," she said, " you must do Minna and me a 
 favor: you must allow us to leave the house quietly, and with- 
 out alarming anyone, in order to go as far as the Standing 
 Stones of Stennis." 
 
 " What freak can this be, dearest Brenda? " said Mor- 
 daunt, much amazed at the request — " some Orcadian observ- 
 ance of superstition, perhaps; but the time is too dangerous, 
 and my charge from your father too strict, that I should per- 
 mit you to pass without his consent. Consider, dearest 
 Brenda, I am a soldier on duty, and must obey orders." 
 
 " Mordaunt," said Brenda, " this is no jesting matter: 
 Minna's reason — nay, Minna's life, depends on your giving 
 lis this permission." 
 
 " And for what purpose? " said Mordaunt; " let me at least 
 know that." 
 
 " For a wild and a desperate purpose," replied Brenda. 
 " It is that she may meet Cleveland." 
 
 " Cleveland! " said Mordaunt. " Should the villain come 
 
430 WA VERLE T NO VELS. 
 
 asiiore, he shall be welcomed with a shower of rifle-ball.% 
 Let me within a hundred yards of him," he added grasping his 
 piece, " and all the mischief he has done me shall be balanced 
 with an ounce bullet! " 
 
 "His death will drive Minna frantic," said Brenda; "and 
 him who injures Minna, Brenda will never again look upon." 
 " This is madness — raving madness! " said Mordaunt. 
 " Consider your honor — consider your duty." 
 
 " I can consider nothing but Minna's danger," said Brenda, 
 breaking into a flood of tears: " her former illness was noth- 
 ing to the state she has been in all night. She holds in her 
 hand his letter, written in characters of fire rather than of 
 ink, implorinsf her to see him, for a last farewell, as she would 
 save a mortal body and an immortal soul; pledging himself 
 for her safety; and declaring no power shall force him from 
 the coast till he has seen her. You must let us pass." 
 
 "It is impossible!" replied Mordaunt in gi-eat perplexity. 
 " This ruffian has imprecations enough, doubtless, at his 
 fingers' ends; but what better pledge has he to offer? I can- 
 not pennit Minna to go." 
 
 " I suppose," said Brenda., somewhat reproachfully, while 
 she dried her tears, yet still continued sobbing, " that there 
 is something in what Noma spoke of betwixt Minna and you; 
 and that you are too Jealous of this poor wretch to allow him 
 even to speak with her an instant before his departure." 
 
 " You are unjust," said Mordaunt, hurt, and yet somewhat 
 flattered, by her suspicions — " you are as unjust as you are 
 imprudent. You know — you cannot but know — that Minna 
 is chiefly dear to me as your sister. Tell me, Brenda — and 
 tell me truly — if I aid you in this folly, have you no sus- 
 picion of the pirate's faith ? " 
 
 " No, none," said Brenda; " if 1 had any, do you think I 
 would urge you thus? He is wild and unhappy, but I think 
 we may in this trust him." 
 
 " Is the appointed place the Standing Stones, and the time 
 daybreak?" again demanded Mordaunt. 
 
 " It is, and the time is come," said Brenda; " for Heaven's 
 sake, let us depart! " 
 
 " I will myself," said Mordaunt, " relieve the sentinel at the 
 front door for a few minutes, and suffer you to pass. You 
 will not protract this interview, so full of danger?" 
 
 " We will not," said Brenda; " and you, on your part, will 
 not avail yourself of this unhappy man's venturing hither to 
 harm or to seize him? " 
 
THE PIRATE. 421 
 
 " Rely on my honor/' said Mordaunt. " He shall have no 
 harm unless he offers any." 
 
 '^ Then I go to call my sister," said Brenda, and quickly 
 left the apartment. 
 
 Mordaunt considered the matter for an instant, and then 
 going to the sentinel at the front door, he desired him to run 
 instantly to the main-guard, and order the whole to turn out 
 with their arms; to see the order obeyed, and to return when 
 they were in readiness. Meantime, he himself, he said, would 
 remain upon the post. 
 
 During the interval of the sentinel's absence, the front 
 door was slowly opened, and Minna and Brenda appeared, 
 muffled in their mantles. The former leaned on her sister, 
 and kept her face bent on the ground, as one who felt 
 ashamed of the step she was about to take. Brenda also 
 passed her lover in silence, but threw back upon him a look 
 of gratitude and affection, which doubled, if possible, his 
 anxiety for their safety. 
 
 The sisters, in the meanwhile, passed out of sight of the 
 house; when Minna, whose step till that time had been faint 
 and feeble, began to erect her person and to walk with a pace 
 so firm and so swift that Brenda, who had some difficulty to 
 keep up with her, could not forbear remonstrating on the 
 imprudence of hurrjdng her spirits and exhausting her force 
 by such unnecessar}' haste. 
 
 " Fear not, my dearest sister," said Minna: " the spirit 
 which I now feel will, and must, sustain me through the 
 dreadful interview. I could not but move with a drooping 
 head and dejected pace while I was in view of one who must 
 necessarily deem me deserving of his pity or his ^corn. But 
 you know, my dearest Brenda, and Mordaunt shall also know, 
 that the love I bore to that unhappy man was as pure as the 
 rays of that sun that is now reflected on the waves. And I 
 dare attest that glorious sun and yonder blue heaven to bear 
 me witness that, but to urge him to change his unhappy 
 course of life, I had not, for all the temptations this round 
 world holds, ever consented to see him more." 
 
 As she spoke thus, in a tone which afforded much confi- 
 dence to Brenda. the sisters attained the summit of a rising 
 ground, whence they commanded a full view of the Orcadian 
 Stnnehenge. consistins: of a huge circle and semicircle of the 
 Standing Stones, as they are called, which already glimmered 
 a grayish white in the rising sun, and projected far to the 
 weotward their long gigantic shadows. At another time, the 
 
422 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 scene would have operated powerfully on the imaginative 
 mind of Minna, and interested the curiosity at least of her 
 less sensitive sister. But at this moment neither was at leis- 
 ure to receive the impressions which this stupendous monu- 
 ment of antiquity is so well calculated to impress on the feel- 
 ings of those who behold it; for they saw in the lower lake, 
 beneath what is termed the Bridge of Broisgar, a boat well 
 manned and armed, which had disembarked one of its crew, 
 who advanced alone, and wrapped in a naval cloak, toward 
 that monumental circle which they themselves were about to 
 reach from another quarter. 
 
 " They are many, and they are armed," said the startled 
 Brenda, in a whisper to her sister. 
 
 " It is for precaution's sake," answered Minna, " which, 
 alas! their condition renders but too necessary. Fear no 
 treachery from him; that, at least, is not his vice." 
 
 As she spoke, or shortly afterward, she attained the center 
 of the circle, on which, in the midst of the tall, erect pillars 
 of rude stone that was raised around, lies one fiat and pros- 
 trate, supported by short stone pillars, of which some relics 
 are still visible, that had once served, perhaps, the purpose of 
 an altar. 
 
 " Here," she said, " in heathen times (if we may believe 
 legends which have cost me but too dear), our ancestors 
 offered sacrifices to heathen deities; and here will I, from my 
 soul, renounce, abjure, and offer up to a better and a more 
 merciful God than was known to them the vain ideas with 
 which my youthful imagination has been seduced." 
 
 She stood by the prostrate table of stone, and saw Cleveland 
 advance toward her, with a timid pace and a downcast look, 
 ys, different from his usual character and bearing as Minna's 
 high air and lofty demeanor, and calm, contemplative posture, 
 were distant from those of the love-lorn and broken-hearted 
 maiden whose weight had almost borne down the support of 
 her sister as she left the House of Stennis. If the belief of 
 those is true who assign these singular monuments exclusively 
 to the Druids, Minna might have seemed the Haxa, or high 
 priestess, of the order, from whom some champion of the 
 tribe expected inauguration. Or, if we hold the circles of 
 Gothic and Scandinavian origin, she might have seemed a 
 descended vision of Freya, the spouse of the Thundering 
 Deity, before whom some bold sea-king or champion bent 
 with an awe which no mere mortal terror could have inflicted 
 upon him. Brenda, overwhelmed with inexpressible fear and 
 
THE PIRATE. 423 
 
 doubt, remained a pace or two behind, an:tiously observing 
 
 the motions of Cleveland, and attending to nothing around 
 save to him and to her sister. 
 
 Cleveland approached within two yards of jMinna, and bent 
 his head to the ground. There was a dead pause, until Minna 
 said, in a firm but melancholy tone, '* Unhappy man, why 
 didst thou seek this aggravation of our woe? Depart in peace, 
 and may Heaven direct thee tO' a better course than that which 
 thy life has yet held! " 
 
 " Heaven will not aid me," said Cleveland, " exeepting by 
 your voice. I came hither rude and wild, scarce knowing 
 that my trade — my desperate trade, was more criminal in the 
 sight of man or of Heaven than that of those privateers whom 
 your law acknowledges. I was bred in it, and, but for the 
 wishes you have encouraged me to form, 1 should have per- 
 haps died in it, desperate and impenitent. Oh, do not throw 
 me from you! let me do something to redeem what I 
 have done amiss, and do not leave your own work half 
 finished! " 
 
 " Cleveland," said Minna, " I will not reproach you \nth 
 abusing my inexperience, or with availing yourself of those 
 delusions which the credulity of early youth had flung around 
 me, and wliich led me to confound your fatal course of life 
 with the deeds of our ancient heroes. Alas, when I saw your 
 followers that illusion was no more! but I do not upbraid you 
 with its having existed. Go, Cleveland; detach yourself from 
 those miserable wretches with whom you are associated, and 
 believe me that, if Heaven yet gi-ants you the means of dis- 
 tinguishing your name by one good or glorious action, there 
 are eyes left in these lonely islands that will weep as much 
 for joy as — as — they must now do for soitow." 
 
 "And is this all?" said Cleveland; "and may I not hope 
 that, if I extricate myself from my present associates; if 1 can 
 gain my pardon by being as bold in the right as I have been 
 too often in the wrong cause; if, after a term, I care not how 
 long, but still a term which may have an end, I can boast of 
 having redeemed my fame, may I not — may I not hope that 
 Minna may forgive what my God and my country shall have 
 pardoned ? " 
 
 " Never, Cleveland — never! " said Minna, with the utmost 
 firmness; " on this spot we part, and part forever, and 
 part without longer indulgence. Think of me as of one dead, 
 if you continue as you now are; but if, which may Heaven 
 grant, you change your fatal course, think of me then as 
 
424 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 one whose morning and evening prayers will be for you:>* 
 happiness, though she has lost her own. Farewell, Cleve- 
 land!" 
 
 He kneeled, overpowered by his own bitter feelings, to take 
 the hand which she held out to him, and in that instant his 
 confidant Bunce, starting from behind one of the large up- 
 right pillars, liis eyes wet with tears, exclaimed: 
 
 " Never saw such a parting scene on any stage! But I'll be 
 d d if you make your exit as you expect! " 
 
 And so saying, ere Cleveland could employ either remon- 
 strance or resistance, and indeed before he could get upon his 
 feet, he easily secured him by pulling him down on his back, 
 8o that two or three of the boat's crew seized him by the arms 
 and legs, and began to hurry him toward the lake. Minna 
 and Brenda shrieked, and attempted to fly; but Derrick 
 snatched up the former with as much ease as a falcon pounces 
 on a pigeon, while Bunce, with an oath or two which were 
 intended to be of a consolatory nature, seized on Brenda; and 
 the whole party, vnih. two or three of the other pirates, who, 
 stealing from the water-side, had accompanied them on the 
 ambuscade, began hastily to run toward the boat, which was 
 left in charge of two of their number. Their course, how- 
 ever, was unexpectedly interrupted, and their criminal pur- 
 pose entirely frustrated. 
 
 When Mordaunt Mertoun had turned out his guard in arms, 
 it was \nih the natural purpose of watching over the safety 
 of the two sisters. They had accordingly closely observed the 
 motions of the pirates, and when they saw so many of them 
 leave the boat and steal toward the place of rendezvous 
 assigned to Cleveland, they naturally suspected treachery, and 
 by cover of an old hollow way or trench, which perhaps had 
 anciently been connected wdth the monumental circle, they 
 had thrown themselves unperceived between the pirates and 
 their boat. At the cries of the sisters, they started up and 
 placed "themselves in the way of the ruffians, presenting their 
 pieces, which, notwithstanding, they dared not fire for fear 
 of hurting the young ladies, secured as they were in the rude 
 grasp of the mauraders. Mordaunt, however, advanced with 
 the i=peed of a wild deer on Bunce, who, loth to quit his prey, 
 yet unable to defend himself othenWse, turned to this side and 
 that alternately, exposing Brenda to the blows which Mor- 
 daunt offered at him. This defense, however, proved in vain 
 against a youth possessed of the lightest foot and most active 
 hand ever known in Zetland, and, after a feint or two, Mor- 
 
THE PIRATE. 425 
 
 daunt broug'ht the pirate to the ground with a stroke from the 
 butt of the carabine, whicli he dared not use otherwise. At 
 the same time firearms were discharged on either side 
 by those who were liable to no such cause of for- 
 bearance, and the pirates w^ho had hold of Cleveland 
 dropped him, naturally enough, to provide for their 
 own defense or retreat. But they only added to the 
 numbers of their enemies; for, Cleveland, perceiving j\Iinna 
 in the arms of Derrick, snatched her from the ruffian 
 with one hand, and with the other shot him dead on the spot. 
 Two or three more of the pirates fell or were taken, the rest 
 fled to their boat, pushed off, then turned their broadside to 
 the shore, and fired repeatedly on the Orcadian party, which 
 they returned, ^dth little injury on either side. Meanwhile 
 Mordaunt, having first seen that the sisters were at liberty and 
 in full flight toward the house, advanced on Cleveland with 
 his cutlass drawn. The pirate presented a pistol, and calling 
 out at the same time, '" ]\Iordaunt, I never missed my aim," he 
 flred into the air, and threw it into the lake; then drew his 
 cutlass, brandished it round his head, and flung that also as 
 far as his arm could send it, in the same direction. Yet such 
 was the universal belief of his personal strength and resources, 
 that Mordaunt still used precaution, as, advancing on Cleve- 
 land, he asked if he surrendered. 
 
 " I surrender to no man," said the pirate captain; "■ but you 
 may see I have thrown away my weapons." 
 
 He was immediately seized by some of the Orcadians with- 
 out his offering any resistance; but the instant interference 
 of Mordaunt prevented his being roughly treated or bound. 
 The Adctors conducted him to a well-secured upper apartmeni 
 in the House of Stennis, and placed a sentinel at the door. 
 Bunce and Fletcher, both of whom had been stretched on the 
 field during the skirmish, were lodged in the same chamber; 
 and two prisoners, who appeared of lower rank, were con- 
 fined in a vault belonging to the mansion. 
 
 "Without pretending to describe the joy of Magnus Troil. 
 who, when awakened by the noise and firing, found his 
 daughters safe and his enemy a prisoner, we shall only say, it 
 was so great that he forgot, for the time at least, to inquire 
 what circumstances were those which had placed them in 
 danger; that he hugged Mordaunt to his breast a thousand 
 times, as their preserver; and swore as often by the bones of 
 his sainted namesake that, if he had a thousand daughters, so 
 
426 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 tight a lad and so true a friend should have the choice of 
 them, let Lady Glowrowrum say what she would. 
 
 A very different scene was passing in the prison-chamber 
 of the unfortunate Cleveland and his associates. The captain 
 sat by the window, his eyes bent on the prospect of the sea 
 which it presented, and was seemingly so intent on it as to be 
 insensible of the presence of the others. Jack Bunce stood 
 meditating some ends of verse, in order to make his advances 
 toward a reconciliation with Cleveland; for he began to be 
 sensible, from the consequences, that the part he had playel 
 toward his captain, however well intended, was neither lucky 
 in its issue nor likely to be well taken. His admirer and ad 
 herent, Fletcher, lay half asleep, as it seemed, on a truckle- 
 bed in the room, without the least attempt to interfere in the 
 conversation which ensued. 
 
 " Nay. but speak to me, Clement," said the penitent lieu- 
 tenant, " if it be but to swear at me for my stupidity! 
 
 " What! not an oath? Nay, then the world goes hard, 
 If Clifford cannot spare his friends an oatli." 
 
 "I prithee peace, and begone!" said Cleveland; "I have 
 one bosom friend left yet, and you will make be bestow its 
 contents on you or on myself." 
 
 " I have it! " said Bunce — " I have it! " and on he went in 
 the vein of Jaffeir — 
 
 " Then, by the hell I merit, I'll not leave thee, 
 Till to thyself at least thou'rt reconciled. 
 However thy resentment deal with mel " 
 
 " I pray you once more to be silent," said Cleveland. " Is 
 it not enough that you have undone me with your treachery, 
 but you must stun me wath your silly buffoonery? I would 
 not have believed you would have lifted a finger against me, 
 Jack, of any man or devil in yonder unhappy ship." 
 
 " Who, I? " exclaimed Bunce. " I lift a finger against you! 
 and if I did, it was in pure love, and to make you the happ'est 
 fellow that ever trode a deck, with your mistress beside you, 
 and fifty fine fellows at your command. Here is Dick 
 Fletcher can bear witness I did all for the best, if he would 
 but speak, instead of lolloping there like a Dutch dogger laid 
 up to be careened. Get up, Dick, and speak for me, won't 
 you?" 
 
 " Why, yes. Jack Bunce," answered Fletcher, raising him- 
 self with difficulty, and speaking feebly, " I will if I can. and 
 I always knew you" spoke and did for the best; but howsom- 
 
THE PIRATE. 427 
 
 dever, d'ye see, it has turned out for the worst for me this 
 time, for I am bleeding to death, I think." 
 
 '' You cannot be sucli an ass! " said Jaclv Ikmce, springing 
 to his assistance, as did Cleveland. But human aid came too 
 late: he sunk back on the bed, and, turning on his face, ex- 
 pired without a groan. 
 
 " 1 always thought him a d d fool," said Bunce, as he 
 
 wiped a tear from his eye, '' but never such a consummate 
 idiot as to hop the perch so sillily. 1 have lost the best fol- 
 lower " and he again wiped his eye. 
 
 Cleveland looked on the dead body, the rugged features of 
 which had remained unaltered by the death-pang. " A bull- 
 dog," he said, " of the true British breed, and, with a belicr 
 counselor, would have been a better man." 
 
 " You may say that of some other folks, too, captain, if 
 you are minded to do them justice," said Bunce. 
 
 " I may indeed, and especially of yourself," said Cleveland 
 in reply. 
 
 " Why then, say, ' Jack, I forgive you,' " said Bunce; " it's 
 but a short word, and soon spoken." 
 
 " I forgive you from all my soul, Jack," said Cleveland, 
 who had resumed his situation at the window; " and ihe 
 rather that your folly is of little consequence: the morning 
 is come that must bring ruin on us all." 
 
 " What! 3'OU are thinking of the old woman's prophecy you 
 spoke of? " said Bunce. 
 
 " It will soon be accomplished," answered Cleveland. 
 " Come hither; what do you take yon large, square-rigged 
 vessel for, that you see doubling the headland on the east, 
 and opening the Bay of Stromness?" 
 
 " Why, I can't make her well out," said Bunce, " but yon- 
 der is old Goffe takes her for a West Indiaman loaded with 
 
 rum and sugar, I suppose, for d n me if he does not slip 
 
 cable and stand out to her! " 
 
 " Instead of running into the shoal-water, which was his 
 only safety," said Cleveland. "The fool! the dotard! the 
 driveling, drunken idiot! he will get his flip hot enough; for 
 yon is the ' Halcyon.' See, she hoists her colors and fires a 
 broadside! ajid there will soon be an end of the ' Fortune's 
 Favorite'! I only hope they ydW fight her to the last p'ank. 
 The boatswain used to be stanch enough, and so is Gotie. 
 though an incarnate demon. Now she shoots away, with all 
 the sail she can spread, and that shows some sense." 
 
 " Up goes the Jolly Hodge, the old black flag, with the 
 
*38 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 death's-head and the hour-glass, and that shows some spunk," 
 added his comrade. 
 
 " Tlie hour-glass is turned for us, Jack, for this bout; our 
 sand is running fast. Fire away yet, my roving lads! The 
 deep sea or the blue sky rather than a rope and a yard-arm! " 
 There was a moment of anxious and dead silence; the sloop, 
 though hard pressed, maintaining still a running tight, and 
 the frigate continuing in full chase, but scarce returning a 
 shot. At length the vessels neared each other, so as to show 
 that the man-of-war intended to board the sloop, instead of 
 sinking her, probably to secure the plunder which might be 
 in the pirate vessel. 
 
 " Now, Goffe — now, boatswain! " exclaimed Cleveland in an 
 ecstacy of impatience, and as if they could have heard his 
 commands, " stand by the sheets and tacks — rake her with a 
 broadside, when you are under her bows, then about ship, and 
 go off on the other tack like a wild goose. The sails shiver — 
 the helm's a-lee. Ah! deep sea sink the lubbers! they miss 
 stays, and the frigate runs them aboard! " 
 
 Accordingly, the vaiious maneuvers of the chase had 
 brought them so near that Cleveland, \\dth his spyglass, could 
 see the man-of-war's-men boarding by the yards and bow- 
 sprit, in irresistible numbers, their naked cutlasses flashing in 
 the sun, when, at that critical moment, both ships were en- 
 veloped in a cloud of thick black smoke, which suddenly aro3e 
 on board the captured pirate. 
 
 " ' Exeunt omnes! ' " said Bimce, with clasped hands. 
 " There went the ' Fortune's Favorite,' ship and crew! " 
 said Cleveland, at the same instant. 
 
 But the smoke immediately clearing away, showed that the 
 damage had only been partial, and that, from want of a suffi- 
 cient quantity of powder, the pirates had failed in their des- 
 perate attempt to blow up their vessel with the ' Halcyon.' 
 Shortly after the action was over, Captain Weatherport of 
 the ' Halcyon ' sent an officer and a party of marines to the 
 House of Stennis, to demand from the little garrison the 
 pirate seamen who were their prisoners, and, in particular. 
 Cleveland and Bunce, who acted as captain and lieutenant of 
 the gang. 
 
 This was a demand which was not to be resisted, though 
 Magnus Troil could have wished sincerely that the roof under 
 which he lived had been allowed as an asylum at least to 
 Cleveland. But the officer's orders were peremptory; and he 
 added, it was Captain Weatherport's intention to land the 
 
THE PIRATE. 429 
 
 other prisoners, and send the whole, with a sufficient escort, 
 across the island to Kirkwall, in order to undergo an ex- 
 amination there before the civil authorities, previous to their 
 being sent off to London for trial at the High Court of 
 Admiralty. Magnus could therefore only intercede for good 
 usage to Cleveland, and that he might not be stripped or 
 plundered, which the officer, struck by his good mien, and 
 compassionating his situation, readily promised. The honest 
 Udaller would have said something in the way of comfort to 
 Cleveland himself, but he could not find words to express it, 
 and only shook his head. 
 
 " Old friend," said Cleveland, " you may have much to 
 complain of, yet you pity instead of exulting over me; for the 
 sake of you and yours, I will never harm human being more. 
 Take this from me — my last hope, but my last temptation 
 also "; he drew from his bosom a pocket-pistol, and gave it 
 
 to Magnus Troil. " Eemember me to But no, let 
 
 everyone forget me. I am your prisoner, sir," said he to the 
 officer. 
 
 " And I also," said poor Bunce; and putting on a theatrical 
 countenance, he ranted, with no very perceptible faltering in 
 his tone, the words of Pierre: 
 
 " Captain, you should be a gentleman of honor; 
 Keep off the rabble, that I may have room 
 To entertain my fate, and die with decency." 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Joy, joy, in London now! 
 
 — SOUTHKY. 
 
 The news of the capture of the rover reached Kirkwall 
 about an hour before noon, and filled all men with wonder 
 and with joy. Little business was that day done at the fair, 
 whilst people of all ages and occupations streamed from the 
 place to see the prisoners as they were marched toward Kirk- 
 wall, and to triumph in the different appearance which they 
 now bore from that which they had formerly exhibited when 
 ranting, swaggering, and bullying in the streets of that town. 
 The bayonets of the marines were soon seen to glisten in the 
 sun, and then came on the melancholy troop of captives, 
 handcuffed two and two together. Their finery had been 
 partly torn from them by their captors, partly hung in rags 
 about them; many were wounded and covered with blood, 
 many blackened and scorched with the explosion by which a 
 few of the most desperate had in vain striven to blow up the 
 vessel. Most of them seemed sullen and impenitent, some 
 were more becomingly affected with their condition, and a 
 few braved it out, and sung the same ribald songs to which 
 they had made the streets of Kirkwall ring when they were 
 in their frolics. 
 
 The boatswain and Goffe, coupled together, exhausted 
 themselves in threats and imprecations against each other; the 
 former charging Goffe with want of seamanship, and the latter 
 alleging that the boatswain had prevented him from firing 
 the powder that was stowed forward, and so sending them all 
 to the other world together. Last came Cleveland and Bunce, 
 who were permitted to walk unshackled; the decent melan- 
 choly, yet resolved manner, of the former contrasting strongly 
 with the stage strut and swagger which poor Jack thought it 
 fitting to apsnme. in order to conceal some less dignified emo- 
 tions. The former was looked upon with compassion, the 
 latter with a mixture of scorn and pity; while most of the 
 others inspired horror, and even fear, by their looks and their 
 lano-uage. 
 
 There was one individual in Kirkwall who was so far from 
 hastening to see the sight which attracted all eyes, that he 
 
 430 
 
THE PIRATE. 431 
 
 was not even aware of the event which agitated the town. 
 This was the elder Mertoun, whose residence Kirkwall had 
 been for two or three days, part of which had been spent in 
 attending to some judicial proceedings, undertaken at the in- 
 stance of the procurator-fiscal, against that grave professor, 
 Bryce Snailsfoot. In consequence of an inquisition into the 
 proceetlings of this worthy trader, Cleveland's chest, with his 
 papers and other matters therein contained, had been restore 1 
 to Mertoun, as the lawful custodier thereof, until the right 
 owner should be in a situation to establish his right to them. 
 Mertoun was at first desirous to throw back upon justice the 
 charge which she was disposed to intrust him with; but, on 
 perusing one or two of the papers, he hastily changed his 
 mind — in broken words, requested the magistrate to let the 
 chest be sent to his lodgings, and, hastening homeward, bolted 
 himself into the room, to consider and digest the singular in- 
 formation which chance had thus conveyed to him, and which 
 increased, in a tenfold degree, his impatience for an inter- 
 view with the mysterious Noma of the Fitful Head. 
 
 It may be remembered that she had required of him, when 
 they met in the churchyard of St. Ninian, to attend in the 
 outer aisle of the cathedral of St. Magnus, at the hour of noon, 
 on the fifth day of the fair of St. 011a, there to meet a per- 
 son by whom the fate of Mordaunt would be explained to 
 him. " It must be herself," he said; " and that I should see 
 her at this moment is indispensable. How to find her soonei- 
 I know not; and better lose a few hours even in this exigence 
 than offend her by a premature attempt to force myself on 
 her presence." 
 
 Long, therefore, before noon — long before the town of 
 Kirkwall was agitated by the news of the events on the other 
 side of the island, the elder Mertoun w^as pacing the deserted 
 aisle of the cathedral, awaiting, with agonizing eagerness, the 
 expected communication from Noma. The bell tolled twelve 
 — no door opened — no one was seen to enter the cathedral; 
 but the last sounds had not ceased to reverberate through the 
 vaulted roof when, gliding from one of the interior side-aisles. 
 Noma stood before him. Mertoun, indifferent to the appar- 
 ent mystery of her sudden approach (with the secret of which 
 the reader is acquainted), went up to her at once, with the 
 earnest ejaculation—" Ulla— Ulla Troil, aid me to save our 
 unhappy boy! " 
 
 "To Ulla Troil," said Noma, "I answer not: I gave that 
 name to the winds on the night that cost me a father! " 
 
*82 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 "Speak not of that night of horror," said Mertoun; "we 
 have need of our reason — let us not think on recollections 
 which may destroy it; but aid me, if thou canst, to save our 
 unfortunate child ! " 
 
 " Vaughan," answered ISTorna, " he is already saved — long 
 since saved; think you a mother's hand — and that of such a 
 mother as I am — would await your crawling, tardy, ineffec- 
 tual assistance? No, Vaughan, I made myself known to you 
 but to show my triumph over you: it is the only revenge which 
 the powerful Noma permits herself to take for the wrongs of 
 Ulla Troil." 
 
 " Have you indeed saved him — saved him from the mur- 
 derous crew?" said Mordaunt [Mertoun], or Vaughan — 
 "speak! and spealv truth! I will believe everjihing — all you 
 would require me to assent to! — prove to me only he is 
 escaped and safe! " 
 
 " Escaped and safe, by my means," said Noma — " safe, and 
 in assurance of an honored and happy alliance. Yes, great 
 unbeliever! — yes. wise and self-opinioned infidel! these were 
 the works of Noma! I knew you many a year since; but 
 never had I made myself known to you save with the triumph- 
 ant consciousness of having controlled the destiny that threat- 
 ened my son. All combined against him: planets which 
 threatened drowning — combinations which menaced blood; 
 but my skill was superior to all. I arranged — I combined — • 
 I found means — I made them — each disaster has been 
 averted; and what infidel on earth, or stubborn demon beyond 
 the bounds of earth, shall hereafter deny my power? " 
 
 The wild ecstacy with which she spoke so much resembled 
 triumphant insanity that Mertoun answered: "Were your 
 pretensions less lofty, and your speech more plain, I should 
 be better assured of my son's safety." 
 
 "Doubt on, vain skeptic!" said Noma. "And yet know, 
 that not only is our son safe, but vengeance is mine, though 
 I sought it not — vengeance on the powerful implement of the 
 darker Influences by whom my schemes were so often 
 thwarted, and even the life of my son endangered. Yes, take 
 it as a gtiarantee of the truth of my speech that Clevelnnd — 
 the pirate Cleveland — even now enters Kirkwall as a prisoner. 
 and will soon expiate with his life the having shed blood 
 which is of kin to Noma's." 
 
 " Who didst thou say was prisoner? " exclaimed Mertoun, 
 with a voice of thunder — " irh'^. woman, didst thou sav 
 should expiate his crimes with Ms life? " 
 
THE PIRATE. 433 
 
 "Cleveland — the pirate Cleveland!" answered Noma: 
 " and by me, whose counsel he scorned, he has been permitted 
 to meet his fate." 
 
 " Thou most wretched of women! " said Mertoun, speak- 
 ing from between his clenched teeth, " thou hast slain thy son 
 as well as thy father! " 
 
 " My son! what son? what mean you? Mordaunt is your 
 son — your only son! " exclaimed Noma, " is he not? — tel! me 
 quickly, is he not? " 
 
 " Mordaunt is indeed my son," said Mordaunt; " the laws, 
 at least, gave him to me as such. But, oh, unhappy Ullal 
 Cleveland is your son as well as mine — blood of our Wood, 
 bone of our bone; and if you have given him to death, I will 
 end my wretched life along with him! " 
 
 "Stay — hold — stop, Vaughan! " said Noma; "I am not 
 yet overcome — prove but to me the truth of what you say, I 
 would tind help, if I should evoke hell! But prove your 
 words, else believe them I cannot." 
 
 " Thou help, wretched, overweening woman! In what have 
 thy combinations and thy stratagems — the legerdemain of 
 lunacy — the mere quackery of insanity — in what have these 
 involved thee? And yet I will speak to thee as reasonable — 
 nay, I vnW admit thee as powerful. Hear, then, Ulla, the 
 proofs which you demand, and find a remedy, if thou canst: 
 
 " When I fled from Orkney," he continued, after a pause^^ 
 " it is now five-and-twenty years since — I bore with me the 
 unhappy offspring to whom you had given light. It was sent 
 to me by one of your kinswomen, with an account of your 
 illness, which was soon followed by a generally received bplief 
 of your death. It avails not to tell in what misery I left 
 Europe. I found refuge in Hispaniola, wherein a fair young 
 Spaniard undertook the task of comforter. I married her; 
 she became mother of the youth called Mordaunt Mertoun." 
 
 " You married her! " said Noma, in a tone of deep re- 
 proach. 
 
 "I did, Ulla," answered Mertoun: "but you were avenged. 
 She proved faithless, and her infidelity left me in doubts 
 whether the child she bore had a right to call me father. But 
 I also was avenged." 
 
 " You murdered her! " said Noma, with a dreadful shriek. 
 
 "I did that," said Mertoun. without a more direct reply, 
 " which made an instant flisfht from Hispaniola necessiry. 
 Your son I carried with me to Tortuga, where we had a small 
 settlement. Mordaunt Vaughan, my son by marriage, about 
 
-484 WAVBBLEY NOVELS. 
 
 three or four years younger, was residing in Port Eoyal, for 
 the advantages of an English education. I resolved never 
 to see him again, but I continued to support him. Our set- 
 tlement was plundered by the Spaniards when Clement was 
 but fifteen. Want came to aid despair and a troubled con- 
 science. I became a corsair, and involved Clement in the same 
 desperate trade. His skill and bravery, though then a mere 
 boy, gained him a separate command; and after a lapse of two 
 or three years, while we were on different cruises, my crew 
 rose on me, and left me for dead on the beach of one of the 
 Bermudas. I recovered, however, and my first inquiries, after 
 a tedious illness, were after Clement. He, 1 heard, had been 
 also marooned by a rebellious crew, and put ashore on a des- 
 ert islet, to perish with want. I believed he had so perished." 
 
 •'And what assures you that he did not?" said Ulla; "or 
 how comes this Cleveland to be identified with Vaughau? " 
 
 " To change a name is common with such adventurers," 
 answered Mertoun; "and Clement had apparently found that 
 of Vaughan had become too notorious; and this change, in his 
 case, prevented me from hearing any tidings of him. It was 
 then that remorse seized me, and that, detesting all nature, 
 but especially the sex to which Louisa belonged, I resolved to 
 do penance in the wild islands of Zetland for the rest of my 
 life. To subject myself to fasts and to the scourge was the 
 ajjvice of the holy Catholic priests whom I consulted. But I 
 devised a nobler penance: I determined to bring with me the 
 unhappy boy Mordaunt, and to keep always before me the 
 living memorial of my misery and my guilt. I have done so, 
 and I have thought over both till reason has often trembled 
 on her throne. And now, to drive me to utter madness, my 
 Clement — my own, my undoubted son — revives from the dead 
 to be consigned to an infamous death by the machinations of 
 his own mother! " 
 
 " Away — away! " said Noma, with a laugh, when she had 
 heard the story to an end, " this is a legend framed by the old 
 corsair to interest my aid in favor of a guilty comrade. How 
 could I mistake Mordaunt for my son, their ages being so 
 different? " 
 
 " The dark complexion and manly stature may have done 
 much," said Basil Mertoun; "strong imagination must have 
 done the rest." 
 
 " But give me proofs — give me proofs that this Cleveland 
 is my son, and, believe me, this sun shall sooner sink in the 
 east than they shall have power to harm a hair of his head." 
 
THE PIRATE. 435 
 
 ''These papers — these journals," said Mertoun, offering the 
 pocket-book. 
 
 " I cannot read them," she said, after an effort: " my brain 
 is dizzy." 
 
 " Clement had also tokens -n-hich you may remember, bur 
 they must have become the booty of his captors. He had a 
 silver box with a Eunic inscription, with which in far other 
 days you presented me — a golden chaplet." 
 
 " A box! " said Noma, hastily. " Cleveland gave me one 
 but a day since; I have never looked at it till now." 
 
 Eagerly she pulled it out, eagerly examined the legend 
 around the lid, and as eagerly exclaimed: "They may now 
 indeed call me Eeim-kennar, for by this rhyme I know my- 
 self murderess of my son as well as of my father! " 
 
 The conviction of the strong delusion under which she had 
 labored was so overwhelming that she sunk down at the foot 
 of one of the pillars. Mertoun shouted for help, though in 
 despair of receiving any; the sexton, however, entered, and, 
 hopeless of all assistance from Noma, the distracted father 
 rushed out, to learn, if possible, the fate of his son. 
 
CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 Go, some of you, cry a reprieve! 
 
 — Beggar's Opera. 
 
 Captain Weatheepoet had, before this time, reached 
 Kirkwall in person, and was received with great joy and 
 thankfulness by the magistrates, who had assembled in coun- 
 cil for the purpose. The provost, in particular, expressed 
 himself delighted with the providential arrival of the 
 " Halcyon " at the very conjuncture when the pirate could 
 not escape her. The captain looked a little sui-prised, and 
 said, " For that, sir, you may thank the information you your- 
 self supplied." 
 
 " That I supplied? " said the provost, somewhat astonished. 
 
 " Yes, sir," answered Captain Weatherport, " I understand 
 you to be George Torfe, chief magistrate of Kirkwall, who 
 subscribes this letter." 
 
 The astonished provost took the letter addressed to Cap- 
 tain Weatherport of the " Halcyon," stating the arrival, force, 
 etc., of the pirates' vessel; but adding, that they had heard of 
 the " Halcyon " being on the coast, and that they were on 
 their guard and ready to baffle her, by going among the 
 shoals, and through the islands and holms, where the frigate 
 could not easily follow; and, at the worst, they were desper- 
 ate enough to propose running the sloop ashore and blowing 
 her up, by which much booty and treasure would be lost to 
 the captors. The letter, therefore, suggested that the 
 " Halcyon " should cruise betwixt Duncansbay Head and 
 Cape Wrath for two or three days, to relieve the pirates of the 
 alarm her neighborhood occasioned, and lull them into se- 
 curity, the more especially as the letter-writer knew it to be 
 their intention, if the frigate left the coast, to go into Strom- 
 ness Bay, and there put their guns ashore for some necessary 
 repairs, or even for careening their vessel, if they could find 
 means. The letter concluded by assuring Captain Weather- 
 port that, if he could bring his frigate into Stromness Bay 
 on the morning of the 24th of August, he would have a good 
 bargain of the pirates; if sooner, he was not unlikely to miss 
 them. 
 
 " This letter is not of my writing or subscribing. Captain 
 
THE PIRATE. 437 
 
 Weatherport," said the provost; " nor would I have ventured 
 to advise any delay in your coming hither." 
 
 The captain was surprised in his turn. " All I know is, 
 that it reached me when I was in the l>ay of Thurso, and that 
 I gave the boat's crew that brought it hve dollars for crossing 
 the Pentland Firth in very rough weather. They had a dumb 
 dwarf as coxswain, the ugliest urchin my eyes ever opened 
 upon. I give you much credit for the accuracy of your in- 
 telligence, Mr. Provost." 
 
 " It is lucky as it is," said the provost; " yet I question 
 whether the writer of this letter would not rather that you 
 had found the nest cold and the bird flown." 
 
 So saying he handed the letter to ]\Iagnus Troil, who re- 
 turned it \vith a smile, but without any observation, aware, 
 doubtless, with the sagacious reader, that Noma had her own 
 reasons for calculating with accuracy on the date of the 
 " Halcyon's " arrival. 
 
 Without puzzling himself farther concerning a circum- 
 stance which seemed inexplicable, the captain requested that 
 the examinations might proceed; and Cleveland and Alta- 
 mont, as he chose to be called, were brought up the first of the 
 pirate crew, on the charge of having acted as captain and 
 lieutenant. They had just commenced the examination 
 when, after some expostulation with the officers who kept the 
 door, Basil Mertoun burst into the apartment and exclaimed: 
 " TaJce the old victim for the young one! I am Basil 
 Vaughan, too well known on the Windward station — take my 
 life, and spare my son's! " 
 
 All were astonished, and none more than Magnus Troil, 
 who hastily explained to the magistrates and Captain 
 Weatherport that this gentleman had been living peaceably 
 and honestly on the Mainland of Zetland for many years. 
 
 " In that case," said the captain, " I wash my hands of the 
 poor man, for he is safe, under two proclamations of mercy; 
 and, by my soul, when I see them, the father and his offspring, 
 hanging on each other's neck, I wish I could say as much for 
 the son." 
 
 " But how is it — how can it be? " said the provost; " we 
 always called the old man Mertoun. and the young Cleveland, 
 and now it seems they are both named Vaughan." 
 
 " Vaughan," answered Magnus, " is the name which I 
 have some reason to remember; and, from what I have lately 
 heard from my cousin Noma, that old man has a right to 
 bear it." 
 
438 WAVERLE7 NOVELS. 
 
 " And, I trust, the young man also," said the captain, who 
 had been looking over a memorandum. " Listen to me a 
 moment," added he, addressing the younger Vaughan, whom 
 we have hitherto called Cleveland. " Hark you, sir, your 
 name is said to be Clement Vaughan — are you the same who, 
 then a mere boy, commanded a party of rovers, who, about 
 eight or nine years ago, pillaged a Spanish village called 
 Quempoa, on the Spanish Main, with the purpose of seizing 
 some treasure? " 
 
 " It will avail me nothing to deny it," answered the 
 prisoner. 
 
 " No," said Captain Weatherport, " but it may do you serv 
 ice to admit it. Well, the muleteers escaped with the treas- 
 ure, while you were engaged in protecting, at the hazard of 
 your ow^n life, the honor of two Spanish ladies against the 
 brutality of your followers. Do you remember anything of 
 this?" 
 
 " I am sure I do," said Jack Bunce; " for our captain here 
 was marooned for his gallantry, and I narrowly escaped flog- 
 ging and pickliDg for having taken his part." 
 
 " When these points are established," said Captain Weather- 
 port, " Vaughan's life is safe: the women he saved were per- 
 sons of quality, daughters to the governor of the province, 
 and application was long since made by the grateful Span- 
 iard to our government for favor to be shown to their pre- 
 server. I had special orders about Clement Vaughan when I 
 had a commission for cruising upon the pirates, in the West 
 Indies, six or seven years since. But Vaughan was gone then 
 as a name amongst them; and I heard enough of Cleveland in 
 his room. However, captain, be you Cleveland or Vaughan, 
 I think that, as the Quempoa hero, I can assure you a free 
 pardon when you arrive in London." 
 
 Cleveland bowed, and the blood mounted to his face. 
 Mertoun fell on his knees and exhausted himself in thanks- 
 giving to Heaven. They were removed, amidst the sympa- 
 thizing sobs of the spectators. 
 
 " And now, good Master Lieutenant, what have you got to 
 say for yourself?" said Captain Weatherport to the 'ci-de- 
 vant ' Roscius. 
 
 " Why, little or nothing, please your honor; only that I 
 wish your honor could find my name in that book of mercy 
 you have in your hand; for I stood by Captain Clement 
 Vaughan in that Quempoa business." 
 
 " You call yourself Frederick Altamont," said Captain 
 
THE PIRATE. 439 
 
 Weatherjjort. "I can see no such name here; one John 
 -Bounce, or Bunco, the lady put on her tablets.'' 
 
 " Why, that is me— that is I myself, captain — 1 can prove it; 
 and 1 am determined, though the sound be something ple- 
 beian, rather to live Jack Bunee than to hang as Frederick 
 Altamont." 
 
 " In that case," said the captain, " I can give you some 
 hopes as John Bunce." 
 
 '' Thank your noble worship! " shouted Bunce; then cliang- 
 ing his tone, he said, "' Ah, since an alias has such virtue, pour 
 Dick Fletcher might have come off as Timothy Tugniutlon; 
 but howsomdever, d'ye see, to use his own phrase '' 
 
 " Away with the lieutenant," said the captain, " and bring 
 forwai'd Goffe and the other fellows; there Avill be ropes 
 reeved for some of them, I think," and this prediction prom- 
 ised to be amply fulfilled, so strong was the proof which was 
 brought against them. 
 
 The " Halcyon " was accordingly ordered round to carry 
 the whole prisoners to London, for which she set sail in the 
 course of two days. 
 
 During the time that the unfortunate Cleveland remaim d 
 at Kirkwall, he was treated with civility by the captain of the 
 " Halcyon "; and the kindness of his old acquaintance. Mag- 
 nus Troil, who knew in secret how closely he was allied to his 
 blood, pressed on him accommodations of every kind, more 
 than he could be prevailed on to accept. 
 
 Noma, whose interest in the unhappy prisoner was still 
 more deep, was at this time unable to express it. The sexton 
 had found her l.ying on the ]3avement in a swoon, and when 
 she recovered, her mind for the time had totally lost its equi- 
 poise and it became necessary to place her under the restraint 
 of watchful attendants. 
 
 Of the sisters of Burgh- Westra, Cleveland only heard that 
 they remained ill, in consequence of the fright to which they 
 had been subjected, until the evening before the " Halcyon " 
 sailed, when he received, by a private conveyance, the follow- 
 ing billet: " Farewell, Cleveland; we part forever, and it is 
 right that vre should. Be virtuous and be happy. The de- 
 lusions which a solitary education and limited acquaintan"- 
 with the modern world had spread around me are gone and 
 dissipated forever. But in you, I am sure, I have been tl- us 
 far free from error, that you are one to wliom good is nai-:: 
 rally more attracti\e than evil, and whom only necessity, ex- 
 ample, and habit have forced into your late course of life 
 
440 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 Think of me as one who no longer exists, unless you should 
 become as much the object of general praise as now of general 
 reproach; and then think of me as one who will rejoice in 
 your reviving fame, though she must never see you more! " 
 The note was signed " M. T."; and Cleveland, with a deep 
 emotion, which he testified even by tears, read it an hundred 
 times over, and then clasped it to his bosom. 
 
 Mordaunt Mertoun heard by letter from his father, but in 
 a very different style. Basil bade him farewell forever, and 
 acquitted him henceforward of the duties of a son, as one on 
 whom he, notwithstandi'\^ the exertions of many years, had 
 found himself unable to bestow the affections of a parent. 
 The letter informed him of a recess in the old house of Jarls- 
 hof, in which the wTiter had deposited a considerable quantity 
 of specie and of treasure, which he desired ]\Iordaunt to use 
 as his own. " You need not fear," the letter bore, " either 
 that you lay yourself under obligation to me or that you are 
 sharing the spoils of piracy. What is now given over to you 
 is almost entirely the property of your deceased mother, 
 Louisa Gonzago, and is yours by every right. Let us forgivo 
 each other," was the conclusion, " as they who must meet no 
 more." And they never met more; for the elder Mertoun, 
 against whom no charge was ever preferred, disappeared after 
 the fate of Cleveland was determined, and was generally be- 
 lieved to have retired into a foreign convent. 
 
 The fate of Cleveland will be most briefly expressed in a 
 letter which Minna received within two months after the 
 " Halcvon " left Kirkwall. The family w^ere then assembled 
 at Burgh-Westra. and Mordaunt was a member of it for the 
 time, the good Ldaller thinking he could never suffieiently 
 repay the activity which he had shown in the defense of his 
 daughters. Noma, then beginning to recover from her 
 temporary alienation of mind, was a guest in the family, 
 and Minna, who was sedulous in her attention upon this un- 
 fortunate victim of mental delusion, was seated with her, 
 watching each sATnptom of returning reason, when the letter 
 we allude to was placed in her hands. 
 
 "Minna," it said — "dearest Minna! farewell, and forever! 
 Believe me, I never meant you wrong — never. From th'^ mo- 
 ment I came to know you, I resolved to detach myself from 
 my hateful comrades, "and had framed a thousand schemes. 
 which have proved as vain as they deserved to be; for why, or 
 how, should the fate of her that "is so lovely, pure, and inno- 
 cent be involved with that of one so guilty? Of these dreams 
 
THE PIRATE. 441 
 
 I \nll speaJc no more. The stern reality of my situation is 
 much milder than I either expected or deserved; and the lit- 
 tle good I did has outweighed, in the minds of honorahle and 
 merciful judges, much that was evil and criminal. I have 
 not only been exempted from the ignominous death to which 
 several of my compeers are sentenced; but Captain Weather- 
 port, about once more to sail for the Spanish Main, under the 
 apprehension of an immediate war with that country, has 
 generously solicited and obtained permission to employ me, 
 and two or three more of my less guilty associates, in the same 
 service — a measure recommended to himself by his own gen- 
 erous compassion, and to others by our knowledge of the 
 coast, and of local circumstances, which, by whatever means 
 acquired, we now hope to use for the service of our country. 
 Minna, you will hear my name announced with honor, or you 
 will never hear it again. If virtue can give happiness, I need 
 not wish it to you, for it is yours already. — Farewell, Minna." 
 
 Minna wept so bitterly over this letter that it attracted 
 the attention of the convalescent Noma. She snatched it 
 from the hand of her kinswoman, and read it over at first 
 with the confused air of one to whom it conveyed no intelli- 
 gence, then with a dawn of recollection, then with a burst of 
 mingled joy and grief, in which she dropped it from her hand. 
 Minna snatched it up and retired with her treasure to her 
 own apartment. 
 
 From that time Noma appeared to assume a different char- 
 acter. Her dress was changed to one of a more simple and 
 less imposing appearance. Her dwarf was dismissed, with 
 ample provision for his future comfort. She showed no de- 
 sire of resuming her erratic life; and directed her observatory, 
 as it might be called, on Fitful Head, to be dismantled. She 
 refused the name of Noma, and would only be addressed by 
 her real appellation of Ulla Troil. But the most important 
 change remained behind. Formerly, from the dreadful dic- 
 tates of spiritual despair arising out of the circumstances of 
 her father's death, she seemed to have considered herself as 
 an outcast from Divine grace; besides that, enveloped in the 
 vain occult sciences which she pretended to practice, her 
 study, like that of Chaucer's physician, had been " but little 
 in the Bible." Now the sacred volume was seldom laid 
 aside; and to the poor ignorant people who came as formerly 
 to invoke her power over the elements she only replied: 
 " The winds are in the hollow of His hand." Her conversion 
 was not, perhaps, altogether rational; for this th-e state of a 
 
142 WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 miud disordered by such a complication of horrid incidents 
 probably prevented. But it seemed to be sincav, and was 
 certainly useful. She appeared deeply to repent of her for- 
 mer presumptuous attempts to interfere with the course of 
 human events, superintended as they are by far higher powers, 
 and expressed bitter compunction when such her former pre- 
 tensions were in any manner recalled to her memory. She 
 still showed a partiality to Mordaunt, though, perhaps arising 
 chiefly from habit; nor was it easy to know how much or how 
 little she remembered of the complicated events in which she 
 had been connected. When she died, which was about four 
 years after the events we have commemorated, it was found 
 that, at the special and earnest request of Minna Troil, she 
 had conveyed her very considerable property to Brenda. A 
 clause in her will specially directed that all the books, imple- 
 ments of her laboratory, and other things connected with her 
 former studies, should be committed to the flames. 
 
 About two years before Xorna's death, Brenda was wedded 
 to Mordaunt Mertoun. It was some time before old Mag- 
 nus Troil. with all his affection for his daughter, and all his 
 partiality for Mordaunt, was able frankly to reconcile him- 
 self to this match. But Mordaunt's accomplishments were 
 peculiarly to the Udaller's taste, and the old man felt the im- 
 possibility of supplying his place in his family so absolutely, 
 that at length his Norse blood gave way to the natural feeling 
 of the heart, and he comforted his pride, while he looked 
 around him, and saw what he considered as the encroachments 
 of the Scottish gentry upon the country (so Zetland is 
 fondly termed by its inhabitants), that as well " his daughter 
 married the son of an English pirate as of a Scottish thief," 
 in scornful allusion to the Highland and Border families, to 
 whom Zetland owes many respectable landholders, but whose 
 ancestors were generally esteemed more renowned for ancient 
 family and high courage than for accurately regarding the 
 trifling distinctions of " meum " and " tuum." The jovial 
 old man lived to the extremity of human life, with the happy 
 prospect of a numerous succession in the family of his 
 younger daughter; and having his board cheered alternately 
 by the minstrelsy of Claud Halcro and enlightened by the 
 lucubrations of Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who, laying aside 
 his high pretensions, was, when he became better acquainted 
 with the manners of the islanders, and remembered the vari- 
 ous misadventures which had attended his premature at- 
 tempts at reformation, an honest and useful representative of 
 
THE PIRATE. 443 
 
 his principal, and never so happy as when he could escape 
 from the spare commons of his sister Barbara to the genial 
 table of the Udaller. Barbara's temper also was much soft- 
 ened by the unexpected restoration of the horn of silver coins, 
 the property of A'orna, which she had concealed in the man- 
 sion of old Stourburgh, for achieving some of her mysterious 
 plans, but which she now restored to those by whom it had 
 been accidentally discovered, with an intimation, how- 
 ever, that it would again disappear unless a reasonable portion 
 was expended on the sustenance of the family — a precaution 
 to which Tronda Dronsdaughter (probably an agent of ISTor- 
 na's) owed her escape from a slow and wasting death by in- 
 anition. 
 
 Mordaunt and Brenda were as happy as our mortal condi- 
 tion permits us to be. They admired and loved each other, 
 enjoyed easy circumstances, had duties to discharge which 
 they did not neglect, and, clear in conscience as light of heart, 
 laughed, sung, danced, daffed the world aside, and bid it pass. 
 
 But Minna — the high-minded and imaginative Minna — she, 
 gifted with such depth of feeling and enthusiasm, yet doomed 
 to see both blighted in early youth, because, with the inex- 
 perience of a disposition equally romantic and ignorant, she 
 had built the fabric of her happiness on a quicksand instead 
 of a rock — was she, could she be happv? Eeader, she ivas 
 happy; for, whatever may be alleged to the contrary by the 
 skeptic and the scomer, to each duty performed there is 
 assigned a degree of mental peace and high consciousness of 
 honorable exertion, corresponding to the difficulty of the task 
 accomplished. That rest of the body which succeeds to hard 
 and industrious toil is not to be compared to the repose which 
 the spirit enjoys under similar circumstances. Her resigna- 
 tion, however, and the constant attention which she paid to 
 her father, her sister, the afflicted Noma, and to all who had 
 claims on her, were neither Minna's sole nor her most pre -ions 
 source of comfort. Like Noma, but under a more regulated 
 judgment, she learned to exchange the visions of wild enthu- 
 siasm, which had exerted and misled her imagination, for a 
 truer and purer connection with the world beyond us than 
 could be learned from the sagas of heathen bards or the visions 
 of later rhymers. To this she owed the support by which 
 she was enabled, after various accounts of the honorable and 
 gallant conduct of Cleveland, to read with resignation, and 
 even with a sense of comfort mingled with soitow, that he had 
 at length fallen, leading the way in a gallant and honorable 
 
444 WAVERLET NOVELS. 
 
 enterprise, which was successfully accomplished hy those com- 
 panions to whom his determined bravery had opened the road. 
 Bunce, his fantastic follower in good as formerly in evil, 
 transmitted an account to Minna of this melancholy event, 
 in terms which showed that, though his head was weak, his 
 heart had not been utterly corrupted by the lawless life which 
 he had for some time led, or at least that it had been amended 
 by the change; and that he liimself had gained credit and pro- 
 motion in the same action seemed to be of little consequence 
 to him compared with the loss of his old captain and com- 
 rade.* Minna read the intelligence, and thanked Heaven, 
 even while the eyes which she lifted up were streamino- with 
 tears, that the death of Cleveland had been in the bed of 
 honor; nay, she even had the courage to add her gratitude 
 that he had been snatched from a situation of temptation ere 
 circumstances had overcome his new-born virtue; and so 
 strongly did this reflection operate that her life, after the im- 
 mediate pain of this event had passed away, seemed noL only 
 as resigned, but even more cheerful than before. Her 
 thoughts, however, were detached from the world, and only 
 visited it, with an interest like that which guardian spirits 
 take for their charge, in behalf of those friends with whom 
 she lived in love, or of the poor whom she could serve and 
 comfort. Thus passed her life, enjoying from all who ap- 
 proached her an affection enhanced by reverence; insomuch 
 that, when her friends sorrowed for her death, which arrived 
 at a late period of her existence, they were comforted by the 
 fond recollection 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! " 
 
 * See Bunce'e Fate. Note 47. 
 
NOTES TO THE PIRATE, 
 
 Note 1. — Udallers, p. 7. 
 
 The udallers are the allodial possessors of Zetland, who hold their posses- 
 sions under the old Norwegian law, instead of the feudal tenures introduced 
 among them from Scotland. 
 
 Note 2. — "'Plantie Crdive," p. 8. 
 
 Patch of ground for vegetables. The liberal custom of the country permits 
 any person, wlio has occasion for sncli a convenience, to select out of the un- 
 inolosed moorland a small patch, whicli he surrounds with a drystone wall 
 and cultivates as a kail-yard, till he exhausts the soil with cropi)iu};, and then 
 he deserts it and incloses another. This liberty is so far from inferring an 
 invasion of the right of proprietor and tenant, that the last degree of contempt 
 is inferred of an avaricious man when a Zetlander says he would not hold a 
 " plantie cruive " of him. 
 
 Note 3.— The Bersehkaes, p. 12. 
 
 The sagas of the Scalds are full of descriptions of these champions, and do 
 not permit us to doubt that the Berserkars, so called fi-om tigntiug without 
 armor, used some physical means of working themselves into a frenzy, during 
 which they possessed the strength and energy of madness. The Indian war- 
 riors are well known to do the same by dint of opium and bang. 
 
 Note 4. — Accidents to Fowlers, p. 14. 
 
 Fatal accidents, however, sometimes occur. When I visited the Fair Isle 
 in 1814, a poor lad of fourteen had been killed by a fall from the rocks about 
 a fortnight before our arrival. The accident happened almost within sight of 
 his mother, who was casting peats at no great distance. The body fell into 
 the sea, and was seen no more. But the islanders account this an honorable 
 mode of death ; and as the children begin the practice of climbing vei-y 
 early, fewer accidents occur than might be expected. 
 
 Note 5. — Norse Fragments, p. 15. 
 
 Near the conclusion of chap. ii. it is noticed that the old Norwegian sagas 
 were preserved and often repeated by the fishermen of Orkney and Zetland, 
 while that language was not yet quite forgotten. Mr. Baikieof Tankerness, a 
 most respectable inhabitant of Kirkwall, and an Orkney proprietor, assured 
 me of the following curious fact : 
 
 A clergyman, who was not long deceased, remembered well when some 
 remnants of the Norse were still spoken in the island called North Konaldsha. 
 Wlien Gray's ode, entitled the " Fatal Sisters," was first published, or at least 
 first reached that remote island., the revei-end gentleman had the weD-judged 
 curiosity to read it to some of the old persons of the isle, as a poem which re- 
 garded the history of their own country. They listened with great attention 
 to the preliminary stanzas : 
 
 " Now the storm begins to lour, 
 Hasie the loom of liell prepare, 
 Iron sleet of arrowy phnwer 
 Hurtles in the clarken'd air." 
 
 Bat when they had heard a verse or two more, they interrupted the reader, 
 telling him they knew the song well in the Norse language, and had oft^en 
 BUQg it to him when he asked them for an old song. They called it the 
 
 445 
 
446 NOTES. 
 
 " Magicians," or the " Enchantresses." It would have been singular news to 
 the elegant translator, when executing his version from the text of Bartholin, 
 to have learned that the Norse original was still preserved by tradition in a 
 remote corner of the British dominions. The circumstances will probably 
 justify what is said in the text concerning the traditions of the inhabitants of 
 those remote isles at the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Even yet, though the Norse language is entirely disused, except in so far as 
 particular words and phrases are still retained, these Ushers of the Ultima 
 Thule are a generation mucii attached to these ancient legends. Of this the 
 author learned a singular instance. 
 
 About twenty years ago, a missionary clergyman had taken the resolution of 
 traversing those wild islands, where he sujiposed there might be a lack of 
 religious instruction, which he believed himself capable of supplying. After 
 being some days at sea in an open boat, he arrived at North Ronaldsha, where 
 his appearance excited great speculation. He was a very little man, dark- 
 complexioned, and from the fatigue he had sustained in removing from one 
 island to another, appeared before them ill-dressed and unshaved ; so that the 
 inhabitants set him down as one of the ancient Picts, or, as they call tliem, 
 with the usual strong guttural, Peghts. How they might have received the 
 poor preacher in this character was at least dubious ; and the schoolmaster of 
 the parish, who had given quarters to the fatigued traveler, set off to consult 
 with Mr. Stevenson, the able and ingenious engineer of the Scottish Light- 
 house Service, who chanced to be on the island. As his skill and knowledge 
 were in the highest repute, it was conceived that Mr. Stevenson could decide 
 at once whether the stranger was a Peght, or ought to be treated as such. 
 Mr. Stevenson was so good-natured as to attend thti summons, with the view 
 of rendering the preacher some service. The poor missionary, who had 
 watched for three nights, was now fast asleep, little dreaming what odious 
 suspicions were current respecting him. The inhabitants were assembled 
 round the door. Mr. Stevenson, understanding the traveler's condition, de- 
 clined disturbing him, upon which the islanders produced a pair of very little, 
 uncouth-looking boots, with prodigiously thick soles, and appealed to him 
 whether it was possible such articles of raiment could belong to anyone but a 
 Peght. Mr. Stevenson, finding the prejudices of the natives so strong, was 
 induced to enter the sleeping-apartment of the traveler, and was surprised to 
 recognize in the supposed Peght a person whom he had known in his worldly 
 profession of an Edinburgh shopkeeper, before he had assumed his present 
 vocation. Of course he was enabled to refute all suspicions of Peghtism. 
 
 Note 6. — Sea Monsters, p. 16. 
 
 I have said, in the text, that the wondrous tales told by Pontoppidan, the 
 Archbishop of Upsal, still find believers in the Northern Archipelago. It is 
 in vain they are canceled even in the later editions of Guthrie's Grammar, 
 of which instructive work they used to form the chapter far most attractive to 
 juvenile readers. But the same causes which probably gave birth to the 
 legends concerning mermaids, sea-snakes, krakens, and other marvelous in- 
 habitants of the Northern Ocean, are still afloat in those climates where they 
 took their rise. They had their origin probably from the eagerness of curios- 
 ity manifested by our elegant poetess, Mrs. Hemans : 
 
 What hidest thou in thy treasure-caves and cells, 
 Thou ever-soundiug and mjsterious sea? 
 
 The additional mystic gloom which rests on these Northern billows for half 
 the year, joined to the imperfect glance obtained of occasional objects, encour- 
 age the timid or the fanciful to give way to imagination, and frequently to 
 shape out a distinct story from some object half -seen and imperfectly exam- 
 ined. Thus, some years since, a large object was observed in the b&antiful 
 Bay of Scalloway in Zetland, so much in vulgar opinion resembling the kra- 
 ken, that tliongh it might be distinguished for several days, if the exchraige of 
 darkness to twilight can be termed so, yet the hardy "boatmen shunned to 
 approach it, for fear of being drawn down by the suction sufiposed to attend 
 its sinking. It was probably the hull of some vessel which had foundered at 
 
NOTES. _ 447 
 
 The boHcf in mermaids, so fanciful and pleasing in itself, is ever and anon 
 refreshed by h strange tale from tlie remote shores of some solitary islet. 
 
 The author heard a mariner of some reputation iu his class vouch for having 
 seen the celebrated sea-serpent. It appeared, so far as could be guessed, to 
 be about a hundred feet long, with the wild mane and tiery eyes which old 
 writers ascribe to the monster ; but it is not unlikely the spectator might, iu 
 the doubtful light, be deceived by the appearance of a good Norway log float- 
 ing on the waves. I liave only to add, tliat the remains of an animal, sup- 
 posed to belong to this latter species, were driven on shore in the Zetland Isles 
 within the recollection of man. Part of the bones were sent to London, and 
 pronounced by Sir Joseph Banks to be those of a basking shark ; yet it would 
 Beem that an animal so well known ought to have been immediately distin- 
 guished by the Northern fishermen. 
 
 Note 7.— The Scart, or Cormorant, p. 25. 
 
 The scart or cormorant may be seen frequently dashing in wild flight along 
 the roosts and tides of Zetland, and yet more often drawn up in ranks on some 
 ledge of rock, like a body of the Black Biunswickcrs in 1815. 
 
 Note 8. — Tusser's Poverty, p. 36. 
 This is admitted by the English agriculturist : 
 
 Aly music since hath been the plough, 
 
 Entangled with some care among ; 
 The gain not great, ihe pain enough, 
 
 Hath made me sing another song. 
 
 Note 9. — Administr.\tion of Zetland, p. 38. 
 
 At the period supposed, the Earls of Jlorton held the islands of Orkney and 
 Zetland, originally granted in 1643. confirmed iu 1707, and rendered absolute 
 in 1742. This gave the family much property and influence, which they usu- 
 ally exercised by factors, named chamberlains. In 1766 this property was 
 sofd bv thethenEarl of Morton to Sir Lawrence Dundas. by whose sou. Lord 
 Dundas. it is now held. Thomas Lord Dundas of Aske, in Yorkshire, was 
 created Earl of Zetland iu 1838.— Zain^. 
 
 Note 10.— "To be Fet," p. 46. 
 
 When a person changes his condition suddenly, as when a miser becomes 
 liberal or a churl good-humored, he is said, in Scotch, to be " fey" ; that is, 
 predestined to speedy death, of which such mutations of humor are received 
 as a sure indication. [The same word "fei." with the same meaning, is cur- 
 rent amongst the people of the North Frisian Islands— Sylt, Fuhr, etc.] 
 
 Note 11. — The Bittle, or Beetle, p. 56. 
 
 The beetle with which the Scottish housewuves used to perform the oflSce of 
 the modern mangle, by beating newly washed linen on a smooth stone for the 
 purpose, called the beetling-stone. 
 
 Note 12. — Chapman's Drouth, p. 61. 
 
 The chapman's drouth— that is. the peddler's thirjit- is proverbial in Scot- 
 land, because these pedestrian traders were in the use of modestly asking 
 only for a drink of water, when, in fact, they were desirous of food. 
 
 Note 13. — An " Oramus " to St. Ronald, p. 62. 
 
 Although the Zetlanders were early reconciled to the Reformed faith, some 
 ancient practices of Catholic superstition survived long among them. In very 
 stormv weather a fisher would vow an "oramus " to St. Ronald, and acquitted 
 himself of the obligation by throwing a small piece of money in at the window 
 of a ruinous chapel 
 
448 NOTES. 
 
 Note 14,— Sale of Winds, p. 70. 
 
 The King of Sweden, the same Erlck quoted by Mordaiint [Mertonn], " was," 
 says Olans Magnus, " in his time held second to none in tlie magical art ; and 
 be was so familiar with the evil spirits whom he worshiped, that what way 
 soever he turned his cap, the wind would presently blow that way. For this 
 he was called Windycap." — Hiatoria de Genfibits Septentrionnlihus ; Homce, 
 1555. It is well known that the Laplanders derive a profitable trade in sell- 
 ing winds ; but it is perhaps less notorious that within these few years such a 
 commodity might be purchased on British ground, where it was likely to be in 
 great request. At the village of Stroniness, on the Orkney main island, called 
 Pomona, lived, in 1814, an aged dame called Bessie Millie, who helped out her 
 subsistence by selling favorable winds to mariners. He was a venturous 
 master of a vessel who left the roadstead of Stromness without paying his 
 offering to propitiate Bessie Millie ; her fee was extremely moderate, being 
 exactly sixpence, for which, as she explained herself, she boiled her kettle and 
 gave the bark advantage of her prayers, for she disclaimed all unlawful arts. 
 The wind thus petitioned for was sure, she said, to arrive, though occasionally 
 the mariner had to wait some time for it. The woman's dwelling and appear- 
 ance were not unbecoming her pretensions : her house, which was on the 
 brow of the steep hill on which Stromness is founded, was only accessible by a 
 series of dirty and precipitous lanes, and for exposure might have been the 
 abode of Eolus himself, in whose commodities the inhabitant dealt. She her- 
 self was, as she told us, nearly one hundred years old, withered and dried up 
 like a nninimy. A clay-colored kerchief, folded round her head, corresponded 
 in color to her corpse-like complexion. Two light blue eyes that gleamed 
 with a luster like that of insanity, an utterance of astonishing rapidity, a nose 
 and chin that almost met together, and a ghastly expression of cunning, gave 
 her the effect of Hecate. She remembered Gow, the pirate, who had been 
 a native of these islands, in which he closed his career, as mentioned in the 
 preface. Such was Bessie Millie, to whom the mariners paid a sort of tribute, 
 with a feeling betwixt jest and earnest. 
 
 Note 15. — Eelttctance to save Drowning Men, p. 77. 
 
 It is remarkable that, in an archipelago where so many persons must be 
 necessarily endangered by the waves, so strange and inhuman a maxim should 
 have ingrafted itself upon the minds of a people otherwise kind, moral, and 
 hospitable. But all with whom I have spoken agree that it was almost general 
 in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and was with difliculty weeded 
 out by the sedulous instructions of the clergy, and the rigorous injunctions of 
 the proprietois. There is little doubt it had been originally introduced as an 
 excuse for suffering those who attempted to escape from the wreck to perish 
 unassisted, so that, there being no survivor, she might be considered as law- 
 ful plunder. A story was told me, I hope an untrue one, that a vessel having 
 got ashore among the breakers on one of the remote Zetland islands, five or 
 six men, the whole or greater part of the unfortunate crew, endeavored to land 
 by assistance of a hawser, which they had secured to a rock; the inhabitants 
 were assembled, and looked on with some uncertainty, till an old man said, 
 " Sirs, if these men come ashore, the additional mouths will eat all the meal we 
 have in store for winter; and how are we to get more?" A young fellow, 
 moved with this argument, struck the rope asunder with his ax, and all the 
 poor wretches were immersed among the breakers, and perished. 
 
 Note 16.—" Mair Wrecks erh Winter," p. 81. 
 
 The ancient Zetlander looked upon the sea as the provider of his living, not 
 only by the plenty produced by the fishings, but by the spoil of wrecks. Some 
 particular islands have fallen off very considerably in their rent since the 
 commissioners of the lighthouses have ordered lights on the Isle of Sanda and 
 the Pentland skerries. A gentlemnn, familiar with those seas, expressed sur- 
 prise at seeing the farmer of one of the isles in a boat with a very old pair of 
 sails. " Had it been His will," said the man, with an affected deference to 
 Providence very inconsistent with the sentiment of his speech — "had it been 
 
NOTES. 449 
 
 Ms will that light had not been placed yonder, I would have had enough 
 
 of new sails last winter." 
 
 Note 17. — The Drows, or Teows, p. 102. 
 
 The Drows, or Trows, the legitimate successors of the Northern " duergar," 
 and somewhat allied to the fairies, reside, like them, in the interior of green 
 hills and caverns, and are most powerful at midnight. They are curious artif- 
 icers in iron, as well as in the precious metals, and are sometiuics propitious 
 to mortals, but more frequently capricious and malevolent. Among the com- 
 mon people of Zetland, their existence still forms an article of universal be- 
 lief. In the neigliboriiig isles of Feroe they are called Foddeuskencand, or 
 subterranean people; and Lucas Jacobson Debes, well acquainted witli tlieir 
 nature, assures us that they inhabit those places which are polluted with the 
 effusion of blood or the practice of any crying sin. They have a government, 
 which seems to be monarchical. 
 
 Note 18. — Cokn-mills, p. 116. 
 
 There is certainly something very extraordinaiy to a stranger in Zetland 
 corn-mills. They are of the smallest possible size; the wheel which drives 
 them is horizontal and the cogs are tariud diagonally to the water. The 
 beam itself stands upright, and is inserted in a stone quern of the old fash- 
 ioned construction, which it turns round, and tluis performs its duty. Had 
 Robinson Crusoe ever been in Zetland, he would have had no difficulty in con- 
 triving a machine for grinding corn in his desert island. These mills are 
 thatched over in a little hovel, which has nnicli the air of a pig-sty. There 
 may be five hundred such mills on one island, not capable any one of them of 
 grinding above a sackful of corn at a time. — [Mills similar in construction to 
 these, and very little larger iu size, may be seen in Norway at the present 
 time, in the year 1893.] 
 
 Note 19. — Monteose in Zetland, p. 155. 
 
 Montrose, in his last and ill-advised attempt to invade Scotland, augmented 
 his small army of Danes and Scottish Royalists by some bauds of raw troops; 
 hastily levied, or rather pressed into his service, in the Orkney and Zetland 
 Isles, who, having little heart either to the cause or manner of service, be- 
 haved but indifferently when they came into action. 
 
 Note 20. — Sib John Urky, p. 156. 
 
 Here, as afterward remarked in the text, the Zetlander's memory deceived 
 him grossly. Sir John Urry, a brave soldier of fm-tune, was at that time 
 in Montrose's army, and made prisoner along with him. He had changed so 
 often that the mistake is pardonable. After the action, he was executed by the 
 Covenanters; and 
 
 Wind-changing Warwick then could change no more. 
 
 Strachan commanded the body by which Montrose was routed. 
 
 Note 21. — The Swoed-Dance, p. 157. 
 
 The sword-dance is celebrated in general terms by Olaus Magnus. He 
 seems to have considered it as peculiar to the Norwegians, from whom it may 
 have passed to the Orkneymen and Zetlanders, with other Northern customs. 
 
 " Of theie Dancing in Arms. 
 
 "Moreover, the northern Goths and Swedes had another sport to exercise 
 youth withall, that they will dance and skip amongst naked swords and dan- 
 gerous weapons; and this they do after the manner of masters of defence, as 
 they are taught from their youtli by skilful teachers, that dance before them, 
 and sing to it. And this play is showed especially about Shrovetide, called in 
 Italian ' maschararum.' For, before carnivals, all the youth dance for eight 
 days together, hol(?ing their swords up, but within the scabbards, for three 
 
4S0 NOTES. 
 
 times turning about; and then they do it with their naked swords lifted up. 
 After this, turning more moderately, taking the points and pummels one 
 of the other, they change ranks, and place themselves in an triugonal tigure, 
 and tliis they call ' rosam ' ; and presently they dissolve it by drawing back their 
 swords and lifting them up, that upon every one's head there may be made a 
 square ' rosa,' and then by a most nimbly whisking their swords about collater- 
 ally, they quickly leap back, and end the sport, which they guide with pipes or 
 songs, or both together; first by a more heavy, then by a more vehement, and 
 lastly by a most vthement, dancing. But this speculation is scarce to be un- 
 derstood but by those who look on, how comely and decent it is, when at one 
 word, or one commanding, the whole armed multitude is directed to fall 
 to fight, and clergymen may exercise themselves, and mingle themselves 
 amongst others at this sport, because it is all guided by most wise reason." 
 
 To the Primate's account of the sword-dance, I am able to add the words 
 sung or chanted on occasion of this dance, as it is still performed in Papa 
 Stour, a remote island of Zetland, where alone the custom keejis its ground. 
 It is, it will be observed b.v antiquaries, a species of play or mystery, in which 
 the Seven Champions of Christendom make their appearance, as in the inter- 
 lude presented in '"All's Well that Ends Well " Tliis dramatic curiosity was 
 most kindly procured for my use by Dr. Scott of Haslar Hospital, son of my 
 friend Mr. Scott of Mewbie, Zetland. Mr. Hibbert has, in his " Description of 
 the Zetland Islands," given an account of the sword-dance, but somewhat less 
 full than the following : 
 
 " Words used as a Prelude to the Sword-Dance, a Danish or Norwegian 
 
 Baixet, composed some Centuries ago. and preserved in 
 
 Papa Stour, Zetland. 
 
 " Persons Dramatis.* 
 
 " {Enter Master, in the character of St. Georos.) 
 
 " Brave gentles all witbin this boor,+ 
 If ye delight in any sport. 
 Come see me dance upon this floor. 
 Which to you all shall yield comfort. 
 Then shall I dance in such a sort, 
 As possiljle I may or can; 
 You, minstrel man, play meaporte, % 
 That I on this floor may prove a man. 
 
 iHe bows, and dances in a line.'} 
 Now have I danced with hfart and hand, 
 Brave gentles all, as you may see. 
 For I have been tried in many a land. 
 As yet the truth can testify; 
 
 In England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain 
 , Have I been tried with that good sword of steel. 
 
 (Draws, andflouiishes.) 
 Yet, I defy that ever a man did make me yield; 
 For in my body there is strength, 
 As by my manhood may be seen; 
 And I, with that good sword of length, 
 Oft times in perils I have been, 
 And over champions I was king. 
 And by the strength of this right hand. 
 Once on a day I kill'd fifteen, 
 And left them dead upon the land. 
 Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care, 
 But play to nie a porte most light. 
 That I no longer do forbear. 
 But dance in all these gentles' sight; 
 Brave gentles all, be not afraid. 
 Although my strength makes you abased, 
 
 * So placed in the old MS. 
 
 t So spelt to accord with the vulgar pronunciation of the word " bower." 
 % So spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating a piece of mnsic on the 
 bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is of Scandinavian origin, the sword- 
 dance may have been originally composed. 
 
NOTES. ^o': 
 
 For here are six champions, with me, Btaid, 
 AH by my manbo-.d I have raieed. 
 
 (//« da/icex.) 
 Since I have danced, 1 thinU it best 
 To Ciill my brethren in vour flight. 
 That 1 miiy have a lit tic rest. 
 And they may dance with all tlieir might; 
 With lieart aiid hand us tliey are knights, 
 And shake their swords of steel bo bright, 
 And show their main strength on this floor. 
 For we shall have another bout 
 Before we pass out of this hoor. 
 Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care 
 To play to me a porte most light, 
 That I no lonjier do forbear. 
 But dance in all these gentles' sight. 
 
 (//^ rliuice-'', and tfu7i introduces his knights, as under^. 
 Stout James of Spain, tioth tried and etour. 
 Thine acts are known full well indeed; 
 And champion Uennis, a French knight. 
 Who stout and hold is to be seen; 
 And David, a Welchman born. 
 Who is come of noble blood; 
 And Patrick also, who l)lew the horn, 
 An Irish knight, amongst ttie wood; 
 Of Italy, brave Anthony ilie good. 
 And Andrew of t^cotlaud king; 
 St. Georire of Enizland, l)rave indeed. 
 Who to the Jews wrought muckle tinte. 
 Away with this! Let us come to sport, 
 Since that ye have a mind to war, 
 Since that ye have this bargain sought, 
 Come let us fisrht and do not fear. 
 Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care 
 To play to me a porte most light, 
 That I no longer do forbear. 
 But dance in all these gentles' sight. 
 
 {He dances, and advances to James op SpAW.) 
 Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour. 
 Thine acts are known full well indeed. 
 Present thyself within our sight. 
 Without eitlier fear or dread. 
 Count not for favour or for feed, 
 Since of thy acts thou hast been sure; 
 Brave James of Spain, I will thee lead, 
 To prove thy manhood on this floor. 
 
 (James dances.) 
 Brave champion Dennis, a French knight. 
 Who stout and bold is to be seen, 
 Present thyself l:ere in our sight. 
 Thou brave French knight, 
 Who bold hast been; 
 Since thou such valiant acts hast done. 
 Come let us see some of them now 
 With courtesy, thou brave French knight. 
 Draw out thy sword of nohle hue. 
 
 (Dennis dances, tuhile the others retire to a side.') 
 Brave David a bow must string, and by with awe 
 Set up a wanil upon a stand, 
 And that brave David will cleave in twa.* 
 
 (David dances solus.') 
 Here is, I think, an Irish knight. 
 Who docs not fear, or does not fright, 
 To prove thyself a valiant man. 
 As thou hast done full often bright; 
 Brave Patrick, dance, if that thoa can. 
 
 (He dances.) 
 Thou stout Italian, come thou here; 
 Thy name is Anthony, most stout; 
 Draw out thy sword that is most clear, 
 
 » Something is evidently amiss or omitted here. David probably exhibited some fea. 
 of archery. 
 
462 NOTES. 
 
 And do thou fight without any doubt; 
 Thy leg thou eliuku, thy nickihou lout, 
 Aii<i show Bonie courtesy on this floor, 
 For we shall have another bout 
 Before we puss out of this boor. 
 Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here; 
 Thy name is Andrew of Fair Scotland; 
 Draw out thy sword that is most clear. 
 Fight for the king with thy right hand; 
 And aye as long as thou canst stand, 
 Fight for thy king with all thy heart; 
 And then, for to confirm his band, 
 Make all his enemies for to smart. 
 {He dances) (Music begins.) 
 
 "FiGUIK. 
 
 "The six atand in rank with their swords reclining on their shoulders. The 
 master (St. George) dances, and then strikes the sword of James of Spain, who 
 follows George, then dances, strikes the sword of Dennis, who follows behind 
 James. In like manner the rest — the music playing — swords as before. After 
 the SIX are brought out of rank, they and the master form a circle, and hold 
 the swords point and hilt. This circle is danced round twice. The whole, 
 headed by the master, pass under the swords held in a vaulted manner. They 
 jump over the swords. This naturally places the swords across, which they 
 disentangle by passing under their right sword. They take up the seven 
 swords and form a circle, in which they dance round. 
 
 "The master runs under the sword opposite, which he jiimps over back- 
 wards. The others do the same. He then passes under the right-hand sword, 
 wliicli the others follow, in which position they dance, until commanded by 
 the master, when they form into a circle, and dance round as before. They 
 then jump over the right-hand sword, by which means their backs are to the 
 circle, and their hands across their backs. They dance round in that form 
 until the master calls ' Loose,' when they pass under the right sword, and are 
 in a perfect circle. 
 
 "The master lays down his sword, and lays hold of the point of James's 
 sword. He then turns himself, James, and the others, into a clue. When so 
 formed, he passes under out of the midst of the circle ; the others follow ; they 
 vault as before. After several other evolutions, they throw themselves into a 
 circle, with their arms across the breast. They afterwards form such figures 
 as to form a shield of their swords, and the shield is so compact that the mas- 
 ter and his knights dance alternately with this shield upon their heads. It is 
 then laid down upon the floor. Each knight lays hold of their former points 
 and hilts with their hands across, which disentangle by figuirs directly con- 
 trary to those that formed the shield. This finishes the ballet. 
 
 " Epilogue. 
 
 " Mars does rule, he bends hie brows, 
 He makes us all agast ; 
 After the few hours that we stay here, 
 Venus will rule at last. 
 
 "Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, 
 That herein do remain, 
 I wish you health and happiness 
 Till we return again." [Exeunt. 
 
 The manuscript from which the above was copied was transcribed from a 
 very old one by Mr. William Henderson, jun., of Papa Stour, in Zetland. Mr. 
 Henderson's copy is not dated, but bears his own signature, and, from various 
 circumstances, it is known to have been written about the year 1788. 
 
 Note 22. — The Law-ting, p. 20L 
 
 The Law-ting was the comitia, or supreme court, of the country, being re- 
 tained both in Orkney and Zetland, and presenting, in its constitution, the 
 mde origin of a parliament. 
 
NOTES. 453 
 
 Note 23.— Hill of Hot, p. 202. 
 
 And from which Hill of Hoy, at midsummer, the suu may be seen, it is said, 
 at midnight. So says the geographer Bloau, although, according to Dr. Wal- 
 lace, it cannot be the true body of the sim which is visible, but only ita image 
 refracted through some watury cloud upon the horizon. 
 
 Note 24. — The Dwarfie Stone, p. 202. 
 
 This ia one of the wonders of the Orkney Islands, though it has been rather 
 undervalued by their late historian, Mr. Harry. Tlie Island of Hoy rises ab- 
 ruptly, starting as it were out of the sea, which is contrary to the gentle and 
 flat character of the other isles of Orkney. It consists of a mountain, having 
 different eniinouces or peaks. It is very steep, furrowed with ravines, and 
 placed so as to catch the mists of the Western Ocean, and has a noble and pic- 
 turesque efi'ect from all points of view. The highest peak is divided from 
 another eminence called the Ward Hill by a long swampy valley full of peat- 
 bogs. Upon the slope of this last hill, and just where the principal mountain 
 of Hoy opens in a hollow swamp, or corrio, lies what is called the Uwartie 
 Stone. It is a great fragment of sandstone, composing one solid mass, which 
 has long since been detached from a belt of the same materials, cresting the 
 eminence above the spot where it now lies, and which has slid down till it 
 reached its present situation. The rock is about seven feet high, twenty-two 
 feet long, and seventeen feet broad. The upper end of it is hollowed by iron 
 tools, of which the marks are evident, into a sort of apartment, containing two 
 beds of stone, with a passage between them. The uppermost and largest bed 
 is five feet eight inches long, by two feet broad, which was supposed to be used 
 by the dwarf himself ; the lower couch is shorter, and ronndeil otf, instead of 
 being square^lat the corners. There is an entrance of about three feet and a 
 half square, and a stone lies before it calculated to fit the opening. A sort of 
 skylight window gives light to the apartment. We can only guess at the pur- 
 pose of this monument, and different ideas have been suggested. Some have 
 supposed it the work of some traveling mason; but the "cui bono" would remain 
 to be accounted for. The Rev. Mr. Barry conjectures it to be a hermit's cell ; 
 but it displays no symbol of Christianity; and the door opens to the westward. 
 The Orcadian traditions allege the work to be that of a dwarf, to whom they 
 ascribe supernatural powers and a malevolent disposition, the attributes of 
 that race in Norse mythology. Whoever inhabited this singular den certainly 
 enjoyed 
 
 Pillow cold, and sheets not warm. 
 
 I observed that, commencing just opposite to the Dwarfie Stone, and extending 
 in a line to the sea-beach, there are a number of small barrows, or cairns, 
 which seem to connect the stone with a very large eairn where we landed. 
 This curious monument may therefore have been intended as a temple of some 
 kind to the Northern " Dii Manes," to which the cairns might direct worshipers. 
 
 Note 25. — Carbuncle on the Ward Hill, p. 203. 
 
 " At the west end of this stone (t. ?., the Dwarfie Stone) stands an exceeding 
 high mountain of a steep ascent, called the Ward Hill of Hoy, near the top of 
 which, in the months of May, June, and July, about midday, is seen something 
 that shines and sparkles admirably, and which will be seen a great way off. It 
 hath shined more brightly before than it does now; . . . though many have 
 climbed up the hill and attempted to search for it, yet they could fin.] nothing. 
 The vulgar talk of it as some enchanted carbmiele, but I rather take it to be 
 some water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun, at 
 such a time, shines upon, the reflection causeth that admirable splendour." — 
 Dr. Wallace's " Description of the Islands of Orkney " 12mo, 1700, p. 52. 
 
 Note 26. — Fortune-telling Rhymes, p. 219. 
 
 The author has in chap. xxi. supposed that a very ancient Northern cub- 
 tom, used by those who were accounted soothsaying women, might have sur- 
 
^Si NOTES. 
 
 vived. tlioiigh in jest rather than earnest, among the Zethuideis, Ihcir 
 descendants. The following original account of such a scene will show the 
 ancient iiii])uitance and consequence of such a prophetic character as was as- 
 sumed hy Noma: 
 
 "Till re lived in the same territory (Greenland) a woman named Thnrbiorga. 
 who was a prophetess, ami called the little Vola (or fatal sister), the only one of 
 nine sisters who survived. Thorbiorga during the winter used to frequent the 
 festivitiis of the si-asim, invited by those who weie desirous of learning their 
 own fortune and the future events which impended. Torquil being a niati of 
 consequence in the country, it fell to his lot to enquire how long the dearth 
 was to endure with which the country was then afflicted; he therefore invited 
 the pro]ihetes8 to his house, having made liberal preparation, as was tlie cus- 
 tom, for receiving a guest of such consequence. The seat of the soothsayer 
 was placed in an eminent situation, and covered with pillows tilled with the 
 softest eider-down. In tlie evening she arrived, together with a person who 
 had been sent to meet her and show her the way to Torqnil's habitation. She 
 was attired as follows: She had a sky-blue tunick, having the front ornamented 
 with gems from the top to the bottom, and wore aiouud her throat a necklace 
 of glass beads.* Her head-gear was of black lambskin, the lining being the 
 fur of a white wild cat. She leant on a statf, having a ball at the top.f The 
 staff was ornamented with brass, and the ball or glol>e with gems or pebbles. 
 She wore a Hunlaud (or Hungarian) girdle, to which was attached a large 
 pouch, in which she kept her magical implements. Her shoes were of sealskin, 
 dressed with the hair outside, and secured by long and thick straps, fastened 
 by brazen clasps. She wore gloves of the wild cat's skin, with the fur inmost. 
 As this venerable person entered the hall, all saluted her with due respect; but 
 she only returned the compliments of such as were agreeable to her. Torqtiil 
 conducted her with reverence to the seat prepared for her, and lequested she 
 ■would purify the apartment and company assembled by casting her eyes over 
 them. She was by no means sparing of her words. The table being at 
 length covered, such viands were placed before Thorbiorga as suited her char- 
 acter of a soothsayer. These were, a preparation of goat's milk and a mess 
 composed of the hearts of various animals; the prophetess made use of a 
 brazen spoon and a pointless knife, the handle of which was composed of a 
 whale's tooth, and ornamented with two rings of brass. The table being re- 
 moved, Torquil addressed Thorbiorga, requesting her opinion of his house and 
 guests, at the same time intimating the subjects on which he and the company 
 were desirous to consult her. 
 
 " Thorbiorga replied, it was impossible for her to answer their enquiries 
 until she had slept a night under his roof. The next morning, therefore, the 
 magical apparatus necessary for her purpose was prepared, and she then en- 
 quired, as a necessary part of the ceremony, whether there was any female 
 present who could sing a magical song called ' Vardlokur.' When no song- 
 stress such as she desired could be found, Gudrida, the daughter of Torquil, 
 replied, ' I am no sorceress or soothsayer; but my nurse, Haldisa, taught me, 
 when in Iceland, a song called " Vardlokur." ' ' Then thou knowest more than 
 I was aware of,' said Torquil. ' But as I am a Christian,' continued Gudrida, 
 ' I consider these rites as matters which it is unlawful to promote, and the 
 song itself as unlawful.' 'Nevertheless,' answered the soothsayer, ' thoti 
 mayst help us in this matter without any harm to thj' religion, since the task 
 will reiuain with Torquil to provide everything necessary for the present pur- 
 
 Eose.' Torquil also earnestly entreated Gudrida, till she consented to grant 
 is request. The females then surrounded Thorbiorga, who took her place on 
 a sort of elevated stage; Gtidrida then sung the magic song, with a voice so 
 sweet and tuneful as to excel anything that had been heard by any present. 
 The soothsayer, delighted with the melody, returned thanks to the singer, and 
 then said, ' Much I have now learned of dearth and disease approaching the 
 country, and many things are now clear to me which before were hidden as 
 
 ♦ We may suppose the beads to have been of the potent adder-stone, to which so 
 many virtues were ascribed. 
 
 t Like those anciently borne by porters at the gates of distinguished persons, as a 
 badge of office. 
 
NOTES. 456 
 
 flrell from me as others. Our present dearth of substance shall not long endure 
 for the present, and plenty will in the spiinj; succeed to scarcity. The con- 
 tagious diseases also, witli which the country lias been for some time afflicted, 
 will in a short time take their dejiarture. To thee, Gndrida, I can, in recom- 
 pense for thy assistance on this occasion, announce a fortuncof higher import 
 than anyone could have conjectured. You sliall be married to a man of name 
 here in Greenland; hut you shall not long enjoy that union, for your fate re- 
 calls you to Iceland, where you shall become the mother of a numerous and 
 honourable family, which siiall be enlightened by a luminous ray of good for- 
 tune. So, my daughter, wishing thee health, I bid thee farewell.' The 
 prophetess, having afterwards given answers to all queries which were put to 
 her. either by Torquil or his guests, departed to show her skill at another fes- 
 tival, to which she had been invited for that purpose. But all which she had 
 presaged, either concerning the public or individuals, came truly to pass." 
 
 The above narrative is taken froui the Saga of Erick Rauda, as quoted by 
 the learned Bartholin in his curious work. He mentions similar instances, 
 particularly oS one Heida, celebrated for her predictions, who attended festi- 
 vals for the purpose, as a modern Scotsman might say, of "'spacing " fortunes, 
 with a gallant " tail." or retinue, of thirty male and fifteen female attend- 
 ants. — See '• De Causis Contemptae a Danis adhuc Gentilibus Mortis," lib. iii. 
 cap. 4. 
 
 Note 27. — Whaling Customs, p. 221. 
 
 The garland is an artificial coronet, composed of ribbons by those young 
 women who take an interest in a whaling vessel or her crew; it is always dis- 
 played from the rigging, and preserved with great care during the voyage. 
 
 The best oil exudes from the jaw-bones of the whale, which, for the jjurpose 
 of collecting it, are suspended to the masts of the vessel. 
 
 There is established among whalers a sort of telegraphic signal, in which a 
 certain number of motions, made with a broom, express to any other vessel 
 the number of fish which they have caught. 
 
 Note 28. — Armada in Zetland, p. 225. 
 
 The admiral of the Spanish Armada was wrecked on the Fair Isle, halfway 
 betwixt the Orkney and Zetland Archipelago. The Duke of Medina Sidonia 
 landed, with some of his people, and pillaged the islanders of their winter 
 stores. These strangers are remembered as having remained on the island by 
 force, and on bad terms with the inhabitants, till spring returned, when they 
 effected their escape. — [The Spanish admiral who was wrecked on Fair Island 
 was not the Duke of Medina Sidonia, but Don Juan Gomez de Medina. See 
 "Diary of James Melville," Bannatyne Club ed., 1829.] 
 
 Note 29. — Fishermen's Wives, p. 229. 
 
 Dr. Edmonston, the ingenious author of a "View of the Ancient and Pres- 
 ent State of the Zetland Islands," has placed this part of the subject in an 
 interesting light: 
 
 " It is truly painful to witness the anxiety and distress which the wives of 
 these poor men suffer on the approach of a storm. Regardless of fatigue, they 
 leave their homes and fly to the spot where they expect their husbands to land, 
 or ascend the summit of a rock, and look for them on the bosom of the deep. 
 Should they get a glimpse of a sail, they watch with trembling solicitude its 
 alternate rise and disap])earance on the waves; and although often tranquil- 
 lised by the safe arrival of the objects of their search, yet it is sometimes tlieir 
 lot 'to hail the bark that never can return.' Subject to the influence of a 
 variable climate, and engaged on a sea naturally tempestuous, with rapid cur- 
 rents, scarcely a season passes over without the occurrence of some fatal acci- 
 dent or hairbreadth escape." — "View, etc., of the Zetland Islands," vol. i. pp. 
 23S. 239. 
 
 !Many interesting particulars respecting the fisheries .ind agriculture of 
 Zetland, as well as its antiquities, may be found in the work we have quoted. 
 
456 NOTES. 
 
 Note 80. — Peomise of Odin, p. 238, 
 
 Although the father of Scandinavian mythology has been as a deity long 
 forgotten in tlie archipelago, which was once a very small part of his realm, 
 yet even at this day his name continues to be occasionally attested as security 
 for a promise. 
 
 It is curious to observe that the rites with which such attestations are still 
 made in Orkney correspond to those of the ancient Northmen. It appears 
 from several authorities that in the Norse ritual, when an oath was imposed, 
 he by whom it was pledged passed his hand, while pronouncing it, through a 
 massive ring of silver kept for that purpose.* In like manner, two persons, 
 generally lovers, desirous to take the promise of Odin, which they considered 
 as peculiarly binding, joined hands through a circular hole in a sacrificial 
 stone which lies in the Orcadian Stonehenge, called the Circle of Stennis, of 
 which we speak more in Note 46, p. 458. The ceremony is now confined to the 
 troth-plighting of the lower classes, but at an earlier period may be supposed 
 to have influenced a character like Minna in the higher ranks. 
 
 Note 31. — Coffin Key, p. 240. 
 
 An elder brother, now no more, who was educated in the navy, and had been 
 a midshipman in Rodney's squadron in the West Indies, used to astonish the 
 Author's boyhood with tales of those haunted islets. On one of them, called, 
 I believe, Coffin Key, the seamen positively refused to pass the niglit. and 
 came off every evening while they were engaged in completing the watering of 
 the vessel, returning the following sunrise. 
 
 Note 32.— Motto to Chap, xxvi., p. 274. 
 
 It is worth while saying that this motto, and the ascription of the beautiful 
 ballad from which it is taken to the Right Honorable Lady Ann Lindsay, oc- 
 casioned the ingenious authoress' acknowledgment of tlie ballad, of which 
 the Editor, by her permission, published a small impression, inscribed to the 
 Bannatyne Club. 
 
 Note 33.— Fhawa-Stack, p. 283. 
 
 The Frawa-Stack or Maiden-Rock, an inaccessible cliff, divided by a narrow 
 gulf from the Island of Papa, has on the summit some ruins, concerning which 
 there is a legend similar to that of Dauae. 
 
 Note 34. — The Pictish Burgh, p. 284. 
 
 The Pictish burgh, a fort which Noma is supposed to have converted into 
 her dwelling-house, has been fully described in "Ivanhoe" (Note 27, p. 455 of 
 this edition). An account of the celebrated Castle of Mousa is there given, to 
 afford an opportunity of comparing it with the Saxon Castle of Coningsburgh. 
 It should, however, have been mentioned that the Castle of Mousa underwent 
 considerable repairs at a comparatively recent period. Accordingly. Torfaeus 
 assures us that even this ancient pigeou-house, composed of dry stones, (vas 
 fortification enough, not indeed to hold out a ten years' siege, like Troy in 
 similar circumstances, but to wear out the patience of the besiegers. Erla"nd,t 
 the son of Harold the Fair-spoken, had carried off a beautiful woman, the 
 mother of a Norwegian earl, also called Harold, the son of Maddadli, and 
 sheltered himself with his fair pri^'e in the Castle of Mousa. Earl Harold fol- 
 lowed with an army. and. finding the place too strong for assault, endeavoured 
 to reduce it by famine: but such was the length of the siege, that the offended 
 earl found it necessary to listen to a treaty of accommodation, and agreed that 
 his mother's honor should be restored by marriage. This transaction took 
 place in the beginning of the thirteenth century, in the' reign of William the 
 Lion of Scotland. J It is probable that the improvements adopted by Erland on 
 this occasion were those which finished the parapet of the castle, by making it 
 
 ♦See the " Eyrbyeeja Sao-a." 
 t See Glossary. " % See Torfsei " Orcadee," p. 131. 
 
NOTES. 457 
 
 project ontwards, so that the Tower of Mousa rather resembles the figure of a 
 dice-box, whereas others of the same kind have the forai of a truncated cone. 
 It is easy to see how the projection of the highest parapet would render the 
 defence more easy and effectual. 
 
 In 1859 the Society of Antiquaries exerted themselves in effecting repairs on 
 the tower. — Laing. — [It is now included among the buildings protected hy the 
 Ancient Monument Protection Act, 1882.] 
 
 Note 35.— The MacRaws, p. 291. 
 
 The MacRaws were followers of the MacKenzies, whose chief has the name 
 of Caberfae, or Buckshead, from the cognizance borne on his standards. Un- 
 questionably the worthy piper trained the seal on the same principle of respect 
 to the clan term which I have heard has been taught to dogs, who, unused to 
 any other air, dance after their fashion to the tuue of " Caberfae." 
 
 Note 36. — Norna's Spells, p. 295. 
 
 The spells described in chap, xxviii. are not altogether imaginary. By 
 this mode of pouring lead into water, and selecting the jjurt which cliauces to 
 assiuue a resemblance to the human heart, which must be worn by the patient 
 around her or his neck, the sage persons of Zetland pretend to cure the fata] 
 disorder called the loss of a heart. 
 
 Note 37. — Bicker of St. Magnus, p. 310. 
 
 The bicker of St. Magnus, a vessel of enormous dimensions, was preserved 
 at Kirkwall, and presented to each bishop of the Orkneys. If the new incum- 
 bent was able to quaff it out at one draught, which was a task for Hercules or 
 Rory Mohr of Dunvegau, the omen boded a crop of unusual fertility. 
 
 Note 38. — Luggie, p. 310. 
 
 Luggie, a famous conjurer, was wont, when storms prevented him from 
 going to his usual emploj-ment of fishing, to angle over a steep rock at the place 
 called, from his name, Luggie's Knoll. At other times he drew up dressed 
 food while they were out at sea, of which his comrades partook boldly from 
 natural courage, without caring who stood cook. The poor man was finally 
 condemned and burnt at Scalloway. 
 
 Note 39. — Antique Coins found in Zetland, p. 313. 
 
 While these sheets were passing through the press, I received a letter from 
 an honorable and leained friend, containing the following passage relating 
 to a discovery in Zetland: " Within a few weeks the workmen, taking up the 
 foundation of an old wall, came on a hearthstone, under which they found a 
 horn, surrounded with massive silver rings, like bracelets, and filled with coins 
 of the Heptarchy in perfect preservation. The place of finding is within a 
 very short distance oi the [supposed] residence of Noma of tlie Fitful Head." 
 Thus one of the very improbable fictions of the tale is verified by a singular 
 coincidence. 
 
 Note 40.— Grouse in Orkney, p. 326. 
 
 It is very curious that the grouse, plenty in Orkney as th<>, text declares, 
 should be totally unknown in the neighboring archipelago of Zetland, which 
 is only about sixty miles' distauce, with the Fair Isle as a step between. 
 
 Not 41. — Lambmas Lads, p. 336. 
 
 It was anciently a custom at St. OUa's fair at Kirkwall that the young peo 
 pie of the lower class, and of either sex, associated in pairs for the period of 
 the fair, during which the couple were termed Lambmas broth* r and sister. 
 It is easy to cimecivr' that the exclusive familiarity arisins out of this custom 
 was liable to abuse, the rather that it is said little scandal was attached to the 
 indiscretions which it occasioned. 
 
458 NOTES. 
 
 Note 42. — Chabaoteb of Norita, p. 356. 
 
 The character of Nurna is meant to be an instance of tliat singular kind of 
 insanity, during which thi^ patient, while she or he retains much subtlety and 
 address for the power of imposing upon others, is still more ingenious in en- 
 deavoring to impose upon themselves. Indeed, maniacs of this kind may 
 be often observed to possess a sort of double character, in one of which they 
 are the being whom their distempered imagination shapes out, and in the 
 other their own natural self as seen to exist by other people. This species of 
 double consciousness makes wild work with the patient's imagination, and, 
 judiciously used, is perhaps a frequent means of restoring sanity of int(!lleet. 
 Exterior circumstances striking tlie senses often have a powerful eflect in un 
 dermining or battering the airy castles which the disorder has excited. 
 
 A late medical gentleman, my particular friend, told me the case of a luna- 
 tic patient coiitined in the Edinburgh Intirmary. He was so far hajjpy that 
 his mental alienation was of a gay and pleasant character, giving a kind of 
 joyous explanation to all that came in contact with him. He considered the 
 large house, numerous servants, etc., of the hospital as all matters of state and 
 consequence belonging to his own personal establishment, and had no doubt 
 of his own wealth and grandeur. One thing alone puzzled this man of wealth. 
 Although he was provided with a first-rate cook and proper assistants, 
 although his table was regularly supplied with every delicacy of the season, 
 yet he confessed to my friend that, by some iincommon depravity of the pal- 
 ate, everything which he ate tasted of porridge. This peculiarity, of course, 
 arose from the poor man being fed upon nothing else, and because his stomach 
 wae not so easily deceived as his other senses. 
 
 Note 43. — Birds of Peey, p. 351. 
 
 So favorable a retreat does the Island of Hoy afford for birds of prey, that 
 instances of their ravages, which seldom occur in other parts of the country, 
 are not unusual there. An individual was living in Orkney not long since, 
 whom, while a child in its swaddling-clothes, an eagle actually transported to 
 its nest in the Hill of Hoy. Happily, tlie eyrie being known and the bird in- 
 stantly pursued, the child was found uninjured, playing with the young eagles. 
 A story of a more ludicrous transportation was told me by the reverend clergy- 
 man who is minister of the island. Hearing one day astrange grunting, he 
 Biispected his servants had permitted a sow and iii^w, which were tenants of 
 his farm-yard, to get among his barley crop. Having in vain looked for the 
 transgressors upon solid earth, he at length cast his eyes upward, when he 
 discovered one of the litter in the talons of a large eagle, which was soaring 
 away with the unfortunate pig, squeaking all the while with terror, toward her 
 nest in the crest of Hoy. 
 
 Note 44. — Avery's Pleasantry, p. 357. 
 
 This was really an exploit of the celebrated Avery, the pirate, who suddenly, 
 and without provocation, fired his pistols under tlie table where he sat drink- 
 ing with his messmates, wounded one man severely, and thought the matter 
 a good jest. What is still more extraordinary, his crew regarded it in the same 
 light. 
 
 Note 45. — Wells. and Waves, p. 405. 
 
 _ A "well," in the language of those' seas, denotes one of the whirlpools, or 
 circular eddies, which wheel and boil with astonishing strength, and are very 
 dangerous. Hence the distinction, in old Englisli, betwixt wells and waves, 
 the latter signifying the direct onward course of the tide, and the former the 
 smooth, glassy, oily-looking whirlpools, whose strength seems to the eye 
 almost irresistible. 
 
 Note 46. — The Standing Stones of Stennis, p. 406. 
 
 The Standing Stones of Stennis, as by a little pleonasm this remarkable 
 monument is termed, furnishes an irresistible refutation of the opinion of 
 
NOTES. 459 
 
 BHch antiquaries as hold that the circles usually called Druidical were peculiar 
 to that lace of priests. There is every reason to believe that the custom was 
 as prevalent iu Scaudiuavia as in Gaul or Biitaiu, and as coniuion to the 
 mythology of Odin as to Druidical superstition. There is even reason to 
 think that the Druids never occupied any part of the Orkneys, and tradition, 
 as well as history, ascribes the Stones of Stennis to the Scandinavians. Two 
 large sheets of water, communicating with the sea, are connected by a cause- 
 way, with openings permitting the tide to rise and recede, which is "called the 
 Bridge of Broisgar. Upon the eastern tongue of laud appear the Standing 
 Stones, arranged in the form of a half circle, or rather a horse-shoe, the 
 height of the pillars being hfteeu feet and upward. AVithiu this circle lies a 
 stone, probably sacrificial. One of the pillars, a little to the westward, is per- 
 forated with a circular liole, through which loving couples are wont to join 
 hands when they take the promise of Odin, as has been repeatedly mentioned 
 in the text. The inclosure is surrounded by barrows, and on the opposite 
 isthmus, advancing toward the Bridge of Broisgar, there is another monument 
 of standing stones, which, in this case, is completely circular. They are less 
 in size than those on the eastern side of the lake, their lieight running only 
 from ten or twelve to fourteen feet. This western circle is surrounded by a 
 deep trench drawn on the outside of the pillars; and I remarked four tumuli, 
 or mounds of earth, regularly disposed around it. Stonehenge excels this 
 Orcadian monument; but that of Stennis is, I conceive, theonly one inBritinn 
 which can be said to approach it in consequence. All the Northern nations 
 marked by those huge inclosures the places of popular meeting, either for re- 
 ligious worship or the transaction of public business of a temporal nature. 
 The "Northern Popular Antiquities" contain, in an abstract of the " Eyr- 
 byggja Saga," a particular account of the manner in which the Helga Fels, or 
 Holy Rock, was set apart by the Pontiff Thorolf for solemn occasions. 
 
 I need only add that, different from the monument on Salisbury Plain, the 
 stones which were used in the Orcadian circle seem to have been raised from 
 a quarry upon the spot, of which the marks are visible. 
 
 Note 47. — Bunce's Fate, p. 444. 
 
 We have been able to learn nothing with certainty of Bunce's fate; but our 
 friend. Dr. Dryasdust, believes he may be identified with an old gentleman 
 who, in the beginning of the reign of George I., attended the Rose Coffee- 
 house regularly, went to the theater every night, told mercilessly long stories 
 about the Spanish Main, controlled reckonings, bullied waiters, and was gen- 
 erallj known by the name of Captain Bounce. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 OP 
 
 WORDS, PHRASES, AND ALLUSIONS. 
 
 Aboon, above. 
 
 Account, went upon the, 
 took part in piratical ex- 
 cursions. 
 
 Adsum, here I am. 
 
 AiGRB, sour, acrimonious. 
 
 AiK, oak. 
 
 AiT.s AT, have objection to, 
 tiissatisfaction with. 
 
 AiN, own. 
 
 Air, an open sea-beach. 
 
 AiRN, iron. 
 
 Aits, oats. 
 
 Alexander, the hero of 
 Nathaniel Lee's "Alex- 
 ander the Great," one of 
 Betterton's great roles. 
 
 Alexander in the tent 
 OP Darius, a reference 
 to Alexander's generous 
 treatment of the wife and 
 mother of the Persian 
 king, Darius, when, after 
 his defeat, they were 
 brought prisoners before 
 the conqueror. 
 
 All for Love, or the 
 World well Lost, a 
 traged}' by Dry den. 
 
 Alow, ablaze. 
 
 Altamont, the name of the 
 hero of Sir VVm. D'Ave- 
 nant's "Just Italian" 
 (1630). 
 
 " Among all living crea- 
 tures," etc. (p. 127), 
 adapted from Spenser, 
 " Faerie Queene," the 
 fragment entitled " Two 
 Cantos of Mutability," 
 canto vii. 
 
 Amphitryon with whom 
 ONE DINES, the wealthy 
 and hospitable provider 
 of the feast. Both 
 Plaufus and Moliere 
 have written a comedy 
 with this title. 
 
 Ane.s, once. 
 
 Anqusshire, ancient name 
 for Forfarshire. 
 
 A-PEAK, said of an anchor, 
 when before drawing it 
 up the vessel is brought 
 immediately above it. 
 
 Arion, a celebrated Greek 
 musician, who, drivei) 
 
 into the sea by covetous 
 sailors, was carried safely 
 to land by a dolphin. 
 
 Armida, a character in 
 Tasso's '• Gernsalemnie 
 Liberata," who was smit- 
 ten witn a frantic passion 
 for Rinaldo. 
 
 Aroint, avaunt, begone. 
 
 Atrip, just raised (an 
 anchor) perpendicularly 
 off the ground when it is 
 being weighed. 
 
 Aught, owned. 
 
 AuRiNiA, a prophetess of 
 the ancient Germans, 
 mentioned in Tacitus, 
 " Germ.," ch. viii. 
 
 Aver, a cart-horse. 
 
 "Away, begone," etc. (p. 
 387), from Lee's " Rival 
 Queens," Act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 Away - ganging crop, a 
 crop sown in the last year 
 of tenancy, to be reaped 
 by the incoming tenant. 
 
 AwMOUs, alms. 
 
 Baby, affi ctionate diminu- 
 tive of Bart)ara. 
 
 Back-spaulu, the back of 
 the shoulder. 
 
 Baittle, rich with grass. 
 
 Bang, or bhang, the Indian 
 name of tlie common 
 hemp, from which a 
 strong narcotic is made. 
 
 Barbadoes waters, a 
 cordial flavored with 
 orange and lemon-peel. 
 
 Barnwell, chief character 
 in George Lillo's tragedy 
 "George Barnwell" (1732). 
 
 Baubling, contemptible, 
 paltry. 
 
 Bear, orBERE, a variety of 
 barley; bear -braird, 
 sprouting bear or barley. 
 
 Bearded Man at Ver- 
 sailles, Matthieu Jouve 
 Jourdan, who beheaded 
 two of the royal guards 
 in the Marble Court 
 at Versailles, on 6th 
 October, 1789. 
 
 Bell-the-cat, beard the 
 lion. 
 
 .460 
 
 Bends, or ends (of mer. 
 maids). See the passage 
 in "Antony and Cleopa- 
 tra," Act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 Bern, a bairn, or child. 
 
 Berskrkar, Scandinavian 
 warrior, of proved valor 
 and unusual strength, in 
 a martial frenzy. 
 
 Bicker, a wooden dish, 
 drinking-cup. 
 
 Bide, endure, bear ; bide 
 the bang, bear thebruut. 
 
 Big, or bigg, to build ; 
 biggin, building, dwell- 
 '"g- 
 
 Bilboes, an iron bar, with 
 sliding shackles for con- 
 fining prisoners. 
 
 Billie, a familiar mode of 
 address, brother. 
 
 Bismar, a small steelyard. 
 
 Blackbeard, Old, the 
 buccanier captain, Ed- 
 ward Teach, or rather 
 Drummond, who terror- 
 ized the Spanish Main 
 between 1710 and 1718. 
 
 Black Brunswickers, a 
 regiment, wearing a black 
 uniform, who fought 
 along with the English in 
 the Peninsular War and at 
 Waterloo. 
 
 Blackmore, Sir Richard, 
 a physician and writer of 
 the Restoration and 
 Queen Anne period. 
 
 Bland, a drink made from 
 buttermilk. 
 
 Blate, modest, shy. 
 
 Boast (us with her 
 glamour), threaten. 
 
 Bodle, or boddle, a small 
 Scotch coin = J penny. 
 
 Bole, a small aperture. 
 
 BonALLY, or BONAILLIE, 3 
 
 parting drink. 
 
 Bona-roba. a bold wench. 
 
 Bonnie - wallies, good 
 things, gewgaws. 
 
 BoNNT DIE, toy, trinket. 
 
 Bonxie, the skua-gull. 
 
 BoRODGH Moor, stretched 
 between Craigmillar and 
 Merchiston Castles, on 
 the eoutb sid« of Sdin« 
 
QLOSSART. 
 
 461 
 
 bnrgh ; there criminals 
 
 were hanged, and usually 
 
 buried. 
 BouBAsquE, or bour- 
 
 RAS(jUK, sudden squall, 
 
 storni. 
 Bowie, a wooden dish for 
 
 milk, pail. 
 Braid, broad. 
 Braws. fine clothes. 
 Breekless, IrouserleSB. 
 Brinnastir, pre^^umably 
 
 Brindister, ou the west 
 
 side of the Mainland. 
 Brose, oatmeal over which 
 
 boiliiii; water has been 
 
 poured. 
 Brown, Tom, a satirical 
 
 writer, died in 1704. 
 Blckie, the small black 
 
 whelk. 
 Buffed, fit for nothing, 
 
 useless ; perhaps from 
 
 "buff." to puff out, inflate. 
 BuLLocKiNG, bullying. 
 BcLXY - BACK, one bully 
 
 who backs up another. 
 Bumming, buzzing, hum- 
 
 miui;, droning. 
 BcMMOCK, ale brewed for 
 
 a merry-making. 
 
 BURRAFORTH, or BCRRA- 
 
 FRiTH, on the island of 
 Unet, in Shetland. 
 
 Cabalist, a practicer of 
 magic, spirit-raising, etc. 
 
 Cazique, a native Indian 
 chief in and around the 
 Caribbean Sea. 
 
 Cairn, a mountain ; the 
 Grampians, behind which 
 was the country of the 
 predatory Highlanders. 
 
 Cai.la>t, lad ;"cANTY gal- 
 lant, a cheerful, lively 
 lad, a term of affection. 
 
 Camacho"s kettle. Hee 
 Sancho. 
 
 Canny, propitious, lucky. 
 
 Canted, threw with a sud- 
 den jerk. 
 
 Capa. a Spanish mantle. 
 
 Caper, privateer. 
 
 " Captain, you should 
 be," etc. (p. 420), from 
 Otway's '■ Venice Pre- 
 served," Act v. 
 
 Carle, farm-servant. 
 
 Carline, an old woman, 
 witch. 
 
 Carse op Gowrie, a very 
 fertile district on the 
 north side of the Firth of 
 Forth, in Perthshire. 
 
 Cart-avers, cart horses. 
 
 Casting peats, digging 
 turf. 
 
 Cateran, a Highland 
 robber. 
 
 Caup; or cap, a wooden 
 bowl for holding food. < 
 
 Cbcial, Thomas, See " Bon 
 Quixote," Part II. chap. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 Change-house, inn, conn- 
 try-tavern. 
 
 Cheval de bataille, stock 
 anecdote. 
 
 Chield, a fellow. 
 
 Choosers of the 
 Slaughter, more usu- 
 ally Choosers of the 
 Slain, i. «., the Valkyrior, 
 or Maidens of Fate, in 
 Scandinavian mythology. 
 
 Clack - geese, barnacle 
 geese, probably called 
 clack-geese from the cry 
 they make. 
 
 Clagged, clogged, ob- 
 structed, with clay. 
 
 Clashes and clavers, 
 scandal and gossip. 
 
 C L A u D I o. See Shaks- 
 pere's "Much Ado about 
 Nothing," Act iii. sc. 2 ; 
 but it is Pedro, not 
 Claudio, who gives utter- 
 ance to the sentiment. 
 
 Clavering, chattering. 
 
 Clem, or Clym, op the 
 Cleugh, a noted outlaw 
 of Englewood Forest, 
 near Carlisle, as famous 
 an archer as Robin 
 Hood. See a ballad in 
 Percy's " Reliques," vol.i. 
 
 Clifford, in Shakspere's 
 "Henry VI." Part III. 
 Act ii. sc. 6. 
 
 Clochna-ben, a hill in 
 Kincardineshire, nearly 
 two thousand feet high. 
 
 Clouting, mending, patch- 
 ing. 
 
 Clytus, a character in Nat. 
 Lee's "Alexander, or 
 Rival Queens." 
 
 Coal-heugh, coal-pit. 
 
 Coble, a small boat. 
 
 Cobs, Spanish dollars or 
 pieces of eight. See Por- 
 tugal pieces. 
 
 Cog, a wooden bowl ; 
 cogfu, a wooden bowl 
 full. 
 
 Co LicENCio, seignior. By 
 your leave, sir. 
 
 Collier and the devil, 
 in the old play of " Grim, 
 the Collier of Croydon." 
 
 Columella, a Roman 
 writer on agriculture, of 
 the first century a. d. 
 
 Conster. or construe, to 
 interpret, make out. 
 
 Coup, to exchange, barter. 
 
 CouPiNG OP cobles, over- 
 turning of boats. 
 
 Crack about, talk, boast 
 about. 
 
 Craig, neck 
 
 Creel, to bk in a, to be 
 
 I temporarly confused, dis- 
 
 I traded. 
 Ckoft land, the best 
 
 I quality of land, always in 
 
 I cultivation. 
 
 I Crowdie, a thick pottage 
 
 j made of oatmeal stirred 
 
 in water. 
 Crowne, John, a dramatist, 
 of Charles II. "s time. 
 
 Cumfrey, or comfrey, a 
 water-plant, used as a 
 " cooler of the blood." 
 
 Cummers, gossips, old 
 women. 
 
 Cukch, a woman's kerchief 
 for covering the head. 
 
 CuRTius, according to 
 ancient Roman legend, 
 sacrificed himself for his 
 country's good by leap- 
 ing into a chasm that 
 opened in the city. 
 
 CussER, a stallion. 
 
 Cut a feather, to move 
 swiftly through the 
 water, so that I he ripples 
 stream off from the 
 ship's bow on both sides. 
 
 Cutty -AX, a short ax. 
 
 Dapped, put aside. 
 
 Dapping, larking, merri 
 ment. 
 
 Daft, crazy. 
 
 Daikering, sauntering. 
 
 Danske, Danish. 
 
 Darraign battailk, 
 justify himself by com- 
 bat. 
 
 D'Avenant, Will, or Sir 
 William D'Avenant, 
 poet and dramatist of 
 the seventeenth century. 
 
 Dead-thraw, death-throes. 
 
 Deaf nut, a nut that has 
 no kernel. 
 
 Debes, Lucas Jacobson, 
 dean of Thorshaven, in 
 the Faeroe Islands, in 
 the seventeenth century, 
 wrote in Danish a descrip- 
 tion of those Islands and 
 their inhabitants. 
 
 Deceptio visus, an ocular 
 deception. 
 
 Denmark, our parent 
 country. Norway, 
 
 which was the real parent 
 country of Orkney and 
 Shetland, was subject to 
 Denmark from 1397 to 
 1814. Orki:ey and Shet- 
 land were given up to 
 Scotland in 1468. 
 
 Dennis, John, an associate 
 of the coffee-house wits, 
 afterwards a literary 
 critic, die d in 1734. 
 
 Die, a toy, ornament. 
 
 Dii Manes, protecting 
 deities. 
 
46^ 
 
 (GLOSSARY. 
 
 DiNo, knock 
 
 Divot, tliiii turf used for 
 
 rocifiiit; cotca^ee. 
 
 DOITKD, Stupid. 
 
 Don Sebastian, a tragedy 
 by Dryden (1690). 
 
 Door CHEEKS, door-posts. 
 
 Doum.ooN, a Spanish t;o]d 
 coin, equal to the double 
 pistole, aud worth about 
 30s. 
 
 DoucB, respectable. 
 
 DouK, stubborn, sullen, 
 hard. 
 
 Douse the glim, put out 
 the light. 
 
 DowiE,dark, melancholy. 
 
 Dowlas, a strong coarse 
 linen cloth, supposed to 
 derive its name from Doul- 
 lens, in dept. Sornme, 
 France. 
 
 DoWNA, cannot, will not. 
 
 Drammock, raw meal and 
 water. 
 
 Dree'd, endured. 
 
 Deow. See Trow. 
 
 Drunk as Davy's sow. A 
 Welshman, David Lloyd, 
 had a sow with six legs. 
 A visitor whom he 
 brought to see the curi- 
 osity found David's wife 
 lying dead drunk beside 
 the animal, and ex- 
 claimed, " It's thedrunk- 
 enest sow I ever saw." 
 
 Duds, clothes. 
 
 Dulse, a species of sea- 
 weed. 
 
 Dung ower, beaten, mas- 
 tered. 
 
 DuNKiRKERS, pirates. 
 
 DuNT, to knock, bang. 
 
 Edderaohyllis, or Eddra- 
 CHiLLis, Glen of, in the 
 west of Sutherlandshire. 
 
 Ebn, eyes. 
 
 Eintracht, means " con- 
 cord." " unity." 
 
 Eld, antiquity, old men of 
 olden times. 
 
 Emathian fields, a part 
 of ancient Thessaly, prac- 
 tically identical with the 
 district of Pharsalia. 
 
 Empbror of Ethiopia, 
 Seged, in Dr. Johnson's 
 Humbler, Nos. 204, 20.5. 
 
 Erland, not Earl Erland, 
 the son of Harold the 
 Fair-spoken, but a minor 
 Orcadian chief called 
 Erland the Youna:er, who 
 carried off Margaret, 
 mother of Earl Harold 
 and wife of Maddadh, a 
 Scottish chief. 
 
 Ethkrbgb, Sir George. 
 a witty dramatist of 
 Charles II. '8 reign. 
 
 Ettrick Forest, a former 
 royal hunting-ground in 
 Selkirkshire. 
 
 Evitino, avoiding, escap- 
 ing from. 
 
 Fair traders, smugglers. 
 
 Farcie on his face, a 
 malediction. 
 
 Fash, fashert, trouble. 
 
 Feather, cut a. See Cut 
 a feather. 
 
 Feck, maist, the greatest 
 part. 
 
 Ferlies make pools pain, 
 wonders astonish fools ; 
 FERLY, wonderfully. 
 
 Fey, fated, or predestined 
 to speedy death. 
 
 Fifish, crazy, eccentric. 
 
 Finner, a small whale. 
 
 Fir-clog, a log of fir-wood. 
 
 Flichter, to flutter or 
 treml)ie. 
 
 Flinch, or flense, a 
 whale, slice the blubber 
 from the bones. 
 
 Flip, ale or cider, sweet- 
 ened, spiced, and made 
 hot, generally by plung- 
 ing the red-hot poker 
 into the liquid. 
 
 Porbye, besides. 
 
 FoRPiT, the fourth part of 
 a peck. 
 
 Four quarters, hands 
 and feet, applied to help. 
 
 FowD, or fogd, district 
 judge or magistrate. 
 
 Freit, charm, superstition. 
 
 Frogs, fastenings for a 
 coat, consisting of orna- 
 mental buttons and loops. 
 
 Funking, kicking up the 
 heels. 
 
 Fur, a furrow. 
 
 Gaberlunzie, a beggar or 
 
 tinker. 
 Galdragon, corrupted 
 
 from th^ Norse " galdra," 
 
 to bewitch, and "kviade," 
 
 or " kvinna," a woman ; a 
 
 witch, sorceress. 
 G AN E, gone; ganging, 
 
 going. 
 G A N G R E L, wandering, 
 
 vagrant. 
 Gar, to oblige, force, make. 
 Gascuomh, an instrument 
 
 for trenching ground, 
 
 shaped like a currier's 
 
 knife, with a crooked 
 
 handle 
 Gate, way, road, manner. 
 Gathering-peat, the 
 
 piece left to keep the Are 
 
 alight. 
 Gauds, flimsy ornaments, 
 
 gimcracks. 
 Gay mony, good many. 
 Geaj«, property. 
 
 Generandi gloria mellis, 
 the glory of produciug 
 honey. 
 
 Geneva, gin. 
 
 Giekvada, more correctly 
 Geirrida, a sorceress 
 mentioned in the " Eyr- 
 byggja Saga." 
 
 Gio, a deep ravine which 
 admits the sea. 
 
 Girdle, an iron frame for 
 cooking cakes on. 
 
 Glebe, land belonging to 
 the parish minister in 
 right of his oflice. 
 
 Glim, douse the. See 
 Douse the glim. 
 
 Glower, to gaze fixedly. 
 
 Gobbet, lump, fragment. 
 
 Gob-box, mouth. 
 
 Golden eye, a species of 
 wild duck. 
 
 GoLDKN Wa.s;ser, or Gold- 
 WASSER, a liquor mixed 
 and colored with gold- 
 leaf ground down fine. 
 
 Goose, a tailor's smooihing- 
 iron. 
 
 Governante, housekeeper. 
 
 Gowk, fool. 
 
 GowRiE, Carse of. See 
 Car.se of Gowrie. 
 
 Gh.,ecum est. it is Greek. 
 
 Graip. a three - pronged 
 stuble-fork. 
 
 Graith, gear.s. fittings. 
 
 Grand Caimains, or Cay- 
 mans, three coral islands 
 in the Caribbean Sea. 
 
 Grew, or grue, to shiver, 
 creep (of the flesh). 
 
 Gray fish, fry of coal-fleh, 
 sillocks. 
 
 Guarda-costa, coastguard 
 vessel, Spanish war- 
 vessel. 
 
 Gudeman and gudkwipe, 
 the heads of the house. 
 
 GuE, a two-stringed (of 
 horsehair) violin. 
 
 Guide, make (good) use of, 
 treat, behave to. 
 
 Guizards, or guisartjs. 
 New Year's maskers or 
 mummers. 
 
 Gyre-carline, witch, hob- 
 goblin. 
 
 Haaf, or IIap, the deep 
 
 sea. 
 
 Hapt, to fix or settle. 
 
 Hagalef, or HOGALip. pay- 
 ment for liberty to cut 
 peat. 
 
 Haill, whole, entire. 
 
 Haim, or Heim, in all prob- 
 ability the giant Hymir, 
 who in the "Hymiskvida" 
 of the '• Eider Edda" is 
 called " Huge-wise," or 
 exceedingly wise. 
 
 Halier, or helyer, •» 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 4G3 
 
 cavern fnto which the 
 tide flows. 
 
 Hallansuakeh, a vaga- 
 bond, sturdy ragamuffin. 
 
 Halsk, tlie throat. 
 
 Hank on, stick fust on. 
 
 Harold IIarfager, first 
 king of all Nor\v:iy, con- 
 quered the Shetland 
 islands in 875. 
 
 Hau'ht, harvest. 
 
 Hartmb. JSamiei,, a friend 
 of Milton, and author of 
 nunierons pamphlets on 
 husbandry. 
 
 Havings, behavior, man- 
 ners. 
 
 HaWKMEX, or HALKHEN, 
 
 hawUs exacted by the 
 royal falcoi;er on his 
 visits to the islands, in 
 force till 1839. 
 
 Haxa, or Hexe, a generic 
 name for a witch or sor- 
 ceress. 
 
 Hellicat, wild, giddy. 
 
 HEL^ ER. See Ilalier. 
 
 H E R T n A, Mother, or 
 Nerthus, the earth- 
 goddess of the ancient 
 German races. 
 
 " He speaks the kindest 
 WORDS," elc. (p.-^ST), from 
 Lee's " Itival Queens," 
 Act i. 
 
 Ueus TiBi, Davk ! Hallo 
 there, Davus! Davus was 
 a common name for a 
 slave in Rome. 
 
 Beus tu, inepte! Hallo 
 there, you fool ! 
 
 Hialtland. or Hjaltland, 
 the old Norse name for 
 Shetland. 
 
 High-Dittch, German. 
 
 Hinny, honey, a term of 
 endearment. 
 
 Hirple, hobble. 
 
 HiRSEL, to move or slide 
 down. 
 
 HispANioLA. the island of 
 Hayti, in the West Indies. 
 
 Hou.'?ewifeskep, house- 
 wifery. 
 
 HowF, a haunt, haven. 
 
 HuBLT-HotJSE, a large house 
 in a bad state of disrepair. 
 
 Ilka. each. 
 
 Imber-ooose. or ehber- 
 GoosE, a variety of north- 
 ern diver or loon. 
 
 Imoinda, the heroine of 
 Mrs. Aplira Bc^hn's novel, 
 "The History of Oroo- 
 noko or the Royal Slave " 
 (1C98-). 
 
 In apicibus .iuris, amonest 
 the knotty points of law. 
 
 Inoh-Mirran, or Inch- 
 Mdrrin, an island near 
 the Boatb end of Loch 
 
 Lomond, kept as a deer 
 park by the Duke of 
 
 Montrose. 
 
 InfANO and OtITFANG, the 
 right of trying thieves, 
 whether taken within or 
 outside of the feudal 
 domain. 
 
 Infiki,i>, land periodically 
 manured and in regular 
 cultivation. 
 
 '• In the first rank of 
 these did Zimri stand." 
 See " Absalom and Achito- 
 phel," Part I. 
 
 louL, JoL, or Jul, Yule- 
 tide, Clinstinas. 
 
 Isle of I'rhvidence, one 
 of the Bahamas, and a 
 notorious rendezvous for 
 buccaniers. 
 
 Jack-a-Lent, a puppet at 
 
 which boys threw sticks 
 
 in Lent, a blockhead. 
 Jacobus, twenty-shilling. 
 
 gold coin issued by James 
 
 I. of England. 
 Jacta est alea, the die is 
 
 cast, the decision is taken. 
 Jaffeir, one of the con- 
 
 s])irators in Otway's 
 
 " Venice Preserved." 
 .^AiKiEfi, i)eddler. 
 Jam neminem antepones 
 
 Catoni, no one is to be 
 
 preferred to Cato. 
 Jarl, earl. 
 Jarlshof, means " the 
 
 earl's mansion or house " 
 Jarto, or HJARTA, (my) 
 
 heart, sweetheart. 
 Jaud. jade. 
 JoKUL. yes, sir. 
 Joseph, an old-fashioned 
 
 ring-coat. 
 JoGUS, pillory. 
 
 Kail-yard, cabbage -gar- 
 den ; KAiL-pOT, large pot 
 for boiling broth. 
 
 Kain. contribution in kind, 
 as poultry, eggs, etc., paid 
 by the tenant to the land- 
 lord. 
 
 K E M p I o N s, champions, 
 warriors. 
 
 Kenn'd folks, well-known, 
 respectable people. 
 
 Key, or quay, a wharf, 
 landing-stnce. 
 
 KiEMPE, kempie, a Norse 
 champion, warrior. 
 
 Kiss THE GUNNE R'S 
 
 daughter, be flogged on 
 shi;^'io:ird. whilst laid 
 along the breech of a gun. 
 
 KisT, a chest. 
 
 Kit-Cat Clitb, a literary 
 society, of Hanoverian 
 politics, that existed in 
 
 London between 1700 and 
 1720. 
 
 Kitchen (to), a relish to 
 dry bread, as cheese, 
 dried fish, or the like. 
 
 Kittle, difliciilt, ticklish. 
 
 Knapped Latin, spoke 
 I.utin. 
 
 Kraken, a fabulous fea- 
 moiister 
 
 Kreitz-dollar. or kreuz- 
 T H A L E It. the " cross " 
 dollar, called also the 
 "crown" dollar, colred 
 by Austria for her Nether- 
 lands possessions. 
 
 Kyloes, siuall black High- 
 land cattle. 
 
 Lair, learning. 
 
 Landlouper, adventurer. 
 
 Langspiel, a kind of har|), 
 formerly in use in the 
 Shetlands. 
 Lapelle, white, alluding 
 to the white turned-iip 
 lappets worn by otTiCt rs 
 of the Royal Navy. 
 Lave, rest, n siilue. 
 Lawrigut-man, and officer 
 whose chief duty was the 
 regulation of weights and 
 measures. 
 
 Law-ting, the sujinme 
 court in ancient Shet- 
 land and Orkney. 
 
 Leaguer-lass, female 
 cainii-follower. 
 
 Lennox, a former county 
 of Scotland, embracing 
 Dumbarton and parts of 
 Stirling, Perth, and Lan- 
 ark. 
 
 LiMMER, idle hussy. 
 
 Lindamira, the only lady 
 who. according to Steele 
 in Spectator, No. 41, might 
 justifiably paint her 
 face. 
 
 L I s p u N D, a weiifht, in 
 Scandinavian countries 
 = 17.6 lbs. avoirriu|)ois, 
 varied in Shetland from 
 12 to .36 His. avoir , and 
 was divided intoa-f merks. 
 
 Loan, a lane between stone 
 walls. 
 
 I.oblolly-boy, a ship- 
 surgeon's boy or attend- 
 ant. 
 
 Lochlin, race of. The 
 Norsemen are so called 
 in "Ossian." 
 
 Loom, any kind of tub or 
 similar vessel. 
 
 Loon, lad, fellow. 
 
 Lout, to bend or bow down. 
 
 Lowe, flame. 
 
 LuM, chimney. 
 
 Lysimachus, a character in 
 Nat. Lee's " Alexander, 
 or Rival Queens." 
 
4G-i 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Main, to moan. 
 
 Ill AIR. more ; hair By 
 
 TOKEN, particularly. 
 Maist feck. See Feck, 
 
 maiBt. 
 Mallard, the male of tbe 
 
 coininon wild duck. 
 Manse, parsonage. 
 Mantuan, Virtcil. who was 
 
 born at Mantua in North 
 
 Italy. 
 
 MaRKAL, or MERCAL, a 
 
 rude wooden plow-sliare. 
 
 Maroonkd, abandoned on 
 a de.-<crt island. 
 
 Masking-pat, a mashing 
 vat or tub. 
 
 Maun, must. 
 
 Meauns, old name for Kin- 
 cardineshire. 
 
 Meat- MISTRESSES. In Nor- 
 way the mistress of the 
 house is now sometimes 
 called in familiar lan- 
 guage the meat-mother 
 (" matmor."; 
 
 JIellay, straggle, contest. 
 
 Meltith, food ; a meal. 
 
 Mense and sense, honor, 
 gratitude. 
 
 Merk, a Scotch coin = 
 Is. lid.; tlie twentv- 
 fourlh part of a lispuiid 
 {q. v.); merk op land, a 
 measure varying from one 
 to three acres. 
 
 "MeTHINKS I SEE THE NEW 
 
 ARioN,"etc. (p. 132), from 
 •'MacFlecknoe." Dryden's 
 satire on Shadwell. 
 
 MiCHINO MALICHO, skulk- 
 
 ing villainy. 
 IMiLE, Scots = 9 furlongs. 
 MiscA, abuse. 
 
 MiSEKIS SDCCURRERE DISCO, 
 
 I learn to succor those 
 in distress. 
 
 Missed stays, failed to go 
 about from one tack to 
 another, lost the oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 Moidorb. a gold coin of 
 Portugal = 27s. 
 
 Mold, man of, a man of 
 character. 
 
 MoLENDiNARY, relating to 
 a Tiiill 
 
 Mosses and waters, boggy 
 places and water-courses. 
 
 Moldboard, that part of 
 the plow vvhicb turns 
 over the ground, the 
 plow-breast. 
 
 MucKLK, much. 
 
 Multures, dues paid for 
 grinding grain ; in-town 
 MULTURES, referring to 
 corn grown on cultivated 
 land near the homestead; 
 
 OUT-TOWN MULTURES, tO 
 
 corn grown on land occa- 
 sionally cultivated. 
 
 M0M, strong ale brewed 
 
 from wheat and bitter 
 
 herbs. 
 N A c K E T, a portable 
 
 luncheon. 
 Nancies of the bills or 
 
 DALEs.an allusion to Slien- 
 
 stone's poem, " Nancy 
 
 of the Vale." 
 Nantz, or Nantes, brandy. 
 Natheless, ueverthess. 
 Neist, next 
 Nemorum murmur, the 
 
 UMirmur of the groves. 
 V(4>^\rjyfpeTa Zeus, Zeus 
 
 tlie cloud-gatherer. 
 
 Nievefu', a handful. 
 
 Norval, a peasant's son in 
 Home's tragedy, " Doug- 
 las." 
 
 Norwood prophetess, 
 Margaret Finch, a gypsy, 
 wlio told fortunes at 
 Norwood, near London, 
 for ten vears before her 
 death in 1740, aged 108. 
 
 Noup, a headland, pre- 
 cipitous to the sea and 
 sloping inland. 
 
 Nowt, black cattle. 
 
 Nut, deaf. See Deaf nut. 
 
 O fortunati nimium, O 
 too fortunate! 
 
 Olaf Tryguarson, or 
 Olaf Tryggveson, old 
 Norse king and hero, 
 threw himself into the 
 waves during a sea-fight 
 in the year lOOO. 
 
 Olaus Magnus, was ap- 
 pointed archbishop of 
 Upsala in the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 Olave planted the cross. 
 The Orkney Islands were 
 conquered by Harold 
 Fair-hair in heathen 
 times (87.5). The Norse- 
 men were Christianized 
 by St. Olaf, their king, a 
 Century and a half later. 
 
 Operam et oleum perdidi, 
 I have lost my labor and 
 my oil. 
 
 Ophir. a part of the Main- 
 land (Pomona) of Orkney 
 is called Orphir. 
 
 Oraamus, or oramus, a 
 vow, prayer, and offer- 
 ing. See Note 13, p. 
 447. 
 
 Orra time, occasionally, 
 every now and then. 
 
 OuTis IN the cave or 
 PoLYPHEMUs.i.^., Ulysses, 
 when captured by the 
 monster Polyphemus 
 (" Odyss.," Bk. ix.). 
 
 Out-taken, except. 
 
 OwERLAY, a neck-cloth. 
 
 OwsEN, oxen. 
 
 Palladius, a Roman writer 
 on agriculture, of the 
 fourtli centin-y a. d. 
 
 Parcel-musician, an in- 
 dilttient musician. 
 
 Parkitch, porridge. 
 
 Partan, a crab. 
 
 Peery, inquisitive, prying. 
 
 Peghts, I'icts, the ancient 
 inhabitants of Scotland, 
 looked upon by the vulgar 
 as .supernatural beings. 
 
 Peltrie. or Peltry, furs. 
 
 Penny Scots = x'jd. Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 Petit maitre, dandy. 
 
 Petits (Juaves. or Petit 
 GoAVK, a small harbor 
 on the West Indian island 
 of Hayti. 
 
 Pharsalia, in Thessaly, 
 where in 48 b. c. Caesar 
 gained his great victory 
 over his rival Ponipey. 
 
 Philomath, a lover of 
 learning, alraanac-maker. 
 
 Piaffed, stepped with a 
 high, slow, showy action 
 — said of a horse. 
 
 Pierre, one of the cc;i- 
 spirators in Otway's 
 " Venice Preserved." 
 
 Pistole, a gold coin of 
 Spain, worth about 15s. 
 
 Pixie, a fairy. 
 
 Plantie cruive, a kail- 
 yard. 
 
 Play Cassio, to get drunk 
 and be made a cat^paw of. 
 
 Po.MONA, the Mainland, or 
 principal island of Orkney. 
 
 PoNToppiDAN, EIrio, the 
 Younger, whose " ForsOg 
 til Norges Naturlige His- 
 toric (Eng. trans. 1755) is 
 referred to (p. 446^ was 
 bishop of 15ergen, not 
 archbishop of Upsala. 
 See Olaus Magnus. 
 
 Pops, pistols. 
 
 Porto Bello, a town on 
 the north side of the 
 Isthmus of Panama. 
 
 Portugal pieces, Porta- 
 gues, pieces of eight 
 (reals) = 4s., silver coins 
 struck in Poruigal. 
 
 PniMATE (p. 4,':.0), Olaus 
 iMaguus. See Pontoppi- 
 dan. 
 
 Prince Prettyman, a 
 character, sometimes a 
 fislierman's son, some- 
 time a prince, in the 
 Duke of Buckingham's 
 farce, " The Rehearsal " 
 (1672). 
 
 Prince Volscius, a char- 
 acter in Buckingham's 
 " The Rehearsal." 
 
 Prior, JIatthew, poet, 
 died in 1721. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 465 
 
 Pro boko pitbuco, for the 
 
 public tiood. 
 
 Providence Island. See 
 Isle of Providence. 
 
 PuND Scots, l8. 8d. ster- 
 ling. 
 
 QUADRUPEDUMQUK, PtTREi- 
 SONITU QUATIT ANOULA 
 
 CAMPUM, the hoofs of the 
 horses shake the crum- 
 bling field. 
 
 QUAiQH, a small wooden 
 cup or drinking bowl. 
 
 Quean, a woman, wench ; 
 RANDY QTiEAN, disorderly, 
 vagrant woman. 
 
 Queen in the old play, 
 5«e" Macbeth." Act. v. sc. 
 1. ShaUspere's play was 
 altered and put "u the 
 stage by Sir William 
 D'Avenant in 1674. 
 
 Quern, hand-mill. 
 
 QriD FACIt'NT LAETAS 8E- 
 
 GETES, how the crops are 
 getting on. 
 
 Eace of Portland, a 
 daugerou.s current south 
 of Portland Bill in Dor- 
 set. 
 Raddman, or RAADMAN, a 
 
 councilor. 
 Ranzelman, or rancel- 
 lor, a kind of parish 
 constable, one of his 
 chief duties being to 
 " rancel " or search for 
 stolen goods. 
 Raven flao (of vikings), 
 the raven was sacred to 
 Odin or Woden. 
 Redding-kaim, a wide- 
 toothed comb for the 
 hair. 
 Reim-kennak, one who 
 
 knows mystic rhyme. 
 Reset, place of, resort of 
 beggars and loose charac- 
 ters. 
 Restiff, or restive, stub- 
 born, obstinate. 
 Rides rusty, or turns 
 RUSTY, sets at defiance, 
 behaves obstinately. 
 RiTT, a scratch or incision. 
 RivA. a cleft in a rock. 
 Rochester, Earl of, the 
 witty but dissolute favor- 
 ite of Charles II. 
 Rock, a distaff. 
 Rokelay, a short cloak. 
 Rollo THE Walker, or 
 Hrolf THE Ganger, ac- 
 cording to traditional 
 history, the ancestor of 
 the Dukes of Normandy 
 and Norman kings of 
 England. 
 Rona's crest, the highest 
 hill (fifteen hundred feet) 
 
 in Shetland, in the north 
 of the Mainland 
 
 Roose, to praise, commend. 
 
 RoosT. a strong and bois- 
 terous current. 
 
 Roky Mour op Dunvegan. 
 ^ee Hoswell's " Tour to 
 the Hebrides," under date 
 Sept. 15, and Scott's 
 " Lord of the Isles," Ap- 
 pendix, Note M. 
 
 Roscius, a celebrated actor 
 of ancient Home. 
 
 R o s e B B R R Y Topping, 
 a conspicuous hill in j 
 Cleveland, Noith Riding 
 of Yorkshire. 
 
 Rose TAVERN, in Russell 
 Street, Covent Garden, a 
 celebrated resort of wits 
 and men of fashion. 
 
 ROXALANA, or KOXANA, a 
 
 clmracter in Nathaniel 
 Lee's " Rival Queens, or 
 Alexander the Great 
 (1(577). 
 
 RuMBo, rum. 
 
 KUNEs, letters of the ancient 
 Norse alphabet ; a mystic 
 saying or verse of poetry. 
 
 Sackless, innocent. 
 
 Sain, bless. I 
 
 St. John, festival of, one i 
 of the principal festivals ! 
 of the year in all Scandi- j 
 navian countries. | 
 
 St. Leonard's, one of the 
 colleges of the University ' 
 of St. Andrews. | 
 
 St. Magnus, an earl of; 
 Orkney, assassinated by 
 his cousin Hnco in the 
 island of Egilshay on 16th i 
 April, 1115. 
 
 St. Olave, or Olaf, king of 
 Norway, most zealous for 
 the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity into that country 
 in the eleventh century. 
 
 St. Ronald, or Rognvald, 
 a famous jarl or earl of 
 Orkney of the twelfth 
 century, built the cathe- 
 dral of St. Magnus at 
 Kirkwall. 
 
 Sair. sore, sorry ; sairer, 
 greatly. 
 
 SAMPHiRE,a succulent plant 
 growing iinioiigst rocks 
 and on salt marches near 
 the sea, used for making 
 pickles. 6Ve" King Lear," 
 Act iv. sc. 6. 
 Sancho Con the •scum of 
 Cainaclio's kettle). See 
 •' Don Quixote," Pt. 11. 
 chap. xs. The "scum" 
 consisted of "three pullets 
 and a couple of geese." 
 Sandie-laverock, a lark. 
 Saunt, saint. 
 
 Satjt, salt. 
 
 Scald, an ancient Scandi- 
 navian bard or poet. 
 
 ScAKT, a cormorant ; to 
 scratch. 
 
 Scat, a land-tax paid to the 
 crown; scathold, a com- 
 mon. < )n I), lay we should 
 probably read " scatlnnd" 
 land paying " skat " or 
 tribute, instead of " scat- 
 hold." 
 
 Scaur, a precipitous bank, 
 rock. 
 
 Schwartz beer. black beer. 
 
 SCIPIO AT NUMANTIA. 
 
 Scipio AfricanuH Minor 
 found amongst the Span- 
 ish (Celtiberiaii) capti-es, 
 after the snrrender of 
 Nuinantia C134 b c ), a 
 beautiful maicen. whom 
 he gem rously restored to 
 her betrothed. 
 ScLATE STAKE, piece of 
 rough slate. 
 
 SCOURIES, or SCAUi IE9, 
 
 young sea-gulls. 
 Sealgh, sealchie, a seal. 
 
 SEA-WARE, Si nwi't d 
 
 Sebastian and Dorax. in 
 Drvdm's iragedy '"Don 
 Sebastian" (1C89) dispute 
 and become reconciled. 
 
 StDi.EY, SirChakles, a wit 
 and poet of Charles II. 's 
 reign. 
 
 Sell of her. herself. 
 
 Set him up, forsooth, a term 
 expressive of coniempt 
 for an assuming pi rson. 
 
 Setting, becoming, befit- 
 tins;. 
 
 Several, an inclosed field 
 as opposed to an open 
 common . 
 
 Shadwei-L, a dramatist 
 satirized by Dryden under 
 the name of Og in " Ab- 
 salom and Achitophel," 
 and as MacFUcknoe in 
 the poem so (ailed. 
 
 Shakney peat, luel mads 
 of dried cow's dung. 
 
 Sharpe, Old. the buc- 
 canier captain, Barthol- 
 omew Sharpe. who was 
 active on the Spanish 
 Main about 1680. 
 
 Sheerwater, or Shear- 
 watek. a s" a-bird of the 
 petrel faniilv. so-called 
 from its low fliLln, skim- 
 ming close to tin- water. 
 Sheltie, a Shetland i ony. 
 Shfphehd of Salisbury 
 Plain, bv Hannah More, 
 setting forth the homely 
 wisdi^m and piety of one 
 David Saunders. 
 Shogh CGaclic), there. 
 Shot, a field, plot of land. 
 
406 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Shot-wthdo-vt. a small pro- 
 jecting window. 
 Shoupbltin, a triton. 
 Sic, 8tich. 
 SiccAR, sure, safe. 
 
 SILLOCK3, or SAITHE, the 
 
 fry of the coal-fish. 
 
 SINCLAIR, (Malcolm) of 
 QuENDALK, when asked 
 by theehipwrecktd Duke 
 of Medina Sidonia, or 
 rather by biw brother, 
 whether he had ever seen 
 such a great, man as stood 
 before him, made the reply 
 in the text. See Hibbnt's 
 " Description of the Zet- 
 land Islands," pp. 92, 
 etc. 
 
 SiNQLES, talona of a hawk. 
 
 Silt Arthegal, the im- 
 personation of Justice 
 in Spenser's " Faerie 
 Queen," from the fifth 
 book (Canto iv.) of which 
 the passage on p. 89 is 
 taken. 
 
 Sir Lucius O'Trigger, in 
 Sheridan's "Rivals." 
 
 Skelpinu, nimble-footed. 
 
 Skko, a hut for drying fish. 
 
 Skerry, a bare. rocky islet. 
 
 Skilling, Danish = one 
 farthing. 
 
 Skirl, scream. 
 
 Skudler, the leader of a 
 band of maskers, dancers, 
 etc. 
 
 Slap, a gap, breach. 
 
 Slocken, to cool, drench. 
 
 Smeaked, killed by smoke. 
 
 Snack, a hasty meal. 
 
 Sneck, the latch of the 
 door. 
 
 Sniggled, caught by drop- 
 ping bait into the (eel's) 
 lurking-place. 
 
 Sock, idowshare. 
 
 SoLE-CLOUT,the lowest part 
 of a plow, which runs 
 along the bottom of the 
 furrow. 
 
 Sonsy, stout and handsome, 
 bonny. 
 
 SoRNER, a beggar or vaga- 
 bond, who extorts money 
 or victuals ttirough. intim- 
 idation. 
 
 Sough, a sigh ; to con over, 
 hum a tune. 
 
 Spaed, foretold; spae- 
 woMEN, sorceresses, for- 
 tune-tellers. 
 
 Sparge nuces, pueri, 
 scatter the nuts, boys. 
 
 Speerings, inquiries. 
 
 Spreacherie, or sprech- 
 ERT, insignificant move- 
 ables, especially such as 
 have been purloined or 
 gathered in a raid. 
 
 Spruce-beeu, beer made 
 
 from the young leaves of 
 
 the spruce-iir. 
 Spunk, match, torch. 
 Stack, an insulated, pre- 
 cipitous rock. 
 Staig, a young, unbroken 
 
 horse. 
 Statira. a character in 
 
 Natlianiel Lee's tragedy, 
 
 " Rival Queens." 
 Stilts (of plow), handles. 
 Stock-fish, dried cod-fish 
 
 and ling. 
 ST0T,a steer, young bullock. 
 Stour, stalwart, stout and 
 
 strong. 
 Stourburgh may be inter- 
 preted " great fort." 
 Straik, strike, a measure 
 
 of capacity, about two 
 
 busliels. 
 Strathnavern, a valley 
 
 leading southward frjm 
 
 the coast of 8utherla-"d- 
 
 shire. Montrose's last 
 
 fight took place at Inver- 
 
 carron, on the borders of 
 
 Ross-shire. 
 Streek, stretch, measure 
 
 one's self with. 
 Striddle, straddle. 
 Stroma, an island in the 
 
 Pentland Firth, north of 
 
 Scotland. 
 SucKEN, the iurisdiction 
 
 attaching to a mill under 
 
 feudal tenure. 
 SrcK TiiE MONKEY, to driuk 
 
 rum or other liquor. 
 Sui JURIS, in possession of 
 
 full legal rights. 
 SuMPH, a lubberly fellow, 
 
 blockhead. 
 SuNE or SYNE, sooner or 
 
 later. 
 
 SUUM CUIQUE TRIBtTITO, 
 
 give every one his due. 
 SwABiE, swartback, the 
 
 great black-backed gull. 
 Swatter, to swim quickly 
 
 and awkwardly. 
 SwELCHiE, whirlpool. 
 SwoNA, one of the Orkney 
 
 islands in the Pentland 
 
 Firth. 
 Syne, since. 
 Stveb, a sewer, covered 
 
 drain. 
 
 Tacksman, au intermediate 
 tenant. 
 
 Ta'en, taken. 
 
 Tait of woo', a tuft or 
 small piece of wool. 
 
 Tate, N%hum, poet laure- 
 ate and dramatist, died in 
 171.5. 
 
 Templars, law-students of 
 the Temple. 
 
 Terentiu.s Varro, Roman 
 writer on agriculture, of 
 the first century b. c. 
 
 Thairm, catgut. 
 
 Theft-boot, tiush-money, 
 receiving stolen goods 
 from a thief against 
 pecuniary consideration. 
 
 " Then, by the hell 1 
 merit," etc. (p. 426;, from 
 Otvvay's " Venice Pre- 
 served," Act. iv. sc. 2. 
 
 Thigger, a common beggar. 
 
 Thirl, the obligation on a 
 tenant to have his flour 
 ground at a certain mill 
 and to pay dues for its 
 maintenance. 
 
 Thole, endure, stand. 
 
 Thrawart, perverse. 
 
 "Thus from the grave " 
 etc. (p. 384), from Lee s 
 " Rival Queens," Act iv. 
 
 Till, a stiff cold clay. 
 
 Timotheus, an ancient 
 Greek musician, cele- 
 brated from the innova- 
 tions he made in the art he 
 practiced. <S'(Se rtfeo Pope's 
 " Essay on Criticism." 
 
 Tint, lost; tinte, loss. 
 
 TiRRACKE, or TARROCK, the 
 
 kittiwake gull, a guille- 
 mot. 
 
 TiTTiE, little sister. 
 
 Tocher-good, dowry, por- 
 tion. 
 
 Tollsell. or tollsby, the 
 place where merchants 
 usually assemble, ex- 
 change. 
 
 TooM. empty. 
 
 Torsk, dried cod-fish. 
 
 Tortuga. an island in the 
 West Indies, off the 
 Venezuelan coast. 
 
 Tow, rope. 
 
 Town, the homestead, farm- 
 house and it.s buildings. 
 
 Toy, a woman's linen or 
 woolen head-dress hang- 
 ing down over the 
 shoulders. 
 
 Trap, to understand, to 
 be knowing, wide-awake. 
 
 Trinculo's bottle. See 
 ' Tempest," Act iv., sc. 1. 
 
 Trinidado, Trinidad to- 
 bacco. 
 
 Triptolemus, in ancient 
 Greek mythology, the 
 inventor of the plow and 
 of agriculture. 
 
 Trock, or truck, to barter, 
 bargain. 
 
 Trow, or trold, a monster, 
 demon of the mountains 
 and of the sea ; in this 
 romance a fairy. 
 
 Turf-Einar, or Torv- 
 Einar, an illegitimate 
 son of Earl Rognvald of 
 Norway, and the founder 
 of the dynasty of the 
 Earls of Orkney. 
 
GL0SSAE7. 
 
 467 
 
 TussER, Thomas, a famoas 
 sixteentli-ceutury writer 
 on liusbaiiiiry. 
 
 TWISCAR, TU8HKAR, Or 
 
 TORVSKAR, a spade for 
 cutting peats. 
 
 UdAI.LER, or ODALLER, a 
 
 frecliold proprietor. 
 Ugsome. frightful, horrible. 
 Ulzie, oil. 
 L MQUHiLK, the late, de- 
 
 CfHseil. 
 Uncanny, dangerous, not 
 
 quite pane. 
 Unco, strnnge, particularly. 
 Understand trap. See 
 
 Trap, uiuler.«tand. 
 UNHALSf:D, unhailed or un- 
 
 sji luted. 
 Unico contextu, all of a 
 
 piece. 
 Ure, the eighth part of a 
 
 nierk of land ig. v.) 
 Usquebaugh, whisky. 
 
 Vei^eda, a prophetess of 
 the ancient Germans, 
 mentioned in Tacitus, 
 "Germ.," cli. viii. 
 
 V^ELVET, PUOPHESIRS UPON, 
 
 foretells what she cer- 
 tainly knows. Compare 
 the racing phrase " to 
 stand on velvet," to bet 
 In such a way aa to win 
 w'th certainty. 
 
 Ventis surgentibus, with 
 rising winds. 
 
 ViFDA, or vivDA, beef dried 
 without salt. 
 
 VuioN 07 MiBZA, by Addi- 
 
 son, in No. 159 of Spec- 
 tator. 
 
 VivERs, victuals. 
 
 VoE, an inlet of the sea, 
 creek. 
 
 VoLuspA, voLUSP^, strictly 
 a part of the " Poetic 
 Kdiia ": in this romance 
 incorrectly used for 
 prophetess, sybil. 
 
 WadMAAL, or VADMEL, 
 
 homespun woolen cloth. 
 The Norwegian peasantrj' 
 still make their clothes of 
 it at the jiresent day. 
 
 Waft, or weft, the cross 
 thread or woof of a weh. 
 
 Wakerife, wakeful, watch- 
 ful. 
 
 Wan (water), filthy, darli- 
 colored. 
 
 Warlock, wizard. 
 
 Wa's, walls. 
 
 Water-d r a g o n 8. The 
 ancient Norsemen loved 
 to call their vessels " The 
 Dragon," " Serpent," etc. 
 King Olaf Tryugveson's 
 ship, one of the wonders 
 of the North in ship- 
 building, was called " The 
 Long Serpent." 
 
 Wattle an assessment for 
 the salary of the fovvd 
 (magistrate). 
 
 Waur, worse. 
 
 Waw, wave. See Note 45, 
 p. 458. 
 
 Wawls, looks wildly, rolls 
 (his) eyes. 
 
 Wkatheb-gaws, the 
 
 secondary or reflected 
 
 rainbow. 
 
 Weiud, destiny, fate. 
 
 Wei KINO, fading, di.'sp- 
 peai mg. 
 
 Well, a whirlpool, eddy, 
 See Note 45, p. 458. 
 
 Went upon the account. 
 See Account, went upon 
 the. 
 
 Whf-en, few. 
 
 Whigamore, Covenanting. 
 
 Whiles, at, sometimes, at 
 times. 
 
 Whinger, laru'e knife, dirk. 
 
 Whittie whattieing. mut- 
 tering, talking frivolously. 
 
 Whittle, a large knife, 
 usually worn at Ihe belt. 
 
 WiioMLEi), turned over. 
 
 Wick, an ojien b:iy. 
 
 Windlestraw. bent grass. 
 
 " With roOiMY deck," etc. 
 (p. 375), from Dryden's 
 " Annus Mirabilis. 
 
 Wit's Coffee-house, in St. 
 James' Street, the resort 
 of the bluest old Tories in 
 Queen Anne's reign. See- 
 also Rose Tavern. 
 
 Woo', wool. 
 
 Wowf, crazy. 
 
 Xebeck. a small three- 
 masted vessel, used in the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 Yarn windle, a yarn- 
 winder. 
 
 Yelloched, yelled, 
 shrieked. 
 
 Yett, a gate. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Agriculture, wrlterfe on, 33 ; at time of 
 
 tale, 35 
 Altaiiiont. See Bunce, Jack 
 "And yon t^liall lieal the funeral dole," 250 
 Armada, in Zrtland, 225, 457 
 "A ihousand winters dark," 206 
 Author's Introduction, lii 
 Avery, the pirate, 460 
 
 Bartholin. " De Causis Cont. a Danie," 
 quoted, 456 
 
 " Be mine the imber-goose to play," 234 
 
 " Be patient, be patient," 299 
 
 BerserUars, 12, 445 
 
 Bicker, of St. Magnus, 310, 459 ; of Scarpa, 
 379 
 
 Bimbister, Margery. 85 
 
 Birds of prey, in Orkney, 351, 459 
 
 Bittle. 56. 448 
 
 Buccaiiiers, life of, 239. See also Pirates 
 
 Bunce, Jack, his meeting with Cleveland, 
 322 ; is told of hi?^ love affair, 330 ; ret^cues 
 hmi, 342; boards Magnus Troir.* brig, 375 
 writes to the prov<rst of Kirkwall, 382 
 recognizes Claud llakro, 383 ; conversa 
 tion with Cleveland, 410 ; his plot, 413 
 carries Cleveland's letter to Minna, 416 
 attempts to carry off Cleveland, 424 ; in 
 prison. 426 ; his fate, 460 
 
 Burgh-Westra, 22, 122 ; festivities at, 119- 
 257 ; banquet, 1.34 ; dance, 150 ; maskers, 
 160; breakfast, 172; whale-hnnt, 173; 
 fortune-telling, 218; departure of boats 
 for the white-lishing, 229 
 
 Carbuncle on Ward Hill of Hoy, 203, 454 
 Chamberlain, Lord, of Zetland, 38 
 "Cliami)ion, famed for warlike toil," 269 
 Chapman's drouth, 62, 448 
 Cleveland, Clement, saved from the wreck, 
 74 ; in the Ranzelman's cottaee, 85 ; gives 
 Mordaunthi-i fowling piece, 87 ; his foot- 
 ing at Bnrgli-\Ve:*tra, 124 ; attentions to 
 Minna, 158; res-cues Mordaunt, 181; buys 
 Snailsfoofs wares, 190; his fortune told, 
 224; love-meeting with Minna, 231; story 
 of his life, 2.37; serenades Minna, 247; 
 ominou* interruption 249: meeting with 
 Bunce, 322; altercation with Snailsfoot, 
 336; arrested and rescued, 342; chosen 
 pirate captain, 358; negotiates with tl;e 
 town-council, 360; interview with Minna 
 in the cathedral, 394; set free by Noma, 
 400, 406; reflections on his situation, 410; 
 at the Standing Stones of Stennis, 422; in 
 prison, 426; account of his birth, 432; his 
 fate, 440 
 Olinkscale, Mies Baby, 29 
 
 Coffin Key, 240, 457 
 
 Coins, antique, in Zetland, 313, 458 
 Commissioners of Northern Lighthouse 
 
 Service, iii 
 Cormorant, 25,447 
 Corn-mills in Zetland, 116, 449 
 
 " Dark are thy words," 206 
 
 Derrick, pirate quiirteimaster, 3.')4, 363. 413 
 
 Drowning men, reluctance to save, 76, 449 
 
 Drows, 70, 449 
 
 Dryden, Ilalcro's story of, 130, 143; quoted 
 
 382 
 Dwarfie Stone. 202, 453 
 " Dwellers of the mountain, rise," 204 
 
 Earl's Palace, Kirlvwall, 321 
 Edmonston, "View of Zetland Islands," 
 
 quoted, 456 
 Erickson, Sweyn, fisherman, 10 
 Erskine, W., of Kinedder, v 
 
 " Farewell, farewell, the voice you hear " 
 
 248 
 " Farewell, merry maidens," 230 
 " Farewell to Northmaven," 132 
 '• Fathoms deep beneath the wave." 161 
 Fea, Euphaiie, housekeeper, 200, 209, 219 
 Fea, James, captures pirate Gow, v 
 Fey, to be, 47, 448 
 
 Fishermen's wives, in Zetland. 229, 456 
 Fishery, white, of Zetland, 229 
 Fletcher, i)irate, 376; intimidated by Minna, 
 
 389; supports Bunce. 413; death of. 427 
 " For leagues along the watery way.' 199 
 "Fortune's Favorite," pirate vessel, 327, 
 
 375; blown up, 427 
 Fortune-telling, 219 
 Fowlers, 14; accidents to, 445 
 Frawa Stack, 281, 457 
 
 Glossary, 461 
 
 Glowrowrum, Lady, 151, 418; her opinion 
 
 of the Troils, 257, 353 
 Goffe, pirate captain, 353; lets Triptolemus 
 
 escape, 371 
 "Gold is ruddy." 324 
 Gow, pirate, v 
 Gray's " Fatal Sisters," 446 
 Green Loch, 100 
 Gutlirie, Mr. James, 31 
 
 ITaagen, old soldier, 156, .367 
 
 Halcro, Claud, 123; his story of the tailor, 
 130; song "Mary," 1.32; slorv of Dryden, 
 143; song, "Harold H.irrager," 158; 
 mediates between Cleveland and Mo-- 
 daunt, 193; frames the fortune-telling 
 
 468 
 
INDEX. 
 
 469 
 
 rhymes, 219; hie fortune told. 223; meets 
 Minna in diptresi?, 250; in the hut, 309; 
 recognized by huuce, 377; quotes Drydeu, 
 382; coo) reception of hunce, 416 
 " Halcyon," fiigate, 364 
 Harfra. See Stuurljurgh 
 " liarold llarfager," song, 163 
 Hawkins, pirate lioatswain, 354, 415 
 Helyer of Swartaster, 231 
 Hospitality in Zetland. 5, 134, 172 
 Hoy, Isle of, 202, 351; Hill of, 202, 453 
 
 Introduction, Author's, iii 
 " It was a ship," 379 
 
 Jarlshof, 2 
 
 "Jolly Jlariner of Canton," 141 
 
 Kirkwall, Earl's Palace, 321; fair, 326; 
 
 magistrates, 361; St. Magnus cathedral, 
 
 394 
 Kraken, sea-monster, 15 
 
 Laing, Malcolm, viii 
 Lambmas lads, 336, 459 
 Law-ting, 201, 453 
 Lindfay, Lady Ann, 457 
 " Love wakes and weeps," 247 
 Luggie, the warlock, 310, 448 
 
 MacRaws, 291,458 
 
 Mainland of Zetland, 1 
 
 " Mark me, for the word I speak," 300 
 
 Marriage, reflections on, 137 
 
 " Mary,'' sons, 132 
 
 Maskers, at Buigh-Westra, 160 
 
 " Menseful maiden, ne'er should rise," 253 
 
 Mertoun, Basil, 3 ; rents Jarlshof, 6; anger 
 against Swertha, 10 ; questions Mordaunt, 
 65 ; climbs Suiuburgh Head, 68 ; aroused 
 by iMordaunt's absence, 2)9 ; his relations 
 with Noma, 271 ; last interview with her, 
 431 ; offers his life for his sou's, 437 ; end 
 of, 440 
 
 Mertoun, Mordaunt, advises Swertha, 12 ; 
 his education, 13 ; relations to Minna and 
 Brenda, 22 ; resolves to go home, 24 ; 
 forces his way into Stourburgh, 43 ; 
 awakens Swertha, 64 ; questioned by his 
 father, 65 ; accompanies his father up 
 Sumburgh Hend, 68 ; rescues Cleveland, 
 74; reproves Swertha, 83; visits Cleve- 
 land, 85; hears unwelcome news, 93; 
 warned by Noma, 101 ; joins the Yellow, 
 leys. Ill ; cold reception at BurLrh-Westra, 
 121, 125; explanations from Brenda, 163 ; 
 rescued by Cleveland, Ih'O; dispute as to 
 the box, 191 ; alarm at his prolonged 
 absence, 258 ; Noma's communication to 
 him, 346 ; restored to favor with Magnus 
 Troil, 417 ; rescues the sister,^, 424 ; story 
 of his birth, 433; marriage, 442 
 
 Millie, Beenie, 448 
 
 Montrose, in Zetland, 156, 450 
 
 "Mother darksome, mother dread, "221, 223, 
 224, 226 
 
 " Mother, sjieak, and do not tarry," 227 
 
 Monsa Castle, 457 
 
 NoRNA of Fitful Head, at Stourburgh, 50 ; 
 etillw the tempest, .57 ; at the wreck, 78 ; 
 warns Mordaunt, 101 : in the sisters' 
 
 chamber, 198 ; her tale, 201 ; tells for- 
 tunes, 219 ; song in St. Hingan's, 209 ; 
 interview with Mertoun, 271 ; Magnus 
 Troll's account of her, 279; her abode, 
 284 ; visited by the Trolls, 290 ; her 
 spell over Minna, 294; throws out the 
 provisions, 303 ; claims Mordaunt as her 
 son, 3-J6 ; separates Minna and Cleveland, 
 396; helps c:ieveland to escape, 400; inter- 
 view wuli Mertoun, 431 ; last days of, 
 441 ; her spells, 458 ; Author on, 459, vi 
 Norse fragments, 15, 445 ; Norse rovers, 
 143, 153 
 
 Odin, promise of, 240, 456, 460 
 Olaus Magnus, his book, 306 ; quoted, 450 
 " Oranuis " to St. Honald, 62, 446 
 Orkney, grouse in, 326, 458; birds of prey, 
 351, 459 
 
 Pacolet. See Strumpfer, Nick 
 
 Peghts, or Hicts, 446 
 
 Pictish buigh, 2S4, 457 
 
 " Pirate,'' the novel, iii 
 
 Pirate, the. See Cleveland, Clement 
 
 Pirates, flag of, 327, 428 ; council of, 355, 
 
 capture ol, 430 
 Plantie cruive, 8, 445 
 Ponies, Zetland, 113 
 " Poor sinners whom the snake deceives." 
 
 336 
 Provost of Kirkwall. See Torfe, Provost 
 Punch-bowl, ISIagnus Troll's, 141 
 
 Ranzelman. See Ronaldson, Neil 
 " Robin Rover said to his crew," 343 
 Ronaldson, Neil, 11, 80; gossips with 
 
 Swertha, 108; interview with Mertoun. 
 
 262 
 
 Sagas, Norse. 15, 445 
 
 St. Magnus cathedral, Kirkwall, .394 
 
 "St Magi us control thee," 251 
 
 St. Ninian's, ruins of. 2ti6 
 
 St. Olla's fair, Kirkwall, 326, 336, 459 
 
 Scanibester, Eric, his punch, 141 ; at the 
 whale-hunt, 182 
 
 Scart, or cormorant, 25, 447 
 
 Scholey, Laurence, 306 
 
 Sea-monsters, 15, 447 
 
 Shetland. See Zetland 
 
 "She who sits by haunted well," 297. 298 
 
 Snailsfoot, Bryce, at Stourburgh, 50; re. 
 fuses help to the half-drowned man, 76' 
 gives Mordaunt news of Burtrh-Westra 
 94 ; carries news to Burgll-^Ve^tra, 184 ' 
 sells his wares there, 189 ; at Kirkwall 
 fair, 3.36 ; beaten by Cleveland, 341 
 
 " Song of Harold Harfager," ].")3 
 
 " Song of the Reim-kennar," 57 
 
 Stennis, Standing Stones of. 406, 400 
 
 " Stern eagle of the f.ir northwest," 57 
 
 Stewart, Patrick, Earl of Orkney, 11 
 
 Stourburgh, or Harfra, 26, 28, 39 
 
 Strumpfer, Nick, the dwarf, 279, 287; 
 carries the letter to the fisherman's hut, 
 317 
 
 Sumburgh Head, 1; the roost of, 1, 71; 
 Hrick's Steps on, 74 
 
 Superstitions of Zetlanders, 15 
 
 Swarta^ter, helyer of, 231 
 
 Swertha, the housekeeper, 10 ; acte oo 
 
4?0 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ifordannt's wlvlce, 12 ; awakened by 
 him, C4 ; goes down lo the wrecks, 80 ; 
 duic'iids herself, 82 ; gosr^ips with the 
 Kaiizeiinaii, 108 ; anxiety about Mor- 
 daiim, 258; iustructious to the Raiizel- 
 maii, 201 
 bwoid-dunce, 157, 450 
 
 " The infant loves the rattle's noiee," 223 
 
 "The sun is rising dimly red," 153 
 
 *■ The thought of the aged," 221 
 
 Thimblethwaite, Tim, Hiilcro's story of, 
 130 
 
 " Thou so needful, yet so dread," 295 
 
 " Thou that over billows dark," 290 
 
 Torfteus. " Oicades," cited, 457 
 
 Torfi', I'rovost, of Kirkwall, 362 ; selects 
 Triptolemus as hostage, 368 ; receives 
 Minna and Brenda, 391, 39M ; interview 
 witli Captain Weatheiport, 436 
 
 Troil, Brenda, 18 ; cool reception of Mor- 
 daunt, 124 ; seeks an explanation with 
 him, 162 ; her relations wlih Minna, 196 ; 
 night-visit hy Noma to her, 198; talk 
 with Minna, x;09: her fortune told, 226; 
 visit to Noma's abode, 284 ; in the fisher- 
 man's hut, 314 ; in the pirates' hands, 
 376; sent ashore; 387; persuades Mor- 
 daunt to let herself and Minna pass, 420 ; 
 her marriage, 442 
 
 Troil, Erland. 201 
 
 Troil, Magnus, 3, 5 ; welcomes his guests, 
 120 ; coldness to Mordaiint, 121 ; scirn of 
 Triptolemus' improvements, 144 ; at the 
 whale- hunt. 175 ; his fori line told, 221 ; 
 journeys to Noma's abode 216 ; hie 
 account of her, 278 ; at her home, 290 ; 
 finds shelter in ihe hut, 309; boarded by 
 the pirates, 375 ; set at liberty. 407 ; takes 
 Mordaunt into favor again, 417 
 
 Troil, Minna, 16 ; cold reception of Mor- 
 daunt, 124 ; attentions from Cleveland, 
 158 ; relations with Brend". 196 ; night- 
 visit from Noma, 198; tall ..ith Brenda, 
 209 ; her fortune told, ~27 ; meeting with 
 Cleveland, 2;jl ; promises him the troth of 
 Odin, 238 ; serenaded, 247 ; alarmed, 249 ; 
 blood discovered on her uet, 253; her 
 peculiar state, 274; under Noma's spell, 
 294; in Ihe fisherman's hut, <jl7; in the 
 pirates' hands, 375 ; takes the pistol, 386 ; 
 Bent ashore, 387 ; visits Cleveland in the 
 catliedral, 394 ; at Stennis, 421; her high 
 resignation, 443 
 
 Troil, Rolfe, 201 
 
 'J'rold, 205. tiee cUsc Trows 
 Tronda, Yellowley's servant, 80 
 Trows, or Lirows, loa, 449 
 Tusser, 36, 447 
 
 Utjai.lers of Zetland, 7, 446 
 " L'ntouth'd by love," 2a6, 227 
 Urry, Sir John, 156, 450 
 
 Vauguan. <S(?e Mertoun, Basil 
 Vikings, ancient, 143, 153 
 
 Wallace, " Description of Islands of Ork 
 
 ney," quoted, 454 
 Ward Hill of Hoy, 202, 454 
 Weatherport, Caplain, 436 
 Wells and waves, 405, 460 
 Whale-hunt, 173 ; w haling customs, 221, 
 
 456 
 Wild-fowl, 25 ; catching of, 14 
 Winds, N<'ina'8 invocations to, 57, 296: 
 
 sale of, 70. 44,s 
 Wreck, in ilie roost, 71; Zetlanders' ideas 
 
 regarding, 81, 449 
 
 Yellowlet, Barbara, 32 ; her parsimony, 
 37, 41 ; takes Noma's coin, 60: goes to 
 Burgh-Weslra. Ill; welcomed liy Mugnus 
 Troil, 121 ; at Biirgh-Westra, 135 ; at the 
 whale-hunt, 174 
 
 Yellow ley, Jasper, 29 
 
 Y''e]lowley, Triptolemus, birth of, .^0 ; 
 educalion, 33; sell led in Zethind, 38; 
 inhospitality of, 41; personal appearance, 
 45 ; astonished by Noma, 60 ; his ideas 
 of agricultural reform. 115; thrown by 
 the pony. 117; welcomed by Magnus 
 Troil, 1:21 ; his improvements, 144 ; made 
 to sing, 170; at the whale-hunt, 174; in 
 the fisherman's hut, 309: discovery of the 
 treasure, 312; selected as hostage, 368 ; 
 escapes, 371; last days of, 442 
 
 Zetland, Mainland of, 1 ; hospitality, 5. 
 134, 172 ; tempest in, 27 ; administration 
 of, 38. 453 ; Green Loch in, 100; ponies, 
 113; corn-mills, 116, 449; Armada in, 
 225, 456 ; fishermen's wives, 229, 456 ; 
 white-fishery, 229 ; Pictish burgh, 284, 
 457 ; coins found in, 313, 459 ; wells and 
 waves of, 405, 460 
 
IXTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 But why should lordlings all our praise engross ? 
 Rise, honest muse, and sing the Man of Ross. 
 
 Pope. 
 
 Haying, in the tale of the Heart of Midlotldan, succeeded in 
 B0JI3 degree in awakening an interest in behalf of one devoid 
 of those accomplishments which belong to a heroine almost 
 by right, I was next tempted to choose a hero upon the same 
 unpromising plan ; and as worth of character, goodness of 
 heart, and rectitude of principle were necessary to one who 
 laid no claim to high birth, romantic sensibility, or any of the 
 usual accomplishments of those who strut through the pages 
 of this sort of composition, I made free with the name of a 
 person who has left the most magnificent proofs of his be- 
 nevolence and charity that the capital of Scotland has to dis- 
 play. 
 
 To the Scottish reader little more need be said than that 
 the man alluded to is George Heriot. But for those south 
 of the Tweed it may be necessary to add, that the person so 
 named was a wealthy citizen of Edinburgh, and the king's 
 goldsmith, who followed James to the English capital, and 
 was so successful in his profession as to die, in 1624, ex- 
 tremely wealthy for that period. He had no children : and 
 after making a full provision for such relations as might 
 have claims upon him, he left the residue of his fortune to 
 establish an hospital, in which the sons of Edinburgh free- 
 me:i are gratuitously brought up and educated for the station 
 to which their talents may recommend them, and are finally 
 enabled to enter life under respectable auspices. The hos- 
 pital* in which this charity is maintained is a noble quad- 
 rangle of the Gothic order, and as ornamental to the city as 
 a building as the manner in which the youths are provided 
 for and educated renders it useful to the community as an 
 institution. To the honor of those who have the manage- 
 ment (the magistrates and clergy of Edinburgli), the funds 
 of the hospital have increased so much under their care that 
 it now supports and educates one hundred and thirty youths 
 annually, many of whcm have done honor to their country 
 in different situations. 
 
 ♦ See George Heriot'a Hospital. Note J 
 
viii WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 The founder of such a cliarity as this may be reasonably 
 supposed to have walked through life with a steady pace and 
 an observant eye, neglecting no opportunity of assisting 
 those who were not possessed of the experience necessary for 
 their own guidance. In supposing his efforts directed to the 
 benefit of a young nobleman, misguided by the aristocratic 
 haughtiness of his own time, and the prevailing tone of self- 
 ish luxury which seems more peculiar to ours, as well as the 
 seductions of pleasure which are predominant in all, some 
 amusement, or even some advantage, might, I thought, be 
 derived from the manner in which I might bring the exer- 
 tions of this civic mentor to bear in his pupil's behalf. I am, 
 I own, no great believer in the moral utility to be derived 
 from fictitious compositions ; yet, if in any case a word 
 spoken in season may be of advantage to a young person, it 
 must surely be when it calls upon him to attend to the voice of 
 principle and self-denial, instead of that of precipitate pas- 
 sion. I could not, indeed, hope or expect to represent my 
 prudent and benevolent citizen in a point of view so interest- 
 ing as that of the peasant girl, who nobly sacrificed her fam- 
 ily affections to the integrity of her moral character. Still, 
 however, something I hoped might be done not altogether 
 unworthy the fame which George Heriot has secured by the 
 lasting benefits he has bestowed on his country. 
 
 It appeared likely that, out of this simple plot, I might 
 weave something attractive ; because the reign of James I,, 
 in which George Heriot flourished, gave unbounded scope to 
 invention in the fable, while at the same time it afforded 
 greater variety and discrimination of character than could, 
 with historical consistency, have been introduced, if the 
 scene had been laid a century earlier. Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montagu has said, with equal truth and taste, that the most 
 romantic region of every country is that where the moun- 
 tains unite themselves with the plains and lowlands. For 
 similar reasons, it may be in like manner said that the most 
 picturesque period of history is that when the ancient rough 
 and wild manners of a barbarous age are just becoming inno- 
 vated upon and contrasted by the illumination of increased 
 or revived learning and the instructions of renewed or 
 reformed religion. The strong contrast produced by the oppo- 
 sition of ancient manners to those which are gradually sub- 
 duing tliem affords the lights and shadows necessary to give 
 effect to a fictitious narrative ; and while such a period 
 entitles the author to introduce incidents of a marvellous 
 and improbable character, as arising out of the turbulent 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL ix 
 
 independence and ferocity, belonging to old habits of vio- 
 lence, still influencing the manners of a people who had been 
 so lately in a barbarous state ; yet, on the other hand, the 
 characters and sentiments of many of the actors may, with 
 the utmost probability, be described with great variety of 
 shading and delineation, which belongs to the newer and 
 more improved period, of which the world has but lately 
 received the light. 
 
 The reign of James I. of England possessed this advan- 
 tage in a iKU'uliar degree. Some beams of chivalry, although 
 its planet had been for some time set, continued to animate 
 and gild the horizon, and although probably no one acted 
 precisely on its Quixotic dictates, men and women still talked 
 the chivalrous language of Sir Philip Sidney's ^Ircr^rf/^; and 
 the ceremonial of the tilt-yard was yet exhibited, tnough it 
 now only flourished as n. jilace de carrousel. Here and there 
 a high-spirited Knight of the Bath (witness the too scrupu- 
 lous Lord Herbert of Cherbury) was found devoted enough 
 to the vows he had taken to imagine himself obliged to com- 
 pel, by the sword's point, a fellow-knight or squire to restore 
 the top-knot of ribbon which he had stolen from a fair dam- 
 sel ;* but yet, while men were taking each other^s lives on 
 such punctilios of honor, the hour was already arrived when 
 Bacon was about to teach the world that they were no longer 
 to reason from authority to fact, but to establish truth by 
 advancing from fact to fact, till they fixed an indisputable 
 authority, not from hypothesis, but from experiment. 
 
 The state of society in the reign of James I. was also 
 strangely disturbed, and the license of a part of the commu- 
 nity was perpetually giving rise to acts of blood and violence. 
 The bravo of the Queen's day, of whom Shakespeare has given 
 us so many varieties, as Bardolph, ISTym, Pistol, Peto, and 
 the other companions of Falstatf, men who had their humors 
 or their particular turn of extravaganza, had, since the com- 
 mencement of the Low Country wars, given way to a race of 
 sworders, who used the rapier and dagger instead of the far 
 less dangerous sword and buckler ; so that a historian says 
 on this subject — 
 
 That private quarrels were nourished, but especially between the 
 Scots and the English, and duels in every street maintained; divers 
 sects and particular titles passed unpunished nor refj;arded, as the 
 sect of the roaring boys, bonaventors, bravadors, quarterurs, and 
 such-like, beingpersons prodigal and of great expense, wlien,liaving 
 run themselves into debt, were constrained to run into factions, to 
 ♦See Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Memoirs, 
 
X WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 defend themselves from danger of the law. These received main- 
 tenance from divers of the nobility , . . and tlie citizens through 
 lasoiviousness consuaiing their estates, it was like that their num- 
 ber [of these desperadoes] would rather increase than diminish ; and 
 under these pretences they entered into many desperate enterprises, 
 and scarce any durst walk the streets after nine at night. 
 
 The same authority assures us farther that — 
 Ancient gentlemen, that had left their inheritance whole and 
 well furnished with gooils and chattels (having thereupon kept good 
 houses) unto their sons, lived to see part consumed in riot and excess 
 and the rest in possibility to be utterly lost ; the holy state of matri- 
 3nony made but a May-game, by which means divers private fami- 
 lies have been subverted, brothel houses much frequented, and 
 even great persons prostituting their bodies to tlie intent to satisfy 
 their lusts, and consume their substance in lascivious appetites. 
 And of all sorts, such knights or gentU men, as either through pride 
 or prodigality had consumed their substance, repairing to the city, 
 and to the intent to consume their virtues also, lived dissolute lives; 
 and many of their ladies and daughters, to the intent to maintain 
 themselves according to their dignity, prostitute their bodies in 
 shameful manner ; ale-houses, dicing-houses, taverns, and places of 
 vice and iniquity beyond measure abounding in most places.* 
 
 Nor is it only in the pages of a Puritanical, perhaps a 
 satirical, writer that we find so shocking and disgusting a 
 picture of the coarseness of the beginning of the 17th cen- 
 tury. On the contrary, in all the comedies of the age, the 
 Erincipal character for gayety and wit is a young heir who 
 as totally altered the establishment of the father to whom 
 he has succeeded, and, to use the old simile, who resembles 
 a fountain which plays off in idleness and extravagance the 
 wealth which its careful parents painfully had assembled in 
 hidden reservoirs. 
 
 And yet, while that spirit of general extravagance seemed 
 at work over a whole kingdom, another and very different 
 sort of men were gradually forming the staid and resolved 
 characters which afterwards displayed themselves during the 
 civil wars, and powerfully regulated and affected the char- 
 acter of the whole English nation, until, rushing from one 
 extreme to another, they sunk in a gloomy fanaticism the 
 splendid traces of the reviving fine arts. 
 
 From the quotations which I have produced, the selfish 
 and disgusting conduct of Lord Dalgarno will not perhaps 
 appear overstrained; nor will the scenes in Whitefriars and 
 places of similar resort seem too highly colored. This in- 
 deed is far from being the case. It was in James I.'s reign 
 that vice first appeared affecting the better classes in its gross 
 
 * Narrative History of the First Fourteen Years of King James's Reign, in 
 Somers's Tracts, edited by Scott, vol. ii., p. 266, 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL » 
 
 and undisguised depravity. The entertainments and amuse- 
 ments of Elizabeth's time had an air of that decent restraint 
 which became the court of a maiden sovereign; and in that 
 earlier period, to use the words of Burke, vice lost half its 
 evil by being deprived of all its grossness. In James's reign, 
 on the contrary, the coarsest pleasures were publicly and 
 unlimitedly indulged, since, according to Sir John Harring- 
 ton, the men wallowed in beastly delights; and even ladies 
 abandoned their delicacy and rolled about in intoxication. 
 After a ludicrous account of a mask, in Avhicli the actors 
 had got drunk and behaved themselves accordingly, he adds: 
 *' I have much marvelled at these strange pageantries, and 
 they do bring to my remembrance what passed of this sort in 
 our Queen's days, of which I was sometime an humble pre- 
 senter and assistant; but I never did see sucli lack of good 
 order, discretion, and sobriety as I have now done. 
 The gunpowder fright is got out of all our heads, and we are 
 going on hereabouts as if the devil was contriving ever}^ man 
 ghould blow up himself by wild riot, excess, and devastation 
 of time and temperance. The great ladies do go well 
 masked; and, indeed, it be the only show of their modesty 
 to conceal their countenance; but alack, tliey meet with such 
 countenance to uphold their strange doings, that I marvel 
 not at aught that happens." * 
 
 Such being the state of the court, coarse sensuality 
 brought along with it its ordinary companion, a brutal 
 degree of undisguised selfishness, destructive alike of philan- 
 thropy and good breeding; both of which, in their several 
 spheres, depend upon the regard paid by each individual to 
 the interest as well as the feelings of others. It is in such a 
 time that the heartless and shameless man of wealth and 
 power may, like the supposed Lord Dalgarno, brazen out the 
 ^hame of his villanies, and affect to triumph in their conse- 
 quences, so long as they were personally advantageous to his 
 own pleasures or profit. 
 
 Alsatia is elsewhere explained as a cant name for AYliite- 
 friars, which, possessing certain privileges of sanctuary, 
 became for that reason a nest of those mischievous characters 
 who were generally obnoxious to the law. These privileges 
 were derived from its having been an establishment of the 
 Carmelites, or White Friars, founded, says Stow, in his 
 Survey of London, by Sir Richard Grey, in i2-41. Edward I. 
 gave them a plot of ground in Fleet Street, to build their 
 church upon. The edifice, then erected, was rebuilt by 
 
 ♦ See Debauchery of the Period. Note 2. 
 
xii WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Courtney^ Eari of Devonshire, in tlie reign of Edward III, 
 In the time of the lieformation the place retained its immu- 
 nities as a sanctuary, and James I. confirmed and added to 
 them by a charter in 1G08. Shadwell was the first author 
 who made some literary use of Whitefriars, in his play of the 
 Squire of Alsatia, which turns upon the plot of the AdelpM 
 of Terence. 
 
 In this old play, two men of fortune, brothers, educate 
 two young men, sons to the one and nephews to the other, 
 each under his own separate system of rigor and indulgence. 
 The elder of the subjects of this experiment, who has been 
 very rigidly brought up, falls at once into all the vices of the 
 town, is debauched by the cheats and bullies of Whitefriars, 
 and, in a. word, becomes the Squire of Alsatia. The poet 
 gives, as the natural and congenial inhabitants of the place, 
 such characters as the reader will find in Note 3 (p. 440).* 
 The play, as we learn from the dedication to the Earl of 
 Dorset and Middlesex, was successful above the author's 
 expectations, " no comedy for these many years having filled 
 the theatre so long together. And I had the great honor," 
 continues Shadwell," to find so many friends, that the house 
 was never so full since it was built as upon the third day of 
 this play, and vast numbers went away that could not be ad- 
 mitted." f From the Squire of Alsatia the Author derived 
 some few hints, and learned the footing on which the bullies 
 and thieves of the sanctuary stood with their neighbors, the 
 fiery young students of the Temple, of which some intima- 
 tion is given in the dramatic piece. 
 
 Such are the materials to which the Author stands 
 indebted for the composition of the Fortunes of Nigel, a 
 novel which may be perhaps one of those that are more amus- 
 ing on a second perusal than when read a first time for the 
 sake of the story, the incidents of which are few and meagre. 
 
 The Introductory Epistle is written, in Lucio's phrase, 
 " according to the trick," and would never have appeared 
 had the writer meditated making his avowal of the work.t 
 As it is the privilege of a mask or incognito to speak in a 
 feigned voice and assumed .character, the Author attempted, 
 while in disguise, some liberties of the same sort; and while 
 he continues to plead upon the various excuses which the 
 Introduction contains, the present acknowledgment must 
 serve as an apology foi- a species of " hoity toity, whisky 
 
 * See Alsatian Characters. Note 3. 
 
 t Dedicaiion to the. Squire of Alsatia, ShadweH's Works, vol. iv. 
 
 j See Lockharfs Life, vol. vi., p. 407, and vol. vii., p. 26. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO TEE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xiU 
 
 frisky " pertness of manner, which, in his avowed character, 
 the Author should have considered as a departure from the 
 rules of civility and good taste. 
 
 Abbotsford, 1st July, 1831. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK 
 
 TO 
 
 THE REVEREND DR. DRYASDUST. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I readily accept of, and reply to, the civilities with which 
 you have been pleased to honor rae in your obliging letter, 
 and entirely agree with your quotation, of " Quam bonum 
 et quam jucundum ! '''' We may indeed esteem ourselves as 
 come of the same family or, according to our country 
 proverb, as being all one man's bairns ; and there needed no 
 apology on your part, reverend and dear sir, for demanding 
 of me any information which I may be able to supply re- 
 specting the subject of your curiosity. The interview which 
 you allude to took place in the course of last winter, and is 
 so deeply imprinted in my recollection that it requires no 
 effort to collect all its most minute details. 
 
 You are aware that the share which I had in introducing 
 the romance called The Monastery to public notice has given 
 me a sort of character in the literature of our Scottish 
 metropolis. I no longer stand in the outer shop of our 
 bibliopolists, bargaining for the objects of my curiosity with 
 an unrespective shop-lad, hustled among boys who come to 
 buy Corderies * and copy-books, and servant-girls cheapen- 
 ing a pennyworth of paper, but am cordially welcomed by 
 the bibliopolist himself, with, " Pray, walk into the back 
 shop, captain. Boy, get a chair for Captain Clutterbuck. 
 There is the newspaper, captain — to-day's paper ; " or, " Here 
 is the last new work ; tliere is a folder, make free with the 
 'eaves ; " or, " Put it in your pocket and carry it home ; " or, 
 
 •One of the most common school-books of the last century— CoWo^wtorum Ce»i- 
 Iwria iSelecia Maturini Corderii (Laing). 
 
xiy WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 ""We will Muke a bookseller of yoU;,sir,You shall have it at tradb 
 price.'' O'", perhaps, if it is the wortJiy trader's own publica- 
 tion, his liberality may even extend itself to — " Never mind 
 booking such a trifle to you, sir ; it is an over-copy. Pray, 
 mention the work to your reading friends." I say nothing of 
 the snug, well-selected literary party arranged around a tur- 
 bot, leg of five-year-old mutton, or some such gear, or of the 
 circulation of a quiet bottle of Robert Cockburn's * choi- 
 cest black — nay, perhaps of his best blue — to quicken our 
 talk about old books, or our plans for new ones. All these 
 are comforts reserved to such as are freemen of the corpora- 
 tion of letters, and I have the advantage of enjoying then\ 
 in perfection. 
 
 But all things change under the sun ; and it is with no 
 ordinary feelings of regret that, in my annual visits to the 
 metropolis, I now miss the social and warm-hearted welcome 
 of the quick-witted and kindly friend f who first introduced 
 me to the public, who had more original wit than would 
 have set up a dozen of j)rof essed sayers of good things, and 
 more racy humor than would have made the fortune of as 
 many more. To this great deprivation has been added, I 
 trust for a time only, the loss of another bibliopolical friend,;!^ 
 whose vigorous intellect and liberal ideas have not only ren- 
 dered his native country the mart of her own literature, but 
 established there a court of letters, which must command 
 respect, even from those most inclined to dissent from many 
 of its canons. The effect of these clianges, operated in a 
 great measure by the strong sense and sagacious calculations 
 of an individual who knew how to avail himself, to an un- 
 hoped-for extent, of the various kinds of talent which his 
 country produced, will probably appear more clearly tc the 
 generation which shall follow the present. 
 
 I entered the shop at the Cross, to inquire after the health 
 of my worthy friend, and learned with satisfaction that his 
 residence in the south had abated the rigor of the symptoms 
 of his disorder. Availing myself, then, of the privileges to 
 which I have alluded, I strolled onward in that labyrinth of 
 small dark rooms or crypts, to speak our own antiquarian 
 language, which form the extensive back-settlements of that 
 celebrated publishing-house. Yet, as I proceeded from one 
 obscure recess to another, filled, some of them with old vol- 
 
 * Late wine-merchant in Edinburgh (Jjaing). 
 
 + Sir. John Ballantyne, bookseller (Lanig). See Bride of Lammermoor, Note 3 
 p. 816. 
 
 i Mr. Archibald Constable {Laing). 
 
INTUODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xv 
 
 unies, some willi such as, from the equality of their rank on 
 the slielves, I suspected to he the less salable modern books 
 of the concern, I could not help feeling a holy horror creep 
 upon me, when I thought of the risk of intruding on some 
 estatic bard giving vent to his poetical fury; or, it might be, 
 on the yet more formidable j^rivacy of a band of critics, in 
 the act of worrying the game which they had just run down. 
 In such a sujjposed case, I felt by anticipation the horrors of 
 the Highland seers, Avhom their gift of deuteroscopy com- 
 pels to witness things unmeet for mortal eye; and who, to 
 use the expression of Collins, 
 
 Heartless, oft, like moody madness, stare, 
 To see the phantom train their secret work prepare. 
 
 Still, however, the irresistible impulse of an undefined 
 curiosity drove me on through this succession of darksome 
 chambers, till, like the jeweller of Delhi in the house of the 
 magician Bennaskar, I at length reached a vaulted room, 
 dedicated to secrecy and silence, and beheld, seated by a 
 lamp, and employed in reading a blotted revise,* the person, 
 or perhaps I should rather say the eidolon, or representative 
 vision, of the Author of ''Waverley!" You will not be 
 surprised at the filial instinct which enabled me at once to 
 acknowledge the features borne by this venerable apparition, 
 and that I at once bended the knee, with the classical salu- 
 tation of. Salve, magne 2}cirefis ! The vision, however, cut 
 me short by pointing to a seat, intimating at the same time 
 that my presence was not unexpected, and that he had some- 
 thing to say to me. 
 
 I sat down with humble obedience, and endeavored to 
 note the features of him with whom I now found myself so 
 unexpectedly in society. But on this point I can give your 
 reverence no satisfaction; for, besides tlie obscurity of the 
 apartment, and the fluttered state of my own nerves, I 
 seemed to myself overwhelmed by a sense of filial awe, which 
 prevented ray noting and recording what it is probable the 
 personage before me might most desire to have concealed. 
 Indeed, his figure was so closely veiled and wimpled, either 
 with a mantle, morning-gown, or some such loose garb, that 
 the verses of Spenser might have well been applied — 
 
 Yet, certes, by her face and physnomy, 
 Whether she man or woman only were, 
 That could not any creature well descry. 
 
 * The uainltiated must be informed that a second proof-sheet Is so called 
 
XV) WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 I miist, howe^ "^r, go on as I have begun, to apply the mas 
 culiue gender; for, notwithstanding very ingenious reasons, 
 and indeed something like positive evidence, have been 
 Oil'ered to prove the Author of Waverley to be two ladies of 
 talent, I must abide by the general opinion, that he is of the 
 rougher sex. There are in his writings too many things 
 
 Quae maribus sola tribuuntur, 
 
 to permit me to entertain any doubt on that subject. I will 
 proceed, in the manner of dialogue, to repeat as nearly as I 
 can what passed betwixt us, only observing that, in the 
 course of the conversation, my timidity imperceptibly gave 
 way under the familiarity of his address; and that, in the 
 concluding part of our dialogue, I perhaps argued with fully 
 as much confidence as was beseeming. 
 
 AutJior of Waverley. I was willing to see yon. Captain 
 Clutterbuck, being the person of my family whom I have 
 most regard for, since the death of Jedediah Cleishbotham; 
 and I am afraid I may have done you some wrong in assign- 
 ing to you The Monastery as a portion of my effects. I have 
 some thoughts of making it up to you, by naming you god 
 father to this yet unborn babe — (he indicated the proof- 
 sheet with his finger). But first, touching The Monastery 
 — how says the world? You are abroad and can learn. 
 
 Captain ClutterMch. Hem! hem! The inquiry is deli- 
 cate. I have not heard any complaints from the publishers. 
 
 Author. That is the principal matter; but ye', i*n indiffer- 
 ent work is sometimes towed on by those which have left 
 harbor before it, with the breeze in their poop. What say 
 the critics? 
 
 Captain. There is a general — feeling — that the White 
 Lady is no favorite. 
 
 A uthor. I think she is a failure myself; but rather in 
 execution than conception. Could I have evoked an esprit 
 foUet, at the same time fantastic and interesting, capricious 
 and kind; a sort of wildfire of the elements, bound by no 
 fixed laws or motives of action, faithful and fond, yet teas- 
 ing and uncertain 
 
 Captain. If you will pardon the interruption, sir, I think 
 you are describing a pretty woman. 
 
 Author. On my word, I believe I am. I must invest my 
 elementary spirits with a little human flesh and blood : they 
 are too fine-drawn for the present taste of the public. 
 
 Captain. They object, too, that the object of your nixiu 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xvii 
 
 ought to liave been more uniformly noble. Her ducking the 
 priest was no Naiad-like amusement. 
 
 Author. Ah ! they ought to allow for the capriccios of 
 what is, after all, but a better sort of goblin. The bath into 
 which Ariel, the most delicate creation of Shakespeare's im- 
 agination, seduces our jolly friend Trinculo, was not of 
 amber or rose-water. But no one shall find me rowing 
 against the stream. I care not who knows it, I write for 
 general amusement ; and, though I never will aim at popu- 
 larity by what I think unwortliy means, I will not, on the 
 other hand, be pertinacious in the defence of my own errors 
 against the voice of the public. 
 
 Captain. You abandon, then, in the present work (look- 
 ing, in my turn, towards the proof-sheet), the mystic, and the 
 magical, and the whole system of signs, wonders, and omens? 
 There are no dreams, or presages, or obscure illusions to 
 future events ? 
 
 Author. Not a Cock Lane scratch, my son — not one 
 bounce on the drum of Tedworth — not so much as the poor 
 tick of a solitary death-watch in the wainscot. All is clear 
 and above board : a Scots metaphysician might believe every 
 word of it. 
 
 Captain. And the story is, I hope, natural and probable ; 
 commencing strikingly, proceeding naturally, ending hap- 
 pily, like the course of a famed river, which gushes from the 
 mouth of some obscure and romantic grotto ; then gliding 
 on, never pausing, never precipitating its course, visiting, as 
 it were, by natural instinct, whatever worthy subjects of in- 
 terest are presented by the country through which it passes ; 
 widening and deepening in interest as it flows on ; and at 
 length arriving at the final catastrophe as at some mighty 
 haven, where ships of all kinds strike sail and yard ? 
 
 Author. Hey ! hey ! what the deuce is cill this ? Why, 
 'tis Ercles's vein, and it would require some one much more 
 like Hercules than I to produce a story which should gush, 
 and glide, and never pause, and visit, and widen, and 
 deepen, and all the rest on't. I should be chin-deep in the 
 grave, man, before I had done with my task ; and, in the 
 meanwhile, all the quirks and quiddities which I might have 
 devised for my reader's amusement would lie rotting in my 
 gizzard, like Sancho's suppressed witticisms, when he was 
 under his master's displeasure. There never was a novel 
 written on this plan while the world stood. 
 
 Captain. Pardon me — Tom Jones. 
 
 Author, True, and perhaps Amelia al&o. Fielding ha(] 
 
xviii WAVERLJSY NOVELis 
 
 high notions o': ^i~o dignity of an art which ho may be con- 
 sidered as havivig founded. He challenges a comparison 
 between the novel and the epic. Smollett, Le Sage, and 
 others, einanci})ating themselves from the strictness of the 
 rnles he has laid down, have written rather a history of the 
 miscellaneous adventures which befall an individual in the 
 course of life than the plot of a regular and connected 
 epopojia, where every step brings us a point nearer the final 
 catastrophe. These great masters have been satisfied if they 
 amused the reader upon the road ; though the conclusion 
 only arrived because the tale must have an end, Just as the 
 traveller alights at the inn because it is evening.. 
 
 Captain. A very commodious mode of travelling, for the 
 author at least. In short, sir, you are of opinion with 
 Bayes— "What the devil does the plot signify, except to bring 
 in fine things?" 
 
 Author. Grant that I were so, and that I should write 
 with sense and spirit a few scenes unlabored and loosely put 
 together, but which had sufficient interest in them to arnuse 
 in one corner the pain of body ; in another, to relieve 
 anxiety of mind ; in a third place, to unwrinkle a brow bent 
 with the furrows of daily toil ; in another, to fill the place of 
 bad thoughts, or to suggest better; in yet another, to induce an 
 idler to s'tudy the history of his country ; in all, save where 
 the perusal interrupted the discharge of serious duties, to 
 furnish harmless amusement — might not the authorof such 
 a work, however inartificially executed, plead for his errors 
 and negligences the excuse of the slave, who, about to bo 
 punished for having spread the fali^e report of a victory, 
 saved himself by exclaiming — '• Am I to blame, Athenians, 
 who have given you one happy day ?" 
 
 Captain. Will your goodness permit me to mention an 
 anecdote of my excellent grandmother ? 
 
 Author. I see little she can have to do with the subject, 
 Captain Clutterbuck. 
 
 Captain. It may come into our dialogue on Bayes's plan. 
 The sagacious old lady— rest her soul! — was a good friend to 
 the church, and could never hear a minister maligned by evil 
 tongues without taking his part warmly. There was one 
 fixed point, lioAvever, at which she always abandoned the 
 cause of her reverend protege: it was so soon as she learned 
 he had preached a regular sermon against slanderers and 
 - backbiters. 
 
 AufJ/or. And what is that to the purpose? 
 
 Captain. Only that I have heard engineers say that one 
 
INTRODtCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL : ix 
 
 may oetray the ^veak point to the enemy by too much osten- 
 tation of fortifying it. 
 
 Author. And, once more I pray, what is that to the pur- 
 pose? 
 
 Captain. Xay, then, without farther metaphor, I am 
 afraid this new production, in which your generosity seems 
 willing to give me some concern, will stand much in need of 
 apology, since you think proper to begin your defence before 
 the case is on trial. The story is kiistily huddled up; I will 
 venture a pint of claret. 
 
 Author. A pint of port, I suppose you mean? 
 
 Captain. I say of claret — good claret of the monastery. 
 Ah. sir, would you but take the advice of your friends, and 
 try to deserve at least one-half of the public favor you have 
 met with, we might all drink Tokay! 
 
 Author. I care not what I drink, so the liquor be whole 
 some. 
 
 Captain. Care for your reputation' then — for your fame. 
 
 Author. My fume ! I will answer you as a very in- 
 genious, able, and experienced friend, being counsel for the 
 notorious Jem McCoul,* replied to the opposite side of the 
 bar, when they laid weight on his client's refusing to answer 
 certain queries, which they said any man who had a regard 
 for his reputation would not hesitate to reply to. "My 
 client,'"' said he — by the way, Jem was standing behind him 
 at the time, and a rich scene it was — "is so unfortunate as to 
 have no regard for his reputation ; and I should deal very 
 uncandidly with the court should I say he had any that was 
 worth his attention." I am, though from very different rea- 
 sons, in Jem's happy state of indifference. Let fame follow 
 those who have a substantial shape. A shadow — and an im- 
 personal author is nothing better— can cast no shade. 
 
 Captain. You are not now, perhaps, so impersonal as 
 neretofore. These Letters\ to the Member for the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford 
 
 Author. Show the wit, genius, and delicacy of the au- 
 thor, which I heartily wish to see engaged on a subject of 
 more importance; and show, besides, that the preservation 
 of my character of incognito has engaged early talent in the 
 discussion of a curious question of evidence. But a cause, 
 however ingeniously pleaded, is not therefore gained. You 
 
 * This character \ras a native of London, who was tried and convicted in 1820 of 
 robbing a Glasgow bank of £20.000 CLaing). 
 
 f Letters to Richard Heber. Esq.. Af ember for the University \of Oxford, con 
 tattling Critical Remarks on the Wavvrley Novels, and a7i Attempt to ascertain 
 the Author. By J. L. Adolphus, Lond., l&Jl (Laing^. 
 
XX WAVEELEY NOVELS 
 
 may remember the neatly- wrought chain of circumstantial 
 evidence, so artificially brought forward to prove Sir Philip 
 Francis's title to the Letters of Junius, seemed at lirst irre- 
 fragable; yet the influence of the reasoning has passed away, 
 and Junius, in the general opinion, is as much unknown as 
 ever. But on this subject I will not be soothed or provoked 
 into saying one word more. To say who I am not would be 
 one step towards saying who I am; and as I desire not, any 
 more than a certain Justice of peace mentioned by Shenstone, 
 the noise or report such things make in the world, I shall 
 continue to be silent on a subject which, in my opinion, is 
 very undeserving the noise that has been made about it, 
 and still more unworthy of the serious employment of such 
 ingenuity as has been displayed by the young letter-writer. 
 
 Captain. But allowing, my dear sir, that you care not for 
 your personal reputation, or for that of any literary person 
 upon whose shoulders your faults may be visited, allow me 
 to say that common gratitude to the public, which has re- 
 ceived you so kindly, and to the critics who have treated you 
 so leniently, ought to induce you to bestow more pains on 
 your story. 
 
 Author. I do entreat you, my son, as Dr. Johnson would 
 have said, " free your mind from cant." For the critics, they 
 have their business, and I mine; as the nursery proverb 
 goes— 
 
 The children in Holland take pleasure in making 
 
 What the childi'en in England take pleasure in breaking. 
 
 I am their humble Jackal, too busy in providing food for 
 them to have time for considering whether they swallow or 
 reject it. To the public I stand pretty nearly in the relation 
 of the postman who leaves a packet at the door of an indi- 
 vidual. If it contains pleasing intelligence — a billet from a 
 mistress, a letter from an absent son, a remittance from a 
 correspondent supposed to be bankrupt — the letter is accept- 
 ably welcome, and read and reread, folded up, filed, and 
 safely deposited in the bureau. If the contents are disagree- 
 able, if it comes from a dun or from a bore, the correspon- 
 dent is cursed, the letter is thrown into the fire, and the 
 expense of postage is heartily regretted; while all the time 
 the bearer of the dispatches is, in either case, as little 
 thought on as the snow of last Christmas. The utmost ex- 
 tent of kindness between the author and the public which 
 can really exist is, that the world are disposed to be some- 
 what indulgent to the succeeding works of an original favor- 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xxi 
 
 ite, were it but on account of the habit whicli the public 
 mind has acquired; while the author very naturally thinks 
 well of their taste who have so liberally applauded Ins pro- 
 ductions. But I deny there is any call for gratitude, proper- 
 ly so called, either on one side or the other. 
 
 Captain. Eespect to yourself, then, ought to teach 
 caution. 
 
 Author. Ay, if caution could augment the chance of 
 my success. But, to confess to you the truth, the works and 
 passages in which I hav3 succeeded have uniformly been 
 written with the greatest rapidity ; and Avhen I have seen 
 some of these placed in opj^osition with others, and com- 
 mended as more highly finizlicu, I could appeal to pen and 
 standish that the parte in \.hich I have come feebly off were 
 by much the more labored. Besides, I doubt the beneficial 
 effect of too much delay, both on account of the author and 
 the public. A man should strike while the iron is hot, and 
 hoist sail while the wind is fair. If a successful author 
 keep not the stage, another instantly takes his ground. If 
 a writer lie by for ten years ere he produces a second work, 
 he is superseded by others ; or, if the age is so poor of genius 
 that this does not happen, his own reputation becomes his 
 greatest obstacle. The public will expect the new work to 
 be ten times better than its predecessor ; the author will 
 expect it should be ten times more popular, and 'tis a hun- 
 dred to ten that both are disapj)ointed. 
 
 Captain. This may justify z certain degree of rapidity 
 in publication, but not that which is proverbially said to be 
 no speed. You should take time at least to arrange your story. 
 
 Author. That is a sore point with me, my son. Believe 
 me, I have not been fool enough to neglect ordinary pre- 
 cautions. I have repeatedly laid do^Ti my future work to 
 scale, divided it into volumes and chapters, and endeavored 
 to construct a story which I meant should evolve itself 
 gradually and strikingly, maintain suspense, and stimulate 
 curiosity ; and which, finally, should terminate in a striking 
 catastrophe. But I think there is a demon who seats him- 
 self on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and 
 leads it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under 
 my hand ; incidents are multiiDlied ; the story lingers, while 
 the materials increase ; my regular mansion turns out a 
 Gothic anomaly, and the work is closed long before I have 
 attained the point I proposed. 
 
 Captain. Eesolution and determined forbearance might 
 remedy that evil. 
 
xxU WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 I, 
 
 Author. Alas ! my dear sir, you do not know the force of 
 paternal affection. When I light on such a character as 
 Bailie Jarvie, or Dalgetty, my imagination brightens, and 
 my conception becomes clearer at every step which I take in 
 his company, althougli it leads me many a weary mile away 
 from the regular road, and forces me to leap hedge and ditch 
 to get back into the route again. If I resist the temptation, 
 as you advise me, my thoughts become prosy, flat and dull ; 
 I Avrite painfully to myself, and under a consciousness of 
 flagging which makes me flag still more : the sunshine with 
 which fancy had invested the incidents departs from them, 
 and leaves everything dull and gloomy. I am no more the 
 same author I was in my better mood than the dog in a 
 wheel, condemned to go round and round for hours, is like 
 the same dog merrily chasing his own tail, and gambolling 
 in all the frolic of unrestrained freedom. In short, sir, on 
 such occasions I think I am bewitched. 
 
 Captain. Nay, sir, if you plead sorcery, there is no more 
 to be said : lie must needs go whom the devil drives. And 
 this, I suppose, sir, is the reason why you do not make the 
 theatrical attempt to which you have been so often urged ? 
 
 Author. It may pass for one good reason for not writing 
 a play, that I cannot form a plot. But the truth is, that 
 the idea adopted by too favorable judges, of my having some 
 aptitude for that department of poetry, has been much 
 founded on those scraps of old plays which, being taken 
 from a source inaccessible to collectors, they have hastily con- 
 sidered the offspring of my mother-wit. Now, the manner 
 in which I became possessed of these fragments is so extra- 
 ordinary that I cannot help telling it to you. 
 
 You must know that, some twenty years since, I went 
 down to visit an old friend in Worcestershire, who had 
 served with me in the Dragoons. 
 
 Captain. Then you have served, sir? 
 
 Author. I have — or I have not, which signifies the same 
 thing; captain is a good travelling name. I found my friend^s 
 house unexpectedly crowded with guests, and, as usual, was 
 condemned — the mansion being an old one — to the haunted 
 apartment. I have, as a great modern said, seen too many 
 ghosts to believe in them, so betook myself seriously to my 
 repose, lulled by the wind rustling among the lime-trees, the 
 branches of which checkered tlie moonlight which fell on 
 the floor through the diamonded casement, when, behold, a 
 darker shadow interposed itself, and I beheld visibly on the 
 floor of the apartment 
 
IMRODUCTION TO THE FORTL'MJS OF NIGEL xxiii 
 
 Capf(ii?i. The White Lady of Avenel, I suppose? You 
 have told the very story before. 
 
 Author. No — I beheld a female form, with mob-cap, 
 bib, and apron, sleeves tucked up to tlie elbow, a dredging- 
 box in the one hand, and in the other a sauce-ladle. I con- 
 cluded, of course, that it was my friend s cook-maid walking 
 in her sleep; and as I knew he had a value for Sally, who 
 could toss a pancake with any girl in the country, I got up 
 to conduct her safely to the door. But as I approached her, 
 she said, "Hold, sirll am not whatyou takeme for" — words 
 which seemed so apposite to the circumstances, that I should 
 p.ot have much minded them, had it not been for the pecu- 
 liarly hollow sound in which they were uttered. "Know, 
 then," she said, in the same unearthly accents, '-that I am the 
 spirit of Betty Barnes." "Who hanged herself for love of the 
 stage-coachman," thought I; "this is a proper sjiot of work I" 
 "Of that unhappy Elizabeth or Betty Barnes, long cook-maid 
 to Mr. Warburton, the painful collector, but ah! the too 
 careless custodier, of the largest collection of ancient plays 
 ever known — of most of which the titles only are left to 
 gladden the Prolegomena of the Variorum Shakespeare. Yes, 
 stranger, it was these ill-fated hands that consigned to grease 
 and conflagration the scores of small quartos, which, did 
 they now exist, would drive the whole Roxburghe Club out 
 of their senses; it was these unhappy pickers and stealers 
 that singed fat fowls and wiped dirty trenchers with the lost 
 works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Jon^on, 
 Webster — what shall I say? even of Shakespeare him- 
 self!" 
 
 Like every dramatic antiquary, my ardent curiosity after 
 some play named in the book of the Master of Eevels had 
 often been checked by finding the object of my research 
 numbered among the holocaust of victims which this un- 
 happy woman had sacrificed to the God of Good Cheer. It 
 is no wonder then, that, like the Hermit of Parnell, 
 
 I broke the bands of fear and madly cried, 
 
 "You careless jade !" But scarce the words began, 
 
 When Betty brandish'd high her saucing-pan. 
 
 "Beware," she said, " yon do not, by your ill-time danger, 
 cut off the opportunity I yet have to indemnify the world for 
 the errors of my ignorance. In yonder coal-hole, not used 
 for many a year, repose the few greasy and blackened 
 fragments of the elder drama which were not totally de- 
 stroyed. Do thou then " Why, what do you stare at. 
 
xxiv WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 captain ! By my soul, it is true; as my friend Major 
 Longbow says, "What should I tell you a lie for?" 
 
 Ctipfnin. Lie, sir! Na}^, Heaven forbid I should apply 
 the word to a person so veracious. You are only inclined 
 to chase your tail a little this morning, that's all. Had you 
 not better reserve this legend to form an introduction to 
 Three Recovered Dramas, or so? 
 
 Author. You are quite right; habit's a strange thing, 
 my son. I had forgot whom I was speaking to. Yes, plays 
 for the closet, not for the stage 
 
 Captain. Right, and so you are sure to be acted; for 
 the managers, while thousands of volunteers are desirous of 
 serving them, are wonderfully partial to pressed men. 
 
 Author. I am a living witness, having been, like a 
 second Laberius, made a dramatist whether I would or not. 
 I believe my muse would be Terrijfied * into treading the 
 stage, even if I should write a sermon. 
 
 Captain. Truly, if you did, I am afraid folks might 
 make a farce of it; and, therefore, should you change your 
 style, I still advise a volume of dramas like Lord Byron's. 
 
 Author. No, his lordship is a cut above me: I won't 
 run my horse against his, if I can help myself. But there 
 is my friend Allan has written just such a play as I might 
 write myself, in a very sunny day, and with one of Bramah's 
 extra patent-pens. I cannot make neat work without such 
 appurtenances. 
 
 Captain. Do you mean Allan Ramsay ? 
 
 Author. No, nor Barbara Allan either. I mean Allan Cun- 
 ningham, who has just published his tragedy of Sir Marma- 
 duhe Maxwell, full of merry-making and murdering, kissing 
 and cutting of throats, and passages which lead to nothing, and 
 which are very pretty passages for all that. Not a glimpse of 
 probability is there about the plot, but so much animation in 
 particular passages, and such a vein of poetry through the 
 whole, as I dearly wish I could infuse into my Culinary 
 Remains, should 1 ever be tempted to publish them. With 
 a popular impress, people would read and admire the beau- 
 ties of Allan ; as it is, they may perhaps only note his 
 defects — or, what is worse, not note him at all. But never 
 mind them, honest Allan ; you are a credit to Caledonia for 
 all that. There are some lyrical eifusions of his, too, which 
 
 *A jocular allusion to the Author's friend Daniel Terry, a celebrated comedian, 
 who dramatized more than nne of the Waverley Novels, which were brought on the 
 stage with great succ 'ss. Sir Walter himself might have been seen as a spectator, 
 enjoying the performance as much as any one iLaing). 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xxv 
 
 you would do well to read, captain. " It's hame, and it's 
 liame," is equal to Burns. 
 
 Captain. I will take the hint. The chip at Kennaquhair 
 are turned fastidious since Catalani visited the Abbey. My 
 Poortith Caiild has been received both poorly and coldly, and 
 The Banks of Bonnie Boon have been positively coughed 
 down. Tempora mutantur. 
 
 Author. They cannot stand still, they will change with 
 all of us. What then ? 
 
 A man's a man for a' that. 
 
 But the hour of parting approaches. 
 
 Captain. You are determined to proceed then in your 
 own system ? Are you aware that an unworthy motive may be 
 assigned for this rapid succession of publication ? You will 
 be supposed to work merely for the lucre of gain. 
 
 Author. Supposing that I did permit the great advan- 
 tages which must be derived from success in literature to 
 join with other motives in inducing me to come more fre- 
 quently before the public, that emolument is the voluntary 
 tax which the public pays for a certain sj)ecies of literary 
 amusement; it is extorted from no one, and paid, I presume, by 
 those only who can afford it, and who receive gratification 
 in proportion to the expense. If the capital sum which 
 these volumes have put into circulation be a very large one, 
 has it contributed to my indulgences only ? or can I not 
 say to hundreds, from honest Duncan the paper-manu- 
 facturer to the most snivelling of the printer's devils, "Didst 
 thou not share ? Hadst thou not fifteen pence ?" I profess 
 I think our Modern Athens much obliged to me for having 
 established such an extensive manufacture ; and when 
 universal suffrage comes in fashion, I intend to stand for 
 a seat in the House on the interest of all the unwashed arti- 
 ficers connected with literature. 
 
 Captain. This would be called the language of a calico- 
 manufacturer. 
 
 Author. Cant again, my dear son : there is lime in this 
 sack, too ; nothing but sophistication in this world ! I do say 
 it, in spite of Adam Smith and his followers, that a success- 
 ful author is a productive laborer, and that his works consti- 
 tute as effectual a part of the public wealth as that which is 
 created by any other manufacturer. If a new commodity, 
 having an actually intrinsic and commercial value, be the 
 result of the operation, why are the author's bales of books 
 to be esteemed a less profitable part of the public stock than 
 
xxvl WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 the goods of ap.y other manufacturer ? I speak with refer^ 
 euce to the diffi'ision of the wealth arising to the public, and 
 the degree of industry which even such a trifling work as the 
 present must stimulate and reward, before the volumes 
 leave the publish'^ir's shop. Without me it could not exist, 
 and to this extent I am a benefactor to the country. As for 
 my own emolume''it, it is won by my toil, and I account 
 myself answerable ^o Heaven only for the mode in which I 
 expend it. The candid may hope it is not all dedicated to 
 selfish purposes ; and. without much pretensions to merit in 
 him who disburses it, Hpart may "wander, heaven-directed, 
 to the poor." 
 
 Captain. Yet it is generally held base to write from the 
 mn-e motives of gain. 
 
 A uthor. It would be base to do so exclusively, or even 
 to make it a principal motive for literary exertion. Nay, 
 I will venture to say that no work of imagination, proceed- 
 in '^ from the mere consideration of a certain sum of copy- 
 money, ever did, or ever will, succeed. So the lawyer who 
 pleads, the soldier who fights, th^ physician who prescribes, 
 the clergyman — if such there be — who preaches, without 
 a.iy zeal for his profession, or without any sense of its 
 dignity, and merely on account of the fee, pay or stipend, 
 d_^o-rade themselves to the rank of sordid mechawies. 
 Accordingly, in the case of two of the learned faculties at 
 least, their services are considered as unappreciable, and ai'e 
 acknowledged, not by any exact estim.ate of the services 
 rendered, but by a honorarium, or voluntary acknowledg- 
 ment. But let a client or patient make the experiment of 
 omitting this little ceremony of the honorarium, which is 
 cense to be a thing entirely out of consideration between 
 them, and mark how the learned gentleman will look upoiv 
 his case. Cant set apart is the same thing with literary 
 emolument. No man of sense, in any rank of life, is, or 
 ic^ht to be, above accepting a just recompense for his time., 
 and a reasonable share of the capital which owes its very 
 existence to his exertions. When Czar Peter wrought in the 
 trenches, he took the pay of a common soldier ; and nobles^ 
 statesmen and divines, the most distinguished of their time, 
 have not scorned to square accounts with their bookseller- 
 
 Captain. {Sings.) 
 
 O if it were a mean tiling, 
 
 The gentles would not use it , 
 And if it were ungodly, 
 The clergy would refuse it. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL xxvii 
 
 Author. You say well. But no man of honor, genius, 
 or spirit would make the mere love of gain the chief, far less 
 the only, purpose of his labors. For myself, I am not dis- 
 pleased to find the game a winning one ; )-et while I pleased 
 the public, I should probably continue it merely for tlie 
 pleasure of playing ; for I have felt as strongly as most folks 
 that love of C()mi)Osition which is perhaps the strongest of 
 all instincis, driving the author to the pen, the painter to 
 tlie palette, often without either the chance of fame or the 
 prospect of reward. Perhaps I have said too much of this. 
 I might, perhaps, with as much truth as most people, excul- 
 pate inyst'lf from the charge of being either of a greedy or 
 mercenary disposition ; but I am not, therefore, hypocrite 
 enough to disclaim the ordinary motives, on account of 
 which the whole world around me is toiling unremittingly, 
 to tlie sacrifice of ease, comfort, health, and life. I do not 
 affect the disinterestedness of tliat ingenious association of 
 gentlemen mentioned by Goldsmith, who sold their maga- 
 zine for sixpence apiece, merely for their own amusement. 
 
 Captain. I have but one thing more to hint. 'i'he 
 world sa}'^ you will run yourself out. 
 
 Author. The world say true ; and what then ? When 
 they dance no longer, I will no longer pipe ; and I shall 
 not want flappers enough to remind me of the apoplex3\ 
 
 Captain. And what will become of us then, 3'our poor 
 family ? We shall fall into contempt and oblivion. 
 
 Author. Like many a poor fellow, already overwhelmed 
 with the number of his family, I cannot help going on to 
 increase it. " 'Tis my vocation, Hal." Such of you as 
 deserve oblivion — perhaps the whole of you — may be con- 
 signed to it. At any rate, you have been read in your day, 
 which is more than can be said of some of your contempo- 
 raries of less fortune and more merit. The}^ cannot say but 
 that you lead the crown. It is always something to have 
 engaged the public attention for seven years. Had I only 
 written Waverley, I should have long since been, according 
 to the established phrase, " the ingenious author of a novel 
 much admired at the time." I believe, on my soul, that th.e 
 reputation of Waverley'i^ sustained verj' much by the praises 
 of those who may be inclined to prefer that tale to its suc- 
 cessors. 
 
 Captain. You are willing, then, to barter future repu- 
 tation for present popularity ? 
 
 Author. Meliora spero. Horace himself expected not 
 to survive in all his works \ I may hope to live in some of 
 
xxviil WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 mine. Non omms monar. It is some consolation to reflect 
 that the best authors in all countries have been the most 
 voluminous ; and it lias often happened that those who have 
 been best received in their own time have also continued to 
 be acceptable to posterity. I do not think so ill of the 
 ->rcsent generation as to suppose that its present favor neces- 
 6 ily infers future condemnation. 
 
 Captain. Were all to act on such principles, the public 
 ould be inundated. 
 
 Author. Once more, my dear son, beware of cant. You 
 speak as if the public were obliged to read books merely 
 because they are printed ; your friends the booksellers would 
 thank you to make the proposition good. The most serious 
 grievance attending such inundations as you talk of is that 
 they make rags dear. The multiplicity of publications does 
 the present age no harm, and may greatly advantage that 
 which is to succeed us. 
 
 Captain. I do not see how that is to happen. 
 
 Author. The complaints in the time of Elizabeth and 
 James of the alarming fertility of the press were as loud as 
 they are at present ; yet look at the shore over which the 
 inundation of that age flowed, and it resembles now the 
 Rich Strand of the Faery Queene — 
 
 Bestrew'd all with rich array, 
 Of pearl and precious stones of great assay ; 
 And all the gravel luix'd with golden ore. 
 
 Believe me, that even in the most neglected works of ''he 
 present age the next may discover treasures. 
 
 Captain. Some books will defy all alchemy. 
 
 Author. They will be but few in number; since, as for 
 writers who are possessed of no merit at all, unless indeed 
 they publish their works at their own expense, like Sir Eich- 
 ard Blackmore, their power of annoying the public will be soon 
 limited by the difficulty of finding undertaking booksellers. 
 
 Captain. You are incorrigible. Are there no bounds to 
 your audacity? 
 
 Author. There are the sacred and eternal boundaries cf 
 honor and virtue. My course is like the enchanted chambei' 
 of Britomart — 
 
 Whei-e as she looL:'d about, she did behold 
 How over that same dnor was likewise writ, 
 Be Bold— Be Buhl, and everywhere Be Bold.^ 
 Whereat she mused, and could not construe it; 
 At last she spied at that room's upper end 
 Another iron door, on which was writ — 
 BExNOT too Bold, 
 
INTRO DVCTlOy TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL xxix 
 
 Captain. Well, you must take the risk of proceeding on 
 your own principles. 
 
 Author. Do you act on yours, and take cai-e you do not 
 stay idling here till the dinner-hour is over. I will add this 
 work to your patrimony, valeat quantuni. 
 
 Here our dialogue terminated; for a little sooty-faced 
 Apollyon from the Canongate came to demand the proof- 
 sheet on the part of Mr. M'Corkindale; * and I heard Mr, 
 C. rebuking Mr. F. in another compartment of the same 
 labyrinth I have described for suffering any one to penetrate 
 so far into the penetralia of their temple. 
 
 I leave it to you to form your own opinion concerning 
 the import of this dialogue, and I cannot but believe I shall 
 meet the wishes of our common parent in prefixing this let- 
 ter to the work which it concerns. 
 
 I am, reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 Very sincerely and affectionately 
 
 Yours, etc. etc. 
 
 CUTHBERT ClUTTERBUCK. 
 Kennaquhair, Isf April, 1823. 
 
 * This painstaking man was for many years foremen in Ballantyne's printing 
 office QLcung}. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Now Scot and English are agreed, 
 
 And Saunders hastes to cross the Tweed, 
 
 Wliere, such the splendors that attend him. 
 
 His very mother scarce had kenn'd him. 
 
 His metamorphosis behold. 
 
 From Glasgow frieze to cloth of gold; 
 
 His back-sword, with the iron hilt, 
 
 Torapier fairly hatch'd aiul gilt; 
 
 AVas ever seen a gallant braver ? 
 
 His very bonnet's grown a beaver. 
 
 The Reformation. 
 
 The long-contiuued hostilities which had for centuries sepa 
 rated the south and north divisions of the Island of Brituir 
 had been happily terminated by the succession of the pacific 
 James I. to the English crown. But, although the united 
 crown of England and Scotland was worn by the same 
 individual, it required a long lapse of time, and the suc- 
 cession of more than one generation, ere the inveterate 
 national prejudices which had so long existed betwixt the 
 sister kingdoms were removed, and the subjects of either side 
 of the Tweed brought to regard those upon the oj)posite 
 bank as friends and as brethren. 
 
 These prejudices were, of course, most inveterate during 
 the reign of King James. The English subjects accused him 
 of partiality to those of his ancient kingdom; while the 
 Scots, with equal injustice, charged him with having for- 
 gotten the land of his nativity, and with neglecting those 
 ?arly friends to whose allegiance he had been so much 
 indebted. 
 
 The temper of the King, peaceable even to timidity, in- 
 clined him perpetually to interfere as mediator between the 
 contending factions, whose brawls disturbed the court. But, 
 iiotwithstaiiding all his precautions, historians have recorded 
 
2 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 many inBtances where the mutual hatred of two nations, who, 
 after being enemies for a thousand years, had been so very 
 recently united, broke forth with a fury which menaced a 
 general convulsion; and, spreading from the liighest to the 
 lowest classes, as it occasioned debates in council and parlia- 
 ment, factions in the court, and duels among the gentry', was 
 no less productive of riots and brawls among the lower orders. 
 
 While these iieart-burnings were at the highest, there 
 flourished in the city of London an ingenious, but whimsical 
 and self-opinioned, mechanic, much devoted to abstract 
 studies, David Ramsay * by name, who, whether recommended 
 by his great skill in his profession, as the courtiers alleged, 
 or, as was murmured by his neiglibors, by his birthplace in 
 tlie good town of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, held in James's 
 household the post of maker of watches and horologes to his 
 Majesty. He scorned not, however, to keep open shop 
 within Temple Bar, a few yards to the eastward of St. Dun- 
 stan's Church. 
 
 The shop of a London tradesman at that time, as it may 
 be supposed, was something very different from tliose we 
 now see in the same locality. The goods were exposed to sale 
 in cases, only defended from the weather by a coveiing of 
 canvas, and the whole resembled the stalls and booths now 
 erected for the temporary accommodation of dealers at a 
 country fair, rather than the established emporium of a 
 respectable citizen. But most of the shopkeepers of note, 
 and David Ramsay among others, had their booth connected 
 with a small apartment which opened backward from it, and 
 bore the same resemblance to the front shop that Robinson 
 Crusoe's cavern did to the tent which he erected before it. 
 To this Master Ramsay was often accustomed to retreat to 
 the labor of his abstruse calculations; for he aimed at im- 
 provement and discoveries in his own art, and sometimes 
 pushed his researches, like Napier and other mathematicians 
 of tlie period, into abstract science. When thus engaged, he 
 left the outer posts of his commercial establisliment to be 
 maintained by two stout-bodied and strong-voiced apprentices, 
 who kept up the cry of, *' What d'ye lack ? — what d'ye lack ? " 
 accompanied with the appropriate recommendations of the 
 articles in which they dealt. This direct and personal appli- 
 cation for custom to those who chanced to pass by is now, 
 we believe, limited to Monmouth Street (if it still exists even 
 in that repository of ancient garments), under tlie guardian- 
 ship of the scattered remnant of Israel. But at the time we 
 are speaking of it was practised alike by Jew and. Gentile, and. 
 ^. * See Note 4. 
 
THE FORTLWES OF NIGEL 3 
 
 Berveu, instead of all our present newspaper puffs and adver- 
 tisements, to solicit the attention of the pnl)lic in general, 
 and of friends in particular, to the unrivalled excellence of 
 the goods wliicli they offered to sale, upon such easy terms 
 that it might fairly appear that the venders had rather a view 
 to the general service of he public than to their own partic- 
 ular advantage. 
 
 The verbal proclaimers of the excellence of their com- 
 modities had the advantage over those who, in the present 
 day, use the public papers for the same purpose, that they 
 could in many cases adapt their address to the peculiar appear- 
 ance and apparent taste of the passengers. (This, as we 
 have said, was also the case in Monmouth Street in our 
 remembrance. "We have ourselves been reminded of the 
 deficiencies of our femoral habiliments, and exhorted upon 
 that score to fit ourselves more beseemingly; but this is a 
 digression.) This direct and personal mode of invitation to 
 customers became, however, a dangerous temptation to the 
 wags who were employed in the task of solicitation during the 
 absence of the principal person interested in the traffic; and 
 confiding in their numbers and civic union, the 'prentices of 
 London were often seduced into taking liberties with the 
 passengers, and exercising their wit at the expense of those 
 whom they had no hopes of converting into customers by 
 their eloquence. If this were resented by any act of violence, 
 the inmates of each shop were ready to pour forth in succor; 
 and in the words of an old song which I)r. Johnson was used 
 to hum — 
 
 Up then rose the 'prentices all, 
 
 Living in London, both proper and talL 
 
 Desperate riots often arose on such occasions, especially 
 when the Templars, or other youths connected with the aris- 
 tocracy, were insulted, or conceived themselves to be so. Upon 
 8uch occasions, bare steel was frequently opposed to the clubs 
 of the citizens, and death sometimes ensued on both sides. 
 The tardy and inefficient police of the time had no other 
 resource than by the alderman of the ward calling out the 
 householders, and putting a stop to the strife by overpower- 
 ing numbers, as the Capulets and Montagues are separated 
 upon the stage. 
 
 At the period when such was the universal custom of the 
 most respectable, as well as the most inconsiderable, shop- 
 keepers in London, David Ramsay, on the evening to which 
 we solicit the attention of the reader, retiring to more 
 abstruse and private labors, left the administration of hia 
 
t WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 outer shop, or booth, to the aforesaid sharp-wittecT, active, 
 able-bodied, and well-voiced apprentices, namely, Jenkin 
 Vincent and Frank Tunstall. 
 
 Vincent had been educated at the excellent foundation of 
 Christ's Chnrch Jlos])ital, and was bred, therefore, as well as 
 born, a Londoner, with alltheacuteness, address, and :;udacity 
 which belong peculiarly to the yonth of a metropolis. He 
 was now about twenty years old, short in stature, bu*, romark- 
 ably strong made, eminent for his feats upon holidays at 
 football and other gymnastic exercises; scarce rivalled in the 
 broad-sword play, though hitherto only exercised in the form 
 of single-stick. He knew every Line, blind alley, and se- 
 questered court of the ward better than his catechism; was 
 alike active in his master's affairs and in his own adventures 
 of fun and mischief; and so managed matters that the credit 
 he acquired by the former bore him out, or at least served 
 for his apology, wdien the latter propensity led him into 
 scrapes, of which, however, it is but fair to state that they 
 had hitherto inferred nothing mean or discreditable. Some 
 aberrations there were, which David Eamsay, his master, 
 endeavored to reduce to regular order when he discovered 
 them, and others which he winked i'.t, supposing them to 
 answer the purpose of the escapement of a watch, Avhich dis- 
 poses of a certain quantity of the extra power of that mechan- 
 ical impulse which puts the wdiole in notion. 
 
 The physiognomy of Jin Yin — by which abbreviation he 
 was familiarly known through the wari — corresponded Avith 
 the sketch w^e have given of his chararter. His head, upon 
 which his 'prentice's flat cap was generji.''ly flung in a careless 
 and oblique fashion, was closely covered with thick hair of 
 raven black, which curled naturally and rlosely, and would 
 have grown to great length but for tie modest custom 
 enjoined by his state of life, and strictlr enforced by his 
 master, which compelled him to keep it short-cropped — not 
 unreluctantly, as he looked with envy on the flowing ring- 
 lets in which the courtiers and aristocratic f^tudents of the 
 neighboring Temple began to indulge themselves, as marks 
 of superiority and of gentility. Vincent's ey^s were deep 
 set in his head, of a strong vivid black, full of fire, roguery, 
 and intelligence, and conveying a humorous expreesion, even 
 while he was uttering the usual small-talk of his trade, as if 
 he ridiculed those who were disposed to give any M-^ight to 
 his commonplaces. He had address enough, howe"or, to 
 add little touches of his own, wdiich gave a turn of drvdlery 
 even to this ordinary routine of the booth; and the alacrity of his 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 5 
 
 manuer, his ready and obvious wish to oblige, his intelligence 
 and civilit}", when he thought civility necessary, made him 
 a universal favorite with his master's customers. His 
 features were far from regular, for his nose was flattish, his 
 mouth tending to the larger size, and his complexion in- 
 clining to be more dark than was then thought consistent 
 with masculine beauty. But, in spite of his having always 
 breathed the air of a crowded city, his complexion had 
 the ruddy and manly expression of redundant health; his 
 turned-up nose gave an air of spirit and raillery to what he 
 said, and seconded the laugh of his eyes; and his wide mouth 
 was garnished with a pair of well-formed and well-colored 
 lips, which, when he laughed, disclosed a range of teeth 
 strong and well set, and as white as the very pearl. Sucb 
 was the elder apprentice of David Eamsay, memory's moni- 
 tor, watchmaker, and constructor of horologes to his most 
 sacred Majesty James I. 
 
 Jenkin's companion was the younger apprentice, though, 
 perhaps, he might be the elder of the two in years. At any 
 rate, he was of a much more staid and composed temper. 
 Francis Tunstall was of that ancient and proud descent who 
 claimed the style of the " unstained; '' because, amid the 
 various chances of the long and bloody wars of the Eoses, 
 they had, with undeviating faith, followed the house of 
 Lancaster, to which they had originally attached themselves. 
 The meanest sprig of such a tree attached importance to the 
 root from which it derived itself; and Tunstall was supposed 
 to nourish in secret a proportion of that family pride which 
 had extorted tears from his widowed and almost indigent 
 mother when she saw herself obliged to consign him to a line 
 of life inferior, as her prejudices suggested, to the course 
 held by his progenitors. Yet, Avith all this aristocratic preju- 
 dice, his master found the well-born youth more docile, reg- 
 ular, and strictly attentive to his duty than his far more 
 active and alert comrade. Tunstall also gratified his master 
 by the particular attention which he seemed disposed to 
 bestow on the abstract principles of science connected with 
 the trade which he was bound to study, the limits of which 
 were daily enlarged with the increase of mathematical 
 science. 
 
 Vincent beat his companion beyond the distance-post in 
 everything like the practical adaptation of thorough practice 
 in the dexterity of hand necessary to execute the mechanical 
 branches of the art, and double-distanced him in all respect- 
 ing the commercial affairs of the shop. Still David Ramsay 
 
6 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 was wont to say that, if Vincent knew how to do a thing the 
 better of the two, Tunstall was much better acquainted with 
 the principles on which it ought to be done; and he some- 
 times objected to the latter, that he knew critical excellence 
 too well ever to be satisfied with practical mediocrity. 
 
 The disposition of Tunstall was shy, as well as studious; 
 and, though perfectly civil and obliging, he never seemed to 
 feel himself in his place while he went through the duties of 
 the shop. He was tall and handsome, with fair hair, and 
 well-formed limbs, good features, well-opened light blue eyes, 
 a straight Grecian nose, and a countenance which expressed 
 both good-humor and intelligence, but qualified by a gravity 
 unsuitable to his years, and which almost amounted to dejec- 
 tion. He lived on the best terms with his companion, and 
 readily stood by him Avhenever he was engaged in any of the 
 frequent skirmishes which, as we have already observed, 
 often disturbed the city of London about this period. But, 
 though Tunstall was allowed to understand quarter-staff (the 
 weapon of the North country) in a superior degree, and 
 though he was naturally both strong and active, his inter- 
 ference in such affrays seemed always matter of necessity; 
 and, as he never voluntarily joined either their brawls or 
 their sjDorts, he held a far lower place in the opinion of the 
 youth of the ward than his hearty and active friend Jin Vin. 
 Xay, had it not been for the interest made for his comrade 
 by the intercession of Vincent, Tunstall would have stood 
 some chance of being altogether excluded from the society of 
 his contemporaries of the same condition, Avho called him, in 
 scorn, the Cavaliero Cuddy and the Gentle Tunstall. On 
 the other hand, the lad himself, deprived of the fresh air in 
 which he had been brought up, and foregoing the exercise 
 to which he had been formerly accustomed, while the inhabi- 
 tant of his native mansion, lost gradually the freshness of his 
 complexion, and, without showing any formal symptoms of 
 disease, grew more thin and pale as he grew older, and at 
 length exhibited the appearance of indifferent health, with- 
 out anything of the habits and complaints of an invalid, ex- 
 cepting a disposition to avoid society, and to spend his 
 leisure time in private study, rather than mingle in the 
 sports of his companions, or even resort to the theatres, then 
 the general rendezvous of his class; where, according to 
 high authority, they fought for half-bitten apples, cracked 
 nuts, and filled the upper gallery with their clamors. 
 
 Such were the two youths who called David Eamsay 
 master ; and with both of whom he used to fret from morn- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL 7 
 
 ing till niglit, as their peculiarities interfered with his own, 
 or with the quiet and beneficial course of his traffic. 
 
 Upon the whole, however, the youths Avere attached to 
 their master, and he, a good-natured, though an absent and 
 whimsical, man, Avas scarce less so to them ; and, when a 
 little Avarmed Avith AA^ine at an occasional junketing, he used 
 to boast, in liis northern dialect, of his '"'twa bonny lads, and 
 the looks that the court ladies threw at them, when visiting 
 his shop in their caroches, Avlien on a frolic into the city/* 
 But David Ramsay never failed, at the same time, to draAV 
 up his own tall, thin, lathy skeleton, extend his lean jaAvs 
 into an alarming grin, and indicate, by a nod of his yard-long 
 visage and a tAvinkle of his little gray eye, that there might 
 be more faces in Fleet Street Avorth looking at than those of 
 Frank and Jenkin. 
 
 His old neighbor, Widow Simmons, the seamstress, Avho 
 had served, in her day, the very tip-top revellers of the Tem- 
 ple Avith ruffs, cuffs, and bands, distinguished more deeply 
 the sort of attention paid by the females of quality Avho so 
 regularly visited David Eamsay's shop to its inmates. " The 
 boy Frank,^' she admitted, " used to attract the attention of 
 the young ladies, as having something gentle and doAvncast 
 in his looks ; but then he could not better himself, for the 
 poor youth had not a word to throw at a dog. Now Jin Vin 
 was so full of his jibes and his jeers, and so Avilling, and so 
 ready, and so serviceable, and so mannerly all the while, 
 Avith a step that sprung like a buck^s in Epping Forest, and 
 his eye that tAvinkled as black as a gypsey's, that no Avoman 
 who knew the world would make a comparison betwixt the 
 lads. As for poor neighbor Ramsay himself, the man,*' 
 she said, "was a ciAdl neighbor, and a learned man, doubt- 
 less, and might be a rich man if he had common sense to 
 bacV his learning ; and doubtless, for a Scot, neighbor 
 Ra_asay Avas nothing of a bad man, but he was so constantly 
 grimed Avith smoke, gilded with brass filings, and smeared 
 with lamp-black and oil, that Dame Simmons judged it 
 would require his whole shopful of Avatches to induce any 
 feasible woman to touch the said neighbor Ramsay witn 
 anything save a pair of tongs." 
 
 A still higher authority. Dame Ursula, wife to Benjamin 
 Suddlechop, the barber, was of exactly the same opinion. 
 
 Such were, in natural qualities and public estimation, the 
 two youths who, on a fine April day, having first rendered 
 their dutiful service and attendance on the table of their 
 master and his daughter, at their dinner at one o'clock,— 
 
« WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 such, ye lads of London, was tlie severe discipline under- 
 gone by your predecessors ! — and having regaled themselves 
 upon the fragments, in company with two female domestics, 
 one a cook and maid of all work, the other called Mistress 
 Margaret's maid, now relieved their master in tlie duty ot 
 the outward shop ; and, agreeably to the established custom, 
 were soliciting, by their entreaties and recommendations of 
 their masters manufacture, the attention and encouragement 
 of the passengers. 
 
 In this species of service it may be easily supposed that 
 Jenkin Vincent left his more reserved and bashful comrade 
 far in the background. The latter could only articulate 
 with difficulty, and as an act of duty which he was rather 
 ashamed of discharging, the established words of form — 
 " What d'ye lack ? What d'ye lack ? Clocks— watches- 
 barnacles ? What d'ye lack ? Watches — clocks — barnacles ? 
 AVhat d'ye lack, sir ? What d'ye lack, madam ? Barnacles — 
 watches — clocks ?" 
 
 But this dull and dry iteration, however varied by diver- 
 sity of verbal arrangement, sounded flat when mingled with 
 the rich and recommendatory oratory of the bold-faced, deep- 
 mouthed, and ready-witted Jenkin Vincent. "What d'ye 
 lack, noble sir ? What d'ye lack, beauteous madam ?" he 
 said, in a tone at once bold and soothing, which often was 
 so applied as both to gratify the persons addressed and to 
 excite a smile from other hearers. " God bless your rever- 
 ence," to a beneficed clergyman ; " the Greek and Hebrew 
 have harmed your reverence's eyes. Buy a pair of David 
 Ramsay's barnacles. The King — God bless his sacred 
 Majesty ! — never reads Hebrew or Greek without them." 
 
 " Are you well advised of that ?" said a fat parson from 
 the Vale of Evesliam. " Nay, if the head of the church 
 wears them — God bless his sacred Majesty! — I will try what 
 they can do for me ; for I have not been able to distinguish 
 one Hebrew letter from another since — I cannot remember the 
 time — when I had a bad fever. Choose me a pair of his 
 most sacred Majesty's own wearing, my good youth." 
 
 *' This is a pair, and please your reverence," said Jenkin, 
 producing a pair of spectacles which he touched with an aii 
 of great deference and respect, '^ which his most blessed 
 Majesty placed this day three weeks on his own blessed nose; 
 and would have kept them for his own sacred use, but that 
 the setting being, as your reverence sees, of the purest jet, 
 was, as his sacred Majesty was pleased to say, fitter for a 
 bishop than for a secular prince. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL 9 
 
 ^' His sacred Majesty the King," said the worthy diving. 
 '' was ever a very Daniel in his judgment. Give me the bar- 
 nacles, my good youth, and who can say what nose they may 
 bestride in two years hence ? Our reverend brother of 
 (iloucester waxes in years." He then pulled out his purse, 
 paid for the spectacles, and lel't the shop with even a more 
 important step than that which had paused to enter it. 
 
 "For shame," said Tunstall to his companion; "these 
 glasses will never suit one of his years." 
 
 " You are a fool, Frank," said Vincent, in reply ; "had the 
 good doctor wished glasses to read with he would have tried 
 them before buying. He does not want to look through 
 them himself, and these will serve the purpose of being 
 looked at by other folks as well as the best magnifiers in the 
 shop. AVliat d'ye lack? " he cried, resuming his solicitations. 
 "Mirrors for your toilet, my pretty madam; your head- 
 gear is something awry — pity, since it is so well fancied." 
 The woman stopped and bought a mirror. " What d'ye 
 lack? — a watch, Master Sergeant — a watch that will go as 
 long as a lawsuit, as steady and true as your own elo- 
 quence?" 
 
 " Hold your peace, sir," answered the Knight of the Coif, 
 who was disturbed by Vin's address while in deep consulta- 
 tion with an eminent attorney — "hold your peace! You 
 are the loudest-tongued varlet betwixt the Devil's Tavern 
 and Guildhall." 
 
 " A watch," reiterated the undaunted Jenkin, " that 
 shall not lose thirteen minutes in a thirteen years' lawsuit. 
 He's out of hearing. A watch with four wheels and a bar- 
 movement. A watch that shall tell you. Master Poet, how 
 long the patience of the audience will endure your next 
 ])iece at the Black Bull." The bard laughed, and fumbled 
 in the pocket of his slops till he chased into a corner, and 
 fairly caught, a small piece of coin. 
 
 " Here is a tester to cherish thy wit, good boy," he said. 
 
 '' Gramercy," said Yin ; " at the next play of yours I 
 will bring do^\Ti a set of roaring boys that shall make all the 
 critics in the pit and the gallants on the stage civil, or else 
 the curtain shall smoke for it." 
 
 "Now, that I call mean," said Tunstall, "to take the 
 poor rhymer's money, who has so little left behind." 
 
 " You are an owl once again," said Vincent ; " if he has 
 nothing left to buy cheese and radishes, he will only dine a 
 day the sooner with some patron or some player, for that is 
 his fate five days out of the seven. It is unnatural that a 
 
IC WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 poet snouicl pay for his own pot of beer ; I will drink his 
 tester for him, to save liim from such shame ; and when his 
 third night comes round lie shall have pennyworths for his 
 coin, I promise you. But here conies another-guess cus- 
 tomer. Look at that strange fellow ; see how he gapes at 
 every shop, as if he would swallow the wares. ! tSt. Dun- 
 stan has caught his eye ; pray God he swallow not the 
 images. See how he stands astonished, as old Adam and 
 Eve ply their ding-dong ! Come, Frank, thou art a scholar : 
 construe me that same fellow, with his blue cap with 9, 
 cock's feather in it, to show he's of gentle blood, God wot, 
 his gray eyes, his yellow hair, his sword with a ton of iron 
 in the handle, his gray, threadbare cloak, his step like a 
 Frenchman, his look like a Spaniard, a book at his girdle, 
 and a broad dudgeon-dagger on the other side to show him 
 half -pedant, half-bully. How call you that pageant, 
 Frank?" 
 
 ''A raw Scotsman," said Tunstall ; ''just come up, I 
 suppose, to help the rest of his countrymen to gnaw Old 
 England's bones : a palmer-worm, I reckon, to devour what 
 the locust has spared." 
 
 "Even so, Frank," answered Vincent; "just as the 
 poet sings sweetly — 
 
 " ' In Scotland he was born and bred, 
 And, though a beggar, must be fed.'" 
 
 " Hush ! " said Tunstall, " remember our master/' 
 
 " Pshaw ! " answered his mercurial companion ; " he 
 knows on which side his bread is buttered, and I warrant 
 you lias not lived so long among Englishmen, and by Eng- 
 lishmen, to quarrel with us for bearing an English mind. 
 But see, our Scot has done gazing at St. Dunstan's, and 
 conies our way. By this light, a proper lad and a sturdy, in 
 spite of freckles and sunburning. He comes nearer still ; I 
 will have at him." 
 
 "And if you do," said his comrade, "you may get a 
 broken head : he looks not as if he would carry coals." 
 
 " A fig for your threat," said Vincent, and instantly ad- 
 dressed the stranger, " Buy a watch, most noble northern 
 thane — buy a watch, to count the hours of plenty since the 
 blessed moment you left Berwick behind you. Buy barna- 
 cles, to see the English gold lies ready for your grip. Buy 
 what you will, you shall have credit for three days ; for, were 
 your pockets as bare as Father Fergus's, you are a Scot in 
 London, and you will be stocked in that time." The 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 11 
 
 stranger looked sternly at the waggish apprentice, and 
 seemed to grasp his cudgel in rather a menacing fashion. 
 ''Buy pliA'sic/' said the undaunted Vincent, " if you will 
 buy neither time nor light — physic for a proud stomach, sir 
 — there is a Apothecary's shop on the other side of the way." 
 
 Here the probationary disciple of Galen vrho stood at his 
 master's door in his flat cap and canvas sleeves, with a large 
 wooden pestle in his hand, took up the ball which was flung 
 to him by Jenkin, with, " What d'ye lack, sir? Buy a choice 
 Caledonian slave, Flos stilphvr. cum butyro quant, suff." 
 
 '■•To be taken after a gentle rubbing-down with an Eng- 
 lish oaken towel," said Vincent. 
 
 The bonny Scot had given full scope to the play of this 
 small artillery of city wit, by halting his steady pace and 
 viewing grimly first the one assailant and then the other, 
 as if menacing either repartee or more violent revenge. But 
 phlegm or prudence got the better of his indignation, and 
 tossing his head as one who valued not the raillery to which 
 he had been exposed, he walked down Fleet Street, pursued 
 by the horse-laugh of his tormentors. 
 
 '' The Scot will not fight till he see his own blood," said 
 Tunstall, whom his north of England extraction had made 
 familiar with all manner of proverbs against those who lay 
 jet farther north than himself. 
 
 " Faith, I know not," said Jenkin ; '' he looks dangerous, 
 that fellow : he will hit some one over the noddle before he 
 goes far. Hark I — they are rising." 
 
 Accordingly, the well-known cry of " Trentices — 'pren- 
 tices! Clubs — clubs!' now rang along Fleet Street ; and Jen- 
 kin, snatching up his weapon, which lay beneath the counter 
 ready at the slightest notice, and calling to Tunstall to take 
 his bat and follow, leaped over the hatch-door which pro- 
 tected the outer shop, and ran as fast as he could towards the 
 affray, echoing the cry as he ran, and elbowing, or shoving 
 aside, whoever stood in his way. His comrade, first calling 
 to his master to give an eye to the shop, followed Jenkin's 
 example, and ran after him as fast as he could, but with 
 more attention to the safety and convenience of others ; 
 while old David Ramsay, with hands and eyes uplifted, a 
 green apron before him, and a glass which he had been pol- 
 ishing thrust into his bosom, came forth to look after the 
 safety of his goods and chattels, knowing, by old experience, 
 that, when the cry of "Clubs" once arose, he would have 
 little aid on the part of his apprentices. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 This, sir is one among the seignory, 
 Has wealth at will, and will to use his wealth, 
 And wit to increase it. Marry, his worst folly 
 Lies in a thriftless sort of charity 
 That goes a-gadding sometimes after objects 
 Which wise men will not see when thrust upon them. 
 
 The Old Couple. 
 
 The ancient gentleman bustled about his shop, in pettish 
 displeasure at being summoned hither so hastily, to the inter- 
 ruption of his more abstract studies ; and, unwilling to 
 renounce the train of calculation which he had put in prog- 
 ress, he mingled whimsically with the fragments of the 
 arithmetical operation his oratory to the passengers and 
 angry reflections on his idle apprentices. " What d'ye lack, 
 sir1' Madam, what d'ye lack — clocks for hall or table — night- 
 watches — day- watches? Locking wheel being 48 — the power 
 of retort 8 — the striking pins are 48 — What d ye lack, honored 
 sir? — The quotient — the multiplicand — That the knaves 
 should have gone out at this blessed minute! — the accelera- 
 tion being at the rate of 5 minutes, 55 seconds, 53 thirds, 59 
 fourths — I will switch them both when they come back — I 
 will, by the bones of the immortal Xapier !" 
 
 Here the vexed philosopher was interrupted by the 
 entrance of a grave citizen of a most respectable appearance, 
 who, saluting him familiarly by the name of ' ' Davie, my old 
 acquaintance," demanded what had put him so much out of 
 sorts, and gave him at the same time a cordial grasp of his 
 hand. 
 
 The stranger's dress was, though grave, rather richer than 
 usual. His paned hose were of black velvet, lined with pur- 
 ple silk, whic-h garniture appeared at the slashes. His doub- 
 let was of purple cloth, and his short cloak of black velvet, 
 to correspond with his hose ; and both were adorned with a 
 great number of small silver buttons richly wrought in fila- 
 gree. A triple chain of gold hung round his neck ; and, u\ 
 place of a sword or dagger, he Avore at his belt an ordinary 
 knife for the purpose of the table, with a small silver case, 
 which appeare^i to contain writing-materials. He might 
 have seemed some secretary or clerk engaged in the service 
 of the public, only that his low, flat, and unadorned cap, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL IS 
 
 and his well-blacked, shining shoes, indicated that he 
 belonged to tlie city. He was a well-mude man, about the 
 middle size, and seemed firm in health, though advanced in 
 years. His looks expressed sagacity and good-humor ; and 
 the air of respectability which his dress announced was well 
 supported bv his clear'eye, ruddy cheek, and gray hair. He 
 used the Scottish idiom in his first address, but in such a 
 manner that it could hardly be distinguished whether he was 
 passing upon his friend a sort of jocose mockery or whether 
 it was his own native dialect, for his ordinary discourse had 
 little provincialism. 
 
 In auswer to the queries of his respectable friend, Ramsay 
 groaned heavilv, answering by echoing back the question, 
 " What ails me. Master George? Why, everything ails me! 
 I profess to you that a man may as well live in Fairyland as 
 in the ward of Farringdon Without. My apprentices are 
 turned into mere goblins: they appear and disappear like 
 spunkies, and have no more regularity in them than a watch 
 Avithout a scapement. If there is a ball to be tossed up, or a 
 bullock to be driven mad. or a queen to be ducked for scold- 
 ing, or a head to be broken, Jenkin is sure to be at the one 
 end or the other of it, and then away skips Francis Tunstall 
 for company. I think the prize-fighters, bear-leaders, and 
 mountebanks are in a league against me, my dear friend, 
 and that they pass my house ten times for any other in the 
 city. Here's an Italian fellow come over, too, that they call 
 Punchinello; and, altogether " 
 
 -' Well,'' interrupted Master George, " but wdiat is all 
 this to the present case?" 
 
 " Why," replied Ramsay, " here has been a cry of thieves 
 or murder — I hope that will prove the least of it among 
 these English pock-pudding swine!— and I have been inter- 
 rupted in the deepest calculation ever mortal man plunged 
 into. Master George." 
 
 ''What, man!" replied Master George, "you must take 
 patience. You are a man that deals in time, and can make 
 it go fast and slow at pleasure; you, of all the world, have 
 least reason to complain if a little' of it be lost now and then. 
 But here come vour boys, and bringing in a slain man be- 
 twixt them, I think: here has been serious mischief, I am 
 afraid." 
 
 " The more mischief the better sport," said the crabbed 
 old watchmaker. " I am blythe, though, that it's neither of 
 the twa loons themselves. What are ye bringing a corpse 
 here for, ye fause villains?" he added, addressing the two 
 
14 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 apprentices, who at the head of a considerable mob of their 
 own chiss, some of wliom bore evident marks of a recent 
 fray, were carrying the body betwixt them. 
 
 " He is not dead yet, sir," answered TnnstaU. 
 
 " Carry liim into the apothecary's, then," replied his mas- 
 tor. "D'ye think I can set a man's life in motion again, as 
 ir he were a clock or a timepiece?" 
 
 " For God's sake, old friend,'* said his acquaintance, " let 
 us have him here at the nearest; he seems only in a swoon." 
 
 " A swoon!" said llamsay, *' and what business had he to 
 swoon in the streets? Only, if it will oblige my friend 
 Master George, I would take in all the dead men in 8t. Dun- 
 stan's parish. Call Sam Porter to look after the shop." 
 
 So saying, the stunned man, being the identical Scots- 
 man who had passed a short time before amid the jeers of 
 the apprentices, was carried into the back shop of the artist, 
 and there placed in an arm-chair till the apothecary from 
 over the way came to his assistance. This gentleman, as 
 sometimes happens to those of the learned professions, had 
 rather more lore than knowledge, and began to talk of the 
 sinciput and occiput, and cerebrum and cerebellum, until 
 he exhausted David Kamsay's brief stock of patience. 
 
 " Bell-um ! bell-ell-um!" he repeated, with great indigna- 
 tion. "^ What signify all the bells in London, if you do not 
 put a plaster on the chield's crown?" 
 
 Master George, with better-directed zeal, asked the apothe- 
 cary whether bleeding might not be useful; when, after 
 humming and hawing for a moment, and being unable, upon 
 the spur of the occasion, to suggest anything else, the man 
 of pharmacy observed, that "it would, at all events, relieve 
 the brain or cerebrum, in case there was a tendency to the 
 depositation of any extravasated blood, to operate as a press- 
 ure upon that delicate organ." Fortunately he was adequate 
 to performing this operation; and, being powerfully aided 
 by Jenkin Vincent (who was learned in all cases of broken 
 heads) with plenty of cold water and a little vinegar, applied 
 according to the scientific method practised by the bottle- 
 holders in a modern ring, the man began to raise himself on 
 his chair, draw his cloak tightly around him, and look about 
 like one who struggles to recover sense and recollection. 
 
 " He had better lie down on the bed in the little back 
 closet," said Mr. Eamsay's visitor, who seemed perfectly 
 familiar with the accommodations which the house afforded. 
 
 " He is welcome to my share of the trundle," said Jen- 
 kin, for in the said back closet were the two apprentices 
 
THE FORTUNES OB' MGEL 15 
 
 accommodated in one trundle-bed; ''lean sleep under the 
 counter." 
 
 ''So can I," said Tunstall, "and the poor fellow can 
 have the bed all night." 
 
 "Sleep," said the apothecary, "is, in the opinion of 
 Galen, a restorative and febrifuge, and is most naturally 
 taken in a trundle-bed." 
 
 " Where a better cannot be come by," said Master George; 
 " but these are two honest lads, to give up their beds so will- 
 ingly. 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 
 Samaritan's duty, neighbor Ramsay." 
 
 " Well, sir," said the apothecary, "it is at your pleasure 
 to send for other advice, and I shall not object to consult 
 with Dr. Irving or any other medical person of skill, neither 
 to continue to furnish such drugs as may be needful from 
 my pharmacopoeia. However, whatever Dr. Irving, who, I 
 think, hath had his degrees in Edinburgh, or Dr. Any-one- 
 Beside, be he Scottish or English, may say to the contrary, 
 sleep, taken timeously, is a febrifuge, or sedative, and-also a 
 restorative." 
 
 He muttered a few more learned words, and concluded 
 by informing Ramsay's friend, in English far more intelligi- 
 ble than his Latin/that he would look to him as his pay- 
 master for medicines, care, and attendance, furnished, or to 
 be furnished, to this party unknown. 
 
 Master George only replied by desiring him to send his 
 bill for what he had already to charge, and to give himself 
 no farther trouble unless he heard from him. The pharma- 
 copolist, who, from discoveries made by the cloak falling a 
 little aside, had no great opinion of the faculty of this 
 chance patient to make reimbursement, had no sooner seen 
 his case espoused by a substantial citizen than he showed 
 some reluctance to quit possession of it, and it needed a 
 short and stern hint from Master George, which, with all 
 his good -humor, he was capable of expressing when occasion 
 required, to send to his own dwelling this Esculapius of 
 Temple Bar. 
 
 When they were rid of Mr. Raredrench, the charitable 
 efforts of Jenkin and Francis to divest the patient of his 
 long gray cloak were firmly resisted on his own part. " My 
 life suner — my life suner," he muttered in indistinct mur- 
 murs. In these efforts to retain his upper garment, which 
 was too tender to resist ruuch handling, it gave way at length 
 
16 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 with a loud rent, which ahnost threw the patient into a sec- 
 ond syncope, and lie sat before them in his under garments, 
 tlie looped and repaired wretchedness of which moved at 
 once pity and laughter, and had certainly been the cause of 
 his unwillingness to resign the mantle, which, like the 
 virtue of charity, served to cover so many imperfections. 
 
 The man himself cast his eyes on his poverty-struck garb^ 
 and seemed so much ashamed of the disclosure that, mutter- 
 ing between his teeth that he Avould be too late for an ap- 
 pointment, he made an effort to rise and leave the shop, 
 which was easily prevented by Jenkin Vincent and his com- 
 rade, who, at the nod of Master George, laid hold of and de- 
 tained him in his chair. The patient next looked round him 
 for a moment, and then said faintly, in his broad, northern 
 language — "What sort of usage ca' ye this, gentlemen, to a 
 stranger a sojourner in your town? Ye hae broken my head, 
 ye hae riven my cloak, and now ye are for restraining my 
 personal liberty! They were wiser than me,'Mie said, after a 
 moment's pause, '^ that counselled me to wear my warst claith- 
 ing in the streets of London; and, if I could have got ony 
 things warse than these mean garments ("Which would 
 have been very difficult," said Jin Vin, in a whisper to his 
 companion), they would have been e'en ower gude for the 
 grip o' men sae little acquented with the laws of honest 
 civility." 
 
 " To say the truth," said Jenkin, unable to forbear any 
 longer, although the discipline of the times prescribed to 
 those in his situation a degree of respectful distance and 
 humility in the presence of parents, masters, or seniors of 
 which the present age has no idea — ''to say the truth, the 
 good gentleman's clothes look as if they would not brook 
 much handling." 
 
 "Hold your peace, young man," said Master George, 
 with a tone of authority: "never mock the stranger or the 
 poor. The black ox has not trod on your foot yet; you 
 know not what lands you may travel in, or what clothes you 
 may wear, before you die." 
 
 Vincent held down his head and stood rebuked; but the 
 stranger did not accept the apology which was made for 
 him. 
 
 "I a7n a stranger, sir," said he, "that is certain; though 
 methinks that, being such, I have been somewhat familiarly 
 treated in this town of yours; but, as for my being poor, I 
 think I need not be charged with poverty till I seek siller 
 of somebody." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 17 
 
 '*TIie dear conntry all over/' said Master George, in a 
 v^iisper, to David Ramsay — " pride and poverty/' 
 
 But David had taken out his tablets and silver pen, and, 
 deeply immersed in calculations, in which he rambled over 
 all the terms of arithmetic, from the simple unit to millions, 
 billions, and trillions, neither heard nor answered the obser- 
 vation of his friend, who, seeing his abstraction, turned 
 again to the Scot. 
 
 " I fancy now. Jockey, if a stranger were to offer you a 
 noble, you would chuck it back at his head?" 
 
 ''Not if I could do him honest service for it, sir," said 
 the Scot; *' I am willing to do what I may to be useful, 
 though I come of an honorable house, and may be said to be 
 in a sort indifferently weel provided for." 
 
 " Ay !" said the interrogator, " and what house may claim 
 the honor of your descent?" 
 
 '' An ancient coat belongs to it, as the play says," whis- 
 pered Vincent to his compaiiion. 
 
 " Come, Jockey, out with it," continued Master George, 
 observing that the Scot, as usual with his countrymen when 
 asked a blunt, straightforward question, took a little time 
 before answering it. 
 
 " I am no more Jockey, sir, than you uio John," said the 
 stranger, as if offended at being addressed by a name which 
 at that time was used, as Sawney now is, for a general appel- 
 lative of the Scottish nation. " My name, if you must know 
 it, is Eichie Moniplies; and I come of the old and honorable 
 house of Castle Collop, weel kenn'd at the West Port of 
 Edinburgh." 
 
 " What is that you call the West Port? " proceeded the 
 interrogator. 
 
 " Why, an it like your honor," said Richie, who now, 
 having recovered his senses sufKciently to observe the re- 
 spectable exterior of Master George, threw more civility into 
 his manner than at first, '' the West Port is a gate of our 
 city, as yonder brick arches at Whitehall form tlie entrance 
 of the King's palace here, only that the West Port is of 
 stonern work, and mair decorated with architecture and the 
 policy of bigging." 
 
 " Nouns, man, the Whitehall gateways were planned by 
 the great Holbein," answered Master George; "■ 1 suspect 
 your accident has jumbled your brains, my good friend. I 
 suppose you will tell me next, you have at Edinburgh as fine 
 a navigable river as the 1'hames, with all its ship})ing?" 
 
 " 'I'He Thames!" exclaimed Richie, in a tone of ineffable 
 
18 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 contempt. " God bless your honor's judgment, we have at 
 Edinburgh tlie Water of Leith and the Nor' Lo(;li! " 
 
 " And tlie Tow Burn, and the Quarry Holes, and the 
 Gusedub, ye faiTse loon!" answered Master George, speaking 
 Scotch with a strong and natural emphasis; ''it is such 
 landloupers as you that, with your falset and fair fashions, 
 bring reproach on our whole country." 
 
 '' God forgie me, sir," said Richie, much surprised at 
 finding the supposed Southron converted into a native Scot. 
 "I took your honor for an Englisher! But I hope there 
 was naething wrang in standing up for ane's ain country's 
 credit in a strange land, where all men cry her down ? " 
 
 " Do you call it for your country's credit to show that she 
 has a lying, pufKng rascal for one of her children?" said 
 Master George. " But come, man, never look grave on it; 
 as you have found a countryman, so you have found a friend, 
 if you deserve one, and especially if you answer me truly." 
 
 " I see nae gude it wad do me to speak aught else but 
 truth," said the worthy North Briton. 
 
 " Well, then, to begin," said Master George, " I suspect 
 you are a son of old Mungo Moniplies, the fiesher, at the 
 West Port." 
 
 " Your honor is a witch, I think," said Richie, grinning. 
 
 " And how dared you, sir, to uphold him for a noble? " 
 
 " I dinna ken, sir," said Richie, scratching his head; " 1 
 hear muckle of an Earl of Warwick in these southern parts — 
 Guy, I think his name was — and he has great reputation 
 here for slaying dun cows, and boars, and such-like; and I 
 am sure my father has killed more cows and boars, not to 
 mention bulls, calves, sheep, ewes, lambs, and pigs, than the 
 haill baronage of England," 
 
 " Go to! you are a shrewd knave," said Master George; 
 " charm your tongue, and take care of saucy answers. Your 
 father was an honest burgher, and the deacon of his craft. 
 I am sorry to see his son in so poor a coat." 
 
 " Indifferent, sir," said Richie Moniplies, looking down 
 on his garments — " very indifferent; but it is the wonted 
 livery of poor burghers' sons in our country — one of Luckie 
 Want's bestowing upon us — rest us patient! The King's 
 leaving Scotland has taken all custom frae Edinburgh; and 
 there is hay made at the cross, and a dainty crop of fouats in 
 the Grassmarket. There is as much grass grows where my 
 father's stall stood as might have been a good bite for the 
 beasts he was used to kill." 
 
 *'It is even too true," said Master George; *'and while we 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL i^ 
 
 make fortunes here, our old neighbors and their families are 
 starving at home. Tliis should be thought upon oftener. 
 And how came you by that broken head, Eieliie ? tell me 
 honestly. " 
 
 "Troth, sir, Fse no lee about the matter," answerea 
 Moniplies. "1 was coming along the street here, and ilkane 
 was at me with their Jests and roguery. So I thought to 
 mysell, ' Ye are ower mony for me to mell with ; but let 
 me catch ye in Barford's Park, or at the fit of the Vennel, I 
 could gar some of ye sing another sang.^ Sae ane auld 
 hirpling deevil of a potter behoved just to step in my way 
 and offer me a pig, as he said, just to put my Scotch 
 ointment in, and I gave him a push, as but natural, and the 
 tottering deevil coupit ower amang his ain pigs, and dam- 
 aged a score of them. And then the reird raise, and hadna 
 these twa gentlemen helped me out of it, murdered I suld 
 hae been, without remeid. And as it was, just when they 
 got hand of my arm to have me out of the fray, I got the lick 
 that donnerit me from a left-handed lighterman." 
 
 Master George looked to the apprentices as if to demand 
 the truth of this story. 
 
 '•It is just as he says, sir," replied Jenkin; "only I heard 
 nothing about pigs. The people said he had broken some 
 crockery, and that — I beg pardon, sir — nobody could thrive 
 within the kenning of a Scot." 
 
 "Well, no matter what they said, you were an honest 
 fellow to help the weaker side. And you, sirrah," continued 
 Master George, addressing his countryman, "will call at my 
 house to-morrow morning, agreeably to this direction." 
 
 "I will Avait upon your honor," said the Scot, bowing very 
 low; "that is, if my honorable master will permit me." 
 
 "Thy master?" said George. "Hast thou any other master 
 save Want, whose livery you say you wear ?" 
 
 "Troth, in one sense, if it please your honor, I serve twa 
 masters," said Eichie; "for both my master and me are 
 slaves to that same beldam, whom we thought to show our 
 heels to by coming off from Scotland. So that you see, sir, I 
 hold in a sort of black ward tenure, as we call it in our 
 country, being the servant of a servant." 
 
 "And what is your master's name?" said Master George; 
 and observing that Richie hesitated, he added, "Nay, do not 
 tell me, if it is a secret." 
 
 "A secret that there is little use in keeping," said Eichie; 
 *'only ye ken that our northern stomachs are ower proud to 
 call in witnesses to our fli^tress. No that my master is in 
 
20 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 mair than present pinch, sir," he added, looking towards the 
 two Englisli apprentices, ''having a large sura in the royal 
 treasury— that is," he continued, in a whisper to Master 
 George, "the King is owing him a lot of siller; but it's ill 
 getting at it, it's like. M}^ master is the young Lord Glen- 
 yarloch." 
 
 Master George testified surprise at the name. "You one 
 of the young Lord Glenvarloch's followers, and in such a 
 condition! " 
 
 "Troth, and I am all the followers he has, for the present 
 that is; andblythe would I be if he were muckle better afl 
 than I am, though I were to bide as I am."' 
 
 "I have seen his father with four gentlemen and ten 
 lackeys at his heels," said Master George, "rustling in their 
 laces and velvets. Well, this is a changeful world, but there 
 is a better beyond it. The good old house of Glenvarloch, 
 that stood by king and country five hundred years!" 
 
 "Your honor may say a thousand," said the follower. 
 
 "I will say what I know to be true, friend," said the 
 citizen, "and not a word more. You seem well recovered 
 now; can yon walk?" 
 
 "Bravely, sir," said Richie; "it was but a bit dover. I 
 was bred at the West Port, and my cantle will stand a clour 
 wad bring a stot down." 
 
 "AVhere does your master lodge?" 
 
 "We pit up, an it like your honor," replied the Scot, "in 
 a sma' house at the fit of ane of the wynds that gang down 
 to the water-side, with a decent man, John Christie, a ship- 
 chandler, as they ca't. His father came from Dundee. I 
 wotna the name of the wynd, but it's right anent the mickle 
 kirk yonder; and your honor will mind that we pass only by 
 our family name of simple Mr. Nigel Olifaunt, as keeping 
 ourselves retired for the present, though in Scotland we be 
 called the Lord Nigel." 
 
 "It is wisely done of your master," said the citizen. "1 
 will find out your lodgings, though your direction be none 
 of the clearest." So saying, and slipping a piece of money 
 at the same time into Eichie Moniplies's hand, he bade him 
 hasten home, and get into no more affrays. 
 
 "I will take care of that now, sir," said Eichie, with a 
 look of importance, "having a charge about me. And so, 
 wussing ye a' weel, with special thanks to these twa young 
 gentlemen " 
 
 "I am no gentleman," said Jenkin, flinging his cap on 
 his head; "I am_ a tight London 'prentice, and hope to be a 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 21 
 
 freemau one day. Frank niav write huii-self gentleman, if 
 he will." 
 
 *'! was a gentleman once/' said Tunstall, ''and I hope I 
 have done nothing to lose the name of one." 
 
 ''Weel — weel, as ye list," said Richie Moniplies; "but I 
 am muckle beholden to ye baith, and I am not a hair the less 
 like to bear it in mind that I say but little about it just now. 
 Gude-night to you, my kind countryman." So saying, he 
 thrust out of the sleeve of his ragged doublet a long bony 
 hand and arm, on which the muscles rose like whip-cord. 
 Master George shook it heartily, while Jenkin and Frank 
 exchanged sly looks with each other. 
 
 Richie Moniplies would next have addressed his thanks to 
 the master of the shop, but seeing him, as he afterwards said, 
 "scribbling on his bit bookie, as if he were demented," he 
 contented his politeness with "giving him a hat," touching, 
 that is, his bonnet, in token of salutation, and so left the 
 shop. 
 
 "Now, there goes Scotch Jockey, w^ith all his bad and good 
 about him," said Master George to Master David, who sits- 
 pended, though unwillingly, the calculations with which he 
 was engaged, and keeping his pen within an inch of the 
 tablets, gazed on his friend with great lack-lustre eyes, which 
 expressed anything rather than intelligence or interest in the 
 discourse addressed to him. " That fellow, " proceeded 
 Master George, without heeding his friend's state of abstrac- 
 tion, " shows, with great liveliness of coloring, how our 
 Scotch pride and poverty make liars and braggarts of us; and 
 yet the knave, wiiose every third word to an Englishman is 
 a boastful lie, wall, I warrant you, be a true and tender friend 
 and follower to his master, and has perhaps parted with his 
 mantle to him in the cold blast, although he himself walked 
 in cuerpo, as the Don says. Strange ! that courage and 
 fidelity — for I wall warrant that the knave is stout — should 
 have no better companion than this swaggering braggadocio 
 humor. But you mark me not, friend Davie." 
 
 "I do — I do, most heedfully," said Davie. "For, as the 
 suu goeth round the dial-plate in twenty-four hours, add, 
 for the moon, fifty minutes and a half " 
 
 "You are in the seventh heavens, man," said his com- 
 panion. 
 
 "I crave your pardon," replied Davie. " Let the wheel 
 A go round in twenty-four hours — I have it — and the 
 Avheel B in twenty-four hours, fifty minutes and a half — fifty- 
 seven being to fifty [ twenty] -four^ as fifty-nine to twenty- 
 
22 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 four hours, fifty minutes and a half, or very nearly, — I crave 
 your forgiveness. Master George, and heartily wish you good- 
 even." 
 
 "Good-even !' said Master George; ''why, you have not 
 wished me good-day yet. Come, old friend, lay by these 
 tablets, or you will crack the inner machinery of your skull, 
 as our friend yonder has got the outer case of his damaged. 
 Good-night, quotha ! I mean not to part with you so easily. 
 I came to get my four hours' nunchion from you, man, 
 besides a tune on the lute from my god-daughter, Mrs. 
 Marget." 
 
 "Good faith! I was abstracted, Master George; but you 
 know me. Whenever I get among the wheels/' said Mi. 
 Ramsay, ''why, 'tis " 
 
 " Lucky that you deal in small ones," said his friend, as, 
 awakened from his reveries and calculations, Ramsay led the 
 way up a little back stair to the first story, occupied by his 
 daughter and his little household. 
 
 The apprentices resumed their places in the front shop 
 and relieved Sam Porter; Avhen Jenkin said to Tunstall — 
 "Didst see, Frank, how the old goldsmith cottoned in with 
 his beggarly countryman ? When would one of his wealth 
 have shaken hands so courteously Avith a poor Englishman? 
 Well, I'll say that for the best of the Scots, that they will 
 go over head and ears to serve a countryman, when they will 
 not wet a nail of their finger to save a Southron, as they call 
 us, from drowning. And'yet Master George is but half-bred 
 Scot neither in that respect; for I have known him do many 
 a kind thing to the English too." 
 
 "But hark ye, Jenkin," said Tunstall, "I think you are 
 but half-bred English yourself. How came you to strike on 
 the Scotsman's side after all?" 
 
 "Why, you did so, too," answered Vincent. 
 
 "Ay, because I saw you begin; and, besides, it is no 
 Cumberland fashion to fall fifty upon one," replied Tunstall. 
 
 "And no Christ Church fashion neither," said Jenkin. 
 "Fair play and Old England forever ! Besides, to tell you a 
 secret, his voice had a twang in it — in the dialect I mean — 
 reminding me of a little tongue which I think sweeter — 
 sweeter than the last toll of St. Dunstan's will sound on the 
 day that I am shot of my indentures. Ha ! you guess who I 
 mean, Frank ?" 
 
 "Not I, indeed," answered Tunstall. "Scotch Janet, I 
 suppose, the laundress." 
 
 "Off with Janet in her own bucking-basket! — no, no. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 2^ 
 
 no! Y'jix olind buzzard, do you not know I mean pretty 
 Mrs. Marget ?"' 
 
 "Umph!'' answered Tunstall, dryly. 
 
 A flash of anger, not unmingled with suspicion, snot 
 from Jenkin's keen black eyes. 
 
 "Umph! and what signifies ' umph? ' I am not the first 
 'prentice has married his master's daughter, I suppose ?" 
 
 "They kept their own secret, I fancy," said Tunstall, 
 "at least till they were out of their time." 
 
 "I tell you what it is, Frank," answered Jenkin, sharply, 
 "that may"'be the fashion of you gentlefolks, that are taught 
 from your biggin to carry two faces under the same hood, 
 but it shall never bo mine." 
 
 "There are the stairs, then," said Tunstall, coolly ; "go 
 up and ask Mrs. Marget of our master just now, and see 
 what sort of a face he will wear under his hood." 
 
 "No, I wonnot," answered Jenkin ; "I am not such a fool 
 as that neither. But I will take my own time; and aU the 
 counts in Cumberland shall not cut my comb, and this is 
 that which you may depend upon." 
 
 Francis "made no reply ; and they resumed their usual 
 attention to the business of the shop, and their usual solicita- 
 tions to the passengers.* 
 
 * See George Heriol. Note 5 
 
CTIAPTEKTir 
 
 Bohadil. I pray you, possess no gallant of your acquaintance 
 with a knowledge of my lodging. 
 
 Master Matthew. Wlio, I, sir ? Lord, sir ! 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 The next morning found Nige? Olifannt, the young Lord 
 of Glenvarloch, seated, sad and solitary, in his little apartment 
 in the mansion of John Cliristia, the ship-chandler; which 
 that honest tradesman, in gratitude perhaps to the profes- 
 sion from which he derived his chief support, appeared to 
 have constructed as nearly as possible upon the plan of a 
 ship's cabin. 
 
 It was situated near to Paul's Wharf, at the end of one 
 of those intricate and narrow lanes which, until that part 
 of the city was swept away by the Great Fire in 1666, con- 
 stituted an extraordinary labyrinth of small, dark, damp, 
 and unwholesome streets and alleys, in one corner or other 
 of which the plague was then as surely found lurking as in 
 the obscure corners of Constantinople in our own time. 
 But John Christie's house looked out upon the river, and 
 had the advantage, therefore, of free air, impregnated, how- 
 ever, with the odoriferous fumes of the articles in which the 
 ship-chandler dealt, with the odor of pitch, and the natural 
 scent of the ooze and sludge left by the reflux of tlie tide. 
 
 Upon the whole, except that his dwelling did not float 
 with the flood-tide and become stranded with the ebb, the 
 young lord was nearly as comfortably accommodated as he 
 was while on board the little trading brig from the long 
 town of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, by which he had come a pas- 
 senger to London. He received, however, every attention 
 which could be paid him by his honest landlord, John 
 Christie ; for Eichie Moniplies had not thought it necessary 
 to preserve his master's incognito so completely but that the 
 honest ship-chandler could form a guess that his guest's 
 quality was superior to his appearance. As for Dame Nelly, 
 his wife, a rouxid, buxom, laughter-loving dame, with black 
 eyes, a tight, Avell-laced bodice, a green apron, and a red 
 petticoat edged with a slight silver lace, and judiciously 
 shortened so as to show that a short heel and a tight, clean 
 ankle rested upon her well-burnished shoe — she, of course, 
 felt interested in a young man who, besides being very hand- 
 si 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 25 
 
 gome, good-humored, and easily satisfied with the accom- 
 modations her house aii'orded, was evidently of a rank, as 
 well as manners, highly superior to the skippers (or captains, 
 as they called themselves) of merchant vessels, who were the 
 usual tenants of the apartments which she let to hire, and 
 at whose departure she was sure to find her well-scrubbed 
 floor soiled with the relics of tobacco, which, spite of King 
 Jameses Counterblast,* was then forcing itself into use, and 
 her best curtains impregnated with the odor of Geneva and 
 strong waters, to Dame I^elly's great indignation ; for, 
 as she truly said, the smell of the shop and warehouse was 
 bad enough without these additions. 
 
 But all Mr. Olifaunt's haljits were regular and cleanly, 
 and his address, though frank and simple, showed so much 
 of the courtier and gentleman as formed a strong contrast 
 with the loud halloo, coarse jests, and boisterous impatience 
 of her maritime inmates. Dame Nelly saw that her guest 
 was melancholy also, notwithstanding his efforts to seem 
 contented and cheerful ; and, in short, she took that sort of 
 interest in him, without being herself aware of its extent, 
 which an unscrupulous gallant might have been tempted to 
 improve to the prejudice of honest John, who was at least a 
 score of years older than his helpmate. Olifaunt, however, 
 had not only other matters to think of, but would have 
 regarded such an intrigue, had the idea ever occurred to him, 
 as an abominable and ungrateful encroachment upon the 
 laws of hospitality, his religion having been by his late 
 father formed upon the strict principles of the national 
 faith, and his morality upon those of the nicest honor. He 
 had not escaped the predominant weakness of his countr}^ — 
 an overweening sense of the. pride of birth, and a disposition 
 to value the worth and consequence of others according to 
 the number and the fame of their deceased ancestors ; but 
 this pride of family was well subdued, and in general almost 
 entirely concealed, by his good sense and general courtesy. 
 
 Such as we have described him, iS'igel Olifaunt, or 
 rather the young Lord Glenvarloch, was, when our narrative 
 takes him up, under great perplexity respecting the fate of 
 his trusty and only folloAver, Kichard Moniplies, who had 
 been dispatched by his young master early the preceding 
 morning as far as the court at Westminster, but had not yet 
 returned. His evening adventures the reader is already 
 acquainted with, and so far knows more of Eichie than did 
 
 * See Note 6. 
 
26 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 his master, who had not heard of him for twenty-four hours. 
 Dame Nelly Christie, in the mean time, regarded her guest 
 with some anxiety, and a great desire to comfort him if 
 possible. She placed on the breakfast-table a noble piece of 
 cold powdered beef, with its usual guards of turniiD and car- 
 rot, recommended her mustard as coming direct from her 
 cousin at Tewkesbury, and spiced the toast with her own 
 hands, and with her own hands, also, drew a jug of stout 
 and nappy ale, all of which were elements of the substantial 
 breakfast of the period. 
 
 When she saw that her guest's anxiety prevented him 
 from doing justice to the good cheer which she set before 
 him, she commenced her career of verbal consolation with 
 the usual volubility of those women in her station who, con- 
 scious of good looks, good intentions, and good lungs^ enter- 
 tain no fear either of wearying themselves or of fatiguing 
 their auditors. 
 
 " Now, what the goody ear ! are we to send you do-mi to 
 Scotland as thin as you came up ? I am sure it would be 
 contrary to the course of nature. There was my goodman's 
 father, old Sandie Christie, I have heard he was an atomy 
 when he came up from the North, and I am sure he died, 
 St. Barnaby was ten years, at twenty stone weight. I was a 
 bare-headed girl at the time, and lived in tlie neighbor- 
 hood, though I had little thought of marrying John then, 
 who had a score of years the better of me — but he is a thriv- 
 ing man and a kind husband — and his father, as I was say- 
 ing, died as fat as a church-warden. Well, sir, but I hope I 
 have not offended you for my little joke ; and I hope the ale 
 is to your honor's liking — and the beef — and the mustard ?"' 
 
 "All excellent — all too good," answered Olifaunt ; "you 
 have everything so clean and tidy, dame, that I shall not 
 know how to live when I go back to my own country — if ever 
 I go back there.'' 
 
 This was added as it seemed involuntarily, and with a 
 deep sigh. 
 
 " I warrant your honor go back again if you like it," 
 said the dame ; "unless you think rather of taking a pretty, 
 well-dowered English lady, as some of your countryfolk 
 have done. I assure you, some of the best of the city have 
 married Scotsmen. There was Lady Trebleplumb, Sir 
 Thomas Trebleplumb the great Turkey merchant's widow, 
 married Sir Awley Macauley, whom your honor knows, 
 doubtless ; and pretty Mistress Doublefee, old Sergeant 
 Doublefee's daughter, jumped out of window and was mar- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 27 
 
 ried at Mayfair to a Scotsman with a hard name ; and old 
 Pitchpost the timber merchant's daughters did little better, 
 for they married two Irishmen ; and when folks jeer me 
 about having a Scotsman for lodger, meaning your honor, I 
 tell them they are afraid of their daughters and their mis- 
 tresses ; and sure I have a right to stand up for the Scots, 
 since John Christie is half a Scotsman, and a thriving man> 
 and a good husband, though there is a score of years between 
 us ; and so I would have your honor cast care away, and 
 mend your breakfast with a morsel and a draught." 
 
 *' At a word, my kind hostess, I cannot," said Olifaunt; 
 " I am anxious about this knave of mine, who has been so 
 long absent in this dangerous town of yours." 
 
 It may be noticed in passing, that Dame Nelly's ordinary 
 mode of consolation was to disprove the existence of any 
 cause for distress; and she is said to have carried this so far 
 as to comfort a neighbor, who had lost her husband, with the 
 assurance that the dear defunct Avould be better to-morrow, 
 which perhaps might not have proved an appropriate, even if 
 it had been a possible, mode of relief. On this occasion she 
 denied stoutly that Richie had been absent altogether twenty 
 hours; and as for people being killed in the streets of London, 
 to be sure two men had been found in Tower Ditch last week, 
 but that was far to the east; and the other poor man that 
 had his throat cut in the fields had met his mishap near by 
 Islington; and he that was stabbed by the young Templar in 
 a drunken frolic, by St. Clement's in the Strand, was an 
 Irishman — all which evidence she produced to show that 
 none of these casualties had occurred in a case exactly paral- 
 lel with that of Richie, a Scotsman, and on his return from 
 Westminster. 
 
 " My better comfort is, my good dame," answered 
 Olifaunt, " that the lad is no brawler or quarreller, unless 
 strongly urged, and that he has nothing valuable about him 
 to any one but me." 
 
 " Your honor speaks very well," retorted the inexhausti- 
 ble hostess, who protracted her task of taking away and 
 putting to rights, in order that she might prolong her gossip. 
 "I'll uphold Master Moniplies to be neither reveller nor 
 brawler, for if he liked such things he might be visiting and 
 junketing with the young folks about here in the neighbor- 
 hood, and he never dreams of it; and when I asked theyoung 
 man to go as far as my gossip's. Dame Drinkwater, to taste a 
 glass of aniseed and a bit of the groaning cheese — for Dame 
 Drinkwater has had twins, as I told your honor, sir — and I 
 
28 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 meant it quite civilly to the young man, biit he chose to sit 
 and keep house with John Christie; and I dare say there is a 
 score of years between them, for your honor's servant looks 
 scarce much older than I am. I wonder what they could 
 have to say to each other. I asked John Christie, but he bid 
 me go to sleep." 
 
 *' If he comes not soon," said his master, " I will thank 
 you to tell me what magistrate I can address myself to; for, 
 besides my anxiety for the poor fellow's safety, he has papers 
 of importance about him." 
 
 "0! your honor may be assured he will be back in a 
 quarter of an hour," said Dame Nelly: " he is not the lad to 
 stay out twenty-four hours at a stretch. And for the papers, 
 I am sure your honor will pardon him for just giving me a 
 peep at the corner, as I was giving him a small cup, not so 
 large as my thimble, of distilled waters, to fortify his stom- 
 ach against the damps, and it was directed to the King's 
 Most Excellent Majesty; and so doubtless his Majesty has 
 kept Richie out of civility to consider of your honor's letter, 
 and send back a fitting reply." 
 
 Dame Nelly here hit by chance on a more available topic 
 of consolation than those she had hitherto touched upon; for 
 the youthful lord had himself some vague hopes that his 
 messenger might have been delayed at court until a fitting 
 and favorable answer should be dispatched back to him. 
 Inexperienced, however, in public affairs as he certainly was, 
 it required only a moment's consideration to convince him 
 of the improbability of an expectation so contrary to all he 
 had heard of etiquette, as well as the dilatory proceedings 
 in a court suit, and he answered the good-natured hostess 
 with a sigh, that he doubted whether the King would even 
 look on the paper addressed to him, far less take it into his 
 immediate consideration. 
 
 "Now, out upon you for a faint-hearted gentleman!" 
 said the good dame; "and why should he not do as mucl 
 for us as our gracious Queen Elizabeth? Many people say 
 this and thac about a queen and a king, but I think a king 
 conies more natural to us English folks; and this good gen- 
 tleman goes as often down by water to Greenwich, and 
 employs as many of the bargemen and watermen of all kinds; 
 and maintains, in his royal grace, John Taylor, the Water 
 Poet, who keeps both a sculler and a pair of oars. And he 
 has made a comely court at AVhitehall, just by the river; and 
 since the King is so good a friend to the Thames, I can- 
 not see, if it please your honor, why all his subjects, and 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 29 
 
 vour honor in specialty, should not have satisfaction by his 
 hands." 
 
 " True, dame — true ; let us hope for the best ; but I must 
 take my cloak and rapier, and pray your husband in cour- 
 tesy to teach me the way to a magistrate." 
 
 *' Sure, sir," said the prompt dame, '' I can do that as well 
 as he, who has been a slow man of his tongue all his life, 
 though I will give him his due for being a loving husband, 
 and a man as well to pass in the world as any betwixt us and 
 the top of the lane. And so there is the sitting alderman, 
 that is always at the Guildhall, which is close by PauFs, and 
 so I warrant you he puts all to rights in the city that wisdom 
 can mend ; and for the rest there is no help but patience. 
 But I wish I were as sure of forty pounds as I am that the 
 young man will come back safe and sound." 
 
 Olifaunt, in great and anxious doubt of what the good 
 dame so strongly averred, flung his cloak on one shoulder, 
 and was about to belt on his rapier, when first the voice of 
 Kichie Moniplies on the stair, and then that faithful emis- 
 sary's appearance in the chamber, put the matter beyond 
 question. Dame Nelly, after congratulating Moniplies on 
 his return, and paying several compliments to her own sagac- 
 ity for having foretold it, was at length pleased to leave the 
 apartment. The truth was, that, besides some instinctive 
 feelings of good-breeding which combated her curiosity, she 
 saw there was no chance of Eichie's proceeding in his nar- 
 rative while she was in the room, and she therefore retreated, 
 trusting that her own address would get the secret out of one 
 or other of the young men, when she should have either by 
 himself. 
 
 " Now, in Heaven's name, what is the matter?" said Nigel 
 Olifaunt. " Where have you been or what have you been 
 about? You look as pale as death. There is blood on your 
 hand, and your clothes are torn. AVhat barns-breaking have 
 you been at? You have been drunk, Richard, and fighting." 
 
 " Fighting I have been," said Richard, " in a small way ; 
 but for being drunk, that's a job ill to manage in this town, 
 without money to come by liquor ; and as for barns-breaking, 
 the deil a thing's broken but my head. It's not made of 
 iron, I wot, nor my claithes of chenzie-raail ; so a club 
 smashed the ane, and a claught damaged the tither. Some 
 misleard rascals abused my country, but I think I cleared 
 the causey of them. However, the haill hive was ower mony 
 for me at last, and I got this eclipse on the crown, and then 
 I was carried, beyond my kenning, to a sma' booth at the 
 
30 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Temple Port, wliare they sell the whirligigs and mony-go- 
 rounds that measure out time as a man wad measure a tartan 
 web ; and tiien they bled me, wold I nold I, and were rea- 
 sonably civil, especially an auld countryman of ours, of whom 
 more hereafter." 
 
 " And at what o'clock might this be?"' said Nigel. 
 
 " The twa iron carles yonder, at the kirk beside the Port,* 
 were just banging out sax o' the clock." 
 
 " And why came you not home as soon as you recovered?'' 
 said Nigel. 
 
 " In troth, my lord, every why has its wherefore, and 
 this has a gude ane," answered his follower. " To come 
 hame, I behoved to ken whare hame was ; now, I had clean 
 tint the name of the W3md, and the mair I asked, the mair 
 the folk leugh, and the farther they sent me wrang ; sae I 
 gave it up till God should send daylight to help me ; and as 
 I saw mysell near a kirk at the lang run, I e'en crap in to 
 take up my night's quarters in the kirkyard." 
 
 "In the churchyard? " said Nigel. " But I need not ask 
 what drove you to such a pinch." 
 
 ''It wasna sae much the want o' siller, my Lord Nigel," 
 said Richie, with an air of mysterious importance, "for I 
 was no sae absolute without means, of whilk mair anon ; but 
 I thought I wad never ware a saxpence sterling on ane of 
 their saucy chamberlains at a hostelry, sae lang as I could 
 sleep fresh and fine in a fair, dry, spring night. Mony 
 a time, when I liae come hame ower late, and faund the 
 West Port steekit, and the waiter ill-willy, I have garr'd the 
 sexton of St. Cuthbert's calf-ward serve me for my quarters. 
 But then there are dainty green graffs in St. Cuthbert's kirk- 
 yard, where ane may sleep as if they w^ere in a down-bed, till 
 they hear the lavrock singing up in the air as high as the 
 Castle ; whereas, and behold, these London kirkyards are 
 causeyed with through-stanes, j)anged hard and fast the- 
 gither ; and my cloak, being something threadbare, made 
 but a thin mattress, so I was fain to give up my bed before 
 every limb about me was crippled. Dead folks may sleep 
 yonder sound enow, but deil haet else." 
 
 "' And what became of you next? " said his master. 
 
 " I just took to a canny bulkhead, as they ca' them here; 
 that is, the boards on the tap of their bits of outshots of 
 stalls and booths, and there 1 sleepit as sound as if I was in 
 a castle. Not but I was disturbed wnth some of the night- 
 
 * The old church of St. Dunstan's in Fleet Street had an overhanging clock 
 with two bells, which were struck at the quarters by two wooden figure^ armed 
 with clubs iLainy). 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 3i 
 
 walking queens and swaggering billies, but when they found 
 there was nothing to be got by me but a slash of my Andrew 
 Ferrara, they bid me good-night for a beggarly Scot; and I 
 was e'en weel pleased to be sae cheap rid of them. And in 
 the morning I cam daikering here; but sad wark I had to 
 find the way, for I had been east as far as the place they ca' 
 Mile End, though it is mair like sax-mile-end." 
 
 " Well, Eichie," answered Nigel, " I am glad all this has 
 ended so well. Go get something to eat. I am sure you 
 need it." 
 
 '* In troth do I, sir," replied Moniplies; " but, with your 
 lordship's leave " 
 
 " Forget the lordship for the present, Eichie, as I have 
 often told you before." 
 
 " Faith," replied Eichie, " I could weel forget that your 
 honor was a lord, but then I behoved to forget that I am a 
 lord's man, and that's not so easy. But however," he added, 
 assisting his description with the thumb and the two fore- 
 fingers of his right hand, thrust out after the fashion of a 
 bird's claw, while the little finger and ring-finger were closed 
 upon the palm, " to the court I went, and my friend that 
 promised me a sight of his Majesty's most gracious presence 
 was as gude as his word, and carried me into the back 
 offices, where I got the best breakfast I have had since we 
 came liere, and it did me gude for the rest of the day ; for 
 as to what I have eaten in this accursed town, it is aye 
 sauced with the disquieting thought that it maun be paid for. 
 After a', there was but beef banes and fat brose; but king's 
 cauff, your honor kens, is better than ither folks' corn; at 
 ony rate, it was a' in free awmous. But I see," he added, 
 stopping short, "that 3'our honor waxes impatient." 
 
 "By no means, Eichie," said the young nobleman, with 
 an air of resignation, for he well knew his domestic would 
 not mend his pace for goading; " you have suffered enough 
 in the embassy to have a right to tell the story in your own 
 way. Only let me pray for the name of the friend"^ who was 
 to introduce you into the King's presence. You were very 
 mysterious on the subject, when you undertook, through his 
 means, to have the supj)lication put into his Majesty s own 
 hands, since those sent heretofore, I have every reason to 
 think, went no farther than his secretary's." 
 
 "Weel, my lord," said Eichie, "I did not tell you his name 
 and quality at first, because I thought you would be affronted 
 at the like of him having to do in your lordship's affairs. 
 But mony a man climbs up in court by waur help. It was just 
 
32 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Laurie Linklater, one of the yeomen of the kitchen, that 
 was my father's apprentice hmg syne." 
 
 _ "A yeoman of the kitchen-^a scullion !" exclaimed Lord 
 Nigel, pacing the room in displeasure. 
 
 "But consider, sir," said Eichie, composedly, "that a' 
 your great friends hung back, and shunned to own you, or 
 to advocate your petition ; and then, though I am sure I 
 wish Laurie a higher office, for your lordship's sake and for 
 mine, and specially for his aiu sake, being a friendly lad, yet 
 your lordship must consider, that a scullion, if a yeoman of 
 the king's most royal kitchen may be called a scullion, may 
 weel rank with a master cook elsewhere ; being that king's 
 
 cauil, as I said before, is better than " 
 
 " You are right, and I was wrong," said the young noble- 
 man. " I have no choice of means of making my case 
 known, so that they be honest." 
 
 " Laurie is as honest a lad as ever lifted a ladle," said 
 Richie ; " not but what I dare to say he can lick his fingers 
 like other folk, and reason good. But, in fine, for I sec 
 your honor is waxing impatient, he brought me to the palace, 
 where a' was astir for the King going out to hunt or hawk 
 on Blackheath, I think they ca'd it. And there was a horse 
 stood with all the quarries about it, a bonny gray as ever 
 was foaled ; and the saddle and the stirrups, and the curb 
 and bit, o' burning gowd, or silver gilded at least ; and down, 
 sir, came the King, with all his nobles, dressed out in his 
 hunting-suit of green, doubly laced, and laid down with 
 gowd. I minded the very face o' him, though it was lang 
 since I saw him. But ' My certie, lad,' thought I, ' times 
 are changed since ye came fleeing down the back stairs of 
 auld Holyrood House, in grit fear, having your breeks in 
 your hand without time to put them on, and Prank Stewart, 
 the wild Earl of Bothwell, hard at your haunches ; and if 
 auld Lord Glenvarloch hadna cast his mantle about his arm, 
 and taken bluidy wounds mair than ain in your behalf, you 
 wad not have craw'd sae crouse this day ; ' and so saying, I 
 could not but think your lordship's sifflication could not be less 
 than most acceptable ; and so I banged in among the crowd 
 of lords. Laurie thought me mad, and held me by the 
 cloak-lap till the cloth rave in his hand ; and so I banged in 
 right before the King Just as he mounted, and crammed the 
 sifflication into his hand, and he oj)ened it like in amaze ; 
 and just as he saw the first line, I was minded to make a 
 reverence, and I had the ill luck to hit his Jaud o' a beast on 
 the nose with my hat and scaur the creature, and she swarved 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 38 
 
 aside, and the King, that sits na mickle better than a draff 
 pock on the saddle, was like to have gotten a clean coup, and 
 that might have cost my craig a raxing ; and he flung down 
 the paper amang the beast's feet, and cried, ' Away wi 
 the fause loon tliat brought it ! ' And they grippit me, anc 
 cried ' Treason ;' and I'thought of the Kuthvens that were 
 dirked in their ain house, for, it may be, as small a forfeit. 
 However, they spak only of scourging me, and had me away 
 to the porter's lodge to try the tawse on my back, and I was 
 crying mercy as loud as l"could ; and the King, when he had 
 righted himself on the saddle, and gathered his breath, cried 
 to" do me nae harm. ' For,' said he, ' he is ane of our ain 
 Norland stots, I ken by the rowt of him;' and they a' laughed 
 and rowted loud eneugh. And then he said, ' Gie him a 
 copy of the proclamation, and let him go down to the North 
 by the next light collier, before waur come o't.' So they 
 let me go, and rode out, a' sniggering, laughing, and round- 
 ing in ilk ither's lugs. A sair life I had wi' Laurie Link- 
 later; for he said it wad be the ruin of him. And then, when 
 I told him it was in your matter, he said if he had known 
 before he would have risked a scauding for you, because he 
 minded the brave old lord, your father. And then he showed 
 how I su\l have done, and that I suld have held up my hand 
 to my brow, as if the grandeur of the King and his horse- 
 graitli thegither had casten the glaiks in my een, and mair 
 jackanape tricks I suld hae played, instead of offering the 
 sifflication, he said, as if I had been bringing guts to a bear.* 
 ' For,' said he, ' Richie, the King is a weel-natured and just 
 man of his ain kindly nature, but he has a wheen maggots 
 that maun be cannily guided ; and then, Richie,' says he, 
 in a very laigh tone, ' I would tell it to nane but a wise man 
 like yoursell, but the King has them about him Avad corrupt 
 an angel from Heaven ; but I could have gi'en you avise- 
 ment how to have guided him, but now it's like after meat 
 mustard.' * Aweel — aweel, Laurie,' said I, 'it maybe as 
 you say; but since I am clear of the tawse and the porter's 
 lodge, siiiiicate wha like, deil hae Richie Moniplies if he 
 come siffl-icating here again.' And so away I came, and I 
 wasna far by the Temple Port, or Bar, or whatever they ca' 
 it, when I met with the misadventure that I tauld you of 
 before." 
 
 "Well, my honest Richie," said Lord Nigel, "your at- 
 tempt Avas well meant, and not so ill conducted, I think, as 
 to have deserved so bad an issue ; but go to your beef and 
 mustard, and Ave'll talk of the rest afterwards." 
 
 • See James's Love of Flattery. Note 7. 
 
U WAVEMLEY NOVELS 
 
 " There is nae mair to be spoken, sir," said his follower, 
 " except that I met ane very honest, fair-spoken, weel-put-on 
 gentleman, or rather burgher, as 1 think, that was in the 
 whigmaleery man's back shop ; and when he learned wha 1 
 was, behold he was a kindly Scot himsell, and, what is more, 
 a town's-bairn o" the gude town, and he behoved to compel 
 me to take this Portugal piece, to drink forsooth — ' My 
 certie,' thought I, ' we ken better, for we will eat it' — and 
 he spoke of paying your lordship a visit." 
 
 " You did not tell him where I lived, you knave ?" said 
 the Lord Nigel, angrily. " 'Sdeath ! I shall have every 
 clownish burgher from Edinburgh come to gaze on my dis- 
 tress, and pay a shilling for having seen the motion of the 
 poor noble!" 
 
 '' Tell him where you lived ?" said Richie, evading the 
 question. '• Hoav could I tell him what I kenn'dna mysell ? 
 If I had minded the name of the wynd, I need not have 
 slept in the kirkyard yestreen." 
 
 " See, then, that you give no one notice of our lodging," 
 said the young nobleman; *'th«se with whom I have business 
 I can meet at Paul's or in the Court of Requests." 
 
 " This is steeking the stable-door when the steed is 
 stolen," thought Richie to himself; " but I must put him on 
 another pin," 
 
 So thinking, he asked the young lord Avhat was in the proc- 
 lamation which he still held folded in his hand ; " for, hav- 
 ing little time to spell at it," said he, "your lordship well 
 knows I ken naught about it but the grand blazon at the tap; 
 the lion has gotten a claught of our auld Scottish shield now, 
 but it was as weel upheld when it had a unicorn on ilk side 
 of it." 
 
 Lord Nigel read the proclamation, and he colored deep 
 with shame and indignation as he read; for the purport was, 
 to his injured feelings, like the pouring of ardent spirits 
 upon a recent wound. 
 
 " What deil's in the paper, my lord ?" said Richie, un- 
 able to suppress his curiosity as he observed his master 
 change color. "I wadna ask such a thing, only the proc- 
 lamation is not a private thing, but is meant for a' men's 
 hearing." 
 
 "It is indeed meant for all men's hearing," replied Lord 
 Nigel, "and it proclaims the shame of our country and the 
 ingratitude of our prince." 
 
 " Now the Lord preserve n"' and to publish it in London, 
 tool" ejaculated Moniplies. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 35 
 
 ''Hark 3-e, Eichard," said Xigel Olifaunt, "in this paper 
 the Lords of the Council set forth tliat, ' In consideration 
 of the resort of idle persons of low condition forth from his 
 Majesty's kingdom of Scotland to his English court, filling 
 the same with their suits and supplications, and dishonoring 
 the roval presence with tlieir base, poor, and beggarly per- 
 sons, to the disgrace of their country in the estimation of the 
 English — these are to prohibit the skippers, masters of ves- 
 sels and others, in every part of Scotland, from bringing 
 such miserable creatures up to court, under pain of fine and 
 imprisonment/" 
 
 '•' I marie the skipper took us on board," said Eichie. 
 
 ''Then 3-ou need not marvel how you are to get back 
 again," said' Lord Xigel, "for here is a clause which says 
 that such idle suitors are to be transported back to Scotland 
 at his Majesty's expense, and punished for their audacity 
 with stripos, stocking, or incarceration, according to their 
 demerits; that is to say, I suppose, according to the^ degree 
 of their povertv, for I see no other demerit specified." 
 
 " This wiir scarcely," said Eichie, "square with our old 
 
 proverb — 
 
 " ' A king's face 
 
 Should give grace.' 
 
 But what says the paper farther, my lord?" 
 
 " Oh, only a small clause which especially concerns us, 
 making some still heavier denunciations against those suitors 
 who shall be so bold as to approach the court, under pretext of 
 seeking payment of old debts due to them by the King, 
 which, the paper states, is, of all species of importunity, 
 that which is most odious to his Majesty." * 
 
 " The King has neighbors in that matter," said Eichie; 
 "but it is not every one that can shift off that sort of cattle 
 so easily as he does." 
 
 Their conversation was here interrupted by a knocking at 
 the door. Olifaunt looked out at the window, and saw an 
 elderly respectable person whom he knew not. Eichie also 
 peeped, and recognized, but, recognizing, chose not to 
 acknowledge, his friend of the preceding evening. Afraid 
 that his share in the visit might be detected, hemade his 
 escape out of the apartment under pretext of going to his 
 breakfast; and left their landlady the task of ushering Mas- 
 ter George into Lord Xigel's apartment, which she per- 
 formed with much courtes}'. 
 
 * See Proclamation against the Scots. Note 8. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Ay, sir, the clouted shoe hath ofttimes craft in't, 
 
 As says the rustic proverb ; and yf)tir citizen, 
 
 In's grogram suit, gold chain, and well-black'd shoes, 
 
 Bears under Lis tiat cap ofttimes a brain 
 
 Wiser than burns beneath the cap and feather, 
 
 Or seethes witliin the statesman's velvet nightcap. 
 
 Read me my Riddle. 
 
 The young Scottish nobleman received the citizen with dis- 
 tant politeness, expressing that sort of reserve by which those 
 of the higher ranks are sometimes willing to make a j^lebeian 
 sensible that he is an intruder. But Master George seemed 
 neither displeased nor disconcerted. He assumed the chair 
 Avhich, in deference to his respectable appearance. Lord 
 Xigel offered to him, and said, after a moment's pause, dur- 
 ing Avhich he had looked attentively at the young man, with 
 respect not unmingled with emotion — " You will forgive 
 me for this rudeness, my lord ; but I was endeavoring to 
 trace in your youthful countenance the features of my good 
 old lord, your excellent father." 
 
 There was a moment's pause ere young Glenvarloch re- 
 plied, still with a reserved manner — " I have been reckoned 
 like my father, sir ; and am happy to see any one that re- 
 spects his mamory. Bttt the business which calls me to this 
 city is of a hasty as well as a private nature, and " 
 
 " I understand the hint, my lord," said Master George. 
 " and would not be guilty of long detaining you from busi- 
 ness or more agreeable conversation. My errand is almost 
 done when I have said that my name is George Heriot, 
 warmly befriended, and introduced into the employment of 
 the royal family of Scotland, more than twenty years since, 
 by your excellent father ; and that, learning from a follower 
 of yours that your lordship Avas in this city in prosecution 
 of some business of importance, it is my duty — it is my 
 pleasure — to wait on the son of my respected patron ; and, 
 as I am somewhat known both at the court and in the city, 
 to offer him such aid in the furthering of his affairs as my 
 credit and experience may be able to afford." 
 
 " I have no doubt of either. Master Heriot," said Lord 
 Nigel, "and I thank you heartily for the good-will with 
 which you have placed them at a stranger's disposal ; but 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 37 
 
 my business at court is done and ended, and I intend to 
 leave London, and, indeed, the island, for foreign travel and 
 military service. I may add, that the suddenness of mj de- 
 parture occasions my having little time at my disposal.' 
 
 Master Heriot did not take the hint, but sat fast, with 
 an embarrassed countenance, however, like one who had 
 something to say that he knew not exactly how to make 
 effectual. At length he said, with a dubious smile, "You 
 are fortunate, my lord, in having so soon dispatched your 
 business at court. Your talking landlady informs me you 
 have been but a fortnight in this city. It is usually months 
 and years ere the court and a suitor shake hands and part." 
 
 *'My business," said Lord Nigel, with a brevity which 
 was intended to stop further discussion, "was summarily 
 dispatched." 
 
 Still Master Heriot remained seated, and there was a 
 cordial good-humor added to the reverence of his appear- 
 ance, which rendered it impossible for Lord Nigel to be 
 more explicit in requesting his absence. 
 
 " Your lordship has not yet had time," said the citizen, 
 still attempting to sustain tlie conversation, " to visit the 
 places of amusement — the playhouses and other places to 
 which youth resort. But I see "in your lordship's hand one 
 of the new-invented plots * of the piece, which they hand 
 about of late. May I ask what play? " 
 
 '• Oh! a well-known piece," said Lord Nigel, impatiently 
 throwing do^ni the proclamation, which he had hitherto 
 been twicting to and fro in his hand — " an excellent and 
 well-approved piece — A New Way to Pay Old Debts." 
 
 Master Heriot stooped down, saying, " Ah ! my old ac- 
 quaintance, Philip Massinger ; " but, having opened the 
 paper and seen the purport, he looked at Lord Nigel with 
 surprise, saying, " I trust your lordship does not think this 
 prohibition can extend either to your person or your 
 claims ? " 
 
 " I should scarce have thought so myself," said the 
 young nobleman ; " but so it proves. His Majesty, to close 
 this discourse at once, has been pleased to send me this proc- 
 lamation, in answer to a respectful supplication for the 
 repayment of large loans advanced by my father for the 
 service of the state, in the King's utmost emergencies." 
 
 " It is impossible; " said the citizen — " it is absolutely 
 impossible! If the King could forget what was due to your 
 father's memory, still he would not have wished — would not. 
 
 * Meaning, orobabb'. playbills. 
 
38 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 I may say, have dared — to be so flagrantly unjust to thft 
 memory of such a man as your father, who, dead in the 
 body, Avill long live in the memory of the Scottish people." 
 
 "I should have been of your opinion," answered Lord 
 Nigel, in the same tone as before; "but there is no fighting 
 with facts." 
 
 " What was the tenor of this supplication?" said Ileriot; 
 "or by whom was it presented? Something strange there 
 must have been in the contents, or else " 
 
 " You may see my original draught," said the young 
 lord, taking it out of a small travelling strong-box; "the 
 technical part is by my lawyer in Scotland, a skilful and sen- 
 sible man; the rest is my own, drawn, I hope, with due 
 deference and modesty." 
 
 Master Heriot hastily cast his eye over the draught. 
 " Nothing," he said, "can be more well-tempered and re- 
 spectful. Is it possible the King can have treated this pet^ 
 tion with contempt ? " 
 
 " He threw it down on the pavement," said the Lord o 
 Glenvarloch, "and sent me for answer that proclamation^ 
 in which he classes me with the paupers and mendicants from 
 Scotland, who disgrace his court in the eyes of the proud 
 English — that is all. Had not my father stood by him with 
 heart, sword, and fortune, he might never have seen the 
 court of England himself." 
 
 " But by whom was this supplication presented, my 
 lord? " said Heriot; " for the distaste taken at the messenger 
 will sometimes extend itself to the message." 
 
 "By my servant," said the Lord Nigel — "by the man 
 you saw, and, I think, Avere kind to." 
 
 "By your servant, my lord?" said the citizen; "he 
 seems a shrcAvd fellow, and doubtless a faithful; but 
 surely " 
 
 " Yon would say," said Lord Nigel, "he is no fit messen- 
 ger to a king's presence? Surely he is not; but what could J 
 do? Every attempt I had made to lay my case before the 
 King had miscarried, and my petitions got no farther than 
 the budgets of clerks and secretaries; this fellow pretended 
 he had a friend in the household that would bring him to the 
 King's presence, and so " 
 
 " I understand," said Heriot; " but, my lord, why should 
 you not, in right of your rank and birth, have appeared at 
 court, and required an audience, which could not have been 
 denied to you?" 
 
 The young lord blushed a little^ and looked at his dress, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 39 
 
 which was very phiin; and, though in perfect good order, 
 had the appearance of having seen service. 
 
 " I know not wliy I shoiild be asliamed of speaking the 
 truth," lie said, after a momentary hesitation: "I had no 
 dress suitable for appearing at court. I am determined to 
 incur no expenses which I cannot discharge; and I think 
 you, sir, would not advise me to stand at the palace door in 
 person and deliver my petition along with those who are in 
 very deed pleading their necessity and begging an alms." 
 
 ^"That had been, indeed, unseemly," said the citizen; 
 "but yet, my lord, my mind runs strangely that there must 
 be some mistake. Can I speak with your domestic?" 
 
 " I see little good it can do," answered the young lord, 
 "but the interest you take in my misfortunes seems sincere, 
 
 and therefore " He stamped on the floor, and in a few 
 
 seconds afterwards Moniplies appeared, wiping from his 
 beard and mustache the crumbs of bread and the froth of 
 the ale-pot, which plainly showed how he had been em- 
 ployed. " Will your lordship grant permission," said Heriot, 
 " that I ask your groom a few questions?" 
 
 "' His lordship'^ page. Master George," answered Moni- 
 plies, with a nod of acknowledgment, " if you are minded to 
 speak according to the letter." 
 
 "Hold your saucy tongue," said his master, "and reply 
 distinctly to the questions you are to be asked." 
 
 "' And tndi/, if it like your pageship," said the citizen, 
 "for you may remember I have a gift to discover falset," 
 
 " Weel — weel — weel," replied the domestic, somewhat 
 embarrassed, in spite of his effrontery, "' though I think that 
 the sort of truth that serves my master may weel serve ony 
 ane else." 
 
 " Pages lie to their masters by right of custom," said the 
 citizen; "and you write yourself in that band, though I 
 think you be among the oldest of such springakh; but to me 
 you must speak truth, if you would not have it end in the 
 whipping-post." 
 
 "And that's e'en a bad resting-place," said the well- 
 grown page; "so come away Avith your questions. Master 
 George." 
 
 "Well, then," demanded the citizen, "I am given to 
 understand that you yesterday presented to his Majesty's 
 hand a supplication, or petition, from this honorable lord, 
 your master." 
 
 " Troth, there's nae gainsaying that, sir," replied Moni- 
 plies; " there were enow to spe it besides me." 
 
40 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " And you pretend that his Majesty flnng it from him 
 with contempt .'"' said the citizen. "Take heed, fori liave 
 means of knowing the truth; and you were better up to the 
 neck in the Nor' Loch, which you like so well, than tell a 
 leasing where his Majesty's name is concerned." 
 
 ''There is nae occasion for leasing-making about the mat- 
 ter," answered Moniplies, firmly; " his Majesty e'en flung it 
 frae him as if it had dirtied his fingers." 
 
 " You hear, sir," said Olifaunt, addressing Heriot. 
 
 " Hush ! " said the sagacious citizen; " this fellow is not ill 
 named: he has more plies than one in his cloak. Stay, fel- 
 low," for Moniplies, muttering somewhat about finishing hie 
 breakfast, was beginning to shamble towards the door, 
 " answer me this farther question: When you gave your 
 master's petition to his Majesty, gave you nothing with it ? '■ 
 
 " Ou, what should I give wi'it, ye ken. Master George ? *' 
 
 " That is what I desire and insist to know," replied his 
 interrogator. 
 
 " AVeel, then — I am not free to say that maybe I might 
 not just slip into the king's hand a wee bit sifflication of 
 mine ain, along with my lord's — just to save his Majesty 
 trouble, and that he might consider them baith at ance." 
 
 " A supplication of your own, you varlet ! " said his mas- 
 ter. 
 
 " Ou dear, ay, my lord, " said Richie; " puir bodies hae 
 their bits of sifflications as weel as their betters." 
 
 " And pray, what might your worshipful petition import?" 
 said Master Heriot. "Nay, for Heaven's sake, my lord, keep 
 your patience, or we shall never learn the truth of this strange 
 matter. Speak out, sirrah, and I will stand your friend with 
 my lord." 
 
 " It's a lang story to tell — but the upshot is, that it's a 
 scrape of an auld accompt due to my father's yestate by her 
 Majesty, the King's maist gracious mother, when she lived 
 in the Castle, and had sundry providings and furnishings 
 forth of our booth, whilk nae doubt was an honor to my 
 father to supply, and whilk, doubtless, it will be a credit to 
 his Majesty to satisfy, as it will be grit convenience to me to 
 receive the saam." 
 
 " What string of impertinence is this ? " said his master. 
 
 " Every word as truease'er John Knox spoke," said Richie; 
 " here's the bit double of the sifflication." 
 
 Master George took a crumpled paper from the fellow's 
 hand, and said, muttering betwixt his teeth: "'Humbly 
 slioweth — um — um — his Majesty's maist gracious mother — um 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 4 1 
 
 — um — justly addebted and owing the sum of fifteen merks 
 — the compt whereof foUoweth: Twelve nowte's feet for 
 jellies — ane lamb, being Christmas — ane roasted capin in 
 grease for the privy chalmer, where my Lord of Bothwell 
 Buppit with her Grace/ 1 think, my lord, you can hardly 
 be surprised that the King gave this petition a brisk recep- 
 tion; and I conclude. Master Page, that you took care to 
 present your own supplication before your master's ?" 
 
 "Troth did I not," answered Moniplies; "I thought to 
 have given my lord's first, as was reason gude; and besides 
 that, it wad have redd the gate for my ain little bill. But 
 what wi' the dirdum an' confusion, an' the loupin' here and 
 there of the skeigh brute of a horse, I believe I crammed 
 them baith into his hand cheek-by-jowl, and maybe my ain 
 was buueniost; and say there was aught wrang, I am sure I 
 had a' the fright and a' the risk " 
 
 " And shall have all the beating, you rascal knave," said 
 Nigel. '• Am I to be insulted and dishonored by your prag- 
 matical insolence, in blending your base concerns with 
 mine ?" 
 
 '•'Nay — nay — nay, my lord," said the good-humored citi- 
 zen, interposing; " I have been the means of bringing the 
 fellow's blunder to light, allow me interest enough with your 
 lordship to be bail for his bones. You have cause to be 
 angry, but still I think the knave mistook more out of con- 
 ceit than of purpose; and I judge you will have the better 
 service of him another time if you overlook this fault. Get 
 you gone, sirrah; I'll make your peace." 
 
 " Na — na," said Moniplies, keeping his ground firmly, " if 
 he likes to strike a lad that has followed him for pure love, 
 for I think there has been little servant's fee between us, a' 
 the way frae Scotland, just let my lord be doing, and see the 
 credit he will get by it; and I would rather — mony thanks to 
 you though. Master George — stand by a lick of his baton 
 than it suld e'er be said a stranger came between us." 
 
 '' Go, then," said his master, '' and get outof my sight." 
 
 " Aweel I wot that is snne done," said Moniplies, retiring 
 slowly; " I did not come without I had been ca'd for, and I 
 wad have been away half an hour since with my gude will, 
 only Maister George keepit me to answer his interrogation, 
 forsooth, and that has made a' this stir." 
 
 And so he made his grumbling exit, with the tone much 
 rather of one who has sustained an injury than who has done 
 wrong. 
 
 •' There never was a man so plagued aa I am with a 
 
42 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 malapert knave ! The fellow is shrewd, and I have found 
 him faithful. I believe he loves me, too, and he has given 
 proofs of it ; but then ho is so uplifted in his own conceit, so 
 self-willed, and so self-opinioned, that he seems to become 
 the master and I the man ; and whatever blunder he com- 
 mits, he is sure to make as loud complaints as if the whole 
 error lay with me, and in no degree with himself." 
 
 "Cherish him, and maintain him, nevertheless," said the 
 citizen ; " for believe my gray hairs, that affection and fidelity 
 are now rarer qualities in a servitor than when the world was 
 younger. Yet, trust him, my good lord, with no commis- 
 sion above his birth or breeding, for you see yourself how it 
 may chance to fall." 
 
 " It is but too evident. Master Heriot," said the young 
 nobleman ; "and I am sorry I have done injustice to my sover- 
 eign, and your master. But I am, like a true Scotsman, wise 
 behindhand ; the mistake has happened, my supplication 
 has been refused, and my only resource is to employ the rest of 
 my means to carry Moniplies and myself to some counter- 
 scarp, and die in the battle-front like my ancestors." 
 
 " It were better to live and serve your country like 
 your noble father, my lord," replied Master George. " Na;, 
 — nay, never look down or shake your head. The King 
 has not refused your supplication, for he has not seen it : 
 you ask but justice, and that his place obliges him to give to 
 his subjects — ay, my lord, and I will say that his naturt;! 
 temper doth in this hold bias with his duty." 
 
 "I were well pleased to think so, and yet " said 
 
 Nigel Olifaunt. " I speak not of my own wrongs, but my 
 country hath many that are unredressed." 
 
 "My lord," said Master Heriot, " I speak of my royal 
 master not only with the respect due from a subject, the 
 gratitude to be paid by a favored servant, but also with the 
 frankness of a free and loyal Scotsman. The King is him- 
 self well disposed to hold the scales of justice even ; but 
 there are those around him who can throw without detection 
 their own selfish wishes and base interests into the scale. You 
 are already a sufferer by this, and without your knowing it." 
 
 " I am surprised. Master Heriot," said the young lord, 
 " to hear you, upon so short an acquaintance, talk as if you 
 were familiarly acquainted with my affairs." 
 
 " My lord," replied the goldsmith, " the nature of my 
 employment affords me direct access to the interior of the 
 palace ; I am well known to be no meddler in intrigues or 
 party affairs, so that no favorite has as yet endeavored to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 43 
 
 shut against me the door of the royal closet ; on the con- 
 trary, I have stood v.'ell with each while he was in power, 
 and I have not shared the fall of any. But I cannot be tlius 
 connected witli the court without hearing, even against my 
 will, what wheels are in motion, and how they are checked 
 or forwarded. Of course, when I choose to seek such intelli- 
 gence,! know the sources in which it is to be traced. I have 
 told you why I was interested in your lordship's fortunes. It 
 was last night only that I knew you were in this city, yet I 
 have been able, in coming hither this morning, to gain for you 
 some information respecting the impediments to your suit.'' 
 
 "' Sir, I am obliged by your zeal, however little it may be 
 merited," answered Nigel, still with some reserve; ''yet I 
 hardly know how I have deserved this interest." 
 
 " First let me satisfy you that it is real," said the citizen. 
 '' I blame you not for being unwilling to credit the fair pro- 
 fessions of a stranger in my inferior class of society, when 
 you have met so little friendship from relations and those of 
 your own rank, bound to have assisted, you by so many ties. 
 But mark the cause. There is a mortgage over your father's 
 extensive estate, to the amount of 40,000 merks, due ostensi- 
 bly to Peregrine Peterson, the Conservator of Scottish 
 Privileges at Campvere." 
 
 " I know nothing of a mortgage," said the young lord ; 
 ''but there is a wadset for such a sum, which, if unredeemed, 
 will occasion the forfeiture of my Avhole paternal estate, for 
 a sum not above a fourth of its value ; and it is for that very 
 reason that I press the King's government for a settlement 
 of the debts due to my father, that I may be able to redeem 
 my land from this rapacious creditor." 
 
 " A wadset in Scotland," said Heriot, "is the same with 
 a mortgage on this side of the Tweed ; but you are not 
 acquainted with your real creditor. The Conservator Peter- 
 son only lends his name to shroud no less a man than the 
 Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who hopes, under cover of this 
 debt, to gain possession of the estate himself, or perhaps to 
 gratify a yet more powerful third party. He will probably 
 suffer his creature Peterson to take possession, and when 
 the odium of the transaction shall be forgotten, the property 
 and lordship of Glenvarloch will be conveyed to the great 
 man by his obsequious instrument, under cover of a sale 
 or some similar device." 
 
 "Can this be possible?" said Lord Nigel. "The chan- 
 cellor wept wlien I took leave of him — called me his cousin, 
 even his son — furnished me with letters, and, tliough I asked 
 
44 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 hini for no pecuniary assistance, excused himself unnecesb.t- 
 rily for not pressing it on me, alleging the expenses of his 
 rank and his large family. No, I cannot believe a nobleman 
 would carry deceit so far/' 
 
 "lam not, it is true, of noble blood," said the citizen; 
 " but once more I bid you look on my gray hairs, and think 
 what can be my interest in dishonoring them with falsehood 
 in affairs in which I have no interest, save as they regard the 
 son of my benefactor. Reflect also, have you had any advan- 
 tage from the Lord Chancellor's letters?" 
 
 "None," said Nigel Olifaunt, ''except cold deeds and fair 
 words. I have thought for some time, their only object was 
 to get rid of me; one yesterday pressed money on me when 
 I talked of going abroad, in order that I might not want the 
 means of exiling myself." 
 
 ''Right," said Heriot; "rather than you fled not, they 
 would themselves furnish wings for you to fly withal." 
 
 "I will to him this instant," said the incensed youth, 
 "and tell him my mind of his baseness." 
 
 "Under your favor," said Heriot, detaining him, "you 
 shall not do so. By a quarrel you would become the ruin of 
 me your informer; and though I would venture half my shop 
 to do your lordship a service, I think you would hardly wish 
 me to come by damage, when it can be of no service to you." 
 
 The word "shop" sounded harshly in the ear of the 
 young nobleman, who replied hastily, "Damage, sir! So far 
 am I from wishing you to incur damage, that I would to 
 Heaven you would cease your fruitless offers of serving one 
 whom there is no chance of ultimately assisting." 
 
 "Leave me alone for that," said the citizen; "you have 
 now erred as far on the bow-hand. Permit me to take this 
 supplication; I will have it suitably engrossed, and take my 
 own time — and it shall be an early one — for placing it, with 
 more prudence, I trust, than that used by your follower, in 
 the King's hand. I will almost answer for his taking up the 
 matter as you would have him; but should he fail to do so, 
 even then I will not give up the good cause." 
 
 "Sir," said the young nobleman, "your speech is so 
 friendly, and my own state so helpless, that I know not how 
 to refuse your kind proffer, even while I blush to accept it at 
 the hands of a stranger." 
 
 "We are, I trust, no longer such," said the goldsmith; 
 "and for my guerdon, when my mediation proves successful, 
 and your fortunes are re-established, you shall order youi 
 first cupboard of plate from George Heriot." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 45 
 
 •'Yoa would have a bad paymaster. Master Heriot," said 
 Lord Nigel. 
 
 ''I do not fear that/' replied the goldsmith; "and I am 
 glad to see you smile, my lord — metliinks it makes you look 
 still more like the good old lord your father; and it em- 
 boldens me, besides, to bring out a small request, that you 
 would take a homely dinner with me to-morrow. 1 lodge 
 hard by, in Lombard Street. For the cheer, my lord, a mess 
 of white broth, a fat capon well larded, a dish of beef collops 
 for auld Scotland's sake, and it may be a cup of right old 
 wine, that was barrelled before Scotland and England Avere 
 one nation. Then for company, one or two of our own lov- 
 ing countr}Tnen; and maybe my housewife may find out a 
 bonny Scots lass or so." 
 
 "I would accept your courtesy. Master Heriot," said 
 Nigel, "but I hear the city ladies of London like to see a man 
 gallant; I would not like to let down a Scottish nobleman in 
 their ideas, as doubtless you have said the best of our poor 
 country, and I rather lack the means of bravery for the 
 present.'' 
 
 "My lord, your frankness leads me a step farther," said 
 Master George. "I — I owed your father some monies, and — 
 nay, if your lordship looks at me so fixedly, I shall never tell 
 my story — and, to speak plainly — for I never could carry a 
 lie well through in my life — it is most fitting that, to 
 solicit this matter properly, your lordship should go to court 
 in a manner beseeming your quality. I am a goldsmith, and 
 live by lending money as well as by selling plate. I am am- 
 bitious to put a hundred pounds to be at interest in your hands, 
 till your affairs are settled." 
 
 "And if thev are never favorably settled?" said Nigel. 
 
 "Then, my lord," returned the citizen, "the miscarriage 
 of such a sum" will be of little consequence to me, compared 
 with other subjects of regret." 
 
 " Master Heriot," said the Lord Nigel, " your favor is 
 generously offered, and shall be frankly accepted. I must 
 presume tliat you see your way through this business, though 
 I hardly do ; for I tliink you would be grieved to add any 
 fresh burden to me, by persuading me to incur debts which 
 I am not likely to discharge. I will therefore take your 
 money, under the hope and trust that you will enable me to 
 repay you punctually." 
 
 " I will convince you, my lord," said the goldsmith, 
 "that I mean to deal with you as a creditor [debtor] from 
 whom I expect payment ; and therefore you shall, with your 
 
45 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 OAvn good pleasure, sign un ackuowlodginent for these monies, 
 and an obligation to content and repay me." 
 
 He then took from his girdle his writing-materials, and, 
 writing a few lines to the purport he expressed, pulled out a 
 small bag of gold from a side-pouch under his cloak, and, 
 observing that it should contain a hundred j)ounds, proceeded 
 to tell out the contents very methodically upon the table. 
 Nigel Olifaunt could not help intimating that this was 
 an unnecessary ceremonial, and that he Avould take the 
 bag of gold on the word of his obliging creditor ; but this 
 was repugnant to the old man's forms of transacting busi- 
 ness. 
 
 " Bear with me," he said, " my good lord ; we citizens 
 are a wary and thrifty generation, and I should lose my 
 good name forever within the toll of Paul's were I to grant 
 quittance or take acknowledgment without bringing the 
 money to actual talc. I think it be right now ; and, body 
 of me," he said, looking out at the window, "yonder come 
 my boys with my mule ; for I must westward ho. Put your 
 monies aside, my lord ; it is not well to be seen with such 
 goldfinches chirping about one in the lodgings of London. 
 I think the lock of your casket be indifferent good ; if not, I 
 can serve you at an easy rate with one that has held thou- 
 sands ; it was the good old Sir Faithful Frugal's ; his spend- 
 thrift son sold the shell when ho had eaten the kernel — and 
 there is the end of a city fortune." 
 
 "I hope yours will make a better termination. Master 
 Heriot," said the Lord Nigel. 
 
 " I hope it will, my lord," said the old man, with a smile ; 
 " but," — to use honest John Bunyan's phrase, " therewithal 
 the water stood in his eyes," — •' it has pleased God to try me 
 Avith the loss of two children ; and for one adopted child who 
 lives — ah ! woe is me ! and Avell-a-day ! But I am patient 
 and thankful ; and for the wealth God has sent me, it shall 
 not want inheritors while there are orphan lads in Auld Reekie- 
 I wish you good-morrow, my lord." 
 
 " One orphan has cause to thank you already," said Nigel, 
 as he attended him to the door of his chamber, where, resist- 
 ing furtlier escort, the old citizen made his escape. 
 
 As, in going downstairs, he passed the shop, wdiere Dame 
 Christie stood beckoning, he made civil inquiries after her 
 husband. The dame of course regretted his absence ; but 
 "Mie was down," she said, "at Deptford, to settle with a 
 Dutch shiiDmaster." 
 
 " Our way of business, sir," she said, " takes him much 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 41 
 
 from home, and my husband must be the slave of every tarry 
 jacket that Avants but a pound of oakum." 
 
 " All business must be minded, dame," said the gold- 
 smith. '^ Make my remembrances — George Heriot of Lom- 
 bard Street's remembrances — to your goodman. I have dealt 
 with him ; he is just and punctual, true to time and engage- 
 ments. Be kind to your noble guest, and see he wants 
 nothing. Though it be his jjleasure at present to lie private 
 and :"etired, there be those that care for him, and I have a 
 charge to see him supplied ; so that you may let me know by 
 your husband, my good dame, how my lord is, and whether 
 he wants aught." 
 
 " And so he is a real lord after all ?" said the good dame. 
 ''I am sure I always thought he looked like one. But why 
 does he not go to Parliament, then T' 
 
 "lie will, dame," answered Heriot, "to the Parliament 
 of Scotland, which is his own country." 
 
 " Oh ! he is but a Scots lord, then," said the good dame ; 
 " and tliat's the thing makes him ashamed to take the title, 
 as they say ?" 
 
 " Let him not hear you say so, dame," replied the citizen. 
 " Who, I, sir ?" answered she ; "no such matter in my 
 thought, sir. Scot or English, he is at any rate a likely man, 
 and a cinl man ; and rather than he should want anything, 
 I would wait upon him myself, and come as far as Lombard 
 Street to wait upon your Avorship too." 
 
 " Let your husband come to me, good dame," said the 
 goldsmith, Avho, with all his experience and worth, was 
 somewhat of a formalist and disciplinarian. " The proverb 
 says, * House goes mad when women gad ;' and let his 
 lordship's own man wait upon his master in his chamber ; it 
 is more seemly. God give ye good-morrow." 
 
 " Good-morrow to your worship," said the dame, some- 
 what coldly ; and, so soon as the adviser was out of hearing, 
 was ungracious enough to mutter, in contempt of his counsel. 
 Marry guep of your advice, for an old Scotch tinsmith, as 
 you are ! My husband is as wise, and very near as old, as 
 yourself ; and if I please him, it is well enough ; and though 
 he is not just so rich just now as some folks, yet I hope to see 
 liim ride upon his movie, with a foot-cloth, and have his two 
 bluecoats after him, as well as they do." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Wherefore come ye not to court? 
 Certain 'tis the rarest spert; 
 There are silks and jewels glistening, 
 Prattling fools and wise men listening. 
 Bullies among brave men justling, 
 Beggars amongst nobles bustling, 
 Low-breath'd talkers, minion lispers. 
 Cutting honest throats by whispers; 
 Wherefore come ye not to court ? 
 Skelton swears 'tis glorious sport. 
 
 Skelton Skeltonizeth. 
 
 It was not entirely out of parade that the benevolent citizen 
 was mounted and attended in that manner which, as the 
 reader has been informed, excited a gentle degree of spleen 
 on the part of Dame Christie, which, to do her justice, van- 
 ished in the little soliloquy which we have recorded. The 
 good man, besides the natural desire to maintain the exterior 
 of a man of worship, Avas at present bound to Whitehall in 
 order to exhibit a piece of valuable workmanship to King 
 James, which he deemed his Majesty might be pleased to 
 view, or even to purchase. He himself was therefore mounted 
 upon his caparisoned mule, that he might the better make 
 his way through the narrow, dirty, and crowded streets; and 
 while one of his attendants carried under his arm the piece 
 of plate, wrapped up in red baize, the other two gave an eye 
 to its safety; for such was then the state of the police of the 
 metropolis, that men were often assaulted in the public street 
 for the sake of revenge or of plunder; and those who appre- 
 hended being beset usually endeavored, if their estate ad- 
 mitted such expense, to secure themselves by the attendance 
 of armed followers. And this custom, which was at first 
 limited to the nobility and gentry, extended by degrees to 
 those citizens of consideration who, being understood to 
 travel with a charge, as it was called, might otherwise have 
 been selected as safe subjects of plunder by the street-robber. 
 As Master George Heriot paced forth westward with this 
 gallant attendance, he paused at the shop door of his country- 
 man and friend, the ancient horologer, and having caused 
 Tunstall, who was in attendance, to adjust his watch by the 
 real time, he desired to speak with his master; in consequence 
 of which summons, the old time-meter came forth from his 
 
THE FORTUyES OF NIGEL 49 
 
 flen. his face like a bronze bust, darkened with dnst, and 
 plistenin^ here and there witli copper tilings, and his senses 
 so bemused in the intensity of calculation, that he gazed on 
 his friend the goldsmith for a minute before he seemed per- 
 fectly to comprehend who he was, and heard him express his 
 invitation to David Eamsay and pretty Mistress Margaret, 
 his daughter, to dine with him next day at noon, to meet 
 with a noble young countryman, without returning any 
 answer. 
 
 •*' I'll make thee speak, with a murrain to thee," muttered 
 Ileriot to himself; and suddenly changing his tone, he said 
 aloud — '' I pray you, neighbor David, when are you and I 
 to have a settlement for the bullion wherewith I supplied 
 you to mount yonder hall clock at Theobald's; and that other 
 "whirligig that you made for the Duke of Buckingham? I 
 have had the Spanish house to satisfy for the ingots, and I 
 must needs put you in mind that you have been eight months 
 behindhand." 
 
 There is something so sharp and aigre in the demand of a 
 peremptory dun, that no human tympanum, however inac- 
 cessible to other tones, can resist the application. David 
 Ramsay started at once from his reverie, and answered in a 
 pettish tone, " Wow, George, man, what needs aw this din 
 about sax score o' pounds? Aw the world kens I can answer 
 aw claims on me, and you proffered yourself fair time, till 
 his maist gracious Majesty and the noble Duke suld make 
 settled accounts wi' me; and ye may ken, by your ain expe- 
 rience, that I canna gang rowting like an unmannered High- 
 land stot to their doors, as ye come to mine." 
 
 Heriot laughed, and replied, '' Well, David, I see a demand 
 of money is like a bucket of water about your ears, and 
 makes you a man of the world at once. And now, friend, 
 will you tell me, like a Christian man, if you will dine with 
 me to-morrow at noon, and bring pretty Mistress Margaret, 
 my goddaughter, with you, to meet with our noble young 
 <jountryman, the Lord of Glenvarloch ?" 
 
 " The young Lord of Glenvarloch !" said the old mechan- 
 ist; " wi' aw my heart, and blythe I will be to see him again. 
 We have not met these forty years; he was twa years before 
 me at the humanity classes; he is a sweet youth." 
 
 "That was his father — his father — his father! you old 
 dotard Dot-and-carry-Oiie that you are," answered the gold- 
 smith. " A sweet youth he would have been by this time, had 
 he lived, worthy nobleman I This is his son, the Lord Nigel." 
 *' His son I" said Ramsay. '^ Maybe he will want some- 
 
50 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 tiling of a clironometcr, or watch; few gallants care to be 
 without them nowadays/' 
 
 " lie may buy half your stock in trade, if ever he comes to 
 his own, for what I know," said his friend; "but, Davie, 
 remember your bond, and use me not as you did when my 
 liousewife had the sheep's-head and the cock-a-leeky boiling 
 for you as late as two of the clock afternoon." 
 
 " She had the more credit by her cookery," answered 
 David, now fully awake; '"'a sheep's-head over-boiled were 
 poison, according to our saying." 
 
 "Well," a'jiswered JVIaster George, "but as there will be 
 no sheep's-head to-morrow, it may chance you to spoil a din- 
 ner which a proverb cannot mend. It may be you may fore- 
 gather with your friend. Sir Mungo Malagrowther, for I 
 purpose to ask his worship; so, be sure and bide tryste, 
 Davie.' 
 
 " That will I — I will be true as a chronometer," said 
 liamsay. 
 
 "I will not trust you, though," replied Heriot. " Hear 
 you, Jenkin boy, tell Scots Janet to tell pretty Mistress Mar- 
 garet, my godchild, she must put her father in remembrance 
 to put on his best doublet to-morrow, and to bring him to 
 Lombard Street at noon. Tell her they are to meet a brave 
 young Scots lord." 
 
 Jenkin coughed that sort of dry short cough uttered by 
 those who are either charged with errands which they do not 
 like, or hear opinions to which they must not enter a dissent. 
 
 "Umph!" repeated Master George, who, as we have 
 already noticed, was something of a martinet in domestic 
 discipline — "what does 'umpli' mean? Will you do my 
 errand or not, sirrah?" 
 
 " Sure, Master George Heriot," said the apprentice, touch- 
 ing his cap, " I only meant that Mistress Margaret was not 
 likely to forget such an invitation." 
 
 " Why, no," said Master George; " she is a dutiful girl 
 to her godfather, though I sometimes call her a j ill-flirt. 
 And, hark ye, Jenkin, you and your comrade had best come 
 with your clubs, to see your master and her safely home; but 
 first shut shop, and loose the bull-dog, and let the porter 
 stay in the foreshop till your return. I will send two of my 
 knaves with you; for I hear these wild youngsters of the 
 Temple are broken out worse and lighter than ever." 
 
 " We can keep their steel in order with good hand-bats," 
 said Jenkin, " and never trouble your servants for the 
 matter." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 51 
 
 '' Or, if need be/' said Tnnstall, " we have swords as well 
 as the Templars." 
 
 " Fie upon it — fie upon it, young man," said the citizen. 
 ''An apprentice with a Bword! Marry, Heaven foref end! I 
 Avould as soon see him in :. hat and feather." 
 
 " Well, sir," said Jenkin, " we will find arms fitting to 
 our station, and will defend our master and his daughter, if 
 we should tear up the very stones of the joavement." 
 
 " There spoke a London 'prentice hold," said the citizen; 
 "and for your comfort, my lads, you shall crush a cup of 
 wine to the health of the fathers of the city. I have my 
 eye on both of you : you are thriving lads, each in his own 
 Avay. God be wi' you, Davie. Forget not to-morrow at 
 noon." And so saying, he again turned his mule's head 
 H'estward, and crossed Temple Bar at that slow and decent 
 amble which at once became his rank and civic importance 
 and put his pedestrian followers to no inconvenience to keep 
 up with him. 
 
 At the Temple gate he again paused, dismounted, and 
 sought his way into one of the small booths occupi:d hy scriv- 
 eners in the neighborhood. A young man, with lank smooth 
 hair combed straight to his ears and then crojiped short, rose, 
 v.'ith a cringing reverence, pulled off a slouched hat, which 
 he would upon no signal replace on his head, and answered, 
 with much demonstration of reverence, to the goldsmith's 
 question of, " How goes business, Andrew? " " Aw the better 
 for your Avorship's kind countenance and maintenance." 
 
 " Get a large sheet of paper, man, and make a new pen, 
 with a sharp nib and fine hair-stroke. Do not slit the quill 
 up too high, it's a wastrife course in your trade, Andrew: 
 they that do not mind corn-j^ickles never come to forepits. I 
 have known a learned man write a thousand pages with one 
 quill." * 
 
 " Ah! sir," said the lad, who listened to the goldsmith, 
 though instructing him in his own trade, with an air of ven- 
 eration and acquiescence, " how sune ony puir creature like 
 mysell may rise in the world, wi' the instruction of such a 
 man as your worship! " 
 
 "My instructions are few, Andrew, soon told, and not 
 hard to practise. Be honest — be industrious — be frugal, and 
 you will soon win wealth and worship. Here, copy me this 
 supplication in your best and most formal hand. I will wait 
 by 3'ou till it is done." 
 
 The youth lifted not his eye from the paper, and laid not 
 
 * See Gill's Commentarj'. Note 9. 
 
52 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 the pen from his hand, until the task was finished to his 
 employer's satisfaction. The citizen then gave "-.he young 
 scrivener an angel ; and bidding him, on his life, he secret 
 in all business intrusted to him, again mounted his mule- 
 and rode on westward along the Strand. 
 
 It may be worth while to remind our readers that the 
 Temple Bar Avhieh Ileriot passed was not the arched screen, 
 or gateway, of the present day ; but an open railing or pali- 
 sade, which, at night and times of alarm, was closed with a 
 barricade of posts and chains. The Strand also, along whicli 
 he rode, was not, as now, a continued street, although it was 
 beginning already to assume that character. It still might 
 be considered as an open road, along the south side of which 
 stood various houses and hotels belonging to the nobility, 
 having gardens behind them down to the water-side, with 
 stairs to the river, for the convenience of taking boat ; which 
 mansions have bequeathed the names of their lordly owners 
 to many of the streets leading from the Strand to the 
 Thames. The north side of the Strand was also a long line 
 of houses, behind which, as in St. Martin's Lane and other 
 points, buildings were rapidly arising ; but Covent Garden 
 was still a garden, in the literal sense of the word, or at least 
 but beginning to be studded with irregular buildings. All 
 that was passing around, however, marked the rapid increase 
 of a capital which had long enjoyed peace, wealth, and a reg- 
 ular government. Houses were rising in every direction ; 
 and the shrewd eye of our citizen already saw the period not 
 distant which should convert the nearly open highway on 
 which he travelled into a connected and regular street, unit- 
 ing the court and the town with the city of London. 
 
 He next passed Charing Cross, which was no longer the 
 pleasant solitary village at which the judges were wont to 
 breakfast on their way to Westminster Hall, but began to 
 resemble the artery through which, to use Johnson's expres- 
 sion, "pours the full tide of London population." The 
 buildings were rapidly increasing, yet certainly gave not even 
 a faint idea of its present appearance. 
 
 At last Whitehall* received our traveller, who passed 
 under one of the beautiful gates designed by Holbein, and 
 composed of tessellated brick-work, being the same to which 
 Moniplies had profanely likened the West Port of Edinburgh, 
 and entered the ample precincts of the palace of Whitehall, 
 now full of all the confusion attending improvement. 
 
 It was just at the time when James — little suspectii^ 
 
 •See Note 10. 
 
THE FORTUXES OF NIGEL 58 
 
 that he was employed in constructing a palace from the 
 window of which his only son was to pass in order that he 
 might die upon a scaffold before it — was busied in removing 
 the ancient and ruinous buildings of De Burgh, Henry VIIL, 
 and Queen Elizabeth, to make way for the superb archi- 
 tecture on which Inigo Jones exerted all his genius. The 
 King, ignorant of futurity, was now engaged in pressing 
 on his work ; and, for that purpose, still maintained 
 his royal apartments at Whitehall, amid the rubbish of old 
 buildings, and the various confusion attending the erection 
 of the new pile, which formed at present a labyrinth not 
 easily traversed. 
 
 The goldsmith to the royal household, and who, if fame 
 spoke true, oftentimes acted as their banker — for these pro- 
 fessions were not as yet separated from each other — was a per- 
 son of too much importance to receive the slightest inter- 
 ruption from sentinel or porter ; and, leaving his mule and 
 two of his followers in the outer court, he gently knocked at 
 a postern gate of the building, and was presently admitted, 
 while the most trusty of his attendants followed him closely, 
 with the piece of plate under his arm. This man also he 
 left behind him in an anteroom, where three or four pages in 
 the royal livery, but untrussed, unbuttoned, and dressed 
 more carelessly than the place and nearness to a king's person 
 seemed to admit, were playing at dice and draughts, or 
 stretched upon benches slumbering with half-shut eyes. A 
 corresponding gallery, which opened from the anteroom, was 
 occupied by two gentlemen-ushers of the chamber, who gave 
 each a smile of recognition as the wealthy goldsmith entered. 
 
 No word was spoken on either side ; but one of the ushers 
 looked first to Heriot and then to a little door half-covered 
 by the tapestry, which seemed to say as plain as a look could, 
 " Lies your business that way ? " The citizen nodded ; and 
 the court attendant, moving on tiptoe, and with as much 
 caution as if the floor had been paved with eggs, advanced to 
 the door, opened it gently, and spoke a few words in a low 
 tone. The broad Scottish accent of King James was heard 
 in reply — " Admit him instanter. Maxwell. Have you 
 hairbored sae lang at the court, and not learned that gold and 
 silver are ever welcome ? " 
 
 The usher signed to Heriot to advance, and the honest 
 citizen was presently introduced into the cabinet of the 
 sovereign. 
 
 The scene of confusion amid which he found the King 
 seated was no bad picture of the state and quality of James's 
 
54 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 own mind. There was much that was rich and costly i] 
 cabinet pictures and vahiable ornaments ; but they were 
 arrancred in a slovenly manner, covered with dust, and lost 
 half their value, or at least their effect, from the manner in 
 wliich tliey were presented to the eye. Tlie table was loaded 
 with huge folios, among which lay light books of jest and 
 ribaldry ; and among notes of unmercifully long orations 
 and essays on kingcraft were mingled miserable roundels snd 
 ballads by the Royal Trentice, as he styled himself, in the 
 art of poetry, and schemes for the general pacificati>^ of 
 Europe, with a list of the names of the King's hounds^ ' ^. 
 remedies against canine madness. 
 
 His Majesty's dress was of green velvet, quilted so ^i"_".. as 
 to be dagger-proof, which gave him the appearance ol 
 clumsy and ungainly protuberance ; while its being buttoned 
 awry communicated to his figure an air of distortion. Over 
 his green doublet he wore a sad -colored nightgown, out of 
 the pocket of which peeped his hunting-horn. His high- 
 crowned gray hat lay on the floor, covered with dust, but 
 encircled by a carcanet of large balas rubies ; and he wore a 
 blue velvet nightcap, in the front of which was placed the 
 plume of a heron, which had been struck down by a favorite 
 hawk in some critical moment of the flight, in remembrance 
 of which the King wore this highly honored feather. 
 
 But such inconsistencies in dress and appointments were 
 mere outward types of those which existed in the royal char- 
 acter ; rendering it a subject of doubt among his con- 
 temporaries, and bequeathing it as a problem to future his- 
 torians. He was deeply learned, without possessing useful 
 knowledge ; sagacious in many individual cases, without 
 having _ real wisdom ; fond of his power, and desirous to 
 maintain and augment it, yet willing to resign the direction 
 of that, and of himself, to the most unworthy favorites ; a 
 big and bold assertor of his rights in words, yet one who 
 tamely saw them trampled on in deeds ; a lover of nego- 
 tiations, in which he was always outwitted : and one who 
 feared war, where conquest might have been easy. He was 
 fond of his dignity, while he was perpetually degrading it by 
 undue familiarity ; capable of much public labor, yet often 
 neglecting it for the meanest amusement ; a wit, though a 
 pedant ; and a scholar, though fond of the conversation of 
 the ignorant and uneducated. Even his timidity of temper 
 was not uniform ; and there were moments of his life, and 
 those critical, in which he shoAved the spirit of his ancestors. 
 He was laborious in triflf^s, and a t^-ifler Avhere serious labor 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 55 
 
 was required ; devout in his sentiments, and yet too often 
 profane in his language ; just and beneficent by nature, he 
 yet gave way to the iniquities and oppression of others. He 
 was penurious respecting money whicli he had to give from 
 his own hand, yet inconsiderately and unboundedly profuse 
 of that wliich he did not see. In a word, those good qual- 
 ities which displayed themselves in particular cases and 
 occasions were not of a nature suflficiently firm and compre- 
 hensive to regulate his general conduct ; and, showing them- 
 selves as they occasionally did, only entitled James to the 
 character bestowed on him by Sully : that he was the wisest 
 fool in Christendom. 
 
 That the fortunes of this monarch might be as little of 
 a piece as hie character, he, certainly the least able of all the 
 Stuarts, succeeded peaceably to that kingdom against the 
 power of which his predecessors had, with so much difficulty, 
 defended his native throne ; and, lastly, although his reign 
 appeared calculated to insure to Great Britain that lasting 
 tranquility and internal peace which so much suited the 
 King's disposition, yet, during that very reign were sown 
 those seeds of dissension which, like the teeth of the fabulous 
 dragon, had their harvest in a bloody and universal civil 
 war.* 
 
 Such was the monarch who, saluting Heriot by the name 
 of Jingling Geordie, for it was his well-known custom to 
 give nicknames to all those with whom he was on terms of 
 familiarity, inquired, " AYhat new clatter-traps he had 
 brought with him, to chea-t his lawful and native prince out 
 of his siller." 
 
 " God forbid, my liege," said the citizen, " that I should 
 have any such disloyal purpose. I did but bring a piece of 
 plate to show to your most gracious Majesty, which, both for 
 the subject and for the workmanship, I were loth to put 
 into the hands of any subject until I knew your Majesty's 
 pleasure anent it." 
 
 " Body o' me, man, let's see it, Heriot; though, by my 
 saul, 3teenie's service of plate was sae dear a bargain, 1 had 
 'maist paAvned my word as a royal king to keep my ain gold 
 and silver in future, and let you, Geordie, keep yours." 
 
 " Respecting the Duke of Buckingham's plate," said the 
 goldsmith, " your M:.jesty was pleased to direct that no ex- 
 pense should be spared, and " 
 
 " What signifies what I desired, man ? when a wise man 
 is with fules and bairns, he maun e'en play at the chucks. 
 But you should have had mair sense and consideration than 
 
 * See King James. N^to 11. 
 
56 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 to gie Baby Charles and Steenie tlieir ain gate ; they Avad 
 hae floored the very rooms wi' silver, and 1 wonder thev 
 didna/' 
 
 George Ileriot bowed, and said no more. He knew his 
 master too well to vindicate himself otherwise than by a dis- 
 tant allusion to his order; and James, with whom economy 
 was only a transient and momentary twinge of conscience, 
 became immediately afterwards desirous to see the piece of 
 plate which the goldsmith proposed to exhibit, and dispatched 
 Maxwell to bring it to his presence. In the mean time he 
 demanded of the citizen whence he had procured it. 
 
 '' 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 kenn'd that I wrestled wi' Dagon in 
 my youth, and smote him on the groundsill of his own tem- 
 ple — a gude evidence that I should be in time called, how- 
 ever unworthy, the Defender of the Faith. But here comes 
 Maxwell, bonding under his burden, like the golden ass of 
 Apuleius." 
 
 Heriot hastened to relieve the usher, and to place the 
 embossed salver, for such it was, and of extraordinary dimen- 
 sions, in a light favorable for his Majesty's viewing the 
 sculpture. 
 
 *'Saul of my body, man," said the King, "it is a curious 
 piece, and, as I think, fit for a king's chalmer; and the sub- 
 ject, as you say. Master George, vera adequate and beseeming, 
 being, as I see, the judgment of Solomon — a prince in whose 
 paths it weel becomes a' leeving monarchs to waik witli 
 emulation." 
 
 '' But whose footsteps," said Maxwell, ''only one of tnem — 
 if a subject may say so much — hath ever overtaken. ' 
 
 " Hand your tongue for a fause fleeching loon said the 
 King, but with a smile on his face that showed thv. flatteiT 
 had done its part. "Look at the bonny piece of workman- 
 ship, and baud your clavering tongue. And whase handi- 
 work may it be, Geordie?" 
 
 " It was wrought, sir," replied the goldsmith, " by the 
 famous Florentine, Benvenuto Cellini, and designed for 
 Francis the First of France ; but I hope it will find a fitter 
 master.'* 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL ol 
 
 " Francis of France I" said the King; ''send Solomon, king 
 of the Jews, to Francis of France! Body of me, man, it 
 would have kythed Cellini mad, had he never done anything 
 out of the gate, Francis ! why, he was a fighting fule, man 
 — a mere fighting fule : got himsell ha'en at Pavia, like our 
 ain David at Durham lang syne : if they could liae sent him 
 Solomon's wit, and love of peace, and godliness, they wad 
 hae dune him a better turn. But Solomon should sit in 
 other gate company than Francis of France." 
 
 '■ I trust that such will be his good fortune," said Ileriot. 
 
 *''■' It is a curios and vera artificial sculpture," said the 
 King, in continuation : " but yet, methinks, the carnifex, 
 or executioner, there is brandishing his gulley ower near the 
 king's face, seeing he is within reach of his weapon. I 
 think less wisdom than Solomon's wad have taught him that 
 there was danger in edge-took, and that he wad have bid- 
 den the smaik either sheath his shabble or stand farther 
 back." 
 
 G-eorge Heriot endeavored to alleviate this objection by 
 assuring the King that the vicinity betwixt Solomon and 
 the executioner was nearer in appearance than in reality, 
 and that the perspective should be allowed for. 
 
 " Gang to the deil Avi' your perspective, man," said the 
 King ; "there canna be a waur persjDective for a lawfu' 
 king; wha wishes to reign in luve, and die in peace and 
 honor, than to have naked swords flashing in his een. I am 
 accounted as brave as maist folks ; and yet I profess to ye I 
 could never look on a bare blade without blinking and wink- 
 ing. But a'thegither it is a brave piece ; and what is the 
 price of it, man i " 
 
 The goldsmith replied by observing that it was not his 
 own property, but that of a distressed countryman. 
 
 " Whilk you mean to mak your excuse for asking the 
 double of its worth, I warrant ?" answered the King. ''I 
 ken the tricks of your burrows-town merchants, man." 
 
 " I have no hopes of baffling your Majesty's sagacity," 
 said Heriot ; " the j)iece is really what I say, and the price a 
 hundred and fifty pounds sterling, if it pleases your Majesty 
 to make present payment." 
 
 "A hundred and fifty punds, man! and as mony 
 witches and warlocks to raise them ! " said the irritated 
 monarch. " My saul, Jingling Geordie, ye are minded that 
 your purse shall jingle to a bonny tune ! How am I to tell 
 you down a hundred and fifty punds for what will not 
 weigh as mary merks ? And ye ken that my very house- 
 
58 W AVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 hold servitors, and tlic oniccrs of my mouth, are sax months 
 in arreur I " 
 
 Tlie goldsmith stood his ground against all this objurga- 
 tion, being what he was well accustomed to, and only 
 answered, that if his Majesty liked the piece, and desired to 
 possess it, the price could easily be settled. It was true that 
 the party required the money, but he, George Heriot, would 
 advance it on his Majesty's account, if such was his 
 pleasure, and wait his royal convenience for payment, foi 
 that and other matters ; the money, meanwhile, lying at 
 the ordinary usage. 
 
 " By my honor,'' said James, " and that is speaking like 
 an honest and honorable tradesman. We maun get another 
 subsidy frae the Commons, and that will make ae compting 
 of it. Awa' wi' it. Maxwell — awa' wi' it, and let it be set 
 where Steenie and Baby Charles shall see it as they return 
 from Richmond. And now that Ave are secret, my good 
 auld friend Geordie, I do truly opine that, speaking of 
 Solomon and ourselves, the haill wisdom in the country left 
 Scotland when we took our travels to the Southland here." 
 
 George Heriot was courtier enough to say, that " The 
 wise naturally follow the wisest, as stags follow their leader." 
 
 " Troth, I think there is something in wdiat thou 
 sayest," said James ; " for we ourselves, and those of our court 
 and household, as thou thyself, for example, are allowed by 
 the English, for as self-opinioned as they are, to pass for 
 reasonable good wits , but the brains of those we have left 
 behind are all astir, and run clean hirdie-girdie, like sae 
 niony warlocks and witches on the Devil's Sabbath-e'en." 
 
 "I am sorry to hear this, my liege," said Heriot. " May 
 it please your Grace to say what our countrymen have done to 
 deserve such a character ? " 
 
 " They are become frantic, man — clean brain-crazed," 
 answered the King. " I cannot keep them out of the court 
 by all the proclamations that the heralds roar themselves 
 hoarse with. Yesterday, nae farther gane, just as we were 
 mounted and about to ride forth, in rushed a thorough 
 Edinburgh gutter-blood — a ragged rascal, every dud upon 
 whose back was bidding good-day to the other, with a coat 
 and hat that would have served a pease-bogle, and, without 
 havings or reverence, thrusts into our hands, like a sturdy 
 beggar, some supplication about debts owing by our gracious 
 mother, and sic-like trash ; whereat the horse spangs on end, 
 and, but for our admirable sitting, wherein we have been 
 thought to excel maist sovereign princes, as well as subjects, in 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 59 
 
 Europe, I promise you we would have been laid endlang on 
 the causeway/' 
 
 " Your Majesty," said Heriot, "is their common father, 
 and therefore they are the holder to press into your gracious 
 presence." 
 
 "I ken I am pater 2iatri(B v^cW enough," said James; 
 '* but one would think tliey had a mind to squeeze my pud- 
 dings out, that they may divide the inheritance. Ud's death, 
 (reordie, there is not a loon among them can deliver a sup- 
 plication as it suld be done in the face of majesty." 
 
 " I would I knew the most fitting and beseeming mode to 
 do so," said Ileriot, ''were it but to instruct our poor coun- 
 trymen in better fashions." 
 
 " By my halidome," said the King, " ye are a ceevileezed 
 fellow, Geordie, and I carena if I fling aAva" as much time as 
 may teach ye. And, first, see you, sir, ye sliall approach the 
 presence of majesty thus — shadowing your eyes with your 
 hand, to testify that you are in the presence of the vicegerent 
 of Heaven. Vera weel, George, that is done in a comely 
 manner. Then, sir, ye sail kneel, and make as if ye would 
 kiss the hem of our garment, the latch of our shoe, or such- 
 like. Very weel enacted. Whilk we, as being willing to be 
 debonair and pleasing towards our lieges, prevent thus — and 
 motion to you to rise; whilk, having a boon to ask, as yet 
 you obey not, but, gliding your hand into your pouch, bring 
 forth your supplication, and place it reverentially in our open 
 palm." The goldsmith, who had complied with great accu- 
 racy with all the prescribed points of the ceremonial, here com- 
 pleted it, to James's no small astonishment, by placing in 
 his hand the petition of the Lord of Glenvarloch. "What 
 means this, ye fause loon?" said he, reddening and sputter- 
 ing; " hae I been teaching you the manual exercise, that ye 
 suld present your piece at our ain royal body? Now, by this 
 light, I had as lief that ye had bended a real pistolet against 
 me, and yet this hae ye done in my very cabinet, where 
 naught suld enter but at my ain pleasure." 
 
 " I trust your Majesty," said Heriot, as he continued to 
 kneel, " will forgive my exercising the lesson you conde- 
 scended to give me in the behalf of a friend ? " 
 
 " Of a friend!" said the King, '*'so much the waur — so 
 much the waur, I tell 3^ou. If it had been something to do 
 yoursell good there would have been some sense in it, and 
 some chance that you wad hot have come back on me in a 
 hurry; but a man may have a hundred friends, and petitions 
 for every ane of them, ilk ane after other." 
 
60 XfjiVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Your Majesty, I trust," said Ileriot, ''will judge me by 
 former experience, and will not suspect me of such presump- 
 tion." 
 
 " I kenna," said the placable monarch; " the world goes 
 daft, I think — sed semel insanivitmis omnes — thou art my 
 old and faithful servant, that is the truth; and, were't any- 
 thing for thy own behoof, man, thou shouldst not ask twice. 
 But, troth, 8teenie loves me so dearly that he cares not that 
 any one should ask favors of me but himself. Maxwell [for 
 the usher had re-entered after having carried off the plate], 
 get into the antechamber wi' your lang lugs. In conscience, 
 Geordie, I think as that thou hast been mine ain auld fidu- 
 ciary, and wert my goldsmith Avhen I might say with the 
 ethnic poet — Non vied renidet in dorno lacunar; for, faith, 
 they had pillaged my mither's auld house sae, that beechen 
 bickers, and treen trenchers, and latten platters were whiles 
 the best at our board, and glad we were of something to put 
 on them, without quarrelling with the metal of the dishes. 
 D'ye mind, for thou wert in maist of our complots, how we 
 were fain to send sax of the Blue-banders to harry the Lady 
 Loganhouse's dow-cot and poultry-yard, and what an awfu' 
 plaint the poor dame made against Jock of Milch and the 
 thieves of Annandale, wha were as sackless of the deed as I 
 am of the sin of murder?" 
 
 " It was the better for Jock," said Heriot; " for, if I re- 
 member weel, it saved him from a strapping up at Dumfries, 
 which he had weel deserved for other misdeeds." 
 
 " Ay, man, mind ye that! " said the King; " but he had 
 other virtues, for he was a tight huntsman, moreover, that 
 Jock of Milch, and could halloo to a hound till all the woods 
 rang again. But he came to an Annandale end at the last, 
 for Lord Torthor wald run his lance out through him. 
 Cocksnails, man, when I think of these wild passages, in my 
 conscience, I am not sure but we lived merrier in auld Holy- 
 rood in those shifting days than now when we are dwelling 
 at heck and manger. Cantalit vacuus: we had but little to 
 care for." 
 
 *' And if your Majesty please to remember," said the gold- 
 smith, " the awful task we had to gather silver vessail and 
 gold-work enough to make some show before the Spanish 
 ambassador." 
 
 " Vera true," said the King, now in a full tide of gossip, 
 "and I mind not the name of the right real lord that helped 
 us with every unce he had in his house, that his native prince 
 might have some credit in the eyes of them that had the 
 Indians at their beck.^ 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 61 
 
 "1 think, if yoni Majesty," said the citizen, "will cast your 
 eye on the p;iper in your hand, you will recollect his namcv" 
 **.\ ,-I" said the King, ''say ye sae,man? Lord GleriA'arloch, 
 that was his name indeed. Justus et tenaxjiruposHi, — a just 
 man, but as obstinate as ii baited bull. He stood whiles 
 against us, that Lord Randal [Ochtred] Olifaunt of Gleiivar 
 loch, but he was a loving and a leal subject in the main. But 
 this supplicator maun be his son — Randal has been long gone 
 where king and lord must go, Geordie, as weel as the like of 
 you — and what does his son want with us?" 
 
 *'Tlie settlement^'' answered the citizen, "of a large debt 
 due by your Majesty's treasury, for money advanced to vour 
 Majestv in great state emergency, about the time of the liaid 
 of Ruthven." 
 
 "I mind the thing weel," said King James. "Od's death, 
 man, I was just out of the clutches of the Master of Glamis 
 and his complices, and there was never siller mair welcome 
 to a born prince — the mair the shame and pity that crowned 
 king should need sic a petty sum. But what need he dun us 
 for it, man, like a baxter at the breaking? We aught him 
 the siller, and will pay him wi' our convenience, or make it 
 otherwise up to him, whilk is enow between prince and sub- 
 ject. We are not in meditatione fugm, man, to be arrested 
 thus peremptorily." 
 
 "Alas ! an it j^lease your Majesty," said the goldsmith, 
 shaking his head, "it is the poor young nobleman's extreme 
 necessity, and not his will, that makes him importunate; for 
 he must have money, and that briefly, to discharge a d_" t 
 due to Peregrine Peterson, Conservator of the Privileges at 
 Campvere, or his haill hereditary barony and estate of Glen- 
 varloch will be evicted in virtue of an unredeemed wadset." 
 
 "How say ye, man — how say ye?" exclaimed the King, 
 impatiently; "the carle of a conservator, the son of a Low- 
 Dutch skipper, evict the auld estate and lordship of the 
 house of Olifaunt? God's bread, man, that maun not be; we 
 maun suspend the diligence by Avrit of favor or otherAvise." 
 
 "I doubt that may hardly be," answered the citizen, "if 
 it please your ^Majesty; your learned counsel in the law of 
 Scotland advise that there is no remeid but in paying the 
 money." 
 
 "IJd's fish," said the King, "let him keep baud by the 
 strong hand against tlie carle, nntil we can take some order 
 about his affairs." 
 
 "Alas !" insisted the goldsmith, "if it like your Majesty, 
 your own pacific government, and your doing of equal justice 
 
62 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 to all men, has made main force a kittle line to walk by, 
 unless just witliin the bounds of the Highlands/' 
 
 "Weel — weel — weel, man/' said the perplexed monarch, 
 whose ideas of ju^ tice, expedience, and convenience became 
 on such occasions .strangely embroiled; "just it is we should 
 pay our debts, that the young man may pay his; and he 
 must be paid, and 171 vcrho regis he shall be paid; but how to 
 come by the siller, man, is a difficult chapter. Ye maun trv 
 the city, Geordie/' 
 
 ''To say the truth,'^ answered Heriot, "please your 
 gracious Majesty, what betwixt loans, and benevolences, and 
 subsidies, the city is at this present — — " 
 
 "Dinna tell me of what the city is," said King James; 
 "our exchequer is as dry as Dean Giles's discourses on the 
 penitentiary psalms. Ex nihilo nihil Jit: it's ill taking the 
 breeks aff a wild Highlandman. They that come to me for 
 siller should tell me how to come by it. The city ye maun 
 try, Heriot; and dinna think to be called Jingling Geordie 
 for nothing; and in verba regis I Avill pay the lad if you get 
 me the loan, I wonnot hnggle on the terms; and between you 
 and me, Geordie, Ave will redeem the brave auld estate of 
 Glenvarloch. But wherefore comes not the young lord to 
 court, Heriot? Is he comely — is he presentable in the 
 presence ?" 
 
 "No one can be more so,'^ said George Heriot; "but " 
 
 "Ay, I understand ye," said his Majesty — "I under- 
 stand ye — res angusta domi — puir lad — puir lad! and his 
 father a right true leal Scots heart, though stiff in some 
 opinions. Hark ye, Heriot, let the lad have twa hundred 
 pounds to fit him out. And, here — here [taking the carcanet 
 of rubies from his old hat] — ye have had these in pledge 
 before for a larger sum, ye auld Levite that ye are. Keep 
 them in gage, till I gie ye back the siller out of the next 
 subsidy." 
 
 "If it please your Majesty to give me such directions in 
 writing," said the cautious citizen. 
 
 *'The deil is in your nicety, George," said the King; "ye 
 are as preceese as a Puritan in form, and a mere Nullifidian 
 in the marrow of the matter. May not a king's word serve 
 you for advancing your pitiful twa hundred pounds?" 
 
 "But not for detaining the crown jewels," said George 
 Heriot. 
 
 And the King, who from long experience was inured to 
 dealing with suspicious creditors, wrote an order upoii 
 George Heriot, his well-beloved goldsmith and jeweller, foi 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 63 
 
 the sum of two liundroi] poiuuls, to be paid ])resentl3^ to 
 Nigel Olifiumt, Lord of Glenvurloch, to be imputed as so 
 much debts due to liim by the crown; and autiiorizing the 
 retention of acarcanet of b;das rubies, with a great diamond, 
 as described in a catah)gue of his Majesty's jewels, to remain 
 in possession of the said George Ileriot, advancer of the said 
 sum, and so forth, until he was lawfully contented and paid 
 thereof. By another rescript, his Majesty gave the said 
 George Heriot directions to deal with some of the monied 
 men, upon equitable terms, for a sum of money for his 
 Majesty's present use, not to be under 50,000 merks, but as 
 much more as could conveniently be procured. 
 
 ''And has he ony lair, this Lord Nigel of ours ?" said the 
 King. 
 
 George Heriot could not exactly answer this question ; 
 but believed "the young lord had studied abroad." 
 
 "He shall have our own advice," said the King, "how to 
 carry on his studies to maist advantage; and it may be we 
 Avill have him come to court, and study with Steenie and 
 Baby Charles. And, now we think on't, away — away. 
 George; for the bairns will be coming hame presently, aiid 
 we would not as yet they kenn'd of this matter Ave have been 
 treating anent. Propera jjedem, Georgie. Clap your 
 mule between your houghs, and God-den Avith you." 
 
 Thus ended the conference betwixt the gentle King Jamie 
 and his benevolent jeweller and goldsmith. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 O, I do know him: 'tis the mouldy lemon 
 Which our court wits will wet their lips withal, 
 When they would sauce their honied conversation 
 With somewhat sharper flavor. Marry, sir, 
 That virtue's well-nigh left him: all the juice 
 That was so sharp and poignant is squeezed out; 
 While the poor rind, although as sour as ever, 
 Must season soon the draff we give our grunters. 
 For two-legg"d things are weary on't. 
 
 Tlie Chamberlain, a Comedy, 
 
 The good company invited by the hospitable citizen assem- 
 bled at his house in Lombard Street at the "hollow and 
 hungry liour " of noon, to partake of that meal which divides 
 the day; l)eing about the time when modern persons of fash- 
 ion, turning tliemselves upon their pillow, begin to think, 
 not without a great many doubts and much hesitation, that 
 they will by and by commence it. Thither came the young 
 Nigel, arrayed plainly, but in a dress, nevertheless, more 
 suitable to his age and quality than he had formerly worn, 
 accompanied by his servant Moniplies, whose outside also Avas 
 considerably imjDroved. His solemn and stern features 
 glared forth from under a blue velvet bonnet, fantastically 
 placed sidewise on his head; he had a sound and tough coat 
 of English blue broadcloth, Avhich, unlike his former vest- 
 ment, would have stood the tug of all the apprentices in 
 Fleet Street. The buckler and broadsword he wore as the 
 arras of his condition, and a neat silver badge, bearing his 
 lord's arms, announced that he Avas an appendage of aristoc- 
 racy. He sat down in the good citizen's buttery, not a little 
 pleased to find ♦his attendance upon the table in the hall was 
 likely to be revrarded Avith his share of a meal such as he had 
 seldom partaken of. 
 
 Mr. David Eamsay, that profound and ingenious me- 
 chanic, Avas safely conducted to Lombard Street, according 
 to promise, well Avashed, brushed, and cleaned from the soot 
 of the furnace and tlie forge. His daughter, Avho came with 
 him, Avas about tAventy years old. very pretty, very demure, 
 yet Avith lively black eyes, that ever and anon contradicted 
 the expression of sobriety to Avhich silence, reserve, a plain 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL Go 
 
 velvet hood, and a cambric ruff had condemned Mistress Mar- 
 get, as the daughter of a quiet citizen. 
 
 There were also two citizens and merchants of London, 
 men ample in cloak and many-linked golden chain, well to 
 pass in the world, and experienced in their craft of mer- 
 chandise, but who require no particular description. There 
 was an elderly clergyman also, in his gown and cassock, a 
 decent venerable man, partaking in his manners of the plain- 
 ness of the citizens among whom he had his cure. 
 
 These may be dismissed with brief notice; but not so Sir 
 Mungo Malagrowther, of Girnigo Castle, Avho claims a little 
 more attention, as an original character of the time in which 
 he flourished. 
 
 That good knight knocked at Master Heriot's door just 
 as the clock began to strike twelve, and was seated in his 
 chair ere the last stroke had chimed. This gave the knight 
 an excellent opportunity of making sarcastic observations on 
 all who came later than himself, not to mention a few rubs 
 at the expense of those who had been so superfluous as to ap- 
 pear earlier. 
 
 Having little or no property save his bare designation. 
 Sir Mungo had been early attaclied to court in the capacity 
 of whipping-boy, as the ofiice was then called, to King James 
 the Sixth, and, with his Majesty, trained to all polite learn- 
 ing by his celebrated preceptor, George Buchanan. The 
 office of Avhipping-boy doomed its unfortunate occupant to 
 undergo all the corporeal punishment which the Lord's an- 
 ointed, Avhose proper person was of course sacred, might 
 chance to incur in the course of travelling through his 
 grammar and prosody. Lender the stern rule, indeed, of 
 George Buchanan, who did not approve of the vicarious 
 mode of punishment, James bore the penance of his own 
 faults, and Mungo Malagrowther enjoyed a sinecure; but 
 James's other pedagogue, Master Peter Young, went more 
 ceremoniously to work, and appalled the very soul of the 
 youthful King by the floggings which he bestowed on the 
 whipping-boy, when the royal task was not suitably per- 
 formed. And be it told to Sir Mungo's praise, that there 
 were points about him in the highest respect suited to liis 
 official situation. He had even in youth a naturally irregu- 
 lar and grotesque set of features, which, wlien distorted by 
 fear, pain, and anger, looked like one of the whimsical faces 
 which present themselves in a Gothic cornice. His voice also 
 was high-pitched and querulous, so that, when smarting un- 
 der Master Peter Young's unsparing inflictions, the expres- 
 
66 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 sion of his grotesque pliysiognomy, and the superhuman yells 
 which he uttered, were well suited to produce all the elJects 
 on the monarch who deserved the lash that could ])0ssibly be 
 produced l)y seeing another and an innocent individual suffer- 
 ing for his delict. 
 
 Sir Mungo Maiagrowther, for such he became, thus got 
 an early footing at court, which another Avould have im- 
 proved and maintained. But, when he grew too big to be 
 whipped, he had no other means of rendering himself accept- 
 able. A bitter, caustic, and backbiting humor, a malicious 
 Avit, and an envy of others more prosperous than the possessor 
 of such amiable qualities, have not, indeed, always been 
 found obstacles to a courtier's rise; but then they must be 
 amalgamated with a degree of selfish cunning and prudence 
 of which Sir Mungo had no share. His satire ran riot, his 
 envy could not conceal itself, and it was not long after his 
 majority till he had as many quarrels upon his hands as 
 would have required a cat's nine lives to answer. In one of 
 these rencontres he received, perhaps we should say fortu- 
 nately, a wound which served him as an excuse for answer- 
 ing no invitations of the kind in future. Sir Eullion Rattray 
 of Eanagullion cut off, in mortal combat, three of the fingers 
 of his right hand, so that Sir Mungo never could hold sword 
 again. At a later period, having written some satirical 
 verses upon the Lady Cockpen, he received so severe a chas- 
 tisement from some persons employed for the purpose, that 
 he was found half dead on the spot where they had thus 
 dealt with him, and one of his thighs having been broken, 
 and ill set, gave him a hitch in his gait, with which he hob- 
 bled to his grave. The lameness of his leg and hand, besides 
 that they added considerably to the grotesque appearance of 
 this original, procured him in future a personal immunity 
 from the more dangerous consequences of his own humor; 
 and he gradually grew old in the service of the court, in 
 safety of life and limb, though without either making friends 
 or attaining preferment. Sometimes, indeed, the King was 
 amused with his caustic sallies, but he had never art enough 
 to improve the favorable opportunity; and his enemies, who 
 were, for that matter, the whole court, always found means 
 to throw him out of favor again. The celebrated Archie 
 Armstrong offered Sir Mungo, in his generosity, a skirt of 
 his own fool's coat, proposing thereby to communicate to him 
 the privileges and immunities of a professed jester. " For," 
 said the man of motley, *' Sir Mungo, as he goes on just now, 
 gets no more for a good jest than just the King's pardon for 
 having made it." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 67 
 
 Even in London, the golden shower which fell around 
 him did not moisten the bliglited fortunes of Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther. He grew old, deaf, and peevish ; lost even 
 the spirit which had formerly animated his strictures ; and 
 was barely endured by James, who, though himself nearly as 
 far stricken in years, retained, to an unusual and even an 
 absurd degree, the desire to be surrounded by young people. 
 
 Sir Mungo, thus fallen into the yellow leaf of years and 
 fortune, showed his emaciated form and faded embroidery at 
 court as seldom as his duty permitted ; and spent his time 
 in indulging his food for satire in the public walks and in 
 the aisles of St. Paul's, which were then the general resort 
 of newsmongers and characters of all descriptions, associating 
 himself chiefly with such of his countrymen as he accounted 
 of inferior birth and rank to liimself. In this manner, hat- 
 ing and contemning commerce and those who pursued it, he 
 nevertheless lived a good deal among the Scottish artists and 
 merchants who had followed the court to London. To 
 these he could show his cynicism without much oifence ; for 
 some submitted to his jeers and ill-humor in deference to his 
 birth and knighthood, which in those days conferred high 
 privileges ; and others, of more sense, pitied and endured 
 the old man, unhappy alike in his fortune and his temper. 
 
 Among the latter was George Heriot, who, though his 
 habits and education induced him to carry aristocratical feel- 
 ings to a degree which would now be thought extravagant, 
 had too much spirit and good sense to permit himself to be 
 intruded upon to an unauthorized excess, or used with the 
 slightest improper freedom, by such a person as Sir Mungo, 
 to whom he was, nevertheless, not only respectfully civil, but 
 essentially kind, and even generous. 
 
 Accordingly, this appeared from the manner in which 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther conducted himself upon entering 
 the apartment. He jjaid his respects to Master Heriot, and 
 a decent, elderly, somewhat severe-looking female, in a coif, 
 who, by the name of Aunt Judith, did the honors of his 
 house and table, with little or no portion of the supercilious 
 acidity which his singular physiognomy assumed when he 
 made his bow successively to David Kamsay and the two 
 sober citizens. He thrust himself into the conversation of 
 the latter, to observe he had heard in Paul's that the bank- 
 rupt concern of Pindivide, a great merchant, "who," as he 
 expressed it, "had given the crows a pudding," and on 
 whom he knew, from the same authority, each of the honest 
 citizens had some unsettled claim, was like to prove a total 
 
68 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 loss — " stock and block, ship and cargo, keel and rigging- 
 all lost, now and forever." 
 
 The two citizens grinned at each other ; but, too prudent 
 to make their private affairs the subject of public discussion, 
 drew their heads together, and evaded farther conversation 
 by speaking in a whisper. 
 
 The old Scots kniglit next attacked the watchmaker with 
 the same disrespectful familiarity. " Davie," he said — 
 *' Davie, ye donnard auld idiot, have ye no gane mad yet, 
 with applying your mathematical science, as ye call it, to 
 the Book of Apocalypse ? I expected to have heard ye make 
 out the sin of the beast as clear as a tout on a bawbee 
 whistle." 
 
 " Why, Sir Mungo," said the mechanist, after making 
 an effort to recall to his recollection what had been said to 
 him, and by whom, '^ it may be that ye are nearer the mark 
 than ye are yoursell aware of ; for, taking the ten horns o' 
 the beast, ye may easily estimate by your digitals " 
 
 " My digits ! you d — d auld, rusty, good-for-nothing 
 time-piece ! " exclaimed Sir Mungo, while, betwixt jest and 
 earnest, he laid on his hilt his hand, or rather his claw, for 
 Sir Rullion's broadsword had abridged it into that form. 
 " D'ye mean to upbraid me with my mutilation?" 
 
 Master Heriot interfered. " I cannot persuade our 
 friend David," he said, " that scriptiiral prophecies are in- 
 tended to remain in obscurity until their unexpected accom- 
 plishment shall make, as in former days, that fulfilled which 
 was written. But you must not exert your knightly valor 
 on him for all that." 
 
 " By my saul, and it would be throwing it away," said Sir 
 Mungo, laughing. "^ I would as soon set out, with hound 
 and horn, to hunt a sturdied sheep; for he is in a doze again, 
 and up to the chin in numerals, quotients, and dividends. 
 Mistress Margaret, my pretty honey," for the beauty of the 
 young citizen made even Sir Mungo Malagrowther's grim 
 features relax themselves a little, " is your father always as 
 entertaining as he seems just now? " 
 
 Mistress Margaret simj^ered, bridled, looked to either side, 
 then straight before her; and, having assumed all the airs of 
 bashful embarrassment and timidity which were necessary, as 
 she thought, to cover a certain shrewd readiness which really 
 belonged to her character, at length replied, " That indeed 
 her father was very thoughtful, but she had heard that he 
 took the habit of mind from her grandfather." 
 
 " Your grandfather! " said Sir Mungo, after doubting if 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 09 
 
 he had heard her aright. ' Said she her grandfather! The 
 lassie is distraught! I ken nae Avench on this side of Temple 
 Bar that is derived from so distant a relation." 
 
 " She has got a godfather, however, Sir Mungo," said 
 George Heriot, again interfering; " and I hope you will 
 allow him interest enough with you to request you will not 
 put his pretty godchild to so deep a blush." 
 
 ''The better — the better," said Sir Mungo. ''It is a 
 credit to her that, bred and born within the sound of Bow 
 Bell, she can blush for anything; and, by my saul, Master 
 George," he continued, chucking the irritated and reluctant 
 damsel under the chin, "she is bonny enough to make 
 amends for her lack of ancestry — at least, in such a region 
 as Cheapside, Avhere, d'ye mind me, the kettle cannot call 
 the porridge-pot " 
 
 The damsel blushed, but not so angrily as before. Mas- 
 ter George Heriot hastened to interrupt the conclusion of 
 Sir Mungo's homely proverb, by introducing him personally 
 to Lord Xigel. 
 
 Sir Mungo could not at first understand what his host 
 said — " Bread of Heaven, wha say ye, man ?" 
 
 Upon tlie name of Xigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch, 
 being again hallooed into his ear, he drew up, and, regarding 
 his entertainer Avith some austerity, rebuked him for not 
 making persons of quality acquainted with each other, that 
 they might exchange courtesies before they mingled with 
 other folks. He then made as handsome and courtly a con- 
 gee to his new acquaintance as a man maimed in foot and 
 hand could do; and, observing he had known my lord' his 
 father, bid him welcome to London, and hoped he should 
 see him at court. 
 
 Nigel in an instant comprehended, as well from Sir 
 Mungo's manner as from a strict compression of their enter- 
 tainer's lips, which intimated the suppression of a desire to 
 laugh, that he was dealing with an original of no ordinary 
 description, and accordingly returned his courtesy with suit- 
 able punctiliousness. Sir Mungo, in the mean while, gazed 
 on him with much earnestness; and, as the contemplation of 
 natural advantages was as odious to him as that of wealth or 
 other adventitious benefits, he had no sooner completely 
 perused the handsome form and good features of the young 
 lord, than, like one of the comforters of the Man of Uz, he 
 drew close up to him, to enlarge on the former grandeur 
 of the Lords of Glenvarloch, and the regret with which he 
 had heard that their representative was not likely to possess 
 
70 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 the domains of liis ancestry. Anon, he enlarged upon the 
 beauties of tlie principal mansion of Glenvurloch; the com- 
 manding site of the old castle; the noble expanse of the lake, 
 stocked Avitli wild-fowl for hawking; the commanding screen 
 of forest, terminating in a mountain-ridge abounding with 
 deer; and all the other advantages of that fine and ancient 
 barony iill Nigel, in spite of every etfort to the contrary, 
 was unwillingly obliged to sigh. 
 
 Sir Mungo, skilful in discerning when the withers of 
 those he conversed with were wrung, observed that his new 
 acquaintance Avinced, and would willingly have pressed the 
 discussion; but the cook's impatient knock upon the dresser 
 with the haft of his dudgeon-knife now gave a signal loud 
 enough to be heard from the top of the house to the bottom, 
 summoning, at the same time, the serving-men to place the 
 dinner upon the table and the guests to partake of it. 
 
 Sir Mungo, who was an admirer of good cheer — a taste 
 which, by the w^ay, might have some weight in reconciling 
 his dignity to these city visits — was tolled off by the sound, 
 and left Nigel and the other guests in peace, until his anxiety 
 to arrange himself in his due place of pre-eminence at the 
 genial board was duly gratified. Here, seated on the left 
 hand of Aunt Judith, he beheld Nigel occupy the station of 
 yet higher honor on the ri^ht, dividing that matron from 
 pretty Mistress Margaret; but he saw this with the more 
 patience, that there stood betwixt him and the young lord a 
 superb larded capon. 
 
 .The dinner proceeded according to the form of the times. 
 All was excellent of the kind; and, besides the Scottish cheer 
 promised, the board displayed beef and inidding, the statu- 
 tory dainties of Old England. A small cupboard of plate, 
 very choicely and beautifully wrought, did not escape the 
 compliments of some of the company, and an oblique sneer 
 from Sir Mungo, as intimating the owner's excellence in his 
 own mechanical craft. 
 
 ''lam not ashamed of the workmanship. Sir Mungo," 
 said the honest citizen. " They say a good cook knows how 
 to lick his own fingers; and, methinks, it were unseemly that 
 I, who have furnished half the cupboards in broad Britain, 
 should have myoAvn covered with paltry pewter." 
 
 The blessing of tlie clergyman now left the guests at lib- 
 erty to attack what was placed oefore them ; and the meal 
 went forward with great decorum, until Aunt Judith, in far- 
 ther recommendation of the capon, ass.a-ed her company 
 that it was of a celebrated breed of poultry which she had 
 herself brought from Scotland. 
 
• THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 71 
 
 " Then, like some of his countrymen, madam," said the 
 pitiless Sir Mungo, not without a glance towards his landlord, 
 " he has been well larded in England/' 
 
 " There are some others of his countrymen/' answered 
 Master Ileriot, "to whom all the lard in England has not 
 been able to render that good office." 
 
 Sir ^lungo sneered and reddened, the rest of the company 
 lauo"hed ; and the satirist, who had his reasons for not com- 
 ino- to extremity with Master George, was silent for the rest 
 of the dinner. 
 
 The dishes were exchanged for confections and wine of 
 the highest quality and flavor ; and Nigel saw the entertain- 
 ments of the wealthiest burgomasters which he had witnessed 
 abroad fairly outshone by the hospitality of a London citizen. 
 Yet there was nothing ostentatious, or which seemed incon- 
 sistent with the degree of an opulent burgher. 
 
 While the collation proceeded, Nigel, according to the 
 good-breeding of the time, addressed his discourse principally 
 to Mrs. Judith ; whom he found to be a woman of a strong 
 Scottish ' nderstanding, more inclined towards the Puritans 
 than was .ler brother George (for in that relation she stood 
 to him, though he always called her aunt), attached to him 
 in the strongest degree, and sedulously attentive to all his 
 comforts. As the conversation of this good dame was neither 
 lively nor fascinating, the young lord naturally addressed 
 himself next to the old horologer's very pretty daughter, who 
 sat upon his right hand. From her, however, there was no 
 extracting any reply beyond the measure of a monosyllable, 
 and when the young gallant had said the best and most 
 complaisant things which his courtesy supplied, the smile 
 that mantled upon her pretty mouth was so slight and 
 evanescent as scarce to be discernible. 
 
 Nigel was beginning to tire of his company, for the old 
 citizens were speaking with his host of commercial matters in 
 language t him totally unintelligible, when Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowthor suddenly summoned their attention. 
 
 That amiable personage had for some time withdraw^n 
 from the company into the recess of a projecting win- 
 dow, so formed and placed as to command a view of the 
 door of the house and of the street. This situation was 
 probably preferred by Sir Mungo on account of the number 
 of objects which the streets of a metropolis usually offer of a 
 kind congenial to the thoughts of a splenetic man. What he 
 had hitherto seen passing there was probably of little con- 
 sequence ; but now a trampling of horse was heard without. 
 
72 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 and tlic kniglit smldenly exclaimed, "By my faith, Master 
 George, you had better go look to shop ; for here comes 
 Knighton, the Duke of Buckingham's groom, and two 
 fellows after him, as if he were my lord duke himself." 
 
 "My cash-keeper is below," said Ileriot, without disturb- 
 ing himself, "and he will let me know if his Grace's com- 
 mands require my immediate attention." 
 
 "Umph ! cash-keeper!" muttered 8ir Mungo to himself; 
 "he would have had an easy office when I first kenn'd ye. 
 But," said he, speaking aloud, "will you not come to the 
 window, at least ? for Knighton has trundled a piece of 
 silver plate into your house — ha ! ha ! ha ! — trundled it upon 
 its edge, as a callan' would drive a hoop. I cannot help 
 laughing — ha ! ha ! ha I — at the fellow's impudence." 
 
 "I believe you could not help laughing," said George 
 Heriot, rising up and leaving the room, "if your best friend 
 lay dying." 
 
 "Bitter that, my lord — ha !" said Sir Mungo, addressing 
 Nigel. "Our friend is not a goldsmith for nothing : he hath 
 no leaden wit. But I will go down and see what comes on't." 
 
 Heriot, as he descended the stairs, met his cash-keeper 
 coming up with some concern in his face. "AVhy, how now, 
 Eoberts," said the goldsmith, "what means all this, man ?" 
 
 "It is Knighton, Master Heriot, from the court— Knigli- 
 ton, the Duke's man. He brought back the salver you 
 carried to Whitehall, flung it into the entrance as if it had 
 been an old pewter platter, and bade me tell 3'ou, the King 
 would have none of your trumpery." 
 
 "Ay, indeed?" said George Heriot. "None of my 
 trumpery ! Come hither into the compting-room, Eoberts. 
 Sir Mungo," he added, bowing to the knight, who had joined, 
 and was preparing to follow, them, "pray your forgiveness 
 for an instant." 
 
 In virtue of this prohibition. Sir Mungo, who, as well as 
 the rest of the company, had overheard what passed betwixt 
 George Heriot and his cash-keeper, saw himself condemned 
 to wait in the outer business-room, where he would have 
 endeavored to slake his eager curiosity by questioning Knigh- 
 ton ; but that emissary of greatness, after having added to 
 the uncivil message of his master some rudeness of his own, 
 had again scampered westward, with his satellites at his 
 heels. 
 
 In the mean Avhile, the name of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 the omnipotent favorite both of the King and the Prince of 
 Wales, had struck some anxiety into the party which remaira^i 
 
TEE FORTUNES OF MGEL 73 
 
 in the great parlor. He was more feared than beloved, and, 
 if not absolutely of a tyrannical disposition, was accounted 
 haughty, violent, and vindictive. It pressed on Xigel's heart 
 that he himself, though he could not conceive how nor why, 
 might be the original cause of the resentment of the duke 
 against his benefactor. The otliers made their comments in 
 whispers, until the sounds reached Ramsay, wlio had not 
 heard a word of what had previously passed, but, phinged in 
 those studies with which he connected every other incident 
 and event, took up only the catchword, and replied — "The 
 Duke — the Duke of Buckingham — George Villiers ; ay, I 
 have ?poke with Lambe about him. " 
 
 '* Our Lord and our Lady ! Xow, how can you say so, 
 father ?" said his daughter, who had shrewdness enough to 
 see that her father was touching upon dangerous ground. 
 
 ** Why, ay, child," answered Ramsay ; "the stars do but 
 incline, they cannot compel. But well you wot, it is com- 
 monly said of his Grace, by those who have the skill to cast 
 nativities, that there was a notable conjunction of Mars and 
 Saturn, the apparent or true time of which, reducing the cal- 
 culations of Eichstadius made for the latitude of Oranien- 
 burgh to that of London, gives seven hours, fifty-five minutes, 
 and forty-one seconds " 
 
 "Hold your peace, old soothsayer," said Heriot, who at 
 that instant entered the room with a calm and steady coun- 
 tenance. "Your calculations are true and undeniable when 
 they regard brass and wire and mechanical force ; but future 
 events are at the pleasure of Him who bears the hearts of 
 kings in His hands." 
 
 "Ay, but, George," answered the watchmaker, " there was 
 a concurrence of signs at this gentleman's birth Avhich showed 
 his course would be a strange one. Long has it been said of 
 him, he was born at the very meeting of night and day, and 
 under crossing and contending influences that may affect both 
 us and him. 
 
 " ' Full moon and high sea, 
 Great man shalt thou be ; 
 Red dawning, stormy sky. 
 Bloody death shalt thou die.' " 
 
 "It is not good to speak of such things," said Heriot, 
 " especially of tlie great ; stone walls have ears, and a bird of 
 the air shall carry the matter." 
 
 Several of the guests seemed to be of their host's opinion. 
 The two merchants took brief leave, as if under consciousness 
 that sometLing was wrong. Mistress Margaret, her body- 
 
74 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 guard of 'prentices being in readiness, plucked lier father by 
 the sleeve, and, rescuing him from a brown-study (whether 
 referring to the wheels of Time or to that of Fortune, is 
 uncertain), wished good-night to her friend Mrs. Judith 
 and received her godfather's blessing, who, at the same time, 
 put upon her slender linger a ring of mucli taste and some 
 value ; for he seldom suffered her to leave him without some 
 token of his affection. Thus honorably dismissed, and ac- 
 companied by her escort, she set forth on her return to Fleet 
 Street. 
 
 Sir Mungo had bid adieu to Master Heriot as he came out 
 from the back compting-roora ; but such was the interest 
 which he took in the affairs of his friend, tliat, when Master 
 George went upstairs, he could not help walking into that 
 sanchwi sanctorum to see how Master Roberts was employed. 
 The knight found the cash-keeper busy in making extracts 
 from those huge brass-clasped, leathern-bound manuscript 
 folios which are the pride and trust of dealers, and the dread 
 of customers whose year of grace is out. The good knight 
 leaned his elbows on the desk, and said to the functionary 
 in a condoling tone of voice — "What! you have lost a good 
 customer, I fear. Master Roberts, and are busied in making 
 out his bill of charges ?" 
 
 Now, it chanced that Roberts, like Sir Mungo himself, was 
 a little deaf, and, like Sir Mungo, knew also how to make the 
 most of it ; so that he answered at cross purposes — ''I humbly 
 crave your pardon, Sir Mungo, for not having sent in your bill 
 of cha'^rge sooner, but my master bade me not disturb you. I 
 will bring the items together in a moment." So saying, he 
 began to'turn over the leaves of his book of fate, murmuring, 
 '' Repairing ane silver seal — new clasp to his chain of office — 
 ane over-gilt brooch to his hat, being a St. Andrew's cross, 
 with thistles — a copper gilt pair of spurs, — this to Daniel 
 Driver, we not dealing in the article." 
 
 He would have proceeded; but Sir Mungo, not preparea 
 to endure the recital of the catalogue of his own petty debts, 
 and still less willing to satisfy them on the spot, wished the 
 book-keeper, cavalierly, good-night, and left the house with- 
 out farther ceremony. "The clerk looked after him with a 
 civil city sneer, and immediately resumed the more serious 
 labors which Sir Mungo's intrusion had interrupted.* 
 
 * See Sir Mungo Malagrowther. Note 12. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Things needful we have thought on ; but the thing 
 Of all most needful— that which Scripture terms, 
 As if alone it merited regard. 
 The ONE thing needful— that's yetunconsider'd. 
 
 The Chamberlain, 
 
 WpEisr the rest of tlie company had taken their departure 
 from Master Heriot's house, the young Lord of Glenvarloch 
 ilso offered to take leave; but his host detained him for a few 
 minutes, until all were gone excepting the clergyman. 
 
 '■'My lord," then said the worthy citizen, "we have had 
 our permitted hour of honest and hospitable pastime, and now 
 I would fain delay you for another and graver purpose, as it 
 is our custom, when we have the benefit of good Mr. Wind- 
 sor's company, that he reads the prayers of the church for 
 the evening before we separate. Your excellent father, my 
 lord, would not have departed 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." 
 
 While they talked together in this manner, the serving- 
 men had removed the folding-tables, brought forward a port- 
 able reading-desk, and placed chairs and hassocks for their 
 master, their mistress, and the noble stranger. Another low 
 chair, or rather a sort of a stool, was placed close beside that 
 of Master Heriot; and though the circumstance was trivial, 
 Nigel was induced to notice it, because, Avhen about to occu- 
 py that seat, he was prevented by a sign from the old gentle- 
 man, and motioned to another of somewhat more elevation. 
 The clergyman took his station behind the reading-desk. The 
 domestics, a numerous family both of clerks and servants, 
 including Moniplies, attended with great gravity, and were 
 accommodated with benches. 
 
 The houseliold were all seated, and, externally, at least, 
 composed to devout attention, when a low knock was heard 
 at the door of the apartment ; Mrs. Judith looked anxiously 
 at her brother, as if desiring to know his pleasure. He 
 nodded his head gravely, and looked to tlie door. Mrs. 
 
 76 
 
76 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Judith immediately crossed the cliamber, opened the door, 
 and led into the apartment a beautiful creature, whose sudden 
 and singular ajapearance might liave made her almost pass 
 for an apparition. She Avas deadly pale ; there was not the 
 least shade of vital red to enliven features which were exquis- 
 itely formed, and might, but for that circumstance, have 
 been termed transcendently beautiful. Her long black hair 
 fell down over her shoulders and down her back, combed 
 smoothly and regularl}^, but without the least appearance of 
 decoration or ornament, which looked very singular at a 
 period when head-gear, as it was called, of one sort or other 
 was generally used by all ranks. Her dress was of pure 
 white, of the simplest fashion, and hiding all her person 
 excepting the throat, face, and hands. Her form Avas rather 
 beneath than above the middle size, but so justly propor- 
 tioned and elegantly made, that the spectator's attention was 
 entirely withdrawn from her size. In contradiction of the 
 extreme plainness of all the rest of her attire, she wore a 
 necklace which a duchess might have envied, so large and 
 lustrous Avere the brilliants of Avhich it Avas composed ; and 
 around her Avaist a zone of rubies of scarce inferior value. 
 
 AVhen this singular figure entered the apartment, she cast 
 her eyes on Nigel, and paused, as if uncertain whether to 
 advance or retreat. The glance Avhich she took of him 
 seemed to be one rather of uncertainty and hesitation than of 
 bashfulness or timidity. Aunt Judith took her by the hand 
 and led her slowly forward ; her dark eyes, however, con- 
 tinued to be fixed on Nigel, Avith an expression of melan- 
 choly by Avhich he felt strangely affected. Even when she 
 Avas seated on the vacant stool, Avhich Avas placed there prob- 
 ably for her accommodation, she again looked on him more 
 than once with the same pensive, lingering, and anxious 
 expression, but without either shyness or embarrassment, not 
 even so much as to call the slightest degree of complexion 
 into her cheek. 
 
 So soon as this singular female had taken up the prayer- 
 book Avhicli AA'as laid upon her cushion, she seemed immersed 
 in devotional duty ; and although Nigel's attention to the 
 service Avas so much disturbed by this extraordinary appari- 
 tion that he looked toAA'ards her rejDcatedly in the course of 
 the service, he could never observe that her eyes or her 
 thoughts stra3^ed so much as a single moment from the task 
 in which she was engaged, Nigel himself was less attentive, 
 for the appearance of this lady seemed so extraordinary, that, 
 strictly as he had been bred up by his father to pay the most 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL V 
 
 reverential attention during performance of divine service, 
 his tlioughts in sjnte of himself were disturbed by lier pres- 
 ence, and he earnestly wished the prayers were ended, that 
 his curiosity might obtain some gratification. When the 
 service was concluded, and each had remained, according to 
 the decent and edifying practice of the church, concentrated 
 in mental devotion"for a short space, the mysterious visitant 
 arose ere any other person stirred ; and Nigel remarked that 
 none of the domestics left their places, or even moved, until 
 she had first kneeled on one knee to Heriot, who seemed to 
 bless her with his hand laid on her head, and a melancholy 
 solemnity of look and action ; she then bended her body, but 
 without kneeling, to ]\Irs. Judith ; and having performed 
 these two acts of reverence, she left the room ; yet just in the 
 act of her departure, she once more turned her penetrating 
 eyes on Nigel with a fixed look, which compelled him to 
 turn his own aside. When he looked towards her again, he 
 saw only the skirt of her white mantle as she left the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 The domestics then rose and dispersed themselves ; wine, 
 and fruit, and spices, were offered to Lord Nigel and to the 
 clergyman, and the latter took his leave. The young lord 
 would fain have accompanied him, in hoj)e to get some 
 explanation of the apparition which he had beheld, but he 
 was stopped by his host, who requested to speak with him in 
 his compting-room. 
 
 "1 hope, my lord," said the citizen, "that your prepara- 
 tions for attending court are in such forwardness that you 
 can go thither the day after to-morrow. It is, perhaps, the 
 last day, for some time, that his Majesty will hold open court 
 for all who have pretensions by birth, rank, or office to attend 
 upon him. On the subsequent day he goes to Theobald's, 
 where he is so much occupied with hunting and other 
 pleasures that he cares not to be intruded on." 
 
 *'I shall be in all outward readiness to pay my duty," said 
 the young nobleman, ''yet I have little heart to do it. The 
 friends from whom I ought to have found encouragement 
 and protection have proved cold and false : I certainly will 
 not trouble them for their countenance on this occasion ; and 
 yet I must confess my childish unwillingness to enter quite 
 alone upon so new a scene." 
 
 "It is bold of a mechanic like me to make such an offer 
 to a nobleman," said Heriot; " but I must attend at court 
 [the day after] to-morrow. I can accompany you as far as 
 the presence-chamber, from my privilege as being of the 
 
78 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 household. I can facilitate your entrance, should you find 
 ditticulty, and 1 can point out the proper manner and cime 
 of approaching the King. But I do not know/' he added, 
 smiling, " Avliether these little advantages will not be over- 
 '^alauced by the incongruity of a nobleman receiving them 
 Au the hands of an old smith." 
 
 "From the hands rather of the only friend I have found in 
 London," said Nigel, offering his hand. 
 
 "Nay, if you think of the matter in that way," replied 
 the honest citizen, " there is no more to be said ; I will come 
 for you [the day after] to-morrow with a barge proper to the 
 occasion. But remember, my good yonng lord, that I do not, 
 like some men of my degree, wish to take opportunity to step 
 beyond it and associate with my superiors in rank, and there- 
 fore do not fear to mortify my presumption by suffering me 
 to keep my distance in the presence, and where it is fitting 
 for both of ns to separate; and for what remains, most truly 
 happy shall I be in proving of service to the son of my ancient 
 patron." 
 
 The style of conversation led so far from the point which 
 had interested the young nobleman's curiosity, that there 
 Avas no returning to it that night. He therefore exchanged 
 thanks and greeting with George Heriot, and took his leave, 
 promising to be equipped and in readiness to embark with 
 him on the second successive morning at ten o'clock. 
 
 The generation of the linkboys, celebrated by Count 
 Anthony Hamilton as peculiar to London, had, already, in the 
 reign of James I., begun their functions, and the service of 
 one of them with his smoky torch had been secured to light 
 the young Scottish lord and his follower to their lodgings, 
 which, though better acquainted than formerly with the city, 
 they might in the dark have run some danger of missing. 
 This gave the ingenious Mr. Moniplies an opportunity of 
 gathering close up to his master, after he had gone through 
 the form of slipping his left arm into the handles of his 
 buckler, and loosening his broadsword in the sheath, that he 
 might be ready for whatever should befall. 
 
 " If it Avere not for the wine and the good cheer which we 
 have had in yonder old man's house, my lord," said this 
 sapient follower, "and that I ken him by report to be a just 
 living man in many respects, and a real Edinburgh gutter- 
 blood, I should have been Avell pleased to have seen how his 
 feet were shaped, and whether he had not a cloven cloot 
 under the braw roses and cordovan shoon of his." 
 
 "Why, you rascal," ansAvered Nigel, " you have been too 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 7i 
 
 kindly treated, and now that yon have filled yonr ravenons 
 stomach, you are railing on the good gentleman that relieved 
 you." 
 
 "Under favor, no, my lord," said Moniplies; ''I would 
 only like to see something mair of him. I have eaten liis meat, 
 it is true — more shame that the like of him should have meat 
 to give, Avhen your lordship and me could scarce have gotten, 
 on our own account, brose and a bear bannock. I have 
 drunk his wine, too." 
 
 " I see you have," replied his master, "a great deal more 
 than you should have done." 
 
 "Under your patience, my lord," said Monijilies, "you 
 are pleased to say that, because I crushed a quart with that 
 jolly boy Jenkin, as they call the 'prentice boy, and that was 
 out of mere acknowledgment for his former kindness. I 
 own that I, moreover, sung the good old song of 'Elsie 
 Marley,' so as they never heard it chanted in their lives." 
 
 "And withal," as John Bunyan says, "as they went on 
 their way," he sung — 
 
 "O, do ye ken Elsie Marley, honey — 
 The wife that sells the barley, honey ? 
 For Elsie Marley 's grown sae fine, 
 She winna get up to feed the swine. 
 O, do ye ken " 
 
 Here in mid career Avas the songster interrupted by the stern 
 grip of his master, who threatened to baton him to death if 
 he brought the city- watch upon them by his ill-timed melody. 
 
 "I crave pardon, my lord — I humbly crave pardon — only 
 when I think of that Jen Win, as they call him, I can hardly 
 help humming, '0, do ye ken — ' But I crave your honor's 
 pardon, and will be totally dumb, if you command me so." 
 
 "No, sirrah!" said Nigel, "talk on, for I well know you 
 would say and suffer more under pretence of holding your 
 peace than when you get an unbridled license. How is it, 
 then? What have you to say against Master Heriot?" 
 
 It seems more than probable that, in permitting this 
 license, the young lord hoped his attendant would stumble 
 upon the subject of the young lady who had appeared at pray- 
 ers in a manner so mysterious. But whether this was the 
 case, or whether he merely desired that Moniplies should utter, 
 in a subdued and undertone of voice, those spirits which 
 might otherwise have vented themselves in obstreiDcrous song, 
 it is certain he permitted his attendant to proceed with his 
 ■story in his own way. 
 
 " And therefore," said the orator, availing himself of liis 
 
so WAVLitLEY NOVELS 
 
 immunity, " I would like to ken what sort of a carle this 
 Maister Heriot is. He hath supiilied your lordship with 
 wealth of gold, as I can understand ; and if he has, I make 
 it for certain he hath had his ain end in it, according to the 
 fashion of the Avorld. Xow, had your lordship your own 
 good lands at your guiding, doubtless this person, with most 
 of his craft — goldsmiths they call themselves, I say usurers — 
 wad be glad to exchange so many pounds of African dust, 
 by whilk I understand gold, against so many fair acres, and 
 hundreds of acres, of broad Scottish land." 
 
 '' But you know I have no land," said the young lord, " at 
 least none that can be affected by any debt which I can at 
 present become obliged for. t think you need not have 
 reminded me of that." 
 
 "True, my lord — most true; and, as your lordship says, 
 open to the meanest capacity, without any unnecessary expo- 
 sitions. Now, therefore, my lord, unless Maister George 
 Heriot has something mair to allege as a motive for his liber- 
 ality, vera different from the possession of your estate, and 
 moreover, as he could gain little by the capture of your body, 
 wherefore should it not be your soul that he is in pursuit 
 of?" 
 
 " My soul, you rascal! " said the young lord ; " what good 
 should my soul do him ? " 
 
 " V*'hat do I ken about that?" said Moniplies. " They 
 go about roaring and seeking whom they may devour ; doubt- 
 less, they like the food that they rage so much about ; and, 
 my lord, they say," added Moniplies, drawing up still closer 
 to his master's side — ''they say that Master Heriot has one 
 spirit in his house already." 
 
 " How or what do you mean?" said Xigel. " I will break 
 your head, you drunken knave, if you palter with me any 
 longer." 
 
 " Drunken! " answered his trusty adherent, " and is this 
 the story? Why, how could I but drink your lordship's 
 health on my bare knees, when Master Jenkin began it to 
 me? Hang them that would not! I %vould have cut the im- 
 pudent knave's hams with my broadsword, that should make 
 a scruple of it, and so have made him kneel when he should 
 have found it difficult to rise again. But touching the 
 spirit," he proceeded, finding that his master made no answer 
 to his valorous tirade, "your lordship has seen her with your 
 own eyes." 
 
 "I saw no spirit," said Glenvarloch, but yet breathing 
 thick as one who expects some singular disclosure : " what 
 mean you by a spirit?." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 81 
 
 ** \ >\i gaw a young lady come into prayers, that spoke not 
 A word to any one, only made becks and bows to the old geu- 
 deman and lady of the house — ken ye wha she is?" 
 
 ** No, indeed," answered Nigel ;'* some relation of the 
 family, I suppose." 
 
 ** Deil a bit — deil a bit," answered Moniplies, hastily — 
 " not a blood-drop's kin to them, if she had a drop of blood 
 in her body. I tell you but what all human beings allege to 
 do trut-h, that dwell within hue and cry of Lombard Street — 
 r.hat lady, or queen, or whatever you choose to call her, has 
 been dead in the body these many a year, though she haunts 
 them, as wo have seen, even at their very devotions." 
 
 ** You will allow her to be a good spirit at least," said 
 Xigel Olifaunt, " since she chooses such a time to visit her 
 f rends?" 
 
 *' For that I kenna, my lord," answered the superstitious 
 follower. " I ken no spirit that would have faced the right 
 down hammer-blow of Mess John Knox, whom my father 
 stood by in his very warst days, bating a chance time when 
 the court, which my father supplied with butcher-meat, was 
 against him. But yon divine h:is another airt from powerful 
 Miister Rollock, and Mess David Black of North Leith, and 
 sic-like. Alack-a-day! wha can ken, if it please your lord- 
 ship, whether sic prayers as the Southron read out of their 
 auld blethering black mess-book there may not be as power- 
 ful to invite fiends as a right red-het prayer warm frae the 
 heart may be powerful to drive them away, even as the Evil 
 Spirit was driven by the smell of the fish's liver from the 
 bridal -chamber of Sara, the daughter of Raguel? as to whilk 
 story, nevertheless, I make scruple to say whether it be truth 
 or not, better men than I am having doubted on that mat- 
 ter." 
 
 ^' Well— well — well," said his master, impatiently, " we 
 are now near home, and I have permitted you to speak of 
 this matter for once, that we may have an end of your prying 
 folly and your idiotical superstitions forever. For whom do 
 you, or your absurd authors or informers, take this lady?" 
 
 *' I can say naething jireceesely as to that," answered 
 Moniplies; ^ certain it is her body died and was laid in the 
 grave many a day since, notwithstanding she still wanders on 
 earth, and chiefly among Maister Heriot's family, though 
 she hath been seen in other places by them that well knew 
 her. But who she is. F will not warrant to say. or how she 
 becomes attached, like a Highland Brownie, to some peculiar 
 family. They say she lias a row of apartments of her own, 
 
83 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 anteroom, parlor, and bedroom; but deil a bed she sleeps in 
 but her own cottin, and the walls, doors, and windows are so 
 chinked up us to prevent the least blink of daylight from en- 
 tering; and then she dwells by torchlight^ " 
 
 '^ To what purpose, if she be a spirit?" said Nigel Oli- 
 faunt. 
 
 " How can I tell your lordship?" answered his attendant. 
 "I thank God, I know nothing of her likings or mislikings; 
 only her coffin is there, and I leave your lordship to guess 
 what a live person has to do with a coffin. As little as a 
 ghost with a lantern, I trow." 
 
 ** AVhat reason," repeated Nigel, ''can a creature so 
 young and so beautiful have already habitually to contem- 
 plate her bed of last long rest?" 
 
 '' In troth, I kenna, my lord," answered Moniplies; "but 
 there is the coffin, as they told me who have seen it. It is 
 made of heben-wood, with silver nails, and lined all through 
 with three-piled damask, might serve a princess to rest in." 
 
 " Singular!" said Nigel, whose brain, like that of most 
 active young spirits, was easily caught by the singular and 
 the romantic; "does she not eat with the family?" 
 
 " Who? she!" exclaimed Moniplies, as if surprised at the 
 question; "they would need a lang spoon would sup with 
 her, I trow. Always there is something put for her into the 
 tower, as they call i t, whilk is a whigmaleery of a Avhirling- 
 box, that turns round half on the tae side o' the wa', half on 
 the tother." 
 
 "I have seen the contrivance in foreign nunneries," said 
 the Lord of Glenvarloch. " And is it thus she receives her 
 food?" 
 
 " They tell me something is put in ilka day, for fashion's 
 sake," replied the attendant; "but it's no to be supposed she 
 would consume it, ony mair than the images of Bel and the 
 Dragon consumed the dainty vivers that were placed before 
 them. There are stout yeomen and chamber-queens in the 
 house, enow to play the part of Lick-it-up-a', as well as the 
 threescore and ten priests of Bel, besides their wives and 
 children." 
 
 " And she is never seen in the family but when the hour 
 of pi-ayer arrives?" said the master. 
 
 "Never, that I hear of," replied the servant. 
 
 "It is singular," said Nigel Olifaunt, musing. ** Were it 
 not for the ornaments which she wears, and still more for 
 her attendance upon the service of the Protestant Church, I 
 should know what to think, and should believe her either a 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 83 
 
 Catholic votaress, who, for some cogent reason, was allowed 
 to make her cell here in London, or some unhappy Popish 
 devotee^ who was in tlie course of undergoing a dreadful 
 penance. As it is, I know not what to deem of it." 
 
 His reverie was interrupted by the linkboy knocking at 
 the door of honest John Cliristie, whose wife came forth 
 with '' quips, and becks, and wreathed smiles," to welcome 
 h€»r honored guest on his return to his apartment. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Ay ! mark the matron well — and laugh not, Harry, 
 
 At her old steeple hat and velvet guard — 
 
 I've call'd her like the ear of Dionysius ; 
 
 I mean that ear-form'd vault, built o'er his dungeon, 
 
 To catch the groans and discontented murmurs 
 
 Of his poor bondsmen. Ev'n so does Martha 
 
 Drink up, for her own purpose, all that passes, 
 
 Or is supposed to pass, in this wide city. 
 
 She can retail it too, if that her profit 
 
 Shall call on her to do so ; and retail it 
 
 For your advantage, so that you can make 
 
 Your profit jump with hers. 
 
 The Conspiracy. 
 
 We must now introduce to the reader's acquaintance another 
 character, busy and important far beyond her ostensible situ- 
 ation in society — in a word, Dame Ursuha Suddlechop, wife 
 of Benjamin Suddlechop, the most renowned barber in all 
 Fleet Street. This dame had her own particular merits, the 
 principal part of which was, if her own report could be 
 trusted, an infinite desire to be of service to her fellow-crea- 
 tures. Leaving to her thin, half -starved partner the boast of 
 having the most dexterous snap of his fingers of any shaver 
 in London, and the care of a shop where starved apprentices 
 flayed the faces of those who were boobies enough to trust 
 them, the dame drove a separate and more lucrative trade, 
 which yet had so many odd turns and windings, that it 
 seemed in many respects to contradict itself. 
 
 Its highest and mOvSt important duties were of a very 
 secret and confidential nature, and Dame Ursula Suddlechop 
 was never known to betray any transaction intrusted to her, 
 unless she had either been indifferently paid for her service 
 or that some one found it convenient to give her a double 
 douceur to make her disgorge the secret; and these contin- 
 gencies happened in so few cases, that her character for trus- 
 tiness remained as unimpeached as that for honesty and 
 benevolence. 
 
 In fact, she Avas a most admirable matron, and could be 
 useful to the impassioned and tlie frail in the rise, progress, 
 and consequences of their passion. She could contrive an 
 interview for lovers who could show proper reasons for meet- 
 ing privately; she could relieve the frail fair one of the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 85 
 
 burden of a guilty passion, and perliaps establisli the hopeful 
 offspring of luilicensed love as the heir of some family whose 
 love was lawful, but where an' heir had not followed the 
 union. More than this she could do, and had been concerned 
 in deeper and dearer secrets. She had been a pupil k^I Mrs. 
 Turner, and learned from her the secret of making yellow 
 starch, and, it may be, two or three other secrets of more 
 consequence, though perhaps none that went to the criminal 
 extent of those wliereof her mistress was accused. But all 
 that was deep and dark in her real character was covered by 
 the show of outward mirth and good-humor, the hearty laugh 
 and buxom Jest with which the dame knew well how to con- 
 ciliate the elder part of her neighbors, and the many petty 
 arts by which she could recommend herself to the younger, 
 those especially of her own sex. 
 
 Dame Ursula was, in appearance, scarce past forty, and 
 her full, but not overgrown, form, and still comely features, 
 although her person was plumped out and her face somewhat 
 colored by good cheer, had a joyous exjjression of gayety and 
 good-humor, Avhich set off the remains of beauty in the wane. 
 Marriages, births, and christenings were seldom thought to 
 be performed with suificient ceremony, for a considerable dis- 
 tance round her abode, unless Dame Ursley, as they called 
 her, was present. She could contrive all sorts of pastimes, 
 games, and jests which might amuse the large companies 
 which the hospitality of our ancestors assembled together on 
 such occasions, so that her presence was literally considered 
 as indispensable in the families of all citizens of ordinary rank 
 at such joyous periods. So much also was she supposed to 
 know of life and its labyrinths, that she was the willing confi- 
 dante of half the loving couples in the vicinity, most of whom 
 used to communicate their secrets to, and receive their coun- 
 sel from. Dame Ursley. The rich rewarded her services with 
 rings, owches, or gold pieces, which she liked still better; and 
 she very generously gave her assistance to the poor, on the 
 same mixed principles as young practitioners in medicine 
 assist them, partly from compassion, and partly to keep her 
 hand in use. 
 
 Dame Ursley's reputation in the city was the greater that 
 her 2)ractice had extended beyond Temple Bar, and that she 
 had acquaintances, nay, patrons and patronesses, among the 
 quality, whose rank, as their members were much fewer, and 
 the prospect of approaching the courtly sphere much more 
 difficult, bore a degree of consequence unknown to the pres- 
 ent day, when the toe of the citizen presses so close on the 
 
86 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 courtier's heel. Dame Ursley maintained her intercourse 
 with this superior rank of customers partly by driving a 
 small trade in perfumes, essences, pomades, head-gears from 
 France, dishes or ornaments from China, then already begin- 
 ning to be fashionable ; not to mention drugs of various 
 tlescriptions, chiefly for the use of the ladies, and partly by 
 other services more or less connected with the esoteric 
 branches of her profession heretofore alluded to. 
 
 Possessing such and so many various modes of thriving, 
 Dame Ursley was nevertheless so poor, that she might 
 jn'obably have mended her own circumstances, as well as her 
 husband's, if she had renounced them all and set herself 
 quietly down to the care of her own household, and to assist 
 Benjamin in the concerns of his trade. But Ursula was 
 luxurious and genial in her habits, and could no more have 
 endured the stinted economy of Benjamin's board than she 
 could have reconciled herself to the bald chat of his 
 conversation. 
 
 It was on the evening of the day on which Lord Nigel 
 Olifaunt dined with the wealthy goldsmith that we must 
 introduce Ursula Suddlechop ujjon the stage. She had that 
 morning made a long tour to Westminster, was fatigued, 
 and had assumed a certain large elbow-chair rendered smooth 
 by frequent use, placed on one side of her chimmey, in which 
 there was lit a small but bright fire. Here she observed, 
 betwixt sleeping and waking, the simmering of a pot of well- 
 spiced ale, on the brown surface of which bobbed a small 
 crab-apple, sufficiently roasted, while a little mulatto girl 
 watched, still more attentively, the process of dressing a veal 
 sweetbread, in a silver stew-pan which occupied the other 
 side of the chimney. With these viands, doubtless. Dame 
 Ursula proposed concluding the well-spent day, of which she 
 reckoned the labor over, and the rest at her own command. 
 She was deceived, however ; for just as the ale, or, to 
 speak technically, the lamb's-wool, was fitted for drinking, 
 and the little dingy maiden intimated that the sweetbread 
 was ready to be eaten, the thin cracked voice of Benjamin 
 was heard from the bottom of the stairs. 
 
 ''Why, Dame Ursley — why, wife, I say — why, dame — 
 why love, you are wanted more than a strop for a blunt razor 
 — why, dame " 
 
 " I would some one would draw a razor across thy wind- 
 pipe, thou bawling ass !" said the dame to herself, in the 
 first moment of irritation against her clamorous helpmate ; 
 and then called aloud — " Why, what is the matter. Master 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 8? 
 
 Suddlechop? I am just going to slip into bed ; I have 
 been daggled to and fro tlie wbole day." 
 
 " Xay, sweetheart, it is not me," said the patient Ben- 
 jamin, "but the Scots laundry-maid from neighbor Eam- 
 say's, who must speak with you incontinent." 
 
 " At the word " sweetheart," Dame Ursley cast a wistful 
 look at the mess which was stewed to a second in the stew- 
 pan, and then replied with a sigh, "Bid Scots Jenny come 
 up. Master Suddlechop. I shall be very happy to hear what 
 she has to say ;" then added in a loAver tone, " And I hope 
 she will go to the devil in the flame of a tar-barrel, like 
 many a Scots witch before her !" 
 
 The Scots laundress entered accordingly, and having 
 neard nothing of the last kind wish of Dame Suddlechop, 
 made her reverence with considerable respect, and said, her 
 young mistress had returned home unwell, and wished to 
 see her neighbor. Dame Ursley, directly. 
 
 "And why will it not do to-morrow, Jenny, my good 
 woman ?" said Dame Ursley; "for I have been as far as 
 Whitehall to-day already, and I am well-nigh worn off my 
 feet, my good woman." 
 
 "Aweel!" answered Jenny, with great composure, "and 
 if that sae be sae, I maun take the langer tramp myseli, and 
 maun gae down the water-side for auld' Mother Eedcap, at 
 the Hungerford Stairs, that deals in comforting young crea- 
 tures, e'en as you do yoursell, hinny ; for ane o' ye the bairn 
 maun see before she sleeps, and that's a' that I ken on't." 
 
 So saying, the old emissary, without farther entreaty, 
 turned on her heel, and was about to retreat, when Dame 
 Ursley exclaimed — "Xo — no ; if the sweet child, your mis- 
 tress/ has any necessary occasion for good advice and kind 
 tendance you need not go to Mother Redcap, Janet. She 
 may do very well for skippers' wives, chandlers' daughters, 
 and such-like ; but nobody shall wait on pretty Mistress 
 Margaret, the daughter of his most sacred Majesty's horo- 
 loger, excepting and saving myself. And so I will but take 
 my choppins and my cloak, and put on my muffler, and 
 cross the street to neighbor Ramsay's in an instant. But tell 
 me yourself, good Jenny, are you not something tired of 
 your voung ladv's frolics and change of mind twenty times 
 a day"?" 
 
 " In troth, not I," said the patient drudge, " unless it 
 may be when she is a wee fashions about washing her laces; 
 but I have been her keeper since she was a bairn, neighboi 
 Suddlechop, and that makes a difference." 
 
88 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Ay," said Dame Ursley, still busied j^utting on additional 
 defences against the night air; "and you know for certain 
 that she has two hundred pounds a year in good land, at her 
 own free disposal." 
 
 "Left by her grandmother, Heaven rest her soul !" said 
 the Scotswoman; "and to a daintier lassie she could not have 
 bequeathed it." 
 
 " Very true — very true, mistress ; for, with all her little 
 whims, I have always said Mistress IMargaret Kamsay was the 
 prettiest girl in the ward ; and, Jenny, I warrant the poor 
 child has had no supper," 
 
 Jenny could not say but it was the case, " For, her mas- 
 ter being out, the twa 'prentice lads had gone out after shut- 
 ting shop to fetch them home, and she and the other maid 
 had gone out to Sandy MacGivan's, to see a friend frae 
 Scotland." 
 
 "As was very natural, Mrs. Janet," said Dame Ursley, 
 who found her interest in assenting to all sorts of proposi- 
 tions from all sorts of persons. 
 
 " And so the fire went out, too," said Jenny. 
 
 " Which was the most natural of the whole," said Dame 
 Suddlechop; "and so, to cut the matter short, Jenny, I'll 
 carry over the little bit of supper that I was going to eat. 
 For dinner I have' tasted none, and it may be my young 
 pretty Mistress Marget will eat a morsel with me; for it is 
 mere emptiness, Mistress Jenny, tliat often puts these fancies 
 of illness into young folks' heads." So saying, she put the 
 silver posset-cup with the ale into Jenny's hands, and as- 
 suming her mantle with the alacrity of one determined to 
 sacrifice inclination to duty, she hid the stew-pan under its 
 folds, and commanded Wilsa, the little mulatto girl, to light 
 them across the street. 
 
 " Whither away so late ?'' said the barber, whom they 
 passed seated with his starveling boys round a mess of stock- 
 fish and parsnips in the shop below. 
 
 "If I were to tell you, galier," said the dame, with most 
 contemptuous coolness, " I do not think you could do my 
 errand, so I will e'en keep it to myself." Benjamin was too 
 much accustomed to his wife's independent mode of conduct 
 to pursue his inquiry farther; nor did the dame tarry for 
 farther question, but marched out at the door, telling the 
 eldest of the boys "to sit up till her return, and look to the 
 house the while." 
 
 The night was dark and rainy, and although the distance 
 betwixt the two shops Avas short, it allowed Dame Ursley 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 89 
 
 leisure enough, while she strode along with high-tucked 
 petticoats, to embitter it by the following grumbling re- 
 flections — "I wonder what I have done, that I must needs 
 trudge at every old beldam's bidding and every young minx's 
 maggot ? I have been marched from Temple Bar to White- 
 chapel, on the matter of a pinmaker's wife having pricked 
 her fingers — marry, her husband that made the weapon might 
 have salved the wound. And here is this fantastic ape, 
 pretty Mistress Marget, forsooth — such a beauty as I could 
 make of a Dutch doll, and as fantastic, and humorous, and 
 conceited as if she were a duchess. I have seen her in the 
 same day as changeful as a marmozet, and as stubborn as a 
 mule. I should like to know whether her little conceited 
 noddle or her father's old crazy, calculating jolter-pate breeds 
 most whimsies. But then there's that two hundred pounds a 
 year in dirty land, and the father is held a close chulf , though a 
 fanciful; he is our landlord besides, and she has begged a 
 late day from him for our rent; so, God help me, I must be 
 conformable ; besides, the little capricious devil is my only 
 key to get at Master George Heriot's secret, and it concerns 
 my character to find that out ; and so, 'andiamos,' as the 
 lingua franca hath it." 
 
 Thus pondering, she moved forward with hasty strides 
 until she arrived at the watchmaker's habitation. The at- 
 tendant admitted them by means of a pass-key. Onward 
 glided Dame Ursula, now in glimmer and now in gloom, not 
 like the lovely Lady Christabel through Gothic sculpture and 
 ancient armor, but creeping and stumbling among relics of old 
 machines, and models of new inventions in various branches 
 of mechanics, with which wrecks of useless ingenuity, either 
 in a broken or half-finished shape, the apartment of the fan- 
 ciful though ingenious mechanist was continually lumbered. 
 
 At length they attained, by a very narrow staircase, pretty 
 Mistress Margaret's apartment, where she, the cynosure of 
 the eyes of every bold young bachelor in Fleet Street, sat in 
 a posture which hovered between the discontented and the 
 disconsolate. For her pretty back and shoulders Avere rounded 
 into a curve, her round and dimpled chin reposed in the 
 hollow of her little palm, while the fingers were folded over 
 her mouth; her elbow rested on a table, and her eyes seemed 
 fixed upon the dying charcoal, which was expiring in a small 
 grate. She scarce turned her head when Dame Ursula en- 
 tered, and when the presence of that estimable matron was 
 more precisely announced in Avords by the old Scotswoman, 
 Mistress Margaret, without changing her posture, muttered 
 some sort of answer that was wholly unintelligible. 
 
90 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Go your ways down to tlie kitchen with Wilsa, good 
 Mistress Jenny/' &aid Dame Ursula, who was used to all 
 sorts of freaks on the part of her patients or clients, which- 
 ever they might be termed — '' put the stew-pan and the por- 
 ringer by the fireside, and go down below; I must speak to 
 my pretty love, Mistress Margaret, by myself; and there is 
 not a bachelor betwixt this and Bow but will envy me the 
 privilege." 
 
 The attendants retired as directed, and Dame Ursula, 
 having availed herself of the embers of charcoal to place her 
 stew-pan to the best advantage, drew herself as close as she 
 could to her jaatient, and began in a low, soothing, and con- 
 fidential tone of voice to inquire what ailed her pretty flower 
 of neighbors. 
 
 " Nothing, dame," said Margaret, somewhat pettishly, 
 and changing her posture so as rather to turn her back upon 
 the kind inquirer. 
 
 "Nothing, lady-bird!" answered Dame Suddlechop; 
 '' and do you use to send for your friends out of bed at this 
 hour for nothing? " 
 
 " It was not I who sent for you, dame," replied the mal- 
 content maiden. 
 
 " And who was it, then? " said Ursula; " for if I had not 
 been sent for, I had not been here at this time of night, I 
 promise you ! " 
 
 " It was the old Scotch fool, Jenny, who did it out of her 
 own head, I suppose," said Margaret; " for she has been 
 stunning me these two hours about you and Mother Eedcap." 
 
 ''_Me and Mother Eedcap!" said Dame Ursula, "an old 
 fool indeed, that couples folk up so. But come — come, my 
 sweet little neighbor, Jenny is no such fool after all: she 
 knows young folks want more and better advice than her 
 own, and she knows, too, where to find it for them; so you 
 must take heart of grace, my pretty maiden, and tell me 
 what you are moping about, and then let Dame Ursula alone 
 for finding out a cure." 
 
 " Nay, an ye be so wise. Mother Ursula," replied the 
 girl, " you may guess what I ail without my telling you." 
 
 " Ay — ay, child," answered the complaisant matron, " no 
 one can play better than I at the good old game of What is 
 niy thought like? Now I'll warrant that little head of yours 
 is running on a new head-tire, a foot higher than those our 
 city dames wear; or you are all for a trip to Islington or 
 Ware, and your father is cross and will not corisent; or " 
 
 " Or you are an old fool. Dame Suddlechop," said Mar- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 9i 
 
 garet, peevislily, "' and must needs trouble yourself about 
 matters you know nothing of." 
 
 '' Fool as much as you will,, mistress," said Dame Ursula, 
 offended in her turn,''' but not so very many years older 
 than yourself, mistress." 
 
 ^'Oh! we are angry, are we?" said the beauty. *' And 
 pray. Madam Ursula, liow come you, that are not so many 
 years older than me, to talk about such nonsense to me, who 
 am so many years younger, and who yet have too much sense 
 to care about head-gears and Islington?" 
 
 'i Well — well, young mistress," said the sage connsellor, 
 rising, " I perceive I can be of no use here; and methinks, 
 since you know your own matters so much better than other 
 people do, you might dispense with disturbing folks at mid- 
 night to ask their advice." 
 
 " Why, now you are angry, mother," said Margaret, de- 
 taining her; " tliis comes of your coming out at eventide 
 without eating your supper: I never heard you utter a cross 
 word after you had finished your little morsel. Here, Janet, 
 a trencher and salt- for Dame Ursula. And what have you 
 in that porringer, dame? Filthy, clammy ale, as I would 
 live. Let Janet fling it out of the window, or keep it for 
 my father's morning draught; and she shall bring you the 
 pottle of sack that was set ready for him; good man, he will 
 never find out the difference, for ale will wash down his 
 dusty calculations quite as well as wine." 
 
 " Truly, sweetheart, I am of your opinion," said Dame 
 Ursula, whose temporary displeasure vanished at once before 
 these preparations for good cheer; and so, settling herself on 
 the great easy-chair, with a three-legged table before her, she 
 began to dispatch, with good appetite, the little delicate 
 dish which she had prepared for herself. She did not, how- 
 ever, fail in the duties of civilit}', and earnestly, but in vain, 
 pressed Mistress Margaret to partake her dainties. The 
 damsel declined the invitation. 
 
 ''At least pledge me in a glass of sack," said Dame Ur- 
 sula. " I have heard my grandame say that, before the 
 . Grospellers came in, the old Catholic father confessors and 
 their penitents always had a cup of sack together before con- 
 fession; and you are my penitent." 
 
 " I shall drink no sack, I am sure," said Margaret ; "■ and 
 I told you before that, if you cannot find out what ails me, 
 I shall never have the heart to tell it." 
 
 So saying, she turned away from Dame Ursula once 
 more, and resumed her musing posture, with her hand on 
 
92 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 her elbow, and her back, at least one shoulder, turned 
 towards her confidarite. 
 
 " Nay, then," said Dame Ursula, ''I must exert my skill 
 in good earnest. You must give me this pretty hand, and I 
 will tell you by palmistry, as well as any gypsey of them all, 
 Avhat foot it is you halt upon." 
 
 " As if I halted on any foot at all," said Margaret, some- 
 thing scornfully, but yielding her left hand to Ursula, and 
 continuing at the same time her averted position. 
 
 ''I see brave lines here," said Ursula, "^and not ill to 
 read neither — pleasure and wealth, and merry nights and 
 late mornings, to my beauty, and such an equipage as shall 
 shake Whitehall. 0, have I touched you there? and smile 
 you now, my pretty one? for Avhy should not he be Lord 
 Mayor, and go to court in his gilded caroche, as others have 
 done before him ? " 
 
 " Lord Mayor ! pshaw ! " replied Margaret. 
 
 " And why pshaw at my Lord Mayor, sweetheart ? or 
 perhaps you pshaw at my prophecy? but there is a cross in 
 every one's line of life as well as in yours, darling. And 
 what though I see a 'prentice's flat cap in this pretty palm, 
 yet there is a sparkling black eye under it, hath not its 
 match in the ward of Farringdon Without." 
 
 "Whom do you mean, dame?" said Margaret, coldly. 
 
 '' Whom should I mean," said Dame Ursula, "but the 
 prince of 'prentices and king of good company, Jenkin Vin- 
 cent?" 
 
 " Out, woman — Jenkin Vincent ! A clown — a Cock 
 ney ! " exclaimed the indignant damsel. 
 
 "Ay, sets the wind in that quarter, beauty?" quoth the 
 dame. " Why, it has changed something since we spoke 
 together last, for then I would have sworn it blew fairer for 
 poor Jin Vin ; and the poor lad dotes on you too, and would 
 rather see your eyes than the first glimpse of the sun on the 
 great holiday on May-day." 
 
 " I would my eyes had the power of the sun to blind his, 
 then," said Margaret, " to teach the drudge his place." 
 
 " Nay," said Dame Ursula, " there be some who say that 
 Frank Tunstall is as proper a lad as Jin Vin, and of surety 
 he is third cousin to a knighthood, and come of a good 
 house ; and so mayhap you may be for northward ho ! " 
 
 " Maybe I may," answered Margaret, " but not with my 
 father's 'prentice, I thank you. Dame Ursula." 
 
 " Nay, then, the devil may guess your thoughts for me,'" 
 eaid Dame Ursula ; " this comes of trying to shoe a fillj 
 that is eternally wincing and shifting gi-ound 1 " 
 
"•I see brave lines here,* said Ursula." 
 
I 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 93 
 
 " Hear me then/' said Margaret, *' and mind what I say. 
 
 This day I dined abroad " 
 
 " I can tell you where/' answered her counsellor — " with 
 your godfather, the rich goldsmith ; ay, you see I know 
 sometliing ; nay, I could tell you, an I would, with whom 
 too." 
 
 *' Indeed \" said Margaret, turning suddenly round with 
 an accent of strong surprise, and coloring up to the eyes. 
 
 " With old Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said the oracular 
 dame ; " he was trimmed in my Benjamin's shop in his way 
 to the city." 
 
 "Pshaw! the frightful old mouldy skeleton ! " said the 
 damsel. 
 
 " Indeed you say true, my dear," replied the confidante ; 
 " it is a shame to him to be out of St, Pancras's charnel- 
 house, for I know no other place he is fit for, the foul- 
 mouthed old railer. He said to my husband " 
 
 " Somewhat which signifies nothing to our purpose, I 
 dare say," interrupted Margaret. " I must speak, then. 
 
 There dined with us a nobleman " 
 
 " A nobleman ! the maiden's mad ! " said Dame Ursula. 
 " There dined with us, I say," continued Margaret, 
 without regarding the interruption, "a nobleman — a Scot- 
 tish nobleman." 
 
 "Now, Our Lady keep her !" said the confidante, "she 
 is quite frantic ! Heard ever any one of a watchmaker's 
 daughter falling in love with a nobleman ; and a Scots 
 nobleman, to make the matter complete, who are all as 
 proud as Lucifer and as poor as Job ? A Scots nobleman, 
 quotha ! I had as lief you told me of a Jew peddler. I 
 would have you think how all this is to end, pretty one, 
 before you jump in the dark." 
 
 " That is nothing to you, Ursula : it is your assistance," 
 said Mistress Margaret, "and not your advice, that I am de- 
 sirous to have, and you know I can make it worth your 
 while." _ 
 
 " 0, it is not for the sake of lucre. Mistress Margaret," 
 answered the obliging dame ; "but truly I would have you 
 listen to some advice ; bethink you of your own condition." 
 " My father s calling is mechanical," said Margaret, 
 "' but our blood is not so. I have heard my father say that 
 we are descended, at a distance indeed, from the great Earls 
 of Dalwolsey." * 
 
 "Ay — ay," said Dame Ursula, ^'even so. I never knew 
 
 * See Note 13. 
 
94 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 a Scot 01 yon l)ut was descended, as 5'e call it, from some 
 great house or other, and a piteous descent it often is; and 
 as for the distance you speak of, it is so great as to put you 
 out of sight of each other. Yet do not toss your pretty head 
 so scornfully, but tell me the name of this lordly northern 
 gallant, and avc will try what can be done in the matter/' 
 
 *' It is Lord Glenvarloch, whom they call Lord Nigel 
 Olifaunt," said Margaret in a low voice, and turning away to 
 hide her blushes. 
 
 " Marry, Heaven forefend! " exclaimed Dame Suddlechop; 
 ''this is the very devil and something worse!" 
 
 ''How mean you?" sffid the damsel, surprised at the 
 vivacity of her exclamation. 
 
 "Why, know ye not," said the dame, "what powerful 
 
 enemies he has at court? know ye not But blisters on my 
 
 tongue, it runs too fast for my wit; enough to say, that you 
 had better make your bridal-bed under a falling house than 
 think of young Glenvarloch." 
 
 "lie is unfortunate, then!" said Margaret. "I knew it 
 — I divined it: there Avas sorrow in his voice when he said 
 even what was gay; there was a touch of misfortune in his 
 melancholy smile; he had not thus clung to my thoughts had 
 I seen him in all the mid-day glare of prosperity." 
 
 "Eomances have cracked her brain!" said Dame Ursula; 
 "she is a castaway girl — utterly distraught — loves a Scots 
 lord, and likes him better for being unfortunate! Well, mis- 
 tress, I am sorry this is a matter I cannot aid you in: it goes 
 against my conscience, and it is an affair above my condition, 
 and beyond my management; but I will keep your counsel." 
 
 " You will not be so base as to desert me, after having 
 drawn my secret from me!" said Margaret, indignantly; "if 
 you do, I know how to have my revenge; and if you do not, 
 I will reward you well. Eemember the house your husband 
 dwells in is my father's property." 
 
 "I remember it but too well. Mistress Margaret," said 
 Ursula, after a moment's reflection, "and I would serve you 
 in anything in my condition; but to meddle with such high 
 
 matters I shall never forget poor Mistress Turner,* my 
 
 honored patroness, peace be with her! She had the ill-luck 
 to meddle in the matter of Somerset and Overbury, and so 
 the great earl and his lady slipped their necks out of the collar, 
 and left her and some half-dozen others to suffer in their 
 stead. I shall never forget the sight of her standing on the 
 scaffold with the ruff round her pretty neck, all done up with 
 
 * See Note 14. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 95 
 
 the yellow starch wliicli I had so often helped her to make, 
 and that was soon to give place to a rough hempen cord. 
 Such a sight, sweetheart, will make one lotli to meddle with 
 matters that are too hot or heavy for their handling." 
 
 "' Out, you fool ! " answered Mistress Margaret; ' ' am I one 
 to speak to you about such criminal practices as that wretch 
 died for? All I desire of you is, to get me precise knowledge 
 of what affair brings this young nobleman to court." 
 
 "And when you have his secret," said Ursula, "what 
 will it avail 3'ou, sweetheart? And yet I would do your 
 errand, if yon could do as much for me." 
 
 "And what is it you would have of me?" said Mistress 
 Margaret. 
 
 "' What you have been angry with me for asking before," 
 answered Dame Ursula. "I want to have some light about 
 the story of your godfathers ghost, that is only seen at 
 prayers." 
 
 "Xot for the world," said Mistress Margaret, "will I be 
 a spy on my kind godfather's secrets. Xo, Ursula, that I 
 will never pry into which he desires to keep hidden. But 
 thou knowest that I have a fortune of my own, which must 
 at no distant day come under my own management; think of 
 some other recompense." 
 
 "'Ay, that I well know," said the counsellor; "it is that 
 two hundred per year, with your father's indulgence, that 
 makes you so Avilful, sweetheart." 
 
 " It may be so," said Margaret Eamsay; " meanwhile, do 
 you serve me truly, and here is a ring of value in pledge 
 that, when my fortune is in my own hand, I will redeem the 
 token with fifty broad pieces of gold." 
 
 "Fifty broad pieces of goldl" repeated the dame; "and 
 this ring, which is a right fair one, in token you fail not of 
 your word! Well, sweetheart, if I must put my throat in 
 peril, I am sure I cannot risk it for a friend more generous 
 than you; and I would not think of more than the pleasure 
 of serving you, only Benjamin gets more idle every day, and 
 our family " 
 
 " Say no more of it," said Margaret; "we understand 
 each other. And now, tell me what you know of this young 
 man's affairs, which made you so unwilling to meddle with 
 them?" 
 
 "Of that I can say no great matter as yet," answered 
 Dame Ursula ; " only I know, the most powerful among his own 
 countrymen are against him, and also the most powerful at 
 ^le court here. But I will learn more of it ; for it will be a 
 
96 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 dim print tliat I will not read for your sake, pretty Mistress 
 Margaret. Know you where this gallant dwells ?" 
 
 "I heard by accident," said Margaret, as if ashamed of 
 the minute particularity of her memory upon such an occa- 
 sion, "he lodges, I think — at one Christie's — if I mistake 
 not — at Paul's Wharf — a ship-chandler's." 
 
 "A proper lodging for a young baron ! Well, but cheer 
 you up. Mistress Margaret. If he has come up a caterpillar, 
 like some of his countrymen, he may cast his slough like 
 them, and come out a butterfly. So I drink good-night and 
 sweet dreams to you in another parting cup of sack ; and 
 you shall hear tidings of me within four-and-twenty hours. 
 And, once more, I commend you to your pillow, my pearl of 
 pearls, and Marguerite of Marguerites ! " 
 
 So saying, she kissed the reluctant cheek of her young 
 friend, or patroness, and took her departure with the light 
 and stealthy pace of one accustomed to accommodate her foot- 
 steps to the purposes of dispatch and secrecy. 
 
 Margaret Ramsay looked after her for some time in anxious 
 silence. "I did ill," she at length murmured, "to let her 
 wring this out of me ; but she is artful, bold, and serviceable 
 — and I think faithful — or, if not, she will be true at least 
 to her interest, and that I can command. I would I had not 
 spoken, however — I have begun a hopeless work. For what 
 has he said to me to warrant my meddling in his fortunes ? 
 Nothing but words of the most ordinary import — mere table- 
 talk and terms of course. Yet who knows " she said, 
 
 and then broke off, looking at the glass the while ; which, as 
 it reflected back a face of great beauty, probably suggested 
 to her mind a more favorable conclusion of the sentence 
 than she cared to trust her tongue withal. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 So pitiful a thing is suitor's state 1 
 Most miserable man, whom wicked fate 
 Hath brouglit to court to sue, for Had I tvist. 
 That few have found, and many a one hath miss'd 1 
 Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried, 
 What hell it is, in sueing long to bide : 
 To lose good davs that might be better spent ; 
 To waste long nights in pensive discontent ; 
 To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; 
 To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow; 
 To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peers'; 
 To have thy asking, yet wait many years ; 
 To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares ; 
 To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs ; 
 To fawn.'to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run, 
 To spend, to give, to want, to be undone. 
 
 Mother Huhherd's Tale. 
 
 Ox the morning of the day on which George Heriot had 
 prepared to escort the young Lord of Glenvarloch to tiie 
 court at Whitehall, it may be reasonably supposed that the 
 young man, whose fortunes were likely to depend on this 
 cast, I'elt himself more than usually anxious. He rose early, 
 made his toilet with uncommon care, and being enabled, 
 bv the generosity of his more plebeian countryman, to set 
 out a very handsome person to the best advantage, he 
 obtained a momentary approbation from himself as he 
 glanced at the mirror, and a loud and distinct plaudit from 
 his landlady, who declared at once that, in her judgment, he 
 would take the wind out of the sail of every gallant in the 
 presence, so much had she been able to enrich her discourse 
 with the metaphors of those with whom her husband dealt. 
 
 At the appointed hour, the barge of ^Master George 
 Heriot arrived, handsomely manned and appointed, having a 
 tilt with his own cipher and the arms of his company 
 painted thereupon. 
 
 The young Lord of Glenvarloch received the friend who 
 had evinced such disinterested attachment with the kind 
 courtesv which well became him. 
 
 Master Heriot then made him acquainted with the bounty 
 of his sovereign; which he paid over to his young friend, 
 declining what he had himself formerly advanced to him. 
 r w 
 
98 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Nigel felt all the gratitude which the citizen's disinterested 
 friendship had deserved, and was not wanting in expressing 
 it suitably. 
 
 Yet, as the young and liigh-born nobleman embarked to 
 go to the presence of his prince, under the patronage of one 
 whose best, or most distinguished, qualification was his being 
 an eminent member of the Goldsmith's Incorporation, he felt 
 a little surprised, if not abashed, at his own situation^: snd 
 Richie Moniplies, as he stepped over the gangway to take .lis 
 place forward in the boat, could not help muttering — ''It was 
 a changed day betwixt Master Heriot and his honest father 
 in the Kraemes; but, doubtless, there was a difference between 
 clinking on gold and silver and clattering upon pewter."' 
 
 On they glided, by the assistance of the oars of four stout 
 watermen, along the Thames, which then served for the prin- 
 cipal high-road betwixt London and Westminster; for few 
 ventured on horseback through the narrow and crowded streets 
 of the city, and coaches were then a luxury reserved only for 
 the higher nobility, and to which no citizen, whatever was 
 his wealth, presumed to aspire. The beauty of the banks, 
 especially on the northern side, where the gardens oi J:^ no- 
 bility descended from their hotels, in many places, down to 
 the water's edge, was pointed out to Nigel by his kind con- 
 ductor, and was pointed out in vain. The mind of the young 
 Lord of Glenvarloch was filled with anticipations, not the 
 most pleasant, concerning the manner in wliich he was likely 
 to be received by that monarch, in whose behalf his family 
 had been nearly reduced to ruin; and he was, with the usuiil 
 mental anxiety of those in such a situation, framing imagi- 
 nary qiiestions from the King, and over-toiling his spirit in 
 devising answers to them. 
 
 His conductor saw the labor of Nigel's mind, and avoided 
 increasing it by farther conversation; so that, when he had 
 explained to him briefly the ceremonies observed at court on 
 such occasions of presentation, the rest of their voyage was 
 performed in silence. 
 
 They landed at Whitehall Stairs, and entered the palace 
 after announcing their names — the guards paying to Lord 
 Glenvarloch the respect and honors due to his rank. 
 
 The young man's heart beat high and thick within him 
 as he came into the royal apartments. His education abroad, 
 conducted, as it had been, on a narrow and limited scale, had 
 given him but imperfect ideas of the grandeur of a court; 
 and the philosophical reflections which taught him to set cere- 
 monial and exterior splendor at defiance proved, like othei 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 99 
 
 maxims of mere pliilosopliy, ineffectual, at the moment they 
 Were weighed -against the imjjression naturally made on the 
 mind of an inexperienced youth by the unusual magniticence 
 of the scene. The splendid apartments through which they 
 passed, the rich apparel of the grooms, guards, and domestics 
 in waiting, and the ceremonial attending their 2)assage through 
 the long suite of apartments, had something in it, trifling 
 and commonplace as it might appear to practiced courtiers, 
 embarrassing, and even alarming, to one who went through 
 these forms for the first time, and who was doubtful what 
 sort of reception was to accompany his first appearance before 
 his bovereign, 
 
 Heriot, in anxious attention to save his young friend from 
 any momentary awkwardness, had taken care to give the 
 necessary password to the warders, grooms of the chambers, 
 ushers, or by whatever name they were designated; so they 
 passed on without interruption. 
 
 In this manner they passed several anterooms, filled 
 cliiefly with guards, attendants of the court, and their ac- 
 quaintances, male and female, who, dressed in their best ap- 
 parel, and with eyes rounded by eager curiosity to make the 
 most of their opportunity, stood, with beseeming modesty, 
 ranked against the wall, in a manner which indicated that 
 they were spectators, not performers, in the courtly exhibi- 
 tion. 
 
 Through these exterior apartments Lord Glenvarloch and 
 his city friend advanced into a large and splendid withdraw- 
 ing-room, communicating with the presence-chamber, into 
 which anteroom were admitted those only who, from birth, 
 their posts in the state or household, or by the particular 
 grant of the King, had right to attend the court, as men en- 
 titled to pay their respects to their sovereign. 
 
 Amid this favored and selected company, Nigel observed 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther, who, avoided and discountenanced 
 by those who knew how low he stood in court interest and 
 favor, was but too happy in the opportunity of hooking him- 
 self upon a person of Lord Glenvarloch's rank, who was as 
 yet so inexperienced as to feel it difficult to shake off an in- 
 truder. 
 
 The knight forthwith framed his grim features to a 
 ghastly smile, and, after a preliminary and patronizing nod 
 to George Reriot, accompanied with an aristocratic wave of 
 the hand, which intimated at once superiority and pro- 
 tection, he laid aside altogether the honest citizen, to whom 
 he owed many a dinner, to attach himself exclusively to the 
 
100 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 young lord, although he suspected he might occasionally be 
 in the predicament of needing one as mucli as himself. And 
 even the notice of tiiis original, singular and unamiable as he 
 was, was not entirely indilferent to Lord Glenvarloch, since 
 the absolute and somewhat constrained silence of his good 
 frieiui Heriot, which left him at liberty to retire painfully to 
 his own agitating rellections, was now relieved ; while, on 
 the other hand, he could not help feeling interest in the 
 sharp and sarcastic information poured upon him by an 
 observant, though discontented, courtier, to whom a patient 
 auditor, and he a man of title and rank, was as much a 
 prize as his acute and communicative disposition rendered 
 him an entertaining companion to Nigel Olifaunt. Heriot, 
 in the mean time, neglected by Sir Mungo, and avoiding 
 every attempt by which the grateful politeness of Lord Glen- 
 varloch strove to bring him into the conversation, stood by, 
 with a kind of half smile on his countenance ; but whether 
 excited by Sir Mungo's wit or arising at his expense, did not 
 exactly appear. 
 
 In the mean time, the trio occupied a nook of the ante- 
 room next to the door of the presence-chamber, which was 
 not yet thrown open, when Maxwell, with his rod of office, 
 came bustling into the apartment, where most men, except- 
 ing those of high rank, made way for him. He stopped be- 
 side the party in which we are interested, looked for a 
 moment at the young Scots nobleman, then made a slight 
 obeisance to Heriot, and lastly, addressing Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther, began a hurried complaint to him of the 
 misbehavior of the gentlemen-pensioners and warders, who 
 suffered all sort of citizens, suitors, and scriveners to sneak 
 into the outer apartments, without either respect or decency. 
 " The English," he said, " were scandalized, for such a 
 thing durst not be attempted in the Queen's days. In her 
 time, there was then the courtyard for the mobility, and the 
 apartments for the nobility ; and it reflects on your place. 
 Sir Mungo," he added, "belonging to the household as you 
 do, that such things should not'be better ordered." 
 
 Here Sir Mungo, afflicted, as was frequently the case on 
 such occasions, with one of his usual fits of "deafness, an 
 swered, " It was no wonder the mobility used freedoms, 
 when those whom they saw in office were so little better in 
 blood and havings than themselves." 
 
 '' Yon are right, sir — quite right," said Maxwell, putting 
 his hand on the tarnished embroidery on the old knight's 
 sleeve : " when such fellows see men in office dressed in cast- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 101 
 
 e£f suits, like paltry stage-players, it is no wonder the court 
 is thronged with intruders." 
 
 " Were you lauding the taste of my embroidery, Maister 
 Maxwell ? " answered the knight, who apparently inter- 
 preted the deputy-chamberlain's meaning rather from his 
 action than his words. "It is of an ancient and liberal 
 pattern, having been made by your mother's father, auld 
 James Stitchell, a master-fashioner of lionest repute, in 
 Merlin's Wynd, whom I made a point to employ, as I am 
 now happy to remember, seeing your father thought fit to 
 inter nuirry with sic a person's daughter." * 
 
 Maxwell looked stern ; but, conscious there was nothing 
 to be got of Sir Mungo in the way of amends, and that 
 prosecuting the quarrel with such an adversary would only 
 render him ridiculous, and make public a misalliance of 
 which he had no reason to be proud, he covered his resent- 
 ment with a sneer ; and, expressing his regret that Sir 
 Mungo was become too deaf to understand or attend to what 
 was said to him, walked on, and planted himself beside the 
 folding-doors of the presence-chamber, at which he was to 
 perform the duty of deputy-chamberlain, or usher, so soon 
 as they should be opened. 
 
 " The door of the presence is about to open," said the 
 goldsmith in a whisper, to his young friend ; " my condition 
 permits me to go no farther with you. Fail not to present 
 yourself boldly, according to your birth, and offer your 
 supplication ; which the King will not refuse to accept, and, 
 as I hope, to consider favorably." 
 
 As he spoke, the door of the presence-chamber opened 
 accordingly, and, as is usual on such occasions, the courtiers 
 began to advance towards it, and to enter in a slow, but con- 
 tinuous and uninterrupted, stream. 
 
 As Xigel presented himself in his turn at the entrance, 
 and mentioned his name and title. Maxwell seemed to hesi- 
 tate. " You are not known to any one," he said. " It is 
 my duty to suffer no one to pass to the presence, my lord, 
 whose face is unknown to me, unless upon the word of a 
 responsible person." 
 
 " I came with Master George Heriot," said Nigel, in some 
 embarrassment at this unexpected interruption. 
 
 " Master Heriot's name will pass current for much gold and 
 silver, mv lord," replied Maxwell, with a civil sneer, " but 
 not for birtli and rank. I am compelled by my office to be 
 peremptory. The entrance is impeded ; I am much con- 
 cerned to say it — your lordship must stand back." 
 
 *SeeNotel2, p. 444. 
 
103 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ''What is the matter?" said an old Scotch nobleman^ 
 who had been speaking with George lieriot, after he had sep- 
 arated from Nigel, and who now came forward, observing the 
 altercation betwixt tlie latter and Maxwell. 
 
 "It is only Master Uejjuty-Chamberlain Maxwell," said 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther, "expressing liis joy to see Lord 
 Gienvarloch at court, whose father gave him his office ; at 
 least I think ho is speaking to that purport, for your 
 lordship kens my imperfection." A subdued laugh, such 
 as the situation permitted, passed round among those 
 who heard tliis specimen of Sir Mungo's sarcastic temper. 
 But the old nobleman stepped still more forward, saying, 
 " What ! the son of my gallant old oj)pouent, Ochtred 
 [Randal] Olifaunt? I will introduce him to the presence 
 myself." 
 
 So saying, he took Nigel by the arm, without farther cere- 
 mony, and was about to lead him forward, when Maxwell, 
 still keeping his rod across the door, said, but with hesita- 
 tion and embarrassment, " My lord, this gentleman is not 
 known, and I have orders to be scrupulous." 
 
 " Tutti-taiti, man," said the old lord, "I will be answer- 
 able he is his fathers son, from the cut of his eyebrow ; and 
 thou. Maxwell, knewest his father well enough to have 
 spared thy scruples. Let us pass, man," So saying, he put 
 aside the deputy-chamberlain's rod and entered the presence- 
 room, still holding the young nobleman by the arm. 
 
 " Why, I must know you, man," he said — *' I must know 
 you. I knew your father -well, man, and I have broke a 
 lance and crossed a blade Avith him ; and it is to my credit 
 that I am living to brag of it. He was king's-man, and 1 
 was queen's-man, during the Douglas Avars — young fellows 
 both, that feared neither fire nor steel ; and we had some oM 
 feudal quarrels besides that had come doAvn from father to 
 son, with our seal-rings, two-handed broadswords, and plate 
 coats, and the crests on our burgonets," 
 
 " Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whispered a gen- 
 tleman of the chamber. "The King! — the King!" 
 
 The old earl (for such he proved) took the hint and was 
 silent ; and James, advancing from a side-door, received in 
 succession the compliments of strangers, while a little group 
 of favorite courtiers, or officers of the household, stood 
 around him, to whom he addressed himself from time to 
 time. Some more pains had been bestowed on his toilet than 
 upon the occasion Avhen Ave first presented the monarch to 
 our readers ; but there was a natural awkwardness about his 
 
THE FORTUNES CF NIGEL 103 
 
 figure which prevented liis clothes from sitting handsomely, 
 and the i^rudence or timidity of his disposition had made 
 him adopt the custom already noticed, of wearing a dress 
 so thickly quilted as might withstand the stroke of a dagger, 
 which added an ungainly stiffness to his whole appearance, 
 contrasting oddly with the frivolous, ungraceful, and fidget- 
 ing motions with which he accompanied his conversation. 
 And yet, though the King's deportment was very undigni- 
 fied he had a manner so kind, familiar, and good-humored, 
 was so little apt to veil over or conceal his own foibles, and 
 liad so much indulgence and sympathy for those of others, 
 that his address, joined to his learning and a certain propor- 
 tion of shrewd mother-wit, failed not to make a favorable 
 impression on those Avho approached his person. 
 
 When the Earl of Huntinglen had presented Nigel to his 
 sovereign, a ceremony which the good peer took upon him- 
 self, the King received the young lord very graciously, and 
 observed to his introducer that he " was fain to see them twa 
 stand side by side ; for I trow, my Lord Huntinglen," con- 
 tinued he, *' your ancestors, ay, and e'en your lordship's self 
 and this lad's father, have stood front to front at the sword's 
 point, and that is a worse posture." 
 
 " Until your Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, " made 
 Lord Ochtred [Randal] and me cross palms, upon the mem- 
 orable day when your Majesty feasted all the nobles that were 
 at feud together, and made them join hands in your pres- 
 ence " 
 
 " I mind it weel," said the King — " I mind it weel ; it 
 was a blessed day, being the nineteen of September, of all 
 days in the year ; and it was a blythe sport to see how some 
 of the carle'' girned as they claj)ped loofs together. By my 
 saul, I thought some of them, mair special the Hieland 
 chiels, wad have broken out in our own presence ; but we 
 caused the;a to march hand in hand to the Cross, ourselves 
 leading the way, and there drink a blythe cup of kindness 
 with ilk other, to the stanching of feud and perpetuation of 
 amity. Auld John Anderson was provost that year ; the 
 carle grat for joy, and the bailies and councillors danced 
 bareheaded in our presence like five-year-auld colts, for very 
 triumph." 
 
 ''It was indeed a happy day," said Lord Huntinglen, 
 " and will not be forgotten in the history of your Majesty's 
 reign." 
 
 ''I would not that it were, my lord," replied the mon- 
 arch — "'I would not that it were pretermitted in our annals. 
 
;04 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Ay, ay — Beati padfici. My English lieges here may weel 
 make much of me, for I would have them to know, thej 
 have gotten the only peaceable man that ever came of m^ 
 family. If James with the Fiery Face had come among you,^ 
 he said, looking round him, *'ormy great-grandsire, of Flod- 
 den memory!" 
 
 " We should have sent him back to the North again," 
 whispered one English nobleman. 
 
 " At least," said another, in the same inaudible tone, " we 
 should have had a man to our sovereign, though he were but 
 a Scotsman." 
 
 " And now, my young springald," said the King to Lord 
 Glenvarloch, '' where have you been spending your calf- 
 time?" 
 
 " At Leyden, of late, may it please your Majesty," an- 
 swered Lord Nigel. 
 
 "Aha! a scholar," said the King; "and, by my saul, a 
 modest and ingenuous youth, that hath not forgotten how to 
 blush, like most of our travelled Monsieurs. We will treat 
 him conformably." 
 
 Then drawing himself up, coughing slightly, and looking 
 around him with the conscious importance of superior leaim- 
 ing, while all the courtiers who understood, or understood 
 not, Latin, pressed eagerly forward to listen, the sapient 
 monarch prosecuted his inquiries as follows: 
 
 "Hem: — hem! Salve bis, quaterque salve Glenvarlo- 
 chides uoster! Nuperumne ab Lugduno Batavorum Britan- 
 uiam rediisti?" 
 
 The young nobleman replied, bowing low, " Imo, Rex 
 augustissime, biennium fere apud Lugdunenses moratus 
 sum." 
 
 James proceeded — "Biennium dicis? bene, bene, optume 
 factum est. Non uno die, quod dicunt, — intelligisti. Do- 
 mine G-lenvarlochiensis? Aha!" 
 
 Nigel replied by a reverent bow, and the King, turning to 
 those behind him, said — " Adolescens quidem ingenui vul- 
 tus ingenuique pudoris." Then resumed his learned queries. 
 " Et quid hodie Lugdunenses loquuntur? Vossius vester, 
 nihilne novi scripsit? nihil certe, quod doleo, typis recenter 
 edidit." 
 
 " Valet quidem Vossius, Eex benevole," replied Nigel, 
 " ast senex veneratissimus annum agit, ni fallor septuagesi- 
 mum. " 
 
 "Virum, mehercle, vix tam grandjevum crediderim," 
 replied the monarch. " Et Vorstius iste, Arminii improbi 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 10~. 
 
 Buccessor »que ac sectator — lierosne adluic, nt cum Homero 
 loquar, Zcob^ iazl xai i-'c yOui^c oiffxojui" 
 
 Xigel, by good fortune, remembered that Vorstius, the 
 divine last mentioned in his Majesty's queries about the state 
 of Dutch literature, had been engaged in a personal contro- 
 versy with James, in which the King had taken so deep an 
 interest, as at lengtli to hint in his public correspondence 
 with the United States, that they will do well to apply the 
 secular arm to stop the progress of heresy by violent meas- 
 ures against tlie professor's person — a demand which their 
 Mighty Mightinesses' principles of universal toleration in- 
 duced them to elude, though with some difficulty. Know- 
 ing all this. Lord Glenvarloch, though a courtier of only five 
 minutes' standing, had address enough to reply — 
 
 " Vivum quidem, hand diu est, hominem videbam; xi- 
 gere autem quis dicat qui sub f ulminibus eloquentiae tuae, Eex 
 magne, jamdudum prouus jacet, et prostratus?"* 
 
 This last tx-ibute to his polemical powers completed 
 James's happiness, which the triumph of exhibiting his 
 erudition had already raised to a considerable height. 
 
 He rubbed his hands, snapped his fingers, fidgeted, 
 clmckled, exclaimed — ''Euge! belle! ojitime ! " Q.y\dii\\rnmgio 
 the Bishops of Exeter and Oxford, who stood behind him. 
 he said, " Ye see, my lords, no bad specimen of our Scottish 
 Latinity, with which language we would all our subjects of 
 England were as well imbued as this and other youths of 
 honorable birth in our auld kingdom; also, we keep the gen- 
 uine and Roman pronunciation, like other learned nations on 
 the Continent, sae that we hold communion with any scholar 
 in the universe who can but speak the Latin tongue; whereas 
 ye, our learned subjects of England, have introduced into 
 your universities, otherwise most learned, a fashion of pro- 
 nouncing like iinto the 'nippit foot and clippit f oot ' of the 
 bride in the fairy tale, whilk manner of speech — take it not 
 amiss that I be round with you — can be understood by no 
 nation on earth saving yourselves; wdiereby Latin, quoad 
 Anglos, ceaseth to be communis lingva, the general drago- 
 man, or interpreter, between all the wise men of the 
 earth." 
 
 The Bishop of Exeter bowed, as in acquiescence to the 
 royal censure; but he of Oxford stood upright, as mindful 
 over what subjects his see extended, and as being equally 
 
 * Lest any I.idy or gentleman should suspect there is aught of mystery concealed 
 under the LiUin ki'ntt^nces. they will be pleased to understana that they coiitain 
 only a few cojumonplaoe phrases, relating to tlie state of letters in Holland, which 
 neither deserve i^nr would endure a literal trauslaiion. 
 
106 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 willing to become food for fagots in defence of the Latinity 
 of the university as for any article of his religious creed. 
 
 The King, without awaiting an answer from either prel- 
 ate, proceeded to question Lord Nigel, but in the vernacular 
 tongue — "Weel, my likely alumnus of the Muses, and what 
 make you so far from the North?" 
 
 " To pay my homage to your Majesty/^ said the young 
 nobleman, kneeling on one knee, " and to lay before you," 
 he added, '' this my humble and dutiful supplication." 
 
 The presenting of a pistol would certainly have startled 
 King James more, but could, setting apart the fright, hardly 
 have been more unpleasing to his indolent disposition. 
 
 " And is it even so, man? " said he; " and can no single 
 man, were it but for the rarity of the case, ever come up f rae 
 Scotland excepting ex proposito — on set purpose, to see what 
 he can make out of his loving sovereign? It is but three 
 days syne that we had weel-nigh lost our life, and put three 
 kingdoms into dule- weeds, from the over-haste of a clumsy- 
 handed peasant to thrust a jDacket into our hand, and now 
 we are beset by the like imjiediment in our very court. To our 
 secretary with that gear, my lord — to our secretary with that 
 gear." 
 
 "1 have already offered my humble supplication to your 
 Majesty's Secretary of State," said Lord Glenvarloch; "but 
 it seems " 
 
 ''That he would not receive it, I warrant?" said the 
 King, interrupting him. " By my saul, our secretary kens 
 that point of kingcraft called refusing better than we do, 
 and will look at nothing but what he likes himsell: I think 
 I wad make a better secretary to him than he to me. Weel, 
 my lord, you are welcome to London; and, as ye seem an 
 acute and learned youth, I advise ye to turn your neb north- 
 ward as soon as ye like, and settle yoursell for a while at 
 St. Andrews, and we will be right glad to hear that yon 
 prosper in your studies. Incunibite remis fortitei'." 
 
 While the King spoke thus, he held the petition of the 
 young lord carelessly, like one who only delayed till the sup- 
 plicant's back was turned to throw it away, or at least lay it 
 aside to be no more looked at. The petitioner, who read this 
 in his cold and indifferent looks, and in the manner in which 
 he twisted and crumpled together the paper, arose with a 
 bitter sense of anger and disappointment, made a profound 
 obeisance, and was about to retire hastily. But Lord 
 Huntinglen,* who stood by him, checked his intention by an 
 
 * See Note 15. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL 107 
 
 almost imperceptible touch upon the skirt of his cloak, anvi 
 Nigel, taking the hint, retreated onl}- a few steps from the 
 royal presence, and then made a pause. In the mean time. 
 Lord Huntinglen kneeled before James in his turn, and 
 said, " May it please your Majesty to remember, that upon 
 one certain occasion you did promise to grant me a boon 
 every year of your sacred life?" 
 
 '"* I mind it weel, man," answered James — " I mind it 
 weel, and good reason why: it was when you unclasped the 
 fause traitor Kuthven's fangs from about our royal throat, 
 and drove your dirk into him like a true subject. We did 
 then, as you remind us — whilk was unnecessary— being 
 partly beside ourselves with joy at our liberation, promise 
 Ave would grant you a free boon every 3-ear; Avhilk promise, on 
 our coming to menseful possession of our royal faculties, we 
 did confirm, restrictive always and conditionaliter that your 
 lordship's demand should be such as we, in our royal discre- 
 tion, should think reasonable." 
 
 '' Even so, gracious sovereign," said the old earl, " and 
 may I yet farther crave to know, if I have ever exceeded the 
 bounds of your royal benevolence ? " 
 
 " By my word^ man, no!" said the King; ^' I cannot re- 
 member you have asked much for yourself, if it be not a 
 dog, or a hawk, or a buck out of our park ^ at Theobald's, or 
 such-like. But to what serves this preface?" 
 
 " To the boon which I am now to ask of your Grace," 
 said Lord Huntinglen; " which is, that your Majesty would 
 be pleased, on the instant, to look at the placet of Lord 
 Glenvarloch, and do upon it what your own just and royal 
 nature shall think meet and just, without reference to your 
 secretary or any other of your council." 
 
 " By my saiil, my lord, this is strange," said the King; 
 "ye are pleading for the son of your enemy!" 
 
 " Of one who teas my enemy till your Majesty made 
 him my friend," answered Lord Huntinglen. 
 
 "Weel spoken, my lord! " said the King, "and with a 
 true Christian spirit. And, respecting the supplication of 
 this young man, I partly guess where the matter lies; and in 
 plain troth I had promised to George Heriot to be good to 
 the lad. But then here the shoe pinches. Steenie 
 and Baby Charles cannot abide him, neither can your 
 own son,"^ my lord; and so, methinks, he had better go down 
 to Scotland before he comes to ill-luck by them." 
 
 " Mv son. an it please your Majesty, so far as he is con- 
 cerned, 'shall not direct my doings," said the earl, " nor any 
 wild-headed young man of them all." 
 
108 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 "Why, neither shall they mine," replied the monarch; 
 *' by my father's saul, none of them all shall play rex with 
 me; I will do what I will, and what I aught, like a free 
 king." 
 
 " Your Majesty will then grant me my boon?" said the 
 Lord Huntinglen. 
 
 " Ay, marry will I — marry will I," said the King; " but 
 follow me this way, man, where we may be more private." 
 
 He led Lord Huntinglen with rather a hurried step 
 through the courtiers, all of whom gazed earnestly on this 
 unwonted scene, as is the fashion in all courts on similar 
 occasions. The King passed into a little cabinet, and bade, 
 in the first moment, Lord Huntinglen lock or bar the door; 
 but countermanded his direction in the next, saying, " No, 
 no, no — bread o' life, man, I am a free king — will do what I 
 will and what I should — I am Justus et tenax propositi, man; 
 nevertheless, keep by the door. Lord Huntinglen, in case 
 Steenie should come in with his mad humor." 
 
 " my poor master! " groaned the Earl of Huntinglen. 
 " When you were in your own cold country, you had warmer 
 blood in your veins." 
 
 The King hastily looked over the petition or memorial, 
 every now and then glancing his eye towards the door, and 
 then sinking it hastily on the paper, ashamed that Lord 
 Huntinglen, whom he respected, should suspect him of tim- 
 idity. 
 
 " To grant the truth," he said, after he had finished his 
 lasty perusal, "this is a hard case; and harder than it was 
 •epresented to me, though I had some inkling of it before. 
 And so the lad only wants payment of the siller due from 
 us, in order to reclaim his paternal estate? But then, Hunt- 
 inglen, the lad will have other debts, and why burden him- 
 sell with sae mony acres of barren woodland? Let the land 
 gang, man — let the land gang. Steenie has the promise of it 
 from our Scottish chancellor: it is the best hunting-ground 
 ii: Scotland; and Baby Charles and Steenie want to kill a 
 buck there this next year. They maun haethe land — they 
 maun hae the land; and our debt shall be paid to the young 
 man plack and bawbee, and he may have the spending of it 
 at our court; or if he has such an card hunger, wouns ! man, 
 we'll stuff his stomach w^th English land, which is worth 
 twice as much, ay, ten times as much, as these accursed hills 
 and heughs, and mosses and muirs, that he is sae keen after." 
 
 All this while the poor King ambled up and down the 
 apartment in a piteous state of uncertainty, which was made 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 109 
 
 more ridiculous by his shambling, circular mode of managing 
 his legs, and his ungainly fashion on such occasions of fiddling 
 with the bunches of ribbons which fastened the lower part 
 of his dress. 
 
 Lord Huntinglen listened with great composure, and 
 answered, *' An it please your Majesty, there was an answer 
 yielded by Xaboth when Ahab coveted his vineyard — 'The 
 Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers 
 auto thee/" 
 
 " Ey, my lord — ey, my lord!" ejaculated James, while 
 all the color mounted both to his cheek and nose; "I hope 
 ye mean not to teach me divinity? Ye need not fear, my 
 lord, that I will shun to do justice to every man; and, since 
 your lordship will give me no help to take up this in a more 
 peaceful manner — whilk, methinks, would be better for the 
 young man, as I said before — why, since it maun be so,' 
 'sdeath, I am a free king, man, and he shall have his money 
 and redeem his land, and make a kirk and a miln of it, an 
 he will." So saying, he hastily Avrote an order on the Scot- 
 tish Exchequer for the sum in question, and then added, 
 " How they are to pay it, I see not; but I Avarrant he will find 
 money on the order ^mong the goldsmiths, who can find it 
 for every one but me. And now you see, my Lord of Hunt- 
 inglen, that I am neither an untrue man, to deny you the 
 boon w..ilk I became bound for; nor an Ahab, to covet 
 Naboth's vineyard; nor a mere nose-of- wax, to be twisted this 
 way and that by favorites and counsellors at their pleasure. 
 I tiiink you will grant now that I am none of those?" 
 
 '^ You are my own native and noble prince," said Hunt- 
 inglen, as he knelt to kiss the royal hand — '' just and gener- 
 ous, whenever you listen to the workings of your own heart." 
 
 ''Ay — ay," said the King, laughing good-naturedly, as 
 he raised his laithful servant from the ground, " that is 
 what ye all say when I do anything to please ye. There — 
 there, take the sign-manual, and away with you and this 
 voung fellow. I wonder Steenie and Baby Charles have not 
 broken in on us before now." 
 
 Lord Huntinglen hastened from the cabinet, foreseeing a 
 scene ^.t which he was unwilling to be present, but which 
 sometimes occurred when James roused himself so far as to 
 exert his own free will, of whicli he boasted so much, in spite 
 of that of his imperious favorite Steenie, as he called the 
 Duke of Buckingham, from a supposed resemblance betwixt 
 his very handsome countenance and that with which the 
 Italian artists represented the proto-martyr Stephen. In 
 
no WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 fact, tne haughty favorite, who had theuniisnal good fortuiio 
 to stand as high in the opinion of tlie heir-apparent as of the 
 existing monarch, had considerably diminished in his respect 
 towards the hitter ; and it was apparent to the more shrewd 
 courtiers that James endured his domination rather from 
 habit, timidity, and a dread of encountering his stormy 
 passions, tlian from any heartfelt continuation of regard 
 towards him, whose greatness had been the Avork of his own 
 hands. To save himself the pain of seeing what was likel} 
 to take place on the duke's return, and to preserve the King 
 from the additional humiliation which the presence of such 
 a witness must have occasioned, the earl left the cabinet as 
 speedily as possible, having first carefully pocketed the im- 
 portant sign-manual. 
 
 No sooner had he entered the presence-room than he 
 hastily sought lord Glenvarloch, Avho had withdrawn into 
 the embrasure of one of the windows, from the general gaze 
 of men who seemed disposed only to afford him the notice 
 which arises from surprise and curiosity, and, taking him 
 by the arm, without speaking, led him out of the presence- 
 chamber into the first anteroom. Here they found the 
 worthy goldsmith, who approached them with looks of curi- 
 osity, which were checked by the old lord, who said hastily, 
 "All is well. Is your barge in Avaiting ?" Heriot answered' 
 in the afiirmative. " Then," said Lord Huntinglen, " you 
 shall give me a cast in it, as the watermen say, and I, in 
 requital, will give you both your dinner ; for we must have 
 some conversation together." 
 
 They both followed the earl without speaking, and were 
 in the second anteroom when the important annunciation of 
 the ushers, and the hasty murmur with which all made 
 ample way as the company repeated to each other, "■ The 
 duke — the duke !" made them aware of the approach of the 
 omnipotent favorite. 
 
 He entered, that unhappy minion of court favor, sump- 
 tuously dressed in the picturesque attire which will live for- 
 ever on the canvas of Vandyke, and which marks so well the 
 proud age when aristocracy, though undermined and nod- 
 ding to its fall, still, by external show and profuse expense, 
 endeavored to assert its paramount superiority over the 
 inferior orders. The handsome and commanding counte- 
 nance, stately form, and graceful action and manners of the 
 Duke of Buckingham made him become that picturesque 
 dress beyond any man of his time. At present, however, his 
 countenance seemed discomposed, his dress a little more dis- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 111 
 
 ordered than became the place, his step liasty, and his voice 
 imperative. 
 
 All marked the angry spot upon his brow, and bore back 
 so suddenly to make way for him tluit the Earl of Huntinglen, 
 who affected no extraordinary haste on the occasion, with 
 his companions, who could not, if they would, have decently 
 left him, remained as it were by themselves in the middle of 
 the room, and in the very path of the angry favorite. He 
 touched his cap sternly as he looked on Huntinglen, but 
 unbonneted to Heriot, and sank his beaver, with its shadowy 
 plume, as low as the floor, with a profound air of mock 
 respect. In returning his greeting, which he did simply 
 and unaffectedly, the citizen only said — " Too much courtesy, 
 my lord duke, is often the reverse of kindness." 
 
 "I grieve you should think so. Master Heriot," answered 
 the duke ; ''I only meant, by my homage, to claim your 
 protection, sir — your patronage. You are become, I under- 
 stand, a solicitor of suits — a promoter — an undertaker — a 
 fautor of court suitors of merit and quality who chance to be 
 penniless. I trust your bags will bear you out in your new- 
 boast." 
 
 "They will bear me the farther, my lord duke," an- 
 swered the goldsmith, ''that my boast is jjut small." 
 
 " 0, you do yourself less than justice, my good Master 
 Heriot," continued the duke, in the same tone of irony : 
 "you have a marvellous court-faction, to be the son of an 
 Edinburgh tinker. Have the goodness to prefer me to the 
 knowledge of the high-born nobleman who is honored and 
 advantaged by your patronage." 
 
 " That shall be mij task," said Lord Huntinglen, with 
 emphasis. "My lord duke, I desire you to know Nigel 
 Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch, representative of one of the 
 most ancient and powerful baronial houses in Scotland. 
 Lord Glenvarloch, I present you to his Grace the Duke of 
 Buckingham,* representative of Sir George Villiers, knight, 
 of Brookesby, in the county of Leicester." 
 
 The duke colored still more high as he bowed to Lord 
 Glenvarloch scornfully — a courtesy which the other returned 
 haughtily and with restrained indignation. "We know 
 each other, then," said the duke, after a moment's pause : 
 and as if he had seen something in the young nobleman 
 which merited more serious notice than the bitter raillery 
 with which he had commenced — "we know each other; and 
 you know me, my lord, for your enemy." 
 
 * See Note 16. 
 
1 2 WAVERLEY XOVELS 
 
 "I thank you for your plainness, my lord duke,'*' replied 
 Nigel ; "an open enemy is better than a hollow friend." 
 
 ''For you, my Lord Huntinglen,'' said the duke, "me- 
 thinks you have but now overstepped the limits of the in- 
 dulgence permitted to you as the father of the Prince's friend 
 and my own." 
 
 "By my word, my lord duke," replied the earl, "it is 
 easy for any one to outstep boundaries of the existence of 
 which he was not aware. It is neither to secure my pro- 
 tection nor approbation that my son keeps such exalted com- 
 pany." 
 
 "0, my lord, we know you, and indulge you," said the 
 duke; "you are one of those who presume for a life-long 
 upon the merit of one good action." 
 
 "In faith, my lord, and if it be so," said the old earl, "I 
 have at least the advantage of such as presume more than I 
 do, without having done any action of merit whatever. But 
 I mean not to quarrel with you, my lord ; we can neither be 
 friends nor enemies: you have 3'our path and I have mine." 
 
 Buckingham only replied by throwing on his bonnet, 
 and shaking its lof ty^ plume with a careless and scornful toss 
 of the head. They^parted thus ; the duke walking onwards 
 through the apartments, and the others leaving the palace 
 and repairing to "Whitehall Stairs, where they embarked on 
 board the barge of the citizen. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Bid not thy fortune troll upon the wheels 
 Of yonder dancing cubes of mottled bone ; 
 And drown it not, like Egypt's royal hnrlot. 
 Dissolving her rich pearl in the brimm'd wine-cup. 
 These are the arts, Lothario, which shrink acres 
 Into brief yards— bring sterling pounds to farthings, 
 Credit to infamy ; and the poor gull. 
 Who might have lived an Lonor'd, easy life, 
 To ruin, and an unregarded grave. 
 
 The Changes. 
 
 When they were fairly embarked on the Thames, the earl 
 took from his pocket the supplication, and, pointing out to 
 George Heriot the royal warrant indorsed thereon, asked him 
 if it were in due and regular form. The worthy citizen 
 hastily read it over, thrust forth his hand as if to congratulate 
 the Lord Glenvarloch, then checked himself, pulled out his 
 barnacles (a present from old David Ramsay), and again 
 perused the warrant with the most business-like and critical 
 attention. " It is strictly correct and formal," he said, look- 
 ing to the Earl of Huntinglen, "and I sincerely rejoice at it." 
 
 "I doubt nothing of its formality," said the earl ; "the 
 King understands business well, and, if he does not practise 
 it often, it is only because indolence obscures parts which are 
 naturally well qualified for the discharge of affairs. But 
 what is next to be done for our young friend. Master Heriot ? 
 You know how I am circumstanced. Scottish lords, living 
 at the English court, have seldom command of money ; yet, 
 unless a sum can be presently raised on this warrant, matters 
 standing as you hastily hinted to me, the mortgage, wadset, 
 ■or whatever it is called, will be foreclosed." 
 
 "It is true," said Heriot, in some embarrassment, "there 
 ■'s a large sum wanted in redemption ; yet, if it is not raised, 
 there will be an expiry of the legal, as our lawyers call it, 
 and the estate will be evicted." 
 
 "My noble — my worthy friends, who have taken up my 
 cause so undeservedly, so unexpectedly," said Nigel, "do 
 not let me be a burden on your kindness. You have already 
 done too much where nothing was merited." 
 
 "Peace, man — peace," said Lord Huntinglen, "and let 
 old Heriot and I puzzle this scent out. He is about to open 
 
 — hark to hi in'" 
 
 8 .118 
 
114 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 "My lord," said the citizen, "tlic Duke of Buckingham 
 sneers at our city money-bags ; yet tliey can sometimes open 
 to prop a falling and a noble house." 
 
 "We know they can," said Lord Huntinglen. "Mind 
 not Buckingham, he is a Peg-a- Ramsay ; and now for the 
 remedy." 
 
 "I partly hinted to Lord Glenvarloch already," said 
 Heriot, "that the redemption money might be advanced 
 upon such a warrant as the present, and I will engage my 
 credit that it can. But then, in order to secure the lender, 
 he must come in the shoes of the creditor to whom he 
 advances payment." 
 
 "Come in his shoes!" replied the earl. "Why, what 
 have boots or shoes to do with this matter, my good friend?" 
 
 "It is a law phrase, my lord. My experience has made 
 me pick up a few of them," said Heriot. 
 
 "Ay, and of better things along with them. Master 
 George," replied Lord Huntinglen ; "but what means it?" 
 
 "Simply this," resumed the citizen, "that the lender of 
 this money will transact with the holder of the mortgage, 
 or wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, and ebtain from 
 him such a conveyance to his right as shall leave the lands 
 pledged for the debt, in case the warrant upon the Scottish 
 Exchequer should prove unproductive. I fear, in this un- 
 certainty of public credit, that, without some such counter 
 security, it will be very difficult to find so large a sum." 
 
 "Ho la!" said the Earl of Huntinglen, "halt there! a 
 thought strikes me. What if the new creditor should ad- 
 mire the estate as a hunting-field as much as my Lord Grace 
 of Buckingham seems to do, and should wish to kill a buck 
 there in the summer season ? It seems to me that, on your 
 plan. Master George, our new friend will be as well entitled 
 to block Lord Glenvarloch out of his inheritance as the 
 present holder of the mortgage." 
 
 The citizen laughed. " I will engage," he said, "that the 
 keenest sportsman to whom I may apply on this occasion 
 shall not have a thought beyond the lord mayor''s Easter hunt 
 in Epping Forest. But your lordship's caution is reasonable. 
 The creditor must be bound to allow Lord Glenvarloch suffi- 
 cient time to redeem his estate by means of the royal warrant, 
 and must waive in his favor the right of instant foreclosure, 
 which may be, I should think, the more easily managed, as 
 the riglit of redemption must be exercised in his own name." 
 
 "' But where shall we find a person in London fit to draw 
 the necessary writings?" said the earl. "If my old friend 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 115 
 
 Sir John Skene of Hallyards had lived, we should have had 
 his advice ; but time presses, and " 
 
 "I know," said Heriot, "an orphan lad, a scrivener, that 
 dwells by Temple Bar ; he can draw deeds both after the 
 English and Scottish fashion, and I have trusted him often 
 in matters of weight and of inipartance. I will send one of 
 m.j serving-men for him, and the mutual deeds may be ex- 
 ecuted in your lordship's presence ; for, as things stand, there 
 should be no delay." His lordship readily assented ; and, as 
 they now landed upon the private stairs leading down to the 
 river from the gardens of the handsome hotel which he in- 
 habited, the messenger was dispatched without loss of time. 
 
 Nigel, who had sat almost stupefied while these zealous 
 friends volunteered for him in arranging the measures by 
 which his fortune was to be disembarrassed, now made an- 
 other eager attempt to force upon them his broken expressions 
 of thanks and gratitude. But he was again silenced by Lord 
 Huntinglen, who declared he would not hear a word on that 
 topic, and proposed instead, that they should take a turn in 
 the pleached alley, or sit upon the stone bench which over- 
 looked the Thames, until his son's arrival should give the 
 signal for dinner. 
 
 "I desire to introduce Dalgarno and Lord Glenvarloch to 
 each other," he said, "as two who will be near neighbors, and 
 I trust will be more kind ones than their fathers were for- 
 merly. There is but three Scots miles betwixt the castles, 
 and the turrets of the one are visible from the battlements of 
 the other." 
 
 The old earl was silent for a moment, and appeared to 
 muse upon the recollections which the vicinity of the castles 
 had summoned up. 
 
 " Does Lord Dalgarno follow the court to Newmarket 
 next week?" said Heriot, by way of renewing the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 "He proposes so, I think," answered Lord Huntinglen, 
 relapsed into his reverie for a minute or two, and then ad- 
 dressed Nigel somewhat abruptly — 
 
 "My young friend, when you attain possession of your 
 inheritance, as I hope you soon will, I trust you will not add 
 one to the idle followers of the court, but reside on your 
 patrimonial estate, cherish your ancient tenants, relieve and 
 assist your poor kinsmen, protect the poor against subaltern 
 oppression, and do what our fathers used to do, with fewer 
 lights and with less means than we have." 
 
 " And yet the advice to keep the country," said Heriot- 
 
116 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 "comes from an ancient and constant ornament of the 
 court." 
 
 " From an old courtier, indeed," said the earl, " and the 
 first of my family that could so write himself : my gray beard 
 falls on a cambric rutf and a silken doublet, my father's de- 
 scended upon a buff coat and a breast-plate. I would not that 
 those days of battle returned; but I should love well to make 
 the oaks of my old forest of Dalgarno ring once more with 
 halloo, and horn, and hound, and to have the old stone- 
 arched hall return the hearty shout of my vassals and tenants^ 
 as the bicker and the quaigh walked their rounds among 
 them. I should like to see the broad Tay once more before 
 I die; not even the Thames can match it, in my mind." 
 
 "Surely, my lord," said the citizen, "all this might be 
 easily done: it costs but a moment's resolution, and the jour- 
 ney of some brief days, and you will be where you desire to 
 be; what is there to prevent you?" 
 
 " Habits, Master George — habits," replied the earl, 
 " which to young men are like threads of silk, so lightly are 
 they worn, so soon broken; but which hang on our old limbs 
 as if time had stiffened them into gyves of iron. To go to 
 Scotland for a brief space were but labor in vain; and when 
 I think of abiding there, I cannot bring myself to leave my 
 old master, to whom I fancy myself sometimes useful, and 
 whose weal and woe I have shared for so many years. But 
 Dalgarno shall be a Scottish noble." 
 
 " Has he visited the North?" said Heriot. 
 
 "He was there last year, and made such a report of the 
 country that the Prince has expressed a longing to see it." 
 
 " Lord Dalgarno is in high grace with his Highness and 
 the Duke of Buckingham?" observed the goldsmith. 
 
 " He is so," answered the earl; " I pray it may be for the 
 advantage of them all. The Prince is just and equitable in 
 his sentiments, though cold and stately in his manners, and 
 very obstinate in his most trifling purposes; and the duke, 
 noble and gallant, and generous and open, is fiery, ambitious, 
 and impetuous. Dalgarno has none of these faults, and such 
 as he may have of his own may perchance be corrected by 
 the society in which he moves. See, here he comes." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno accordingly advanced from the farther end 
 of the alley to the bench on which his father and his guests 
 were seated, so that Nigel had full leisure to peruse his coun- 
 tenance and figure. He was dressed point-device, and almost 
 to extremity, in the splendid fashion of the time, which 
 suited well with his age, probably about five-and-twenty. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 117 
 
 with a noble form and fine countenance, in wliich last could 
 easily be traced the manly features of his father, but softened 
 by a more habitual air of assiduous courtesy than the stub- 
 born old earl had ever condescended to assume towards the 
 world in general. In other respects, his address was gallant, 
 free, and unencumbered either by pride or ceremony — far re- 
 mote certainly from the charge either of haughty coldness or 
 forward impetuosity; and so far his father had justly freed 
 him from tJie marked faults which he ascribed to the man- 
 ners of the Prince and his favorite Buckingham, 
 
 While the old earl presented his young acquaintance Lord 
 Glenvarloch to his son, as one whom he would have him love 
 and honor, Xigel marked the countenance of Lord Dalgarno 
 closely, to see if he could detect aught of that secret dislike 
 which the King had, in one of his broken expostulations, 
 seemed to intimate, as arising from a clashing of interests 
 betwixt his new friend and the great Buckingham. But 
 nothing of this was visible; on the contrary. Lord Dalgarno 
 received his new acquaintance with the open frankness and 
 courtesy which makes conquest at once, when addressed to 
 the feelings of an ingenuous young man. 
 
 It need hardly be told that his open and kindly address 
 met equally ready and cheerful accei^tation from Nigel Oli- 
 faunt. For many months, and while a youth not much 
 above two-and-twenty, he had been restrained by circum- 
 stances from the conversation of his equals. When, on his 
 father's sudden death, he left the Low Countries for Scot- 
 land, he had found himself involved, to all api^earance inex- 
 tricably, Avith the details of the law, all of which threatened 
 to end in the alienation of the patrimony which should sup- 
 port his hereditary rank. His term of sincere mourning, 
 joined to injured pride, and the swelling of the heart under 
 unexpected and undeserved misfortune, together with the 
 uncertainty attending the issue of his affairs, had induced the 
 young Lord of Glenvarloch to live, while in Scotland, in a 
 very private and reserved manner. How he had passed his 
 time in London, the reader is acquainted with. But this 
 melancholy and secluded course of life was neither agreeable 
 to his age nor to his temper, which was genial and sociable. 
 He hailed, therefore, with sincere pleasure the approaches 
 which a young man of his own age and rank made towards 
 him; and when he had exchanged with Lord Dalgarno some 
 of those words and signals by which, as surely as by those of 
 freemasonry, young people recognize a mutual wish to be 
 agreeable to each other, it seemed as if the two noblemen 
 had been acquainted for some timp.. 
 
118 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Just as Liiis tacit intercourse had been established, one of 
 Lord Iluntinglen's attendants came down the alley, marshal- 
 ling onwards a man dressed in black buckram, who followed 
 him with tolerable speed, considering that, according to his 
 sense of reverence and propriety, he kept his body bent and 
 parallel to the horizon from the moment that he came in 
 sight of the company to which he was about to be presented. 
 
 " Who is this, you cuckoldy knave," said the old lord, 
 who had retained the keen appetite and impatience of a 
 Scottish baron even during a long alienation from his native 
 country; " and why does John Cook, with a murrain to him, 
 keep back dinner ? " 
 
 " I believe we are ourselves responsible for this person's 
 intrusion," said George Heriot : "this is the scrivener whom 
 we desired to see. Look up, man, and see us in the face as 
 an honest man should, instead of bearing thy noddle charged 
 against us thus, like a battering-ram." 
 
 The scrivener did look up accordingly, with the action of 
 an automaton which suddenly obeys the impulse of a pressed 
 spring. But, strange to tell, not even the haste he had 
 made to attend his patron's mandate — a business, as Master 
 Heriot's message expressed, of weight and importance — nay, 
 not even the state of depression in which, out of sheer hu- 
 mility doubtless, he had his head stooped to the earth, from 
 the moment he had trod the demesnes of the Earl of Hunt- 
 inglen, had called any color into his countenance. The 
 drops stood on his brow from haste and toil, but his cheek 
 was still pale and tallow-colored as before; nay, what seemed 
 stranger, his very hair, when he raised his head, hung down 
 on either cheek as straight and sleek and undisturbed as it 
 was when we first introduced him to our readers, seated at 
 his quiet and humble desk. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno could not forbear a stifled laugh at the 
 ridiculous and Puritanical figure which presented itself like 
 a starved anatomy to the company, and whispered at the 
 same time into Lord Glenvarloch's ear — 
 
 '* The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon, 
 Where got'st thou that goose-look?" 
 
 Nigel was too little acquainted with the English stage to 
 understand a quotation which had already grown matter of 
 common allusion in London. Lord Dalgarno saw that he 
 was not understood, and continued, " That fellow, by his 
 visage, should either be a saint or a most hypocritical rogue; 
 and such is my excellent opinion of human nature, that J 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 119 
 
 always suspect the worst. But they seem deep in business. 
 Will you take a turn with me in the garden, my lord, or 
 will you remain a member of the serious conclave? 
 
 '' With you, my lord, most willingly," said Nigel; and 
 they were turning away accordingly, when George Heriot, 
 with the formality belonging to his station, observed that, 
 " As their business concerned Lord Glenvarloch, he had 
 better remain, to make himself master of it and witness 
 to it." 
 
 " My presence is utterly needless, my good lord and my 
 best friend, Master Ileriot," said the young nobleman. " I 
 shall understand nothing the better for cumbering you with 
 my ignorance in these matters; and can only say at the end, 
 as I now say at the beginning, that I dare not take the helm 
 out of the hand of the kind pilots who have already guided 
 my course within sight of a fair and unhoped-for haven. 
 Whatever you recommend to me as fitting, I shall sign and 
 seal ; and the import of the deeds I shall better learn by a 
 brief explanation from Master Heriot, if he will bestow so 
 much trouble in my behalf, than by a thousand learned 
 words and law terms from this person of skill." 
 
 " He is right," said Lord Huntinglen — " our young 
 friend is right, in confiding these matters to you and me. 
 Master George Heriot : he has not misplaced his confidence." 
 
 Master George Heriot cast a long look after the two 
 young noblemen, who had now walked down the alley arm- 
 in-arm, and at length said, " He hath not indeed misplaced 
 his confidence, as your lordship well and truly says ; but, 
 nevertheless, he is not in the right path ; for it behooves 
 every man to become acquainted with his own affairs, so soon 
 as he hath any that are worth attending to." 
 
 When he had made this observation, they applied them- 
 selves, with the scrivener, to look into various papers, and to 
 direct in what manner writings should be drawn, which might 
 at once afford sufficient security to those who were to ad- 
 vance the money, and at the same time preserve the right of 
 tlie young nobleman to redeem the family estate, provided 
 iie should obtain the means of doing so, by the expected 
 reimbursement from tlic Scottish Exchequer or otherwise. It 
 is needless to enter into those details. But it is not unimpor- 
 tant to mention, as an illustration of cluiracter, that Heriot 
 went into the most minute legal details with a precision 
 whic'-i showed that experience had made him master even of 
 the intricacies of Scottish conveyancing; and that the Earl 
 of Huntinglen, though far less acquainted with technical 
 
120 WA^rERLEY NOVELS 
 
 detail, suffered no step of the business to pass over, until he 
 had attained a general but distinct idea of its import and 
 its propriety. 
 
 They seemed to be admirably seconded in their benevo- 
 lent intentions towards the young Lord Glenvarloch by the 
 skill and eager zeal of the scrivener, whom Heriot had intro- 
 duced to this piece of business, the most important which 
 Andrew had ever transacted in his life, and the particulars 
 of which were moreover agitated in his presence between an 
 actual earl and one whose wealth and character might entitle 
 him to be alderman of his ward, if not to be lord mayor, in 
 his turn. 
 
 While they were thus in eager conversation on business, 
 the good earl even forgetting the calls of his appetite and the 
 delay of dinner in his anxiety to see that the scrivener re- 
 ceived proper instructions, and that all was rightly weighed 
 and considered, before dismissing him to engross the neces- 
 sary deeds, the two young men walked together on the ter- 
 race which overhung the river, and talked on the_ topics 
 which Lord Dalgarno, the elder and the more experienced, 
 thought most likely to interest his new friend. 
 
 These naturally regarded the pleasures attending a court 
 life; and Lord Dalgarno expressed much surprise at under- 
 standing that Nigel proposed an instant return to Scotland. 
 
 "You are jesting with me,'' he said. *' All the court 
 rings — it is needless to mince it — with the extraordinary suc- 
 cess of your suit, against the highest interest, it is said, now 
 influencing the horizon at Whitehall. Men think of you— 
 talk of you — fix their eyes on you — ask each other, ' Who is 
 this young Scottish lord, who has stepped so far in a single 
 day? ' They augur, in whispers to each other, how high and 
 how far you may push your fortune; and all that you design 
 to make of it is to return to Scotland, eat raw oatmeal cakes, 
 baked upon a peat-fire, have your hand shaken by every loon 
 of a blue-bonnet who chooses to dub you cousin, though your 
 relationship comes by Noah, drink Scots twopenny ale, eat 
 half-starved red-deer venison, when you can kill it, ride upon 
 a galloway, and be called ^my right honorable and maist 
 worthy lord ! ' " 
 
 " There is no great gayety in the prospect before me, I 
 confess," said Lord Glenvarloch, "even if your father and 
 good Master Heriot should succeed in putting my affairs on 
 some footing of plausible hope. And yet I trust to do some- 
 thing for my vassals, as my ancestors before me, and to teach 
 my children, as I have myself been taught, to make some 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 121 
 
 personal sacrifices, if tliey be necessary, in order to maintain 
 with dignity the sitnation in Avhich they are placed by Prov- 
 idence." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno, after having once or twice _ stifled his 
 laughter during this speech, at length broke out into a fit of 
 mirth so hearty and so resistless that, angry as he was, the 
 call of sympathy swept Nigel along with him, and, despite 
 of himself, he co'uld not forbear to join in a burst of laughter 
 which he thought not only causeless, but almost imperti- 
 nent. 
 
 He soon recollected himself, however; and said, in a tone 
 qualified to allay Lord Dalgarno's extreme mirth, "■ This is 
 all well, my lord; but how am I to understand your merri- 
 ment?'' Lord Dalgarno only answered liim with redoubled 
 peals of laughter, and at length held by Lord Glenvarloch's 
 cloak, as if to prevent his falling down on the ground, in the 
 extremity of his convulsion. 
 
 At length, while Nigel stood half abashed, half angr^', 
 at becoming thus the subject of his new acquaintance's ridi- 
 cule, and was only restrained from expressing his resentment 
 against the son by a sense of the obligations he owed the 
 father. Lord Dalgarno recovered himself, and spoke in a 
 half-broken voice, his eyes still running with tears. "I 
 crave your pardon, my dear Lord Glenvarloch — ten thousand 
 times do I crave your pardon. But that last picture of rural 
 dignity, accompanied by your grave and angry surprise at 
 my laugliing at wliat would have made any court-bred hound 
 laugh, that "had but so much as bayed the moon once from 
 the%ourtvard at Whitehall, totally overcame me. "Why, my 
 liefest and dearest lord, you, a young and handsome fellow, 
 with high birth, a title, and the name of an estate, so well 
 received by the King at your first starting as makes your 
 farther progress scarce matter of doubt, if you know how to 
 improve it — for the King has already said you are a ' braw 
 lad, and well studied in the more humane letters '-;-you, too, 
 whom all the women, and the very marked beauties of the 
 court, desire to see, because you came from Leyden, were 
 born in Scotland, and have gained a hard-contested suit in 
 England — you, I say, with a person like a prince, an eye of 
 fire, and a wit as qiiick, to think of throwing your cards on 
 the table Avhen the game is in your very hand, running back 
 to the frozen Xorth, and marrying — let me see — a tall, stalk- 
 ing, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, bony wench, with eighteen 
 quarters in her scutcheon — a sort of Lot's wife, newly de- 
 scended from her pedestal, and with her to shut yourself up 
 
.28 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 in your tapestried chamber! Uh, gad! Swouns, I shall 
 never survive tlie idea! " 
 
 It is seldom that youth, however high-minded, is able, 
 from mere strength of character and principle, to support 
 itself against the force of ridicule. Half angry, half morti- 
 fied, and^ to say the truth, half ashamed of his more manly 
 and better purpose, Nigel was unable, and flattered himself 
 it was unnecessary, to play the part of a rigid moral patriot 
 in presence of a young man whose current fluency of language, 
 as well as his experience in the highest circles of society, gave 
 him, in spite of Nigel's better and firmer thoughts, a tempo- 
 rary ascendency over him. He sought, therefore, to com- 
 promise the matter, and avoid farther debate, by frankly 
 owning that, if to return to his own country were not his 
 choice, it was at least a matter of necessity. *'His affairs/' 
 he said, ''were unsettled, his income precarious." 
 
 *'And where is he whose affairs are settled, or whose in- 
 come is less than precarious, that is to be found in attendance 
 on the court?" said Lord Dalgarno: "all are either losing or 
 winning. Those who have wealth come hither to get rid of 
 it, while the happy gallants who, like you and I, dear Glen- 
 yarloch, have little or none, have every chance to be sharers 
 in their spoils." 
 
 "I have no ambition of that sort," said Nigel, *' and if I 
 had, I must tell you plainly. Lord Dalgarno, I have not the 
 means to do so. I can scarce as yet call the suit I wear my 
 oAvn: I owe it, and I do not blush to say so, to the friendship 
 of yonder good man." 
 
 *' I will not laugh again, if I can help it," said Lord Dal- 
 garno. ^ " But, Lord! that you should have gone to a wealthy 
 goldsmith for your habit; why, I could have brought you to 
 an honest, confiding tailor, who should have furnished you 
 with half a dozen, merely for love of the little word ' lord ' 
 which you place before your name; and then your goldsmith, 
 if he be really a friendly goldsmith, should have equipped 
 you with such a purse of fair rose-nobles as would have 
 bought you thrice as many suits, or done better things for 
 you." 
 
 " I do not understand these fashions, my lord," said NigeL 
 his displeasure mastering his shame; "were I to attend the 
 court of my sovereign, it should be when I could maintain, 
 without shifting or borrowing, the dress and retinue which 
 my rank requires." 
 
 " Wliich my rank requires! "said Lord Dalgarno, repeat- 
 ing his last words; " that, now, is as good as if my father had 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 123 
 
 spoke it. I fancy you would love to move to court with him, 
 followed by a round score of old blue-bottles, with wliite heads 
 and red noses, with bucklers and broadswords, which their 
 hands, trembling betwixt age and strong waters, can make no 
 use of; as many huge silver badges on their arms, to show 
 whose fools they are, as would furnish forth a court cupboard 
 of plate — rogues fit for nothing but to fill onr antechambers 
 with the flavor of onions nnH aenievre — palil'' 
 
 " The poor knaves! '' said Lord Glenvarloch, " they have 
 served your father, it may be, in the wars. What would 
 become of them were he to turn them off?" 
 
 "AVhv, let them go to the hospital," said Dalgarno, "or 
 to the bridge-end, to sell switches. The King is a better 
 man than my father, and you see those who have served in 
 his wars do so every day. Or, when their blue coats were well 
 worn out, they would make rare scarecrows. Here is a fel- 
 low, now, comes down the walk; the stoutest raven dare not 
 come within a yard of that copper nose. I tell you, there is 
 more service, as you will soon see, in my valet of the cham- 
 ber, and such a lither lad as my page Lutin, than there is 
 in a score of these old memorials of the Douglas wars,* where 
 they cut each other's throats for the chance of finding twelve 
 pennies Scots on the person of the slain. Marry, my lord, 
 to make amends, they will eat mouldy victuals and drink stale 
 ale, as if their bellies Avere puncheons. But the dinner bell 
 is going to sound — hark, it is clearing its rusty throat with 
 a preliminary jowl. That is another clamorous relic of an- 
 tiquity that, were I master, should soon be at the bottom of 
 the Thames. How the foul fiend can it interest the peas- 
 ants and mechanics in the Strand to know that the Earl of 
 Huntinglen is sitting down to dinner? But my father looks 
 our way; we must not be late for the grace, or we shall be in 
 dis-gva-CQ, if you will forgive a quibble which would have made 
 his Majesty laugh. You will find us all of a piece, and, hav- 
 ing been accustomed to eat in saucers abroad, I am ashamed 
 you should witness our larded capons, our mountains of beef, 
 and oceans of brewis, as large as Highland hills and lochs; 
 but you shall see better cheer to-morrow. Where lodge you ? 
 I will call for you. I must be your guide through the peopled 
 desert to certain enchanted lands, wliicli you will scarce dis- 
 cover without chart and pilot. Where lodge you ?" 
 
 "I will meet you in Paul's," said Nigel, a good deal em- 
 barrassed, "at any hour you please to name." 
 
 " 0, you would be private," said the young lord. " Nay, 
 
 * See Note 17. 
 
134 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 fear not me — T will be no intrnder. But we have attained 
 this huge larder of flesh, foAvl, and fish. I marvel Jie oaken 
 boards groan not under it/' 
 
 They had indeed arrived in the dining-parlor of the man- 
 sion, where the table was superabundantly loaded, and where 
 the number of attendants to a certain extent vindicated tlie 
 sarcasms of the young nobleman. The chaplain and Sir 
 Mungo Malagrowther were of the party. The latter com- 
 plimented Lord Glenvarloch upon the impression he had made 
 at court. " One would have thought ye had brought the apple 
 of discord in your pouch, my lord, or that you were the 
 very firebrand of whilk Althea was delivered, and that she 
 had lain-in in a barrel of gunpowder ; for the King, and the 
 Prince, and the Duke have been by the lugs about ye, and so 
 have many more, that kenn'dna before this blessed day that 
 there was such a man living on the face of the earth." 
 
 " Mind your victuals. Sir Mungo/" said the earl ; " they 
 get cold while you talk." 
 
 " Troth, and that needsna, my lord," said the knight ; 
 ''your lordship's dinners seldom scald one's mouth : the 
 serving-men are turning auld, like oursells, my lord, and it 
 is far between the kitchen and the ha'." 
 
 With this little explosion of his spleen. Sir Mungo re- 
 mained satisfied, until the dishes were removed, when, fix- 
 ing his eyes on the brave new doublet of Lord Dalgarno, he 
 complimented him on his economy, pretending to recognize 
 it as the same which his father had worn in Edinburgh in 
 the Spanish ambassador's time. Lord Dalgarno, too much a 
 man of the world to be moved by anything from such a 
 quarter, proceeded to crack some nuts with great delibera- 
 tion, as he replied, that " The doublet was in some sort his 
 father's, as it was likely to cost him fifty pounds some day 
 soon." Sir Mungo forthwith proceeded in his own way to 
 convey this agreeable intelligence to the earl, observing, that 
 " His son was a better maker of bargains than his lordship, 
 for he had bought a doublet as rich as that his lordship wore 
 when the Spanish ambassador was at Holyrood, and it had 
 cost him but fifty pounds Scots." — " That was no fool's bar- 
 gain, my lord." 
 
 " Pounds sterling, if you please. Sir Mungo," answered 
 the earl, calmly ; " and a fool's bargain it is, in all the 
 tenses. Dalgarno was a fool when he bought ; I will be a 
 fool when I pay ; and you. Sir Mungo, craving your pardon, 
 are a fool in prcesenti for speaking of what concerns you 
 not." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 125 
 
 So saying, the earl addressed himself to the serious busi- 
 ness of the table, aud sent the wine around with a profusion 
 which increased the hilarity, but rather threatened the tem- 
 perance of the company, until their joviality was inter- 
 rupted by the annunciation that the scrivener had engrossed 
 such deeds as required to be presently executed. 
 
 George Heriot arose from the table, observing, that wine- 
 cups and legal documents were unseemly neighbors. The 
 3arl asked the scrivener if they had laid a trencher and set a 
 cup for him in the buttery ; and received the respectful 
 answer, that " Heaven forbid he should be such an un- 
 gracious beast as to eat or drink until his lordship's pleasure 
 was performed.'' 
 
 " Thou shalt eat before thou goest," said Lord Hunting- 
 len ; " and I will have thee tr}-, moreover, whether a cup of 
 sack cannot bring some color into these cheeks of thine. It 
 were a shame to my household, thou shouldst glide out into 
 the Strand after such a spectre-fashion as thou now Avearest. 
 Look to it, Dalgarno, for the honor of our roof is con- 
 cerned." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno gave directions that the man should be 
 attended to. Lord Glenvarloch aud the citizen, in the mean 
 while, signed and interchanged, and thus closed a trans- 
 action of which the principal party concerned understood 
 little, save that it was under the management of a zealous 
 and faithful friend, who undertook that the money should 
 be forthcoming, and the estate released from forfeiture, by 
 payment of the stipulated sum for which it stood pledged, 
 and that at the term of Lambmas, and at the hour of noon, 
 and beside the tomb of the Eegent Earl of Murray, in the 
 High Kirk of St. Giles, at Edinburgh, being the day and 
 place assigned for such redemption.* 
 
 When this business was transacted, the old earl would 
 fain have renewed his carouse ; but the citizen, alleging the 
 importance of the deeds he had about him, and the business 
 he had to transact betimes the next morning, n^t only re- 
 fused to return to table, but carried with him to his barge 
 Lord Glenvarloch, Avho might, perhaps, have been otherwise 
 found more tractable. 
 
 When they were seated in the boat, and fairly once more 
 afloat on the river, George Heriot looked back seriously on 
 the mansion they had left. " There live," he said, "the old 
 fashion and the new. The father is like a noble old broad- 
 
 * As each covenant in those days of accuracy had a special place nominated for 
 execution, the tomb of the Regent Earl of Murray in St. Giles's church was fre- 
 quently assi^ed for the purpoas. 
 
126 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 sword, but harmed with rust from neglect and inactivity ; 
 the son is your modern raiDier, well-mounted, fairly gilt, and 
 fashioned to the taste of the time — and it is time must evince 
 if the metal be as good as the show. God grant it prove so, 
 says an old friend to the family." 
 
 Nothing of consequence passed betwixt them, until Lord 
 Glenvarlocli, landing at Paul's Wharf, took leave of his 
 friend the citizen, and retired to his own apartment ; where 
 his attendant, Richie, not a little elevated with the events of 
 the day, and with the hospitality of Lord Huntinglen's house- 
 keeping, gave a most splendid account of them to the buxom 
 Dame Nelly, who rejoiced to hear that the sun at length was 
 shining upon what Richie called "the right side of the 
 hedge." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 You are not for the manner nor the times. 
 They have their vices now ni(;st like to virtues ; 
 You cannot know them apart by any difference. 
 Tliey wear the same clothes, eat the same meat, 
 Sleep i' the self-same beds, ride in tliose coaches, 
 Or, very like, four horsi s in a coach. 
 As the best men and women 
 
 Bex Jonson. 
 
 On the following morning, while Nigel, his breakfast fin 
 ished, was thinking how he should employ the day, there 
 was a little bustle upon the stairs which attracted his atten- 
 tion, and presently entered Dame Nelly, blushing like scar- 
 let and scarce able to bring out — " A 3^oung nobleman, sir ; 
 no one less," she added, drawing her hand slightly over her 
 lips, "would be so saucy — a young nobleman, sir, to wait on 
 you!" 
 
 And she was followed into the little cabin by Lord Dal- 
 garno, gay, easy, disembarrassed, and apparently as much 
 pleased to rejoin his new acquaintance as if he had found 
 him in the apartments af a palace. Nigel, on the contrary, 
 for youth is slave to such circumstances, was discountenanced 
 and mortified at being surprised by so splendid a gallant in 
 a chamber which, at the moment the elegant and high- 
 dressed cavalier appeared in it, seemed to its inhabitant yet 
 lower, narrower, darker, and meaner than it had ever shown 
 before. He would have made some apology for the situation, 
 but Lord Dalgarno cut him short. 
 
 " Not a word of it," he said — " not a single word. I know 
 why you ride at anchor here ; but I can keep counsel — so 
 pretty a hostess would recommend worse quarters." 
 
 " On my word — on my honor," said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch 
 
 " Nay — nay, make no words of the matter," said Lord 
 Ihilgarno. " I am no tell-tale, nor shall I cross your walk ; 
 there is game enough in the forest, thank Heaven, and I can 
 strike a doe for myself." 
 
 All this he said in so significant a manner, and the ex- 
 planation which he had adopted seemed to put Lord Glen- 
 varloch's gallantry on so respectable a footing, that Nigel 
 
128 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ceased to try to undeceive him; and less ashamed, perhaps 
 (for such is human weakness), of siqiposed vice than of real 
 poverty, changed tlie discourse to something else, and left 
 poor Dame Nelly's reputation and his own at the mercy of 
 the young courtier's misconstruction. 
 
 He offered refreshments with some hesitation. Lord Dal- 
 garno had long since breakfasted, but had just come from 
 playing a set of tennis, he said, and would willingly taste a 
 cup of the pretty hostess's single beer. This was easily pro- 
 cured, ^yas drunk, was commended, and, as the hostess 'failed 
 not to bring the cup herself. Lord Dalgarno profited by the 
 opportunity to take a second and more attentive view of her, 
 and then gravely drank to her husband's health, with an 
 almost imperceptible rod to Lord Glenvarloch. Dame Xelly 
 was much honored, smoothed her apron down with her 
 hands, and said — " Her John Avas greatly and truly honored 
 by their lordships; he was a kind, painstaking man for his 
 family as was in the alley, or indeed as far north as Paul's 
 Chain." 
 
 She would have proceeded probably to state the difference 
 betwixt their ages, as the only alloy to their nuptial happi- 
 ness; but her lodger, who had no mind to be farther exposed 
 to his gay friend's raillery, gave her, contrary to his wont, a 
 signal to leave the room. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno looked after her, then looked at Glenvar ■ 
 loch, shook his head, and repeated the well-known lines — 
 
 " ' My lord, beware of jealousy; 
 
 It is the green-eyed monster which doth make 
 The meat it feeds on.' 
 
 But come," he said, changing his tone, '' I know not why I 
 should worry you thus — I who have so many follies of my 
 own — when I should rather make excuse for being here at all, 
 and tell you wherefore I came." 
 
 So saying, he reached a seat, and, placing another for 
 Lord Glenvarloch, in sjoite of his anxious haste to anticipate 
 this act of courtesy, he proceeded in the same tone of easy 
 familiarity: 
 
 " We are neighbors, my lord, and are just made known 
 to each other. Now, I know enough of the dear North to be 
 well aware that Scottish neighbors must be either dear friends 
 or deadly enemies — must either walk hand-in-hand or stand 
 sword-point to sword-point; so I choose the hand-in-hand, 
 unless you should reject my proffer." 
 
 '' How were it possible, my lord," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 
THE FOIiTUNES OF NIGEL 129 
 
 ■'to refuse what is ollered so frankly, even if your father had 
 not been a second father tome?"' And, as he took Lord 
 Dalgarno's hand, he added, "I have, I think, lost no time 
 since, during one day's attendance at court. I liave made a 
 kind friend and a powerful enemy.' 
 
 "The friend thanks you," replied Lord Dalgarno, ''for 
 your just opinion; but, my dear Glenvarloch — or rather, for 
 titles are too formal between us of the better file, what is 
 your Christian name?" 
 
 "Nigel," replied Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " Then Ave will be Nigel and ]\lalcolm to each otlier," said 
 his visitor, "and mv lord to the plebeian Avorld around us. 
 But I was about to ask you Avhom you supposed your 
 enemy?" 
 
 "No less than the all-powerful favorite, the great Duke 
 of Buckingham.'" 
 
 " You dream ! What could possess you with such an opin- 
 ion?" said Dalgarno. 
 
 " He told me so himself," replied Glenvarloch; " and, m 
 so doing, dealt frankly and honorably with me." 
 
 " 0, you know him not yet," said his companion; " the 
 duke is moulded of an hundred noble and fiery qualities, 
 that prompt him, like a generous horse, to spring aside in 
 impatience at the least obstacle to his forward course. But 
 he means not what he says in such passing heats. I can do 
 more with him, I thank Heaven, than most who are around 
 him; you shall go visit him with me, and you will see how 
 you shall be received." 
 
 " I told you, my lord," said Glenvarloch, firmly, and with 
 some haughtiness, "the Duke of Buckingham, without the 
 least offence, declared himself my enemy in the face of the 
 court, and he shall retract that aggression as publicly as it 
 was given, ere I will make the slightest advance towards him." 
 
 " You would act becomingly in every other case," said 
 Lord Dalgarno, "but here you are wrong. In the court 
 horizon, Buckingham is lord of the ascendant, and as he is 
 adverse or favoring, so sinks or rises the fortune of a suitor. 
 The King would bid you remember your Phsedrus — 
 
 " ' Arripiens geminas, ripis cedentibus, ollas ' 
 
 and so forth. You are the vase of earth; beware of knock- 
 ing yourself against the vase of iron." 
 
 " The vase of earth," said Glenvarloch, " will avoid the 
 encounter by getting ashore out of the current : I mean to 
 go no more to court." 
 
180 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " 0, to court you necessarily must go ; you will find 
 your Scottish suit move ill without it, for there is both 
 patronage and favor necessary to enforce the sign-manual you 
 have obtained. Of that we will speak more hereafter ; but 
 tell me in the mean while, my dear Nigel, whether you did 
 not wonder to see me here so early?" 
 
 " 1 am surprised that you could find me out in this 
 obscure corner," said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 *' My page Lutin is a very devil for that sort of discovery/' 
 rai^lled Lord Dalgarno. " I have but to say, * Goblin, I 
 would know where he or she dwells,' and he guides me 
 .hither as if by art magic." 
 
 /'I hope he waits not now in the street, my lord," said 
 Xigel. *' I will send my servant to seek him." 
 
 •*Do not concern yourself; he is by this time," said 
 Lord Dalgarno, " playing at hustle-cap and chuck-farthing 
 with the most blackguard imps upon the wharf, unless he 
 hath foregone his old customs." 
 
 "Are you not afraid," said Lord Glenvarloch, "that in 
 such company his morals may become deprr. ed ? " 
 
 " Let his company look to their own," answered Lord 
 Dalgarno, coolly ; " for it will be a company of real fiends in 
 which Lutin cannot teach more mischief than he can learn : 
 he is, I thank the gods, most thoroughly versed in evil for his 
 years. I am spared the trouble of looking after his morali- 
 ties, for nothing can make them either better or worse." 
 
 "I wonder you can answer this to his parents, my lord," 
 said Nigel. 
 
 " I wonder where I should find his parents," replied his 
 companion, "to render an account to them." 
 
 " He may be an orphan," said Lord Nigel ; " but surely, 
 being a page in your lordship's family, his parents must be of 
 rank." 
 
 "Of as high rank as the gallows could exalt them to," 
 replied Lord Dalgarno, with the same indifiierence ; "they 
 were both hanged, I believe — at least the gypsies from 
 whom I bought him five years ago intimated as much to me. 
 You are surprised at this now. But is it not better that 
 instead of a lazy, conceited, whey-faced slip of gentility, to 
 whom, in your old-world idea of the matter, I was bound to 
 stand Sir Pedagogue, and see that he washed his hands and 
 face, said his prayers, learned his accidens, spoke no naughty 
 words, brushed his hat, and wore his best doublet only on 
 Sunday — that, instead of such a Jacky Goodchild, I should 
 have something like this?" 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 131 
 
 He whistled shrill ami clear, and the page he spoke of 
 darted into the room, almost with the effect of an actual 
 apparition. From his height he seemed but fifteen, but, 
 from his face^ might be two or even three years older, very 
 neatly made and richly dressed ; with a thin bronze visage, 
 which marked his gypsey descent, and a pair of sparkling 
 black eyes, which seemed almost to pierce through those 
 whom he looked at. 
 
 " There he is," said Lord Dalgarno, *' fit for every ele- 
 ment ; prompt to execute every command, good, bad, or in- 
 different ; unmatched in his tribe as rogue, tliief, and liar." 
 
 " All which qualities," said the undaunted page, "have 
 each in turn stood y^ur lordship in stead." 
 
 "Out, you imp of Satan!" said his master — " vanish — 
 begone — o/my conjuring-rod goes about your ears." The 
 boy turned and disappeared as suddenly as he had entered. 
 " You see," said Lord Dalgarno, "that, in choosing my 
 household, the best regard I can pay to gentle blood is to 
 exclude it from my service : that very gallows-bird were 
 enough to corrupt a whole antechamber of pages,* though 
 they were descended fron kings and kaisers." 
 
 " I can scarce think that a nobleman should need the 
 offices of such an attendant as your goblin," said Nigel ; 
 "you are but jesting with my inexperience." 
 
 " Time will show whether I jest or not, my dear Xigel," 
 replied Dalgarno ; "in the mean time, I have to propose to 
 you to take the advantage of the flood-tide, to run up the 
 river for pastime ; and at noon I trust you will dine with 
 me." 
 
 Nigel acquiesced in a plan which promised so much 
 amusement ; and his new friend and he, attended by Lutin 
 and Moniplies, who greatly resembled, when thus associated, 
 the conjunction of a bear and a monkey, took possession of 
 Lord Dalgarno's wherry, which with its badged watermen, 
 bearing his lordship's crest on their arms, lay in readiness to 
 receive them. The air was delightful upon the river, and the 
 lively conversation of Lord Dalgarno added zest to the pleas- 
 ures of the little voyage. He could not only give an account 
 of the various public buildings and noblemen's houses which 
 they passed in ascending the Thames, but he knew how to 
 season his information with abundance of anecdote, politi- 
 cal innuendo, and personal scaiidal ; if he had not very much 
 wit, he was at least completely master of the fashionable tona 
 which in that time, as in ours, more than amply supplies any 
 deficiency c! the kind. 
 
 • See Note 18. 
 
182 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 It was a style of conversation entirely new to his com- 
 panion, as was the world which Lord Dalgarno opened to his 
 observation; and it is no wonder that Nigel, notwithstand- 
 ing his natural good sense and high spirit, admitted, more 
 readily than seemed consistent with either, the tone of 
 authoritative instruction which his new friend assumed 
 towards him. There would, indeed, have been some diffi- 
 culty in making a stand. To attempt a high and stubborn 
 tone of morality, in answer to the light strain of Lord Dal- 
 garno^s conversation, which kept on the frontiers between jest 
 and earnest, would have seemed pedantic and ridiculous; and 
 every attempt which Nigel made to combat his companion's 
 propositions, by reasoning as jocose as his own, only showed 
 his inferiority in that gay species of controversy. And it 
 must be owned besides, though internally disapproving much 
 of what he heard. Lord Glenvarloch, young as he was in 
 society, became less alarmed by the language and manners of 
 his new associate than in prudence he ought to have been. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno was unwilling to startle his proselyte by 
 insisting upon any topic which appeared particularly to jar 
 with his habits or principles; and he blended his mirth and 
 his earnest so dexterously, that it was impossible for Nigel to 
 discover how far he was serious in his projjositions, or how 
 far they flowed from a wild and extravagant spirit of raillery. 
 And, ever and anon, those flashes of spirit and honor crossed 
 his conversation, which seemed to intimate that, when 
 stirred to action by some adequate motive. Lord Dalgarno 
 would prove something very different from the court-haunt- 
 ing and ease-loving voluptuary which he was pleased to rep- 
 resent as his chosen character. 
 
 As they returned down the river, Lord Glenvarloch re- 
 marked that the boat joassed the mansion of Lord Hunting- 
 len, and noticed the circumstance to Lord Dalgarno, observ- 
 ing, that he thought tliey were to have dined there. " Surely 
 no," said the young nobleman, "I have more mercy on you 
 than to gorge you a second time with raw beef and canary 
 wine. I pro]30se something better for you, I promise you, 
 than such a second Scythian festivity. And as for my 
 father, he proposes to dine to-day with my grave, ancient 
 Earl of Northampton, whilome that celebrated putter-down 
 of pretended prophecies. Lord Henry Howard."* 
 
 *' And do you not go with him?" said his companion. 
 
 " To what purpose? " said Lord Dalgarno. " To hear his 
 wise lordship speak musty politics in false Latin, which tlie 
 
 * See Note 19. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 133 
 
 old fox always uses, that he may give the learned Majesty of 
 England an opportunity of correcting his slips in grammai ? 
 That were a rare emjDloynientl" 
 
 " Nay," said Lord Xigel, "but out of respect, to wait on 
 rry lord your father." 
 
 "My lord my father/' replied Lord Dalgarno, "has blue- 
 bottles enough to wait on him, and can well dispense with 
 such a butterfly as myself. He can lift the cup of sack to 
 his head without my assistance; and should the said paternal 
 head turn something giddy, there be men enough to guide 
 his right honorable lordship to his lordship's right honorable 
 couch. Now, do not stare at me, Nigel, as if my words were 
 to sink the boat with us. I love my father — I love him 
 dearly — and I respect him, too, though I respect not many 
 things; a trustier old Trojan never belted a broadsword by a 
 loopof leather. But what then? He belongs to the old 
 Avorld, I to the new. He has his follies, I have mine; and 
 the less either of us sees of the other's peccadilloes, the 
 greater will be the honor and respect — that, I think, is the 
 proper phrase — I say respect in which Ave shall hold each 
 other. Being apart, each of us is himself, such as nature 
 and circumstances have made him; but, couple us up too 
 closely together, you will be sure to have in your leash either 
 an old hvpocrite or a voung one, or perhaps both the one and 
 I'other."^ 
 
 As he spoke thus, the boat put into the landing-place at 
 Blackf riars. Lord Dalgarno sprang ashore, and, flinging his 
 cloak and rapier to his page, recommended to his companion 
 to do the like. " We are coming among a press of gal- 
 lants,^' he said; "and, if we walk thus muffled, we shall look 
 like your tawny-visaged Don, who Avraps him close in his 
 cloak to conceal the defects of his doublet." 
 
 " I have known many an honest man do that, if it please 
 your lordship," said Eichie Moniplies, who had been watch- 
 ing for an opportunity to intrude himself on the conversa- 
 tion, and probably remembered what had been his own con- 
 -iition, in respect to cloak and doublet, at a very recent 
 period. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno stared at him, as if surjjrised at his assur- 
 ance; but immediately answered, "You may have known 
 many things, friend; but, in the mean while, you do not know 
 what principally concerns your master, namely, how to carry 
 his cloak, so as to show to advantage the gold-laced seams 
 and the lining of sables. See how Lutin holds the sword, 
 with the cloak cast partly over it, yet so as to set off the 
 
134 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 embossed hilt and the silver work of the moanting. Give 
 your familiar your sword, Kigel/' he continued, addressing 
 Lord Glenvarloch, " that he may practise a lesson in an art 
 so necessary/' 
 
 "Is it altogether prudent," said Nigel, unclasping his 
 weapon and giving it to Ricliie, ''to walk entirely unarmed ?" 
 
 "And wherefore not ?" said his companion. "You are 
 thinking now of Auld Reekie, as my father fondly calls your 
 good Scottish capital, where there is such bandying of 
 private feuds and public factions that a man of any note 
 shall not cross your High Street tAvice Avithout endangering 
 his life thrice.* Here, sir, no brawling in the street is per- 
 mitted. Your bull-headed citizen takes up the case so soon 
 as the sword is drawn, and ' clubs' is the word." 
 
 "And a hard word it is," said Eichie, "as my brain-pan 
 kens at this blessed moment." 
 
 "Were I your master, sirrah," said Lord Dalgarno, "I 
 would make your brain-pan, as you call it, boil over, were 
 vou to speak "^a word in my presence before you were spoken 
 to." 
 
 Richie murmured some indistinct answer, but took the 
 hint, and ranked himself behind his master along with 
 Lutin, who failed not to expose his new companion to the 
 ridicule of the passers-by, by mimicking, as often as he could 
 do so unobserved by Richie, his stiff and upright stalking 
 gait and discontented physiognomy. 
 
 "And tell me now, my dear Malcolm," said Nigel, 
 "where we are bending our course, and whether we shall 
 dine at an apartment of yours ?" 
 
 "An apartment of mine! Yes, surely," answered Lord 
 Dalgarno, "you shall dine at an apartment of mine, and an 
 apartment of yours, and of twenty gallants besides; and 
 where the board shall present better cheer, better wine, and 
 better attendance than if our whole united exhibitions went 
 to maintain it. We are going to the most noted ordinary of 
 London." 
 
 "That is, in common language, an inn, or a tavern?'* 
 said Nigel. 
 
 "An inn, or a tavern, my most geen and simple friend !" 
 exclaimed Lord Dalgarno. ** No, no — these are places where 
 greasy citizens take pipe and pot, where the knavish petti- 
 foggers of the law sponge on their most unhappy victims, 
 where Templars crack jests as empty as their nuts, and 
 where small gentry imbibe such thin potations that they get 
 
 * See Skirmishes in the Public Streets. Note 20. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 135 
 
 dropsies instead of getting drnuk. An ordinary is a late 
 invented institution, sacred to Bacchus and Conius, wliere 
 the choicest noble gallants of the time meet with the first 
 and most ethereal wits of the age ; where the wine is the very 
 soul of the choicest grape, refined as the genius of the poet, 
 and ancient and generous as the blood of the nobles. And 
 then the fare is something beyond your ordinaiy gross 
 terrestrial food ! Sea and land are ransacked to supply it ; 
 and the invention of six ingenious cooks kept eternally upon 
 the rack to make their art hold pace with, and if possible 
 enhance, the exquisite quality of the materials." 
 
 "By all which rhapsody," said Lord Glenvarloch, ''I can 
 only understand, as I did before, that we are going to a 
 choice tavern, where we shall be handsomely entertained, on 
 paying probably as handsome a reckoning." 
 
 "Eeckoning!" exclaimed Lord Dalgarno in the same 
 tone as before, '^'perish the peasantly phrase! What prof- 
 anation ! Monsieur le Chevalier de Beaujeu, pink of Paris 
 and flower of Gascon)' — he who can tell the age of his wine 
 by the bare smell — who distils his sauces in an alembic by the 
 aid of Lully's philosophy — who carves with such exquisite 
 precision, that he gives to noble, knight, and squire the 
 portion of the pheasant which exactly accords with his rank 
 — nay, he who shall divide a beccafico into twelve parts with 
 such scrupulous exactness, that of twelve guests not one 
 shall have the advantage of the other in a hair's-breadth, 
 or the twentieth part of a drachm, yet you talk of him and 
 of a reckoning in the same breath ! Why, man, he is the 
 well-known and general referee in all matters affecting the 
 mysteries of passage, hazard, in-and-in, penneech, and ver- 
 quere, and what not. Why, Beaujeu is king of the card 
 pack, and duke of the dice-box — he call a reckoning like a 
 green-aproned, red-nosed son of the vulgar spigot ! 0, my 
 dearest Nigel, w\at a word you have spoken, and of what a 
 person ! That you know him not is your only apology for 
 such blasphemy ; and yet I scarce hold it adequate, for to 
 have been a day in London and not know Beaujeu is a crime 
 of its own kind. But you shall know him this blessed 
 moment, and shall learn to hold yourself in horror for the 
 enormities you have uttered." 
 
 " Well, but mark you," said Nigel, " this worthy cheva- 
 lier keeps not all this good cheer at his own cost, does he?" 
 
 "No — no," answered Lord Dalgarno; "there is a sort of 
 ceremony which my chevalier's friends and intimates under- 
 stand, but with which you have no business at present. 
 
136 WAVERLEY AOVELS 
 
 There is, as Majesty might say, a symlolum to be disbursed 
 — in other words, a mutual excluinge of courtesies takes 
 place betwixt Bcaujeu and his guests. He makes them a free 
 present of the dinner and wine, as often as they clioose to 
 consult their own felicity by frequenting his house at the 
 hour of noon, and they, in gratitude, make the clievalier a 
 present of a Jacobus. Then you must know that, besides 
 Comus and Bacchus, that princess of sublunary affairs, the 
 Diva Fortuna, is frequently worshipped at Beaujeu's, and 
 he, as officiating high priest, hath, as in reason he should, a 
 considerable advantage from a share of the sacrifice." 
 
 " In other words," said Lord Glenvarloch, '' this man 
 keeps a gaming-house." 
 
 "A house in which you may certainly game," said Lord 
 Dalgarno, "as you may in your own chamber, if you have a 
 mind; nay, I remember old Tom Tally jjlayed a hand at put 
 for a wager with Qninze le Va, the Frenchman, during morn- 
 ing prayers in St. Paul's; the morning was misty, and the 
 parson drowsy, and the whole audience consisted of them- 
 selves and a blind woman, and so they escaped detection." 
 
 " For all this, Malcolm," said the young lord, gravely, 
 " I cannot dine with you to-day at tliis same ordinary." 
 
 " And wherefore, in tlie name of Heaven, should you 
 draw back from your word?" said Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 "I do not retract my word, Malcolm; but I am bound, 
 by an early promise to my father, never to enter the doors 
 of a gaming-house." 
 
 " I tell you this is none," said Lord Dalgarno; '^it is but, 
 in plain terms, an eating-house, arranged on civiller terms, 
 and frequented by better company, than others in this town; 
 and if some of them do amuse themselves with cards and 
 hazard, they are men of honor, and who play as such, and 
 for no more than they can well afford to lose. It was not, 
 and could not be, such houses as your father desired you to 
 avoid. Besides, he might as well have made you swear you 
 would never take the accommodation of an inn, tavern, 
 eating-house, or place of public recej)tion of any kind; for 
 there is no such place of public resort but Avhere your eyea 
 may be contaminated by the sight of a pack of pieces of 
 painted pasteboard, and your ears profaned by the rattle of 
 those little spotted cubes of ivory. The difference is, that 
 wliere we go we may happen to see persons of quality amus- 
 ing themselves with a game; and in the ordinary houses you 
 will meet bullies and sharpers, who will strive either to cheat 
 or to swagger you out of your money." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL ' 137 
 
 " I am sure yon would not willingly lead me to do what is 
 wrong," said Xigel; "but my father had a horror of games 
 of cliance, religious I believe, as well as prudential. He 
 judged, from I know not what circumstance, a fallacious one 
 I should hope, that I had a propensity to such courses, and I 
 have told you the promise which he exacted from me." 
 
 ''Now, by my honor," said Dalgarno, ''what you have 
 said affords the strongest reason for my insisting that you go 
 with me, A man who would shun any danger should first 
 become acquainted with its real bearing and extent, and that 
 in the company of a confidential guide and guard. Do you 
 think I myself game? Good faith, my father's oaks grow 
 too far from London, and stand too fast rooted in the rocks 
 of Perthshire, for me to troll them down with a die, though 
 I have seen whole forests go down like nine-pins. No, no — 
 these are sports for the wealthy Southron, not for the poor 
 Scottish noble. The place is an eating-house, and as such 
 you and I will use it. If others use it to game in, it is their 
 fault, but neither that of the house nor ours." 
 
 Unsatisfied with this reasoning, Nigel still insisted upon 
 the promise he had given to his father, until his companion 
 appeared rather displeased, and disposed to impute to him 
 injurious and unhandsome suspicions. Lord Glenvarloch 
 could not stand this change of tone. He recollected that 
 much was due from him to Lord Dalgarno, on account of 
 his father's ready and efficient friendship, and something 
 also on account of the frank manner in which the young 
 man himself had offered him his intimacy. He had no rea- 
 son to doubt his assurances that the house where they were 
 about to dine did not fall under the description of places to 
 which his father's prohibition referred; and finally, he was 
 strong in his own resolution to resist every temptation to 
 join in games of chance. He therefore pacified Lord Dal- 
 garno by intimating his willingness to go along with him; 
 and the good-humor of the young courtier instantaneously 
 returning, he again ran on in a grotesque and rodomontade 
 account of the host, Monsieur de Beaujeu, which he did not 
 conclude until they had reached the temple of hospitality 
 over which that eminent professor presided. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 This is the very barn-yard, 
 Where muster daily the prime cocks o' the game. 
 Ruffle their i)inions, crow till they are hoarse, 
 And spar about a barleycorn. Here too chickens, 
 The callow, unfledged brood of forward folly. 
 Learn first to rear the crest, and aim the spur. 
 And tune their note like full-plumed chanticleer. 
 
 The Bear-Garden. 
 
 The ordinary, now an ignoble sound, was, in the days of 
 James, a new institution, as fasliionable among the youth of 
 that age as the first-rate modern club-houses are among 
 those of the present day. It differed chiefly in being open 
 to all whom good clothes and good assurance combined to in- 
 troduce there. The company usually dined together at an 
 hour fixed, and the manager of the establishment presided as 
 master of the ceremonies. 
 
 Monsieur le Chevalier (as he qualified himself) St. -Priest 
 de Beaujeu was a sharp, thin Gascon, about sixty years old, 
 banished from his own country, as he said, on account of an 
 affair of honor, in which he had the misfortune to kill his 
 antagonist, though the best swordsman in the south of 
 France. His pretensions to quality were supported by a 
 feathered hat, a long rapier, and a suit of embroidered taf- 
 feta, not much the worse for Avear, in the extreme fashion of 
 the Parisian court, and fluttering like a Maypole with many 
 knots of ribbon, of which it was computed he bore at least 
 five hundred yards about his person. But, notwithstanding 
 this profusion of decoration, there were many who thought 
 Monsieur le Chevalier so admirably calculated for his present 
 situation that nature could never have meant to place him an 
 inch above it. It was, however, part of the amusement of 
 the place for Lord Dalgarno and other young men of quality 
 to treat Monsieur de Beaujeu with a great deal of mock cere- 
 mony, which being observed by the herd of more ordinary 
 and simple gulls, they paid him, in clumsy imitation, much 
 real deference. The Gascon's natural forwardness being 
 much enhanced by these circumstances, he was often guilty 
 of presuming beyond the limits of his situation, and of 
 course had sometimes the mortification to be disagreeablj 
 driven back into them. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 139 
 
 When Nigel entered the mansion of this eminent person, 
 which had been but of hite tlie residence of a great baron of 
 Queen Elizabeth's court, who had retired to his manors in 
 the country on the death of that princess, he was surprised 
 at the extent of tlie accommodation which it afforded, and 
 the number of guests who were already assembled. Feathers 
 Avaved, spurs Jingled, lace and embroidery glanced every- 
 where; and, at first sight at least, it certainly made good 
 Lord Dalgarno's encomium, who represented the company as 
 composed almost entirely of youth of the first quality. A 
 more close review was not quite so favorable. Several indi- 
 viduals might be discovered who were not exactly at their 
 ease in the splendid dresses which they wore, and who, 
 therefore, might be supposed not habitually familiar with 
 such finery. Again, there were others whose dress, though 
 on a general view it did not seem inferior to that of the rest 
 of the company, displayed, on being observed more closely, 
 some of those petty expedients by which vanity endeavors to 
 disguise poverty. 
 
 Nigel had very little time to make such observations, for 
 the entrance of Lord Dalgarno created an immediate bustle 
 and sensation among the company, as his name passed from 
 one mouth to another. Some stood forward to gaze, others 
 stood back to make way; those of his own rank hastened to 
 welcome him; those of inferior degree endeavored to catch 
 some point of his gesture, or of his dress, to be worn and 
 practised upon a future occasion, as the newest and most au- 
 thentic fashion. 
 
 The genms loci, the chevalier himself, was not the last to 
 welcome this prime stay and ornament of his establishment. 
 He came shuffling forward with a hundred apish conges and 
 " cliers milors," to express his happiness at seeing Lord Dal- 
 garno again. " I hope you do bring back the sun with you, 
 milor. You did carry away the sun and moon from your 
 pauvre chevalier when you leave him for so long. Pardieu, 
 I believe you take them away in your pockets." 
 
 '* That must have been because you left me nothing else 
 in them, chevalier," answered Lord Dalgarno; " but. Mon- 
 sieur le Chevalier, I pray you to know my countryman and 
 friend. Lord Glenvarloch." 
 
 ^'Ah, ha! tres honore. Je m'en souviens — oui. J'ai 
 connu autrefois un Milor Kenfarloque en Ecosse. Yes, I 
 have memory of him — lepere de milor apparemment — we 
 were vera intimate when I was at Oly Root with Monsieur 
 de la Motte. I did often play at tennis vit Milor Keufar- 
 
140 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 loque at L'Abbaic d'Oly Root ; il etoit m^me plus fort que 
 moi. All le beau coup de revers qu'il avoit ! I have 
 memory, too, that he was among the pretty girls — ah, un 
 vrai diiible dechainc. Aha ! 1 have memory " 
 
 " Better have no more memory of the late Lord Glenvar- 
 loch/' said Lord Dalgarno, interrupting the chevalier with- 
 out ceremony, wlio perceived that the encomium which he 
 was about to pass on the deceased was likely to be as dis- 
 agreeable to the son as it was totally undeserved by the father, 
 who, far from being either a gamester or libertine, as the 
 chevalier's reminiscences falsely represented him, was, on 
 the contrary, strict and severe in his course of life, almost to 
 the extent of rigor. 
 
 "You have the reason, milor," answered the chevalier — 
 " you have the right. Qu'est ce que nous avons a faire avec le 
 temps passe ? The time i:)assed did belong to our fathers — 
 our ancetres — very well, the time present is to us ; they 
 have their pretty tombs, with their memories and armorials, 
 all in brass and marbre ; we have the petits plats exquis, and 
 tlie soupe-a-chevalier, which I will cause to mount up im- 
 mediately." 
 
 So saying, he made a pirouette on his heel, and put his 
 attendants in motion to place dinner on the table. Dalgarno 
 laughed, and, observing his young friend looked grave, said 
 to him, in a tone of reproach, " Why, what ! you are not gull 
 enough to be angry with such an ass as that ? " 
 
 " I keep my anger, I trust, for better purposes," said 
 Lord Glenvarloch ; "but I confess I was moved to hear such 
 a fellow mention my father's name ; and you, too, who told 
 me this was no gaming-house, talked to him of having left it 
 with emptied pockets." 
 
 " Pshaw, man ! " said Lord Dalgarno, " I spoke but ac- 
 cording to the trick of the time ; besides, a man must set 
 a piece or two sometimes, or he would be held a cullionly 
 niggard. But here comes dinner, and we will see whether 
 you like the chevalier's good cheer better than his conversa- 
 tion." 
 
 Dinner was announced accordingly, and the two friends, 
 being seated in the most honorable station at the board, were 
 ceremoniously attended to by the chevalier, who did the 
 honors of his table to them and to the other guests, and sea- 
 soned the whole witli his agreeable conversation. The dinner 
 was really excellent, in that piquant style of cookery which 
 tlie French had already introduced, and which the home- 
 bred young men of England, when they aspired to the rank 
 
THE FORTUNES OF KTOEL 141 
 
 of connoisseurs and persons of taste, were nnder the necessity 
 of admiring. The wine was also of the first quality, and cir- 
 culated in great variety and no less abundance. Tiie conver- 
 sation among so many young men was, of course, light, lively, 
 and amusing; and Nigel, whose mind had been long depressed 
 by anxiety and misfortune, naturally found himself at ease, 
 and his spirits raised and animated. 
 
 Some of the company had real wit, and could use it both 
 politely and to advantage; others were coxcombs and were 
 laughed at without discovering it; and, again, others were 
 originals, who seemed to have no objection that the company 
 should be amused with their folly instead of their wit. And 
 almost all the rest Avho played any prominent part in the con- 
 versation had either tho real tone of good society which 
 belonged to the period, or the jargon which often passes cur- 
 rent for it. 
 
 In short, the company and conversation was so agreeable, 
 that Nigel's rigor was sof toned by it, even towards the master 
 of ceremonies, and he li:tc"ied with patience to various details 
 which the Chevalier de Beaujeu, seeing, as he said, that 
 milor's taste lay for the cur ieux and I' utile, chose to address 
 to him in particular on the subject of cookery. To gratify, 
 at the same time, the taste for antiquity, which he somehow 
 supposed that his new guest possessed, he launched out in 
 commendation of the great artistsof former days, particularly 
 one whom he had known in his youth, "Maitre de cuisine to 
 the Marechal Strozzi — tres bon gentilhomme pourtant," who 
 had maintained his master's table with twelve covers every 
 day during the long and severe blockade of le petit Leyth, 
 although he had nothing better to place on it than the quar- 
 ter of a carrion-horse now and then, and the grass and weeds 
 that grew on the ramparts. '"^Despardieux c'etoit un homme 
 superbe! With one tistle-head and a nettle or two he could 
 make a soupe for twenty guests; an haunch of a little puppy- 
 dog made a roti dcs plus excellens; but his coup de maitre 
 was when the rendition — what you call the surrender — took 
 place and appencd; and then, dieu me damme, he made out 
 of the hind quarter of one salted horse forty-five converts, 
 that the English and Scottish officers and nobility, who had 
 the honor to dine with Monseigneur upon the rendition, could 
 not tell what the devil any one of them were made upon at 
 all." * 
 
 The good wine had by this time gone so merrily round, and 
 had such genial effect on the guests, that those of the lowei 
 
 * See French Cookery. Note 81. 
 
142 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 end of the table, who had hitherto been listeners, began, not 
 greatly to their own credit or that of the ordinary, to make 
 innovations. 
 
 "• You si)eak of the siege of Leith," said a tall, raw-boned 
 man, with thick mustachios turned up with a military 
 twist, a broad buiT belt, a long rapier, and other outside sym- 
 bols of the honored profession which lives by killing other 
 people — " You talk of the siege of Leith, and I have seen 
 the place — a pretty kind of a hamlet it is, with a plain wall 
 or rampart, and a pigeon-house or so of a tower at every an- 
 gle. tJds daggers and scabbards, if a leaguer of our days had 
 been twenty-four hours, not to say so many months, "before 
 it without carrying the place and all its cocklofts, one cfter 
 another, by pure storm, they would have deserved no better 
 grace than the provost-marshal gives when his noose is 
 reeved." 
 
 " Saar,'*' said the chevalier, " Monsieur le Capitaine, I 
 vas not at the siege of the petit Leyth, and I know not what 
 you say about the cockloft ; but I will say for Monseigneur 
 de Strozzi, that he understood the grande guerre, and was 
 grand capitaine — plus grand — that is more great, it may be, 
 than some of the capitaines of Angleterre, who do speak very 
 loud — tenez, monsieur, car c'est a vous \" 
 
 " 0, monsieur,'"' answered the swordsman, ''we know the 
 Frenchman will tight well beliind his barrier of stone, or 
 when he is armed with back, breast, and pot." 
 
 " Pot I " exclaimed the chevalier, " what do you mean by 
 pot — do you mean to insult me among my noble guests? Saar, 
 I have done my duty as a pauvre gentilhomme under the 
 Grand Henri Quatre, both at Courtrai and Yvry, and, ventre 
 saint gris! we had neither pot nor marmite, but did always 
 charge in our shirt." 
 
 " Which refutes another base scandal," said Lord Dal- 
 
 farno, laughing, " alleging that linen was scarce among tl:^ 
 'rench gentlemen-at-arms, " 
 
 " Gentlemen out at arms and elbows both, you mean, my 
 lord," said the captain, from the bottom of the table. " Crav- 
 ing your lordship's pardon, I do know something of these 
 same gens-d'armes." 
 
 ''We will spare your knowledge at present, captain, and 
 save your modesty at the same time the trouble of telling us 
 how that knowledge was acquired, "answered Lord Dalgarno, 
 rather contemptuously. 
 
 "I need not speak of it, my lord," said the man of war : 
 "i\iQ world knows it — all, perhaps, but the men of mohair— 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 143 
 
 the poor sneaking citizens of London, who would see a man 
 of valor eat his very hilts for hunger, ere they would draw a 
 farthing from their long jmrses to relieve them. 0, if a 
 band of the honest fellows I have seen were once to come 
 near that cuckoo's nest * of theirs!" 
 
 "A cuckoo's nest ! and that said of the city of London!" 
 said a gallant who sat on the opposite side of the table, and 
 who, wearing a splendid and fashionable dress, seemed yet 
 scarce at home in it. "I will not brook to hear that re- 
 peated." 
 
 " What! " said the soldier, bending a most terrific frown 
 from a pair of broad black eyebrows, handling the hilt of his 
 weapon with one hand, and twirling with the other his huge 
 mustachios ; "will you quarrel for your city?" 
 
 " Ay, marry will I," replied the other. " I am a citizen, 
 I care not who knows it ; and he who shall speak a word in 
 dispraise of the city is an ass and a peremptory gull, and I 
 will break his pate, to teach him sense and manners." 
 
 The compan}^ who probably had their reasons for not 
 valuing the captain's courage at the high rate which he him- 
 self put upon it, were much entertained at the manner in 
 which the quarrel was taken up by the indignant citizen ; 
 and they exclaimed on all sides, "Well rung. Bow Bell!" 
 "Well crowed, the cock of St. Paul's!" "Sound a charge 
 there, or the soldier will mistake his signals, and retreat 
 when he should advance." 
 
 "You mistake me, gentlemen," said the captain, looking 
 round with an air of dignity. " I will but inquire whether 
 this cavaliero citizen is of rank and degree fitted to measure 
 swords with a man of action — for, conceive me, gentlemen, 
 it is not with every one that I can match myself without loss 
 of reputation — and in that case he shall soon hear from me 
 honorably, by way of cartel." 
 
 " You shall feel me most dishonorably in the way of cud- 
 gel," said the citizen, starting up, and taking his sword, 
 which he had laid in a corner. "Follow me." 
 
 " It is my right to name the place of combat, by all the 
 rules of the sword," said the captain ; " and I do nominate 
 the Maze, in Tothill Fields, for place ; two gentlemen, who 
 shall be indifferent judges, for witnesses ; and for time — let 
 me say this day fortnight, at daybreak." 
 
 " And I," said the citizen, " do nominate the bowling- 
 alley behind the house for place, the present good company 
 for witnesses, and for time the present moment." 
 
 ♦ See Note 23. 
 
144 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 So saying, he cast on his beaver, struck the soldier across 
 the shoulders witli his sheatlied sword, and ran downstair.^. 
 The captain showed no instant ahicrity to follow him ; yet 
 at last, roused by the laugh aiul sneer around liim, he as- 
 sured the conij^any that what he did he would do deliberately, 
 and assuming his hat, which he put on with the air of 
 Ancient Pistol, he descended the stairs to the place of com- 
 bat, where his more -prompt adversary was already stationed, 
 with his sword unsheathed. Of the company, all of whom 
 seemed highly delighted with the approaching fray, some 
 ran to the windows wliicli overlooked the bowling-alley, and 
 others followed the combatants downstairs. Nigel could not 
 help asking Dalgarno whether he would not interfere to 
 prevent mischief. 
 
 " It would be a crime against the public interest,^' an- 
 swered his friend ; " there can no mischief happen between 
 two such originals which will not be a positive benefit to 
 society, and particularly to the chevalier's establishment, as 
 he calls it. I have been as sick of that captain's buff belt 
 and red doublet for this month past as e'er I was of aught ; 
 and now I hope tliis bold linendraper will cudgel the ass out 
 of that filthy lion's hide. See, Nigel — see, the gallant citi- 
 zen has ta'en his ground about a bowl's-cast forward, in the 
 midst of the alley — the very model of a hog in armor. Be- 
 hold how he prances with his manly foot, and brandishes 
 his blade, much as if he were about to measure forth cambric 
 with it. See, they bring on the reluctant soldado, and plant 
 him opposite to his fiery antagonist, twelve paces still divid- 
 ing them. Lo, the captain draws his tool, but, like a good 
 general, looks over his shoulder to secure his retreat, in case 
 the worse come on't. Behold the valiant shopkeeper stoops 
 his head, confident, doubtless, in the civic helmet with which 
 his spouse has fortified his skull. Why, this is the rarest of 
 sport. By Heaven, he will run a tilt at him like a ram." 
 
 It was even as Lord Dalgarno had anticipated ; for the 
 citizen, who seemed quite serious in his zeal for combat, per- 
 ceiving that the man of war did not advance towards him, 
 rushed onwards with as much good fortune as courage, beat 
 down the captain's guard, and, pressing on, thrust, as it 
 seemed, his sword clear through the body of his antagonist, 
 who, with a deep groan, measured his length on the ground. 
 A score of voices cried to the conqueror, as he stood fixed in 
 astonishment at his own feat, "Away — away with you ! fly — 
 fiy — fly by the back door ! get into tlie Whitefriars, or cross 
 the water to the Bankside, while we keep off the mob and the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL 145 
 
 constables." And tlie conqueror, leaving his vanquished 
 foeman on the ground, fled according]}', with all speed. 
 
 '" By Heaven," said Lord Dalgaruo, '" I could never have 
 believed that the fellow would have stood to receive a thrust ; 
 he has certainly been arrested by positive terror, and lost the 
 use of his limbs. See, they are raising him." 
 
 Stiff and stark seemed the corpse of the swordsman, as 
 one or two of the guests raised him from the ground ; but, 
 when they began to open his waistcoat to search for the wound 
 which nowhere existed, the man of war collected his scattered 
 spirits ; and, conscious that the ordinary was no longer a 
 stage on which to display his valor, took to his heels as fast 
 as he could run, pursued by the laughter and shouts of the 
 company. 
 
 " By my honor," said Lord Dalgarno, "he takes the same 
 course with his conqueror. I trust in Heaven he will over- 
 take him, and then the valiant citizen will suppose himself 
 haunted by the ghost of him he has slain." 
 
 " Despardieux, milor," said the chevalier, " if he had staid 
 one moment, he should have had a torchon — what you call a 
 dish-clout, pinned to him for a piece of shroud, to show he 
 be de ghost of one grand fanfaron." 
 
 "In the mean while," said Lord Dalgarno, "you will 
 oblige us. Monsieur le Chevalier, as well as maintain your 
 own honored reputation, by letting your drawers receive 
 the man-at-arms with a cudgel, in case he should venture to 
 come this way again." 
 
 " Ventre saint gris, milor," said the chevalier, " leave that 
 to me. Begar, the maid shall throw the wash-sud upon the 
 grand poltron ! " 
 
 AYhen they had laughed sufficiently at this ludicrous oc- 
 currence, the party began to divide themselves into little 
 knots ; some took possession of the alley, late the scene of 
 combat, and put the field to its proper use of a bowling- 
 ground, and it soon resounded with all the terms of tlie game, 
 as " run, run — rub, rub — hold bias, you infernal trundling 
 timber ! " thus making good the saying that three things 
 are thrown away in a bowling-green, namely, time, money, 
 and oaths. 
 
 In the house, many of the gentlemen betook themselves 
 to cards or dice, and parties were formed at ombre, at basset, 
 at gleek, at primero, and other games then in fashion; while 
 the dice were used at various games, both with and without 
 the tables, as hazard, in-and-in, passage, and so forth. The 
 olay, however, did not appear to be extravagantly deep; it 
 
 10 
 
146 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 was certainly conducted with great decorum and fairness; nor 
 did there appear anything to lead the young Scotsman in the 
 least to doubt his companion's assurance tliat the place was 
 frequented by men of rank and quality, and that the recre 
 ations they adopted were conducted upon honorable princi- 
 ples. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno neither had proposed play to his friend 
 nor joined in the amusements himself, but sauntered from 
 one table to another, remarking the luck of the different 
 players, as well as their capacity to avail themselves of it, and 
 exchanging conversation with the highest and most respect- 
 able of the guests. At length, as if tired of what in modern 
 phrase would have been termed lounging, he suddenly re- 
 membered that Burbage was to act Shakespeare's King Richard 
 at the Fortune that afternoon, and that he could not give a 
 stranger in London, like Lord Glenvarloch, a higher enter- 
 tainment than to carry him to that exhibition. " Unless, 
 indeed," he added, in a whisper, "there is a paternal inter- 
 diction of the theatre as well as of the ordinary." 
 
 ''I never heard my father speak of stage-plays," said 
 Lord Glenvarloch, " for they are shows of a modern date, and 
 unknown in Scotland. Yet, if what I have heard to their 
 prejudice be true, I doubt much whether he would have 
 approved of them." 
 
 " Approved of them ! " exclaimed Lord Dalgarno; ''why, 
 George Buchanan wrote tragedies, and his pupil, learned 
 and wise as himself, goes to see them, so it is next door to 
 treason to abstain; and the cleverest men in England write 
 for the stage, and the prettiest women in London resort to 
 the playhouses, and I have a brace of nags at the door which 
 will carry us along the streets like wildfire, and the ride will 
 digest our venison and ortolans, and dissipate the fumes of 
 the wine, and so let's to horse. God-den to you, gentlemen. 
 God-den, Chevalier de la Fortune." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno's grooms were in attendance with two 
 horses, and the young men mounted, the proprietor upon a 
 favorite barb, and Nigel upon a high-dressed jennet, scarce 
 less beautiful. As they rode towards the theatre. Lord Dal- 
 garno endeavored to discover his friend's opinion of the com- 
 pany to which he had introduced him, and to combat the ex- 
 ceptions which he might suppose him to have taken. " And 
 wherefore lookest thou sad," he said, "my pensive neophyte? 
 Sage son of the alma mater of Low-Dutch learning, what 
 aileth thee? Is the leaf of the living world which we have 
 turned over in company less fairly written than thou hadst 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 147 
 
 been taught to expect? Be comforted, and pass over one 
 little blot or two; thou wilt be doomed to read through 
 many a page as black as infamy, with her sooty pinion, can 
 make them. Remember, most immaculate Xigel, that we are 
 Ixi London, not Leyden; that we are studying life, not lore. 
 Stand buff against the reproach of thine over-tender con- 
 cience, man, and when thou summest up, like a good arith- 
 metician, the actions of the day, before you balance the ac- 
 count upon your pillow, tell the accusing spirit to his brim- 
 stone beard that, if thine ears have heard the clatter of the 
 devirs bones, thy hand hath not trowled them; that if thine 
 eye hath seen the brawling of two angry boys, thy blade hath 
 not been bared in their fray." 
 
 " Now, all this may be wise and witty," replied Xigel; 
 "yet I OAvn I cannot think but that your lordship, and other 
 men of good quality with whom we dined, might have chosen 
 a place of meeting free from the intrusion of bullies, and a 
 better master of your ceremonial than yonder foreign adven- 
 turer." 
 
 "All shall be amended, Sancte Xigelle, when thou shalt 
 come forth a new Peter the Hermit, to preach a crusade 
 against dicing, drabbing, and company-keeping. We will 
 meet for dinner in St. Sepulchre's church; we will dine in 
 the chancel, drink our flask in the vestry; the parson shall 
 draw every cork, and the clerk say ' amen ' to every health. 
 Come, man, cheer up, and get rid of this sour and unsocial 
 humor. Credit me, that the Puritans who object to us the 
 follies and the frailties incident to human nature have them- 
 selves the vices of absolute devils, privy malice and backbit- 
 ing h}^ocrisy, and spiritual pride in all its presumption. 
 There is much, too, in life which we must see, were it only 
 to learn to shun it. Will Shakespeare, who lives after death, 
 and who is presently to afford thee such pleasure as none 
 but himself can confer, has described the gallant Falcon- 
 bridge as calling that man 
 
 " ' A bastard to the time 
 That doth not smack of observation ; 
 
 Which, though I will not practise to deceive, 
 Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn.' 
 
 But here we are at the door of the Fortune,* where we shall 
 have matchless Will speaking for himself. Goblin, and you 
 other lout, leave the horses to the grooms, and make way for 
 us through the press." 
 
 • Tliis theatre was situatfjcl neftr playhouse Yard. Golden Lane {LaingX 
 
148 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 They dismounted, and the assiduous efforts of Lutin, 
 elbowing, bullying, and proclaiming his master's name and 
 title, made way through a crowd of murmuring citizens and 
 clauiorous apprentices to the door, where Lord Dalgarno 
 speedily procured a brace of stools upon the stiigo for his com- 
 panion and himself, where, seated among other gallants of 
 the same class, they had an opportunity of displaying their 
 fair dresses and fashionable manners, while they criticised the 
 piece during its ^irogress ; thus forming, at the same time, a 
 conspicuous part of the spectacle and an important proportion 
 of the audience. 
 
 Nigel Olifaunt was too eagerly and deeply absorbed in the 
 interest of the scene to be capable of playing his part as be- 
 came the place where he was seated. He felt all the magic 
 of that sorcerer who had displayed, within the paltry circle 
 of a wooden booth, the long Avars of York and Lancaster, 
 compelling the heroes of either line to stalk across the scene 
 in language and fashion as they lived, as if the grave had 
 given up the dead for the amusement and instruction of the 
 living. Burbage,* esteemed the best Eichard until Garrick 
 arose, played the tyrant and usurper with such truth and 
 liveliness "that, when the battle of Boswortli seemed con- 
 cluded by his death, the ideas of reality and deception were 
 strongly contending in Lord Glenvarloch's imagination, and 
 it required him to rouse himself from his reverie, so strange 
 did the proposal at first sound, when his companion declared 
 King Eichard should sup with them at the Mermaid. 
 
 They were joined, at the same time, by a small party of 
 the gentlemen with whom they had dined, which they re- 
 cruited by inviting two or three of the most accomplished 
 wits and poets, who seldom failed to attend the Fortune 
 Theatre, and were even but too ready to conclude a day of 
 amusement with a night of pleasure. Thither the whole 
 party adjourned, and betwixt fertile cups of sack, excited 
 spirits, and the emulous wit of their lively companions, 
 seemed to realize the joyous boast of one of Ben Jonson's 
 contemporaries, when reminding the bard of 
 
 Those lyric feasts, 
 Where men such clusters had. 
 As made them nobly w41d, not mad ; 
 While yet each verse of tliine 
 Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine. 
 
 * See Note 23. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Let the proud salmon gorge the feather'd hook, 
 Then strike, and then you have him. He will winoe; 
 Spin out your line that it shall whistle from you 
 Some twenty yards or so, yet you shall have him. 
 Marrj"! you must liave patience. The stout rock 
 Which is his trust hath edges something sharp; 
 And the deep pool hath ooze and sludge enough 
 To mar your fishing, 'less you are more careful. 
 
 Albion, or the Double Kingg. 
 
 It is seldom tliat a day of pleasure, upon review, seems alto 
 gether so exquisite as the partaker of the festivity may have 
 felt it while passing over him. Nigel Olifaunt, at least, did 
 not feel it so, audit required a visit from his new acquaintance 
 Lord Dalgarno to reconcile him entirely to himself. But 
 this visit took place early after breakfast, and his friend's 
 discourse was prefaced with a question, " How he liked the 
 company of the preceding evening? " 
 
 "■ Wiiy, excellently well,'' said Lord Glenvarloch; " only 
 I should have liked the wit better had it appeared to flow 
 more freely. Every man's invention seemed on the stretch, 
 and each extravagant simile seemed to set one half of your 
 men of Avit into a brown study to produce something which 
 should out-herod it." 
 
 *'And wherefore not?" said Lord Dalgarno, "or wliat 
 are these fellows fit for, but to play the intellectual gladiators 
 before us? He of them who declares himself recreant, 
 Ahould, d — n him, be restricted to muddy ale, and the patron- 
 age of the Waterman's Company. I promise you, that many 
 a pretty fellow has been mortally wounded with a quibble or 
 a carwitchet at the Mermaid, and sent from thence, in a pit- 
 iable estate, to Wit's hospital in the Yintry, where they lan- 
 guish to this day among fools and aldermen." 
 
 " It may be so," said Lord Xigel; " yet I could swear by 
 my honor, that last night I seemed to be in company Avith 
 more than one man wliose genius and learning ought either to 
 have i:)laced him higher in our company or to have with- 
 drawn him altogether from a scene where, sooth to speak, 
 his part seemed unworthily subordinate." 
 
 " Xow, out upon your tender conscience," said Lord Dal- 
 garno; '•' and the fico for euch outcasts of Parnassus! Why, 
 
150 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 these are tlie very leavings of that noble banquet of pickle(i 
 herrings and Rhenish wliich lost London so many of her 
 principal witmongers and bards of misrule. What would you 
 have said had you seen Nash or Green, when you interest 
 yourself about the poor mimes you supped with last nighfr 
 Suffice it, they had their drench and their doze, and they 
 Irank and slept as much as may save them from any necessity 
 )f eating till evening, when, if they are industrious, they will 
 lind patrons or players to feed them.* For the rest of their 
 wants, they can be at no loss for cold water while the New 
 Eiver head holds good; and your doublets of Parnassus are 
 eternal in duration. '^ 
 
 " Virgil and Horace had more efficient patronage, '^ said 
 Nigel. 
 
 " Ay," replied his countryman, "but these fellows are 
 neither Virgil nor Horace; besides, we have other spirits of 
 another sort, to whom I will introduce you on some early 
 occasion. Our Swan of Avon hath sung his last; but we 
 have stout old Ben, with as much learning and genius as 
 ever prompted the treader of sock and buskin. It is not, 
 however, of him I mean now to speak, but I come to pray 
 you, of dear love, to row up with me as far as Richmond, 
 where two or three of the gallants whom you saw yesterday 
 mean to give music and syllabvibs to a set of beauties, with 
 some curious bright eyes among them — such, I promise you, 
 as might win an astrologer from his worship of the galaxy. 
 My sister leads the bevy to whom I desire to present you. 
 She hath her admirers at court; and is regarded, though I 
 might dispense with sounding her praise, as one of the beau- 
 ties of the time." 
 
 There was no refusing an engagement where the presence 
 of the party invited, late so low in his own regard, was de- 
 manded by a lady of quality, one of the choice beauties of 
 the time. Lord Glenvarloch accepted, as was inevitable, 
 and spent a lively day among the gay and the fair. He was 
 the gallc'.nt in attendance, for the day, upon his friend's sister, 
 the beautiful Countess of Blackchester, who aimed at once 
 at superiority in the realms of fashion, of power, and of wit. 
 
 She was, indeed, considerably older than her brother, and 
 had probably completed her six lustres; but the deficiency in 
 extreme youth was more than atoned for in the most precise 
 and curious accuracy in attire, an early acquaintance with 
 every foreign mode, and a peculiar gift in adapting the 
 knowledge which she acquired to her own particular features 
 
 • See Men of Wit and Talent. Note 84 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 151 
 
 and complexion. At court, slieknew as well as any lady in 
 the circle the precise tone, moral, political, learned, or 
 jocose, in Avhich it was proper to answer the monarch, 
 according to his prevailing humor; and was supposed to have 
 been very active, by her personal interest, in procuring her 
 husband a high situation, which the gouty old viscount could 
 never have deserved by any merit of his own commonplace 
 conduct and understanding. 
 
 It was far more easy for this lady than for her brother to 
 reconcile so young a courtier as Lord Glenvarloch to the cus- 
 toms and habits of a sphere so new to him. In all civilized 
 society, tlie females of distinguished rank and beauty give 
 the tone to manners, and, through these, even to morals. 
 Lady Blackchester had, besides, interest either in the court 
 or over the court, for its source could not be well traced, 
 which created friends, and overawed tliose who might have 
 been disposed to play the part of enemies. 
 
 At one time she was understood to be closely leagued with 
 the Buckingham family, with whom her brother still main- 
 tained a great intimacy; and, although some coldness had 
 taken place betwixt the countess and the Duchess of Buck- 
 ingham, so that they were little seen together, and the former 
 seemed considerably to have withdrawn herself into privacy, 
 it was whispered that Lady Blackchester's interest with the 
 great favorite was not diminished in consequence of her 
 breach with his lady. 
 
 Our accounts of the private court intrigues of that 
 period, and of the persons to whom they were intrusted, are 
 not full enough to enable us to pronounce upon the various 
 reports which arose out of the circumstances Ave have de- 
 tailed. It is enough to say, that Lady Blackchester possessed 
 great influence on the circle around her, both from her 
 beauty, her abilities, and her reputed talents for court in- 
 trigue; and that Nigel Olifaunt was not long of experiencing 
 its power, as he became a slave in some degree to that species 
 of habit which carries so many men into a certain society at 
 a certain hour, without expecting or receiving any particu- 
 lar degree of gratification, or even amusement. 
 
 His life for several weeks may be thus described. The 
 ordinary was no bad introduction to the business of the day; 
 and the young lord quickly found that, if the society there 
 was not always irreproachable, still it formed the most con- 
 venient and agreeable place of meeting with the fashionable 
 parties with whom he visited Hyde Park, the theatres, and 
 other places of public resort, or joined the gay and glittering 
 
152 IVAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 circle which Ludy Bhickchester liad assemhleJ around her. 
 Neitlier did he eutertulii tiie same scrupulous horror wiiicli 
 led him originally even to hesitate entering into a2)lace where 
 gaming was permitted: but, on the contrary^ began to admit 
 the idea that, as therr could be no harm in beholding such 
 recreation when only indulged in to a moderate degree, so, 
 from a parity of reasoning, there could be no objection to 
 joining in it, always under the same restrictions. But the 
 young lord was a Scotsman, habituated to early reflection, 
 and totally unaccustomed to ai\y hrbit which inferred a care- 
 less risk or j)rofuse waste of money. Profusion was not his 
 natural vice, or one likely to be acquired in 'he course of his 
 education; and in all probability, while his father anticipated 
 Avith noble horror the idea of his son approaching the gam- 
 ing-table, he was more startled at tho idea of his becoming a 
 gaining than a losing adventurer. The second^ according to 
 his principles, had a termination, a sad one indeed, in the loss 
 of temporal fortune; the first quality went on increasing the 
 evil which he dreaded, and perilled at once both body and 
 soul. 
 
 However the old lord might ground liir: apprehension, it 
 was so far verified by his son's conduct, that, from an observer 
 of the various games of chance which he witnessed, he came, 
 by degrees, by moderate hazards and small beta or wagers, 
 to take a certain interest in them. Nor could it be denied 
 that his rank and expectations entitled him to hazard a few 
 pieces, for his game went no deeper, againet persons who, 
 from the readiness with which they staked tlicir money, might 
 be supposed well able to afford to lose it. 
 
 It chanced, or perhaps, according to the common belief, 
 his evil genius had so decreed, that Nigel's adventures were 
 remarkably successful. He was temperate, cautious, cool- 
 headed, had a strong memory and a ready power of calcula- 
 tion; was, besides, of a daring and intrepid character, one 
 upon whom no one that had looked even slightly, or spoken 
 to though but hastily, would readily have ventured to prac- 
 tise anything approaching to trick, or which required to be 
 supported by intimidation. While Lord Glenvarloch chose 
 to play, men played with him regularly, or, according to the 
 phrase, upon the square; and, as he found his luck change, 
 or wished to hazard his good fortune no farther, the more 
 professed votaries of fortune who frequented the house of 
 Monsieur le Chevalier de St. -Priest Beaujeu did not venture 
 openly to express their displeasure at his rising a winner. 
 But when this happened repeatedly, the gamesters murmured 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 153 
 
 among themselves equally at the caution and the success of 
 the young Scotsman; and he became far from being a popu- 
 hir character among their society. 
 
 It was no slight inducement to the continuance of this 
 most evil habit, when once it was in some degree acquired, 
 that it seemed to place Lord Glenvarloch, haughty as he 
 naturally was, beyond the necessity of subjecting himself to 
 farther pecuniary obligations, which his prolonged residence 
 in Loiulon must otherwise have rendered necessary. He had 
 to solicit from the ministers certain forms of office, which 
 were to render his sign-manual eit'ectually useful ; and these, 
 though they could not be denied, were delayed in such a 
 manner as to lead Nigel to believe there was some secret oppo- 
 sition which occasioned the demur in his business. His own 
 impulse was, to have appeared at court a second time, with 
 the King's sign-manual in his pocket, and to have appealed 
 to his Majesty himself, whether the delay of the public offi- 
 cers ought to render his royal generosity unavailing. But 
 the Lord Huntinglen, that good old peer, who had so frankly 
 interfered in his behalf on a former occasion, and whom_ he 
 occasionally visited, greatly dissuaded him from a similar 
 adventure, and exhorted him quietly to await the deliverance 
 of the ministers, which should set him free from dancing 
 attendance in London. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno joined his father in deterring his young 
 friend from a second attendance at court, at least till he was 
 reconciled with the Duke of Buckingham. "A matter in 
 which," he said, addressing his father, "I have offered my 
 poor assistance, without being able to prevail on Lord Nigel 
 to make any — not even the least — submission to the Duke of 
 Buckingham." 
 
 " By my faith, and I hold the laddie to be in the right 
 on% Malcolm ! " answered the stout old Scots lord. " What 
 right hath Buckingham, or, to speak plainly, the son of Sir 
 George Villiers, to expect homage and fealty from one more 
 noble than himself by eight quarters ? I heard him myself, 
 on no reason that I could perceive, term Lord Nigel his 
 enemy ; and it will never be my counsel that the lad speaks 
 soft word to him till he recalls the hard one." 
 
 " That is precisely my advice to Lord Glenvarloch," an- 
 swered Lord Dalgarno ; ^"but then you will admit, my dear 
 father, that it would be the risk of extremity for our friend 
 to return into the presence, the duke being his enemy ; 
 better to leave it with me to take off the heat of the dis- 
 temperature with which some pickthanks have persuaded 
 the duke to regard our friend." 
 
154 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " If thou canst persuade Buckingluim of liis error, Mal- 
 colm," said his father, " for once I will say there hath been 
 kindness and honesty in court service. I have oft told your 
 sister and yourself that in the general I esteem it as lightly 
 as may be." 
 
 " You need not doubt my doing my best in Nigel's case,'' 
 answered Lord Dalgarno ; " but you must think, my dear 
 father, I must needs use slower ancl gentler means than those 
 by which you became a favorite twenty years ago." 
 
 *'By my faith, I am afraid thou wilt," answered his 
 father, " I tell thee, Malcolm, I would sooner wish myself 
 in the grave than doubt thine honesty or honor ; yet some- 
 how it hath chanced that honest, ready service hath not the 
 same acceptance at court which it had in my younger time, 
 and yet you rise there." 
 
 " 0, the time permits not your old-world service," said 
 Lord Dalgarno ; *' we have now no daily insurrections, no 
 nightly attempts at assassination, as were the fashion in the 
 Scottish court. Your prompt and uncourteous sword-in- 
 hand attendance on the sovereign is no longer necessary, and 
 would be as unbeseeming as your old-fashioned serving-men, 
 with their badges, broadswords, and bucklers, would be at a 
 court mask. Besides, father, loyal haste hath its incon- 
 veniences. I have heard, and from royal lips too, that when 
 you struck your dagger into the traitor Euthven, it was with 
 such little consideration, that the point ran a quarter of an 
 ^nch into the royal buttock. The King never talks of it but 
 he rubs the injured part, and quotes his ' infandum . . „ 
 renovare dolor em.' But this comes of old fashions, and of 
 wearing a long Liddesdale whinger instead of a poniard of 
 Parma. Yet this, my dear father, you call prompt and 
 valiant service. The King, I am told, could not sit upright 
 for a fortnight, though all the cushions in Falkland were 
 placed in his chair of state, and the Provost of Dunfermline's 
 borrowed to the boot of all." 
 
 " It is a lie/^ said the old earl — " a false iio, forge it who 
 list ! It is true I wore a dagger of service by my side, and 
 not a bodkin like yours, to pick one's teeth withal. And for 
 prompt service — odds nouns ! it should be prompt to be use- 
 ful, when kings are crying treason and murder with the 
 screech of a half-throttled hen. But you young courtiers 
 know naught of these matters, and aio little better than the 
 green geese wliich they bring ;jvcr from the Indies, whose 
 only merit to their masters is to repeat their own words after 
 them — a pack of mouthers, and flatterers, and ear-wigs. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 155 
 
 Well, I am old and unable to mend, else I would break all 
 off, and hear the Tay once more flinging himself over the 
 Carapsie Linn." 
 
 " But there is your dinner-bell, father," said Lord Dal- 
 garno, '' which, if the venison I sent you prove seasonable, is 
 at least as sweet a sound." 
 
 " Follow me, then, youngsters, if you list," said the old 
 earl ; and strode on from the alcove in which this conversa- 
 tion was held, toAvards the house, followed by the two young 
 men. 
 
 In their private discourse. Lord Dalgarno had little 
 trouble in dissuading Nigel from going immediately to court ; 
 while, on the other hand, the offers he made him of a pre- 
 vious introduction to the Duke of Buckingham were received 
 by Lord Glenvarloch with a positive and contemptuous refu- 
 sal. His friend shrugged his shoulders, as one who claims 
 the merit of having given to an obstinate friend the best 
 counsel, and desires to be held free of the consequences of 
 his pertinacity. 
 
 As for the father, his table indeed, and his best liquor, of 
 which he was more profuse than necessary, were at the com- 
 mand of his young friend, as well as his best advice and assist- 
 ance in the prosecution of his affairs. But Lord Hunting- 
 len's interest was more apparent than real ; and the credit he 
 had acquired by his gallant defence of the King's person was 
 so carelessly managed by himself, and so easily eluded by the 
 favorites and ministers of the sovereign, that, except upon 
 one or two occasions, when the King was in some measure 
 taken by surprise, as in the case of Lord Glenvarloch, the 
 royal bounty was never efficiently extended either to himself 
 or to his friends. 
 
 " There never was a man," said Lord Dalgarno, whose 
 shrewder knowledge of the English court saw where his 
 father's deficiency lay, " that had it so perfectly in his power 
 to have made his way to the pinnacle of fortune as my poor 
 father. He had acquired a right to build up the staircase step 
 by step, slowly and surely, letting every boon which he begged 
 vear after year become in its turn the resting-place for the 
 iiext annual grant. But your fortunes shall not shipwreck 
 upon the same coast, Nigel," he would conclude. " If I 
 have fewer means of influence than my fatlier has, or rather 
 had, till he threw them away for butts of sack, hawks, hounds, 
 and such carrion, I can, far better than he, improve that 
 which I possess ; and that, my dear Nigel, is all engaged in 
 your behalf. Do not be surprised or offended that you now 
 
156 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 see me less than formerly. The stag-hunting is commenced, 
 and the Prince looks that I should attend him more fre- 
 quently. I must also maintain my attendance on the Duke, 
 that I may have an opportunity of pleading your cause when 
 occasion shall permit." 
 
 " I have no cause to plead before the Duke," said Nigel, 
 gravely ; " 1 have said so repeatedly." 
 
 " Why, I meant the phrase no otherwise, thou churlish 
 and suspicious disputant," answered Dalgarno, "than as 1 
 am now pleading the Duke's cause with thee. Surely I only 
 mean to claim a share in our royal master's favorite benedic- 
 tion, Beafi pacifici." 
 
 Upon several occasions. Lord Glenvarloch's conversations, 
 both with the old earl and his son, took a similar turn, and 
 had a like conclusion. He sometimes felt as if, betwixt the 
 one and the other, not to mention the more unseen and un- 
 boasted, but scarce less certain, influence of Lady Black- 
 chester, his affair, simple as it had become, might have been 
 somehow accelerated. But it was equally impossible to doubt 
 the rough honesty of the father and the eager and officious 
 friendship of Lord Dalgarno ; nor was it easy to suppose 
 that the countenance of the lady, by whom he was received 
 with such distinction, would be wanting, could it be effect- 
 ual in his service. 
 
 Nigel was farther sensible of the truth of what Lord Dal- 
 garno often pointed out, that the favorite being supposed to 
 be his enemy, every petty officer through whose hands his 
 affair must necessarily pass would desire to make a merit of 
 throwing obstacles in his way, which he could only surmount 
 by steadiness and patience, unless he preferred closing the 
 breach, or, as Lord Dalgarno called it, making his peace with 
 the Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Nigel might, and doubtless would, have had recourse to 
 the advice of his friend George Heriot upon this occasion, 
 having found it so advantageous formerly ; but the only 
 time he saw him after their visit to court, he found the wor- 
 thy citizen engaged in hasty preparation for a journey to 
 Paris, upon business of great importance in the way of his 
 profession, and by an especial commission from the court and 
 the Duke of Buckingham, which was likely to be attended 
 with considerable profit. The good man smiled as he named 
 the Duke of Buckingham. " He had been," he said, " pretty 
 sure that his disgrace in that quarter would not be of long 
 duration." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch expressed himself rejoiced at their 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 157 
 
 reconciliation, observing, that it had been a most painful 
 reflection to him that .Master Ueriot sliould, in his behalf, 
 have incurred the dislil<e, and perhaps exposed himself to 
 the ill offices, of so powerful a favorite. 
 
 " My lord," said Heriot, " for your father's son I would 
 do much ; and yet truly, if I know myself, I would do 
 as much, and risk as much, for the sake of justice, in the 
 case of a much more insignificant person, as I have ventured 
 for yours. But as we shall not meet for some time, I must 
 commit to your own wisdom the farther prosecution of this 
 matter.'' 
 
 And thuL they took a kind and affectionate leave of each 
 other. 
 
 There were other changes in Lord Glenvarloch's situa- 
 tion which require to be noticed. His present occupations, 
 and the habits of amusement which he had acquired, ren- 
 dered his living so far in the city a considerable incon- 
 venience. He may also have become a little ashamed of his 
 cabin on Paul's Wharf, and desirous of being lodged some- 
 what more according to his quality. For this purpose he 
 had hired a small apartment near the Temple. He was, 
 nevertheless, almost sorry for what he had done, when he 
 observed that his removal appeared to give some pain to John 
 Christie, and a great deal to his cordial and officious land- 
 lady. The former, who Avas grave and saturnine in every- 
 thing he did, only hoped that all had been to Lord Glenvar- 
 loch's mind, and that he had not left them on account of 
 any unbeseeming negligence on their part. But the tear 
 twinkled in Dame Kelly's eye, while she recounted the vari- 
 ous improvements she had made in the apartment of express 
 purpose to render it more convenient to his lordship. 
 
 "There was a great sea-chest," she said, ''had been 
 taken upstairs to the shopman's garret, though it left the 
 poor lad scarce eighteen inches of opening to creep betwixt it 
 and his bed; and Heaven knew — she did not — whether it 
 could ever be brought down that narrow stair again. Then 
 the turning the closet into an alcove had cost a matter of 
 twenty round shillings; and to be sure, to any other lodger 
 but his lordship the closet was more convenient. There was 
 all the linen, too, which she had bought on purpose. But 
 Heaven's Avill be done — she was resigned." 
 
 Everybody likes marks of personal attachment; and 
 Nigel, whose heart really smote him, as if in his rising for- 
 tunes he were disdaining the lowly accommodations and the 
 civilities of the humble friends w-hich had been but lately 
 
158 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 actual favors, failed not by every assurance in his power, and 
 by as liberal payment as they could be prevailed upon to 
 accept, to alleviate the soreness of their feelings at his 
 departure; and a parting kiss from the fair lips of his hostess 
 sealed his forgiveness. 
 
 Richie Moniplies lingered behind his master, to ask 
 whether, in case of need, John Christie could help a canny 
 Scotsman to a passage back to his own country; and receiv- 
 ing assurance of John's interest to that effect, he said, at 
 parting, he would remind him of his promise soon. " For," 
 said he, " if my lord is not weary of his London life, I ken 
 one that is, videlicet, mysell; and I am weel determined to 
 see Arthur's Seat again ere I am many weeks older/' 
 
CHAPTER XIY 
 
 Bingo, why, Bingo! hey, boy — here, Bir, herd 
 He's gone and off, but he'll be home before us; 
 'Tis the most wayward cur e'er mumbled bone, 
 Or dogg'd a master's footstep. Bingo loves me 
 Better than ever beggar loved his alms; 
 Yet, when he takes such humor, you may coax 
 Sweet Mistress Fantasy, your worship's mistress, 
 Out of her sullen moods, as soon as Bingo. 
 
 The Dominie and his Dog. 
 
 Richie Moniplies was as good as his word. Two or three 
 mornings after the young lord had possessed himself of his 
 new lodgings, he appeared before Nigel, as he was preparing 
 to dress, having left his pilloAV at an hour much later than 
 had formerly been his custom. 
 
 As Nigel looked upon his attendant, he observed there 
 Ivas a gathering gloom upon his solemn features, which ex- 
 pressed either additional importance, or superadded discon- 
 tent, or a portion of both. 
 
 '' How now," he said, '' what is the matter this morning, 
 Richie, that you have made your face so like the grotesque 
 mask on one of the spouts yonder?" pointing to the Temple 
 Church, of which Gothic building they had a view from the 
 window. 
 
 Richie swivelled his head a little to the right, with as lit- 
 tle alacrity as if he had the crick in his neck, and instantly 
 resuming his posture, replied, "Mask here, mask there, it 
 were nae such matters that I have to speak anent." 
 
 "And what matters have you to speak anent, then?" said 
 his master, whom circumstances had inured to tolerate a good 
 deal of freedom from his attendant. 
 
 "My lord," said Richie, and then stopped to cough and 
 hem, as if what he had to say stuck somewhat in his throat. 
 
 "I guess the mystery," said Nigel — "you want a little 
 money, Richie. Will five pieces serve the present turn?" _ 
 
 " My lord," said Richie, "I may, it is like, want a trifle 
 of money; and I am glad at the same time and sorry that it 
 is mair plenty Avith your lordship than formerly." 
 
 " Glad and sorry, man! " said Lord Nigel; "why, you are 
 reading riddles to me, Richie." 
 
 169 
 
16C WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ''^ry riddle will l)e briefly read," said Tlicliie: ''I come 
 to crave of your lordship your commands for .Scotland," 
 
 "For Scotland! Avhy, art thou mad, man?" said Nigel; 
 ''canst thou not tarry to go down with me?" ^ 
 
 *' I could be of little service," said Kichie, ''since you 
 pnrpose to hire another page and groom." 
 
 " Why, thou jealous ass," said the young lord, "will not 
 thy load of duty lie the lighter? Go, take thy breakfast, and 
 drink thy ale double strong, to put such absurdities out 
 of thy head. I could be angry with thee for thy folly, 
 man, but I remember how thou hast stuck to me in adver- 
 sity." 
 
 " Adversity, my lord, should never have parted us," said 
 Eichie; " methinks, had the warst come to warst, I could 
 have starved as gallantly as your lordship, or more so, being 
 in some sort used to it; for, though I w^as bred at a flesher's 
 stall, I have not through my life had a constant intimacy 
 with collops." 
 
 " Now, what is the meaning of all this trash?" said Nigel; 
 " or has it no other end than to provoke my patience? You 
 know well enough that, had I twenty serving-men, I would 
 hold the faithful follower that stood by me in my distress the 
 most valued of them all. But it is totally out of reason to 
 plague me with your solemn capriccios." 
 
 " My lord," said Richie, " in declaring your trust in me, 
 you have done what is honorable to yourself, if I may with 
 humility say so much, and in no Avay undeserved on my side. 
 Nevertheless, we must part." 
 
 "Body of me, man, why?" said Lord Nigel; "what rea- 
 son can there be for it, if we are mutually satisfied ? " 
 
 " My lord," said Richie Moniplies, " your lordship's oc- 
 cupations are such as I cannot own or countenance by my 
 presence." 
 
 " How now, sirrah!" said his master, angrily. 
 "Under favor, my lord," replied his domestic, "it is 
 unequal dealing to be equally offended by my speech and by 
 my silence. If you can hear with patience the grounds of 
 my departure, it may be, for aught I know, the better for 
 you here and hereafter; if not, let me have my license of 
 departure in silence, and so no more about it." 
 
 "Go to, sir!" said Nigel; "sj^eak out your mind, only 
 remember to whom you speak it." 
 
 " Weel — weel, my lord, I speak it with humility [never 
 did Richie look with more starched dignity than when he 
 uttered the Avord]; but do 3'OU think this dicing and card- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 161 
 
 shuffling, and Iniunting of taverns and ^^laylionses, suits your 
 lordsliip, for I am sure it does not suit me?'' 
 
 '•Why, 3'ou are not turned precisian or Puritan, fool?'* 
 said Lord Glenvarloch, hiughing, thougli, betwixt resent- 
 ment and sliame, it cost liim some trouble to do so. 
 
 "My lord," replied the follower, "I ken the purport of 
 your query. I am, it may be, a little of a precisian, and I 
 wish to Heaven I was mair worthy of the name; but let that 
 be a passover. I have stretched the duties of a serving-man 
 as far as my Xorthern conscience will permit. I can give 
 my gude word to my master, or to my native country, Avhen 
 I am in a foreign land, even though l"'should leave downright 
 truth a wee bit behind me. Ay, and I will take or give a 
 slash with ony man that speaks 'to the derogation of either. 
 But this chambering, dicing, and play-haunting is not my 
 element — I cannot" draw breath in it; and when I hear of 
 your lordship winning the siller that some poor creature 
 may full sairly miss — by my saul, if it wad serve your 
 necessity, rather than you gained it from him, I wad tak a 
 jump over the hedge with your lordship, and cry ^Standi' 
 to the first grazier we met that w^as coming from Smithfield 
 with the price of his Essex calves in his leathern pouch!" 
 
 '•You are a simpleton," said Xigel, who felt, however, 
 much conscience-struck; "I never play but for small sums." 
 
 "Ay, my lord," replied the unyielding domestic, "and 
 — still with reverence — it is even sae much the Avaur. If you 
 played with your equals, there might be like sin, but there 
 wad be mair"^ warldly honor in it. Your lordship kens, or 
 may ken by experience of your ain, Avhilk is not as yet mony 
 weeks auld, that small sums can ill be missed by those that 
 have nane larger; and I maun e'en be plain with you, that 
 men notice it of your lordship, that ye play wi' nane but the 
 misguided creatures that can but afford to lose bare stakes." 
 
 " Xo man dare say so!" replied Nigel, very angrily. "I 
 play with whom I please, but I w ill only play for what stake 
 I please." 
 
 "That is just what they say, my lord,'' said the 
 unmerciful Richie, whose natural love of lecturing, as well 
 as his bluutness of feeling, prevented him from having any 
 idea of the pain which "he Avas inflicting on his master — 
 " these are even their own very words. It was but yesterday 
 your lordship was pleased at that same ordinary_ to win from 
 yonder young hafflins gentleman with the crimson velvet 
 doublet and the cock's feather in his beaver — him, I mean, 
 who fought with the ranting captain — a matter of five 
 
 11 
 
163 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 poands, or thereby. I saw liim come tliroiigh the hall; and, 
 if he was not cleaned out of cross and pile, I never saw a 
 ruined man in my life/* 
 
 "Impossible!" said Lord Glenvarloch. "Why, who is 
 he? lie looked like a man of substance/' 
 
 "All is not gold that glistens, my lord," replied Eichie; 
 " 'broidery and bullion buttons make bare pouches. And if 
 V'ou ask who he is — maybe I have a guess, and care not to 
 tell.'' 
 
 " At least, if I have done any such fellow an injury," said 
 the Lord Nigel, " let me know how I can repair i':." 
 
 " Never fash your beard about that, my loi'd — with 
 reverence always," said Richie; "he shall be suitably cared 
 after. Tliink of him but as ane wha was running post to 
 the devil, and got a shouldering from your lordship to help 
 him on his journey. But I will stop him, if reason can; and 
 so your lordship needs ask nae mair about it, for there is no 
 use in your knowing it, but much the contrair." 
 
 "Hark you, sirrah," said his master, " I have borne with 
 you thus far for certain reasons, but abuse my good-nature 
 no farther; and since you must needs go, why, go a God's 
 name, and here is to pay your journey." So saying, he put 
 gold into his hand, which Richie told over, piece by piece, 
 with the utmost accuracy. 
 
 "Is it all right — or are they wanting in weight — or what 
 the devil keeps you, when your hurry was so great five 
 minutes since ?" said the young lord, now thoroughly nettled 
 at the presumptuous precision with which Richie dealt forth 
 his canons of morality. 
 
 "The tale of coin is complete," said Richie, with the 
 most imperturbable gravity; "and, for the weight, though 
 they are sae scrupulous in this town as make mouths at a 
 piece that is a wee bit light, or that has been cracked within 
 the ring, my sooth, they will jump at them in Edinburgh 
 like a cock at a grosart. Gold pieces are not so j)lenty therCj 
 the mair the pity ! " 
 
 "The more is your folly, then," said Nigel, whose anger 
 was only momentary, "that leave the land where there is 
 enough of them." 
 
 "My lord," said Richie, "to be romn with you, the 
 grace of God is better than gold pieces. Wlien Goblin, as 
 you call yonder Monsieur Lutin — and you might as well call 
 him Gibbet, since that is what he is like to end in — shall 
 recommend a page to you, ye will hear little such doctrine 
 as ye have heard from me. And if they were my last 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 163 
 
 words/' he said, raising his voice, ''I would say yon are mis- 
 led, and are forsaking the paths which your honorable father 
 trode in; and, what is more, you are going — still under 
 correction — to the devil with a dishclout, for ye are laughed 
 at by them that lead you into these disordered by-paths! " 
 
 ''Laughed at!" said Nigel, who like others of his age 
 was more sensible to ridicule than to reason. " Who dares 
 laugh at me/' 
 
 " My lord, as sure as I live by bread — naiy, more, as I am 
 a true man — and, I think, your lordship never found Eichie's 
 tongue bearing aught but the truth — unless that your lord- 
 ship's credit, my country's profit, or maybe some sma' occa- 
 sion of my ain, made it unnecessary to promulgate the haill 
 veritie — I say then, as I am a true man, when I saw that puir 
 creature come through the ha', at that ordinary, whilk is 
 accurst — Heaven forgive me for swearing! — of God and 
 man, with his teeth set, and his hands clinched, and his 
 bonnet drawn over his brows like a desperate man. Goblin 
 said to me, ' There goes a dunghill chicken, that your mas- 
 ter has plucked clean enough ; it will be long ere his lord- 
 ship ruffle a feather with a cock of the game.' And so, my 
 lord, to speak it out, the lackeys and the gallants, and more 
 especially your sworn brother. Lord Dalgarno, call you the 
 sparrow-hawk. I had some thought to have cracked Lutin's 
 pate for the speech, but, after a', the controversy was not 
 worth it." 
 
 '•'Do they use such terms of me?" said Lord Nigel. 
 '' Death and the devil! " 
 
 " And the devil's dam, my lord," answered Richie; " they 
 are all three busy in London. And, besides, Lutin and his 
 master laughed at you, my lord, for letting it be thought 
 that — I shame to speak it-— that ye were over well with the 
 wife of the decent honest man whose house you but now left, 
 as not sufficient for your new bravery, whereas they said, the 
 licentious scoffers, that you pretended to such favor when 
 you had not courage enough for so fair a quarrel, and that 
 the sparrow-hawk was too craven-crested to fly at the wife 
 of a cheesemonger." He stopped a moment, and looked fix- 
 edly in his master's face, which was inflamed with shame and 
 anger, and then proceeded. " ^Ij lord, I did you justice in 
 my thought, and myself too. ' For,' thought I, ' he would 
 have been as deep in that sort of profligacy as in others, if 
 it hadna been Eichie's four quarters."' 
 
 ""^'hat new nonsense have you got to plague me with?'' 
 fKiid Lord Nigel. " But go on, since it is the last time 1 am 
 
1C4 ^VAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 to be tormented with your impertinence — go on, and make 
 the most of your time." 
 
 " In troth," said Richie, " and so will I even do. And 
 as Heaven has bestowed on me a tongue to speak and to 
 advise " 
 
 'MVhich talent yon can by no means be accused of suf- 
 fering to remain idle," said Lord Glenvarloch, interrupting 
 him. 
 
 ** True, my lord," said Richie, again waving his hand, as 
 if to bespeak his master's silence and attention ; ''so, I trust, 
 you will think some time hereafter. And, as I am about to 
 leave your service, it is proper that you suld know the truth, 
 that ye may consider the snares to wliicli your youth and 
 innocence may be exposed, when aulderand doucer heads are 
 withdrawn from beside you. There has been a lusty, good- 
 looking kimmer, of some forty or bygaue, making mony 
 speerings about you, my lord." 
 
 " Well, sir, what did she want w4th me?" said Lord Nigel, 
 
 " At first, my lord," replied his sapient follower, '' as shr>. 
 seemed to be a well-fashioned woman, and to take pleasure 
 in sensible company, I Avas no way reluctant to admit her to 
 my conversation." 
 
 " I dare say not," said Lord Nigel ; '' nor unwilling to 
 tell her about my private affairs." 
 
 " Not I, truly, my lord," said the attendant; " for, though 
 she asked me mony questions about your fame, your fortune, 
 your business here, and such-like, I did not think it proper 
 to tell her altogether the truth thereanent." 
 
 " I see no call on you whatever," said Lord Nigel, " to 
 tell the woman either truth or lies upon what she had noth- 
 ing to do w4tli." 
 
 " I thought so too, my lord," replied Richie, " and so I 
 told her neither." 
 
 " And what didjou tell her, then, you eternal babbler ? " 
 said his master, impatient of his prate, yet curious to know 
 what it was all to end in. 
 
 " I told her," said Richie, " about your warldly fortune 
 and sae forth, something whilk is not truth just at this time ; 
 but which hath been truth formerly, suld be truth now, and 
 will be truth again — and that was that you were in posses- 
 sion of your fair lands, whilk ye are but in right of as 
 yet. Pleasant communing we had on that and other topics, 
 until she showed the cloven foot, beginning to confer wnth 
 me about some wench that she said liad a good-will to your 
 lordship, and fain she would have spoken with you in par 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 165 
 
 ticular anent it ; but when I heard of such inklings, I began 
 
 to suspect she was little better than whew ! " Here he 
 
 concluded his narrative with alow but very expressive whistle. 
 
 " And what did your wisdom do in these circumstances?" 
 said Lord Xigel, who, notv;ithstanding his former resent- 
 ment, could now scarcely forbear laughing. 
 
 " I put on a look, my lord," replied Kichie, bending his 
 solemn brows, "that suld give her a heart-scald of walking 
 on such errands. I laid her enormities clearly before her, 
 and I threatened her, in sae mony words, that I would have 
 her to the ducking-stool; and she, on the contrair part, mis- 
 cawed me for a froward Northern tyke; and so Ave parted 
 never to meet again, as I hope and trust. And so I stood 
 between your lordship and that temptation, which might 
 have been worse than the ordinary or the playhouse either; 
 since you wot well what Solomon, king of the Jews, sayeth 
 of the strange woman. ' For,' said I to myself, ' we have 
 taken to dicing already, and if we take to drubbing next, the 
 Lord kens what we may land in ! ' '' 
 
 *' Your impertinence deserves correction, but it is the last 
 which, for a time at least, I shall have to forgive, and I for- 
 give it,'' said Lord Glenvarloch; " and, since we are to part, 
 Eichie, I will say no more respecting your precautions on my 
 account than that I think you might" have left me to act ac- 
 cording to my own judgment."' 
 
 " Mickle better not/' answered Eichie — " mickle better 
 not; we are a' frail creatures, and can judge better for ilk 
 ither than in our ain cases. And for me, even myself, saving 
 that case of the sifflication, which might have happened to 
 ony one, I have always observed myself to be much more 
 prudential in what I have done in your lordship's behalf than 
 even in what I have been able to transact for my own interest 
 — whilk last I have, indeed, always postponed, as in duty I 
 ought." 
 
 " I do believe thou hast," said Lord Nigel, " having ever 
 found thee true and faithful. And since London pleases you 
 so little, I will bid you a short farewell; and you may go 
 down to Edinburgh until I come thither myself, when I trust 
 you will re-enter into my service." 
 
 *'Now, Heaven bless you, my lord," said Eichie Moniplies, 
 with uplifted eyes; "for that word sounds more like grace 
 than ony has come out of your mouth this fortnight. I give 
 you god-den, my lord." 
 
 So saying, he thrust forth his immense bony hand, seized 
 on that of Lord Glenvarloch, raised it to his lips, then turned 
 
I6« WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 short on his heel, and left the room hastily, as if afraid of 
 siiowing more emotion tluin was consistent with his ideas of 
 decorum. Lord Nigel, rather surprised at his sudden exit, 
 called after him to know whether he was suftlciently pro- 
 vided with money; but Richie, shaking his head, without 
 making any other answer, ran hastily downstairs, shut the 
 street-door lieavily behind him, and was presently seen 
 striding along tlio Strand. 
 
 His master almost involuntarily watched and distin- 
 guished the tall, raw-boned figure of his late follower from 
 the window for some time, until he was lost among the crowd 
 of passengers. Nigel's reflections Avere not altogether those 
 of self-approval. It was no good sign of his course of life, 
 he could not help acknowledging this much to himself, that 
 so faithful an adherent no longer seemed to feel the same 
 pride in his service, or attachment to his person, which he 
 had formerly manifested. Neither could he avoid experi- 
 encing some twinges of conscience, while he felt in some de- 
 gree the charges which Richie had preferred against him, 
 and experienced a sense of shame and mortification, arising 
 from the color given by others to that which he himself 
 would have called his caution and moderation in play. He 
 had only the apology that it had never occurred to himself in 
 this light. 
 
 Then his pride and self-love suggested that, on the other 
 hand, Richie, with all his good intentions, was little better 
 than a conceited, pragmatical domestic, Avho seemed disposed 
 rather to play the tutor than the lackey, and who, out of 
 sheer love, as he alleged, to his master's person, assumed the 
 prvil ge of interfering with, and controlling, his actions, be- 
 sides rendering him ridiculous in the gay world from the an- 
 tiquated formality and intrusive presumption of his manners. 
 
 Nigel's eyes were scarce turned from the window, when 
 his new landlord, entering, presented to him a slip of paper, 
 carefully bound round with a string of flox-silk and sealed. 
 "It had been given in," he said, " by a woman, who did not 
 stop an instant." The contents harped upon the same string 
 which Richie Moniplies had already jarred. The epistle was 
 in the following words: 
 
 " For the Right Honorable hands of Lord Glenvarloch, 
 " These, from a friend unknown : 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "You are trusting to an unhonest friend, and diminish- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 161 
 
 ing an hofiest reputation. An unknown but real friend of 
 your lordship will speak in one word what you would not 
 learn from flatterers in so many days as should suffice for 
 your utter ruin. He whom you think most true — I say your 
 friend. Lord Dalgarno — is utterly false to you, and doth but 
 seek, under pretence of friendship, to mar your fortune, and 
 diminish the good name by which you might mend it. The 
 kind countenance which he shows to you is more dangerous 
 than the Prince's frown ; even as to gain at Beaujeu's ordi- 
 nary is more discreditable than to lose. Beware of both. 
 And this is all from your true but nameless friend, 
 
 " Ignoto." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch paused for an instant, and crushed the 
 paper together — then again unfolded it and read it with atten- 
 tion — bent his brows — mused for a moment, and then tearing 
 it to fragments, exclaimed—" Begone for a vile calumny ! 
 But I will Avatch — I will observe " 
 
 Thought after thought rushed on him ; but, upon the 
 whole. Lord Glenvarloch was so little satisfied with the re- 
 sult of his own reflections, that he resolved to dissipate them 
 by a walk in the Park, and, taking his cloak and beavsr, 
 went thither accordingly. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Twas when fleet Snowball's head was woxen grejj, 
 A hicklesa ley'ret met him on his way. 
 Who knows not Snowball — he, whose race reQown'd 
 Is still victorious on each coursing-ground ? 
 Swaffham, Newmarket, and the Roman Camp, 
 Have seen them victors o'er each meaner stamp. 
 In vain the youngling sought, with doubling wile, 
 The hedge, the hill, the thicket, or the stile. 
 Experience sage the lack of speed supplied, 
 And in the gap he sought, the victim died. 
 So was I once, in thy fair street, St. James, 
 Through walking cavaliers and car-borne dames, 
 Descried, pursued, turn'd o'er again, and oer, 
 Coursed, coted, mouth'd by an unfeehng bore. 
 Etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The Park of St. James's, though enlarged, planted with 
 verdant alleys, and otherwise decorated by Charles II., ex- 
 isted in the days of his grandfather as a public and pleasant 
 promenade ; and, for the sake of exercise or pastime, was 
 much frequented by the better classes. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch repaired thither to dispel the unpleas- 
 ant reflections which had been suggested by his parting with 
 his trusty squire, Richie Moniplies, in a manner which was 
 agreeable neither to his pride nor his feelings ; and by the 
 corroboration which the hints of his late attendant had re- 
 ceived from the anonymous letter mentioned in the end of 
 the last chapter. 
 
 There was a considerable number of company in the 
 Park when he entered it, but, his present state of mind in- 
 ducing him to avoid society, he kept aloof from the more 
 frequented walks towards XVestminster and Whitehall, and 
 drew to the north, or, as we should noAV say, the Piccadilly 
 verge of the inclosure, believing he might there enjoy, or 
 rather combat, his own thoughts unmolested. 
 
 In this, however. Lord Glenvarloch was mistaken ; for, as 
 he strolled slowly along Avith his arms folded in his cloak, 
 and his hat drawn over his eyes, he was suddenly pounced 
 upon by Sir Mungo Malagrowther, who, either shunning or 
 shunned, had retreated, or been obliged to retreat, to the 
 same less frequented corner of the Park. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 169 
 
 Nigel started when he lieard the high, sharp, and queru- 
 lous tones of the knight's cracked voice, and was no less 
 alarmed when he beheld his tall thin figure hobbling towards 
 him, wrapped in a threadbare cloak, on whose surface ten 
 thousand varied stains eclipsed the original scarlet, and hav- 
 ing his head surmounted with a well-worn beaver, bearing a 
 black velvet band for a chain, and a capon's feather for an 
 ostrich plume. 
 
 Lord Glenvarlocli would fain have made his escape, but, as 
 our motto intimates, a leveret had as little.chance to free her- 
 self of an experienced greyhound. Sir Mungo, to continue 
 the simile, had long ago learned to *'run cunning," and make 
 sure of mouthing his game. So Nigel found himself com- 
 pelled to stand and answer the hackneyed question — ''What 
 news to-day?" 
 
 "Nothing extraordinary, I believe," answered the young 
 nobleman, attempting to pass on. 
 
 "0, ye are ganging to the French ordinary belive," re- 
 plied the knight; ''but it is early day yet. AVe will take a 
 turn in the Park in the mean while ; it will sharpen your 
 appetite." 
 
 So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under Lord Glenvar- 
 loch's, in spite of all the decent reluctance which his victim 
 could exhibit, by keeping his elbow close to his side ; _ and 
 having fairly grappled the prize, he proceeded to take it in 
 tow. 
 
 Nigel was sullen and silent, in hopes to shake off his un- 
 pleasant companion; but Sir Mungo was determined that, if 
 he did not speak, he should at least hear. 
 
 "Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord?" said the cynic; 
 "weel, ye canna do better: there is choice company there, 
 and peculiarly selected, as I am tauld, being, dootless, sic as 
 it is desirable"^ that young noblemen should herd withal ; and 
 j^our noble father wad have been blythe to see you keeping 
 such worshipful society." 
 
 "I believe," said Lord Glenvarloch, thinking himself 
 obliged to say something, "that the society is as good as 
 generally can be found in such places, where the door can 
 scarcely be shut against those who come to spend their 
 money." 
 
 "Right, my lord — vera right," said his tormentor, burst- 
 ing out into a chuckling, but most discordant, laugh. 
 "These citizen chuifs and clowns will press in among us, 
 when there is but an inch of a door open. And what rem- 
 edy? Just e'en this, that as their cash gies them confidence. 
 
170 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 we sliould strip tliem of it. Flay them, my lord— singe them 
 as the kitchen wench does the rats, and then they winna long 
 to come back again. Ay — ay, jiluck them, plume them ; and 
 then the larded capons will not be for flying so high a wing, my 
 lord, among the goss-hawks and sparrow-hawks, and the like.'* 
 
 And therewithal Sir Mungo fixed on Nigel his quick, 
 sharp, gray eye, watching the effect of his sarcasm as keenly 
 as the surgeon, in a delicate operation, remarks the progress 
 of his anatomical scalpel. 
 
 Nigel, however willing to conceal his sensations, could 
 not avoid gratifying his tormentor by wincing under the 
 ojieration. He colored with vexation and anger ; but a 
 quarrel with Sir Mungo Malagrowther would, he felt, be 
 unutterably ridiculous ; and he only muttered to himself the 
 words, " Impertinent coxcomb! " which, on this occasion. Sir 
 Mungo's imperfection of organ did not prevent him from 
 hearing and replying to. 
 
 " Ay — ay, vera true," exclaimed the caustic old courtier. 
 " Impertinent coxcombs they are, that thus intrude them- 
 selves on the society of their betters ; but your lordship kens 
 how to gar them as gude — ye have the trick on't. They had 
 a braw sport in the presence last Friday, how ye suld have 
 routed a young shopkeeper, horse and foot, taen his spolia 
 opima, and a' the specie he had about him, down to the very 
 silver buttons of his cloak, and sent him to graze with 
 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Muckle honor redounded 
 to your lordship thereby. We were tauld the loon threw 
 himsell into the Thames in a fit of desperation. There's 
 enow of them behind— there was mair tint on Flodden Edge." 
 
 *' You have been told a budget of lies, so far as I am con- 
 cerned. Sir Mungo," said Nigel, speaking loud and sternly. 
 
 " Vera likely — vera likely," said the unabashed and undis- 
 mayed Sir Mungo ; " nae thing but lies are current in the cir- 
 cle. So the chield is not drowned then? — the mair's the pity. 
 But I never believed that part of the story ; a London dealer 
 has mair wit in his anger. I dare swear the lad has a bonny 
 broom-shank in his hand by this time, and is scrubbing the 
 kennels in quest after rusty nails, to help him to begin his 
 pack again. He has three bairns, they say ; they will help 
 him bravely to grope in the gutters. Your good lordship 
 may have the ruining of him again, my lord, if they have any 
 luck in strand-scouring." 
 
 " This is more than intolerable," said Nigel, uncertain 
 whether to make an angry vindication of his character or to 
 fling the old tormentor from his arm. But an instant's 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 171 
 
 recollection convinced him that to do either would only give 
 an air of truth and consistency to the scandals which he be- 
 gan to see were affecting his character, both in the higher 
 and lower circles. Hastily, therefore, he formed the wiser 
 resolution to endure Sir Mungo's studied impertinence, under 
 the hope of ascertaining, if possible, from what source those 
 reports arose which were so prejudicial to his reputation. 
 
 Sir Mungo, in the mean while, caught up, as usual, Nigel's 
 last words, or rather the sound of them, and amplified and 
 interpreted them in his own way. " Tolerable luck," he re- 
 peated; "yes, truly, my lord, I am told that you have tolera- 
 ble luck, and that ye ken weel how to use that jilting queen. 
 Dame Fortune, like a canny douce lad, willing to warm your- 
 self in her smiles, without exposing yourself to her frowns. 
 And that is what I ca' having luck in a bag." 
 
 '•'Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 turning towards him seriously, " have the goodness to hear 
 me for a moment." 
 
 ''As weel as I can, my lord — as weel as I can," said Sir 
 Mungo, shaking his head and pointing the finger of his left 
 hand to his ear. 
 
 "I will try to speak very distinctly," said Nigel, arming 
 himself with patience. *'You take me for a noted gamester; 
 I give you my word that you have not been rightly informed 
 — I am' none"^such. You owe me some explanation, at least, 
 respecting the source from which you have derived such false 
 information." 
 
 " I never heard ye were a great gamester, and never 
 thought or said ye were such, my lord," said Sir Mungo, who 
 found it impossible to avoid hearing what Nigel said with 
 peculiarlv deliberate and distinct pronunciation. "I repeat 
 it — I never heard, said, or thought that you were a ruffling 
 gamester, such as they call those of the first head. Look 
 you, my lord, I call him s, gamester that plays with equal 
 stakes and equal skill, and stands by the fortune of the 
 game, good or bad; and I call him a ruffling gamester, or ane 
 of the first head, who ventures frankly and deeply upon 
 such a wager. But he, my lord, who has the patience and 
 prudence never to venture beyond small game, such as, at 
 most, might crack the Christmas-box of a grocer's 'prentice, 
 who vies with those that have little to hazard, and who there- 
 fore, having the larger stock, can always rook them by wait- 
 ing for his good fortune, and by rising from the game when 
 luck leaves nim — such a one as he, my lord, I do not call a 
 great gamester, to whatever other name he may be entitled." 
 
172 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " And such a mean-spirited, sordid wretch you would 
 infer that I am," replied Lord Glenvarloch — " one who fears 
 tlie skilful, and preys upon the ignorant; who avoids playing 
 with his equals, tliat he may make sure of pillaging his in- 
 feriors? Is this what I am to understand has been reported 
 of me?" 
 
 " Na}', my lord, you will gain naught by speaking big 
 with me, " said Sir Mungo, who, besides that his sarcastic 
 humor was really supported by a, good fund of animal cour- 
 age, luid also full reliance on the immunities which he had 
 derived from the broadsword of Sir Eullion Eattray and the 
 baton of the satellites employed by the Lady Cockpen. 
 ''And for the truth of the matter," he continued, "your 
 lordship best knows whether you ever lost more than five 
 pieces at a time since you frequented Beaujeu's; whether you 
 have not most commonly risen a winner; and whether the 
 brave young gallants who frequent the ordinary — I mean 
 those of noble rank and means conforming — are in use to 
 play upon those terms?" 
 
 ' " My father was right," said Lord Glenvarloch, in the bit- 
 terness of his spirit; "and his curse justly followed me when 
 I first entered that place. There is contamination in the air, 
 and he whose fortune avoids ruin shall be blighted in his 
 honor and reputation." 
 
 Sir Mungo, who watched his victim with the delighted 
 yet wary eye of an experienced angler, became now aware 
 that, if he strained the line on him too tightly, there was 
 every risk of his breaking hold. In order to give him room, 
 therefore, to play, he protested that Lord Glenvarloch 
 "should not take his free speech in malam partem. If you 
 were a trifle ower sicker in your amusement, my lord, it 
 canna be denied that it is the safest course to prevent farther 
 endangerment of your somewhat dilaj)idated fortunes; and if 
 ye play with your inferiors, ye are relieved of the pain of 
 pouching the siller of your friends and equals; forbye, that 
 the plebeian knaves have had the advantage, tecum certdsse, 
 as Ajax Telamon sayeth, cqnid Metamorphoseos; and for the 
 like of them to have played with ane Scottish nobleman is 
 an honest and honoi'able consideration to compensate the loss 
 of their stake, whilk, I dare say, moreover, maist of the 
 churls can weel afford." 
 
 " Be that as it may. Sir Mungo," said Nigel, " I would fain 
 know " 
 
 "Ay — ay," interrupted Sir Mungo; "and, as you say, 
 who cares whether the fat bulls of Bashan can spare it or 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 173 
 
 no? gentlemen are not to limit their sport for the like of 
 them." 
 
 " I wish to know. Sir Mungo/' said Lord Glenvarloch,, 
 '•'in what company you have learned these offensive particu- 
 lars respecting me?" 
 
 " Bootless — dootless, my lord," said Sir Mungo; " I have 
 ever heard, and have ever reported, that your lordship kept 
 the best of company in a private way. There is the fine 
 Countess of Blackchester, but I think she stirs not much 
 abroad since her affair with his Grace of Buckingham; and 
 there is the gude auld-fashioned Scottish nobleman. Lord 
 Iluntinglen, an undeniable man of quality — it is pity but he 
 could keep caup and can frae his head, whilk now and then 
 doth 'minish his reputation; and there is the gay young 
 Lord Dalgarno, that carries the craft of gray hairs under his 
 curled love-locks. A fair race they are, father, daughter, 
 and son, all of the same honorable family. I think we 
 needna speak of George Ileriot, honest man, when we have 
 nobility in question. So that is the company I have heard 
 of your keeping, my lord, out-taken those of the ordinary,'* 
 
 " My company has not, indeed, been much more extended 
 than among those you mention," said Lord Glenvarloch; 
 "but in short " 
 
 "To court?" said Sir Mungo, "that was just what I 
 was going to say. Lord Dalgarno says he cannot i)revail on 
 ve to come to court, and that does ye prejudice, my lord. 
 The King hears of you by others, Avhen he should see you in 
 person, I speak in serious friendship, my lord. His Maj- 
 esty, when you were named in the circle short while since, 
 was heard to"^ say, ' Jacta est alea ! Glenvarlochides is turned 
 dicer and drinker,' My Lord Dalgarno took your part, and 
 he was e'en borne down by the popular voice of the courtiers, 
 who spoke of you as one who had betaken yourself to living 
 a to^vn life, and risking your baron's coronet among the flat- 
 caps of the city." 
 
 "And this was publicly spoken of me," said Xigel, "and 
 in the King's presence?" 
 
 "Spoken openly!" repeated Sir Mungo Malagrowther; 
 "'av, by my troth was it; that is to say, it was whispered pri- 
 vately, whilk is as open promulgation as the thing permitted; 
 for ye may think the court is not like a place wliere men are 
 as sib as Simmie and his brother, and roar out their minds 
 if they were at an ordinary." 
 
 "A curse on the court and the ordinary both!" cried 
 Kigel, impatiently. 
 
m WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " With all my heart/' said tlie knight. " I have got little 
 by a knight's service in the court; and the last time I was at 
 the ordinary I lost four angels/' 
 
 '' May I pray of you. Sir Mungo, to let me know/' said 
 Nigel, "the names of those who thus make free with the 
 character of one who can be but little known to them, and 
 who never injured any of them?" 
 
 ** Have I not told you already," answered Sir Mungo, 
 "that the King said something to that effect — so did the 
 Prince too; and such being the case, ye may take it on your 
 corporal oath that every man in the circle who was not silent 
 sung the same song as they did." 
 
 "You said but now," replied Glenvarloch, "that Lord 
 Dalgarno interfered in my behalf." 
 
 "In good troth did he," answered Sir Mungo, with a 
 sneer; "but the young nobleman was soon borne down — by 
 token, he had something of a catarrh, and spoke as hoarse 
 as a roopit raven. Poor gentleman, if he had had his full 
 extent of voice, he would have been as well listened to, doot- 
 less, as in a cause of his ain, whilk no man kens better how 
 to plead to purpose. And let me ask you, by the way," con- 
 tinued Sir Mungo, " whether Lord Dalgarno has ever intro- 
 duced your lordship to the Prince or the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, either of whom might soon carry through your suit?" 
 
 '• I have no claim on the favor of either the Prince or the 
 Duke of Buckingham," said Lord Glenvarloch. " As you 
 seem to have made my affairs your study, Sir Mungo, 
 although perhaps something unnecessarily, you may have 
 heard that I have petitioned my sovereign for payment of a 
 debt due to my family. I cannot doubt the King's desire to 
 do Justice, nor can I in decency employ the solicitation of his 
 Highness the Prince or his Grace the Duke of Buckingham 
 to obtain from his Majesty what either should be granted me 
 as a right or refused altogether." 
 
 Sir ]\[ungo twisted his whimsical features into one of his 
 most grotesque sneers, as he replied — " It is a vera clear and 
 parspicuous position of the case, my lord; and in relying 
 thereupon you show an absolute and unimprovable acquaint- 
 ance with the King, court, and mankind in general. But 
 whom have we got here? Stand up, my lord, and make way; 
 by my word of honor, they are the very men we spoke of: 
 talk of the devil, and — humph ! " 
 
 It must be here premised that, during the conversation. 
 Lord Glenvarloch, perhaps in the hope of shaking himself 
 free of Sir Mungo, had directed their walk towards the more 
 
"^■it:^. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "The whole trjin were uncovered excejidng the Prince of ^^'ales. " 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 175 
 
 frequented part of the Park; while the good knight had 
 stuck to him, being totally indifferent which way they went, 
 provided he could keep his tulons clutched upon his compan- 
 ion. They were still, however, at some distance from the 
 livelier part of the scene when Sir Mungo's experienced eye 
 noticed the appearances which occasioned the latter part of 
 his speech to Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 A low, respectful murmur arose among the numerous 
 groups of persons which occujjied the lower part of the Park. 
 They first clustered together, with their faces turned towards 
 Whitehall, then fell back on either hand to give place to a 
 splendid party of gallants, who, advancing from the palace, 
 came onward through the Park; all the other company draw- 
 ing off the pathway and standing uncovered as they passed. 
 
 Most of these courtly gallants were dressed in the garb 
 which the pencil of Vandyke has made familiar even at the 
 distance of nearly two centuries; and which was just at this 
 period beginning to supersede the more fluttering and frivol- 
 ous dress which had been adopted from the French court of 
 Henri Quatre. 
 
 The whole train were uncovered excepting the Prince of 
 Wales, afterwards the most unfortunate of British monarchs, 
 who came onward, having his long curled auburn tresses, and 
 his countenance, which, even in early youth, bore a shade of 
 anticipated melancholy, shaded by the Spanish hat and the 
 single ostrich feather which drooped from it. On his right 
 hand was Buckingham, whose commanding, and at the same 
 time graceful, deportment threw almost into shade the per- 
 sonal demeanor and majesty of the prince on whom he 
 attended. The eye, movements, and gestures of the great 
 courtier were so composed, so regularly observant of all 
 etiquette belonging to his situation, as to form a marked and 
 strong contrast with the forward gayety and frivolity by 
 which he recommended himself to the favor of his "dear 
 dad and gossip,"^ King James. A singular fate attended 
 this accomplished courtier, in being at once the reigning 
 favorite of a father and son so very opposite in manners that, 
 to ingratiate himself with the youthful prince, he was obliged 
 to compress within the strictest limits of respectful obser- 
 vance the frolicsome and free humor which captivated his 
 aged father. 
 
 It is true, Buckingham well knew the different disposi- 
 tions both of James and Charles, and had no difficulty in so 
 conducting himself as to maintain the highest post in the 
 favor of both. It has indeed been supposed, as we before 
 
176 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 hinted, tliut the duke, wlieii he had completely possessed 
 himself of the alfections of Charles, retained his hold in 
 those of the fatlier only by the tyranny of custom; and that 
 James, could he have brought himself to form a vigorous reso- 
 lution, was, in the latter years of his life especially, not 
 unlikely to have discarded Buckingham from his counsels and 
 favor. But if ever the King indeed meditated such a change, 
 he was too timid, and too much accustomed to the influence 
 which the duke had long exercised over him, to summon up 
 resolution enough for effecting such a purpose; and at all 
 events it is certain that Buckingham, though surviving the 
 master by whom he was raised, had the rare chance to expe- 
 rience no wane of the most splendid court favor during two 
 reigns, until it was at once eclipsed in his blood by the dag- 
 ger of his assassin Felton. 
 
 To return from this digression: The Prince, with his 
 train, advanced, and were near the place where Lord Glen- 
 varloch and Sir Mungo had stood aside, according to form, 
 in order to give the Prince passage and to pay the usual 
 marks of respect. Nigel could now remark that Lord Dal- 
 garno walked close behind the Duke of Buckingham, and, 
 as he thought, whispered something in his ear as they came 
 onward. At any rate, both the Prince's and Duke of Buck- 
 ingham's attention seemed to be directed by some circum- 
 stance towards Nigel, for they turned their heads in that 
 direction and looked at him attentively — the Prince with a 
 countenance the grave, melancholy expression of which was 
 blended with severity, while Buckingham's looks evinced 
 some degree of scornful triumph. Lord Dalgarno did not 
 seem to observe his friend, perhaps because the sunbeams fell 
 from the side of the walk on which Nigel stood, obliging 
 Malcolm to hold up his hat to screen his eyes. 
 
 As the Prince passed. Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungff 
 bowed, as respect required; and the Prince, returning their 
 obeisance with that grave ceremony which paid to every rank 
 its due, but not a tittle beyond it, signed to Sir Mungo to 
 come forward. Commencing an apology for his lameness as 
 he started, which he had just completed as his hobbling gait 
 brought him up to the Prince, Sir Mungo lent an attentive, 
 and, as it seemed, an intelligent, ear to questions asked in a 
 tone so low that the knight would certainly have been deaf 
 to them had they been put to him by any one under the rank 
 of Prince of Wales. After about a minute's conversation, 
 the Prince bestowed on Nigel the embarrassing notice of 
 another fixed look, touched his hat slightly to Sir Mungo, and 
 walked on. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 177 
 
 " It is even as I suspected, my lord," said Sir Mungo, with 
 an air which he designed to be mehinclioly and sympathetic, 
 hut which, in fact, resembled the grin of an ape when he has 
 mouthed a scalding chestnut. "Ye have back-friends, my 
 lord, that is unfriends — or, to be plain, enemies — about the 
 person of the Prince." 
 
 "I am sorry to hear it," said Nigel; ''but I would I knew 
 what they accuse me of." 
 
 "Ye shall hear, my lord/' said Sir Mungo, "the Prince's 
 vera words. ' Sir Mungo,' said he, ' I rejoice to see you, and 
 am glad your rheumatic troubles permit you to come hither 
 for exercise.' I bowed, as in duty bound; ye might remark, 
 my lord, that I did so, whilk formed the first branch of our 
 conversation. His Highness then demanded of me, ' If he 
 with whom I stood was the young Lord Glenvarloch.' I an- 
 swered, 'that yoii Avere such, for his Highness's service;' 
 whilk was the second branch. Thirdly, his Highness, resum- 
 ing the argument, said, that ' truly he had been told so ' 
 — meaning that he had been told you were that personage — 
 ' but that he could not believe that the heir of that noble and 
 decayed house could be leadidg an idle, scandalous, and pre- 
 carious life in the eating-houses and taverns of London, wnile 
 the King's drums were beating and colors flying in Germany 
 in the cause of the Palatine, his son-in-law.' I could, your 
 lordship is aware, do nothing but make an obeisance; and a 
 gracious ' Give ye good-day. Sir Mungo Malagrowther,' 
 licensed me to fall back to your lordship. And now, my 
 lord, if your business or pleasure calls you to the ordinary, or 
 anywhere in the direction of the city — why, have with you; 
 for, dootless, ye will think ye have tarried lang enough in the 
 Park, as they will likely turn at the head of the walk, and 
 return this way; and you have a broad hint, I think, not to 
 cross the Prince's presence in a hurry." 
 
 " You may stay or go as you please, Sir Mungo," said 
 Nigel, with an expression of calm but deep resentment; "but, 
 for my own part, my resolution is taken. I will quit this 
 public walk for pleasure of no man; still less will I quit it 
 like one unworthy to be seen in places of public resort. I 
 trust that the Prince and his retinue will return this way as 
 you expect; for I will abide. Sir Mungo, and beard them." 
 
 "Beard them!" exclaimed Sir Mungo, in the extremity 
 of surprise — "beard the Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent 
 of the kingdoms! By my saul, you shall beard him your- 
 sell then." 
 
 Accordingly, he was about to leave Nigel very haatiljj 
 
 IS 
 
178 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 when some unwonted touch of good-natured interest in his 
 youth and inexperience seemed suddenly to soften his habit- 
 ual cynicism. 
 
 " The devil is in me for an auld fule!" said Sir Mungo; 
 *'but I must needs concern' mysell — I, that owe so little 
 either to fortune or my fellow-creatures, must, I say, needs 
 concern mysell — with this springald, whom I will warrant to 
 be as obstinate as a pig possessed with a devil, for it's the 
 cast of his family; and yet I maun e'en fling away some 
 sound advice on him. My dainty young Lord Glenvarloch, 
 understand me distinctly, for this is no bairn's play. When 
 the Prince said sae much to me as I have repeated to jou, it 
 was equivalent to a command not to appear again in his pres- 
 ence; wherefore, take an auld man's advice that wishes you 
 weel,' and maybe a wee thing better than he has reason to 
 wish onybody. Jouk and let the jaw gae by, like a canny 
 bairn; gang hame to your lodgings, keep your foot frae tav- 
 erns and your fingers frae the dice-box; compound your 
 affairs quietly wi' some ane that has better favor than yours 
 about court, and you will get a round spell of money to carry 
 you to Germany, or elsewhere, to push your fortune. It was 
 a fortunate soldier that made your family four or five hun- 
 dred years syne, and if you are brave and fortunate, you may 
 find the way to repair it. But, take my word for it, that in 
 this court you will never thrive." 
 
 When Sir Mungo had completed his exhortation, in which 
 there was more of sincere sympathy with another's situation 
 than he had been heretofore known to express in behalf of 
 any one, Lord Glenvarloch replied, " I am obliged to you, 
 Sir Mungo; you have spoken, I think, with sincerity, and I 
 thank you. But, in return for your good advice, I heartily 
 entreat you to leave me; I observe the Prince and his train 
 are returning down the walk, and you may prejudice your- 
 self, but cannot help me, by remaining with me." 
 
 "And that is true," said Sir Mungo; "yet were I ten 
 years younger, I would be tempted to stand by you, and gie 
 them the meeting. But at three-score and upward men's cour- 
 age turns cauldrife; and they that canna win a living must 
 not endanger the small sustenance of their age. I wish you 
 weel through, my lord, but it is an unequal fight." So say- 
 ing, he turned and limped away; often looking back, how- 
 ever, as if his natural spirit, even in its present subdued 
 state, aided by his love of contradiction and of debate, 
 rendered him unwilling to adopt the course necessary for his 
 own security. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 179 
 
 Thus abandoned by his companion, whose departure he 
 graced with better thoughts of him than those which he 
 bestowed on his appearance, Nigel remained with his arms 
 folded, and reclining against a solitary tree which overhung 
 the path, making up his mind to encounter a moment which 
 he expected to be critical of his fate. But he was mistaken 
 in supposing that the Prince of Wales would either address 
 him or admit him to expostulation in such a public place as 
 the Park. He did not remain unnoticed, however, for, when 
 he made a respectful but haughty obeisance, intimating in 
 look and manner that he was possessed of, and undaunted by, 
 the unfavorable opinion which the Prince had so lately ex- 
 pressed, Charles returned his reverence with such a frown as 
 is only given by those whose frown is authority and decision. 
 The train passed on, the Duke of Buckingham not even ap- 
 pearing to see Lord Glenvarloch; while Lord Dalgarno, 
 though no longer incommoded by the sunbeams, kept his 
 eyes, which had perhaps been dazzled by their former splen- 
 dor, bent upon the ground. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch had difficulty to restrain an indigna- 
 tion to which, in the circumstances, it would have been mad- 
 ness to have given vent. He started from his reclining 
 posture, and followed the Prince's train so as to keep them 
 distinctly in sight; which was very easy, as they walked 
 slowly. Nigel observed them keep their road towards the 
 palace, where the Prince turned at the gate and bowed to the 
 noblemen in attendance, in token of dismissing them, and 
 entered the palace, accompanied only by the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham and one or two of his equerries. The rest of the 
 train, having returned in all dutiful humility the farewell of 
 the Prince, began to disperse themselves through the pai'k. 
 
 A\\ this was carefully noticed by Lord Glenvarloch, who, 
 as he adjusted his cloak and drew his sword-belt round so as 
 to bring the hilt closer to his hand, muttered — '" Dalgarno 
 shall explain all this to me, for it is evident that he is in the 
 secret I'' 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Give way — give v^^ay; I must and will have justico. 
 And tell me not of privilege and place; 
 "Where I am injured, there I'll sue redress. 
 Look to it, every one who bars my access; 
 I have a heart to feel the injury, 
 A hand to right myself, and, by my honor. 
 That hand shall grasp what grey-beard Law denies me. 
 
 The Chamberlain. 
 
 It was not long ere Nigel discovered Lord Dalgarno advauc= 
 ing towards him in the company of another young man of 
 quality of the Prince's train; and as they directed their 
 course towards tlie south-eastern corner of the Park, he con- 
 cluded they were about to go to Lord Huntinglen's. They 
 stopped, however, and turned up another path leading to the 
 north; and Lord Glenvarloch conceived that this change of 
 direction was owing to their having seen him, and their 
 desire to avoid him. _ . 
 
 Nigel followed them without hesitation by a path which, 
 winding around a thicket of shrubs and trees, once more con- 
 ducted him to the less frequented part of the Park. He 
 observed which side of the thicket was taken by Lord Dal- 
 garno and his companion, and he himself, walking hastily 
 round the other verge, was thus enabled to meet them face 
 to face. 
 
 " Good-morrow, my Lord Dalgarno,^' said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, sternly. 
 
 ''Ha! my friend Nigel," answered Lord Dalgarno, in his 
 usual careless and indifferent tone — "my friend Nigel, with 
 business on his brow? But you must wait till we meet at 
 Beaujeu's at noon: Sir Ewes Haldimund and I are at present 
 engaged in the Prince's service." 
 
 " If you were engaged in the King's, my lord," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch, "you must stand and answer me." 
 
 "Hey-day!" said Lord Dalgarno, with an air of great 
 astonishment, "what passion is this? Why, Nigel, this is 
 King Cambyses' vein! You have frequented the theatres too 
 much lately. Away with this folly, man; go, dine upon soup 
 and salad, drink succory-water to cool your blood, go to bed 
 at sundown, and defy those foul fiends, wrath and miscon- 
 struction." 
 
 2MI 
 
TEE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 181 
 
 " I have had misconstruction enough among jon" said 
 Glenvarloch, in the same tone of determined displeasure, 
 •■'and from you, my Lord Dalgarno, in particular, and all 
 under the mask of friendship." 
 
 *'Here is a proper business! '^ said Dalgarno, turning as 
 if to appeal to Sir Ewes Haldimund. " Do you see this an- 
 gry ruffler, Sir Ewes? A month since, he dared not have 
 looked one of yonder sheep in the face, and now he is a 
 prince of roystorers, a plucker of pigeons, a controller of 
 players and poets ; and in gratitude for my having shown 
 him the way to the eminent character which he holds upon 
 town, he comes hither to quarrel with his best friend, if not 
 his only one of decent station." 
 
 " I renounce such hollow friendship, my lord," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch ', "I disclaim the character which, even to my 
 very face, you labor to fix upon me, and ere we part I will 
 call you to a reckoning for it." 
 
 " My lords both," interrupted Sir Ewes Haldimund, " let 
 me remind you that the royal park is no place to quarrel in." 
 
 " I will make my quarrel good," said Xigel, who did not 
 know, or in his passion might not have recollected, the priv- 
 ileges of the place, '•' wherever I find my enemy." 
 
 " You shall find quarrelling enough," replied Lord Dal- 
 garno, calmly, " so soon as you assign a sufficient cause for 
 it. Sir Ewes Haldimund, who knows the court, will war- 
 rant you that I am not backward on such occasions. But of 
 what is it that you now complain, after having experienced 
 nothing save kindness from me and my family?" 
 
 " Of your family I complain not," replied Lord Glenvar- 
 loch ; "they have done for me all they could, — more, far 
 more, than I could have expected ; but you, my lord, have 
 suffered me, while you called me your friend, to be traduced, 
 where a word of your mouth would have placed my charac- 
 ter in its true colors ; and hence the injurious message which 
 I just noAV received from the Prince of Wales. To permit 
 the misrepresentation of a friend, my lord, is to share in the 
 slander." 
 
 " You have been misinformed, my Lord Glenvarloch," 
 said Sir Ewes Haldimund : " I have myself often heard 
 Lord Dalgarno defend your character, and regret that your 
 exclusive attachment to the pleasures of a London life pre- 
 vented your paying your duty regularly to the King and 
 Prince." 
 
 " While he himself," said Lord Glenvarloch, " dissuaded 
 me from presenting myself at court." 
 
182 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " I will cut this matter short," said Lord Dalgarno, with 
 haughty coldness. " You seem to have conceived, my lord, 
 that you and I were Pylades and Orestes — a second edition of 
 Damon and Pythias — Theseus and Pirithous at the least. You 
 are mistaken, and have given the name of friendship to what, 
 on my part, was mere good-nature and compassion for a raw 
 and ignorant countryman, joined to the cumbersome charge 
 which my father gave me respecting you. Your character, 
 my lord, is of no one's drawing, but of your own making. I 
 introduced you where, as in all such places, there was good 
 and indifferent company to be met with ; your habits, or 
 taste, made you prefer the worse. Your holy horror at the 
 sight of dice and cards degenerated into the cautious resolu- 
 tion to play only at those times, and with such persons, as 
 might insure your rising a winner ; no man can long do so, 
 and continue to be held a gentleman. Such is the reputa- 
 tion you have made for yourself, and you have no right to be 
 angry that I do not contradict in society what yourself know 
 to be true. Let us pass on, my lord ; and if you want far- 
 ther explanation, seek some other time and fitter place." 
 
 " No time can be better than the present," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch, whose resentment was now excited to the utter- 
 most by the cold-blooded and insulting manner in which 
 Dalgarno vindicated himself, " no place fitter than the place 
 where we now stand. Those of my house have ever avenged 
 insult at the moment, and on the spot where it was offered, 
 were it at the foot of the throne. Lord Dalgarno, you are 
 a villain! draw and defend yourself." At the same time he 
 unsheathed his rapier. 
 
 "Are you mad?" said Lord Dalgarno, stepping back; 
 " we are in the precincts of the court." 
 
 "The better," answered Lord Glenvarloch; "1 will cleanse 
 them from a calumniator and a coward." He then pressed 
 on Lord Dalgarno, and struck him with the flat of the 
 sword. 
 
 The fray had now attracted attention, and the cry went 
 round, " Keep the peace — keep the peace — swords drawn in 
 the Park! What, ho! guards! — keepers — yeomen rangers!" 
 and a number of peojDle came rushing to the spot from all 
 sides. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno, who had half drawn his sword on receiv- 
 ing the blow, returned it to his scabbard when he observed 
 the crowd thicken, and, taking Sir Ewes Halimund by the 
 arm, Avalked hastily away, only saying to Lord Glenvarloch 
 as they left him, " You shall deMy «bv*» this insult — we 
 will meet again." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 183 
 
 A decent-looking, elderly man, who observed that Lord 
 Glenvarloch remained on the spot, taking compassion on his 
 youtliful appearance, said to him, " Are you aware this is a 
 Star Chambei business, young gentleman, and that it may 
 cost you your right hand? Shift for yourself before the 
 keepers or constables come up. Get into Whitefriars or 
 somewhere, for sanctuary and concealment, till you can make 
 friends or quit the city." 
 
 The advice was not to be neglected. Lord Glenvarloch 
 made hastily towards the issue from the Park by St. James's 
 Palace, then St. James's Hospital. The hubbub increased 
 behind him; and several peace-officers of the royal household 
 came up to apprehend the delinquent. Fortunately for Ni- 
 gel, a popular edition of the cause of the affray had gone 
 abroad. It was said that one of the Duke of Buckingham's 
 companions had insulted a stranger gentleman from the 
 country, and that the stranger had cudgelled him soundly. 
 A favorite, or the companion of a favorite, is always odious 
 to John Bull, who has, besides, a partiality to those dis- 
 putants who proceed, as lawyers term it, jjar voye du fait, 
 and both prejudices were in Nigel's favor. The officers, 
 therefore, who came to apprehend him could learn from the 
 spectators no particulars of his appearance, or information 
 concerning the road he had taken; so that, for the moment, 
 he escaped being arrested. 
 
 What Lord Glenvarloch heard among the crowd as he 
 passed along was sufficient to satisfy him that, in his impa- 
 tient passion, he had placed himself in a predicament of con- 
 siderable danger. He was no stranger to the severe and ar- 
 bitrary proceedings of the Court of Star Chamber, especially 
 in cases of breach of privilege, which made it a terror of all 
 men; and it was no farther back than the Queen's time that 
 the punishment of mutilation had been actually awarded and 
 executed for some offence of the same kind which he had just 
 committed. He had also the comfortable reflection that, by 
 his violent quarrel with Lord Dalgarno, he must now forfeit 
 the friendsliip and good offices of that nobleman's father and 
 sister, almost the only persons of consideration in whom he 
 could claim any interest; while all the evil reports which had 
 been put in circulation concerning his character were certain 
 to weigh heavily against him, in a case 'vN^here much must 
 necessarily depend on the reputation of the accused. To a 
 youthful imagination, the idea of such a punishment as mu- 
 tilation seems more ghastly than death itself; and every word 
 which he overheard among" the groups Avhicli he met, mingled 
 
184 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 with, or overtook and passed, announced this as the penalty 
 of his offence. He dreaded to increase his pace for fear of 
 attracting suspicion, and more than once saw the ranger^s 
 officers so near him, that his wrist tingled as if already under 
 the blade of the dismembering knife. At length he got out 
 of the Park, and had a little more leisure to consider what 
 he was next to do. 
 
 Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by 
 the cant name of Alsatia, had at this time, and for nearly a 
 century afterwards, the privilege of a sanctury, unless against 
 the writ of the Lord Chief Justice or of the lords of the privy 
 council. Indeed, as the place abounded with desperadoes of 
 every description — bankrupt citizens, ruined gamesters, irre- 
 claimable prodigals, desperate duellists, bravoes, homicides, 
 and debauched profligates of every description, all leagued 
 together to maintain the immunities of their asylum — it 
 was both difficult and unsafe for the officers of the law to exe- 
 cute warrants emanating even from the highest authority, 
 among men whose safety was inconsistent with warrants or 
 authority of any kind. This Lord Glenvarloch well knew; 
 and odious as the place of refuge Avas, it seemed the only one 
 where, for a space at least, he might be concealed and secure 
 from the immediate grasp of the law, until he should have 
 leisure to provide better for his safety, or to get this unpleas- 
 ant matter in some shape accommodated. 
 
 Meanwhile, as Nigel walked hastily forward towards the 
 place of sanctuary, he bitterly blamed himself for suffering 
 Lord Dalgarno to lead him into the haunts of dissipation; 
 and no less accused his intemperate heat of passion, which 
 now had driven him for refuge into the purlieus of profane 
 and avowed vice and debauchery. 
 
 " Dalgarno spoke but too truly in that,^^ were his bitter 
 reflections; " I have made myself an evil reputation by act- 
 ing on his insidious counsels, and neglecting the wholesome 
 admonitions which ought to have claimed im2:)licit obedience 
 from me, and which recommended abstinence even from the 
 slightest approach to evil. But if I escape from the jjerilous 
 labyrinth in which folly and inexperience, as well as violent 
 passions, have involved me, I will find some noble way of re- 
 deeming the lustre of a name which was never sullied until 
 I bore it." 
 
 As Lord Glenvarloch formed these prudent resolutions, 
 he entered the Temple Walks, Avhence a gate at that time 
 opened into Whitefriars, by which, as by the more private 
 passage, he proposed to betake himself to the sanctuary. As 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL IS.j 
 
 he approached the entrance to that den of infamy, from 
 which his mind recoiled even while in the act of taking shel- 
 ter there, his pace slackened, while the steep and broken 
 stairs reminded him of thefacilis descensus Averni, and ren- 
 dered him doubtful wliether it were not better to brave the 
 worst which could befall him in the public haunts of honor- 
 able men than to evade punishment by secluding himself in 
 those of avowed vice and profligacy. 
 
 As Xigel hesitated, a young gentleman of the Temple 
 advanced towards him, whom he had often seen, and some- 
 times conversed Avith, at the ordinary, where he was a fre- 
 quent and welcome guest, being a wild young gallant, 
 indifferently well provided with money, who spent at the 
 theatres and other gay places of public resort the time which 
 his father supposed'he was employing in the study of the law. 
 But Eeginald Lowestoffe, such" was the young Templar's 
 name, was of opinion that little law was necessary to enable 
 him to spend the revenues of the paternal acres which were 
 to devolve upon him at his father's demise, and therefore 
 gave himself no trouble to acquire more of that science than 
 might be imbibed along with the learned air of the region in 
 winch he had his chambers. In other respects he was one of 
 the wits of the place, read Ovid and Martial, aimed at quick 
 repartee and pun (often very far fetched), danced, fenced, 
 played at tennis, and performed sundry tunes on the fiddle 
 and French horn, to the great annoyance of old Counsellor 
 Barratter, who lived in the chambers immediately below him. 
 Such was Eeginald Lowestoffe, shrewd, alert, and well ac- 
 quainted with the town through all its recesses, but in a sort 
 of disreputable wav. This gallant, now approaching the 
 Lord Glenvarloch, saluted him by name and title, and asked 
 if his lordship designed for the Chevalier's this day, observ- 
 ing, it was near noon, and the woodcock would be on the 
 board ere they could reach the ordinary. 
 
 " I do not go there to-dav," answered Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 '- Which way, then, my lord?" said the young Templar, 
 who was perhaps not undesirous to parade a part at least of 
 the street in companv with a lord, though but a Scottish one. 
 
 "I — I" — said Xigel, desiring to avail himself of this 
 young man's local knowledge, vet unwilling and ashamed to 
 acknowledge his intention fo talce refuge in so disreputable a 
 quarter, or to describe the situation in which he stood — " I 
 have some curiositv to see Whitefriars." 
 
 "What! your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia?" said 
 Lowestoffe. '"Have with you, my lord; you cannot have a 
 
186 WAVEELEY NOVELS 
 
 better giiide to the infernal regions than myself. I promise 
 you there are bona-robas to be found there — good wine, too, 
 ay, and good fellows to drink it Avith, though somewhat suf- 
 fering under the frowns of Fortune. But your lordship will 
 pardon me; yon are the last of our acquaintance to whom I 
 would have proposed such a voyage of discovery.^* 
 
 " I am obliged to you, Master Lowestoffe, for the good 
 opinion you have expressed in the observation," said Lord. 
 Glenvarloch ; ''but my present circumstances may render 
 even a residence of a day or two in the sanctuary a matter of 
 necessity." 
 
 ''Indeed!" said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great surprise; 
 " I thought your lordship had always taken care not to risk 
 any considerable stake. I beg pardon, but if the bones have 
 proved perfidious, I know just so much law as that a peer's 
 person is sacred from arrest; and for mere impecuniosity, my 
 lord, better shift can be made elsewhere than in Whitefriars, 
 where all are devouring each other for very poverty." 
 
 " My misfortune has no connection with want of money," 
 said Nigel. 
 
 " Why, then, I suiDpose," said Lowestoffe, "you have been 
 tilting, my lord, and have pinked your man; in which case, 
 and with a purse reasonably furnished, you may lie perdu in 
 Whitefriars for a twelvemonth. Marry, but you must be 
 entered and received as a member of their worshipful 
 society, my lord, and a frank burgher of Alsatia; so far you 
 must condescend, there will be neither peace nor safety "^for 
 you else." 
 
 "My fault is not in a degree so deadly. Master Lowe- 
 stoffe," answered Lord Glenvarloch, " as you seem to con- 
 jecture; I have stricken a gentleman in the Park, that is all." 
 
 " By my hand, my lord, and you had better have struck 
 your sword through him at Barns Elms," said the Templar. 
 " Strike within the verge of the court! You will find that a 
 weighty dependence upon your hands, especially if your party 
 be of rank and have favor." 
 
 " I will be plain with you. Master Lowestoffe/' said 
 Nigel, " since I have gone thus far. The person I struck 
 Avas Lord Dalgarno, whom you have seen at Beaujeu's.'" 
 
 "AfolloAver and favorite of the Duke of Buckingham! 
 It is a most unhappy chance, my lord; but my heart was 
 formed in England, and cannot bear to see a young noble- 
 man borne down, as 3'Ou are like to be. We converse here 
 greatly too open for your circumstances. The Templars 
 would suffer no bailiff to execute a writ, and no gentleman to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 187 
 
 be arrested for a duel, within tlieir precincts; but in sucli a 
 matter between Lord Dalgarno and your lordship tliere niiglit 
 be a party on either side. You must away with me instantly 
 to my poor chambers here, hard by, and undergo some little 
 change of dress ere you take sanctuary, for else you will have 
 the whole rascal rout of the Friars about you, like crows 
 upon a falcon that strays into their rookery. We must have 
 you arrayed something more like the natives of Alsatia, or 
 there will be no life tliere for you." 
 
 While Lowestolfe spoke, he pulled Lord Glenvarloch 
 along with him into his chambers, where he had a handsome 
 library, filled with all the poems and play-books which were 
 then in fashion. The Templar then dispatched a boy, who 
 waited upon him, to procure a dish or two from the next 
 cook's shop. "And this," he said, "must be your lord- 
 ship's dinner, with a glass of old sack, of which my grand- 
 motlior — the Heavens requite her ! — sent me a dozen bottles, 
 with charge to use the liquor only with clarified whey, when 
 1 felt my breast ache with overstudy. Marry, we will drink 
 the good lady's health in it, if it is your lordship's pleasure, 
 and you shall see how we poor students eke out our mutton- 
 commons in the hall." 
 
 The outward door of the chambers was barred so soon as 
 the boy had re-entered with the food ; the boy was ordered 
 to keep close watch, and admit no one ; and Lowestoflt'e, by 
 example and precept, pressed his noble guest to partake of 
 his hospitality. His frank and forward manners, though 
 much difi:ering from the courtly ease of Lord Dalgarno, were 
 calculated to make a favorable impression ; and Lord Glen- 
 varloch, though his experience of Dalgarno's perfidy had 
 taught him to be cautious of reposing faith in friendly pro- 
 fessions, could not avoid testifying his gratitude to the young 
 Templar, who seemed so anxious for his safety and accom- 
 modation. 
 
 " You may spare your gratitude any great sense of 
 obligation, my lord," said the Templar. " No doubt I am 
 willing to be ^f use to any gentleman that has cause to sing 
 ' Fortune my foe/ and particularly proud to serve your 
 lordship's turn ; but I have also an old grudge, to speak 
 Heaven's truth, at your opposite. Lord Dalgarno." 
 
 "May I ask u})on what account. Master Lowestoffe?" 
 said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " 0, my lord," replied the Templar, " it was for a hap 
 that chanced after you left the ordinary, one evening about 
 three weeks since — at least 1 think you were not by, as your 
 
188 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 lordship alwa5's left us before deep play began — I mean no 
 olfeuco, but such was your lordship's custom — when there 
 were words between Lord Dalgarno and me concerning a 
 certain game at gleek, and a certain mournival of aces held 
 by his lordship, which went for eight — tib, which went for 
 fifteen — twenty-three in all. Now, I held king and queen, 
 being three — a natural towser, making fifteen — aad tiddy, 
 nineteen. We vied the ruff, and revied, as your lordshi]) 
 may suppose, till the stake was equal to half my yearly ex- 
 hibition — fifty as fair yellow canary birds as e'er chirped in 
 the bottom of a green silk purse. Well, my lord, I rained 
 the cards, and lo you ! it pleases his lordship to say ^.lat wc 
 played witliout tiddy ; and as the rest stood by and backed 
 him, and especially the sharking Frenchman, why, I was 
 obliged to lose more than I shall gain all the season. So 
 judge if I have not a crow to pluck with his lordship. Was 
 it ever heard there was a game at gleek at the ordinary before 
 without counting tiddy ? Marry guep upon his lordship ! 
 Every man who comes there with his purse in his hand is as 
 free to make new laws as he, I hope, since touch pot touch 
 penny makes every man equal." 
 
 As Master Lowestoffe ran over this jargon of the gaming- 
 table, Lord Glenvarloch was both ashamed and mortified, 
 and felt a severe pang of aristocratic pride when he con- 
 cluded in the sweeping clause that the dice, like the grave, 
 levelled those distinguishing points of society to wdiich 
 Nigel's early prejudices clung perhaps but too fondly. It was 
 impossible, however, to object anything to the learned rea- 
 soning of the young Templar, and therefore Nigel was con- 
 tented to turn the conversation by making some inquiries 
 respecting the present state of Whitef riars. There also his 
 host was at home. 
 
 ''You know, my lord," said Master Lowestoffe, ''that 
 we Templars are a power and a dominion within ourselves, 
 and I am proud to say that I hold some rank in our republic 
 — was treasurer to the Lord of Misrule last year, and am at 
 this i)resent moment in nomination for that dignity myself. 
 In such circumstances, we are under the necessity of main- 
 taining an amicable intercourse with our neighbors of Alsatia, 
 even as tlie Christian states find themselves often, in mere 
 policy, obliged to make alliance with the Grand Turk or the 
 Barbary states." 
 
 " I should have imagined you gentlemen of the Temple 
 more independent of your neighbors," said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " You do us something too much honor, my lord," said 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 189 
 
 the Templar ; " the Alsatians and we have some common 
 enemies, and we have, under the rose, some common friends. 
 We are in the use of blocking all bailiffs out of our bounds, 
 and we are powerfully aided by our neighbors, who tolerate 
 not a rag belonging to them within theirs. Moreover, the 
 Alsatia'is have — I beg you to understand me — the power of 
 protecting or distressing our friends, male or female, who 
 may be obliged to seek sanctuary witliin tlieir bounds. In 
 short. >\e two communities serve each other, though the 
 league is between states of unequal quality, and I may myself 
 say that I have' treated of sundry weighty affairs, and have 
 been a negotiator well approved on both sides. But hark — 
 hark, what is that ? " 
 
 The sound by which Master Lowestoffe was interrupted 
 was that of a distant horn, winded loud and keenly, and 
 followed by a faint and remote huzza. 
 
 " There is something doing," said Lowestoffe, " in the 
 Whitefriars at this moment. That is the signal when their 
 privileges are invaded by tipstaff or bailiff ; and at the blast 
 of the horn they all swarm out to the rescue, as bees when 
 their hive is disturbed. Jump, Jim," he said, calling out to 
 the attendant, " and see what they are doing in Alsatia. That 
 bastard of a boy," he continued, as the lad, accustomed to 
 the precipitate haste of his master, tumbled rather than ran 
 out of the apartment, and so downstairs, " is worth gold in 
 this quarter : he serves six masters, four of them in distinct 
 numbers, and you would think him present like a fairy at 
 the mere wish of him that for the time most needs his at- 
 tendance. No scout in Oxford, no gip in Cambridge, ever 
 matched him in speed and intelligence. He knows the step 
 of a dun from that of a client when it reaches the very bottom 
 of tlie staircase ; can tell the trip of a pretty wench from the 
 step of a bencher Avhen at the upper end of the court ; and 
 is, take him all in all But I see your lordship is anx- 
 ious. May I press another cup of my kind grandmother's 
 cordial, or will you allow me to show you my wardrobe, and 
 act as your valet or groom of the chamber ? " 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch hesitated not to acknowledge that_ he 
 was painfully sensible of his present situation, and anxious 
 to do wliat must needs be done for his extrication. 
 
 The good-natured and thoughtless young Templar readily 
 acquiesced, and led the way into his little bedroom, where, 
 from bandboxes, portmanteaus, mail-trunks, not forgetting 
 an old walnut-tree wardrobe, he began to select the articles 
 which he thought best suited effectually to disguise his guest 
 in venturing into the lawless and tuxhulent society of Alsatia. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Come hither, young one. Mark me ! Thou art now 
 'Mongst men o' the sword, that live by reputation 
 More than by constant income. Single-suited 
 They are, I grant you ; yet each smgle suit 
 Maintains, on the rough guess, a thousand followers ; 
 And they be men, who, hazarding their all, 
 Needful apparel, necessary income. 
 And liuman body, and immortal soul. 
 Do in the very deed but hazard nothing ; 
 So strictly is that all bound in reversion — 
 Clothes to the broker, income to the usurer, 
 And body to disease, and soul to the foul fiend, 
 Who laughs to see soldadoes and fooladoes 
 Play better than himself his game on earth. 
 
 TJie Mohocks. 
 
 ''Your lordship," said Eeginald Lowestoffe, " must be con- 
 tent to exchange your decent and court-beseeming rapier, 
 which I will retain in safe keeping, for this broadsword, with 
 an hundred-weight of rusty iron about the hilt, and to wear 
 these huge-paned slops instead of your civil and moderate 
 hose. We allow no cloak, for your ruffian always walks en 
 cuerpo ; and the tarnished doublet of bald velvet, with its 
 discolored embroidery, and — I grieve to speak it — a few stains 
 from the blood of the grape, will best suit the garb of a roar- 
 ing boy. I will leave you to change your suit for an instant, 
 till I can help to truss you." 
 
 Lowestoffe retired, while slowly and with hesitation Nigel 
 obeyed his instructions. He felt displeasure and disgust at 
 the scoundrelly disguise which he was under the necessity 
 of assuming ; but when he considered the bloody conse- 
 quences which law attached to his rash act of violence, the 
 easy and indifferent temper of James, the prejudices of his 
 son, the overbearing influence of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 which was sure to be thrown into the scale against him ; and, 
 above all, when he reflected that he must now look upon the 
 active, assiduous, and insinuating Lord Dalgarno as a bitter 
 enemy, reason told him he was in a situation of peril which 
 authorized all honest means, even the most unseemly in out- 
 ward appearance, to extricate himself from so dangerous a 
 predicament. 
 
 While he was changing his dress, and musing on these 
 
 190 
 
THE FORTUNES OE NIGEL 191 
 
 particnlars, his friendly host re-entered the sleeping-apart- 
 ment. " Zounds!" he said, ''my lord, it was well you went 
 not straight into that same Alsatia of ours at the time you 
 proposed, for the hawks have stooped upon it. Here is Jim 
 come back with tidings that he saw a pursuivant there with a 
 privy council warrant, and half a score of yeomen assistants 
 armed to the teeth, and the horn which we heard was sounded 
 to call out the posse of the Friars. Indeed, when old Duke 
 Hildebrod saw that the quest was after some one of whom he 
 knew nothing, he permitted, out of courtesy, the man-catcher 
 to search through his dominions, quite certain that they 
 would take little by their motions; for Duke Hildebrod is a 
 most judicious potentate. Go back, you bastard, and bring 
 us word when all is quiet. ^' 
 
 " And who may Duke Hildebrod be?" said Lord Glen- 
 varloch. 
 
 "Nouns! my lord," said the Templar, "have you lived 
 so long on the town and never heard of the valiant, and as 
 wise and politic as valiant, Duke Hildebrod, grand protector 
 of the liberties of Alsatia? I thought the man had never 
 whirled a die but was familiar with his fame." 
 
 " Yet I have never heard of him, Master Lowestoffe," 
 said Lord Glenvarloch; "or, what is the same thing, I have 
 paid no attention to aught that may have passed in conversa- 
 tion respecting him." 
 
 "Why, then," said Lowestoffe — " but, first, let me have 
 the honor of trussing you. Now, observe, I have left several 
 of the points untied of set purpose; and if it please you to let 
 a small portion of your shirt be seen betwixt your doublet and 
 the band of your upper stock, it will have so much the more 
 rakish effect, and will attract you respect in Alsatia, where 
 linen is something scarce. Now, I tie some of the points 
 carefully asquint, for your ruffianly gallant never appears too 
 accurately trussed — so." 
 
 "Arrange it as you will, sir," said Nigel; "but let me 
 hear at least something of the conditions of the unhappy 
 district into which, wath other wretches, I am compelled to 
 retreat." 
 
 " Why, my lord," replied the Templar, "our neighboring 
 state of Alsatia, which the law calls the sanctuary of White- 
 friars, has had its mutations and revolutions like greater 
 kingdoms; and being in some sort a lawless, arbitary govern- 
 ment, it follows, of course, that these have been more fre- 
 quent than our own better regulated commonwealth of the 
 Templars, that of Gray's Inn, and other similar associations, 
 
193 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 have had the fortune to witness. Our traditions and records 
 speak of twenty revolutions witliin the last twelve years, in 
 wliich the aforesaid state has repeatedly changed from abso- 
 lute despotism to republicanism, not forgetting the inter- 
 mediate stages of oligarchy, limited monarchy, and even 
 gynocracy; for I myself remember Alsatia governed for 
 nearly nine montlis by an old fishwoman. Then it fell under 
 the dominion of a broken attorney, who was dethroned by a 
 reformado captain, who, i^roving tyrannical, was deposed'by 
 a hedge-parson, who was succeeded, upon resignation of his 
 power, by Duke Jacob Hildebrod, of that name the first, 
 whom Heaven long preserve." 
 
 *' And is this potentate's government," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch, forcing himself to take some interest in the conver- 
 sation, "of a despotic character?" 
 
 " Pardon me, my lord, " said the Templar; ''this said 
 sovereign is too Avise to incur, like many of his predecessors, 
 the odium of wielding so important an authority by his own 
 sole will. He has established a council of state, who regularlji 
 meet for their morning's draught at seven o'clock; convene a 
 second time at eleven for their ante-meridiem, or whet; and, 
 assembling in solemn conclave at the hour of two after- 
 noon, for the purpose of consulting for the good of the com- 
 monwealth, are so prodigal of their labor in the service of the 
 state that they seldom separate before midnight. Into this 
 worthy senate, composed partly of Duke Hildebrod's prede- 
 cessors in his high office, whom he has associated with him 
 to prevent the envy attending sovereign and sole authority, I 
 must presently introduce your lordship, that they may admit 
 you to the immunities of tlie Friars, and assign you a place of 
 residence." 
 
 "Does their authority extend to such regulation?" said 
 Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 '* The council account it a main point of their j^rivi- 
 leges, my lord," answered Lowestoffe ; "and, in fact, it is 
 one of the most powerful means by which they support their 
 authority. For when Duke Hildebrod and his senate find a 
 topping householder in the Friars becomes discontented and 
 factious, it is but assigning him, for a lodger, some fat bank- 
 rupt, or new residenter, whose circumstances require refuge, 
 and whose purse can pay for it, and the malcontent becomes 
 as tractable as a lamb. As for the poorer refugees, they let 
 them shift as they can ; but the registration of "tlieir names 
 in the duke's entry-book, and the payment of garnish con- 
 forming to their circumstances, are never dispensed with ; 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 193 
 
 and the Friars would be a very unsafe residence for the 
 stranger who shoukl disjaute these points of jurisdiction." 
 
 " Well, Master Lowestoffe," said Lord Glenvarloch, " 1 
 must be controlled by the circumstances which dictate to me 
 this state of concealment ; of course, I am desirous not to 
 betray my name and rank/' 
 
 "It will be highly advisable, my lord." said Lowestoffe, 
 " and is a case thus jn'ovided for in the statutes of the re- 
 public, or monarchy, or whatsoever you call it. He who 
 desires that no questions shall be asked him concerning his 
 name, cause of refuge, and the like, may escape the usual 
 interrogations upon payment of double the garnish otlier- 
 wise belonging to his condition. Complying with this essen- 
 tial stipulation, your lordship may register yourself as King 
 of Bantam if you will, for not a question will be asked of 
 you. But here comes our scout, with news of piece and 
 tranquility. Now, I will go with your lordship myself, and 
 present you to the council of Alsatia, with all the influence 
 which I have over them as an office-bearer in the Tem- 
 ple, which is not slight ; for they have come halting off upon 
 all occasions when we have taken part against them, and 
 that they well know. The time is propitious, for as the 
 council is now met in Alsatia, so the Temple walks are 
 quiet. Now, my lord, throw your cloak about you, to hide 
 your present exterior. You shall give it to the boy at the 
 foot of the stairs that go down to the sanctuary ; and as the 
 ballad says that Queen Eleanor sunk at Charing Cross and 
 rose at Queenhithe, so you shall sink a nobleman in the 
 Temple Gardens and rise an Alsatian at Whitefriars." 
 
 They went oiit accordingly, attended by the little scout, 
 traversed the gardens, descended the stairs, and at the bot- 
 tom the young Templar exclaimed, " And now let us sing, 
 with Ovid, 
 
 " ' In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas.' 
 
 Off — off, ye lendings!" he continued, in the same vein. 
 '*' Via the curtain that shadowed Borgia! But how now, 
 my lord?" he continued, when he observed Lord Glenvar- 
 loch was really distressed at the degrading change in his 
 situation, "I trust you are not offended at my rattling folly I 
 I would but reconcile you to your present circumstances, and 
 give you the tone of this strange place. Come, cheer up; I 
 trust' it will only be your residence for a very few days." 
 
 Nigel was only able to press his hand, and reply in a 
 whisper, " I am sensible of your kindness. I know 1 must 
 13 
 
194 WAVEELEY NOVELS 
 
 drink the cup which my own folly has filled for me. Par- 
 don me that, at tlie first taste, I feel its bitterness." 
 
 Reginald Lowe.stotfe was bustlingly otKeious and good-na- 
 tured ; but, used to live a scrambling, rakish course of life 
 himself, he had not the least idea of the extent of Lord Glen- 
 varloch's inental sufferings, and thought of his temporary 
 concealment as if it were merely the trick of a wanton boy, 
 who plays at hide-and-seek with his tutor. With the ap- 
 pearance of the place, too, he Avas familiar ; but on his com- 
 panion it produced a deep sensation. 
 
 The ancient sanctuary at Whitefriars lay considerably 
 lower than the elevated terraces and gardens of the Temple, 
 and was therefore generally involved in the damps and fogs 
 arising from the Tliames. The brick buildings by which it 
 was occupied crowded closely on each other, for, in a place 
 so rarely privileged, every foot of ground was valuable ; but, 
 erected in many cases by persons whose funds were inade- 
 quate to their speculations, the houses were generally insuf- 
 ficient, and exhibited the lamentable signs of having become 
 ruinous while they were yet new. The wailing of children, 
 the scolding of their mothers, the miserable exhibition of 
 ragged linens hung from the windows to dry, spoke the 
 wants and distresses of the wretched inhabitants ; while the 
 sounds of complaint were mocked and overwhelmed in the 
 riotous shouts, oaths, profane songs, and boisterous laughter 
 that issued from the alehouses and taverns, which, as the 
 signs indicated, were equal in number to all the other houses ; 
 and, that the full character of the place might be evident, 
 several faded, tinselled, and painted females looked boldly at 
 the strangers from their open lattices, or more modestly 
 seemed busied with the cracked flower-pots, filled with mign- 
 onette and rosemary, which were disposed in front of the 
 windows, to the great risk of the passengers. 
 
 " Seini-reducta Venus," said the Templar, pointing to one 
 of these nymphs, who seemed afraid of observation, and 
 partly concealed herself behind the casement, as she chirped 
 to a miserable blackbird, the tenant of a wicket prison, 
 which hung outside on the black brick wall. " I know the 
 face of yonder waistcoateer,'' continued the guide, " and I 
 could wager a rose noble, from the posture she stands in, 
 that she has clean head-gear and a soiled night-rail. But 
 here come two of the male inhabitants, smoking like moving 
 volcanoes ! These are roaring blades, whom Nicotia and 
 Trinidado serve, I dare swear, in lieu of beef and pudding ; 
 for be it known to you, my lord, that the King's CounterUasi 
 
THE FORTUXES. OF XIGEL 19a 
 
 against the Indian weed will no more pass current in Alsatia 
 than will his writ of capias." 
 
 As he spoke, the two smokers approached — shaggy, un- 
 combed ruffians, whose enormous mustachios were turned 
 back over their ears, and mingled with the wild elf-locks of 
 their hair, much of which was seen under the old beavers 
 which they wore aside upon their heads, while some strag- 
 gling portion escaped through the rents of the hats aforesaid. 
 Their tarnished plush jerkins, large slops, or trunk-breeches, 
 their broad greasy shoulder-belts, and discolored scarfs, 
 and, above all, the ostentatious manner in which the one 
 wore a broadsword and the other an extravagantly long rapier 
 and poniard, marked the true Alsatian bully, then, and for a 
 hundred years afterwards, a well-known character. 
 
 •'•' Tour out," said the one ruffian to the other — "tour the 
 bien mort twiring at the gentry cove ! " * 
 
 "I smell a spy," replied the other, looking at Nigel. 
 " Chalk him across the peepers with your cheery." f 
 
 " Bing avast — bing avast I " replied his companion ; " yon 
 other is rattling Eeginald Lowestoffe of the Temple. I know 
 him ; he is a good boy, and free of the province." 
 
 So saying, and enveloping themselves in another thick 
 cloud of smoke, they went on without farther greeting. 
 
 " Crasso in aere ! " said the Templar. " You hear what a 
 character the impudent knaves give me ; but, so it serves 
 your lordship's turn, I care not. And now let me ask your 
 lordship what name you will assume, for we are near the ducal 
 palace of Duke Hildebrod." 
 
 "1 will be called Grahame," said Nigel; "it was my 
 mother's name." 
 
 "Grime," repeated the Templar, "will suit Alsatia well 
 enough — both a grim and grimy place of refuge." 
 
 " I said Grahame, sir, not Grime." said Xigel, something 
 shortly, and laying an emphasis on the vowel ; for few Scots- 
 men understand raillery upon the subject of their names. 
 
 " I beg pardon, my lord," answered the undisconcerted 
 punster ; " but Graam will suit the circumstance, too : it 
 signifies 'tribulation' in the High Dutch, and your lordship 
 must be considered as a man under trouble." 
 
 Nigel laughed at the pertinacity of the Templar, who, 
 proceeding to point out a sign representing, or believed to 
 represent, a dog attacking a bull, and running at his head, 
 in the true scientific style of onset — " There," said he, 
 
 * look »b»rp. See how the ^rl is coquetting with the strange gallants I 
 *• ^liiaa him ov^r Uic eyes ■*-ith your dagger. 
 
lft« WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 *'doth faithful Duke Hildebrod deal fortli laAVS, a J well as 
 ale and strong Avaters, to liis faithful Alsatians. Being a 
 determined champion of Paris Garden, he has chosen a sign 
 corresponding to his habits ; and he deals in giving drmL; to 
 the thirsty, that he himself may drink without payins;, and 
 receive pay for what is drunken by others. Let us enter the 
 ever-open gate of this second Axylus." 
 
 As^they spoke, they entered the dilapidated tavern, wliich 
 was, nevertheless, more ample in dimensions, and \q?° rainous, 
 than many houses in the same evil neighborhooo. Two or 
 three liaggard, ragged drawers ran to and fro, Avhose looks, 
 like those of owls, seemed only adapted for midnight, when 
 other creatures sleep, and who ])y day seemed Ijleared, stupid, 
 and only half awake. Guided by one of these blinking Gany- 
 medes, they entered a room, where tlie feeble rays of the sun 
 vv^ere almost wholly eclipsed by volumes of tobacco-smoke, 
 rolled from the tubes of the company, while out of the cloudy 
 sanctuary arose the old chant of — 
 
 " Old Sir Simon the King, 
 And old Sir Simon the King, 
 With his malmsey nose, 
 And his ale-dropped hose, 
 And sing hey ding-a-ding-ding." 
 
 Duke Hildebrod, who himself condescended to chant this 
 ditty to his loving subjects, was a monstrously fat old man, 
 with only one eye, and a nose which bore evidence to the 
 frequency, strength, and depths of his potations. He wore 
 a murrey-colored plush jerkin, stained with the overflowings 
 of the tankard, and much the worse for wear, and unbut- 
 toned at bottom for the ease of his enormous paunch. Be- 
 hind him lay a favorite bull-dog, whose round head and 
 single black glancing eye, as well as the creature^s great cor- 
 pulence, gave it a burlesque resemblance to its master. 
 
 The well-beloved counsellors who surrounded the ducal 
 throne incensed it with tobacco, pledged its occupier in 
 thick, clammy ale, and echoed back his choral songs, were 
 satraps worthy of such a soldan. The buff jerkin, broad belt, 
 and long sword of one showed him to be a Low Country sol- 
 dier, whose look of scowling importance and drunken impu- 
 dence were designed to sustain his title to call himself a rov- 
 ing blade. It seemed to Nigel that he had seen this fellow 
 somewhere or other. A hedge-parson, or buckle-beggar, as 
 that order of priesthood has been irreverently termed, sat on 
 the duke's left, and Avas easily distinguished by his torn 
 band, flapped hat, and the remnants of a rusty cassock. Be- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 197 
 
 side the jDarson sat a most wretched and meagre-looking old 
 man, with a threadbare hood of coarse kersey upon his iiead 
 and buttoned about his neck, while his pinched features, 
 like those of old Daniel, were illuminated by 
 
 An eye 
 Through the last look of dotage still cunning and sly. 
 
 On his left was placed a broken attorney, who, for some mal- 
 practice, had been struck from the roll of practitioners, and 
 who had nothing left of his profession excepting its roguery. 
 One or two persons of less figure, among whom there was 
 one face which, like that of the soldier, seemed not unknown 
 to Nigel, though he could not recollect where he had seen it, 
 completed the council-board of Jacob Duke Hildebrod. 
 
 The strangers had full time to observe all this; for his 
 grace the duke, whether irresistibly carried on by the full 
 tide of harmony, or wdiether to impress the strangers with a 
 proper idea of liis consequence, chose to sing his ditty to an 
 end before addressing them, though, during the whole time, 
 he closely scrutinized them Avith his single optic. 
 
 When Duke Hildebrod had ended his song, he informed 
 his peers that a worthy officer of the Temple attended them, 
 and commanded the captain and parson to abandon their 
 easy-chairs in behalf of the two strangers, whom he placed on 
 his right and left hand. The worthy representatives of the 
 army and the church of Alsatia went to place themselves on 
 a craz}^ form at the bottom of the table, wdiich, ill calculated 
 to sustain men of such Aveight, gave W7iy under them, and the 
 man of the sword and man of the gown were rolled over each 
 other on the floor, amid the exulting shouts of the company. 
 They arose in wrath, contending wdiich should vent his dis- 
 pleasure in the loudest and deepest oaths, a strife in which 
 the parson's superior acquaintance w' ith tlieology enabled him 
 greatly to excel the captain, and were at length with difficulty 
 tranquilized by the arrival of the alarmed w'aiters with more 
 stable chairs, and by a long draught of the cooling tankard. 
 When this commotion Avas appeased, and the strangers cour- 
 teously accommodated with flagons, after the fashion of the 
 others present, the duke drank prosperity to the Temple in 
 the most gracious manner, together with a cup of welcome 
 to Master Reginald Lowestoffe; and, this courtesy having 
 been thankfully accepted, the party honored prayed permis- 
 sion to call for a gallon of Ehenish, over whicli he proposed 
 to open his business. 
 
 Themeutiouof a liquor so superior to their usual potations 
 
irs WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 had an instant and most favorable effect upon the little sen- 
 ate; and its immediate appearance miglit be said to secure a 
 favorable reception of Master Lowestoffe's proposition, which, 
 after a round or two had circulated, he explained to be the 
 admission of his friend. Master JSTigel Grahame, to the bene- 
 fit of the sanctuary and other immunities of Alsatia, in the 
 character of a grand compounder; for so were those termed 
 Avho paid a double fee at their matriculation, in order to 
 avoid laying before the senate the peculiar circumstances 
 which compelled them to take refuge there. 
 
 The worthy duke heard the proposition with glee, which 
 glittered in his single eye; and no wonder, as it was a rare 
 occurrence, and of peculiar advantage to his private revenue. 
 Accordingly, he commanded his ducal register * to be brought 
 him — a huge book, secured with brass claspslike a merchant's 
 ledger, and whose leaves, stained with wine and slabbered 
 with tobacco juice, bore the names probably of as many 
 rogues as are to be found in the Calendar of Netogate. 
 
 Nigel was then directed to lay down two nobles as his 
 ransom, and to claim privilege by reciting the following 
 doggerel verses, which were dictated to him by the duke: 
 
 " Your suppliant, by name 
 Nigel Grahame, 
 In fear of mishap 
 From a shoulder-tap. 
 And dreading a claw 
 From the talons of law, 
 
 That are sharper than briers, 
 His freedom to sue. 
 And rescue by you, 
 Through weapon and wit, 
 From warrant and writ. 
 From bailiff's hand, 
 From tipstaff's wand. 
 
 Is come hither to Whitefriars." 
 
 As Duke Hildebrod with a tremulous hand began to make 
 the entry, and had already, with superfluous generosity, spelled 
 Nigel with two g's instead of one, he was interrupted by the 
 parson. This reverend gentleman had been whispering for a 
 minute or two, not with the captain, but with that other 
 individual who dwelt imperfectly, as we have already men- 
 tioned, in Nigel's memory, and being, perhaps, still some- 
 thing malcontent on account of the late accident, he now 
 requested to be heard before the registration took place. 
 
 "The person," he said, "who hath now had the assur 
 
 * See Ducal Register of Alsatia. Note 25, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL 199 
 
 ance to propo.se liimself as a candidate for tlie privileges and 
 immunities of this honorable society is, in plain terms, a 
 beggarly Scot, and we have enough of these locusts in Lon- 
 don already; if we admit such palmer-worms and caterpillars 
 to the sanctuary, we shall soon have the whole nation." 
 
 " We are not entitled to inquire," said Duke Ilildebrod, 
 '' whetlier he be Scot, or French, or English : seeing he has 
 honorably laid down his garnish, he is entitled to our pro- 
 tection." 
 
 " Word of denial, most sovereign duke," replied the par- 
 son ; " I ask him no questions. His speech bewrayeth him : 
 he is a Galilean, and his garnish is forfeited for his assurance 
 in coming within this our realm ; and I call on you, sir duke, 
 to put the laws in force against him ! " 
 
 The Templar here rose, and Avas about to interrupt the de- 
 liberations of the court, when the duke gravely assured him 
 that he should be heard in behalf of his friend so soon as the 
 council had finished their deliberations. 
 
 The attorney next rose, and, intimating that he was to 
 speak to the point of law, said — " It was easy to be seen that 
 this gentleman did not come here in any civil case, and that 
 he believed it to be the story they had already heard of, con- 
 cerning a blow given within the verge of the Park ; that the 
 sanctuary would not bear out the offender in such case ; and 
 that the queer old chief would send down a broom which 
 would sweep the streets of Alsatia from the SI rand to the 
 Stairs ; and it was even policy to think what evil might come 
 to their republic by sheltering an alien in such circum- 
 stances." 
 
 The captain, who had sat impatiently while these opin- 
 ions were expressed, now sprang on his feet with the vehe- 
 mence of a cork bouncing from a bottle of brisk beer, and 
 turning up his mustachios with a martial air^ cast a glance 
 of contempt on the lawyer and churchman, while he thus 
 expressed his opinion : 
 
 " Most noble Duke Hildebrod ! when I hear such base, 
 skeldering, coistril propositions come from the counsellors 
 of your grace, and when I remember the huffs, the muns, 
 and the Tityretu's by whom your grace's ancestors and pre- 
 decessors were advised on such occasions, I begin to think the 
 spirit of action is as dead in Alsatia as in my old grannam ; 
 and yet, who thinks so thinks a lie, since I will find as many 
 roaring boys in the Friars as shall keep the liberties against 
 all the scavengers of Westminster. And, if we should be 
 overborne for a turn, death and darkness ! have we not time 
 
200 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 to send the gentleman off. by water, either to Paris Garden 
 or to the Bankside ? and, if he is a gallant of true breed, 
 will he not make us full amends for all the trouble we have ? 
 Let other societies exist by the law, I say that we brisk boys of 
 tlie Fleet live in spite of it ; and thrive best when we are in 
 right opposition to sign and seal, writ and warrant, sergeant 
 and tipstaff, catchpoll and bum-bailey." 
 
 This speech was followed by a murmur of approbation, 
 and Lowestoffe, striking in before the favorable sound had sub- 
 sided, reminded the duke and his council how much the se- 
 curity of their state depended upon the amity of the Tem- 
 plars^ who, by closing their gates, could at pleasure shut 
 against the Alsatians the communication betwixt the Friars 
 and the Temple, and that as they conducted themselves on 
 this occasion, so would they secure or lose the benefit of his 
 interest with his own body, which they knew not to be incon- 
 siderable. "And, in respect of my friend being a Scots- 
 man and alien, as has been observed by the reverend divine 
 and learned lawyer, you are to consider," said Lowestoffe, 
 " for what he is pursued hither — wli}-, for giving the basti- 
 nado, not to an Englishman, but to one of his own country- 
 men. As for my own simple part," he continued, touching 
 Lord Glenvarloch at the same time, to make him understand 
 he spoke but in Jest, " if all the Scots in London were to 
 fight a Welch main, and kill each other to a man, the sur- 
 vivor would, in my humble opinion, be entitled to our grati- 
 tude, as having done a most acceptable service to poor Old 
 England." 
 
 A shout of laughter and applause followed this ingenious 
 apology for the client's state of alienage : and the Templar 
 followed up his plea with the following pithy proposition : " I 
 know well," said he, " it is the custom of the fathers of this 
 old and honorable republic ripely and well to consider all 
 their proceedings over a proper allowance of liquor ; and far 
 be it from me to propose the breach of so laudable a custom, 
 or to pretend that such an affair as the present can be well 
 and constitutionally considered during the discussion of a 
 pitiful gallon of Ehenish. But as it is the same thing to 
 this honorable conclave whether they drink first and deter- 
 mine afterwards, or whether they determine first and drink 
 afterwards, I propose your grace, with the advice of your 
 wise and potent senators, shall pass your edict, grant- 
 ing to mine honorable friend the immunities of the place, 
 and assigning him a lodging, according to your wise forms, 
 to which he will presently retire, being somewhat spent with 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 201 
 
 this day's action ; wlierenpon I will presently order you a 
 rundlet of Ehenish, with a corresponding quantity of neats' 
 tongues and pickled herrings, to make you all as glorious as 
 George-a-Green. " 
 
 This overture was received with a general shout of ap- 
 plause, which altogether drowned the voice of the dissidents, 
 if any there were among the Alsatian senate who could have 
 resisted a proposal so popular. The words of, "kind heart! 
 — noble gentleman! — generous gallant! " flew from mouth to 
 mouth; the inscription of the petitioner's name in the great 
 book was hastily completed, and the oath administered to 
 him by the Avorthy doge. Like the Laws of the Twelve 
 Tables, of the ancient Cambro-Britons, and other primitive 
 nations, it was couched in poetry, and ran as follows: 
 
 " By spigot and barrel, 
 
 By bilboe and buff, 
 Thou art sworn to the quarrel 
 
 Of the blades of the huff. 
 For Whitefriars and its claims 
 
 To be champion or martyr, 
 And to fight for its dames 
 
 Like a Knight of the Garter." 
 
 Nigel felt, and indeed exhibited, some disgust at this 
 mummery; but, the Templar reminding him that he was too 
 far advanced to draw back, he repeated the words, or rather 
 assented as they were repeated by Duke Hildebrod, who con- 
 cluded the ceremony by allowing him the privilege of sanc- 
 tuary, in the following form of prescriptive doggerel: 
 
 " From the touch of the tip, 
 
 From the blight of the warrant, 
 From the watchmen who skip 
 
 On the harman-becks errand; 
 From the bailiff's cramp speech, 
 
 That makes man a thrall, 
 I charm thee from each, 
 
 And I charm thee from all. 
 Thy freedom's complete 
 
 As a blade of the huff. 
 To be cheated and cheat, 
 
 To be cuff'd and to cuff; 
 To stride, swear, and swagger. 
 To drink till you stagger; 
 
 To stare and to stab, 
 And to brandish your dagger 
 
 In the cause of your drab; 
 To walk wool-ward in winter, 
 
 Drink brandy, and smoke, 
 
203 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 And go fresco in summer 
 
 For want of a cloak ; 
 To eke out youi* living 
 
 By the wag of your elbow, 
 By fulham and gourd, 
 
 And by baring of bilboe; 
 To live by your si lifts, 
 
 And to Hwear by your honor, 
 Are the freedom and gifts 
 
 Of which I am the donor." * 
 
 This homily being performed, a dispute arose concerning 
 the special residence to be assigned the new brother of the 
 sanctuary; for, as the Alsatians held it a maxim in their 
 commonwealth that ass's milk fattens, there was usually a 
 competition among the inhabitants which should have the 
 managing, as it was termed, of a new member of the society. 
 
 The Hector who had spoken so warmly and critically in 
 Nio-el's behalf stood out now chivalrously in behalf of a cer- 
 tain Blowselinda, or Bonstrops, who had, it seems, a room to 
 hire, once the occasional residence of Slicing Dick ofPad- 
 dington, who lately suffered at Tyburn, and whose untimely 
 exit had been hitherto mourned by the damsel in solitary 
 widowhood, after the fashion of the turtle-dove. 
 
 The captain's interest was, however, overruled in behalf 
 of the old gentleman in the kersey hood, who was believed, 
 even at his extreme age, to understand the plucking of a 
 pigeon as well or better than any man of Alsatia. 
 
 This venerable personage was a usurer of some notoriety, 
 called Trapbois, and had very lately done the state considera- 
 ble service in advancing a subsidy necessary to secure a fresh 
 importation of liquors to the duke's cellars, the wine-mer- 
 chant at the Vintry being scrupulous to deal with so great a 
 man for anything but ready money. 
 
 Wlien, therefore, the old gentleman arose, and with much 
 coughing reminded the duke that he had a poor apartment 
 to let, the claims of all others were set aside, and Nigel was 
 assigned to Trapbois as his guest. 
 
 No sooner was this arrangement made than Lord Clleii- 
 varloch expressed to Lowestoife his impatience to leave this 
 discreditable assembly, and took his leave with a careless 
 haste which, but for the rundlet of Rhenish wine that entered 
 just as he left the apartment, might have been taken in bad 
 part. The young Templar accompanied his friend to the 
 
 * Of the cart vrords n^ed in this inaiiErnratnry oration, some are obvious in 
 their meaning. (>:heis, as iiai-rnan-beck (consUihle) and the like, derive their source 
 from that ancient piece of lexicography, the Slang Dictionary. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 208 
 
 house of the old usurer, with the road to which he and some 
 other youngsters aljout the Temple were even but too well 
 acquainted. On the way, he assured Lord Glenvarloch that 
 he was going to the only clean house in AVhitcfriars — a prop- 
 erty which it owed solely to the exertions of the old man's 
 only daughter, an elderly damsel, ugly enougli to frighten 
 sin,'^ yet likely to be wealthy enough to tempt a Puritan, sc 
 soon as the devil had got her old dad for his due. As Lowe- 
 stofFe spoke thus, they knocked at the door of the house, and 
 the sour, stern countenance of the female by whom it was 
 opened fully confirmed all that the Templar had said of the 
 hostess. She heard with an ungracious and discontented air 
 the young Templar's information that the gentleman, his 
 companion, Avas to be her father's lodger, muttered something 
 about the trouble it was likely to occasion, but ended by 
 showing the stranger's apartment, which was better than 
 could have been augured from the general appearance of the 
 place, and much larger in extent than that which he had 
 occupied at Paul's Wharf, though inferior to it in neatness. 
 
 Lowestoffe, having thus seen his friend fairly installed in 
 his new apartment, and having obtained for him a note of 
 the rate at which he could be accommodated with victuals 
 from a neighboring cook's shop, now took his leave, offering, 
 at the same time, to send the whole, or any part, of Lord 
 Glenvarloch's baggage from his former place of residence to 
 his new lodging. Nigel mentioned so few articles, that the 
 Templar could not help observing, that his lordship, it would 
 seem, did not intend to enjoy his new privileges long, 
 
 " They are too little suited to my habits and taste that I 
 should do so," replied Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " You may change your opinion to-morrow," said Lowe- 
 stoffe; " and so I wish you a good-even. To-morrow I will 
 visit you betimes." 
 
 The morning came, but instead of the Templar it brought 
 only a letter from him. The epistle stated that Lowestoffe's 
 visit to Alsatia had drawn down the animadversions of some 
 crabbed old pantaloons among the benchers, and that he 
 judged it wise not to come hither at present, for fear of 
 attracting too much attention to Lord Glenvarloch's place of 
 residence. He stated that he had taken measures for the 
 safety of his baggage, and would send him, by a safe hand, 
 his money-casket and what articles he wanted. Then fol- 
 lowed some sage advices, dictated by Lowestoffe's acquaint- 
 ance with Alsatia and its manners. He advised him to keep 
 the usurer in the most absolute uncertainty concerning the 
 
204 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 state of liis funds; never to throw a main with the captain, 
 who was in the habit of phiying dry-fisted, and paying his 
 losses with three vowels; and, finally, to beware of Duke 
 Hildebrod, who was as sharp, he said, as a needle, though 
 he had no more eyes than are possessed by that necessary 
 "mplemcnt of female industry. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Mother. What ! dazzled by a flash of Cupid's mirr«r, 
 With which the boy, as mortal urchins wont, 
 Flings back the sunbeam in the eye of passengers, 
 Then laughs to see them stumble I 
 
 Daughter. Mother, no ; 
 It was a lightning-flash wnich dazzled me, 
 And never shall these eyes see true again. 
 
 Beef and Pudding, an old English Comedy. 
 
 It is necessary that we should leave our hero Nigel for a 
 time, although in a situation neither safe, comfortable, nor 
 creditable, in order to detail some particulars which have 
 immediate connection with his fortunes. 
 
 It was but the third day after he had been forced to 
 take refuge in the house of old Trapbois, the noted usurer 
 of Whitefriars, commonly called Golden Trapbois, when the 
 pretty daughter of old Ramsay, the watchmaker, after having 
 piously seen her father finish his breakfast (from the fear 
 that he might, in an abstruse fit of thought, swallow the salt- 
 cellar instead of a crust of the brown loaf), set forth from 
 the house as soon as he was again plunged into the depth of 
 calculation, and, accompanied only by that faithful old 
 drudge, Janet, the Scots laundress, to whom her Avhims were 
 laws, made her way to Lombard Street, and disturbed, at the 
 unusual hour of eight in the morning. Aunt Judith, the sis- 
 ter of her worthy godfather. 
 
 The venerable maiden received her young visitor with no 
 great complacency; for, naturally enough, she had neither 
 the same admiration of her very pretty countenance nor 
 allowance for her foolish and girlish impatience of temper 
 which Master George Heriot entertained. Still, Mistress 
 Margaret was a favorite of her brother's, whose will was to 
 Aunt Judith a supreme law; and she contented herself with 
 asking her untimely visitor, "• What she made so early with 
 her pale, chitty face in the streets of London?" 
 
 " I would speak with the Lady Hermione," answered the 
 almost breathless girl, while the blood ran so fast to her face 
 as totally to remove the objection of paleness which Aunt 
 Judith bad nuide to her com])lexion. 
 
 'MVith the I^ady Ilermione :" said \unt Judith— " with 
 
206 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 the Lady Hermione ! and at this time in the morning, when 
 slie will scarce see any of the family, even at seasonable hours ? 
 You are crazy, you silly wench, or you abuse the indulgence 
 which my brother and the lady ha^'^e shown to you/' 
 
 "Indeed — indeed I have not,' repeated Margaret, strug- 
 gling to retain the unbidden tear which seemed ready to 
 burst out on the slightest occasion. " Do but say to the lady 
 that your brother's goddaughter desires earnestly to speak to 
 her, and I know she will not refuse to see me." 
 
 Aunt Judith bent an earnest, suspicious, and inquisitive 
 glance on her young visitor. " You might make me youi 
 secretary, my lassie," she said, " as well as the Lady Hermione. 
 I am older, and better skilled to advise, I live more in the 
 world than one who shuts herself up within four rooms, and 
 I have the better means to assist you. " 
 
 " ! no — no — no," said Margaret, eagerly, and with more 
 earnest sincerity than complaisance ; " there are some things 
 to which you cannot advise me. Aunt Judith. It is a case — 
 pardon me, my dear aunt — a case beyond your counsel." 
 
 " I am glad on't, maiden," said Aunt Judith, somewhat 
 angrily ; " for I think the follies of the young people of this 
 generation would drive mad an old brain like mine. Here 
 you come on the viretot, through the whole streets of Lon- 
 don, to talk some nonsense to a lady who scarce sees God's 
 sun but when he shines on a brick wall. But I will tell her 
 you are here." 
 
 She went away, and shortly returned with a dry — " Mis- 
 tress Marget, the lady will be glad to see you ; and that's 
 more, my young madam, than you had a right to count upon." 
 
 Mistress Margaret hung her head in silence, too much per- 
 plexed by the train of her own embarrassed thoughts for 
 attempting either to conciliate Aunt Judith's kindness, or, 
 which on other occasions would have been as congenial to 
 her own humor, to retaliate on her cross-tempered remarks 
 and manner. She followed Aunt Judith, therefore, in silence 
 and dejection, to the strong oaken door which divided the 
 Lady Hermione's apartments from the rest of George Heriot'a 
 spacious house. 
 
 At the door of this sanctuary it is necessary to pause, in 
 order to correct the reports with which Eichie Monij^lies 
 had filled his master's ear, respecting the singular appearance 
 of that lady's attendance at prayers, whom we now own to be 
 by name the Lady Hermione. Some j)art of these exaggera- 
 tions had been communicated to the worthy Scotsman by 
 Jenkin Vincent, who was well experienced in the species of 
 
THE FORTUXES OF MQEL 207 
 
 wit which has been long a favorite in the city, under the 
 names of cross-biting, giving the dor, bamboozling, cram- 
 ming, hoaxing, humbugging, and quizzing ; for which sj^ort 
 Richie Moniplies, with his solemn gravity, totally unappre- 
 liensive of a joke, and his natural propensity to the marvel- 
 lous, formed an admirable subject. Farther ornaments the 
 tale had received from Eichie himself, whose tongue, espe- 
 cially when oiled with good liquor, had a considerable ten- 
 dency to amplification, and who failed not, while he retailed 
 to his master all the wonderful circumstances narrated by 
 Vincent, to add to them many conjectures of his own, which 
 liis imagination had over-hastily converted into facts. 
 
 Yet'the life which the Lady Hermione had led for two 
 years, during which she had been the inmate of George 
 Heriot's house, was so singular as almost to sanction many of 
 the wild reports which went abroad. The house which the 
 worthy goldsmith inhabited liad in former times belonged to 
 a powerful and wealthy baronial family, which, during the 
 reign of Henry VIII., terminated in a dowager lady, veiy 
 wealthy, very devout, and most unalienably attached to the 
 Catholic faith. The chosen friend of the Honorable Lady 
 Foljambe was the abbess of St. Roque's nunnery, like herself, 
 a conscientious, rigid, and devoted Papist. When the house 
 of St. Roque was despotically dissolved by the fiat of the 
 impetuous monarch, the Lady Foljambe received her friend 
 into her spacious mansion, together with tAvo vestal sisters, 
 who, like their abbess, were determined to follow the tenor of 
 their vows, instead of embracing the profane liberty which 
 the monarch's will had thrown in their choice. For their 
 residence, the Lady Foljambe contrived, Avith all secrecy — 
 for Henry might not have relished her interference — to set 
 apart a suite of four rooms, with a little closet fitted up as an 
 oratory, or chajjel; the whole apartments fenced by a strong 
 oaken door to exclude strangers, and accommodated with a 
 turning-wheel to receive necessaries, according to the prac- 
 tice of all nunneries. In this retreat the abbess of St. Roque 
 and her attendants passed many years, communicating only 
 with the Lady Foljambe, who', in virtue of their prayers, 
 and of the support she afforded them, accounted herself little 
 les> than a saint on earth. The abbess, fortunately for her- 
 self, died before her munificent patroness, who lived deep in 
 (^ueen Elizabeth's time, ere she was summoned by fate. 
 
 The Ladv Foljambe was succeeded in this mansion by a 
 Bour fanatic' knight, a distant and collateral relation, Avho 
 claimed the same merit for expellina: the priestesses of Baal 
 
208 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 which his predecessor had founded on maintaining the voU 
 resses of Heaven. Of the two unhappy nuns, driven from 
 their ancient refuge, one went beyond sea; the otlier, unable 
 from old age to undertake such a journey, died under the 
 roof of a faithful Catholic widow of low degree. Sir Paul 
 Crambagge, having got rid of the nuns, spoiled the chapel of 
 its ornaments, and had thoughts of altogetlier destroying the 
 apartments, until checked by the reflection that the opera- 
 tion would be an unnecessary expense, since he only in- 
 habited three rooms of the large mansion, and had not there- 
 fore the slightest occasion for any addition to its accommoda- 
 tions. His son proved a waster and a prodigal, and from 
 him the house was bought by our friend George Heriot, who, 
 finding, like Sir Paul, the house more than sufficiently ample 
 for his accommodation, left the Foljambeapartments,_orSt. 
 Roque's rooms, as they were called, in the state in which he 
 found them. 
 
 About two years and a half before our history opened, 
 when Heriot was absent upon an expedition to the Conti- 
 nent, he sent special orders to his sister and his cash-keeper, 
 directing that the Foljambe apartments should be fitted up 
 handsomely, though plainly, for the reception of a lady, who 
 would make them her residence for some time, and who 
 would live more or less with his own family according to hei 
 pleasure. He also directed that the necessary repairs should 
 be made with secrecy, and that as little should be said as pos- 
 sible upon the subject of his letter. 
 
 When the time of his return came nigh. Aunt Judith and 
 the household were on the tenter-hooks of impatience. Mas- 
 ter George came, as he had intimated, accompanied by a 
 lady, so eminently beautiful that, had it not been for her 
 extreme and uniform paleness, she might have been reckoned 
 one of the loveliest creatures on earth. She had with her an 
 attendant, or humble companion, whose business seemed only 
 to wait upon her. This person, a reserved woman, and by 
 her dialect a foreigner, aged about fifty, was called by the 
 lady Monna Paula, and by Master Heriot and others Made- 
 moiselle Pauline. She slept in the same room with her patron- 
 ess at night, ate in her apartment, and was scarcely ever sepa- 
 rated from her during the day. 
 
 These females took possession of the nunnery of the de- 
 vout abbess, and, without observing the same rigorous se- 
 clusion, according to the letter, seemed well-nigh to restore 
 the apartments to the use to which they had been originally 
 designed. The new inmates lived and took their meals apart 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 909 
 
 from the rest of the fumily. With tlie domestics Lady Her- 
 mione, for so she was termed, held no communication, and 
 Mademoiselle Pauline only such as was indispensable, which 
 she dispatched as briefly as possible. Frequent and liberal 
 largesses reconciled the servants to this conduct ; and they 
 were in the habit of observing to each other, that to do a 
 service for Mademoiselle Pauline was like finding a fairy 
 treasure. 
 
 To Aunt Judith the Lady Hermione was kind and civil, 
 but their intercourse was rare ; on which account the elder 
 ladv felt some pangs both of curiosity and injured dignity. 
 But she knew her brother so well, and loved him so dearly, 
 that his will, once expressed, might be truly said to become 
 her own. The worthy citizen was not without a spice of the 
 dogmatism which grows on the best disposition when a word 
 is a law to all around. Master George did not endure to be 
 questioned by his family, and, when he had generally ex- 
 pressed his will that the Lady Hermione should live in the 
 way most agreeable to her, and that no inquiries should be 
 made concerning her history, or her motives for observing 
 such strict seclusion, his sister well kncAV that he would have 
 been seriously displeased with any attempt to pry into the 
 secret. 
 
 But, though Heriot's servants were bribed, and his sister 
 awed, into silent acquiescence in these arrangements, they 
 were not of a nature to escape the critical observation of the 
 neighborhood. Some opined that the wealthy goldsmith was 
 about to turn Papist, and re-establish Lady Poljambe's nun- 
 nery, others that he was going mad, others that he was either 
 going to marry or to do worse. Master George's constant 
 appearance at church, and the knowledge that the supposed 
 votaress always attended when the prayers of the English rit- 
 ual were read in the family, liberated him from the first of 
 these suspicions ; those who had to transact business with 
 him upon ^change could not doubt the soundness of Master 
 Heriot's mind ; and to confute the other rumors, it was cred- 
 ibly reported bv such as made the matter their particular in- 
 terest that Master George Heriot never visited his guest but 
 in presence of Mademorselle Pauline, Avho sat with her work 
 in a remote part of the same room in which they conversed. 
 It was also ascertained that these visits scarcely ever exceeded 
 an hour in length, and were usually only repeated once 
 a week — an intercourse too brief and too long interrupted to 
 render it probable that love was the bond of their union. 
 
 The inquirers were, therefore, at fault, and compelled to 
 
 14 
 
210 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 relinquish the pursuit of Master TIeriot's secret, while a 
 thousiind ridiculous tales were circulated among the igno- 
 rant and superstitious, Avith some specimens of which our 
 friend Richie Moniplics had been " crammed/' as we have 
 seen, by the malicious apprentice of worthy David Ramsay. 
 
 There was one person in the world who, it was thought, 
 could, if she would, have said more of the Lady Hermione 
 than any one in London, except George Heriot himself ; and 
 that was the said David Ramsay's only child, Margaret. 
 
 This girl was not much past the age of fifteen when the 
 Lady Hermione first came to England, and was a very fre- 
 quent visitor at her godfather's, who was much amused by 
 her childish sallies, and by the wild and natural beauty with 
 which she sang the airs of her native country. Spoilt she 
 was on all hands — by the indulgence of her godfather, the 
 absent habits and indifference of her father, and the defer- 
 ence of all around to her caprices, as ft beauty and as an 
 heiress. But though, from these circumstances, the city 
 beauty had become as wilful, as capricious, and as affected as 
 unlimited indulgence seldom fails to render those to whom it 
 is extended; and although she exhibited upon many occasions 
 that affectation of extreme shyness, silence, and reserve 
 which misses in their teens are apt to take for an amiable 
 modesty, and, upon others, a considerable portion of that 
 flippancy which youth sometimes confounds with wit, Mis- 
 tress Margaret had much real shrewdness and judgment, 
 which wanted only opportunities of observation to refine it, 
 a lively, good-humored, playful disposition, and an excellent 
 heart. Her acquired follies were much increased by reading 
 plays and romances, to which she devoted a great deal of her 
 time, and from which she adopted ideas as different as possi- 
 ble from those which she might have obtained from the in- 
 valuable and affectionate instructions of an excellent mother; 
 and the freaks of which she was sometimes guilty rendered 
 her not unjustly liable to the charge of affectation and 
 coquetry. But the little lass had sense and shrewdness 
 enougli to keep her failings out of sight of her godfather, to 
 whom she was sincerely attached; and so high she stood in 
 his favor that, at his recommendation, she obtained permis- 
 sion to visit the recluse Lady Hermione. 
 
 The singular mode of life which that lady observed, her 
 fri'eat beauty, rendered even more interesting by her extreme 
 paleness, the conscious pride of being admitted farther than 
 the rest of the world into the society of a person who was 
 wrapped in so much mystery, made a deep impression on the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 211 
 
 mind of Margaret Ramsay; and thoiigli their conversations 
 were at no time either long or confidential, jet, proud of the 
 trust reposed m her, Margaret was as secret respecting their 
 tenor as if every word repeated had been to cost her life. Ko 
 inquiry, however artfully backed by flattery and insinuation, 
 whether on the part of Dame Ursula or any other person 
 equally inquisitive, could wring from the little maiden one 
 word of wliat she heard or saw after she entered these mys- 
 terious and secluded apartments. The slightest question 
 concerning Master Iloriot's ghost Avas sufficient, at her gayest 
 moment, to check the current of her communicative prattle 
 and render her silent. 
 
 AVe mention this chiefly to illustrate the early strength 
 of Margaret's character — a strength concealed under a hun- 
 dred freakish whims and humors, as an ancient and massive 
 buttress is disguised by its fantastic covering of ivy and wild- 
 flowers. In truth, if the damsel had told all she heard or 
 saw within the Foljambe apartments, she would have said 
 but little to gratify the curiosity of inquirers. 
 
 At the earlier period of their acquaintance, the Lady Her- 
 mione was wont to reward the attentions of her little friend 
 with small but elegant presents, and entertain her by a dis- 
 play of foreign rarities and curiosities, many of them of con- 
 siderable value. Sometimes the time was passed in a way 
 much less agreeable to Margaret, by her receiving lessons 
 from. Pauline in the use of the needle. But although her 
 preceptress practised these arts with a dexterity then only 
 known in foreign convents, the pupil proved so incorrigibly 
 idle and awkward that the task of needlework was at length 
 given up, and lessons of music substituted in their stead. 
 Here also Pauline was excellently qualified as an instructress, 
 and Margaret, more successful in a science for which nature 
 had gifted her, made proficiency both in vocal and instru- 
 mental music. These lessons passed in presence of tlie Lady 
 Hermione, to whom they seemed to give jileasure. She 
 sometimes added her own voice to the performance in a pure, 
 clear stream of liquid melody; but this was only when the 
 music was of a devotional cast. As Margaret became cJder, 
 her communications with the recluse assumed a different 
 character. She was allowed, if not encouraged, to tell what- 
 ever she had remarked out of doors, and the Lady Hermione, 
 while she remarked the quick, sharp, and retentive powers 
 of observation possessed by her young friend, often found 
 sufficient reason to caution her against rashness in forming 
 opinions and giddy petuluji-ce in expressing them. 
 
213 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 The habitual awe Avith which she regarded this singular 
 personage induced Mistress Margaret, thougli by no nieans 
 delighting in contradiction or reproof, to listen with patience 
 to licr admonitions, and to make full allowance for the good 
 intentions of the patroness by whom they were bestowed ; 
 although in her heart she could hardly conceive how Madame 
 Hermione, who never stirred from the Foljambe apartments, 
 should think of teaching knowledge of the world to one Avho 
 walked twice a week between Temple Bar and Lombard 
 Street, besides parading in the Park every Sunday that 
 proved to be fair weather. Indeed, pretty Mistress Margaret 
 was so little inclined to endure such remonstrances, that her 
 intercourse with the inhabitants of the Foljambe apartments 
 would have probably slackened as her circle of acquaintance 
 increased in the external world, had she not, on the other 
 hand, entertained an habitual reverence for her monitress, 
 of which she could not divest herself, and been flattered, on 
 the other, by being, to a certain degree, the depositary of 
 a confidence for which others thirsted in vain. Besides, 
 although the conversation of Hermione was uniformly serious, 
 it was not in general either formal or severe ; nor was the 
 lady offended by flights of levity which Mistress Margaret 
 sometimes ventured on in her j^resence, even when they were 
 such as made Monna Paula cast her eyes upwards, and sigh 
 with that compassion which a devotee extends towards the 
 votaries of a trivial and profane world. Thus, upon the 
 whole, the little maiden was disposed to submit, though not 
 without some wincing, to the grave admonitions of the Lady 
 Hermione ; and the rather that the mystery annexed to the 
 person of her monitress was in her mind early associated with 
 a vague idea of wealth and importance, which had been rather 
 confirmed than lessened by many accidental circumstances 
 which she had noticed since she was more capable of obser- 
 vation. 
 
 It frequently happens that the counsel, which we reckon 
 intrusive when offered to ns unasked, becomes precious in 
 our eyes when the pressure of difficulties renders us more 
 diffident of our own ^udgment than we are apt to find our- 
 selves in the hours of ease and indifference; and this is more 
 especially the case if we suppose that our adviser may also 
 possess power and inclination to back his counsel with effect- 
 ual assistance. Mistress Margaret was now in that situation. 
 She was, or believed herself to be, in a condition where both 
 advice and assistance might be necessary; and it was there- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 213 
 
 fore, after an anxious and sleepless night, that she resolved 
 to have recourse to the Lady Ilermione. who she knew would 
 readily afford her the one, and, as she hoped, might also 
 possess the means of giving her the other. The conversation 
 between them will best explain the purport of the visit. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 By this good light, a wench of matchless mettle! 
 This were a leaguer-lass to love a soldier, 
 To bind his wounds, and kiss his bloody brow, 
 And sing a roundel as she help'd to arm him, 
 Though the rough foeman's drums were beat so nigh, 
 They seem'd to bear the burden. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 When Mistress Margaret entered the Foljambe apartment, 
 she found the inmates employed in their nsual manner — the 
 lady in reading, and her attendant in embroidering a large 
 piece of tapestry, which had occupied her ever since Margaret 
 had been first admitted within these secluded chambers. 
 
 Hermione nodded kindly to her visitor, but did not speak; 
 and Margaret, accustomed to this reception, and in the pres- 
 ent case not sorry for it, as it gave her an interval to collect 
 her tlioughts, stooped over Monna Paula's frame, and ob- 
 served, in a half whisper, *' You were just so far as that rose, 
 Monna, wlien I first saw you; see, there is the mark where I 
 had the bad luck to spoil the fiower in trying to catch the 
 stitch — I was little above fifteen then. These flowers make 
 me an old woman, Monna Paula.'' 
 
 *' I wish they could make you a wise one, my child," an- 
 swered Monna Paula, in whose esteem pretty Mistress Marga- 
 ret did not stand quite so high as in that of her patroness; 
 partly owing to her natural austerity, which was something 
 intolerant of youth and gayety, and partly to the jealousy with 
 which a favorite domestic regards any one whom she consid- 
 ers as a sort of rival in the affections of her mistress. 
 
 " What is it you say to Monna, little one?" asked the 
 lady. 
 
 '^Nothing, madam," replied Mistress Margaret, " but 
 that I have seen the real flowers blossom three times over since 
 I first saw Monna Paula working in her canvas garden, and 
 her violets have not budded vet. " 
 
 "True, lady-bird," replied Hermione; " but the buds that 
 are longest in blossoming will last the longest in flower. You 
 have seen them in the garden bloom thrice, but you have seen 
 them fade thrice also; now, Monna Paula's will remain in blow 
 forever; they will fear neither frost nor tempest. " 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 215 
 
 " True, madam," answered Mistress Margaret; ''but 
 Quithei hiive they life or odor/^ 
 
 '*' Ihat, little one," replied the recluse, "is to compare a 
 life agitated by hope and fear, and checkered with success 
 Krii) disappointment, and fevered by the effects of love and 
 aatred — a life of passion and of feefing, saddened and short- 
 ened by its exhausting alternations — to a calm and tranquil 
 existence, animated but by a sense of duties, and only em- 
 ployed, during its smooth and quiet course, in the unwearied 
 iischarge of them. Is that the moral of your answer? " 
 
 " I do not know, madam," answered Mistress Margaret; 
 ■' but of all birds in tlie air, I would rather be the lark, that 
 sings while he is drifting doAm the summer breeze, than the 
 weather-cock that sticks fast yonder upon his iron perch, and 
 just moves so much as to discharge his duty, and tell ns which 
 way the wind blows." 
 
 "Metaphors are no arguments, my pretty maiden/' said 
 the Lady Hermione, smiling. 
 
 "I am sorry for that, madam," answered Margaret; "for 
 they are such a pretty indirect way of telling one's mind when 
 it differs from one's betters; besides, on this subject there is 
 Qo end of them, and they are so civil and becoming withal! " 
 
 "Indeed! "replied the lady; "let me hear some of them, 
 I pray you." 
 
 "It would be, for example, very bold in me," said Mar- 
 garet, "to say to your ladyship that, rather than live a quiet 
 life, I would like a little variety of hope and fear, and liking 
 and disliking — and — and — and the other sort of feelings 
 which your ladyship is pleased to speak of ; but I may say 
 freely and without blame that I like a butterfly better than 
 a beetle ; or a trembling asj)en better than a grim Scots fir, 
 that never wags a leaf ; or that, of all the wood, brass, and 
 wire that ever my father's fingers put together, I do hate and 
 detest a cerain huge old clock of the German fashion, that 
 rings hours and half hours, and quarters and half quarters, as ■ 
 if it were of such consequence that the world should know 
 it was wound up and going. Now, dearest lady, I wish you 
 would only compare that clumsy, clanging, Dutch-looking 
 piece of lumber with the beautiful timepiece that Master 
 Ileriot caused my father to make for your ladyship, which 
 uses to play a hundred merry tunes, and turns out, when it 
 strikes the hour, a whole band of morrice-dancers, to trip 
 the hays to the measure." 
 
 " And w'hich of these timepieces goes the truest, Mar- 
 garet ? " said the lady. 
 
216 WA VERLEY NO VELS 
 
 " I must confess the old Dutehitinn has the advantage in 
 that," said Margaret. " I fancy yon are right, madam, and 
 that comparisons are no arguments, at least mine has not 
 brought me through." 
 
 " Upon my word, maiden jNIargaret," said the lady, smil- 
 ing, " you have been of hite thinking very much of these 
 matters." 
 
 *' Perhaps too much, madam,'* said Margaret, so low aa 
 only to be heard by the lady, behind the back of whose chair 
 she had now placed herself. The words were spoken very 
 gravely, and accompanied by a half sigh, which did not 
 escape the attention of her to whom they were addressed. 
 The Lady Hermione turned immediately round and looked 
 earnestly at Margaret, then paused for a moment, and, 
 finally, commanded Monna Paula to carry her frame and em- 
 broidery into the antechamber. When they were left alone, 
 she desired her young friend to come from behind the chair, 
 on the back of which she still rested, and sit down beside her 
 upon a stool. 
 
 *'I will remain thus, madam, under your favor,'' answered 
 Margaret, without changing her posture; "I would rather 
 you heard me without seeing me." 
 
 "In God's name, maiden," returned her patroness, 
 "what is it you can have to say that may not be uttered face 
 to face to so true a friend as I am?" 
 
 Without making any direct answer, Margaret only replied, 
 " You were right, dearest lady, when you said I had suffered 
 my feelings too much to engross me of late. I have done 
 very wrong, and you Avill be angry with me — so will my 
 godfather; but I cannot help it — he must be rescued." 
 
 *'He!" repeated the lady, with emphasis. " That brief 
 little word does, indeed, so far explain your mystery; but 
 come from behind the chair, you silly popinjay ! I will 
 wager you have suffered yonder gay young apprentice to sit 
 too near your heart. I have not heard you mention young 
 Vincent for many a day; perhaps he has not been out of 
 mouth and out of mind both. Have you been so foolish as 
 to let him sjDcak to you seriously? lam told he is a bold 
 youth." 
 
 " Not bold enough to say anything that coiild displease 
 me, madam," said Margaret. 
 
 " Perhaps, then, you were not disjjleased," said the lady; 
 "or perhaps he has not spoken, which would be wiser and 
 better. Be open-hearted, my love; your godfather will soon 
 return, and we will take him into our consultations. If the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 217 
 
 vonng man Is indiistrious, and come of honest parentage, his 
 poverty may be no such insurmountable obstacle. But you 
 are both of you very young, Margaret; I know your god- 
 father will ex2)ect that the youth shall first serve out his 
 apiDrenticeship/' 
 
 Margaret liad hitherto suffered the lady to proceed under 
 the mistaken impression which she had adopted simply 
 because she could not tell how to interrupt her; but pure 
 despite at hearing her last words gave her boldness at length 
 to say, ''I crave your pardon, madam; but neither the youth 
 yon mention, nor any apprentice or master within the city 
 of London " 
 
 '* Margaret," said the lady, in reply, "the contemptuous 
 tone with which yon mention those of your own class, many 
 hundreds if not thousands of Avliom are in all respects better 
 than 3^ourself, and would greatly honor you by thinking of 
 you, is, methinks, no warrant for the wisdom of your choice 
 — for a choice, it seems, there is. Who is it, maiden, to 
 whom you have thus rashly attached yourself? — rashly, I 
 fear it must be." 
 
 ''It is the 5'onng Scottish Lord Glenvarloch, madam,** 
 answered Margaret, in a low and modest tone, but sufficient- 
 ly firm, considering the subject. 
 
 " The young Lord of Glenvarloch ! " repeated the lady in 
 great surprise. " Maiden, you are distracted in your wits." 
 
 " I knew you would say so, madam," answered Margaret. 
 " It is what another person has already told me ; it is, per- 
 haps, what all the world would tell me ; it is what I am 
 sometimes disposed to tell myself. But look at me, madam, 
 for I will now come before you, and tell me if there is 
 madness or distraction in my look and word when I repeat 
 to you again, that I have fixed my affections on this young 
 nobleman," 
 
 ' ' If there is not madness in your look or word, maiden, 
 there is infinite folly in what you say," answered Lady 
 Hermione, sharply. " When did you ever hear that mis- 
 placed love brought anything but wretchedness ? Seek a 
 match among your equals, ^Margaret, and escape the countless 
 kinds of risk and misery that must attend an affection beyond 
 your degree. Why do you smile, maiden ? Is there aught 
 to cause scorn in what I say ?" 
 
 " Surely no, madam," answered Margaret. " I only smiled 
 to think how it should happen that, while rank made such a 
 wide difference between creatures formed from the same 
 clay, the wit of the vulgar should, nevertheless, jump so ex- 
 
218 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 actly the same length with that of the accomplished and the 
 exalted. It is but the variation of the phrase which divides 
 them. Dame Ursley told me the very same thing which 
 your ladyship has but now uttered ; only you, madam, talk 
 of countless misery, and Dame Ursley spoke of the gallows, 
 and Mistress Turner, who was hanged upon it." 
 
 '' Indeed !" answered Lady llermione ; "and who may 
 Dame Ursley be, that your wise choice has associated with 
 me in the difficult task of advising a fool ?" 
 
 " The barber's wife at next door, madam," answered 
 Margaret, with feigned simplicity, but far from being sorry 
 at heart that she had found an indirect mode of mortifying 
 her monitress. " She is the wisest woman that I know, next 
 to your ladyship." 
 
 " A proper confidante," said the lady, " and chosen with 
 the same delicate sense of what is due to yourself and others ! 
 But what ails you, maiden — where are you going ? " 
 
 " Only to ask Dame Ursley's advice," said Margaret, as if 
 about to depart ; " for I see your ladyship is too angry to 
 give me any, and the emergency is pressing." 
 
 " What emergency, thou simple one ? " said the lady, in 
 a kinder tone. " Sit down, maiden, and tell me your tale. 
 It is true you are a fool, and a pettish fool to boot ; but then 
 you are a child — an amiable child with all your self-willed 
 folly — and w"e must help you if we can. Sit down, I say, 
 as you are desired, and you will find me a safer and wiser 
 counsellor than the barber-woman. And tell me how you 
 come to suppose that you have fixed your heart unalterably 
 upon a man whom you have seen, as I think, but once." 
 
 " I have seen "him oftener," said the damsel, looking 
 down ; " but I have only spoken to him once. I should 
 have been able to get that once out of my head, though the 
 impression was so deep that I could even now repeat every 
 trifling word he said, but other things have since riveted it 
 in my bosom forever." 
 
 "Maiden," replied the lady, "'forever' is the word 
 which comes most lightly on the lips in such circumstances, 
 but which, not the less, is almost the last that we should 
 use. The fashion of this world, its passions, its joys, and its 
 sorrows, pass away like the winged breeze ; there is naught 
 forever but that which belongs to the world beyond the 
 grave." 
 
 " You have corrected me justly, madam," said Margaret, 
 calmly ; " I ought only to have spoken of my present state 
 of mind as what will last me for my lifetime, which un- 
 questionably may be but short/' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 219 
 
 " And what is there in this Scottish lord that can rivet 
 what concerns him so closely in your fancy ? " said the lady. 
 " I admit him a personable man, for I have seen him ; and I 
 will suppose him courteous and agreeable. But what are 
 his accomplishments besides, for these surely are not uncom- 
 mon attributes ? " 
 
 "He is unfortunate, madam — most unfortunate, and sur- 
 rounded by snares of different kinds, ingeniously contrived 
 to ruin his character, destroy his estate, and, perhaps, to 
 reach even his life. These schemes have been devised by 
 avarice originally, but they are now followed close by vin- 
 dictive ambition, animated, I think, by the absolute and con- 
 centrated spirit of malice; for the Lord Dalgarno- " 
 
 ''Here, Monna Paula — Monna Paula I" exclaimed the 
 Lady Hermione, interrupting her young friend's narrative. 
 " She hears me not," she answered, rising and going out, " I 
 must seek her — I will return instantly." She returned ac- 
 cordingly very soon after. '*' You mentioned a name which 
 I thought was familiar to me," she said; " but Monna Paula 
 has put me right. I know nothing of your lord — how was it 
 you named him?" 
 
 " Lord Dalgarno," said Margaret, " the wickedest man 
 who lives. Under pretence of friendship, he introduced the 
 Lord Glenvarloch to a gambling-house with the purpose of 
 engaging him in deep play; but he with whom the perfidious 
 traitor had to deal was too virtuous, moderate, and cautious 
 to be caught in a snare so open. What did they next but 
 turn his own moderation against him, and persuade others 
 that, because he would not become the prey of wolves, he 
 herded with them for a share of their booty ! And, while 
 this base Lord Dalgarno was thus undermining his unsus- 
 pecting countryman, he took every measure to keep him 
 surrounded by creatures of his own, to prevent him from at- 
 tending court and mixing with those of his proper rank. 
 Since the Gunpowder Treason, there never was a conspiracy 
 more deeply laid, more basely and more deliberately pur- 
 sued." 
 
 The lady smiled sadly at Margaret's vehemence, but 
 sighed the next moment, while she told her young friend how 
 little she knew the world she was about to live in, since she 
 testified so much surprise at finding it full of villany. 
 
 " But by Avhat means," she added, " could you, maiden, 
 become possessed of the secret views of a man so cautious as 
 Lord Dalgarno — as villains in general are?" 
 
 " Permit me to be silent en that subject," said the 
 
220 WAVERLEY NOVEL^ 
 
 maiden. '' I could not tell you without betraying others ; 
 let it suffice that my tidings are as certain as the means by 
 which I acquired them are secret and sure. But I must not 
 tell them even to you." 
 
 " You are too bold, Margaret," said the lady, " to traffic 
 in such matters at your early age. It is not only dangerous, 
 but even unbecoming and unmaidenly." 
 
 " I knew you would say that also," said Margaret, with 
 more meekness and patience than she usually showed on re- 
 ceiving reproof ; '* but, God knows, my heart acquits me of 
 every other feeling save that of the wish to assist this most 
 innocent and betrayed man. I contrived to send him warn- 
 ing of his friend's falsehood ; alas! my care has only hast- 
 ened his utter ruin, unless speedy aid be found. He charged 
 his false friend with treachery, and drew on him in the Park, 
 and is now liable to the fatal penalty due for breach of priv- 
 ilege of the king's palace." 
 
 ''This is indeed an extraordinary tale," said Hermione. 
 '' Is Lord Glenvarloch then in prison?" 
 
 *' No, madam, thank God, but in the sanctuary at White- 
 friars. It is matter of doubt whether it will protect him in 
 such a case : they speak of a warrant from the Lord Chief 
 Justice. A gentleman of the Temple has been arrested, and 
 is in trouble, for having assisted him in his flight. Even 
 his taking temporary refuge in that base place, though from 
 extreme necessity, will be used to the farther defaming him. 
 All this I know, and yet I cannot rescue him — cannot rescue 
 him save by your means." 
 
 " By my means, maiden?" said the lady ; " yon are be- 
 side yourself ! What means can I possess in this secluded 
 situation of assisting this unfortunate nobleman?" 
 
 " You have means," said Margaret, eagerly — ''you have 
 those means, unless I mistake greatly, which can do any- 
 thing — can do everything — in tliis city — in this world: you 
 have wealth, and the command of a small portion of it will 
 enable me to extricate him from his present danger. He 
 will be enabled and directed how to make his escape ; and 
 I " she paused. 
 
 " Will accompany him, doubtless, and reap the fruits of 
 your sage exertions in his behalf?" said the Lady Hermione, 
 ironically. 
 
 " May Heaven forgive you the unjust thought, lady," an- 
 swered Margaret. "I will never see him more; but I shall 
 have saved him, and the thought will make me happy." 
 
 "A cold conclusion to so bold and warm a flame," saic^ 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 221 
 
 6he! lady, with a smile which seemed to intimate incred- 
 ality. 
 
 " It is, however, the only one which I expect, madam — I 
 could almost say the only one which I wish — I am sure I 
 will use no efforts to bring about any other; if I am bold in 
 his cause, I am timorous enough in my own. During our 
 only interview I was unable to speak a word to him. He 
 knows not the sound of my voice; and all that I have risked, 
 and must yet risk, I am doing for one who, were he asked 
 the question, would say that he has long since forgotten that 
 he ever saw, spoke to, or sat beside a creature of so little sig- 
 nification as I am.'' 
 
 '' This is a strange and unreasonable indulgence of a pas- 
 sion equally fanciful and dangerous," said the Lady Hermi- 
 one. 
 
 " You will not assist me, then?" said Margaret. " Have 
 good-day then, madam. My secret, I trust, is safe in such 
 honorable keeping." 
 
 " Tarry yet a little," said the lady, " and tell me what 
 resource you have to assist this youth, if you were supplied 
 with money to put it in motion." 
 
 " It is superfluous to ask me the question, madam," an- 
 swered Margaret, '"unless you purpose to assist me; and, if 
 you do so purpose, it is still superfluous. You could not un- 
 derstand the means I must use, and time is too brief to ex- 
 plain," 
 
 " But have you in reality such means?" said the lady. 
 
 " I have, with the command of a moderate sum," an- 
 swered Margaret Ramsay, *'the power of baffling all his ene- 
 mies — of eluding the passion of the irritated King — the 
 colder but more determined displeasure of the Prince — the 
 vindictive spirit of Buckingham, so hastily directed against 
 whomsoever crosses the path of his ambition — the cold, con- 
 centrated malice of Lord Dalgarno — all, I can baffle them 
 all!" 
 
 "But is this to be done without your own personal risk, 
 Margaret ?" replied the lady ; "for, be your purpose what it 
 will, you are not to peril you own reputation or person in the 
 romantic attempt of serving another ; and I, maiden, am 
 answerable to your godfather — to your benefactor and my 
 own — not to aid you in any dangerous or unworthy enter- 
 prise." 
 
 " Depend upon my word — my oath, dearest lady," re- 
 plied the supplicant, " that I will act by the agency of 
 others, and do pot myself design to mingle in any enter- 
 
222 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 prise in wliich my appearance might be either perilous or 
 unwomanly." 
 
 " I know not what to do," said Lady Hermione ; " it is 
 perhaps incautious and inconsiderate in me to aid so wild a 
 project ; yet the end seems honorable, if the means be sure. 
 What is the penalty if he fall into their power ?" 
 
 " Alas — alas ! the loss of his right hand ! " replied Marga- 
 ret, her voice almost stifled with sobs. 
 
 " Are the laws of England so cruel ? Then there is mercy 
 in Heaven alone," said the lady, " since, even in this free land, 
 men are wolves to each otlier. Compose yourself, Margaret, 
 and tell me what money is necessary to secure Lord Glenvar- 
 loch's escape." 
 
 " Two hundred pieces," replied Margaret. " I would speak 
 to you of restoring them — and I must one day have the power 
 —only that I know — that is, I think — your ladyship is in- 
 different on that score." 
 
 " Not a word more of it," said the lady : " eall Monna Paula 
 hither/' 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus. 
 Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat. 
 False man hath sworn, and woman hath believed, 
 Repented and reproach'd, and tlien believed once more. 
 
 The New World. 
 
 By the time that Margaret returned with Monna Paula, ths. 
 Lady Hermione was rising from the table at which she had 
 been engaged in writing something on a small slip of paper, 
 which she gave to her attendant. 
 
 "Monna Paula/' she said, "carry this paper to Roberts, 
 the cash-keeper; let him give you the money mentioned in 
 the note, and bring it hither presently." 
 
 Monna Paula left the room, and her mistress proceeded. 
 "I do not know," she said, "Margaret, if I have done, 
 and am doing, Avell in this affair. My life has been one of 
 strange seclusion, and I am totally unacquainted with the 
 practical ways of this world — an ignorance which I know 
 cannot be remedied by mere reading. I fear I am doing 
 wrong to you, and perhaps to the laws of the country which 
 affords me refuge, by thus indulging you; and yet there is 
 gome thing in my heart which cannot resist your entreaties." 
 "0, listen to it — listen to it, dear, generous lady!" said 
 Margaret, throwing herself on her knees and grasping those 
 ^f her benefactress^ and looking in that attitude like a beau- 
 tiful mortal in the act of supplicating her tutelary angel; 
 " the laws of men are but the injunctions of mortality, but 
 what the heart prompts is the echo of the voice from Heaven 
 within us." 
 
 << Kise — rise, maiden," said Hermione; " you affect memore 
 than I thought I could have been moved by aught that should 
 approach me. Rise and tell me whence it comes that, in so 
 Bhort a time, your thoughts, your looks, your speech, and even 
 your slightest actions, are changed from those of a capricious 
 and fanciful girl to all this energy and impassioned eloquence 
 of Avord and action?" 
 
 " I am sure I know not, dearest lady," said Margaret, 
 looking down; "but I suppose that, when I was a trifler, I 
 was only thinking of trifles. What I now reflect is deep and 
 
224 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 serious, and I am tliankfnl if my si^eech and manner beai 
 reasonable proportion to my thoughts. " 
 
 *' It must be so," said the lady; " yet the change seems a 
 rapid and strange one. It seems to be as if a childish girl 
 had at once shot up into a deep-thinking and impassioned 
 woman, ready to make exertions alike and sacrifices with all 
 that vain devotion to a favorite object of affection wh'ch is 
 often so basely rewarded." 
 
 The Lady Hermione sighed bitterly, and Monna Paula 
 entered ere the conversation proceeded farther. She spoke 
 to her mistress in the foreign language in which they fre- 
 quently conversed, but which was unknown to Margaret. 
 
 " We must have patience for a time," said the lady to 
 her visitor; "the cash-keeper is abroad on some business, 
 but he is expected home in the course of half an hour," 
 
 Margaret wrung her hands in vexation and impatience. 
 
 " Minutes are precious," continued the lady; "'that I am 
 well aware of; and we will at least suffer none of them to 
 escape us. Monna Paula shall remain below and transact 
 our business the very instant that Roberts returns home." 
 
 She spoke to her attendant accordingly, who again left 
 the room. 
 
 " You are very kind, madam — very good," said the poor 
 little Margaret, while the anxious trembling of her li]) and 
 of her hand showed all that sickening agitation of the heart 
 which arises from hojje deferred. 
 
 " Be patient, Margaret, and collect yourself," said the 
 lady; "you may — you must, have much to do to carry through 
 this your bold purpose. Reserve your spirits, which you may 
 need so much; be patient, it is the only remedy against the 
 evils of life. " 
 
 "Yes, madam," said Margaret, wiping her eyes, and 
 endeavoring in vain to suppress the natural impatience of 
 her temper, "I have heard so — very of ten indeed; and I 
 dare say I have myself. Heaven forgive me, said so lo people 
 in perplexity and affliction; but it was before I had suffered 
 perplexity and vexation myself, and I am sure I will never 
 preach patience to any human being again, now that I know- 
 how much the medicine goes against the stomach." 
 
 " You will think better of it, maiden," said the Lady Her- 
 mione. "I also, when I first felt distress, thought they did 
 me wrong who spoke to me of patience; but my sorrows 
 have been_ repeated and continued till I have been ^taught to 
 cling to it as the best, and — religious duties excepted, of 
 which, indeed, patience forms a part — the only, alleviatiou 
 which life can afford therr " 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 225 
 
 Margaret, who neither wanted sense nor feeling, wiped 
 her tears liastily, and asked her patroness's forgiveness for 
 her petuhmce. 
 
 ''I might have thought," she said — "I ought to have 
 reflected, that even from the manner of your life, madam, 
 'it is plain you must have suffered sorrow; and yet, God 
 knows, the patience which I have ever seen you display well 
 entitles you to recommend your own example to others." 
 
 The lady was silent for a moment, and then replied — 
 
 "Margaret, I am about to repose a high confidence in 
 you. You are no longer a child, but a thinking and a feel- 
 ing woman. You have told me as much of your secret as you 
 dared; I will let you know as much of mine as I may venture 
 to tell. You will ask me, perhaps, why, at a moment when 
 your own mind is agitated, I should force upon you the con- 
 sideration of my sorrows? and I answer, that I cannot with- 
 stand the impulse which now induces me to do so. Perhaps 
 from having witnessed, for the first time these three years, 
 the natural effects of human passion, my own sorrows have 
 been awakened, and are for the moment too big for my o«ti 
 bosom; perhaps I may hope that you, who seem driving full 
 sail on the very rock on which I was wrecked forever, will 
 take warning by the tale I have to tell. Enough, if you are 
 willing to listen, I am willing to tell you who the melan- 
 choly inhabitant of the Foljambe apartments really is, and 
 why she resides here. It will serve, at least, to while away 
 the' time until Monna Paula shall bring us the reply from 
 Eoberts." 
 
 At any other moment of her life Margaret Eamsay would 
 have heard with undivided interest a communication so flat- 
 tering in itself, and referring to a subject upon which the 
 general curiosity had been so strongly excited. And even at 
 this agitating moment, although she ceased not to listen 
 with an anxioits ear and throbbing heart for the sound of 
 Monna Paula's returning footsteps, she nevertheless, as grati- 
 tude and policy, as well as a portion of curiosity, dictated, 
 composed herself, in appearance at least, to the strictest 
 attention to the Lady Hermione, and thanked her with 
 humility for the high confidence she was pleased to repose 
 in her. The Lady Hermione with the same calmness which 
 alwavs attended her speech and actions, thus recounted her 
 story to her young friend : 
 
 ''My father," she said, "was a merchant, but he was of 
 a city whose merchants are princes. I am the daughter of a 
 noble house in Genoa, whose name stood as high in honor 
 
 15 
 
226 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 and ill antiquity as any inscribed in the Golden Register O' 
 that famous aristocracy. 
 
 *' My mother was a noble Scottishwoman. She was de- 
 scended — do not start — and not remotely descended, of th(» 
 house of Glenvarloch ; no wonder that I was easily led to 
 take concern in the misfortunes of this young lord. He is 
 my near relation, and my mother, who was more than sufPi- 
 ciently proud of her descent, early taught me to take an in- 
 terest in the name. My maternal grandfather, a cadet of that 
 house of Glenvarloch, had followed the fortunes of an un- 
 happy fugitive, Francis Earl of Bothwell,* Avho, after show- 
 ing his miseries in many a foreign court, at length settled in 
 Spain upon a miserable pension, which he earned by con- 
 forming to the Catholic faith. Ealph Olifaunt, my grand- 
 father, separated from him in disgust, and settled at Barcelona, 
 where, by the friendship of the governor, his heresy, as it 
 was termed, was connived at. My father, in the course of 
 his commerce, resided more at Barcelona than in his native 
 country, though at times he visited Genoa. 
 
 " It was at Barcelona that he became acquainted with my 
 mother, loved her, and married her ; they differed in faith, 
 but they agreed in affection. I was their only child. In 
 public I conformed to the doctrines and ceremonial of the 
 Church of Rome ; bait my mother, by whom these were re- 
 garded with horror, privately trained me up in those of the 
 Reformed religion ; and my father, either indifferent in the 
 matter or unwilling to distress the woman whom he loved, 
 overlooked or connived at my secretly joining in her devo- 
 tions. 
 
 " But when, unhappily, my father was attacked, while yet 
 in the prime of life, by a slow wasting disease, which he felt 
 to be incurable, he foresaw the hazard to which his widow 
 and orphan might be exposed, after he was no more, in a 
 country so bigoted to Catholicism as Spain. He made it his 
 business, during the two last years of his life, to realize and 
 to remit to England a large part of his fortune, which, by 
 the faith and honor of his correspondent, the excellent man 
 under whose roof I now reside, was employed to great advan- 
 tage. _ Had my father lived to complete his purpose, by with- 
 drawing his whole fortune from commerce, he himself would 
 have accompanied us to England, and would have beheld us 
 settled in peace and honor before his death. But Heaven 
 had ordained it otherwise. He died, leaving several sums 
 engaged in the hands of his Spanish debtors ; and, in par- 
 
 ♦See Note 86. 
 
THE FORTUNES QF NIGEL 227 
 
 ticular, lie had made a large and extensive consigiiment to a 
 certain wealthy society of merchants at Madrid, Avho showed 
 no willingness after his death to account for the proceeds. 
 Would to God we had left these covetous and wicked men in 
 , possession of their booty, for such they seemed to hold the 
 property of their deceased correspondent and friend ! We had 
 enough for comfort, and even splendor, already secured in 
 England ; but friends exclaimed upon the folly of permitting 
 ihese unprincipled men to plunder us of our rightful property. 
 Che sum itself was large, and the claim having been made, 
 .ny mother thought tliat my father's memory was interested 
 in its being enforced, es2)ecially as the defences set up for the 
 mercantile society went, in some degree, to impeach the fair- 
 ness of his transactions. 
 
 " We went therefore to Madrid. I was then, my ^Margaret, 
 about your age, young and thoughtless, as you have hitherto 
 been. We went, I say, to Madrid, to solicit the protection of 
 the court and of the king, without which we were told it 
 would De in vain to expect justice against an opulent and 
 powerful association. 
 
 " Our residence at the Spanish metropolis drew on from 
 weeks to months. For my part, my natural sorrow for a 
 kind, though not a fond, father having abated, I cared not if 
 the lawsuit had detained us at Madrid forever. My mother 
 permitted herself and me rather more liberty than we had 
 been accustomed to. She found relations among the Scottish 
 and Irish officers, many of whom held a high rank in the 
 Spanish armies ; their wives and daughters became our 
 friends and companions, and I had perpetual occasion to 
 exercise my mother's native language, which I had learned 
 from my infancy. By degrees, as my mother's spirits were 
 low and her health indifferent, she was induced, by her par' 
 tial fondness for me, to suffer me to mingle occasionally iiv 
 society which she herself did not frequent, under the guard- 
 ianship of such ladies as she imagined she could trust, and 
 particularly under the care of the lady of a general officer, 
 whose weakness or falsehood was the original cause of my 
 misfortunes. I was as gay, Margaret, and thoughtless — I 
 again repeat it — as you were but lately, and my attention, 
 like yours, became suddenly riveted to one object, and to one 
 set of feelings. 
 
 " The person by whom they were excited was young, noble, 
 handsome, accomplished, a soldier, and a Briton. So far our 
 cases are nearly parallel ; but. may Heaven forbid that the 
 ;x:*allel should become complete ! This man, so noble, so 
 
228 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 fairly formed, so gifted, and so brave — this villnin, for that, 
 Margaret, was liis fittest name — spoke of love to me, and I 
 listened. Could I suspect his sincerity ? If he was wealthy, 
 noble, and long-descended, I also was a nolile and an opulent 
 lieiress. It is true, that he neither knew the extent of my 
 father's wealth, nor did I communicate to him — I do not even 
 remember if I myself knew it at the time — the important 
 circumstance, that the greater part of that wealth was beyond 
 the grasp of arbitrary power, and not subject to the precarious 
 award of arbitrary judges. My lover might think, perhaps, 
 as my mother was desirous the world at large should believe, 
 that almost our whole fortune depended on the precarious 
 suit Avhich we had come to Madrid to prosecute — a belief 
 which she had countenanced out of policy, being well aware 
 that a knowledge of my father's having remitted such a large 
 part of his fortune to England Avould in no shape aid the 
 recovery of farther sums in the Spanish courts. Yet, with 
 no more extensive views of my fortune than were possessed 
 by the public, I believe that he of whom I am speaking was 
 at first sincere in his pretensions. He had himself interest 
 sufficient to have obtained a decision in our favor in the 
 courts, and my fortune, reckoning only what was in Spain, 
 would then have been no inconsiderable sura. To be brief, 
 whatever might be his motives or temptation for so far com- 
 mitting himself, he applied to my mother for my hand, with 
 my consent and approval. My mother's judgment had be- 
 come weaker, but her passions had become more irritable, 
 during her increasing illness. 
 
 "You have heard of the bitterness of the ancient Scottish 
 feuds, of which it may be said, in the language of Scripture, 
 that the fathers eat sour grapes, and the teeth ot the children 
 are set on edge. Unhapjiily — I should say happily, consider- 
 ing what this man has now shown himself to be — some such 
 strain of bitterness had divided his house from my mother's, 
 and she had succeeded to the inheritance of hatred. When 
 he asked her for my hand, she was no longer able to com- 
 mand her passions: she raked up every injury which the rival 
 families had inflicted upon each other during a bloody feud 
 of two centuries, heaped him with epithets of scorn, and 
 rejected his proposal of alliance as if it had come from the 
 basest of mankind. 
 
 "My lover retired in passion; and I remained to weep 
 and murmur against fortune, and — I will confess my fault— 
 against my affectionate parent. I had been educated with 
 differert feelings, and the traditions of the feud? and quar- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 229 
 
 rels of my mother's family in Scotland, which were to her 
 monuments and chronicles, seemed to me as insignificant and 
 unmeaning as the actions and fantasies of Don Quixote; and 
 I blamed my mother bitterly for sacrificing my happiness to 
 an empty dream of family dignity. 
 
 " While I was in this humor, my lover sought a renewal 
 of our intercourse. "We met repeatedly in the house of the 
 lady whom I have mentioned, and who, in levity or in the 
 spirit of intrigue, countenanced our secret correspondence. 
 At length we were secretly married; so far did my blinded 
 passion hiirry me. My lover had secured the assistance of a 
 clergyman of the English Church. ]\Ionna Paula, who had 
 been my attendant from infancy, was one witness of our 
 union. Let me do the faithful creature justice. She con- 
 jured me to suspend my purpose till my mother's death 
 should permit us to celebrate our marriage openly; but the 
 entreaties of my lover, and my own wayward passion, pre- 
 vailed over her remonstrances. The lady I have spoken of 
 was another witness, but whether she was in full possession 
 of my bridegroom's secret I had never the means to learn. 
 But the shelter of her name and roof afforded us the means 
 of frequently meeting, and the love of my husband seemed as 
 sincere and as nnbounded as my own. 
 
 " He was eager, he said, to gratify his pride by intro- 
 ducing me to one or two of his noble English friends. This 
 
 could not be done at Lady D 's ; but by his command, 
 
 which I was now entitled to consider as my law, I contrived 
 twice to visit him at his ovni hotel, accompanied only by 
 Monna Paula. There was a very small party of two ladies and 
 two gentlemen. There was music, mirth, and dancing. I had 
 heard of the frankness of the English nation, but I could 
 not help thinking it bordered on license during these enter- 
 tainments, and in the course of the collation which followed ; 
 but I imputed my scruples to my inexperience, and would 
 not doubt the propriety of what was approved by my hus- 
 band. 
 
 "I was soon summoned to other scenes. My poor 
 mother's disease drew to a conclusion. Happy I am that it 
 took place before she discovered what would have cut her to 
 the soul. 
 
 " In Spain you might have heard how the Catholic priests, 
 and particularly the monks, besiege the beds of the dying, to 
 obtain bequests for the good of the church. I have said that 
 my mother's temper was irritated by disease, and her judg- 
 ment impaired in proportion. She gathered spirits and 
 
230 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 force from tlie resentment which the priests aronnd her bed 
 excited by tbeir importunity, and the boldness of the stern 
 sect of lleformers to which she had secretly adhered seemed 
 to animate her dying tongne. She avowed the religion she 
 had so h)ng concealed ; renounced all hope and aid which 
 did not come by and through its dictates ; rejected with con- 
 tempt the ceremonial of the Romish Church ; loaded the as 
 tonished priests with reproaches for their greediness and hy- 
 pocrisy ; and commanded them to leave her house. They 
 went in bitterness and rage, but it was to return with the 
 Inquisitorial power, its warrants, and its officers ; and they 
 found only the cold corpse left of her on whom they had 
 hoped to work their vengeance. As I was soon discovered to 
 have shared my mother's heresy, I Avas dragged from her 
 dead body, imprisoned in a solitary cloister, and treated with 
 severity, which the abbess assured me was due to the loose- 
 ness of my life, as well as my spiritual errors. I avowed my 
 marriage, to justify the situation in which I found myself. 
 I implored the assistance of the superior to communicate my 
 situation to my husband. She smiled coldly at the proposal, 
 and told me the church had provided a better spouse for me ; 
 advised me to secure myself of Divine grace hereafter, and 
 deserve milder treatment here, by presently taking the veil. 
 In order to convince me that I had no other resource, she 
 showed me a royal decree, by which all my estate was hypoth- 
 ecated to the convent of St. Magdalen, and became their 
 complete property upon my death or my taking the vows. 
 As I was, both from religious principle and affectionate at- 
 tachment to my husband, absolutely immovable in my rejec- 
 tion of the veil, I believe — may Heaven forgive me if I wrong 
 her! — that the abbess was desirous to make sure of my spoils 
 by hastening the former event. 
 
 " It was a small and a poor convent, and situated among 
 the mountains of Guadarrama. Some of the sisters were the 
 daughters of neighboring hidalgoes, as poor as they were 
 proud and ignorant; others were women immured there 
 on account of their vicious conduct. The superior herself 
 was of a high family, to which she owed her situation; but 
 she was said to have disgraced her connections by her con- 
 duct during youth, and now, in advanced age, covetousness 
 and the love of power, a spirit, too, of severity and cruelty, 
 had succeeded to the thirst after licentious pleasure. I 
 suffered much under this woman; and still her dark, glassy 
 eye, her tall, shrouded form, and her rigid features, haunt 
 my slumbers. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 231 
 
 *' I was not destined to be a mother. I was very ill, and 
 my recovery was long doubtful. The most violent remedies 
 were applied, if remedies they indeed were. j\Iy health was 
 restored at length, against my own expectation and that of 
 all around me. But when I first again beheld the reflection 
 of my own face, I thought it was the visage of a ghost. I 
 was wont to be flattered by all, but particularly by my hus- 
 band, for the fineness of my complexion; it was now totally 
 gone, and, what is more extraordinary, it has never returned. 
 I have observed that the few who now see me look upon me 
 as a bloodless phantom. Such has been the abiding effect 
 of the treatment to which I was subjected. May God for- 
 give those who were the agents of it ! I thank Heaven, I can 
 ?ay so with as sincere a wish as that with which I pray for 
 forgiveness of my own sins. They now relented soriiewhat 
 •towards me — moved, perhaps, to compassion by my singular 
 appearance, which bore witness to my sufferings; or afraid 
 that the matter might attract attention during a visitation of 
 the bishop which was approaching. One day, as I was walk- 
 ing in tie convent garden, to which I had been lately admitted, 
 a miseralle old Moorish slave, who was kept to cultivate the 
 little spov, muttered as I passed him, but still keeping his 
 wrinkled fnQe and decrepit form in the same angle with the 
 earth, ' The -e is heart's-ease near the postern.' 
 
 " I knew something of the symbolical language of flowers, 
 once carried to such perfection among the Moriscoes of 
 Spain ; but if I had been ignorant of it, the captive would 
 soon have caught at any hint that seemed to promise liberty. 
 With all the haste consistent with the utmost circumspec- 
 tion, for I might be observed by the abbess or some of the 
 sisters from the window, I hastened to the postern. It was 
 olosely barred as usual ; but when I coughed slightly I was 
 answered from the other side, and, Heaven ! it was my 
 husband's voice which said, 'Lose not a minute here at 
 present, but be on this spot when the vesper bell has tolled.' 
 
 " I retired in an ecstasy of joy. I was not entitled or 
 permitted to assist at vespers, but was accustomed to be con- 
 ^ned to my cell while the nuns were in the choir. Since 
 my recovery, they had discontinued locking the door, though 
 the utmost severity was denounced against me if I left these 
 precincts. But. let the penalty be what it would, I hastened 
 to dare it. No sooner had the last toll of the vesper bell 
 ceased to sound than I stole iron, my chamber, reached the 
 garden unobserved, hurried to the postern, beheld it open 
 with rapture, and in the next momei:* was in my husband's 
 
382 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 arms. He had -witli him another cavalier of nohle mien ; 
 both were masked and armed. Their horses, with one 
 saddled for my use, stood in a thicket hard by, with two 
 otlier masked horsemen, who seemed to be servants. In less 
 tlian two minutes we were mounted, and rode off as fast as 
 we could tlirough rough and devious roads, in which one of 
 tlie domestics appeared to act as guide. 
 
 "The hurried pace at wliich we rode, and the anxiety of 
 the moment, kept me silent, and prevented my expressing 
 my surprise or my joy save in a few broken words. It also 
 served as an apology for my husband's silence. At length 
 we stopped at a solitary hut, the cavaliers dismounted, and ] 
 was assisted from my saddle, not by M M , my hus- 
 band, I would say, who seemed busied about his horse, but 
 by the stranger. 
 
 "'Go into the hut/ said my husband, 'change you» 
 dress with the speed of lightning ; you will find one to assist 
 you ; we must forward instantly when you have shifted your 
 apparel." 
 
 " I entered the hut, and was received in the arms of th« 
 faithful Monna Paula, who had waited my arrival for manj 
 hours, half distracted with fear and anxiety. With he 
 assistance I speedily tore off the detested garments of th& 
 convent, and exchanged them for a travelling-suit mad«, 
 after the English fashion. I observed that Monna Paulw 
 was in a similar dress. I had but just huddled on my change 
 of attire, when we were hastily summoned to mount. A. 
 horse, I found, was provided for Monna Paula, and we re- 
 sumed our route. On the way, my convent garb, Avhich had 
 been wrapped hastily together around a stone, was throwr 
 into a lake, along the verge of which we were then passing 
 The two cavaliers rode together in front, my attendant and 1 
 followed, and the servants brought up the rear. Monna Paula, 
 as we rode on, repeatedly entreated me to be silent upon 
 the road, as our lives depended on it. I was easily recon- 
 ciled to be passive, for, the first fever of spirits which at- 
 tended the sense of liberation and of gratified affection hav- 
 ing passed away, I felt as it were dizzy with the rapid motion; 
 and my utmost exertion was necessary to keep my place on 
 the saddle, until we suddenly — it was now very dark — saw a 
 strong light before us. 
 
 " My husband reined up his horse, and gave a signal by 
 a low whistle twice repeated, wliich was answered from a dis- 
 tance. The whole party then halted under the boughs of a 
 large cork-tree, and my husband, drawing himself close to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 233 
 
 my side, said, in a voice which I then tliought was only em- 
 barrassed by fear for my safety — ' AVe must now part. 
 Those to Avhom I commit you are contrabandists, who only 
 know you as Englishwomen, but who, for a high bribe, have 
 undertaken to escort you through the passes of the Pyrenees 
 as far as St. Jean de Luz.' 
 
 ' " ' And do you not go with us?' I exclaimed with empha- 
 sis, though in a whisper. 
 
 *'*Itis impossible,' he said, 'and would ruin all. See 
 that you speak in English in these people's hearing, and give 
 not the least sign of understanding what they say in Spanish 
 — your life depends on it; for, though they live in opposition 
 to, and evasion of, the laws of Spain, they would tremble at 
 the idea of violating those of the church. I see them com- 
 ing — farewell — farewell. ' 
 
 " The last words were hastily uttered. I endeavored to 
 detain him yet a moment by my feeble grasp on his cloak. 
 
 *'' You will meet me, then, I trust, at St. Jean de Luz.' 
 
 *' ' Yes — yes,' he answered hastily, ' at St. Jean de Luz 
 you will meet your protector.' 
 
 ''He then extricated his cloak from my grasp, and was 
 lost in the darkness. His companion approached, kissed my 
 hand, which in the agony of the moment I was scarce sensi- 
 ble of, and followed my husband, attended by one of the 
 domestics." 
 
 The tears of Hermione here flowed so fast as to threaten 
 the interruption of her narrative. When she resumed it, it 
 was with a kind of apology to Margaret. 
 
 "Every circumstance," she said, "occurring in those 
 moments, when I still enjoyed a delusive idea of happiness, 
 is deeply imprinted in my remembrance, which, respecting 
 all that has since happened, is Avaste and unvaried as an 
 Arabian desert. But I have no right to inflict on you, 
 Margaret, agitated as you are with your own anxieties the 
 unavailing details of my useless recollections." 
 
 Margaret's eyes were full of tears; it was impossible it 
 could be otherwise, considering that the tale was told by her 
 suffering benefactress, and resembled in some respects her 
 own situation; and yet she must not be severely blamed if, 
 while eagerly pressing her patroness to continue her narra- 
 tive, her eye involuntarily sought the door, as if to chide the 
 delay of Monna Paula. 
 
 The Lady Hermione saw and forgave these conflicting 
 emotions; and she too must be pardoned if, in her turn, the 
 minute detail of her narrative showed that, in the discharge 
 
2;? I WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 of feelings so long locked in her own bosom, slie rather for- 
 got those which were personal to her auditor, and by which 
 it must be supposed Margaret's mind was principally occu- 
 pied, if not entirely engrossed. 
 
 " I told you, I think, that one domestic followed the gen- 
 tlemen," thus the lady continued her story; "the other 
 remained with as for the purpose, as it seemed, of introduc- 
 ing us to two persons whom M , I say, whom my hus- 
 band's signal had brought to the spot. A word or two of 
 explanation passed between thein and the servant, in a sort 
 »f patois which I did not understand; and one of the 
 itrangers taking hold of my bridle, the other of Monna 
 Paula's, they led[ us towards the light, which I have already 
 said was the signal of our halting. I touched Monna Paula, 
 and was sensible that she trembled very much, which sur- 
 
 {n-ised me, because I knew her character to be so strong and 
 )old as to border ujDon the masculine. 
 
 " AVhen we reached the fire, the gyi:)sey figures of those 
 who surrounded it, with their swarthy features, large som- 
 brero hats, girdles stuck full of jiistols and poniards, and all 
 the other apj)aratus of a roving and jDerilous life, would have 
 terrified me at another moment. But then I only felt the 
 agony of having parted from my husband almost in the very 
 moment of my rescue. The females of the gang — for there 
 were four or five w^omen among these contraband traders- 
 received us with a sort of rude courtesy. They were, in 
 dress and manners, not extremely difi'erent from the men with 
 whom they associated — were almost as hardy and adven- 
 turous, carried arms like them, and were, as we learned from 
 passing circumstances, scarce less experienced in the use of 
 them. 
 
 " It was impossible not to fear these wild people; yet they 
 gave us no reason to complain of them,' but used us on all 
 occasions with a kind of clumsy courtesy, accommodating 
 themselves to our wants and our weakness during the Jour- 
 ney, even while we heard them grumbling to each other 
 against our effeminacy — like some rude carrier, who, in charge 
 of a package of valuable and fragile ware, takes every pre- 
 caution for its preservation, while he curses the unwonted 
 trouble which it occasions him. Once or twice, when they 
 were disappointed in their contraband traffic, lost some goods 
 in a rencontre with the Spanish officers of the revenue, and 
 were finally pursued by a military force, their murmurs 
 assumed a more alarming tone in the terrified ears of my at- 
 tendant and myself, when, without daring to seem to under- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 235 
 
 stand them, we heard them curse the insular heretics, on 
 whose account God, St. James, and Our Lady of '.he Pilhir 
 had blighted their hopes of profit. These are dreadfu? 
 recollections, Margaret. " 
 
 "Why, then, dearest lady," answered Margaret, "will 
 you thus dwell on them?'' 
 
 ." It is only," said the Lady Hermione, " because I linger 
 like a criminal on tlie scatfold, and would fain protract the 
 time that must inevitably bring on the final catastrophe. 
 Yes, dearest Margaret, I rest and dwell on the events of that 
 journey, marked as it was by fatigue and danger, though the 
 road lay through the wildest and most desolate deserts and 
 mountains, and though our companions, both men and 
 women, were fierce and lawless themselves, and exposed to 
 ;he most merciless retaliation from those Avith whom they 
 w&ve constantly engaged — yet would I rather dwell on these 
 hazardous events than tell that which awaited me at St. Jeao 
 de Luz." 
 
 " But you arrived there in safety? " said Margaret. 
 
 " Yes, maiden," replied the Lady Hermione ; "■ and were 
 guided by the chief of our outlawed band to the house which 
 had been assigned for our reception, with the same punctili- 
 ous accuracy with which he would have delivered a bale of 
 uncustomed goods to a correspondent. I was told a gentle- 
 man had expected me for two days ; I rusned into the apart 
 ment, and, when I expected to embrace my husband — I found 
 myself in the arms of his friend ! " 
 
 "The villain \" exclaimed Margaret, whose anxiety had, 
 in spite of herself, been a moment suspended by the narrative 
 of the lady. 
 
 " Yes," replied Hermione, calmly, though her voice some- 
 what faltered, " it is the name that best — that well befits him. 
 He, Margaret, for whom I had sacrificed all — whose love and 
 whose memory were dearer to me than my freedom, when I 
 was in the convent — tlian my life, wlien I was on my perilous 
 journey — had taken his measures to shake me off, and trans- 
 fer me, as a privileged wanton, to the protection of his liber- 
 tine friend. At first the stranger laughed at my tears and 
 my agony, as the hysterical passion of a deluded and over- 
 reached wanton, or the wily affectation of a courtezan. My 
 claim of marriage he laughed at, assuring me he knew it was 
 a mere farce required by me, and submitted to by his friend, 
 to save some reserve of delicacy ; and expressed his surprise 
 that I should consider in any other light a ceremony which 
 could be valid neither in Spain nor England, and insult- 
 
268 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ingly offered to remove my scruples by renewing such a tinion 
 witli me himself. My exclamations brought Monna Paula to 
 my aid ; she was not, indeed, far distant, for slie had ex- 
 pected some such scene." 
 
 •' Good Heaven ! " said Margaret, " was she a confidante of 
 your base husband ? '* 
 
 "No," answered Hermione, "do her not that injustice. 
 It was her persevering inquiries that discovered the place of 
 my confinement ; it was she who gave the information to my 
 husband, and who remarked even then that the news was so 
 much more interesting to his friend than to him, that she 
 suspected, from an early period, it was the purpose of the vil- 
 lain to shake me off. On the journey, her suspicions were 
 confirmed. She had heard him remark to his companion, 
 with a cold sarcastic sneer, the total change which my prison 
 and my illness had made on my complexion ; and she had 
 lieard the other reply, that the defect might be cured by a 
 touch of Spanish red. This and other circumstances having 
 j)repared her for such treachery, Monna Paula now entered, 
 completely possessed of herself, and prepared to supjDort me. 
 Her calm representations went farther with the stranger than 
 the expressions of my despair. If he did not entirely believe 
 our tale, he at least acted the part of a man of honor, who 
 would not intrude himself on defenceless females, whatever 
 was their character ; desisted from persecuting us with his 
 presence ; and not only directed Monna Paula how we should 
 journey to Paris, bur furnished her with money for the pur- 
 pose of our journey. From tlie capital I wrote to Master 
 Heriot, my father's most trusted correspondent ; he came 
 
 instantly to Paris on receiving the letter ; and But here 
 
 comes Monna Paula, with more than the sum you desired. 
 Take it, my dearest maiden ; serve this youth if you will. 
 But, Margaret, look for no gratitude in return!" 
 
 The Lady Hermione took the bag of gold from her at- 
 tendant and gave it to her young friend, who threw herself 
 into her arms, kissed her on both the pale cheeks, over 
 which the sorrows so newly awakened by her narrative had 
 drawn many tears, then sprang up, wij)ed her own overflow- 
 ing eyes, and left the Foljambe apartments with a hasty and 
 resolved step. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Rove not from pole to pole. The man lives here 
 Whose razor's only equall'd by his beer; 
 And where, in either sense, the cockney put 
 May, if he pleases, get confounded cut. 
 
 On the Sign of an Alehouse kept by a Barber. 
 
 We are under the necessity of transporting our readers to 
 the habitation of Benjamin Suddlechop, the husband of the 
 active and ei3icient Dame Ursula, and who also, in his own 
 person, discharged more offices than one. For, besides 
 trimming locks and beards, and turning whiskers upward 
 into the martial and swaggering curl, or downward into the 
 drooping form which became mustachios of civil policy; be- 
 sides also occasionally letting blood, either by cupping or by 
 the lancet, extracting a stump, and performing other actions 
 of petty pharmacy, very nearly as well as his neighbor Eare- 
 drench, the apothecary, he could, on occasion, draw a cup of 
 beer as well as a tooth, tap a hogshead as well as a vein, and 
 wash, with a draught of good ale, the mustachios which his 
 art had just trimmed. But he carried on these trades apart 
 from each other. 
 
 His barber's shop projected its long and mysterious pole 
 into Fleet Street, painted party-colored- wise, to represent the 
 ribbons with which, in elder times, that ensign was gar- 
 nished. In the window were seen rows of teeth displayed 
 upon strings like rosaries; cups with a red rag at the bottom, 
 to resemble blood — an intimation that patients might be 
 bled, cupped, or blistered, with the assistance of "sufficient 
 advice;" while the more profitable, but less honorable, oper- 
 ations upon the hair of tlie head and beard were briefly and 
 gravely announced. Within was the well-worn leathern 
 chair for customers, the guitar, then called a ghittern or cit- 
 tern, with which a customer might amuse himself till his 
 predecessor was dismissed from under Benjamin's hands, and 
 which, therefore, often flayed the ears of the patient meta- 
 phorically, while his chin sustained from the razor literal 
 scarification. All, therefore, in this department sjioke the 
 chirurgeon-barber, or the barber-chirurgeon. 
 
 But there was a little back room, used as a private tap- 
 room, which had a separate entrance by a dark and crooked 
 
 at? 
 
838 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 alley, wnich communicated with Fleet Street, after a cir- 
 cuitous passage tlirough several by-lanes and courts. This 
 retired temple of Bacchus had also a connection with Benja- 
 min's more public sliop by a long and narrow entrance, con- 
 ducting to the secret premises in which a few old topers 
 used to take their morning-draught, and a few gill-sippers 
 their modicum of strong waters, in a bashful way, after 
 having entered the barber's shop under pretence of being 
 shaved. Besides, this obscure tap-room gave a separate ad- 
 mission to the apartments of Dame Ursley, which she was 
 believed to make use of in the course of her multifarious 
 practice, both to let herself secretly out and to admit clients 
 and employers who cared not to be seen to visit her in 
 public. Accordingly, after the hour of noon, by which time 
 the modest and timid whetters, who were Benjamin's best 
 customers, had each had his draught or his thimbleful, the 
 business of the tap was in a manner ended, and the charge 
 of attending the back door passed from one of the barber's 
 apprentices to the little mulatto girl, the dingy Iris of Dame 
 Suddlechop. Then came mystery thick upon mystery : muffled 
 gallants and masked females, in disguises of different fashions, 
 were seen to glide through the intricate mazes of the alley; 
 and even the low tap on the door, which frequently de- 
 manded the attention of the little Creole, had in it some- 
 thing that expressed secrecy and fear of discovery. 
 
 It was the evening of the same day when ]\largaret had 
 held the long conference with the Lady Hermione, that 
 Dame Suddlechop had directed her little portress to " keep 
 the door fast as a miser's jjurse-strings; and, as she valued 
 
 her saft'ron skin, to let in none but " the name she added 
 
 in a whisper, and accompanied it with a nod. The little 
 domestic blinked intelligence, went to her jDost, and in brief 
 time thereafter admitted and ushered into the presence of the 
 dame that very city gallant w^ose clothes sat awkwai'dly 
 upon him, and who had behavcd so doughtily in the fray 
 which befell at Xigel's first visit to Beaujeu's ordinary. The 
 mulatto introduced him — " Missis, fine young gentleman, 
 all over gold and velvet" — th^n muttered to herself as she 
 shut the door, "Fine young gentleman, he! — appi*entice to 
 him who makes the tick-tick." 
 
 It was indeed — we are sorry to say it, and trust our readers 
 will sympathize with the interest we take in the matter — it 
 was indeed honest Jin Vin, who had been so far left to his 
 own devices, and abandoned b}- his better angel, as occasion- 
 ally to travesty himself in this fashion, and to visit, in the 
 
FORTUNES OF NIGEL 239 
 
 dress of a gallant of the day, those places of pleasure and 
 dissipation in which it would have been everlasting discredit 
 to him to have been seen in his real character and condition; 
 that is, had it been possible for liim in his proper shape to 
 have gained admission. There was now a deep gloom on his 
 brow, his rich habit was hastily put on, and buttoned awry; 
 his belt buckled in a most disorderly fashion so that his 
 Bwcrd stuck outwards from his side, instead of hanging by 
 :t with graceful negligence; while his poniard, though fairly 
 Hatched and gilded, stuck in his girdle like a butcher's steel 
 in the fold of his blue apron. Persons of fashion had, by 
 the way, the advantage formerly of being better distinguished 
 from the vulgar than at present; for, what the ancient far- 
 thingale and more modern lioop were to court ladies, the sword 
 was to the gentleman — an article of dress which only rendered 
 those ridiculous wlio assumed it for the nonce, without being 
 in the habit of wearing it. Vincent's rapier got between 
 his legs, and, as he stumbled over it, he exclaimed — " Zounds ! 
 'tis the second time it has served me thus. I believe the 
 damned trinket knows I am no true gentleman, and does it 
 of set purpose." 
 
 '' Come — come, mine honest Jin Yin — come, my good 
 boy,'' said the dame, in a soothing tone, " never mind these 
 trankums; a frank and hearty London 'prentice is worth all 
 the gallants of the inns of court." 
 
 '' I was a frank and hearty London 'prentice before I 
 knew you. Dame Suddlechoj)," said Vincent. " What your 
 advice has made me, you may find a name for; since, fore 
 George, I am ashamed to think about it myself." 
 
 " A-well-a-day," quoth the dame, "and is it even so with 
 thee ? — nay, then, I know but one cure ;" and with that, 
 going to a little corner cupboard of carved wainscot, she 
 opened it by the assistance of a key which, with half a dozen 
 besides, hung in a silver chain at her girdle, and produced a 
 long flask of thin glass cased with wicker, bringing forth at 
 the same time two Flemish rummer glasses, with long stalks 
 and capacious wombs. She filled the one brimful for her 
 guest, and the other more modestly to about two-thirds of its 
 capacity for her own use, repeating, as the rich cordial 
 trickled forth in a smooth oily stream — " Right rosa solis, as 
 ever washed mulligrubs out of a moody brain !" 
 
 But, though Jin Vin tossed off his glass without scruple, 
 while the lady sipped hers more moderately, it did not appear 
 to produce the expected amendment upon his humor. On 
 the contrary, as he threw himself into the great leathern 
 
S40 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 chair in whicli Dame Ursley was wont to solace herself of an 
 evening, lie declared himself *' the most miserable dog with- 
 in the sound of Bow Bell." 
 
 "And why should you be so idle as to think yourself so, 
 silly boy ?" said Dame Suddlechop ; " but ^tis always thus : 
 fools and children never know when they are well. AVhy, 
 there is not one that walks in St. Paul's, whether in flat cap 
 or hat and feather, that has so many kind glances from the 
 wenches as you, when ye swagger along Fleet Street with 
 your bat under your arm, and your cap set aside upon your 
 head. Thou knowest well that, from Mrs. Deputy's self 
 down to the waistcoateers in the alley, all of them are twiring 
 and peeping betwixt their fingers when you pass ; and yet you 
 call yourself a miserable dog ! and I must tell you all this 
 over and over again, as if I were whistling the chimes of 
 London to a pettish child, in order to bring the pretty baby 
 into good-humor ! " 
 
 The flattery of Dame Ursula seemed to have the fate of 
 her cordial : it was swallowed, indeed, by the party to whom 
 she presented it, and that with some degree of relish, but it 
 did not operate as a sedative on the disturbed state of the 
 youth's mind. He laughed for an instant, half in scorn and 
 half in gratified vanity, but cast a sullen look on Dame 
 Ursley as he replied to her last words — 
 
 " You do treat me like a child indeed, when you sing over 
 and over to me a cuckoo song that I care not a copper-filing 
 for." 
 
 "Aha!" said Dame Ursley; "that is to say, you care not 
 if you please all, unless you please one. You are a true 
 lover, I warrant, and care not for all the city, from here to 
 Whitechapel, so you could write yourself first in your pretty 
 Peg-a-Eamsay's good-will. Well — well, take patience, man, 
 and be guided by me, for I will be the hoop will bind you 
 together at last." 
 
 "It is time you were so," said Jenkin, "for hitherto you 
 have been the wedge to separate us." 
 
 Dame Suddlechop had by this time finished her cordial: 
 it was not the first she had taken that day, and, though a 
 woman of strong brain, and cautious at least, if not abste- 
 mious, in her potations, it may nevertheless be supposed that 
 her patience was not improved by the regimen which she ob- 
 served. 
 
 " Why, thou ungracious and ingrate knave," said Dame 
 Ursley, " have not I done everything to put thee in thy mis- 
 tress's good graces? She loves gentry, the proud Scottish 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL %il 
 
 minx, as a Welshman loves clieese, and has her father's de- 
 scent from that Duke of Daldevil, or whatsoever she calls 
 him, as close in her heart as gold in a miser's chest, though 
 she as seldom shows it; and none she will think of, or have, 
 but a gentleman; and a gentleman I have made of thee, Jin 
 Vin, the devil cannot deny that." 
 
 "You have made a fool of me," said poor Jenkin, look- 
 ing at the sleeve of his jacket. 
 
 " Xever the worse gentleman for that," said Dame Ursley, 
 laughing. 
 
 "And what is worse," said he, turning his back to iier 
 suddenly, and writhing in his chair, "you have made a rogue 
 of me." 
 
 " Xever the worse gentleman for that neither," said Dame 
 Ursley, in the same tone; "let a man bear his folly gayly and 
 his knavery stoutly, and let me see if gravity or honest^' will 
 look him in the face nowadays. Tut, man, was only m the 
 time of King Arthur or King Lud that a gentleman was held 
 to blemish his scutcheon by a leap over the line of reason or 
 honesty. It is the bold look, the ready hand, the fine clothes, 
 the brisk oath, and the wild brain that makes the gallant 
 nowadays." 
 
 " I know what you have made me," said Jin Vin; "since 
 I have given up skittles and trap-ball for tennis and bowls, 
 good English ale for thin Bordeaux and sour Ehenish, roast- 
 beef andpudding for woodcocks and kickshaws, my bat for 
 a sword, my cap for a beaver, my ' forsooth ' for a modish 
 oath, my Christmas-box for a dice-box, my religion for the 
 
 devil's matins, and mine honest name for Woman, I 
 
 could brain thee, when I think whose advice has guided me 
 in all this ! " 
 
 "Whose advice, then? — whose advice, then? Speak 
 out, thou poor, petty cloak-brusher, and say who advised 
 thee!" retorted Dame Ursle}^, flushed and indignant. 
 "Marry come up, my paltry companion; say by whose 
 advice you have made a gamester of yourself, and a thief 
 besides, as your words would bear — the Lord deliver us from 
 evil ! " And here Dame Ursley devoutly crossed herself. 
 
 "Hark ye. Dame Ursley Suddlechop," said Jenkin, 
 starting up, his dark eyes flashing with anger; "remember I 
 am none of your husband; and, if I were, you would do well 
 not to forget Avhose threshold was swept when they last rode 
 the Skimmington* upon such another scolding jade aa 
 yourself." 
 
 10 • See Note 27. 
 
242 WAVE RLE V NOVELS 
 
 " I nope to see you ride np Holborn next," said Dame 
 Ursley, provoked out of all her holiday and sugar-plum 
 expressions, "with a nosegay at your breast and a parson at 
 your elbow ! " 
 
 " That may well be," answered Jin Vin, bitterly, " if I 
 walk by your counsels as I have begun by them; but, before 
 that day comes, you shall know that Jin Vin has the brisk 
 boys of Fleet Street still at his wink. Yes, you jade, you 
 shall be carted for bawd and conjurer, double-dyed in grain, 
 and bing oif to Bridewell, with every brass basin betwixt the 
 Bar and Paul's beating before you, as if the devil were bang- 
 ing them with his beef-hook." 
 
 Dame Ursley colored like scarlet, seized upon the half- 
 emptied flask of cordial, and seemed, by her first gesture, 
 about to hurl it at the head of her adversary; but suddenly, 
 and as if by a strong internal effort, she checked her out- 
 rageous resentment, and, putting the bottle to its more 
 legitimate use, filied, with wonderful composure, the two 
 glasses, and, taking up one of them, said, with a smile, which 
 better became her comely and jovial countenance than the 
 fury by which it was animated the moment before — 
 
 " Here is to thee, Jin Vin, my lad, in all loving-kind- 
 ness, whatever spite thou bearest to me, that have always 
 been a mother to thee." 
 
 Jenkin's English good-nature could not resist this forci- 
 ble appeal; he took up the other glass, and lovingly pledged 
 the dame in her cup of reconciliation, and proceeded to make 
 a kind of grumbling apology for his own violence. 
 
 "For you know," he said, " it was you persuaded me to 
 get these fine things, and go to that godless ordinary, and 
 ruffle it with the best, and bring you home all the news; and 
 you said I, that was the cock of the ward, would soon be thb 
 cock of the ordinary, and Avould win ten times as much at 
 gleek and primero as I used to do at put and beggar-my- 
 neighbor, and turn up doublets with the dice as busily as I 
 was wont to trowl down the ninepins in the skittle-ground; 
 and then you said I should bring yon such news out of the 
 ordinary as should make us all, wlien used as you knew how 
 to use it; and now you see what is to come of it all!" 
 
 "'Tis all true thou sayest, lad," said the dame; "but thou 
 must have patience. Romo was not built in a day. You 
 cannot become used to your court suit in a month's time, any 
 more th..n wLtn you changed your long coat for a doublet 
 and ho?,.; a:.d in gaming you must expect to lose as well aa 
 gain: '1*8 t^- sitting gtimester sweeps the board." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 243 
 
 *'The board has swept me, I know," replied Jin Vin, 
 " and tliat pretty clean out. I would that were the worst; 
 but I owe for all this finery, and settling-day is coming on, 
 and my master will find my accompt worse than it should be 
 by a score of pieces. My old father will be called in to make 
 them' good; and I — r^ay save the hangman a labor and do 
 the job myself, or go the Virginia voyage.^' 
 
 "Do not speak so loud, my dear boy," said Dame Ursley; 
 " but tell me why you borrow not from a friend to make up 
 your arrear. You could lend him as much when his settling- 
 day came round." 
 
 " No — no, I have had enough of that work," said Vin- 
 cent. " Tunstall would lend me the money, poor fellow, 
 an he had it ; but his gentle, beggarly kindred plunder him 
 of all, and keep him as bare as a birch at Christmas. No — 
 my fortune may be spelt in four letters, and "^hese read, 
 
 RUIN." 
 
 ''Now, hush, you simple craven," said the dame; ''did 
 y 1 never hear that when the need is highest the help is 
 ^ligliest ? AVe may find aid for you yet, and sooner than you 
 a' -' aware of. I am sure I would never have advised you to 
 n h a course, but only you had set heart and eye on pretty 
 ^»Iistress Marget, and less would not serve you ; and what 
 could I do but advise you to cast your city slough, and try 
 your luck where folks find fortune ? " 
 
 " Ay — ay, I remember your counsel well," said Jenkin ; 
 " I was to be introduced to her by you when I was perfect in 
 my gallantries, and as rich as the king ; and then she was to 
 be surprised to find I was poor Jin Yin, that used to watch, 
 from matin to curfew, for one glance of her eye ; and now, 
 instead of that, she has set her soul on this Scottish sparrow- 
 fa. .wk of a lord that won my last tester, and be cursed to 
 hi- ; and so I am bankrupt in love, fortune, and character, 
 before I am out of my time, and all along of you. Mother 
 Midnight." 
 
 "• Do not call me out of my own name, my dear boy, Jin 
 Vin," answered Ursula, in a tone betwixt rage and coaxing — 
 " do not ; because I am no saint, but a poor sinful woman, 
 with no more patience than she needs to carry her through a 
 thousand crosses. And if I have done you wrong by evil 
 counsel, I must mend it, and put you right by good advice. 
 And for the score of pieces that must be made up at settling- 
 day, why, here is, in a good green purse, as much as will 
 make that matter good ; and we will get old Crosspatch, the 
 tailor, to take a long day for your clothes ; and " 
 
344 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Mother, are you serious ? " said Jin Vin, unable to trus^ 
 either his eyes or his ears. 
 
 *' In troth am 1," said the dame ; " and will you call me 
 Mother Midnight now, Jin Vin ? " 
 
 " Mother Midnight ! " exclaimed Jenkin, hugging the 
 dame in his transjiort, and bestowing on her still comely 
 cheek a hearty and not unacceptable smack, that sounded 
 like the report of a pistol — " Mother Midday, rather, that has 
 risen to light me out of my troubles — a mother more dear 
 than she who bore me ; for she, poor soul, only brought me 
 into a world of sin and sorrow, and your timely aid has 
 helped me out of the one and the other/' And the good- 
 natured fellow threw himself back in his chair, and fairly 
 drew his hand across his eyes. 
 
 " You would not have me be made to ride the Skimming- 
 ton then," said the dame ; " or parade me in a cart, with all 
 the brass basins of the ward beating the march to Bridewell 
 before me ? " 
 
 " I would sooner be carted to Tyburn myself,'* replied the 
 penitent. 
 
 " Why, then, sit up like a man and wipe thine eyes ; and 
 if thou art pleased with what I have done, I will show thee 
 how thou mayst requite me in the highest degree." 
 
 " How ? " said Jenkin Vincent, sitting straight up in his 
 chair. " You would have me, then, do you some service for 
 this friendship of yours ? " 
 
 ''Ay, marry would I," said Dame TJrsley ; ''for you are 
 to know that, though I am right glad to stead you with it, 
 this gold is not mine, but was placed in my hands in order to 
 
 find a trusty agent for a certain purpose ; and so But 
 
 what's the matter with you ? are you fool enough to be angry 
 because you cannot get a purse of gold for nothing ? I would 
 I knew where such were to come by. I never could find them 
 lying in my road, I promise you." 
 
 "No — no, dame," said poor Jenkin, "it is not for that; 
 for, look you, I would rather work these ten bones to the 
 knuckles, and live by my labor ; but " and here he paused. 
 
 " But what, man ? " said Dame Ursley. " You are will- 
 ing to work for what you want ; and yet, when I offer you 
 gold for the winning, you look on me as the devil looks over 
 Lincoln." 
 
 " It is ill talking of the devil, mother/' said Jenkin. "I 
 had him even now in my head; for, look you, I am at that 
 pass when they say he will appear to Avretched, ruined crea- 
 tures and proffer them gold for the fee-simple of their salva- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 3i5 
 
 tion. But I have been trying these two days to bring my 
 mind strongly up to the tliought that I will rather sit down 
 in shame, and sin, and sorrow, as I am like to do, than hold 
 on in ill courses to get rid of my present straits; and so take 
 care; Dame Ursula, how you tempt me to break such a good 
 resolution/' 
 
 *• I tempt you to nothing, young man," answered Ursula , 
 ''^and as I perceive yon are too wilful to be wise, I will e'en 
 put my purse in my pocket and look out for some one that 
 will work my turn with better will and more thankfulness. 
 And vou may go your own course: break your indenture, ruin 
 your'fatlier, lose your character, and bid pretty Mistress 
 Margaret farewell forever and a day." 
 
 '• Stay — stay," said Jenkin; " the woman is in as great a 
 hurrv as abro\vn baker when his oven is overheated. First, 
 let me hear that Avhich you have to propose to me." 
 
 "' \Yhy, after all, it fs but to get a gentleman of rank and 
 fortune, who is in trouble, carried in secret down the river 
 as far as the Isle of Dogs, or somewhere thereabout, wliere he 
 may lie concealed until he can escape abroad. I know thou 
 knowest every place by the river's side as well as the devil 
 knows an usurer or the beggar knows his dish." 
 
 •'•'A plague of your simUes, dame," replied the apprentice; 
 "for the devil gave me that knowledge, and beggary may be 
 the end on't. But what has this gentleman done, that he 
 should need to be under hiding? Xo Papist, I hope — no 
 Catesbv and Piercy business — no Gunpowder Plot?" 
 
 '- Fie — fie! what do you take me for?" said Dame Ursula. 
 "1 am as good a churchwoman as the parson's wife, save tliat 
 necessary business will not allow me to go there of tener than 
 on Christmas Day, Heaven help me! Xo — no, this is no 
 Popisli matter. The gentleman hath but struck another in 
 the Park " 
 
 "Ha! what?" said Vincent, interrupting her with a start. 
 
 " Ay — ay, I see you guess whom I mean. It is even he 
 we have spoken of so often — just Lord Glenvarloch, and no 
 one else." 
 
 Vincent sprang from his seat, and traversed the room 
 with rapid and disorderly steps. 
 
 "There — there it is now; you are always ice or gunpow- 
 der. You sit in the great leathern arm-chair as quiet as a 
 rocket hangs upon the frame in a rejoicing-night till the 
 match be fired, and then, whizz! you are in the third heaven, 
 beyond the reach of the human voice, eye, or brain. When 
 you have wearied yourself with padding to and fro across tlie 
 
246 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 room, will you tell me your determination, for time presses? 
 Will you aid me in this matter or not?"' 
 
 " Ho — no — no — a thousand times no," replied Jenkin. 
 *' Have you not confessed to me that Margaret loves him?" 
 
 ** Ay," answered the dame, "^ that she thinks she does; 
 but that will not last long." 
 
 *' And have I not told you but this instant," replied Jen- 
 kin, " that it was this same Glenvarloch that rooked me, at 
 the ordinary, of every penny I had, and made a knave of me 
 to boot, by gaining more than was my own? that cursed 
 gold, which Shortyard, the mercer, paid me that morning 
 on accompt, for mending the clock of St. Stephen's! If 1 
 had not, by ill chance, had that about me, I could but have 
 beggared my purse, without blemishing my honesty; and, 
 after I had been rooked of all the rest among them, I must 
 needs risk the last five pieces with that shark among the 
 minnows!" 
 
 " Granted," said Dame Ursula. " All this I know; and I 
 own that, as Lord Glenvarloch was the last you played with, 
 you have a right to charge your ruin on his head. Moreover, 
 I admit, as already said, that Margaret has made him your 
 rival. Yet surely, now he is in danger to lose his hand, it is 
 not a time to remember all this?" 
 
 " By my faith, but it is, though," said the young citizen. 
 "Lose his hand, indeed! They may take his head, for what 
 I care. Head and hand have made me a miserable wretch ! " 
 
 "Now, were it not better, my prince of flat-caps," said 
 Dame Ursula, "that matters were squared between you; and 
 that, through means of the same Scottish lord, who has, as 
 you say, dejorived you of your money and your mistress, you 
 should in a short time recover both ? " 
 
 " And how can your wisdom come to that conclusion, 
 dame?" said the apprentice. "My money, indeed, I can 
 conceive — that is, if I comply with your proposal — but my 
 pretty Margaret ! how serving this lord, whom she has set 
 her nonsensical head upon, can do me good with her is far 
 beyond my conception." 
 
 " That is because, in simple phrase," said Dame Ursula, 
 " thou knowest no more of a woman's heart than doth a 
 Norfolk gosling. Look you, man. Were I to report to 
 Mistress Marget that the young lord has miscarried through 
 thy lack of courtesy in refusing to help him, Avhy, then, thou 
 wert odious to her forever. She will loathe thee as she will 
 loathe the very cook who is to strike olf Glenvarloch's hand 
 with his cleaver ; and then she will be yet more fixed in her 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 347 
 
 affections towards this lord. London "will hear of nothing 
 but him — speak of nothing but him — tliink of nothing but 
 him, for three weeks at least, and all that outcry will serve 
 to keep him uppermost in her mind ; for nothing pleases a 
 girl so much as to bear relation to any one who is the talk 
 of the whole world around her. Then, if he suffer this sen- 
 tence of tlie law, it is a chance if she ever forgets him. I 
 saw that handsome, proper young gentleman, Babington, 
 suffer in the Queen's time myself, and though I was then but 
 a girl, he was in my head for a year after he was hanged. 
 But, above all, pardoned or punished, Glenvarloch will proba- 
 bly remain in London, and his presence will keep up the silly 
 girl's nonsensical fancy about him. "Whereas, if he escapes " 
 
 " Ay, show me how that is to avail me ?" said Jenkin. 
 
 " If he escapes," said the dame, resuming her argument, 
 " he must resign the court for years, if not for life ; and you 
 know the old saying, ' Out of sight, and out of mind.'' " 
 
 " True — most true," said Jenkin ; " spoken like an oracle, 
 most wise Ursula." 
 
 " Ay — ay, I knew you would hear reason at last," said the 
 wily dame ; ''and then, when this same lord is oft" and away 
 for once and forever, who, I pray you, is to be pretty pet's 
 confidential person, and who is to fill up the void in her af- 
 fections ? Wliy, who but thou, thou pearl of 'prentices ! And 
 then you will have overcome your own inclinations to comply 
 with hers, and every woman is sensible of that ; and you will 
 have run some risk, too, in carrying her desires into effect, 
 and Avhat is it that woman likes better than bravery and 
 devotion to her will ? Then you have her secret, and she 
 must treat you with favor and observance, and repose confi- 
 dence in you, and hold private intercourse with you, till she 
 weeps with one eye for the absent lover whom she is never 
 to see again, and "^blinks with the other blythely upon him 
 who is in presence ; and then if you knoAV not how to im- 
 prove the relation in which you stand with her, you are not 
 the brisk lively lad that all the Avorld takes you for. Said I 
 well ?" 
 
 "You have spoken like an empress, most mighty Ur- 
 sula," said Jenkin Vincent; ''and your will shall be obeyed." 
 
 " You know Alsatia well?" continued his tutoress. 
 
 " Well enough — well enough," replied he with a nod; "I 
 have heard the dice rattle there in my day, before I niust 
 set up for gentleman, and go among the gallants at the Sha- 
 valeer Bojo's, as they call him— the worse rookery of the 
 two, though the feathers are the gayest." 
 
248 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 " And they will have a respect for thee yonder, I war- 
 rant?^' 
 
 " Ay — ay/' replied Vin; " when I am got into my fustian 
 doublet again, with my bit of a trunnion under my arm, I 
 can walk Alsatia at midnight as I could do that there Fleet 
 Street in mid-day; they will not one of them swagger with 
 the prince of 'prentices and the king of clubs: they know I 
 could bring every tall boy in the ward down upon them." 
 
 " And you know all the watermen, and so forth?" 
 
 " Can converse with every sculler in his own language, 
 from Richmond to Gravesend, and know all the water-cocks 
 from John Taylor, the poet, to little Grigg the Grinner, who 
 never pulls but he shows all his teeth from ear to ear, as if he 
 were grimacing through a horse-collar." 
 
 " And you can take any dress or character upon you well, 
 such as a waterman's, a butcher's, a foot-soldier's," continued 
 Ursula, ''or the like?" 
 
 " Not such a mummer as I am within the walls, and thou 
 knowest that well enough, dame," replied the aj^prentice. "I 
 can touch the players themselves at the Bull and at the For- 
 tune for presenting anything except a gentleman. Take but 
 this d — d skin of frippery off me, which I think the devil 
 stuck me into, and you shall put me into nothing else that I 
 will not become as if I were born to it." 
 
 "Well, we will talk of your transmutation by and by," 
 said the dame, " and find you clothes withal, and money be- 
 sides; for it will take a good deal to carry the thing hand- 
 somely through." 
 
 ''But where is that money to come from, dame?" said 
 Jenkin; "there is a question I would fain have answered be- 
 fore I touch it." 
 
 " Why, what a fool thou art to ask such a question I Sup- 
 pose I am content to advance it to please young madam, 
 what is the harm then ? " 
 
 " I will suppose no such thing," said Jenkin, hastily; "I 
 know that you, dame, have no gold to spare, and maybe 
 would not spare it if you had; so that cock will not crow. 
 It must be from Margaret herself." 
 
 " Well, thou suspicious animal, and what if it were?" 
 said Ursula. 
 
 "Only this," replied Jenkin, "that I will presently to 
 her, and learn if she has come fairly by so much ready 
 money; for sooner than connive at her getting it by any in- 
 direction, I would hang myself at once. It is enough what I 
 have done myself, no need to engage poor Margaret in such 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 249 
 
 villany. I'll to her, and tell her of the danger — I Mill, hv 
 Heaven!" 
 
 " You are mad to think of it," said Dame Suddlechop, 
 considerably alarmed; " hear me but a moment. I know not 
 precisely from wliom she got the money; but sure I am that 
 she obtained it at her godfather's." 
 
 *' Why, Master George Heriot is not returned from 
 France," said Jenkin. 
 
 " Xo," replied Ursula, " but Dame Judith is at home; 
 and the strange lady, wliom they call Master Heriot^s ghost — 
 slie never goes abroad." 
 
 "It is very true, Dame Suddlechop," said Jenkin; "and 
 I believe you have guessed right: they say that lady has coin 
 at will; and if Marget can get a handful of fairy gold, why, 
 she is free to throw it away at will." 
 
 " Ah, Jin Vin," said the dame, reducing her voice almost 
 to a whisper; "we should not want gold at will neither, 
 could we but read the riddle of that lady I " 
 
 "They may read it that list," said Jenkin; "I'll never 
 pry into what concerns me not. Master George Heriot is a 
 worthy and brave citizen, and an honor to London, and has a 
 right to manage his own household as he likes best. There 
 was once a talk of rabbling him the fifth of Xovember before 
 the last, because they said he kept a nunnery in his house, 
 like old Lady Foljambe; but Master George is well loved 
 among the '"prentices, and we got so many brisk boys of us to- 
 gether as should have rabbled the rabble had they had but the 
 heart to rise." 
 
 ""Well, let that pass," said Ursula; "and now, tell me 
 how you will manage to be absent from shop a day or two, for 
 you must think that this matter Avill not be ended sooner." 
 
 "AVhy, as to that, I can say nothing," said Jenkin, " I 
 have ahvays served duly and truly; I have no heart to play 
 truant, and cheat my master of his "time as well as his money." 
 
 "Xay, but the point is to get back his money for him," 
 said Ursula, " which he is not likely to see on other condi- 
 tions. Could you not ask leave to go down to your uncle 
 in Essex for two or three davs? He may be ill, you know." 
 
 " Why, if I must, I must," said Jenkin, with a heavy 
 sigh; " but I will not be lightly caught treading these dark 
 and crooked paths again." 
 
 "Hush thee, then," said the dame, "and get leave for 
 this very evening; and comeback hither, and I will introduce 
 you to another implement who must be employed in tlie mat- 
 ter. Stay, stay ! the lad is mazed; you would not go into 
 
350 WAVERLEV NOVELS 
 
 your master's shop in tliat guise, surely ? Your trunk is in 
 ihe matted chamber witli your 'prentice things; go and put 
 tliem on as fast as you can." 
 
 "1 think I am bewitched," said Jenkin, giving a glance 
 towards his dress, " or that tliese fool's trappings have made 
 as great an ass of me as of many I have seen wear them; but 
 let me once be rid of the harness, and if you catch me putting 
 it on again, I will give you leave to sell me to a gypsey to carry 
 pots, pans, and beggar's bantlings all the rest of my life." 
 
 So saying, he retired to change his apparel. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Chance will not do the work. Chance sends the breeze ; 
 
 But if the pilot sluriiber at the hchn, 
 
 The very wind that wafts us towards the port 
 
 May dash us on the shelves. The steersman's part is vigilance, 
 
 Blow it or rough or smooth. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 We left Nigel, whose fortunes we are bound to trace by the 
 engagement contracted in our title-page, sad and solitary in 
 the mansion of Trapbois, the usurer, having just received a 
 letter instead of a visit from his friend the Templar, stating 
 reasons why he could not at that time come to see him in Al- 
 satia. So that it appeared his intercourse with the better and 
 more respectable class of society was, for the present, entirely 
 cut off. This was a melancholy, and, to a proud mind like 
 that of Nigel, a degrading, reflection. 
 
 He went to the window of his apartment, and found the 
 street enveloped in one of those thick, dingy, yellow-colored 
 fogs which often invest the lower part of London and West- 
 minster. Amid the darkness, dense and palpable, Avere seen 
 to wander like phantoms a reveller or two, whom the morn- 
 ing had surprised where the evening left them ; and Avho now, 
 with tottering steps, and by an instinct which intoxication 
 could not wholly overcome, were groping the way to their own 
 homes, to convert day into night, for the purpose of sleeping 
 off the debauch which had turned night into day. Although 
 it was broad day in the other parts of the city, it was scarce 
 dawn yet in Alsatia ; and none of the sounds of industry or 
 occupation were there heard which had long before aroused 
 the slumberers in every other quarter. The prospect was too 
 tiresome and disagreeable to detain Lord Grlenvarloch at his 
 station, so, turning from the window, he examined with more 
 interest the furniture and appearance of the apartment which 
 he tenanted. 
 
 Much of it had been in its time rich and curious. There 
 was a huge four-post bed, with as much carved oak about it 
 as would have made the head of a man-of-war, and tapestiy 
 hangings ample enough to have been her sails. There was a 
 huge mirror with a massy frame of gilt brass- work, which was 
 of Venetian manufacture, and must have been worth a con- 
 
252 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 siderable sum before it received the tremendous crack which, 
 traversing it from one corner to the other, bore tlie same pro- 
 portion to the surface that the Nile bears to the maj) of 
 Egypt. The chairs were of different forms and shapes: some 
 had been carved, some gilded, some covered with damasked 
 leatlicr, some with embroidered work, but all were damaged 
 and worm-eaten. Tliere was a picture of " Susanna and the 
 Elders " over the chimney-piece, which miglit have been ac- 
 counted a choice piece, had not the rats made free with the 
 chaste fair one's nose, and with the beard of one of her rev- 
 erend admirers. 
 
 In a word, all that Lord Glenvarloch saw seemed to have 
 been articles carried off by appraisement or distress, or bought 
 as pennyworths at some obscure broker' s, and huddled to- 
 gether in the apartment, as in a sale-room, without regard to 
 taste or congruity. 
 
 The place appeared to Nigel to resemble the houses near 
 the sea-coast, which are too often furnished with the sjDoils of 
 wrecked vessels, as this was probably fitted up with the relics 
 of ruined profligates. " My own skiff is among the breakers," 
 thought Lord Glenvarloch, "^ though my wreck will add little 
 to the profits of the spoiler." 
 
 He was chiefly interested in the state of the grate — a huge 
 assemblage of rusted iron bars which stood in the chimney, 
 unequally supjiorted by three brazen feet, moulded into the 
 form of lion's claws, while the fourth, which had been bent 
 by an accident, seemed proudly uplifted as if to paw the 
 ground; or as if the whole article had nourished the ambitious 
 purpose of pacing forth into the middle of the apartment, and 
 had one foot ready raised for the journey. A smile passed 
 over Nigel's face as this fantastic idea presented itself to his 
 fancy. "I must stop its march, however," he thought, "for 
 this morning is chill and raw enough to demand some fire." 
 
 He called accordingly from the top of a large staircase, 
 with a heavy oaken balustrade, which gave access to his own 
 and other apartments, for the house was old and of consider- 
 able size; but, receiving no answer to his repeated summons, 
 he was compelled to go in search of some one who might ac- 
 commodate him with what he wanted. 
 
 Nigel had, according to the fashion of the old world in 
 Scotland, received an education which might, in most particu- 
 lars, be termed simple, hardy, and unostentatious; but he 
 had, nevertheless, been accustomed to much personal defer- 
 ence, and to the constant attendance and ministry of one or 
 more domestics. This was the universal custom in Scotland, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGFTL 25g 
 
 where wages were next to nothing, and where, indeed, a man 
 of title or influence miglit have as many attendants as he 
 pleased for the mere expense of food, clothes, and counte- 
 nance. Nigel was therefore mortified and displeased when he 
 found himself without notice or attendance; and the more 
 dissatisfied, because he was at the same time angr}- with him- 
 self for suffering such a trifle to trouble him at all among 
 matters of more deep concernment. " There must surely be 
 some servants in so large a house as this," said he as he wan- 
 dered over the place, through which he was conducted by a 
 passage which branched ofl' from the gallery. As he went 
 on, he tried the entrance to several apartments, some of which 
 he found were locked and others unfurnished, all apparently 
 unoccupied ; so that at length he returned to the staircase, 
 and resolved to make his Avay down to the lower part of the 
 house, Avhere he supposed he must at least find the old gentle- 
 man and his ill-favored daughter. With this purpose, he first 
 made his entrance into a little low, dark parlor, containing a 
 well-worn leathern easy-chair, before which stood a pair of 
 slippers, while on the left side rested a crutch -handled stafl'; 
 an oaken table stood before it, and supported a huge desk 
 clamped Avith iron, and a massive pewter inkstand. Around 
 the apartment were shelves, cabinets, and other places con- 
 venient for depositing papers. A sword, musketoon, and a 
 pair of pistols hung over the chimney, in ostentatious dis- 
 play, as if to intimate that the proprietor would be prompt in 
 the defence of his premises. 
 
 " This must be the usurer's den," thought Nigel; and he 
 was about to call aloud, when the old man, awakened even by 
 the slightest noise, for avarice seldom sleeps sound, sooii wus 
 heard from the inner room, speaking in a voice of irritability, 
 rendered more tremulous by his morning cough. 
 
 "Ugh, ugh, ugh — who is there? I say — ugh, ugh — who is 
 there? Why, Martha! — ugh, ugh — Martha Trapbois — here be 
 thieves in the house, and they will not speak to me — why, 
 Martha! — thieves, thieves — ugh, ugh, ugh!" 
 
 Nigel endeavored to explain, but the idea of thieves had 
 taken possession of the old man's pineal gland, and he kept 
 coughing and screaming, and screaming and coughing, until 
 the gracious Martha entered the apartment ; and, having first 
 outscreamed her father in order to convince him that there 
 was no danger, and to assure him that the intruderwas their 
 new lodger, and having as often heard her sire ejaculate — 
 " Hold him fast— ugh, ugh— hold him fast till I come," she 
 at length succeeded in silencing his fears and his clamor, and 
 
264 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 then coldly and dryly asked Lord Glenvarloch what he wanted 
 in lier father's apartment. 
 
 Her lodger had, in the mean time, leisure to contemplate 
 her appearance, which did not by any means improve the idea 
 he had formed of it by candlelight on the preceding evening. 
 She was dressed in what was called a Queen Mary's ruff and 
 farthingale ; not the falling ruff with which the unfortunate 
 Mary of Scotland is usually painted, but that which, with 
 more than Spanish stiffness, surrounded the throat, and set 
 off the morose head, of her fierce namesake of Smithfield 
 memory. This antiquated dress assorted well with the faded 
 complexion, gray eyes, thin lips, and austere visage of the 
 antiquated maiden, which was, moreover, enhanced by a black 
 hood, worn as her head-gear, carefully disposed so as to pre- 
 vent any of her hair from escaping to view, probably because 
 the simplicity of the period knew no art of disguising tlie 
 color witli which time had begun to grizzle her tresses. Her 
 figure was tall, thin, and flat, with skinny arms and hands, 
 and feet of the larger size, cased in huge high-heeled shoes, 
 which added height to a stature already ungainly. Appar- 
 ently some art had been used by the tailor to conceal a slight 
 defect of shajDC, occasioned by the accidental elevation of one 
 shoulder above the other ; but the praiseworthy efforts of the 
 ingenious mechanic had only succeeded in calling the atten- 
 tion of the observer to his benevolent purpose without 
 demonstrating that he had been able to achieve it. 
 
 Such was Mrs. Martha Trapbois, whose dry "What were 
 you seeking here, sir ? " fell again, and with reiterated sharp- 
 ness, on the ear of Nigel, as he gazed upon her presence, and 
 compared it internally to one of the faded and grim figures in 
 the old tapestry which adorned his bedstead. It was, how- 
 ever, necessary to reply, and he answered, that " He came 
 in search of the servants, as he desired to have a fire kindled 
 in his apartment on account of the rawness of tlie morning." 
 
 " The woman who does our char-work,'' answered Mistress 
 Martha, "comes at eight o'clock; if you want fire sooner, 
 there are fagots and a bucket of sea-coal in the stone-closet at 
 the head of the stair, and there is a flint and steel on the 
 upper shelf; you can light fire for yourself if you Avill." 
 
 "No — no — no, Martha," ejaculated her father, who, 
 having donned his rusty tunic, with his hose all ungirt, and 
 his feet slip-shod, hastily came out of the inner apartment, 
 with his mind probably full of robbers, for he had a naked 
 rapier in his hand, which still looked formidable, though rust 
 had somewhat marred its sliine. What he had heard at 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 25.j 
 
 entrance about lighting a fire had changed, however, the cur- 
 rent of his ideas. " ^o — no — no/' he cried, and each nega- 
 tive was more emphatic than its predecessor. '"Tlie genfle- 
 man sliall not liave tlie trouble to put on a fire — ugh — ugh. 
 I'll put it on myself for a con-sid-er-a-tion.'' 
 
 This last word was a favorite expression with the old 
 gentleman, which he pronounced in a peculiar manner, gasp- 
 ing it out syllable by syllable, and laying a strong emphasis 
 upon the last. It Avas, indeed, a sort of protecting clause, by 
 which he guarded himself against all inconveniences atten- 
 dant on the rash habit of otfering service or civility of any 
 kind, the which, when hastily snapped at by those to whom 
 they are uttered, give the profferer sometimes room to repent 
 his promptitude. 
 
 "For shame, father," said Martha, "that must not be. 
 Master Grahame will kindle his own fire, or wait till the char- 
 woman comes to do it for him, just as likes him best." 
 
 "Xo, child — no, child. Child Martha, no," reiterated 
 the old miser; " no charwoman shall ever touch a grate in my 
 house; they put — ugh, ugh — the fagot uppermost, and so the 
 coal kindles not, and the flame goes up the chimney, and 
 wood and heat are both thrown away. Now, I will lay it 
 properly for the gentleman, for a consideration, so that it 
 shall last — ugh, ugh — last the whole day." Here his vehe- 
 mence increased his cough so violently, that Xigel could only, 
 from a scattered word here and there, comprehend that it was 
 a recommendation to his daughter to remove the poker and 
 tongs from the stranger's fireside, with an assurance that, 
 when necessary, his landlord Avould be in attendance to adjust 
 it himself, "for a consideration." 
 
 Martha paid as little attention to the old man's injunctions 
 as a predominant dame gives to those of a henpecked husband. 
 She only repeated, in a deeper and more emphatic tone of 
 censure — " For shame, father — for shame! " then, turning to 
 her guest, said, with her usual ungraciousness of manner — 
 " Master Grahame, it is best to be plain with you at first. 
 My father is an old, a very old man, and his wits, as you may 
 see, are somewhat weakened — though I would not advise you 
 to make a bargain with him, else you may find them too 
 sharp for your OAvn. For myself, I am a lone woman, and, to 
 say truth, care little to see or converse with any one. If yoii 
 can be satisfied with house-room, shelter, and safety, it will 
 be your own fault if you have them not, and they are not 
 always to be found in this unhappy quarter. But, if you 
 seek deferential observance and attendance, I tell you at once 
 70U will not find them here." 
 
356 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 "1 am not wont eitlier to thrust myself upon acquaint- 
 ance, madam, or to give trouble," said the guest, "neverthe- 
 less, I shall need the assistance of a domestic to assist me to 
 dress. Perhaps you can recommend me to such?" 
 
 ^' Yes, to twenty," answered Mistress Martha, "who will 
 pick your purse while they tie your points, and cut your 
 throat while they smooth your pillow." 
 
 "I will be his servant myself," said the old man, whose 
 intellect, for a moment distanced, had again, in some measure, 
 got up with the conversation. " I will brush his coat — ugh, 
 ugh — and tie his points — ugh, ugh — and clean liis shoes — 
 ugh — and run on his errands with sjieed and safety — ugh- 
 ngh, ngh, ugh — for a consideration." 
 
 " Good-morrow to you, sir," said Martha to Nigel, in a 
 tone of direct and positive dismissal. " It cannot be agree- 
 able to a daughter that a stranger should hear her father 
 speak thus. If yon be really a gentleman, you will retire to 
 your own apartment." 
 
 "I will not delay a moment," said Nigel, respectfully, 
 for he was sensible that circumstances palliated the woman's 
 rudeness. "I would but ask you, if seriously there can be 
 danger in procuring the assistance of a serving-man in this 
 place?" 
 
 "Young gentleman," said Martha, "you must know 
 little of Whitefriars to ask the question. We live alone in 
 this house, and seldom has a stranger entered it; nor should 
 you, to be plain, had my will been consulted. Look at the 
 door; see if that of a castle can be better secured; the win- 
 dows of the first floor are grated on the outside, and within, 
 look to these shutters." 
 
 She pulled one of them aside, and showed a ponderous 
 apparatus of bolts and chains for securing the window- 
 shutters, while her father, pressing to her side, seized her 
 gown with a trembling hand, and said in a low whisper, 
 " Show not the trick of locking and undoing them. Show 
 him not the trick on't, Martha — ugh, ugh — on no considera- 
 tion." 
 
 Martha went on, without paying him any attention — 
 " And yet, young gentleman, we have been more than once 
 like to find all these defences too weak to protect our lives; 
 such an evil efl'ect on the wicked generation around us hath 
 been made by the unhappy report of my poor father's wealth." 
 
 " Say nothing of that, housewife," said the miser, his 
 irritability increased by the very supposition of his being 
 wealthy — " say nothing of that, or I will beat thee, house- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 257 
 
 wife — beat thee with my staff, for fetching and carrying lies 
 that will procure our throats to be cut at last — ugh, ugh. I 
 am but a poor man,'** he continued, turning to Nigel — "a 
 very poor man, that am willing to do any honest turn upon 
 earth f-or a modest consideration." 
 
 " I therefore warn you of the life you must lead, young 
 gentleman," said Martha; "the poor woman who does the 
 char-work will assist you so far as is in her power, but the 
 wise man is his own best servant and assistant." 
 
 "It is a lesson you have taught me, madam, and I thank 
 you for it; I will assuredly study it at leisure." 
 
 "You will do well," said Martha; "and as you seem 
 thankful for advice, I, though I am no professed counsellor 
 of others, will give you more. Make no intimacy with any 
 one in Whitefriars; borrow no money, on any score, especially 
 from my father, for, dotard as he seems, he will make an ass 
 of you. Last, and best of all, stay here not an instant 
 longer than you can help it. Farewell, sir." 
 
 " A gnarled tree may bear good fruit, and a harsh nature 
 may give good counsel," thought the Lord of Glenvarloch, as 
 he retreated to his o^vn apartment, where the same reflection 
 occurred to him again and again, while, unable as yet to recon- 
 cile himself to the thoughts of becoming his own fire-maker, 
 he walked up and do\\Ti his bedroom, to warm himself by 
 exercise. 
 
 At length his meditations arranged themselves in the 
 following soliloquy — by which expression I beg leave to 
 observe once for all, that I do not mean that Nigel literally 
 said aloud with his bodily organs the words -w-Tiich follow 
 in inverted commas, while pacing the room by himself, but 
 that I myself choose to present to my dearest reader the pic- 
 ture of my hero's mind, his reflections and resolutions, in the 
 form of a speech rather than in that of a narrative. In other 
 words, I have put his thoughts into language; and this I con- 
 ceive to be the purpose of the soliloquy upon the stage as well 
 as in the closet, being at once the most natural, and perhaps 
 the only, way of communicating to the spectator what is sup- 
 posed to be passing in the bosom of the scenic personage. 
 There are no such soliloquies in nature, it is true, but unless 
 they were received as a conventional medium of communion 
 betwixt the poet and the audience, we should reduce dramatic 
 authors to the recipe of Master Puff, who makes Lord Bur- 
 leigh intimate a long train of political reasoning to the audience 
 by one comprehensive shake of his noddle. In narrative, no 
 doubt, the writer has the alternative of telling that his per- 
 
 17 
 
358 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 sonages thought so and so, inferred thus and thus, and 
 arrived at such and such a conchision ; but the soliloquy 
 is a more concise and spirited mode of communicating the 
 same information; and therefore tlius communed, or thus 
 might have communed, the Lord of Glenvarloch with his 
 own mind: 
 
 " She is right, and has taught me a lesson I will profit by. 
 I have been, through my whole life, one who leant upon 
 others for that assistance which it is more truly noble to derive 
 from my own exertions. I am ashamed of feeling the paltry 
 inconvenience which long habit had led me to annex to the 
 want of a servant's assistance — I am ashamed of that; but far, 
 far more am I ashamed to have suffered the same habit of 
 throwing my own burden on others to render me, since I 
 came to this city, a mere victim of those events which I have 
 never even attempted to influence — a thing never acting, but 
 perpetually acted upon — protected by one friend, deceived by 
 another; but in the advantage which I received from the one, 
 and the evil I have sustained from the other, as passive and 
 helpless as a boat that drifts without oar or rudder at the 
 mercy of the winds and waves. I became a courtier, because 
 Heriot so advised it; a gamester, because Dalgarno so con- 
 trived it; an Alsatian, because Lowestoffe so willed it. What- 
 ever of good or bad has befallen me hath arisen out of the 
 agency of others, not from my own. My father's son must no 
 longer hold this facile and puerile course. Live or die, sink 
 or swim, Nigel Olifaunt, from this moment, shall owe his own 
 safety, success, and honor to his own exertions, or shall fall 
 with the credit of having at least exerted his own free agency. 
 I will write it do^vn in my tablets, in her very words — ' The 
 wise man is his own best assistant.'" 
 
 He had just put his tablets in his pocket, when the old 
 charwoman, who, to add to her efficiency, was sadly crippled 
 by rheumatism, hobbled into the room, to try if she could 
 gain a small gratification by waiting on the stranger. She 
 readily undertook to get Lord Glenvarloch's breakfast, and, 
 as there was an eating-house at the next door, she succeeded 
 in a shorter time than Nigel had augured. 
 
 As his solitary meal was finished, one of the Temple por- 
 ters, or inferior officers, Avas announced, as seeking Master 
 Grahame, on the part of his friend. Master Lowestoffe ; and, 
 being admitted by the old woman to his apartment, he de- 
 livered to Nigel a small mail-trunk, with the clothes he had 
 desired should be sent to him, and then, with more mystery, 
 put into his hand a casket, or strong-box, which he carefully 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 2o9 
 
 concealed beneath his cloak. •' I am glad to be rid on't/' 
 said the fellow, as he placed it on the table. 
 
 " "Why, it is surely not so very heavy," answered Nigel, 
 " and yon are a stout young man." 
 
 "Ay, sir," replied the fellow; "but Sampson himself 
 would not have carried such a matter safely through Alsutia, 
 had the lads of the huff known what it was. Please to look 
 into it, sir, and see all is right. I am an honest fellow, and 
 it comes safe out of my hands. How long it may remain so 
 afterwards, will depend upon your own care. I would not 
 my good name were to suffer by any after-clap." 
 
 To satisfy the scruples of the messenger. Lord Glenvarloch 
 opened the casket in his presence, and saw that his small 
 stock of money, with two or three valuable papers which it 
 contained, and particularly the original sign-manual which 
 tlie King had granted in his favor, were in the same order in 
 which he had left them. At the man's farther instance, he 
 availed himself of the writing-materials which were in the 
 casket, in order to send a line to Master Lowestoffe, declaring 
 that his property had reached him in safety. He added some 
 grateful acknowledgments for Lowestoffe's services, and, just 
 as he was sealing and delivering his billet to the messen- 
 ger, his aged landlord entered the apartment. His thread- 
 bare suit of black clothes was now somewhat better arranged 
 than they had been in the dishabille of his first appearance, 
 and his nerves and intellects seemed to be less fluttered ; for, 
 without much coughing or hesitation, he invited Nigel to 
 partake of a morning-draught of wholesome single ale, which 
 he brought in a large leathern tankard, or black-jack, carried 
 in the one hand, while the other stirred it round with a sprig 
 of rosemary, to give it, as the old man said, a flavor. 
 
 Nigel declined the courteous proffer, and intimated by his 
 manner, while he did so, that he desired no intrusion on the 
 privacy of his own apartment; which, indeed, he was the 
 more entitled to maintain, considering the cold reception he 
 had that morning met with when straying from its precincts 
 into those of his landlord. But the open casket contained 
 matter, or rather metal, so attractive to old Trapbois, tbat he 
 remained fixed like a setting-dog at a dead point, his nose 
 advanced, and one hand expanded like the lifted forepaw, by 
 which that sagacious quadruped sometimes indicates that it is 
 a hare which he has in the wind. Nigel was about to break 
 the charm which had thus arrested old Trapbois by shutting 
 tlie lid of the casket, when his attention was withdrawn from 
 him by the question of the messenger, Avho, holding out the 
 
260 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 letter, asked whether he was to leave it at Mr. Lowestoffe's 
 chambers in the Temple or carry it to the Marshalsea. 
 
 ''The Marshalsea!"* repeated Lord Glenvarloch; ''what 
 of the Marshalsea?" 
 
 " Why, sir," said the man, " the poor gentleman is laid 
 up there in lavender, because, they say, his own kind heart 
 led him to scald his fingers with another man's broth." 
 
 Nigel hastily snatched back the letter, broke the seal, 
 joined to the contents his earnest entreaty that he might be 
 instantly acquainted with the cause of his confinement, and 
 added that, if it arose out of his own unhappy affair, it would 
 be of brief duration, since he had, even before hearing of a 
 reason which so peremptorily demanded that he should sur- 
 render himself, adopted the resolution to do so, as the man- 
 liest and most proper course which his ill-fortune and impru- 
 dence had left in his own power. He therefore conjured Mr. 
 Lowestoffe to have no delicacy ujoon this score, but, since his 
 surrender was what he had determined upon as a sacrifice due 
 to his own character, that he would have the frankness to 
 mention in what manner it could be best arranged, so as to 
 extricate him, Lowestoffe, from the restraint to which the 
 writer could not but fear his friend had been subjected, on 
 account of the generous interest which he had taken in his 
 concerns. The letter concluded, that the writer would suffer 
 twenty-four hours to elapse in expectation of hearing from 
 him, and, at the end of that period, was determined to put 
 his purpose in execution. He delivered the billet to the mes- 
 senger, and, enforcing his request Avith a piece of money, 
 urged him, without a moment's delay, to convey it to the 
 hands of Master Lowestoffe. 
 
 "I — I — I — will carry it to him myself," said the old 
 usurer, " for half the consideration." 
 
 The man, who heard this attempt to take his duty and per 
 quisites over his head, lost no time in pocketing the moneyj 
 and departed on his errand as fast as he could. 
 
 " Master Trapbois," said Nigel, addressing the old man 
 somewhat impatiently, "had you any particular commands 
 for me ? " 
 
 " I — I — came to see if you rested well," answered the old 
 man ; " and — if I could do anything to serve you, on any 
 consideration." 
 
 " Sir, I thank you," said Lord Glenvarloch — " I thank 
 you ; " and, ere he could say more, a heavy footstep was heard 
 ©n the stair. 
 
 • See Note 28. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 261 
 
 " M}' God ! " exclaimed the old man, starting up. " Why, 
 Dorothy — charwoman — why, daughter — draw bolt, I say, 
 housewives — the door hath been left a-latch ! " 
 
 The door of the chamber opened Avide, and in strutted the 
 portly -bulk of the military hero whom Xigel_ had on the pre- 
 ceding evening in vain endeavored to recognize. 
 
CHAPTER XXm 
 
 SwashhucMer. Bilboe'a the word. 
 
 Pierrot. It hath been spoke too often, 
 The spell hath lost its charm. I tell thee, friend, 
 The meanest cur that trots the street will turn, 
 And snarl against your proffer'd bastinado. 
 
 Swashbuckler. 'Tis art shall do it, then; I will dose 
 the mongrels, 
 Or, in plain terms, I'll use the private knife 
 'Stead of the brandish'd falchion. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 The noble Captain Colepepper, or Peppercnll, for he was 
 called by both these names, and some others besides, liad a 
 martial and a swashing exterior, which, on the present occa- 
 sion, was rendered yet more pecnliar by a patch covering his 
 left eye and a part of the cheek. The sleeves of his thickset 
 velvet jerkin were polished and shone with grease; his buff 
 gloves liad huge tops, which reached almost to the elbow; his 
 sword-belt of the same materials extended its breadth from 
 his haunch-bone to his small ribs, and supported on the one 
 side his large black-hilted back-sword, on the other a dagger 
 of like proportions. He paid his compliments to Nigel with 
 that air of predetermined effrontery which announces that it 
 will not be repelled by any coldness of reception, asked Trap- 
 bois how he did by the familiar title of old Peter Pillory, and 
 then seizing upon the black-jack, emptied it off at a draught 
 to the health of the last and youngest freeman of Alsatia, the 
 noble and loving Master Nigel Grahame. 
 
 When he had set down the empty pitcher and drawn his 
 breath, he began to criticise the liquor which it had lately 
 contained. "Sufficient single beer, old Pillory, and, as I 
 take it, brewed at the rate of a nutshell of malt to a butt of 
 Thames — as dead as a corpse, too, and yet it went hissing 
 down my throat — bubbling, by Jove, like water upon hot iron. 
 You left us early, noble Master Grahame, but, good faith, we 
 had a carouse to your honor: we heard biitt ring hollow ere 
 we jiarted ; we were as loving as inkle-weavers ; we fought, 
 too, to finish off tlie gawdy. I bear some marks of the par- 
 son about me, you see — a note of the sermon or so, which 
 should have been addressed to my ear, but missed its mark and 
 reached my left eye. The mai' of God bears my sign-manual 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 263 
 
 too ; but the uuke made us friends again, and it cost me more 
 sack than I could carry, and all the Klienish to boot, to pledge 
 the seer in the way of love and reconciliation. But, caracco ! 
 'tis a vile old canting slave for all that, whom I will one day 
 beat out of his devil's livery into all the colors of the rainbow. 
 Basta! Said I well, old Trapbois? Where is thy daughter, 
 man? "What says she to my suit? 'Tis an honest one. AVilt 
 have a soldier for thy son-in-law, old Pillory, to mingle the 
 soul of martial honor with thy thieving, miching, petty-lar- 
 ceny blood, as men put bold brandy into muddy ale?" 
 
 " My daughter receives not company so early, noble cap- 
 tain,'' said the usurer, and concluded his speech with a dry, 
 emphatical "ugh — ugh." 
 
 "What, upon no con-sid-er-a-tion?" said the captain; 
 "and wherefore not, old Tl'uei^enny? she has not much time 
 to lose in driving her bargain, methinks," 
 
 " Captain," said Trapbois, " I was upon some little busi- 
 ness with our noble friend here. Master Nigel Green — w^ih, 
 ugh, ugh 
 
 " And you would have me gone, I warrant you ?" answered 
 the bully ; " but patience, old Pillory, thine hour is not yet 
 come, man. You see," he said, pointing to the casket, "that 
 noble Master Grahame, whom you call Green, has got the 
 * decuses ' and the ' smelts.' " 
 
 "Which you would willingly rid him of — ha! ha I — ugh, 
 ngh," answered the usurer, "if you knew how ; but, lack-a- 
 day! thou art one of those that come out for avooI and art sure 
 to go home shorn. Why now, but that I am sworn against 
 laying of wagers, I would risk some consideration that this 
 honest guest of mine sends thee home penniless, if thou dar- 
 est venture with him — ugh, ugh — at any game Avhicli gentle- 
 men play at." 
 
 " Marry, thou hast me on the hip there, thou old miserly 
 cony-catcher ! " answered the captain, taking a bale of dice 
 from the sleeve of his coat. " I must always keen company 
 with these damnable doctors, and they have made me every 
 baby's cully, and purged my purse into an atrophy; but never 
 mind, it passes the time as well as aught else. How say you. 
 Master Grahame? " 
 
 The fellow paused; but even the extremity of his impu- 
 dence could hardly withstand the cold look of utter contempt 
 with which Xigel received his proposal, returning it with a 
 simple " I only play where I know my company, and never 
 in the morning." 
 
 "Cards may be more agreeable," said Captain Colepepper; 
 
264 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " and for knowinj; your company, liere is honest old Pillory 
 will tell you Jack Colepepper plays as truly on the square as 
 e'er a man that trowledadie. Men talk of high and low dice, 
 fulhams and bristles, topping, knapping, slurring, stabbing, 
 and a hundred ways of rooking besides; but broil me like a 
 rasher of bacon, if 1 could ever learn the trick on 'em ! " 
 
 " You have got the vocabulary perfect, sir, at the least,'' 
 said Nigel, in the same cold tone. 
 
 "Yes, by mine honor have I," returned the Hector; 
 ''they are phrases that a gentleman learns about town. But 
 perhaps you would like a set at tennis, or a game at balloon; 
 we have an indifferent good court hard by here, and a set of 
 as gentleman-like blades as ever banged leather against brick 
 and mortar." 
 
 " I beg to be excused at present,'' said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 ''and to be plain, among the valuable privileges your society 
 has conferred on me, I hope I may reckon that of being j)ri- 
 vate in my own apartment when I have a mind." 
 
 "Your humble servant, sir," said the captain; "and I 
 thank you for your civility. Jack Colepepper can have enough 
 of company, and thrusts himself on no one. But perhaps 
 you will like to make a match at skittles ? " 
 
 " I am by no means that way dis]30sed," replied the young 
 nobleman. 
 
 "Or to leap a flea — run a snail — match a wherry, eh ?" 
 
 " No — I will do none of these," answered Nigel. 
 
 Here the old man, who had been watching with his little 
 peery eyes, pulled the bulky Hector by the skirt, and whis- 
 pered, " Do not vajior him the huff, it will not pass; let the 
 trout play, he will rise to the hook presently." 
 
 But the bully, confiding in his own strength, and probably 
 mistaking for timidity the patient scorn with which Nigel 
 received his proposals, incited also by the open casket, began 
 to assume a louder and more threatening tone. He drew him- 
 self up, bent his brows, assumed a look of professional ferocity, 
 and continued, " In Alsatia, look ye, a man must be neigh- 
 borly and companionable. Zouns ! sir, we would slit any 
 nose that was turned up at us honest fellows. Ay, sir, we 
 would slit it up to the gristle, though it had smelt nothing all 
 its life but musk, ambergris, and court-scented water. Eaobit 
 me, I am a soldier, and care no more for a lord than a lamp- 
 lighter ! " 
 
 " A.re you seeking a quarrel, sir?" said Nigel, calmly, 
 having in truth no desire to engage himself in a discreditable 
 broil in such a place, and with such a character. 
 
'' 'Stand off, old Pilory, let me make Scotch collops of him.'" 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 265 
 
 "Quarrel, sir !" said the captain ; "I am not seeking a 
 quarrel, though I care not how soon I find one. Only I wish 
 you to understand you must be neigliborly, that's all. What 
 if we should go over the water to the garden, and see a l)ull 
 hanked this tine morning — 'sdeath, will you do nothing ? " 
 
 " Something I am strangely tempted to do at this mo- 
 ment," said Nigel. 
 
 " Videlicet," said Colepepper, with a swaggering air, "let 
 ns hear the temptation." 
 
 " I am tempted to throw you headlong from the window, 
 unless you presently make the best of your way downstairs." 
 
 "Throw me from the window! — hell and furies!" ex- 
 claimed the captain. " I have confronted twenty crooked 
 sabres at Buda with my single rapier, and shall a chitty-faced, 
 beggarly Scots lordling speak of me and a window in the same 
 breath ? Stand off, old Pillory, let me make Scotch collops 
 of him : he dies the death ! " 
 
 " For the love of Heaven, gentlemen," exclaimed the old 
 miser, throwing himself between them, "do not break the 
 peace on any consideration ! Xoble guest, forbear the captain ; 
 he is a very Hector of Troy. Trusty Hector, forbear my 
 guest ; he is like to prove a very Achilles — ugh — ugh " 
 
 Here he was interrupted by his asthma, but, nevertheless, 
 continued to interpose his person between Colepepper, who 
 had unsheathed his whinyard, and was making vain passes at 
 his antagonist, and Xigel, who had stepped back to take his 
 sword, and now held it undrawn in his left hand. 
 
 " Make an end of this foolery, you scoundrel! " said Nigel. 
 "Do you come hither to vent your noisy oaths and your 
 bottled-up valor on me? You seem to know me, and I am 
 half ashamed to say I have at length been able to recollect 
 you ; remember the garden behind the ordinary, you dastardly 
 ruffian, and the speed with which fifty men saw you run from 
 a drawn sword. Get you gone, sir, and do not put me to the 
 vile labor of cudgelling such a cowardly rascal downstairs." 
 
 The bully's countenance grew dark as night at this un- 
 expected recognition ; for he had undoubtedly thought him- 
 self secure in his change of dress and his black patch from 
 being discovered bv a person who had seen him but once. 
 He set his teeth, clinched his hands, and it seemed as if he 
 was seeking for a moment's courage to fly upon his antagonist. 
 But his heart failed, he sheathed his sword, turned his back 
 in gloomy silence, and spoke not until he reached the door, 
 wlien. turning round, he said with a deep oath, "If I be 
 not avon'::en of vou for this insolence ere many days go by, I 
 would the gallows had my body and the devil my spirit 1 " 
 
266 WAVEKLEV NOVELS 
 
 So saying, and "with a look where dstermined spite and 
 malice made liis features savagely lieroe, though they could 
 not overcome his fear, he turned and left the house. Nigel 
 followed him as far as the gallery at the head of the staircase, 
 witli the purpose of seeing him depart, a_ d ere he returned 
 was met by Mistress Martha Trapbois, w' om the noise of the 
 quarrel had summoned from her own r faitment. He could 
 not resist saying to her in his natural ditphasure — •' I would, 
 madam, you could teach your father and his friends the lesson 
 which you had the goodness to bestow or. me this morning, 
 and prevail on them to leave me the unmolested privacy of 
 my own apartment/' 
 
 " If you came hither for quiet or retirement, young man,'' 
 answered she, " you have been advised to an evil retreat. 
 You might seek mercy in the Star Chamber, or holiness in 
 hell, with better success than quiet in Alsatia. But my 
 father shall trouble you no longer." 
 
 So saying, she entered the apartment, and, fixing her 
 eyes on the casket, she said with emphasis — " If you display 
 such a loadstone, it will draw many a steel knife to your 
 throat." 
 
 While Nigel hastily shut the casket, she addressed her 
 father, upbraiding him, with small reverence, for keeping 
 company with the cowardly, hectoring, murdering villain, 
 John Oolepepper. 
 
 " Ay — ay, child," said the old man, with the cunning leer 
 which intimated perfect satisfaction Avith his own superior 
 address, " I know — I know — ugh — but I'll cross-bite him. I 
 know them all, and I can manage them ; ay, ay — I have the 
 trick on't — ugh — ugh." 
 
 " You manage, father ! " said the austere damsel ; " you 
 will manage to have your throat cut, and that ere long. You 
 cannot hide from them your gains and your gold as formerly." 
 
 " My gains, wench ! my gold ! " said the usurer ; " alack- 
 a-day, few of these and hard got — few and hard got." 
 
 " This will not serve you, father, any longer," said she, 
 **and had not served you thus long, but that Bully Oolepep- 
 per had contrived a cheaper way of plundering your house, 
 even by means of my miserable self. But why do I speak to 
 him of all this?" she said, checking herself, and shrugging 
 her shoulders with an expression of pity which did not fall 
 much short of scorn. " He hears me not — he thinks not of 
 me. Is it not strange that the love of gathering gold should 
 survive the care to preserve both property and life?" 
 
 " Your father," said Lord Glenvarloch, who could not help 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 267 
 
 respecting the strong sense and feeling shown by this poor 
 ■woman, even amid all her rudeness and severity — "your 
 father seems to have his faculties sufficiently alert when he is 
 in the exercise of his ordinary pursuits and functions. I 
 wonder he is not sensible of the weight of your arguments.'^ 
 
 '•Xature made him a man senseless of danger, and that 
 insensibility is the best thing I have derived from him," said 
 she. *'Age has left him shrewdness enough to tread his old 
 beaten paths, but not to seek new courses. The old blind 
 horse will long continue to go its rounds in the mill, when it 
 would stumble in the open meadow." 
 
 "Daughter! — why, wench — why, houscAvife!" said the 
 old man, awakening out of some dream, in which he had been 
 sneering and chuckling in imagination, probably over a suc- 
 cessful piece of roguery — "go to chamber, wench — go to 
 chamber — draw bolts and chain — look sharp to door — let none 
 in or out but worshipful Master Grahame. I must take my 
 cloak, and go to Duke Hildebrod — ay, ay, time has been, my 
 own warrant was enough; but tn? lower we lie, the more are 
 we under the wind." 
 
 And, with his wonted chorus of muttering and coughing, 
 the old man left the apartment. His daughter stood for a 
 moment looking after him, with her usual expression of dis- 
 content and sorrow. 
 
 "You ought to persuade your father," said Nigel, "to 
 leave this evil neighborhood, if you are in reality apprehen- 
 sive for his safety." 
 
 " He would be safe in no other quarter," said the daugh- 
 ter; " I would rather the old man were dead than publicly 
 dishonored. In other quarters he would be pelted and pur- 
 sued, like an owl which ventures into sunshine. Here he was 
 safe, while his comrades could avail themselves of his talents; 
 he is now squeezed and fleeced by them on every pretence. 
 They consider him as a vessel on the strand, from which each 
 may snatch a prey; and the very Jealousy which they enter- 
 tain respecting him as a common property may perhaps in- 
 duce them to guard him from more private and daring 
 assaults." 
 
 " Still, methinks, you ought to leave this place,'' answered 
 Nigel, " since you might find a safe retreat in some distant 
 country." 
 
 "In Scotland, doubtless," said she, looking at him with a 
 sharp and suspicious eye, " and enrich strangers with our 
 rescued wealth. Ha! young man?" 
 
 " Madam, if you knew me," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you 
 would spare the suspicion impliedjn your words." 
 
268 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Who shall assure me of that?*' said Martha, sharply. 
 ** They say you are a brawler and a gamester, aud I know 
 how far these are to be trusted by the unhappy.'^ 
 
 ''They do me wrong, by Heaven! "" said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch. , 
 
 "It may be so,'' said Martha; "I am little mterested m 
 the degree of your vice or your folly; but it is plain that the 
 one or the other has conducted you hither, and that your best 
 hope of peace, safety, and happiness is to be gone, with the 
 least possible delay, from a place which is always a sty for 
 swine, and often a shambles." So saying, she left the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 There was something in the ungracious manner of this 
 female amounting almost to contempt of him she spoke to — 
 an indignity to which Glenvarloch, notwithstanding his pov- 
 erty, had not as yet been personally exppsed, and which, 
 therefore, gave him a transitory feeling of painful surprise. 
 Neither did the dark hints which Martha threw out concern- 
 ing the danger of his place of refuge sound by any means 
 agreeably to his ears. The bravest man, placed in a situation 
 in which he is surrounded by suspicious persons, and removed 
 from all counsel and assistance except those afforded by a 
 valiant heart and a strong arm, experiences a sinking of the 
 spirit, a consciousness of abandonment, which for a moment 
 chills his blood and depresses his natural gallantry of dis- 
 position. 
 
 But, if sad reflections arose in Nigel's mind, he had 
 not time to indulge them; and, if he saw little prospect ot 
 finding friends in Alsatia, he found that he was not likely 
 to be solitary for lack of visitors. 
 
 He had scarcely paced his apartment for ten minutes, en- 
 deavoring to arrange his ideas on the course which he was to 
 pursue on quitting Alsatia, Avhen he was interrupted by the 
 sovereign of the quarter, the great Duke Hildebrod himself, 
 before whose approach the bolts and chains of the miser's 
 dwelling fell, or withdrew, as of their own accord; and both 
 the folding leaves of the door were opened, that he might roll 
 himself into the house like a huge butt of liquor, a vessel to 
 which he bore a considerable outward resemblance, both in 
 size, shape, complexion, and contents. 
 
 " Good-morrow to your lordship," said the greasy pun- 
 cheon, cocking his single eye, and rolling it upon Nigel with 
 a singular expression of familiar impudence; while his grim 
 bull-dog, which was close at his heels, made a kind of gurgling 
 in his throat, as if saluting, in similar fashion, a starved cat. 
 
THE FORTl'yES OF NIGEL 269 
 
 the only living tiling in Trapbois's house which we have not 
 yet enumerated. ;md which had liown up to the top of the 
 tester, where she stood clutching and grinning at the mastiff, 
 whose greeting she accepted with as much good-will as Xigel 
 bestowed on tliat of the dog's master. 
 
 "Peace, Belziel — d — n thee, peace!" said Duke Hilde- 
 brod. " Be.ists and fools will be meddling, my lord." 
 
 " I thougiit, sir," answered Xigel. witli as much haughti- 
 ness as was consistent Avith tlie cool distance which he desired 
 to preserve — "I thought I had told you my name at present 
 was Xigel Grahame." 
 
 His eminence of Whitefriars on this burst out into a loud, 
 chuckling, impudent laugh, repeating tiie word till his voice 
 v.Ms almost inarticulate, "Xiggle Green — Xiggle Green — 
 X'iggle Green! Why, my lord, you Avould be queered in the 
 drinking of a penny pot of Malmsey, if you cry before you 
 are touched. Why, you have told me the secret even now, 
 had I not had a shrewd guess of it before. Why, Master 
 Xigel, since that is the word, I only called you ' mv lord ' 
 because we made you a peer of Alsatia last night, when tiie 
 sack was predominant. How you look now! Ha! ha! ha! " 
 
 Xigel, indeed, conscious that he had unnecessarily be- 
 trayed himself, replied hastily, '•' He was much obliged to 
 him for the honors conferred, but did not propose to remain 
 in the sanctuary long enough to enjoy them." 
 
 " Why, that may be as you will, an you will walk bv wise 
 counsel," answered the ducal porpoise ; and, although Xigel 
 remained standing, in hopes to accelerate his guest's departure, 
 he threw himself into one of the old tapestry-backed easy- 
 cliairs, which cracked under his weight, and began to call for 
 old Trapbois. 
 
 The crone of all work appearing instead of her master, the 
 duke cursed her for a careless jade, to let a strange gentleman, 
 and a brave guest, go without his morning's draught. 
 
 "I never take one, sir," said Glenvarloch. 
 
 "Time to begin — time to begin," answered the duke. 
 '•'Here, you old refuse of Sathan, go to our palace and fetch 
 Lord Green's morning-draught. Let us see — what sliall it be, 
 I'ly lord ? — a humming double pot of ale. with a roasted crab 
 dancing in it like a wherry above bridge ? Or, hum — ay, 
 young men are sweet-toothed — a quart of burnt sack, with 
 sugar and spice ? — good against the fogs. Or, what say you 
 to sipping a gill of right distilled waters ? Come, we will 
 have them all, and )^ou shall take your choice. Here, you 
 Jezebel, let Tim send the ale, and the sack, and the nipper- 
 
270 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 kin of double-distilled, with a bit of diet-loaf, or some such 
 trinket, and score it to the new-comer.-" 
 
 (ilenvarloch, bethinking himself that it might be as well 
 to endure tliis fellow's insolence for a brief season as to get 
 into farther discreditable quarrels, suffered him to take his 
 own way, without interruption, only observing, "You make 
 yourself at home, sir, in my apartment ; but, for the time, 
 you may use your pleasure. Meanwhile, I would fain knoAv 
 what has procured me the honor of this unexjDected visit ? " 
 
 "You shall know that when old Deb has brought the 
 liquor ; I never speak of business dry-lipped. Why, how she 
 drumbles ; I warrant she stops to take a sip on the road, and 
 then you will think you have had unchristian measure. In 
 the mean wliile, look at that dog there — look Belzebub in the 
 face, and tell me if you ever saw a sweeter beast — never flew 
 but at head in his life." 
 
 And, after this congenial panegyric, he was proceeding 
 with a tale of a dog and a bull, which threatened to be some- 
 what of the longest, when he was interrupted by the return of 
 the old crone, and two of his own tapsters, bearing the various 
 kinds of drinkables which he had demanded, and which prob- 
 ably was the only species of interruption he would have en- 
 dured with equanimity. 
 
 When the cups and cans were duly arranged upon the 
 table, and when Deborah, whom the ducal generosity honored 
 with a penny farthing in the way of gratuity, had withdrawn 
 with her satellites, the worthy potentate, having first slightly 
 invited Lord Glenvarloch to partake of the liquor which he 
 was to pay for, and after having observed that, excepting 
 three poached eggs, a pint of bastard, and a cup of clary, he 
 was fasting from everything but sin, set himself seriously to 
 reinforce the radical moisture. Glenvarloch had seen Scottish 
 lairds and Dutch burgomasters at their potations; but their 
 exploits, though each might be termed a thirsty generation, 
 were nothing to those of Duke Hildebrod, who seemed. a,n 
 absolute sandbed, capable of absorbing any given quantity of 
 liquid, without being either vivified or overflowed. He drank 
 off the ale to quench a thirst which, as he said, kept him in a 
 fever from morning to night, and night to morning; tippled 
 off the sack to correct the crudity of the ale; sent the sjiirits 
 after the sack to keejD all quiet, and then declared that, prob- 
 ably, he should not taste liquor till post meridiem, unless it 
 was in compliment to some especial friend. Finally, he inti- 
 mated that he v.'as ready to proceed on the business which 
 brought him from home so early, a proposition which Nigel 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 271 
 
 readily received, though lie could not help suspecting that the 
 most important purpose of Duke Hildebrod's visit was already 
 transacted. 
 
 In this, however. Lord Glenvarloch proved to be mistaken. 
 Hildebrod, before opening what he had to sa}', nuide an ac- 
 curate survey of the apartment, laying, frorn time to time, 
 his finger on his nose, and winking on Nigel with his single 
 eye, w^liile he opened and shut the doors, lifted the tapestry, 
 which concealed, in one or two places, the dilapidation of time 
 upon the wainscoted walls, peeped into closets, and, finally, 
 looked under the bed, to assure himself that the coast was 
 clear of listeners and interlopers. He then resumed his seat, 
 and beckoned confidentially to Xigel to draw his chair close 
 to him. 
 
 " I am well as I am, ^Master Hildebrod, ^^ replied the 
 3-oung lord, little disposed to encourage the familiarity wliich 
 the man endeavored to fix on him; but the undismayed duke 
 proceeded as follows: 
 
 " You shall pardon me, my lord — and I now give you the 
 title right seriously — if I remind you that our waters may be 
 watched; for though oklTrapbois be as deaf as St. Paul'si^yet 
 his daughter has sharp ears, and sharp eyes enough, and it is 
 of them that it is my business to si3eak.'" 
 
 " Say away, then, sir," said Xigel, edging his chair some- 
 what closer to the quicksand, "although I cannot conceive 
 what business I have either with mine host or his daugliter." 
 
 "VsQ will see that in the tAvinkling of a quart-pot," an- 
 swered the gracious duke ; "and first, my lord, you must not 
 think to dance in a net before old Jack Hildebrod. tliat has 
 thrice your years o'er his head, and Avas born, like King Rich- 
 ard, with all his eye-teeth ready cut." 
 
 " Well, sir, go on," said Xigel. 
 
 " Why, then, my lord, I presume to say that, if you are, 
 as I believe you are, that Lord Glenvarloch whom all the 
 world talk of — the Scotch gallant that has spent all, to a thin 
 cloak and alight purse — be not moved, my lord, it is so noised 
 of you — men call you the sparrow-hawk, who will fly at all — 
 ay, were it in the very Park. Be not moved, my lord." 
 
 "I am ashamed, sirrah," replied Glenvarloch, "that you 
 should have power to move me by your insolence ; but beware 
 — and, if you indeed guess who I am, consider how long I may 
 be able to endure your tone of insolent familiarity." 
 
 " I crave pardon, my lord," said Hildebrod, ■nnth a sullen 
 yet apologetic look ; " I meant no harm in speaking my poor 
 mind. I know not what honor there may be in being famil- 
 
272 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 iar ^vith your lordship, but I judge there is httlo safety, for 
 Lowestoffe is hiid up in lavender only for having shown you 
 the way into Alsatia ; and so, what is to come of those who 
 niaintam you when you are here, or whetlier they will get 
 most lienor or most trouble by doing so, I leave with your 
 lordship's better judgment." 
 
 " I will bring no one into trouble on my account," said 
 Lord Glenvarloeh. '' I will leave Whitefriars to-morrow. 
 Nay, by Heaven, I will leave it this day." 
 
 "'' You will have more wit in your anger, I trust," said 
 Duke llildebrod ; "listen first to what I have to say to you, 
 and, if honest Jack Hildebrod puts you not in the way of 
 nicking them all, may he never cast doublets or gull a green- 
 horn again! And so, my lord, in plain words, you must wap 
 and win." 
 
 " Your words must be still plainer before I can under- 
 stand them," said Nigel. 
 
 " What the devil — a gamester, one who deals with the 
 devil's bones and the doctors, and not understand peddler's 
 French! Nay, then, I must speak plain English, and that's 
 the simpleton's tongue." 
 
 " Speak, then, sir," said Nigel ; '• and I pray you be brief, 
 for I have little more time to bestow^ on you." 
 
 " Well, then, my lord, to be brief, as you and the lawyers 
 call it — I understand you have an estate in the North, which 
 changes masters for want of the redeeming ready. Ay, you 
 start, but you cannot dance in a net before me, as I said be- 
 fore; and so the King runs the frowning humor on you, and 
 the court vapors you the go-by, and the Prince scowls at you 
 from under his cap, and the favorite serves you out the puck- 
 ered brow and the cold shoulder, and the favorite's favor- 
 ite " 
 
 "To go no farther, sir," interrupted Nigel, " suppose all 
 this true, and what follows?" 
 
 "What follows?" returned Duke Hildebrod. "Marry, 
 this follows, that you will owe good deed, as well as good will, 
 to him who shall put you in the way to walk with your beaver 
 cocked in the presence, as an ye were Earl of Kildare, bully 
 the courtiers, meet the Prince's blighting look with a bold 
 brow, confront the favorite, baffle his deputy, and " 
 
 "This is all w^ell," said Nigel; "but how is it to be ao- 
 complished ? " 
 
 " By making thee a prince of Peru, my lord of the north- 
 ern latitudes — propping thine old castle with ingots — fertil- 
 izing thy failing fortunes with gold dust; it shall but cost 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 273 
 
 tliee to put tliy baron's coronet for a day or so on the brows of 
 an old Caduca here, the man's daughter of the house, and 
 tliou art master of a mass of treasure that shall do all I have 
 said for thee, and " 
 
 " What, you would have me marry this old gentlewoman 
 here, the daughter of mine host?" said Nigel, surprised and 
 angry, yet unable to suppress some desire to laugh. 
 
 *'Xay, my lord, I would have you marry fifty thousand 
 good sterling pounds, for that, and better, hath old Trapbois 
 hoarded; and thou shalt do a deed of mercy in it to the old 
 man, who will lose his golden smelts in some worse way, for 
 now that he is well-nigh past his day of work, his day of pay- 
 ment is like to follow." 
 
 "■ Truly, this is a most courteous offer," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch; "but may I pray of your candor, most noble duke, 
 to tell me why you dispose of a ward of so much wealth on a 
 stranger like me, who may leave you to-morrow ? " 
 
 "In sooth, my lord," said the duke, "that question 
 smacks more of the wit of Beaujeu's ordinary than any word 
 I have yet heasd your lordship speak, and reason it is you 
 should be answered. Touching my peers, it is but necessary 
 to say, that Mistress Martha Trapbois will none of them, 
 svhether clerical oi laic. The captain hath asked her, so hath 
 the parson, but she will none of them: she looks higher than 
 either, and is, to say truth, a woman of sense, and so forth, 
 too profound, und of spirit something too high, to put up 
 with greasy buff or rusty prunella. For ourselves, we need 
 but hint that we have a consort in the land of the living, and, 
 wluit is more to purpose, Mrs. Martha knows it. So, as she 
 will not face her kersey hood save with a quality binding, you, 
 my lord, must be the man, and must carry off fifty thousand 
 decuses, the spoils of five thousand bullies, cutters, and spend- 
 thrifts, always deducting from the main sum some five 
 thousand pounds for our princely advice and countenance, 
 without which, as matters stand in Alsatia, you would find 
 it hard to win the plate." 
 
 "But has your Avisdom considered, sir," rejalied Glenvar- 
 loch, " how this wedlock can serve me in my present emer- 
 gence?" 
 
 "As for that, my lord," said Duke Hildebrod, " if, with 
 forty or fifty thousand pounds in your pouch, you cannot 
 save yourself, you will deserve to lose your head for your 
 folly, and your hand for being close-fisted." 
 
 " But, since your goodness has taken my matters into 
 such serious consideration," continued Nigel, who conceived 
 
 18 
 
274 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 there was no prudence in breaking with a man who, in his 
 way, meant him favor rather than offence, *' perhaps you may 
 be able to tell me how my kindred will be likely to receive 
 such a bride as you recommend to me?" 
 
 "Touching that matter, my lord, I have always heard 
 your countrymen knew as well as other folk on which side 
 their bread was buttered. And, truly, speaking from report, 
 I know no place where fifty thousand pounds — fifty thousand 
 pounds, I say — will make a woman more welcome than it is 
 likely to do in your ancient kingdom. And, truly, saving 
 the slight twist m her shoulder, Mrs. Martha Trapbois is a 
 person of very awful and majestic appearance, and may, for 
 aught I know, be come of better blood than any one wots of; 
 for old Trapbois looks not over like to be her father, and her 
 mother was a generous, liberal sort of a woman." 
 
 " I am afraid," answered Nigel, " that chance is rather too 
 vague to assure her a gracious reception into an honorable 
 house." 
 
 ''Why, then, my lord," replied Hildebrod, "I think it 
 like she will be even with them ; for I will venture to say, she 
 has as much ill-nature as will make her a match for your 
 whole clan." 
 
 " That may inconvenience me a little," replied Nigel. 
 
 " Not a whit — not a whit," said the duke, fertile in ex- 
 pedients ; "if she should become rather intolerable, which is 
 not unlikely, your honorable house, which I presume to be a 
 castle, hath, doubtless, both turrets and dungeons, and ye may 
 bestow your bonny bride in either the one or the other, and 
 then you know you will be out of hearing of her tongue, and 
 she will be either above or below the contempt of your 
 friends." 
 
 "It is sagely counselled, most equitable sir," replied 
 Nigel, "and such restraint would be a fit meed for her folly 
 that gave me any power over her." 
 
 " You entertain the project then, my lord ?" said Duke 
 Hildebrod. 
 
 "I must turn it in my mind for twenty-four hours," said 
 Nigel ; " and I will pray you so to order matters that I be not 
 farther interrupted by any visitors." 
 
 " We will utter an edict to secure your privacy," said the 
 duke ; " and you do not think," he added, lowering his voice 
 to a confidential whisper, " that ten thousand is too much to 
 pay to the sovereign in name of wardship ? " 
 
 "Ten thousand!" said Lord Glenvarloch ; "why, you 
 said five thousand but now." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 275 
 
 " Aha 1 art avised of that ? " said the duke, touching the 
 side of his nose with his finger ; " nay, if you have marked 
 rae so closely, you are thinking on the case more nearly than 
 I believed till you trapped me. Well— well, we will not 
 quarrel about the consideration, as old Trapbois would call 
 it ; do you win and wear the dame ; it will be no hard matter 
 with your tace and figure, and I will take care that no one 
 interrupts you. I will have an edict from the senate as soon 
 as they meet for their meridiem.'' 
 
 So saying, Duke Hildebrod took his leave. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 This is the time. Heaven's maiden sentinel 
 Hath quitted her high watch, the lesser spangles 
 Are paling one by one; give me the ladder 
 And the short lever; bid Anthony- 
 Keep with his carabine the wicket-gate; 
 And do thou bare thy knife and follow me. 
 For we will in and do it. Darkness like this 
 Is dawning of our fortunes. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse 
 was an irresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who 
 would have thus connected him with age, ugliness, and ill- 
 temper; but his next thought was pity tor the unfortunate 
 father and daughter, who, being the only persons possessed of 
 wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like a wreck on the 
 sea-shore of a barbarous country, only secured from plunder 
 for the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among whom it 
 had been cast. Neither could he help being conscious that 
 his own residence here was upon conditions equally precarious, 
 and that he was considered by the Alsatians in the same light 
 of a godsend on the Cornish coast, or a sickly but wealthy 
 caravan travelling through the wilds of Africa, and emphati- 
 cally termed by" the nations of despoilers through whose 
 regions it passes dummalafong , which signifies a thing given 
 to be devoured — a common prey to all men. 
 
 Nigel had already formed his own plan to extricate him- 
 self, at whatever risk, from his perilous and degrading situa- 
 tion; and, in order that he might carry it into instant execu- 
 tion, he only awaited the return of Lowestoffe's messenger. 
 He expected him, however, in vain, and could only amuse 
 liimself by looking through such parts of his baggage as had 
 been sent to him from his former lodgings, in order to select 
 a small packet of the most necessary articles to take with him, 
 in the event of his quitting his lodgings secretly and suddenly, 
 as speed and privacy would, he foresaw, be particularly neces- 
 sary, if he meant to obtain an interview with the Kine;, which 
 was the course his spirit and his interest alike determined him 
 to pursue. 
 
 While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly to his satis- 
 faction, that Master Lowestoffe had transmitted not only his 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 277 
 
 rapier and poniard, bnt a pair of pistols, which he had used 
 in travelling, of a smaller and more convenient size than the 
 large petronels, or horse pistols, which were then in common 
 use, as being made for wearing at the girdle or in the pockets. 
 Next to having stout and friendly comrades, a man is chiefly 
 emboldened by finding himself well armed in case of need, 
 and Nigel, avIio had thought with some anxiety on the hazard 
 of trusting his life, if attacked, to the protection of the 
 clumsy weapon with which Lowestolfe had equipped him, in 
 order to complete his disguise, felt an emotion of confidence 
 approaching to triumph as, drawing his own good and well- 
 tried rapier, he wiped it with his handkerchief, examined its 
 point, bent it once or twice against the ground to prove its 
 well-kno^\ni metal, and finally replaced it in the scabbard, the 
 more hastily, that he heard a tap at the door of his chaml)er, 
 and had no mind to be found vaporing in the apartment with 
 his sword drawn. 
 
 It was his old host who entered, to tell him with many 
 cringes that the price of his apartment was to be a crown per 
 diem; and that, according to the custom of "W'hitefriars, the 
 rent was always payable per advance, although he never scru- 
 pled to let the money lie till a Aveek or fortnight, or even a 
 month, in the hands of any honorable guest like ;Muster 
 Grahame, always upon some reasonable consideration for the 
 use. Nigel got rid of the old dotard's intrusion by throA\ing 
 down two pieces of gold, and requesting theaccomnicdation 
 of his present apartment for eight days, adding, however, he 
 did not think he should tarry so long. 
 
 The miser, with a sparkling eye and a trembling hand, 
 clutched fast the proffered coin, and, having balanced the 
 pieces with exquisite pleasure on the extremity of his withered 
 finger, began almost instantly to show that not even the pos- 
 session of gold can gratify for more than an instant the very 
 heart that is most eager in the pursuit of it. First, the pieces 
 might be light; with hasty hand he drew a small pair of 
 scales from his bosom and weighed them, first together, then 
 separately, and smiled with glee as he saw them attain the 
 due depression in the balance — a circumstance which might 
 add to his profits, if it were true, as was currently reported, 
 that little of the gold coinage was current in Alsatia in a per- 
 fect state, and that none ever left the sanctuary in that 
 condition. 
 
 Another fear then occurred to trouble the old miser's 
 pleasure. He had just been able to comprehend that Nigel 
 intended to leave the Friars sooner than the arrival of the term 
 
278 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 for which he had deposited the rent. This might imply an 
 expectation of refunding, which, as a Scotch wag said, of all 
 species of funding, jumped least with the old gentleman's 
 iiunior. lie was beginning to enter a hypotlietical caveat 
 on this subject, and to quote several reasons why no part of 
 the money once consigned as room-rent could be repaid back 
 on any pretence, without great hardship to the landlord, when 
 Nigel, growing impatient, told him that the money was his 
 absolutely, and without any intention on his part of resuming 
 any of it; all he asked in return was the liberty of enjoying 
 in private the apartment he had paid for. Old Trapbois, 
 who had still at liis tongue's end much of the smooth lan- 
 guage by which, in his time, he had hastened the ruin of 
 many a young spendthrift, began to launch out upon the 
 noble and generous disposition of his new guest, until Nigel, 
 growing impatient, took the old gentleman by the hand, and 
 gently, yet irresistibly, leading him to the door of his cham- 
 ber, put him out, but with such a decent and moderate exer- 
 tion of his superior strength as to render the action in no 
 shape indecorous, and, fastening the door, began to do that 
 for liis pistols which he had done for his favorite sword, 
 examining with care the flints and locks, and reviewing the 
 state of his small provision of ammunition. 
 
 In this operation he was a second time interrupted by a 
 knocking at his door; he called upon the person to enter, hav- 
 ing no doubt that it was Lowestoffe's messenger at length ar- 
 rived. It was, however, the ungracious daughter of old Trap- 
 bois, who, muttering something about her father's mistake, 
 laid down upon the table one of the pieces of gold which Nigel 
 had just given to him, saying, tliat what she retained was the 
 full rent for the term he had specified. Nigel replied, he had 
 paid the money, and had no desire to receive it again. 
 
 '' Do as you will with it, then," replied his hostess, '^for 
 there it lies, and shall lie for me. If you are fool enough to 
 pay more than is reason, my father shall not be knave enough 
 to take it." 
 
 *'But your father, mistress," said Nigel — "your father 
 told me " 
 
 " Oh, my father — my father," said she, interrupting him— 
 ^^my father managed these affairs while he was able; I manage 
 them now, and that may in the long run be as well for both 
 of us." 
 
 She then looked on the table, and observed the weapons. 
 
 " You have arms, I see," she said ; " do you know how to 
 use them ? " 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 279 
 
 " I should do so, mistress," replied Nigel, " for it has 
 been my occupation." 
 
 " You are a soldier, then ?" she demanded. 
 
 *' No farther as yet tlian as every gentleman of my coun- 
 try is a soldier." 
 
 " Ay, that is your point of honor — to cut the throats of 
 tlie poor — a proper gentlemanlike occupation for those who 
 should protect them ! " 
 
 *'' I do not deal in cutting throats, mistress," replied Nigel ; 
 '•' but I carry arms to defend myself, and my country if it 
 needs me." 
 
 " Ay," replied Martha, " it is fairly worded ; but men say 
 you are as prompt as others in petty brawls, where neither 
 your safety nor your country is in hazard ; and that had it 
 not been so you Avould not liavebeen in the sanctuary to-day." 
 
 " Mistress," returned Nigel, "I should labor in vain to 
 make you understand that a man's honor, Avhich is, or should 
 be, dearer to him than his life, may often call on and compel 
 us to hazard our own lives, or those of others, on what would 
 otherwise seem trifling contingencies." 
 
 " God's law says naught of that," said the female : " I 
 have only read tliere that * Thou slialt not kill.' But I have 
 neither time nor inclination to preacli to you ; you will find 
 enough figliting here if you like it, and well if it come not to 
 seek you when you are least prepared. Farewell for tlie 
 present ; the charwoman will execute your commands for 
 your meals." 
 
 She left the room, just as Nigel, provoked at her assuming 
 a superior tone of judgment and of censure, was about to be 
 so superfluous as to enter into a dispute with an old pawn- 
 broker's daughter on the subject of the point of honor. He 
 smiled at himself for the folly into which the spirit of self- 
 vindication had so nearly hurried him. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch then applied to old Deborah the char- 
 woman, by whose intermediation he was provided with a 
 tolerably decent dinner ; and tlie only embarrassment which 
 he experienced was from the almost forcible entry of the old 
 dotard, his landlord, who insisted upon giving his assistance 
 at laying the cloth. Nigel had some difliculty to prevent him 
 from displacing his arms and some papers which were lying 
 on the small table at which he had been sitting ; and nothing 
 short of a stern and positive injunction to the contrary could 
 compel him to use anotlier board, though there were two in 
 the room, for the purpose of laying the cloth. 
 
 Having: at length obliged him to relinquish his purpose. 
 
280 VVAVERLEY NOVELL 
 
 he could not help observing that the eyes of the old dotard 
 seemed still anxiously tixeil upon the small table on which 
 lay his sword and i)istols; and that, amid all the little duties 
 which he seemed olliciously anxious to render to his guest, he 
 took every opportunity of looking towards and approaching 
 these objects of his attention. At length, when Trapbois 
 thought he had completely avoided the notice of his guest, 
 Nigel, through the observation of one of the cracked mirrors, 
 on which channel of communication the old man had not cal- 
 culated, beheld him actually extend his hand towards the 
 table in question, lie thought it unnecessary to use farther 
 ceremony, but telling his landlord, in a stern voice, that he 
 permitted no one to touch his arms, he commanded him to 
 leave the apartment. The old usurer commenced a maun- 
 dering sort of apology, in which all that Nigel distinctly ap- 
 prehended was a frequent rei^etition of the word " consider- 
 ation, '' and which did not seem to him to require any other 
 answer than a reiteration of his command to him to leave the 
 apartment, upon pain of Avorse consequences. 
 
 The ancient Hebe who acted as Lord Glenvarloch^s cup- 
 bearer took his part against the intrusion of the still more 
 antiquated Ganymede, and insisted on old Trapbois leaving 
 the room instantly, menacing him at the same time with her 
 mistress's displeasure if he remained there any longer. The 
 old man seemed more under petticoat government than any 
 other, for the threat of the charwoman produced greater effect 
 upon him than the more formidable displeasure of Nigel. He 
 withdrew grumbling and muttering, and Lord Glenvarloch 
 heard him bar a large door at the nearer end of the gallery, 
 which served as a division betwixt the other parts of the ex- 
 tensive mansion and the apartment occupied by his guest, 
 which, as the reader is aware, had its access from the landing- 
 place at the head of the grand staircase. 
 
 Nigel accejDted the careful sound of the bolts and bars as 
 they were severally drawn by the trembling hand of old Trap- 
 bois, as an omen that the senior did not mean again to revisit 
 him in the course of the evening, and heartily rejoiced that he 
 was at length to be left to uninterrupted solitude. 
 
 The old woman asked if there was aught else to be 
 done for his accommodation ; and, indeed, it had hitherto 
 seemed as if the pleasure of serving him, or more prop- 
 erly the reward which she expected, had renewed her youth 
 and activity. Nigel desired to have candles, to have a fire 
 lighted in his apartment, and a few fagots placed beside it, 
 that he might feed it from time to time, as he began to feel 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL ZoL 
 
 the chilly effects of the damp and low situation of the house, 
 close as it Avas to tlie Thames. But while the old woman was 
 absent upon his errand, he began to think in wliat Avay he 
 should pass the long solitary evening with which he was 
 threatened. 
 
 His own reflections promised to Nigel little amusement, 
 and less applause. He had considered his own perilous situ- 
 ation in every light in which it could be viewed, and foresaw 
 as little utility as comfort in resuming the survey. To divert 
 the current of his ideas, books were, of course, the readiest 
 resource ; and although, like most of us, Nigel had, in his 
 time, sauntered though large libraries, and even spent a long 
 time there without greatly disturbing their learned contents, 
 he was now in a situation where the possession of a volume, 
 even of very inferior merit, becomes a real treasure. The old 
 houscAvife returned shortly afterwards with fagots, and some 
 pieces of half-burnt wax-candles, the perquisites, probably, 
 real or usurped, of some experienced groom of the chambers, 
 two of which she placed in large brass candlesticks, of differ- 
 ent sliapes and patterns, and laid the others on the table, that 
 Nigel might renew them from time to time as they burnt to 
 the socket. She heard with interest Lord Glenvarloch's re- 
 quest to have a book — any sort of book — to pass away the 
 night withal, and returned for answer, that she knew of no 
 other books in the house than her young mistress's (as she al- 
 ways denominated Mistress Martha Trapbois) Bible, which 
 the owner would not lend ; and her master's Whetstone of 
 Witte, being the second jxirt of Arithmetic, hij Rohert Record, 
 tvith the Cossihe Practice and Ride of Eciuation, which prom- 
 ising volume Nigel declined to borrow. Slie offered, how- 
 ever, to bring him some books from Duke Hildebrod — ''who 
 sometimes, good gentleman, gave a glance at a book when the 
 state affairs of Alsatia left him as much leisure." 
 
 Nigel embraced the proposal, and his unwearied Iris scut- 
 tled away on this second embassy. She returned in a short 
 time with a tattered quarto volume under her arm, and a 
 pottle of sack in her hand ; for the duke, judging that mere 
 reading was dry Avork, had sent the wine by way of sauce to 
 help it down, not forgetting to add the price in the morning's 
 score which he had already run up against the stranger in the 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Nigel seized on the book, and did not refuse the wine, 
 thinking that a glass or tAvo, as it really proved to be of good 
 quality, Avould be no bad interlude to his studies. He dis- 
 missed with thanks and assurance of reward the poor old 
 
282 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 drudge who had been so zealous in his service ; trimmed hia 
 fire and candles, and placed the easiest of the old arm-chairs 
 in a convenient posture betwixt the fire and the table at which 
 he had dined, and which now supported the measure of sack 
 and the lights ; and thus accompanying his studies with such 
 luxurious appliances as were in his power, he began to examine 
 the only volume with which the ducal library of Alsatia had 
 been able to supply him. 
 
 The contents, though of a kind generally interesting, were 
 not well calculated to dispel the gloom by which he was sur- 
 rounded. The book was entitled God's Revenge agamsi 
 Muriher* — not, as the bibliomaniacal reader may easily con- 
 jecture, the work which Reynolds published under that im- 
 Eosing name, but one of a much earlier date, printed and sold 
 y old Wolfe ; and which, could a copy now be found, would 
 sell for much more than its weight in gold. 
 
 Nigel had soon enough of the doleful tales which the book 
 contains, and attempted one or two modes of killing the 
 evening. He looked out at window, but the night was rainy, 
 with gusts of wind ; he tried to coax the fire, but the fagots 
 were green, and smoked without ' burning ; and as he was 
 naturally temperate, he felt his blood somewhat heated by the 
 canary sack which he had already drunk, and had no farther 
 inclination to that pastime. He next attempted to compose 
 a memorial addressed to the King, in which he set forth his 
 case and his grievances ; but, speedily stung with the idea 
 that his supplication would be treated with scorn, he flung 
 the scroll into the fire, and, in a sort of desperation, resumed 
 the book which he had laid aside. 
 
 Nigel became more interested in the volume at the second 
 than at the first attempt which he made to peruse it. The 
 narratives, strange and shocking as they were to human feel- 
 ing, possessed yet the interest of sorcery or of fascination, 
 which rivets the attention by its awakening horrors. Much 
 was told of the strange and horrible acts of blood by which 
 men, setting nature and humanity alike at defiance, had, for 
 the thirst of revenge, the lust of gold, or the cravings of 
 irregular ambition, broken into the tabernacle of life. Yet 
 more surprising and mysterious tales were recounted of the 
 mode in which such deeds of blood had come to be discovered 
 and revenged. Animals — irrational animals — had told the 
 secret, and birds of the air had carried the matter. The ele- 
 ments had seemed to betray the deed which had polluted 
 them : earth had ceased to support the murderer's steps, fire 
 
 ♦See Note 89. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 283 
 
 to warm his frozen limbs, water to refresh his parched lips, 
 air to relieve his gasping lungs. All, in short, bore evidence 
 to the homicide's guilt. In other circumstances, the crimi- 
 nal's own awakened conscience pursued and brought him to 
 justice; and in some narratives the grave was said to have 
 yawned, that the ghost of the sufferer might call for revenge. 
 
 It was now wearing late in the night, and the book was 
 still in Nigel's hands, when the tapestry which hung behind 
 him flapped against the wall, and the wind produced by its 
 motion waved the flame of the candles by which he was reading. 
 Xigel started and turned round, in that excited and irritated 
 state of mind which arose from the nature of his studies, 
 especially at a period when a certain degree of superstition 
 was inculcated as a point of religious faith. It was not with- 
 out emotion that he saw the bloodless countenance, meagre 
 form, and ghastly aspect of old Trapbois, once more in the 
 very act of extending his withered hand towards the table 
 which supported his arms. Convinced by this untimely 
 apparition that something evil was meditated towards him, 
 Nigel sprang up, seized his sword, drew it, and placing it at 
 the old man's breast, demanded of him what he did in his 
 apartment at so untimely an hour. Trapbois shoAved neither 
 fear nor surprise, and only answered by some imperfect ex- 
 pressions, intimating that he would part with his life rather 
 than with his proi^erty; and Lord Glenvarloch, strangely 
 embarrassed, knew not Avhat to think of the intruder's mo- 
 tives, and still less how to get rid of him. As he again tried 
 the means of intimidation, he was surprised by a second 
 apparition from behind the tapestry in the person of the 
 daughter of Trapbois, bearing a lamp in her hand. She also 
 seemed to possess her father's insensibility to danger, for, 
 coming close to Nigel, she pushed aside impetuously his 
 naked sword, and even attempted to take it out of his hand. 
 
 '' For shame," she said, " your sword on a man of eighty 
 years and more! This the honor of a Scottish gentleman! 
 Give it to me to make a spindle of." 
 
 '^ Stand back," said Nigel. " I mean your father no in- 
 jury; but I luill know what has caused him to prowl this 
 whole day, and even at this late hour of night, around my 
 arms." 
 
 ''Your arms!" repeated she; "alas! young man, the 
 whole arms in the Tower of London are of little value to 
 him, in comparison of this miserable piece of gold which I 
 left this morning on the table of a youn^ spendthrift, too 
 careless to put what belonged to him into his own purse." 
 
284 WAVFRLEY NOVELS 
 
 So saying, she showed the piece of gold, which, still re- 
 maining on the table where she left it, had been the bait that 
 attracted old Trapbois so frequently to the spot; and which, 
 even in the silence of the night, had so dwelt on his imagina- 
 tion, that he had made use of a private passage long disused 
 to enter his guest's apartment, in order to possess himself of 
 the treasure during his slumbers. He now exclaimed, at the 
 highest tones of his cracked and feeble voice — 
 
 "It is mine — it is mine! He gave it to me for a consid- 
 eration. I will die ere I part with my property ! " 
 
 "It is indeed his own, mistress," said Nigel, "and I do 
 entreat you to restore it to the person on whom I have be- 
 stowed it, and let me have my apartment in quiet.''' 
 
 " I will account with you for it, then," said the maiden, 
 reluctantly giving to her father the morsel of Mammon, on 
 which he darted as if his bony fingers had been the talons of 
 a hawk seizing its prey; and then making a contented mut- 
 tering and mumbling, like an old dog after he has been fed, 
 and just when he is wheeling himself thrice round for the 
 purpose of lying down, he followed his daughter behind the 
 tapestry, through a little sliding-door, which was perceived 
 when the hangings were drawn apart. 
 
 " This shall be properly fastened to-morrow," said the 
 daughter to Nigel, speaking in such a tone that her father, 
 deaf, and engrossed by his acquisition, could not hear her; 
 "to-night I will continue to watch him closely. I wish you 
 good repose." 
 
 These few words, pronounced in a tone of more civility 
 than she had yet made use of towards her lodger, contained a 
 wish which was not to be accomplished, although her guest, 
 presently after her departure, retired to bed. 
 
 There was a slight fever in Nigel's blood, occasioned by 
 the various events of the evening, which put him, as the 
 phrase is, beside his rest. Perplexing and painful thoughts 
 rolled on his mind like a troubled stream, and the more he 
 labored to hill himself to slumber, the farther he seemed from 
 attaining his object. He tried all the resources common in 
 such cases: kept counting from one to a thousand, until his 
 head was giddy; he watched the embers of the wood fire till 
 his eyes were dazzled; he listened to the dull moaning of the 
 wind, the swinging and creaking of signs which projected 
 from the houses, and the baying of here and there a homeless 
 dog, till his very ear was weary. 
 
 Suddenly, however, amid this monotony, came a sound 
 which startled him at once. It was a female shriek. He sat 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 285 
 
 np in his bed to listen, then rememhered he was in Alsatia, 
 where brawls of every sort were current among tlie unruly 
 inhabitants. But another scream, and anotlier, and another, 
 succeeded so close, that he was certain, though the noise was 
 remote and sounded stifled, it must be in the same house with 
 himself. 
 
 Nigel jumped up hastily, pnt on a part of his clothes, 
 seized his sword and pistols, and ran to the door of his 
 chamber. Here he plainly heard the screams redoubled, and, 
 as he thought, the sounds came from the usurer's apartment. 
 All access to the gallery was effectually excluded by the inter- 
 mediate door, which the brave young lord shook Avith eager 
 but vain impatience. But the secret passage occurred sud- 
 denly to his recollection. He hastened back to his room, 
 and ' succeeded with some difficulty in lighting a candle, 
 powerfully agitated by hearing the cries repeated, yet still 
 more afraid lest they should sink into silence. 
 
 He rushed along the narrow and winding entrance, guided 
 by the noise, which now burst more wildly on his_ ear ; and, 
 while he descended a narrow staircase which terminated the 
 passage, he heard the stifled voices of men, encouraging, as 
 it seemed, each other. " D — n her, strike her down — silence 
 ]^er — beat her brains out ! " while the voice of his hostess, 
 though now almost exhausted, was repeating the cry of 
 "murder," and " help." At the bottom of the staircase 
 was a small door which gave way before Nigel as he precipi- 
 tated himself upon the scene of action, a cocked pistol in one 
 hand, a candle in the other, and his naked sword under his 
 arm. 
 
 Two ruffians had, with great difficulty, overpowered, or, 
 rather, were on the point of overpowering, the daughter of 
 Trapbois, whose resistance appeared to have been most des- 
 perate, for the floor was covered with fragments of her clothes 
 and handf uls of her hair. It appeared that her life was about 
 to be the price of her defence, for one villain had drawn 
 a long clasp knife, when they were surprised by the entrance 
 of Nigel, who, as they turned towards him, shot the fellow 
 with the knife dead on the spot, and, when the other advanced 
 to him, hurled the candlestick at his head, and then attacked 
 iiim with his sword. It was dark save some pale moonlight 
 from the window ; and the ruffian, after firing a pistol with- 
 out effect, and fighting a traverse or two with his sword, lost 
 heart, made for the window, leaped over it, and escaped. 
 Nigel fired his remaining pistol after him at a venture, and 
 then called for light. 
 
286 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " There is light in the kitchen/*' answered Martha Trapbois, 
 with more presence of mind than could have been expected. 
 " Stay, you know not the way; I will fetch it myself. Oh! 
 my father — my poor father! I knew it would come to this, 
 and all along of the accursed gold! They have murdered 
 himr' 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Death finds us 'mid our plaj'things, snatches us, 
 As a cross nurse might do a way^vard child, 
 From all our toys and baubles. His rough call 
 Unlooses all our favorite ties on earth ; 
 And well if they are such as may be answer'd 
 In yonder world, where all is judged of truly. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 It was a ghastly scene which opened upon i\Iartha Trap- 
 bois's return with a light. Her own haggard and austere fea- 
 tures were exaggerated by all the desperation of grief, fear, 
 and passion; but the latter was predominant. On the floor 
 lay the body of the robber, who had expired without a groan, 
 while his blood, flowing plentifully, had crimsoned all 
 around. Another body lay also there, on which the unfortu- 
 nate woman precipitated herself in agony, for it was that of 
 her unhappy father. In the next moment she started up, and 
 exclaiming — "There may be life yet!" strove to raise the 
 body. Nigel went to her assistance, but not without a glance 
 at the open window; which Martha, as acute as if undisturbed 
 either by passion or terror, failed not to interpret justly. 
 
 "Fear not," she cried — "fear not; they are base cowards, 
 to whom courage is as much unknown as mercy. If I had had 
 weapons, I could have defended myself against them without 
 assistance or protection. Oh! my poor father! protection 
 comes too late for this cold and stiff corpse. He is dead — 
 dead!" 
 
 While she spoke, they were attempting to raise the dead 
 body of the old miser; but it was evident, even from the feel- 
 ing of the inactive weight and rigid joints, that life had for- 
 saken her station. Nigel looked for a wound, but saw none. 
 The daughter of the deceased, with more presence of mind 
 than a daughter could at the time have been supposed capable 
 of exerting, discovered the instrument of his murder — a sort 
 of scarf, which had been drawn so tight round his throat as to 
 stifle his cries for assistance in the first instance, and after- 
 wards to extinguish life. 
 
 She undid the fatal noose; and, laying the old man's body 
 in the arms of Lord Glenvarloch, she ran for water, for 
 spirits, for essences, in the vain hope that life might be only 
 
288 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 suspended. That liope jiroved indeed vain. She chafed his 
 temples, raised his head, loosened his nightgown, for it 
 seemed as if he had arisen from bed upon hearing the entrance 
 of the villains, and, finally, opened with difficulty his fixed 
 and closely-clinched hands, from one of which dropped a key, 
 from the other the very piece of gold about which the un- 
 happy man had been a little before so anxious, and which 
 probably, in tlie impaired state of his mental faculties, he was 
 disposed to defend with as desperate energy as if its amount 
 had been necessary to his actual existence. 
 
 " It is in vain — it is in vain," said the daughter, desisting 
 from her fruitless attempts to recall the spirit which had 
 been effectually dislodged, for the neck had been twisted by 
 the violence of the murderers — ''it is in vain; he is mur- 
 dered. I always knew it would be thus, and now I witness 
 it ! " 
 
 She then snatched up the key and the piece of money, 
 but it was only to dash them again on the floor, as she ex- 
 claimed, " Accursed be ye both, for you are the causes of this 
 deed!/' 
 
 Nigel would have spoken — would have reminded her that 
 measures should be instantly taken for the pursuit of the 
 murderer who had escaped, as Avell as for her own security 
 against his return ; but she interrupted him sharply. 
 
 "Be silent," she said — "be silent. Think you, the 
 thoughts of my own heart are not enough to distract me, and 
 with such a sight as this before me ? I say, be silent," she 
 said again, and in a yet sterner tone. "Can a daughter 
 listen, and her father's murdered corjose lying on her knees ? " 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, however overpowered by the energy 
 of her grief, felt not the less the embarrassment of his own 
 situation. He had discharged both his pistols ; the robber 
 might return ; he had probably other assistants besides the 
 man who had fallen, and it seemed to him, indeed, as if he 
 had heard muttering beneath the windows. He explained 
 hastily to his companion the necessity of procuring ammuni- 
 tion. 
 
 "You are right," she said, somewhat contemptuously, 
 "and have ventured already more than ever I expected of 
 man. Go, and shift for yourself, since that is your purpose ; 
 leave me to my fate." 
 
 Without stopping for needless expostulation, Nigel hast- 
 ened to his own room through the secret passage, furnished 
 himself with the ammunition he sought for, and returned 
 with the same celerity ; wondering himself at the accuracy 
 with which he achieved, in jthe dark, all the meanderings of 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL 28i 
 
 the passage whicli lie had tra\'ersea oiuy once, and that in a 
 moment of sneh violent agitation. 
 
 He found, on his return, the unfortunate woman standing 
 like a statue by the body of her father, Avhicli she had laid 
 sti'aight on the floor, having covered the face with the skirt 
 of his gown. She testified neither surprise nor pleasure at 
 i*: '.gel's return, but said to him calmly — " ^ly moan is made 
 ■ --my sorrow — all the sorrow at least that man shall ever have 
 noting of — is gone past ; but I will have justice, and the base 
 villain who murdered this poor defenceless old man, when he 
 lad not, by the course of nature, a twelvemonth's life in 
 him, shall not cumber the earth longer after him. Stranger, 
 whom Heaven has sent to forward the revenge reserved for 
 this action, go to Hildel)rod's — there they are awake all night 
 in their revels — bid him come hither ; he is bound by his 
 duty, and dare not, and shall not, refuse his assistance, which 
 he knows well I can reward. Why do ye tarry ? — go in- 
 stantly." 
 
 " I would," said Nigel, " but I am fearful of leaving you 
 alone; the villains may return, and " 
 
 "True — most true," answered Martha; " he may return; 
 and, though I care little for his murdering me, he may pos- 
 sess himself of what has most tempted him. Keep this key 
 and this piece of gold — they are both of importance; defend 
 your life if assailed, and if you kill the villain I will make you 
 rich. I go myself to call for aid." 
 
 Nigel would have remonstrated with her, but she had de- 
 parted, and in a moment he heard the house-door clank 
 behind her. For an instant he thought of following her; but 
 upon recollection that the distance was but short betwixt the 
 tavern of Hildebrod and the house of Trapbois, he concluded 
 that she knew it better than he, incurred little danger in pass- 
 ing it, and that he Avould do well in the mean while to remain 
 on the watch as she recommended. 
 
 It was no pleasant situation for one unused to such scenes 
 to remain in the apartment with two dead bodies, recently 
 those of living and breathing men, who had both, within the 
 space of less than half an hour, suffered violent death; one of 
 them by the hand of the assassin, the other, whose blood still 
 continued to flow from tlie Avound in his throat, and to flood 
 all around him, by the spectator's own deed of violence, though 
 of justice. He turned his face from those wretched relics of 
 mortality with a feeling of disgust, mingled with superstition; 
 and he found, when he had done so, that the consciousness of 
 the presence of these ghastly objects, though unseen by him, 
 19 
 
290 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 rendered liim more uncomfortable than even when he had li_ 
 eyes fixed upon, and reflected by, the cold, staring, lifeless 
 eyeballs of the deceased. Fancy also played her usual pport 
 with him. He now thouglit he heard the well-worn damask 
 nightgown of the deceased usurer rustle; anon, that he heara 
 the slaughtered bravo draw uj) his leg, the boot scratching 
 the floor as if he was about to rise; and again he deemed he 
 heard the footsteps and the whisper of the returned ruffian 
 under the window from which he had lately escaped. To face 
 the last and most real danger, and to parry the terrors which 
 the other class of feelings were like to impress upon him, 
 Nigel went to the window, and was much cheered to observe 
 the light of several torches illuminating the street, and fol- 
 lowed, as the murmur of voices denoted, by a number of per- 
 sons, armed, it would seem, with firelocks and halberds, and 
 attendant on Hildebrod, who (not in his fantastic office of duke, 
 but in that which he really possessed of bailiff of the liberty 
 and sanctuary of Whitefriars) was on his way to inquire into 
 the crime and its circumstances. 
 
 It was a strange and melancholy contrast to see these de- 
 bauchees, disturbed in the very depth of their midnight revel, 
 on their arrival at such a scene as this. They stared on each 
 other, and uj)on the bloody work before them, with lack-lus- 
 tre eyes ; staggered with uncertain steps over boards slippery 
 with blood ; their noisy brawling voices sank into stammei- 
 ing whispers ; and, with spirits quelled by what they saw, 
 while their brains were still stupefied by the liquor which 
 they had drunk, they seemed like men walking in their 
 sleep. 
 
 Old Hildebrod was an exception to the general condition. 
 That seasoned cask, however full, was at all times capable 
 of motion, when there occurred a motive sufficiently strong to 
 set him a-rolling. He seemed much shocked at what he be- 
 held, and his proceedings, in consequence, had more in them 
 of regularity and propriety than he might have been sujd- 
 posed capable of exhibiting upon any occasion whatever. 
 The daughter was first examined, and stated, with wonderful 
 accuracy and distinctness, the manner in which she had been 
 alarmed with a noise of struggling and violence in her fa- 
 ther's apartment, and that the more readily, because she was 
 watching him on account of some alarm concerning his health. 
 On her entrance, she had seen her father sinking under 
 the strength of two men, upon whom she rushed with all the 
 fury she was capable of. As their faces were blackened and 
 their figures disguised, she could not pretend, in the hurry 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL Ml 
 
 of a mcment so dreadfully agitating, to distinguisli either of 
 them as persons whom she had seen before. She remembered 
 little more except tlie firing of shots, until she found herself 
 alone witli her guest, and saw that the ruffian hud escaped. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch tuld his story as we have given it to 
 the reader. The direct evidence thus received, Ilildebrod 
 examined the premises. lie found that the villains had 
 made their entrance by the window out of which the survivor 
 had made his escape; j^et it seemed singular tliat they should 
 have done so, as it was secured with strong iron bars, wliich 
 old Trapbois was in the habit of shutting witli his own hand 
 at niglitfall. Tie minuted down with great accuracy the 
 state of everything in tlie apartment, and examined carefully 
 the features of the slain robber. He was dressed like a sea- 
 man of the lowest order, but his face was known to none 
 present. Hildebrod next sent for an Alsatian surgeon, whose 
 rices, undoing what his skill might have done for him, had 
 consigned him to the wretched practice of this place. He 
 made him examine the dead bodies, and make a proper dec- 
 laration of the manner in which the sufferers seemed to have 
 come by their end. Tlie circumstance of the sash did not 
 escape the learned judge, and having listened to all that 
 could be heard or conjectured on the subject, and collected 
 all particulars of evidence which appeared to bear on the 
 bloody transaction, he commanded the door of the apartment 
 to be locked until next morning; and carrying the unfortu- 
 nate daughter of the murdered man into the kitchen, where 
 there was no one in presence but Lord Glenvarloch, he asked 
 her gravely, whether she suspected no one in particular of 
 having committed the deed. 
 
 ''Do yoic suspect no one?" answered Martha, looking 
 fixedly on him. 
 
 " Perhaps I may, mistress; but it is my part to ask ques- 
 tions, yours to answer them. That's the rule of the game." 
 
 " Then I suspect him who wore yonder sash. Do not you 
 know whom I mean ? " 
 
 " Why, if you call on me for honors, I must needs say 1 
 have seen Captain Peppercull have one of such a fashion, 
 and he was not a man to change his suits often." 
 
 " Send out, then," said Martha, " and have him appre- 
 hended." 
 
 "If it is he, he will be far by this time; but I will com- 
 municate with the higher powers," answered the judge. 
 
 " You would have him escape," resumed she, fixing her 
 eyes on him sternly. 
 
292 W AVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 *' By cock and pie," replied Ilildebrod, " did it depend on 
 me, the murdering cut-throat siiould hang as high as ever 
 Hainan did; but let me take my time. lie has friends 
 among us, thai you wot well; and all that should assist me 
 areas drunk as fiddlers." 
 
 " I will have revenge — Iwill have it," repeated she; "and 
 take heed you trilie not with me." 
 
 " Trifle! I would sooner trifle witli a she-bear the minute 
 after they had baited her. I tell you, mistress, be patient, 
 and we will have him. I know all his haunts, and he cannot 
 forbear them long; and I will have trap-doors open for him. 
 You cannot want justice, mistress, for you have the means to 
 get it." 
 
 " They who help me in my revenge," said Martha, " shall 
 share those means." 
 
 "Enough said," replied Hildebrod; "and now I would 
 have you go to my house and get something hot; you will be 
 but dreary here by yourself." 
 
 "I will send for the old charwoman," replied Martha, 
 "and we have the stranger gentleman, besides." 
 
 " TJmph — umph, the stranger gentleman! " said Hildebrod 
 to Nigel, whom he drew a little apart. " I fancy the captain 
 has made the stranger gentleman's fortune when he was mak- 
 ing a bold dash for his own. I can tell your honor — I must 
 not say lordship — that I think my having chanced to give the 
 greasy buff-and-iron scoundrel some hint of what I recom- 
 mended to you to-day has put him on this rough game. The 
 better for you : you will get the cash without the father-in-law. 
 You will keep conditions, I trust?" 
 
 " I wish you had said nothing to any one of a scheme so 
 absurd," said Nigel. 
 
 " Absurd! Why, think you she will not have thee? Take 
 her with the tear in her eye, man — take her with the tear in 
 her eye. Let me hear from you to-morrow. Good-night, 
 good-night; a nod is as good as a wink. I must to my busi- 
 ness of sealing and locking up. By the way, this horrid work 
 has put all out of my head. Here is a fellow from Mr. Lowe- 
 stoffe has been asking to see you. As he said his business 
 was express, the senate only made him drink a couple of 
 flagons, and he was just coming to beat up your quarters 
 when this breeze blew wp. Aliey, friend! there is Master 
 Nigel Grahame." 
 
 A young man, dressed in a green plush jerkin, with a 
 badge on the sleeve, and having the appearance of a water- 
 man, approached and took Nigel aside, while Duke Hilda- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 291 
 
 brod went from place to place to exercise his authority, and 
 to see the windows fastened and the doors of the apartment 
 locked up. The news communicated by Lowestoffe's messen- 
 ger were not the most pleasant. They were intimated in a 
 courteous whisper to Nigel, to the following effect: That 
 Master Lowestolle prayed him to consult his safety by 
 instantly leaving "Whitefriars, for that a warrant from the 
 Lord Chief Justice liad been issued out for apprehending 
 him, and would be put in force to-morrow, by the assistance 
 of a party of musketeers, a force which the Alsatians neither 
 would nor dared to resist. 
 
 " And so, squire," said the aquatic emissary, "myAvherry 
 is to wait you at the Temple Stairs yonder, at five this morn- 
 ing, and, if you would give the bloodhounds the slip, why, 
 you may." 
 
 ^MVhy did not Master Lowestoffe write to me? "said 
 Nigel. 
 
 " Alas! the good gentleman lies up in lavender for it him- 
 self, and has as little to do with pen and ink as if he were a 
 parson. " 
 
 ''^Did he send any token to me?" said Nigel. 
 
 " Token! ay, marry did he — token enough, an I have not 
 forgot it," said the fellow; then, giving a hoist to the waist- 
 band of his breeches, he said, " Ay, I have it; you were to 
 believe me, because your name was written with an for 
 Grahame. Ay, that was it, I think. Well, shall we meet 
 in two hours, when tide turns, and go down the river like a 
 twelve-oared barge ? " 
 
 ''Where is the King just now, knowest thou?" answered 
 Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 ''The King! why, he went down to Greenwich yesterday 
 by water, like a noble sovereign as he is, who will always float 
 where he can. He was to have hunted this week, but that 
 purpose is broken, they say; and the Prince, and the Duke, 
 and all of them at Greenwich, are as merry as minnows." 
 
 '' Well," replied Nigel, "I will be ready to go at five; do 
 thou come hither to carry my baggage." 
 
 '^Ay — ay, master," replied the fellow, and left the house, 
 mixing himself with the disorderly attendants of Duke Hilde- 
 brod, who were now retiring. That potentate entreated Nigel 
 to make fast the doors behind him, and, pointing to the female 
 who sat by the expiring fire with her limbs outstretched, like 
 one whom the hand of death had already arrested, he whispered, 
 " Mind 3^ourhits, and mind your bargain, or I will cut your 
 bowstring for you before you can draw it." 
 
«94 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Feeling deeply the ineffable brutality which could recom^ 
 mend tlie prosecuting such views over a wretch in such a con- 
 dition, Lord Glenvarloch yet commanded his temper so far as 
 to receive the advice in silence, and attend to the former part 
 of it, by barring the door carefully behind Duke Hildebrod 
 and his suite, with the tacit hope that he should never again 
 see or hear of them. He then returned to the kitchen, in 
 which the unhappy woman remained, her hands still clinched, 
 her eyes fixed, and her limbs extended like those of a person 
 in a trance. Much moved by her situation, and with the 
 prospect which lay before her, he endeavored to awaken her 
 to existence by every means in his power, and at length ap- 
 parently succeeded in dispelling her stupor and attracting her 
 attention. He then explained to her that he was in the act of 
 leaving Whitefriars in a few hours, that his future destination 
 was uncertain, but that he desired anxiously to know whether 
 he could contribute to her protection by apprising any friend 
 of her situation, or otherwise. With some difficulty she seemed 
 to comprehend his meaning, and thanked him with her usual 
 short ungracious manner. " He might mean well," she said, 
 '* but he ought to know that the miserable had no friends." 
 
 Nigel said, " He would not willingly be importunate, but 
 as he was about to leave the Friars " 
 
 She interrupted him — ^'You are about to leave the Friars? 
 I will go with you." 
 
 "You go with me! " exclaimed Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " Yes," she said, ''I will persuade my father to leave tnis 
 murdering den." But, as she spoke, the more perfect recollec- 
 tion of what had passed crowded on her mind. She hid her 
 face in her hands, and burst out into a dreadful, fit of sobs, 
 moans, and lamentations, which terminated in hysterics, violent 
 in proportion to the uncommon strength of her body and 
 mind. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, shocked, confused, and inexperienced, 
 was about to leave the house in quest of medical, or at least 
 female, assistance ; but the patient, when the paroxysm had 
 somewhat spent its force, held him fast by the sleeve with 
 one hand, covering her face with the other, while a copious 
 flood of tears came to relieve the emotions of grief by which 
 she had been so violently agitated. 
 
 "Do not leave me," she said — "do not leave me, and call 
 no one. I have never been in this way before, and would not 
 now," she said, sitting upright and wiping her eyes with her 
 apron — "would not now — but that — but that he loved 7ne, if 
 he loved nothing else that was human. To die so, and by 
 such hands I'' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 295 
 
 And again the unhappy woman gave way to a paroxysm 
 of sorrow, mingling lier tears with sobbing, wailing, and all 
 the abandonment of female grief when at its utmost height. 
 At length, she gradually recovered the austerity of her 
 natural composure, and maintained it as if by a forcible ex- 
 ertion of resolution, repelling, as she spoke, the repeated re- 
 turns of the hysterical affection, by such an effort as that by 
 which epileptic patients are known to suspend the recur- 
 rence of their fits. Yet her mind, however resolved, could not 
 so absolutely overcome the affection of her nerves but that 
 she was agitated by strong fits of trembling, which, for a 
 minute or two at a time, shook her whole frame in a manner 
 frightful to witness. Nigel forgot his own situation, and, in- 
 deed, everything else, in the interest inspired by the unhappy 
 woman before him — an interest which affected a proud spirit 
 the more deeply, that she herself, -wath correspondent high- 
 ness of mind, seemed determined to owe as little as possible 
 either to the humanity or the pity of others. 
 
 " I am not wont to be in this way," she said ; " but — but — 
 nature will have power over the frail laeings it has made. Over 
 you, sir, I have some right; for, Avithout you, I had not sur- 
 vived this awful night. I wish your aid had been either ear- 
 lier or later; but you have saved my life, and you are bound to 
 assist in making it endurable to me." 
 
 " If you will show me how it is possible," answered Nigel. 
 
 " You are going hence, you say, instantly ; carry me with 
 you," said the unhappy woman. " By my own efforts, I shall 
 never escape from this wilderness of guilt and misery." 
 
 **Alas! what can I do for you?" replied Nigel. _*'■ My 
 own way, and I must not deviate from it, leads me, in all 
 probability, to a dungeon. I might, indeed, transport you 
 from hence with me, if you could afterwards bestow yourself 
 with any friend." 
 
 ''Friend! "she exclaimed, "1 have no friend; they have 
 long since discarded us. A spectre arising from the dead Avere 
 more welcome than I should be at the door of those who have 
 disclaimed us; and, 1 they were willing to restore their 
 friendship to me no^*, I would despise it, because they with- 
 drew it from him — from him [here she underwent strong but 
 suppressed agitation, and then added firmly] — from Jiitn who 
 lies vonder. I have na friend." Here she paused; and then 
 suddenly, as if recollecting herself, added, " I have no friend; 
 but I have that will purchase many — I have that which will 
 purchase both friends and avengers. It is well thought of; I 
 must not leave it for •» prey to cneats and ruflSans. Stranger, 
 
^6 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 you must return to yonder room. Pass tlirougli it boldly .o 
 his — tliiit is, to the sleeping-apartment; push the bedstead 
 aside; beneath each of the posts is a brass plate, as if to sup- 
 port the weight, but it is that upon the left, nearest to the 
 wall, which must serve your turn; press the corner of the 
 plate, and it will sj^ring up and show a keyhole, which this 
 key will open. You will then lift a concealed trap-door, and 
 in a cavity of the floor you will discover a small chest. Bring 
 it hither; it shall accompany our journey, and it will be hard 
 if the contents cannot purchase me a place of refuge. "" 
 
 " But the door communicating with the kitchen has been 
 locked by these people," said Nigel. 
 
 " True, I had forgot; they had their reasons for that, 
 doubtless," answered she. " But the secret passage from 
 your apartment is open, and you may go that way." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch took the key, and, as he lighted a lamp 
 to show him the way, she read in his countenance some un- 
 willingness to the task imposed. 
 
 " You fear? " she said. " There is no cause: the murderer 
 and his victim are both at rest. Take courage, I will go with 
 you myself; you cannot know the trick of the spring, and the 
 chest will be too heavy for you." 
 
 " No fear — no fear," answered Lord Glenvarloch, ashamed 
 of the construction she put upon a momentary hesitation, 
 arising from a dislike to look upon what is horrible, often 
 connected with those high-wrought minds which are the last 
 to fear what is merely dangerous. " I will do your errand as 
 you desire; but for you, you must not — cannot go yonder." 
 
 " I can — I will," she said. " I am composed. You shall 
 see that I am so." She took from the table a piece of un- 
 finished sewing-work, and, with steadiness and composure, 
 passed a silken thread into the eye of a fine needle. "Could 
 I have done that," she said, with a smile yet more ghastly than 
 her previous look of fixed despair, "had not my heart and 
 hand been both steady ? " 
 
 She then led the way rapidly upstairs to Nigel's chamber, 
 and proceeded throagh the secret passage witli the same haste, 
 as if she had feared her resolution might have failed her ere 
 her purjDose was executed. At the bottom of the stairs she 
 paused a moment, before entering the fatal ajDartment, then 
 Imrried through with a rapid step to the sleeping-chamber 
 beyond, followed closely by Lord Glenvarloch, whose reluc- 
 tance to approach the scene of butchery was altogether lost in 
 the anxiety which he felt on account of the survivor of the 
 tragedy. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 297 
 
 Her first action was to i^ull aside the curtains of her 
 father's bed. The bedclotlies were thrown aside in confusion, 
 doubtless in the action of liis starting from sleep to opjjose 
 tlie entrance of the villains into the next apartment. The 
 hard inattress scarcely showed the slight pressure where the 
 emaciated body of the old miser had been deposited. His 
 daughter sank beside the bed, clasped her hands, and prayed 
 to Heaven, in a short and affecting manner, for su})port in 
 her affliction, and for vengeance on tiie villains who had made 
 her fatherless. A low-muttered and still more brief petition 
 recommended to Heaven the soul of the sufferer, and invoked 
 pardon for his sins, in virtue of the great Christian atone- 
 ment. 
 
 This duty of piety performed, she signed to Xigel to aid 
 her; and, having pushed aside the heavy beadstead, they saw 
 the brass plate whicli ^lartha had described. She pressed the 
 spring, and at once the plate starting up, showed the key- 
 hole, and a large iron ring used in lifting the trap-door, 
 which, when raised, displayed the strong-box, or small chest, 
 she had mentioned, and which proved indeed so very weighty 
 that it might perhaps have been scarcely possible for Nigel, 
 though a very strong man, to have raised it without assistance. 
 
 iftiving replaced everything as they had found it, Nigel, 
 with such help as his companion Avas able to afford, assumed 
 his load, and made a shift to carry it into the next apartment, 
 where lay the miserable osvmer, insensible to sounds and cir- 
 cumstances which, if anything could have broken his long 
 last slumber, would certainly have done so. 
 
 His unfortunate daughter went up to his body, and had 
 even the courage to remove the sheet which had been de- 
 cently disposed over it. She put her hand on the heart, but 
 there" was no throb; held a feather to tlie lips, but there Avas 
 no motion; then kissed with deep reverence the starting 
 veins of the pale forehead, and then the emaciated hand. 
 
 " I would you could hear me," she said, " father! I would 
 you could hear me swear that, if I now save what you most 
 valued on earth, it is only to assist me in obtaining vengeance 
 for your death ! " 
 
 She replaced the covering, and, without a tear, a sigh, or 
 an additional word of any kind, renewed her efforts, until 
 they conveyed the strong-box betwixt them into Lord Glen- 
 varioch's sleeping-apartment. " It must pass," she said, 
 •' as part of your baggage. I will be in readiness as soon as 
 the waterman calls." 
 
 She retired; and Lord Glenvarloch, who saw the hour of 
 
298 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 their departure approach, tore down a part of tlie old hang- 
 ing to make a covering, which he corded upon the trunk, 
 lest the peculiarity of its shape, and the care with which it 
 was banded and counterbanded with bars of steel, might 
 alford suspicions respecting the treasure which it contained. 
 Having taken this means of precaution, he changed the ras- 
 cally disguise, which he had assumed on entering Whitef riars, 
 into a suit becoming his quality, and then, unable to sleep, 
 though exhausted with the events of the night, he threw 
 himself on his bed to await the summons of the waterman. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Give us good voj'age, gentle stream. We stun not 
 Thy sober ear with sounds of revehy, 
 Wake not the slumbering echoes of thy banks 
 With voice of flute and horn; we do but seek 
 On the broad pathway of thy swelling bosom 
 To glide in silent safety. 
 
 Tlie Double Bridal. 
 
 GrRAT, or ratlier yellow, light was beginning to twinkle 
 through the fogs of Whitefriars, when a low tap at the door 
 of the unliappy miser announced to Lord Glenvarloeh tlie 
 summons of tlie boatman. He found at the door tlie man 
 whom he had seen the night before, with a companion. 
 
 " Come — come, master, let us get afloat," said one of 
 them, in a rough, impressive whisper, " time and tide wait 
 for no man." 
 
 " They shall not wait for me," said Lord Glenvarloeh; 
 •"^but I have some things to carry with me." 
 
 " Ay — ay, no man will take a pair of oars now. Jack, un- 
 iess he' means to load the Avherry like a six-horse wagon. 
 When they don't want to shift the whole kit, they take a 
 sculler, and be d — d to them. Come — come, where be your 
 rattle-traps ? " 
 
 One of the men was soon sufficiently loaded, in his own 
 estimation at least, with Lord Glenvarloch's mail and its 
 accompaniments, with wliich burden he began to trudge 
 towards the Temple Stairs. His comrade, who seemed the 
 principal, began to handle the trunk which contained the 
 miser's treasure, but pitched it down again in an instant, 
 declaring, with a great oath, that it was as reasonable to 
 expect a man to carry Paul's on his back. The daugliter of 
 Trapbois, who had by this time joined them, muffled up in a 
 long dark hood and mantle, exclaimed to Lord Glenvarloeh — 
 " Let them leave it if they will — let them leave it all; let us 
 but escape from this horrilale place." 
 
 We have mentioned elsewhere that Nigel was a very 
 atliletic young man, and, impelled by a strong feeling of com- 
 passion and indignation, he showed his bodily strength singu- 
 larly on this occasion, by seizing on the ponderous strong- 
 box, and, by means of the rope he had cast around it, throw- 
 
 £»0 
 
300 WAVEELEY NOVELS 
 
 ing it on his shoulders, and marching resolutely forward 
 under a weiglit which would have sunk to the earth three 
 young gallants, at the least, of our degenerate day. The 
 waterman followed him in amazement, calling out, "'Why. 
 master — master, you might as well gie me t'other end on "t!" 
 and anon offered his assistance to support it in some degree 
 behind, which, after the first minute or two, Nigel was fain 
 to accept. His strength Avas almost exhausted when he 
 reached the wherry, which was lying at the Temple Stairs 
 according to appointment; and, when he pitched the trunk 
 into it, the weight sank the how of the boat so low in the 
 water as well-nigh to overset it. 
 
 " We shall have as hard a fare of it," said the waterman 
 to his companion, " as if we were ferrying over an honest 
 bankrupt with all his secreted goods. Ho, ho! good woman, 
 what are you stepping in for? our gunwale lies deep enough 
 in the water without live luinber to boot." 
 
 "This person comes with me," said Lord Glenvarloch; 
 "she is for the present under my protection." 
 
 "Come — come, master," rejoined the fellow, "that is out 
 of my commission. You must not double my freight on me. 
 She may go by land; and, as for protection, her face will pro- 
 tect her from Berwick to the Land's End." 
 
 " You will not except at my doubling the loading if I 
 double the fare?" said Nigel, determined on no account to 
 relinquish the protection of this unhappy woman, for which 
 he had already devised some sort of plan, likely now to be 
 baffled by the characteristic rudeness of the Thames water- 
 men. 
 
 " Ay, by G — , but I will except though," said the fellow 
 with the green plush jacket. " I will overload my wherry 
 neither for love nor money. I love my boat as well as my 
 wife, and a thought better." 
 
 "Nay — nay, comrade," said his mate, "that is speaking 
 no true water language. For double fare we are bound to 
 row a witch in her eggshell if she bid us; and so pull away. 
 Jack, and let us have no more prating." 
 
 They got into the stream-way accordingly, and, although 
 heavily laden, beg-an to move down the river with reasonable 
 speed. 
 
 The lighter vessels which passed, overtook, or crossed 
 them, in their course, failed not to assail them with the 
 boisterous raillery which was then called water- wit ; for which 
 the extreme plainness of Mistress Martha's features, con- 
 trasted with the youth, handsome figure, and good looks of 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 301 
 
 !N'igel, furnished tlie principal topics ; while the circumstance 
 of the boat being somewhat overloaded did not escape their 
 notice. They were hailed successively as a grocer's wife upon 
 a party of pleasure with her eldest apprentice ; as an old 
 woman carrying her grandson to school ; and as a young 
 strapping Irisliman, conveying an ancient maiden to Dr. 
 Rigmarole's at Kedriffe, who buckles beggars for a tester and 
 a dram of Geneva. All this abuse was retorted in a similar 
 strain of humor by Green-Jacket and his companion, who 
 maintained the war of wit with the same alacrity with which 
 they were assailed. 
 
 MeauAvhile, Lord Glenvarloch asked his desolate com- 
 panion if she had thought of any place where she could re- 
 main in safety with her property. She confessed, in more 
 detail tlian formerly, that her father's character had left her 
 no friends ; and that, from the time he had betaken himself 
 to Whitefriars, to escape certain legal consequences of his 
 eager pursuit of gain, she had lived a life of total seclusion ; 
 not associating vnt\\ the society which the place afforded, and, 
 by her residence there, as well as her father's parsimonv, 
 effectually cut off from all other company. What she now 
 wished, was, in the first place, to obtain the shelter of a de- 
 cent lodging, and the countenance of honest people, however 
 low in life, until she should obtain legal advice as to the 
 mode of obtaining justice on her father's murderer. She 
 had no hesitation to charge the guilt upon Colepepper, com- 
 monly called Peppercull, whom she knew to be as capable of 
 any act of treacherous cruelty as he was cowardly where actual 
 manhood was required. He had been strongly suspected of 
 two robberies before, one of which was coupled^ with an atro- 
 cious murder. He had, she intimated, made pretensions to 
 her hand as the easiest and safest way of obtaining possession 
 of her father's wealth ; and, on her refusing his addresses, if 
 they could be termed so, in the most positive terms, he had 
 throAvn out such obscure hints of vengeance as, Joined with 
 some imperfect assaults upon the house, had kept her in fre- 
 quent alarm, both on her father's account and her own. 
 
 Nigel, but that his feeling of respectful delicacy to tlie 
 unfortunate woman forbade him to do so, could here have 
 communicated a circumstance corroborative of her suspicions, 
 which had already occurred to his own mind. He recollected 
 the hint that old Hildobrod threw forth on the preceding 
 night, that some communication betwixt himself and Cole- 
 pepper had hastened the catastrophe. As this communication 
 related to the plan which Uildebrod had been pleased to form 
 
302 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 of promoting a marriage Ijetwixt Xigel himself and the ricu 
 heiress of Trai)bois, the fear of losing an opportunity not to 
 be regained, together with the mean malignity of a low-bred 
 riiflfian, disappointed in a favorite scheme, was most likely to 
 instigate the bravo to the deed of violence which had been 
 committed. The reflection, that his own name was in some 
 degree implicated with the causes of this horrid tragedy, 
 doubled Lord Glenvarloch's anxiety in behalf of the victim 
 whom he had rescued, while at the same time he formed the 
 tacit resolution that, so soon as his own affairs were put upon 
 some footing, he would contribute all in his power towards 
 the investigation of this bloody afi'air. 
 
 After ascertaining from his companion that she could form 
 no better plan of her own, he recommended to her to take up 
 her lodging for the time at the house of his old landlord, 
 Christie, the ship-chandler, at Paul's Wharf, describing the 
 decency and honesty of that worthy cou23le, and expressing 
 his hopes that they would receive her into their own house, 
 or recommend her at least to that of some person for whom 
 they would be responsible, until she should have time to enter 
 upon other arrangements for herself. 
 
 The poor woman received advice so grateful to her in her 
 desolate condition with an expression of thanks, brief indeed, 
 but deeper than anything had yet extracted from the austerity 
 of her natural disposition. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch then proceeded to inform Martha that 
 certain reasons, connected with his personal safety, called him 
 immediately to Greenwich, and, therefore, it would not be in 
 his power to accompany her to Christie's house, which he 
 would otherwise have done with pleasure; but, tearing a leaf 
 from his tablet, he wi'ote on it a few lines, addressed to his 
 landlord, as a man of honesty and humanity, in which he 
 described the bearer as a person who stood in singular neces- 
 sity of temporary protection and good advice, for which her 
 circumstances enabled her to make ample acknowledgment. 
 He therefore requested John Christie, as his old and good 
 friend, to afford her the shelter of his roof for a short time; 
 or, if that might not be consistent with his convenience, at 
 least to direct her to a proper lodging; and, finally, he imposed 
 on him the additional, and somewhat more difficult, commis- 
 sion to recommend her to the counsel and services of an hon- 
 est, at least a rej)utable and skilful, attorney, for the trans- 
 acting some law business of importance. This note he 
 subscribed with his real name, and, delivering it to his protegee, 
 who received it with another deeply uttered "I thank you," 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 803 
 
 which spoke the sterhng feelings of her gratitude better than 
 a thousand combined pbruses, he commanded the watermen to 
 pull in for Paul's Wharf, which they were now approaching. 
 
 "■'We have not time/' said Green-Jacket; **'we cannot be 
 stopping every instant." 
 
 But, upon Nigel insisting upon his commands being obeyed, 
 and adding, that it was for the purpose of putting the lady 
 ashore, the waterman declared he would rather have her room 
 than her company, and put the wherry alongside of the wliarf 
 accordingly. Here two of the porters, who ply in such 
 places, were easily induced to undertake the charge of the 
 i:)onderous strong-box, and at the same time to guide the 
 owner to the well-known mansion of John Christie, with 
 whom all who lived in that neighborhood Avere perfectly ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 The boat, much lightened of its load, went down the 
 Thames at a rate increased in proportion. But Ave must for- 
 bear to pursue her in her voyage for a few minutes, since we 
 have previously to mention the issue of Lord Glenvarloch's 
 recommendation. 
 
 Mistress ]\Iartha Trapbois reached the shop in perfect 
 safety, and was about to enter it, Avhen a sickening sense of 
 the uncertainty of her situation, and of the singularly pain- 
 ful task of telling her story, came over her so strongly, that 
 she paused a moment at the very threshold of her proposed 
 place of refuge, to think in what manner she could best 
 second the recommendation of the friend Avhom Providence 
 had raised up to her. Had she possessed that knowledge of 
 the world from which her habits of life had completely ex- 
 cluded her, she might have known tliat tlie large sum of 
 money which she brought along with her might, judiciously 
 managed, have been a passport to her into the mansions of 
 nobles and the palaces of princes. But, however conscious 
 of its general power, Avhich assumes so many forms and com- 
 plexions, she was so inexperienced as to be most unnecessar- 
 ily afraid that the means by which the Avealth had been ac- 
 quired might exclude its inheritrix from shelter even in the 
 house of a humble tradesman. 
 
 While slie thus delayed, a more reasonable cause for hes- 
 itation arose, in a considerable noise and altercation Avithin 
 the house, which grew louder and louder as the disputants 
 issued forth upon the street or lane before the door. 
 
 The first Avho entered upon the scene Avas a tall, raAv- 
 boned, hard-favored man, Avho stalked out of the sliop luistily, 
 with a gait like that of a Spaniard in a jjassiou, wlio, dis- 
 
30i V. AVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 daining to add speed to his locomotion by running, only con- 
 descends, in the utmost extremity of his angry haste, to add 
 length to his stride. He faced about, so soon as he was out of 
 the house, upon his pursuer, a decent-looking, elderly, plain 
 tradesman — no other than John Christie himself, the owner 
 of the shop and tenement, by whom he seemed to be fol- 
 lowed, and who was in a state of agitation more than is 
 usually expressed by such a person. 
 
 " ill hear no more on't,'' said the personage who first ap- 
 peared on the scene — " sir, I will hear no more on it. Besides 
 being a most false and impudent figment, as I can testify, it 
 is sccmdaalum magnaatum, sir — scandaahim vmgnaatum," he 
 reiterated with a broad accentuation of the first vowel, well 
 known in the colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow, which we 
 can only express in print by doubling the said first of letters 
 and of vowels, and which would have cheered the cockles of 
 the reigning monarch had he been within hearing — as he was 
 a severer stickler for what he deemed the genuine pronunci- 
 ation of the Roman tongue than for any of the royal prerog- 
 atives, for which he was at times disj)osed to insist so strenu- 
 ously in his speeches to Parliament. 
 
 " I care not an ounce of rotten cheese," said John Christie 
 in reply, '• what you call it — but it is true ; and I am a free 
 Englishman, and have right to speak the truth in my own 
 concerns ; and your master is little better than a villain, and 
 you no more than a swaggering coxcomb, whose head I will 
 presently break, as I have known it well broken before on 
 lighter occasion." 
 
 And so saying, he flourished the paring shovel which 
 usually made clean the steps of his little shop, and which he 
 had caught up as the readiest weapon of working his foeman 
 damage, and advanced therewith upon him. The cautious 
 Scot, for sucli our readers must have already pronounced 
 him, from his language and pedantry, drew back as the 
 enraged sliip-chandler approached, but in a surly manner, 
 and "bearing his hand on his sword-hilt rather in the act of 
 one who was losing habitual forbearance and caution of de- 
 portment than as alarmed by the attack of an antagonist 
 inferior to himself in youth, strength, and weapons. 
 
 '•' Bide back," he said, " Maister Christie — I say, bide 
 back, and consult your safety, man. I have evited striking 
 you in your ain house under muckle provocation, because I 
 am ignorant how the laws here may pronounce respecting 
 burglary and hamesucken, and such matters ; and, besides, I 
 woiild not willingly hurt ye, man, e'en on the causeway, thi.r 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 805 
 
 is free to us buith, because I mind your kindness of lang syne, 
 and partly consider ye as a poor deceived creature. But 
 deil d — n me, sir, and I am not wont to swear, but if you 
 touch my Scotch shoutlier with tliat shule of yours, I will 
 make six inches of my Andrew Ferrara deevilish intimate 
 with your guts, neighbor." 
 
 And therewithal, tbough still retreating from the bran- 
 dished shovel, he made one-third of the basket-hilted broad- 
 sword which he wore visible from the sheath. The wrath of 
 John Christie was abated, either by his natural temperance of 
 disposition, or perhaps in part by the glimmer of cold steel, 
 which flashed on him from his adversary's last action. 
 
 " I would do well to cry clubs on thee, and have thee 
 ducked at the wharf," he said, grounding his shovel, however, 
 at the same time, " for a paltry swaggerer, that would draw 
 th}" bit of iron there on an honest citizen before his own door ; 
 but get thee gone, and reckon on a salt eel for thy supper, if 
 thou shouldst ever come near my house again. I wish it had 
 been at the bottom of Thames when it first gave the use of 
 its roof to smooth-faced, oily-tongued, double-minded Scots 
 thieves ! " 
 
 " It's an ill bird that fouls its own nest," replied his ad- 
 versary, not perhaps the less bold that he saw matters were 
 taking the tuni of a jjacific debate ; " and a pity it is that a 
 kindly Scot should ever have married in foreign parts, and 
 given life to a purse-proud, pudding-headed, fat-gutted, lean- 
 brained Southron, "e'en such as you, Maister Christie. But 
 fare ye weel — fare ye weel, forever and a day ; and, if you 
 quarrel wi' a Scot again, man, say as mickle ill o' himsell as 
 ye like, but say nane of his patron or his countrymen, or it 
 'will scarce be your flat cap that vnW keep your lang lugs from 
 the sharp abridgement of a Highland whinger, man." 
 
 " And, if you continue your insolence to me before ray own 
 door, were.it but two minutes longer," retorted John Christie, 
 *•' I will call the constable, and make your Scottish ankles ac- 
 quainted with an English pair of stocks!" 
 
 So saying, lie turned to retire into his shop with some show 
 of victory; for his enemy, whatever might be his innate valor, 
 manifested no desire to drive matters to extremity — conscious, 
 perhaps, that whatever advantage he might gain in single 
 combat with John Christie would be more than overbalanced 
 by incurring an affair with the constituted authorities of Old 
 England, not at that time apt to be particularly favorable to 
 their new fellow-subjects in the various successive broils which 
 were then constantly taking place between the individuals of 
 so 
 
806 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 two proud nations, who still retained a stronger sense of their 
 national animosity during centuries than of their late union 
 for a few years under the government of the same prince. 
 
 Mrs. Martha Trapbois had dwelt too long in Alsatia to be 
 either surprised or terrified at the altercation slie had witnessed. 
 Indeed, she only Avondered that the debate did not end in some 
 of those acts of violence by which they were usually terminated 
 in the sanctuary. As the disputants separated from each other, 
 she, who had no idea that the cause of the quarrel was more 
 deeply rooted than in the daily scenes of the same nature which 
 she had heard of or Avitnessed, did not hesitate to stop Master 
 Christie in his return to his shop, and present to him the letter 
 wJiich Lord Glenvarloch had given to her. Had she been better 
 acquainted with life and its business, she would certainly have 
 Avaited for a more temperate moment; and she had reason to 
 repent of her precipitation, when, without saying a single 
 word, or taking the trouble to gather more of the information 
 contained in the letter than was expressed in the subscription, 
 the incensed ship-chandler threw it down on the ground, 
 trampled it in high disdain, and, without addressing a single 
 word to the bearer, except, indeed, something much more 
 like a hearty curse than was perfectly consistent with his own 
 grave appearance, he retired into his shop and shut the hatch- 
 door. 
 
 It was with the most inexpressible anguish that the deso- 
 late, friendless, and unhappy female thus beheld her sole hope 
 of succor, countenance, and protection vanish at once, with- 
 out being able to conceive a reason; for, to do her justice, the 
 idea that her friend, whom she knew by the name of Nigel 
 Grahame, had imposed on her — a solution which might 
 readily have occurred to many in her situation — never once 
 entered her mind. Although it was not her temper easily to 
 bend her mind to entreaty, she could not help exclaiming 
 after the ireful and retreating ship-chandler — " Good Master, 
 hear me but a moment ! for mercy's sake, for honesty^s sake ! "'' 
 • " Mercy and honesty from him, mistress V said the Scot, 
 who, though he essayed not to interrupt the retreat of his 
 antagonist, still kept stout possession of the field of action; 
 "ye might as weel expect brandy from bean-stalks, or milk 
 from a craig of blue whunstane.. The man is mad — horn 
 mad, to boot." 
 
 " I must have mistaken the person to whom the letter was 
 addressed, then ; " and, as she spoke. Mistress Martha Trap- 
 bois was in the act of stooping to lift the paper which had 
 been so uncourteously received. Her companion, with natural 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 307 
 
 civility, anticipated her purpose; but, "what was not quite so 
 much in etiquette, lie took u sly glance at it as he was about 
 to hand it to her, and his eye having caught the subscription, 
 he said, with surprise, '' Glenvarloch — Nigel Olifaunt of 
 Glenvarloch ! Do you know the Lord Glenvarloch, mistress? ^' 
 
 '^' I know not of whom you speak," said Mrs. Martha, 
 peevishly. "' I had that paper from one Master Xigel Gram." 
 
 " Xigel Grahame I — umph, ay, very true — I had forgot," 
 said the Scotsman. " A tall, well-set young man, about my 
 height; bright blue eyes like a hawk's, a pleasant speech, 
 something leaning to the kindly North-country accentuation, 
 but not much, in respect of his having been resident abroad?" 
 
 '■'All this is true; and what of it all?" said the daughter 
 of the miser. 
 
 " Hair of my complexion? " 
 
 " Yours is red," replied she. 
 
 " I pray you peace," said the Scotsman. " I was going to 
 say — of my complexion, but with a deeper shade of the chest- 
 nut. Weel, mistress, if I have guessed the man aright, he is 
 one with whom I am, and have been, intimate and familiar — 
 nay, I may truly say I have done him much service in my 
 time, and may live to do him more. I had indeed a sincere 
 good- will for him, and I doubt he has been much at a loss 
 since we parted; but the fault is not mine. Wherefore, as 
 this letter will not avail you with him to whom it is directed, 
 you may believe that Heaven hath sent it to me, who have a 
 special regard for the writer. I have, besides, as much mercy 
 and honesty within me as man can weel make his bread Avith, 
 and am willing to aid any distressed creature, that is my 
 friend's friend, with my counsel, and otherwise, so that I am 
 not put to much charges, being in a strange country, like a 
 poor lamb that has wandered from its ain native hirsel, and 
 leaves a tait of its woo' in every d — d Southron bramble that 
 comes across it." While he spoke thus, he read the contents 
 of the letter, without waiting for permission, and then con- 
 tinued — ''And so this is all you are wanting, my dove? 
 nothing more than safe and honorable lodging and sustenance, 
 upon your o^vn charges ? " 
 
 '' Nothing more," said she. " If you are a' man and a 
 Christian, you will help me to what I need so much." 
 
 '•'A man am I," replied the former Caledonian, "e'en sic 
 as ye see me; and a Christian I may call myself, though un- 
 worthy, and though I have heard little pure doctrine since I 
 came hither — a' polluted "w^ith men's devices — ahem ! Weel, 
 an if ye be an honest woman [here he peeped under her 
 
808 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 muffler], as an honest woman ye seem likely to be — though, 
 let me tell you, they are a kind of cattle not so rife in the 
 streets of this city as I would desire them; I was almost 
 strangled with my own band by twa rampallians, wha wanted 
 yestreen, nae farther ga-ne, to harle me into a change-house — 
 however, if ye be a decent honest woman [here he took another 
 peep at features certainly bearing no beauty which could infer 
 suspicion], as decent and honest ye seem to be, why, I will 
 advise you to a decent house, where you will get douce, quiet 
 entertainment, on reasonable terms, and the occasional bene- 
 fit of my own counsel and direction — that is, from time to 
 time, as my other avocations may permit/' 
 
 '' May I venture to accept of such an offer from a 
 stranger^" said Martha, with natural hesitation. 
 
 " Troth, I see nothing to hinder you, mistress,'' replied 
 the bonny Scot; " ye can but see the place, and do after as 
 ye think best. Besides, we are nae such strangers, neither; 
 for I know your friend, and you, it's like, know mine, whilk 
 knowledge, on either hand, is a medium of communication 
 between us, even as the middle of the string connecteth its 
 twa ends or extremities. But I will enlarge on this farther 
 as we pass along, gin ye list to bid your twa lazy loons of _ 
 porters there lift up your little kist between them, whilk ae ' 
 true Scotsman might carry under his arm. Let me tell you, 
 mistress, ye will soon make a toom pock-end of it in Lon'on, 
 if you hire twa knaves to do the Avork of ane." 
 
 So saying, he led the way, folloAved by Mistress Martha 
 Trapbois, whose singular destiny, though it had heaped her 
 with wealth, had left her, for the moment, no wiser counsel- 
 lor, or more distinguished protector, than honest Richie 
 Moniplies, a discarded serving-man. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 This way lie safety and a sure retreat; 
 
 Yonder lie danger, shame, and punishment. 
 
 Most welcome danger then. Najs let me say, 
 
 Thougli spoke with swelling heart, welcome e'en sham*; 
 
 And welcome punishment; for, call me guilty, 
 
 I do but pay the tax that's due to justice; 
 
 And call me guiltless, then that punishment 
 
 Is shame to those alone who do inflict it. 
 
 The Tribunal. 
 
 We left Lord Glenvarloch, to whose fortunes our story chief- 
 ly attaches itself, gliding swiftly down the Thames. _ He 
 was not, as the reader may have observed, very affable in his 
 disposition, or apt to enter into conversation with those into 
 whose company he was casually thrown. This was, indeed, 
 an error in his conduct, arising less from pride, though of 
 that feeling we do not pretend to exculpate him, tlian from a 
 sort of bashful reluctance to mix in the conversation of those 
 with whom he was not familiar. It is a fault only to be cured 
 by experience and knowledge of the world, which soon teaches 
 every sensible and acute person the important lesson that 
 amusement, and, what is of more consequence, that information 
 and increase of knowledge, are to be derived from the con- 
 versation of every individual whatever, with whom he is thrown 
 into a natural train of communication. For ourselves, we 
 can assure the reader — and perhaps, if we have ever been able 
 to afford him amusement, it is owing in a great degree to this 
 cause — that we never found ourselves in company with the 
 stupidest of all possible companions in a post-chaise, or with 
 the most arrant cumber-corner that ever occupied a place in 
 the mail-coach, without finding that, in the course of our con- 
 versation with him, we had some ideas suggested to us, either 
 grave or gay, or some information communicated in the course 
 of our journey, which we should have regretted not to have 
 learned, and which we should be sorry to have immediately 
 forgotten. But Nigel was somewhat immured within the 
 Bastile of his rank, as some philosopher (Tom Paine, we think) 
 has happilv enough expressed that sort of shyness which men 
 of dignified situations arc apt to be beset with, rather from 
 not exactly knowing how far, or with whom, they ought to be 
 
 309 
 
310 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 familiar, than from any real touch of aristocratic pride. Be- 
 sides, the immediate jn-essure of our adventurer's own affairs 
 was such as exclusively to engross his attention. 
 
 He sat, tlierefore, wrapped in his cloak, in the stern of the 
 boat, with his mind entirely bent upon the probable issue of 
 the interview with his sovereign, which it was his purpose to 
 seek; for which abstraction of mind he may be fully justified, 
 although, perhaps, by questioning the watermen who were 
 transporting him down the river, he might have discovered 
 matters of high concernment to him. 
 
 At any rate, Nigel remained silent till the wherry ap- 
 proached the town of Greenwich, when he commanded the 
 men to put in for the nearest landing-place, as it was his pur- 
 pose to go ashore there, and dismiss them from farther at- 
 tendance. 
 
 " That is not possible," said the fellow with the green 
 jacket, who, as we have already said, seemed to take on him- 
 self the charge of pilotage. ''We must go," he continued, 
 "to Gravesend, where a Scottish vessel, which dropped down 
 the river last tide for the very purpose, lies with her anchor 
 apeak, waiting to carry you to your own dear Northern 
 country. Your hammock is slung, and all is ready for you, 
 and you talk of going ashore at Greenwich, as seriously as if 
 such a thing were possible ! " 
 
 " I see no impossibility," said Nigel, '' in your landing 
 me where I desire to be landed ; but very little possibility of 
 your carrying me anywhere I am not desirous of going." 
 
 '*' Why, whether do you manage the wherry, or we, 
 master ? " asked Green-Jacket, in a tone betwixt jest and 
 earnest ; "I take it she will go the way we row her." 
 
 " Ay," retorted Nigel, ''' but I take it you will row her on 
 the course I direct you, otherwise your chance of j^ayment is 
 but a poor one." 
 
 " Suppose we are content to risk that," said the undaunted 
 waterman, " I wish to know how you, who talk so big — I 
 mean no offence, master, but you do talk big — would help 
 yourself in such a case ? " 
 
 " Simply thus," answered Lord Glenvarloch. " You saw 
 me, an hour since, bring down to the boat a trunk that 
 neither of you could lift. If we are to contest the destination 
 of our voyage, the same strength which tossed that chest into 
 the wherry will suffice to fling you out of it ; wherefore, 
 before wc begin the scuffle, I pray you to remember that, 
 whither I would go, there I will oblige you to carry me." 
 
 " Gramercy for your kindness," said Green-Jacket ; " and 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 3H 
 
 now mark me in return. My comrade and I are two men, 
 and you, were you as stout as George-a-Green, can pass but 
 for one; and two, you will allow, are more than a match for 
 one. You mistake in your reckoninsf, my friend." 
 
 " It is you who mistake," said Nigel, wlio began to grow 
 warm. "It is I who am three to two, sirrah : I carry two 
 men's lives at my girdle." So saying, he opened his cloak 
 and showed the two pistols which he had disj^osed at his 
 girdle. 
 
 Green-Jacket was unmoved at the display. " I have got," 
 said he, " a pair of barkers that will match yours," and he 
 showed that he also was armed with pistols ; " so you may 
 begin as soon as you list." 
 
 "Then," said Lord Glenvarloch, drawing forth and cock- 
 xnn a pistol, " the sooner the better. Take notice, I hold you 
 as a ruffian, who have declared you will put force on my per- 
 son ; and that I will shoot you through the head if you do not 
 instantly j^ut me ashore at Greenwich." 
 
 The'otlier waterman, alarmed at Nigel's gesture, lay upon 
 his oar ; but Green-Jacket replied coolly, " Look you, master, 
 I should not care a tester to venture a life with you on this 
 matter ; but the truth is, I am employed to do you good, and 
 not to do you harm." 
 
 "By whom are you employed?" said the Lord Glenvar- 
 loch; " or who dare concern themselves in me, or my affairs, 
 without my authority?" 
 
 "As to that," answered the waterman, in the same tone 
 of indifference, " I shall not show my commission. For my- 
 self, I care not, as I said, whether you land at Greenwich to 
 get yourself hanged, or go down to get aboard the ' Royal 
 Thistle,' to make your escape to your own country; you will 
 be equally out of my reach either way. But it is fair to put 
 the choice before you." 
 
 "My choice is made," said Nigel. "I have told you 
 thrice already it is my pleasure to be landed at Greenwich." 
 
 " Write il on a piece of paper," said the waterman, " that 
 such is your positive will; I must have something to show to 
 my employers that the transgression of their orders lies with 
 yourself, not with me." 
 
 "I choose to hold this trinket in my hand for the pres- 
 ent," said Nigel, showing his pistol, "and will write you the 
 acquittance when I go ashore." 
 
 " I would not go ashore with you for a hundred pieces," 
 said the waterman. " lil-luck has ever attended you, except 
 in small gaming; do me fair justice, and give me the testi- 
 
Sia WAVEHLEY NOVELS 
 
 mony I desire. If you are afraid of foul play while you write 
 it, you may liold my pistols, if you will." He offered the 
 AveapoTis to Nigel accordingly, who, while they were under 
 his control, and all possibility of his being taken at advantage 
 was excluded, no longer hesitated to give the waterman an 
 acknowledgment, in the following terms: 
 
 " Jack in the Green, with his mate, belonging to the 
 wherry called tiie 'Jolly Eaven,' have done their duty faith- 
 fully by me, landing me at Greenwich by my express com- 
 mand; and being themselves willing and desirous to carry me 
 on board the ' Royal Thistle,^ presently lying at Gravesend." 
 Having finished this acknowledgment, which he signed with 
 the letters " X. 0. G." as indicating his name and title, he 
 again requested to know of the waterman to whom he deliv- 
 ered it the name of his employers. 
 
 " Sir," replied Jack in the Green, " I have respected your 
 secret, do not you seek to pry into mine. It would do you 
 no good to know for whom I am taking this present trouble; 
 and, to be brief, you shall not know it; and, if you will fight 
 in the quarrel, as you said even now, the sooner we begin the 
 better. Only this you may be cock-sure of, that we designed 
 you no harm, and' that, if you fall into any, it will be of your 
 own wilful seeking." As he spoke, they approached the land- 
 ing-place, where Nigel instantly jumped ashore. The water- 
 man placed his small mail-trunk on the stairs, observing, that 
 there were plenty of s^sare hands about, to carry it where he 
 would. 
 
 " We part friends, I hope, my lads," said the young 
 nobleman, offering at the same time a piece of money more 
 than double the usual fare to the boatmen. 
 
 " We part as we met," answered Green- Jacket; ''^and, for 
 your money, I am paid sufficiently with this bit of paper. 
 Only, if you owe me any love for the cast I have given you, 
 I pray you not to dive so deep into the pockets of the next 
 apprentice that you find fool enough to play the cavalier. And 
 you, you greedy swine," said he to his companion, who still 
 had a longing eye fixed on the money which Nigel continued 
 to offer, "push off, or, if I take a stretcher in hand, I'll break 
 the knave's pate of thee." The fellow pushed off, as he was 
 commanded, but still could not hel]) muttering, " This was 
 entirely out of waterman's rules." 
 
 Glenvarloch, though without the devotion of the " injured 
 Thales" of the moralist to the memory of that great princess, 
 had now attained 
 
 The liallow'd soil which gave Eliza birth, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 313 
 
 whose halls were now less respectably occupied by her suc- 
 cessor. It was not, ac has been well shown by a lat author, 
 that James was void either of parts or of good intentions; and 
 his predecessor was at least as arbitrary in effect as he was in 
 theory. But, while Elizabeth possessed a sternness of mas- 
 culine sense and determination wliich rendered even her 
 weaknesses, some of wliich were in themselves sufficiently 
 ridiculous, in a certain degree respectable, James, on the 
 other hand, was so utterly devoid of "firm resolve/' so well 
 called by the Scottich bard. 
 
 The stalk of carle-hemp in man, 
 
 that even his virtues and his good meaning became laughable, 
 from the whimsical uncertainty of his conduct; so that the 
 wisest things he ever said, and the best actions he ever did, 
 were often touched with a strain of the ludicrous and fidgety 
 character of the man. Accordingly, though at different 
 periods of his reign he contrived to acquire with his people a 
 certain degree of temporary popularity, it never long outlived 
 the occasion which produced it; so true it is, that the mass 
 of mankind will respect a monarch stained with actual guilt 
 more than one whose foibles render him only ridiculous. 
 
 To return from this digression. Lord Glenvarloch soon 
 received, as Green-Jacket had assured him, the offer of an 
 idle bargeman to transport his baggage Avhere he listed; but 
 that ivhere was a question of momentary doubt. At length, 
 recollecting the necessity that his hair and beard should be 
 properly arranged before he attempted to enter the royal 
 presence, and desirous, at the same time, of obtaining some 
 information of the motions of the sovereign and of the court, 
 he desired to be guided to the next barber's shop, which we 
 have already mentioned as the place where news of every kind 
 circled and centred. He was speedily shown the way to such 
 an emporium of intelligence, and soon found he was likely to 
 hear all he desired to know, and much more, Avhile his head 
 was subjected to the art of a nimble tonsor, the glibness of 
 whose tongue kept pace with the nimbleness of his fingers, 
 while he ran on, without stint or stop, in the following excur- 
 sive manner: 
 
 "The court here, master ?— yes, master — much to the ad- 
 vantage of trade — good custom stirring. His Majesty loves 
 Greenwich — hunts every morning in the Park — all decent 
 persons admitted that have the entries of the palace— no rab- 
 ble—frightened the King's horse with their ludlooing, the 
 uncombed slaves. Yes, sir, the beard more peaked ? Yes, 
 
314 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 master, so it is worn. I know the last cut — dress several of 
 the conrtiers — one valet of the chamber, two passes of the 
 body, the clerk of the kitchen, three running footmen, two 
 dog-boys, and an honorable Scottish knight. Sir Munko Mai- 
 growler." 
 
 " Malagrowther, I suppose ?" said Nigel, thrusting in his 
 conjectural emendation, with infinite difficulty, betwixt two 
 clauses of the barber's text. 
 
 ''Yes, sir — Malcrowder, sir, as you say, sir — hard names 
 the Scots have, sir, for an English mouth. Sir Munko is a 
 handsome person, sir — perhaps you know him ? — bating the 
 loss of his fingers, and the lameness of his leg, and the 
 length of his chin. Sir, it takes me one minute twelve 
 seconds more time to trim that chin of his than any chin 
 that I know in the town of Greenwich, sir. But he is a very 
 comely gentleman for all that ; and a pleasant — a very pleas- 
 ant gentleman, sir ; and a good-humored, saving that he is so 
 deaf he can never hear good of any one, and so wise, that he 
 can never believe it ; but he is a very good-natured gentle- 
 man for all that, except when one speaks too low, or when a 
 hair turns awry. Did I graze you, sir ? Vie shall put it to 
 rights in a moment, with one drop of styptic — my styptic, or 
 rather my wife's, sir. She makes the water herself. One 
 drop of the styptic, sir, and a bit of black taffeta patch, just 
 big enough to be the saddle to a flea, sir. Yes, sir, rather 
 improves than otherwise. The Prince had a patch the other 
 day, and so had the Duke ; and, if you will believe me, there 
 are seventeen yards three-quarters of black taffeta already cut 
 into patches for the courtiers.'^ 
 
 " But Sir Mungo Malagrowther ?" again interjected Nigel, 
 with difficulty. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir — Sir Munko, as you say ; a pleasant, good- 
 humored gentleman as ever To be spoken with, did you 
 
 say? ay, easily to be spoken withal, that is, as easily as his 
 infirmity will permit. He will presently, unless some one hath 
 asked him forth to breakfast, be taking his bone of broiled 
 beef at my neighbor Ned Kilderkin's yonder, removed from 
 over the way. Ned keeps an eating-house, sir, famous for 
 pork-griskins; but Sir Munko cannot abide pork, no more than 
 the King's most sacred Majesty,* nor my Lord Duke of 
 Lennox, nor Lord Dalgarno — nay, I am sure, sir, if I touched 
 you this time, it was your fault, not mine. But a single drop 
 of the styptic, another little patch that woidd make a doublet 
 for a flea, just under the left mustachio ; it will become you 
 
 * See Scots' Dislike to Pork. Note 30. 
 
TUB FORTiJXES OF NIGEL 318 
 
 when you smile, sir, as well as a dimple ; and if you would 
 salute your fair mistress — but I beg pardon, you are a grave 
 gentleman, very grave to be so young. Hope I have given no 
 offeuce ; it is my duty to entertain customers — my duty, sir, 
 and my pleasure. Sir Munko ^Malcrowthcr ? Yes, sir, I 
 dare say he is at this moment iu Xod's eating-house, for few 
 folks ask him out, now Lord Iluntinglen is gone to London. 
 You will get touched again. Yes, sir, there you shall find 
 him with his can of single ale, stirred with a sprig of rosemary, 
 for he never drinks strong potations, sir, unless to oblige 
 Lord Iluutinglen — take heed, sir — or any other person who 
 asks him forth to breakfast ; but single beer he always drinks 
 at Ked's, with his broiled bone of beef or mutton — or, it may 
 be, lamb at tlie season ; but not pork, though Xed is famous 
 for his griskins. But the Scots never eat pork — strange that! 
 some folks think they are a sort of Jews. There is a resem- 
 blance, sir. Do you not think so? Then they call our most 
 gracious sovereign the second Solomon, and Solomon, you 
 know, Avas king of the Jews ; so the thing bears a face, you 
 see. I believe, sir, you will find yourself trimmed now to your 
 content. I will be judged by the fair mistress of your affec- 
 tions. Crave pardon — no offence, I trust. Pray, consult the 
 glass. One touch of the crisping-tongs to reduce this strag- 
 gler. Thank your munificence, sir ; hope your custom while 
 you stay in Greenwich. "Would you have a tune on that 
 ghittern, to put your temper iu concord for the day ? Twang, 
 twang — twang, twang, dillo. Something out of tune, sir — 
 too many hands to touch it — we cannot keep these things 
 like artists. Let me help you Avith your cloak, sir — yes, sir. 
 You would not play yourself, sir, would you ? "Way to Sir 
 Munko's eating-house ? Yes, sir, but it is Ned's eating- 
 house, not Sir Munko's. The knight, to be sure, eats there, 
 and that makes it his eating-house in some sense, sir — ha, ha! 
 Y'onder it is, removed from over the way, new white-washed 
 posts, and red lattice — fat man in his doublet at tlie door — 
 Ned himself, sir — worth a thousand pounds, they say ; better 
 singeing pigs' faces than trimming courtiers', but ours is the 
 less mechanical vocation. Farewell, isir ; hope your custom."' 
 So saying, he at length permitted Nickel to depart, whose 
 ears, so long tormented with his continued babble, tingled 
 when it had ceased, as if a bell had been rung close to ther 
 for the same space of time. 
 
 Upon his arrival at the eating-house, where he proposed 
 to meet with Sir Mungo Malagrowther, from whom, in de- 
 spair of better advice, he trusted to receive some information 
 
fll6 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 as to the best mode of introducing himself into the royul 
 presence, Lord Glenvarloch found, in the host with whom'he 
 communed, the consequential taciturnity of an Englishman 
 well to pass in the Avorld. Xed Kilderkin spoke as a banker 
 writes, only touching the needful. Being asked if Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther was there ? he replied, " ^o." Being interro- 
 gated whether he was expected ? he said, *' Yes/' And being 
 again required to say when he was expected, he answered, 
 " Presen^-Jy." As Lord Glenvarloch next inquired whether 
 he himself could have any breakfast ? the landlord wasted 
 not even a syllable in reply, but, ushering him into a neat 
 room Avhere there were several tables, he placed one of them 
 before an arm-chair, and beckoning Lord Glenvarloch to take 
 possession, he set before him, in a very few minutes, a sub- 
 stantial repast of roast-beef, together with a foaming tankard, 
 to which refreshment the keen air of the river disjiosed him, 
 notwithstanding his mental embarrassments, to do much 
 honor. 
 
 While Ned was thus engaged in discussing his commons, 
 but raising his head at the same time whenever lie heard the 
 door of the apartment open, eagerly desiring the arrival of 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther (an event which had seldom been 
 expected by any one with so much anxious interest), a per- 
 sonage, as it seemed, of at least equal importance with the 
 knight, entered into the apartment, and began to hold 
 earnest colloquy -svith the publican, who thought proper to 
 carry on the conference on his side unbonneted. This impor- 
 tant gentleman's occupation might be guessed from his dress. 
 A milk-white jerkin, and hose of white kersey ; a white apron 
 twisted around his body in the manner of a sash, in which, 
 instead of a warlike dagger, was stuck a long-bladed knife, 
 hilted with buck-horn ; a white nightcap on his head, under 
 which his hair was neatly tucked, sufficiently portrayed him 
 as one of those priests of Comus whom the vulgar call cooks; 
 and the air with which he rated the publican for having 
 neglected to send some provisions to the palace showed that 
 he ministered to royalty itself. 
 
 " This will never answer," he said, " Master Kilderkin; the 
 King twice asked for sweetbreads and fricasseed coxcombs, 
 which are a favorite dish of his most sacred j\Iajesty, and they 
 were not to be hud, because Master Kilderkin had not sup- 
 plied them to the clerk of the kitchen, as by bargain bound.'' 
 Here Kilderkin made some apology, brief, according to his 
 own nature, and muttered in a lowly tone after the fashion 
 jt all Avho find themselves m a scrape. His superior replied. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 817 
 
 in a lofty strain of voice, '' Do not tell mo of the carrier and 
 his wain, and of the hen-coops coining from Xorfolk with tlie 
 poultry; a loyal man would have sent an express — he would 
 have gone upon his stumps, like Widdrington. Wliat if the 
 King had lost his appetite. Master Kilderkin ? AVliat if his 
 most sacred ^Miijesty had lost his dinner ? 0, blaster Kilder- 
 kin, if you liad but the just sense of the dignity of our pro- 
 fession, wliich is told of by tlie Avitty African slave, for so the 
 King's most excellent Majesty designates him, Publius Teren- 
 tius, Tanquam in sjiecidn, in patinax inspirerc juhen." 
 
 "You are learned. Master Linklator," replied the English 
 publican, compelling, as it were, with difliculty, his moiitl) to 
 utter three or four words consecutively. 
 
 "A poor smatterer," said Mr. Linklator; " but it would he 
 a shame to us, who are his most excellent Majesty's country- 
 men, not in some sort to have cherished those arts wherewith 
 he is so deeply imbued. Regis ad exemplar , Master Kilderkin, 
 totus componiiur orhis; Avhich is as much as to say, as the 
 King quotes the cook learns. In brief. Master Kilderkin, 
 having had the luck to be bred where humanities may be had 
 at the matter of an Englisli five groats by the quarter, I, like 
 others, have acquired — ahem — ahem ! " Here, the speaker's 
 eye having fallen upon Lord Glenvarloch, he suddenly 
 stopped in his learned harangue, with such symptoms of em- 
 barrassment as induced Ned Kilderkin to stretch his tacitur- 
 nity so far as not only to ask him what he ailed, but whether 
 he would take anything. 
 
 " Ail nothing!,'' replied the learned rival of the philosophi- 
 cal Syrus — " nothing — and yet I do feel a little giddy. I 
 could taste a glass of your dame's aqua mirahilis." 
 
 " I will fetch it," said Ned, giving a nod ; and his back 
 was no sooner turned than the cook walked near the table 
 where Lord Glenvarloch was seated, and regarding him with 
 a look of significance, where more was meant than met the 
 ear, said — " You are a stranger in Greenwich, sir. I advise 
 you to take the opportunity to step into the Park ; the 
 western wicket was ajar when I came hither ; I think it will 
 be locked presently, so you had better make the best of your 
 way — that is, if you have any curiosity. The venison are 
 coming into season just now, sir, and there is a pleasure in 
 looking at a hart of grease. I always think when tliey are 
 bounding so blithely past, what a pleasure it would be to 
 broach their plumb haunohes on a spit, and to embattle tlieir 
 breasts in a noble fortifictition of puff-paste, with plenty of 
 black pepper. '* 
 
il8 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 He ?ai(i no more, as Kilderkin re-entered with the cordial, 
 but edged off from Nigel without waiting any reply, only 
 repeating the same look of intelligence with which lie had 
 accosted him. 
 
 Nothing makes men's wits so alert as personal danger, 
 Nigel took the first opportunity which his host's attention to 
 the yeoman of the royal kitchen permitted to discharge his 
 reckoning, and readily obtained a direction to the wicket in 
 question. He found it upon the latch, as he had been taught 
 to expect ; and perceived that it admitted him to a narrow 
 footpath, wiiich traversed a close and tangled thicket, designed 
 for the cover of the does and the young fawns. Here he con- 
 jectured it would be proper to wait ; nor had he been station- 
 ary above five minutes, when the cook, scalded as much with 
 lieat of motion as ever he had been at his huge fireplace, 
 arrived almost breathless, and with his pass-key hastily locked 
 the Avicket behind him. 
 
 Ere Lord Glenvarloch had time to speculate upon this 
 action, the man approached with anxiety, and said — " Good 
 lord, my Lord Glenvarloch, why will you endanger yourself 
 thus ? " 
 
 " You know me then, my friend ? '* said Nigel. 
 
 " Not much of that, my lord ; but I know your honor's 
 noble house well. My name is Laurie Linklater, my lord." 
 
 " Linklater ! " repeated Nigel. " I should recollect " 
 
 "Under your lordship's favor," he continued, "I was 
 'prentice, my lord, to old Mungo Moniplies, the fleshcr at the 
 wanton West Port of Edinburgh, which I wish I saAV again 
 before I died. And your honor's noble father having taken 
 Eichie Moniplies into his house to wait on your lordship, there 
 was a sort of connection, your lordship sees." 
 
 '' Ah! " said Lord Glenvarloch, '' I had almost forgot your 
 name, but not your kind purpose. You tried to put Eichie 
 in the way of presenting a supplication to his Majesty? " 
 
 "Most true, my lord," replied the king's cook. "1 had 
 like to have come by mischief in the job; for Eichie, who 
 was always wilful, ' wadna be guided by me,' as the sang says. 
 But nobody among these brave English cooks can kittle up 
 his Majesty's most sacred palate with our own gusty Scottish 
 dishes. So I e'en betook myself to my craft, and concocted 
 a mess of friar's chicken for the soup, and a savory Itachis, 
 that made the whole cabal coup the crans; and, instead of dis- 
 grace, I came by preferment. I am one of the clerks of the 
 kitchen now, make me thankful ! with a finger in the pur- 
 veyor's office, and may get my Avliole hand in by and by. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 819 
 
 -■ I am truly glad/" said Xigel, '' to hear that yon have not 
 suffered on my account — still more so at your good fortune." 
 
 " You bear a kind heart, my lord," said Linklater, "and 
 do not forget poor people; and, troth, I see not why they 
 should be forgotten, since the king's errand may sometimes 
 fall in the cadger's gate. I have followed your lordship in 
 the street, just to look at such a stately shoot of the old oak- 
 tree; and my heart Jumped into my throat Avhen I saw you 
 sitting openly in the eating-house yonder, and knew there was 
 such danger to your person." 
 
 "What! there are warrants against me, then?" said 
 Nigel. 
 
 " It is even true, my lord; and there are those are Avilling 
 to blacken you as much as they can. God forgive them, that 
 would sacrilicean honorable house for their own base ends !" 
 
 "Amen," said Nigel. 
 
 " For, say your lordship may have been a little wild, like 
 other young gentlemen " 
 
 " We liave little time to talk of it, my friend," said Nigel. 
 " The point in question is, how am I to get speech of the 
 King?" 
 
 " The King, my lord!" said Linklater, in astonishment ; 
 " why, will not that be rushing wilfully into danger? — scalding 
 yourself, as I may say, with your own ladle ? " 
 
 " My good friend," answered Nigel, "my experience of 
 the court, and my knowledge of the circumstances in which I 
 stand, tell me that the manliest and most direct road is, in my 
 case, the surest and the safest. The King has both a head to 
 apprehend what is just and a heart to do what is kind." 
 
 " It is e'en true, my lord, and so we, his old servants, 
 know%" added Linklater; "but, woe's me, if you knew how 
 many folks make it their daily and nightly purpose to set his 
 head against his heart, and his heart against his head: to 
 make him do hard things because they are called just, 
 and unjust things because they are represented as kind. 
 Woe's me! it is with his sacred Majesty and the favorites 
 who work upon him even according to the homely j)rov- 
 erb that men taunt my calling with, ' God sends good 
 meat, but the devil sends cooks." " 
 
 " It signifies not talking of it, my good friend," said 
 Nigel, " I must take my risk; my honor peremptorily demands 
 it. They may maim me or beggar me, Init they shall not say 
 I ik'd from my accusers. My peers shall hear my vindication." 
 
 " Your peers! " exclaimed the cook. "■ Alack-a-day, my 
 lord, we are not in Scotland, where the nobles can bang it out 
 
320 WAVER LEY NOVELS 
 
 bravely, were it CA'en with the King himself, now and then. 
 This mess must he cooked in the Star Chamber, and that is an 
 oven seven times heated, my lord; and yet, if you are deter- 
 mined to see the King, I will not say but you may find some 
 favor, for he likes well anything tliat is appealed directly to 
 his own wisdom, and sometimes, in the like cases, I have 
 known him stick by his own opinion, which is always a fair 
 one. Only mind, if you will forgive me, my lord — mind to 
 spice high with Latin; a curn or two of Greek would not be 
 amiss; and, if you can bring in anything about the judgment 
 of Solomon, in the original Hebrew, and season with a merry 
 jest or so, the dish will be the more palatable. Truly, I think 
 that, besides my skill in art, I owe much to the stripes of the 
 rector of the High School, who imprinted on my mind that 
 cooking scene in the Hemitontimorumenos." 
 
 " Leaving that aside, my friend," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 " can you inform me which way I shall most readily get to 
 the sight and speech of the King?" 
 
 " To the sight of him readily enough," said Linklater; 
 " he is galloping about these alleys, to see them strike the 
 hart, to get him an appetite for a nooning — and that reminds 
 me, I should be in the kitchen. To the speech of the King 
 you will not come so easily, unless you could either meet him 
 alone, which rarely chances, or wait for him among the crowd 
 that go to see him alight. And now, farewell, my lord, and 
 God speed! If I could do more for you, I would offer it." 
 
 "You have done enough, perhaps, to endanger yourself,"' 
 said Lord Glenvarloch. " I pray you to be gone, and leave 
 me to my fate." 
 
 The honest cook lingered, but a nearer burst of the horns 
 apprised him tliat there was no time to lose; and, acquainting 
 Nigel that he would leave the postern door on the latch to 
 secure his retreat in that direction, he bade God bless him, 
 and farewell. 
 
 In the kindness of this humble countryman, flowing 
 partly from national partiality, partly from a sense of long- 
 remembered benefits, which had been scarce thought on by 
 those who had bestowed them. Lord Glenvarloch thought he 
 saw the last touch of sympathy which he was to receive in 
 this cold and courtly region, and felt that he must now be 
 sufficient to himself or be utterly lost. 
 
 He traversed more than one alley, guided by the sounds oi 
 the chase, and met several of the inferior attendants ujjon 
 the King's sport, who regarded liim only as one of tlie spec- 
 tators who were sometimes permitted to enter the Park by 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 321 
 
 the concurrence of tlie officers about the court. Still there 
 was no api.earance of James or any of his principal courtiers, 
 and Nigel began to think whether, at the risk of incurring 
 disgrace simikir to that which had attended the rash exploit 
 ui Eichie Mouiplies, he sliould not repair to the palace gate, 
 in order to address the King on his return, when Fortune 
 [)resented him the opportunity of doing so, in her own way. 
 
 He was in one of those long walks by Avhich the Park wlis 
 traversed, Avhen he heard, first a distant rustling, then the 
 rapid approach of hoofs sliaking the firm earth on which he 
 stood, then a distant halloo, warned by which he stood uj) by 
 t he side of the avenue, leaving free room for the passage of the 
 chase. The stag, reeling, covered with foam, and blackened 
 with sweat, his nostrils expanded as he gasped for breath, made 
 a shift to come up as far as where Xigel stood, and, without 
 turning to bay, was there pulled doAvn by two tall greyhounds 
 of tlie breed still used by the hardy deer-stalkers of the Scot- 
 tish Highlands, but which has been long unknown in England. 
 One dog struck at the buck's throat, another dashed his 
 sharp nose and fangs, I might almost say, into the animal's 
 bowels. It would have been natural for Lord Glenvarloch, 
 himself persecuted as if by hunters, to have thought upon the 
 occasion like the melancholy Jacques ; but liabit is a strange 
 matter, and I fear that his feelings on the occasion were 
 rather those of the practiced huntsman than of the moralist. 
 He had no time, however, to indulge them, for mark what 
 befell. 
 
 A single horseman followed the clia-se, upon a steed so 
 thoroughly subjected to the rein that it obeyed the touch of 
 the bridle as if it had been a mechanical impulse operating 
 on the nicest piece of machinery ; so that, seated deep in his 
 derai-pique saddle, and so trussed up there as to make falling 
 almost impossible, the rider, without either fear or hesitation, 
 might increase or diminish the speed at which he rode, which, 
 even on the most animating occasions of the chase, seldom 
 exceeded three-fourths of a gallop, the horse keeping his 
 h ranches under him, and never stretching forward beyond the 
 m maged pace of the academy. The security with which he 
 ciose to prosecute even this favorite, and, in the ordinary 
 ;,';ise, somewhat dangerous amusement, as well as the rest of 
 his equipage, marked King James. No attendant was within 
 sight ; indeed, it was often a nice strain of flattery to permit 
 t.ie sovereign to suppose he had outridden and distanced all 
 t le rest of the chase. 
 
 " Weel dune. Bash — weel dune. Battle!" he exclaimed, as 
 
 31 
 
322 . WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 he came up. " By the honor of a king, ye are a credit to 
 the Braes of Balwhither ! Ilaad my horse, man," he called 
 out to Nigel, without stopping to see to whom he had ad- 
 dressed himself — " hand my naig, and help me doun out o' 
 the saddle ; deil ding your saul, sirrah, canna ye mak haste 
 before these lazy smaiks come up? Ilaud the rein easy — 
 dinna let him swprve — now, haud the stirrup ; that will do, 
 man, and now we are on terra jirma." So saying, without 
 casting an eye on his assistant, gentle King Jamie, unsheath- 
 ing the short, sharp hanger {cotiteau de chasse), which was the 
 only thing approacliing to a sword that he could willingly en- 
 dure the sight of, drew the blade with great satisfaction across 
 the throat of the buck, and put an end at once to its strug- 
 gles and its agonies. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, who knew well the sylvan duty which 
 the occasion demanded, hung the bridle of the King's pal- 
 frey on the branch of a tree, and, kneeling duteously down, 
 turned the slaughtered deer upon its back, and kept the 
 quarrce in that position, while the King, too intent upon his 
 sport to observe anything else, drew his couteau down the 
 breast of the animal secundum artem; and, having made a cross 
 cut, so as to ascertain the depth of the fat upon the chest, ex- 
 claimed, in a sort of rapture, " Three inches of white fat on 
 the brisket ! — prime — prime — as I am a crowned sinner ; and 
 deil ane o' the lazy loons in but mysell ! Seven — aught — 
 aught tines on the antlers. By G — d, a hart of aught tines, 
 and the first of the season! Bash and Battle, blessings on 
 the heart's-root of ye! Buss me, my bairns, buss me." The 
 dogs accordingly fawned upon him, licked him with bloody 
 Jaws, and soon put him in such a state that it might have 
 seemed treason had been doing its fell work upon his anointed 
 body. '''Bide doun, with a mischief to ye — bide doun, with 
 a wanion," cried the King, almost overturned by the obstrep- 
 erous caresses of the large stag-hoiinds. " But ye are just 
 like ither folks, gie ye an inch and ye take an ell. And wha 
 may ye be, friend ? " he said, now finding leisure to take a 
 nearer view of Nigel, and observing what in his first emotion 
 of sylvan delight had escaped him. " Ye are nane of our 
 train, man. In the name of God, what the devil are ye? " 
 
 "An unfortunate man, sire," replied Nigel. 
 
 "1 dare say that," answered the King, snappishly, "or I 
 wad have seen naething of you. My lieges keep a' their 
 happiness to themselves; but let boM'ls row wrang wi' them, 
 and I am sure to hear of it." 
 
 " And to whom else can we carry our complaints but to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 3;;^ 
 
 your Majesty, who is Heaven's vicegerent over us?" answered 
 ISi^igel. 
 
 " Riglit, man, right — very weel spoken," said the Kinir; 
 " but you should leave Heaven's vicegerent some quiet on 
 earth, too." 
 
 "li your Majesty will look on me," for hitherto the King 
 had been so busy, first with the dogs, and then with the mys- 
 tic operation of ''breaking," in vulgar phrase, cutting up, the 
 deer, that he had scarce given his assistant above a transient 
 glance,'' you will see whom necessity makes bold to avail him- 
 self of an opportunity which may never again occur." 
 
 King James looked; his blood left his cheek, though it 
 continued stained with that of the animal which lay at his 
 feet, he dropped the knife from his hand, cast behind him a 
 faltering eye, as if he either meditated flight or looked out for 
 assistance, and then exclaimed — " Glenvarlochides! as sure as 
 I was christened James Stuart. Here is a bonny spot of 
 work, and me alone, and on foot too!" he added, bustling to 
 get upon his horse. 
 
 "Forgive me that I interrupt you, my liege," said Nigel, 
 placing himself between the King and the steed; "hear me 
 but a moment." 
 
 " I'll hear ye best on horseback," said the King. " I 
 canna hear a word on foot, man — not a word; and it is not 
 seemly to stand cheek-for-chowl confronting us that gate. 
 Bide out of our gate, sir, we charge you on your allegiance. 
 The deil's in them a', what can they be doing?" 
 
 "' By the crown which you wear, my liege," said Xigel, 
 "and for which my ancestors have worthily fought, I conjure 
 you to be composed, and to hear me but a moment!" 
 
 That which he asked was entirely out of the monarch's 
 power to gran*:. The timidity which he showed was not the 
 plain downright cowardice which, like a natural impulse, 
 compels a man to flight, and which can excite little but pity 
 or contempt, but a much more ludicrous, as well as more 
 mingled, sensation. The poor king was frightened at once 
 and angry, desirous of securing his safety, and at the same 
 time ashamed to compromise his dignity; so that, without 
 attending to what Lord Glenvarloch endeavored to explain, 
 he kept making at his horse, and repeating, "We are a free 
 king, man — we are a free king; we will not be controlled by 
 a subject. In the name of God, what keeps Steenie? And, 
 praised be His name! they are coming. Hillo, ho — here, 
 here — Steenie. Steenie!" 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham galloped up, iolioweJ by several 
 
324 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 courtiers and attendants of the royal cliase, and commenced 
 with his usual familiarity — "I see Fortune has graced our 
 dear dad, as usual. But what's this?" 
 
 " What is it? It is treason for Avhat I ken/' said the King; 
 " and a' your wyte, 8teenie. Your dear dad and gossip might 
 have been murdered, for what you care." 
 
 "Murdered! Secure the villain!" exclaimed the duke. 
 " By Heaven, it is Olifaunt himself! '" A dozen of the hunters 
 dismounted at once, letting their horses run wild through the 
 Park. Some seized roughly on Lord Glenvarloch, who 
 thought it folly to offer resistance, wliile others busied them- 
 selves witn the King. "Are you wounded, my liege — are 
 you wounded ? " 
 
 "Not that I ken of," said the King, in the paroxysm of 
 his apprehension, which, by the way, might be pardoned in 
 one of so timorous a temper, and who, in his time, had been 
 exposed to so many strange attemjits — "not that I ken of; 
 but search him — search him. I am sure I saw firearms under 
 his cloak. I am sure I smelled powder — I am dooms sure of 
 that." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch's cloak being stripped off, and his pistols 
 discovered, a shout of wonder and of execration on the sup- 
 posed criminal purpose arose from the crowd now thickening 
 every moment, Kot that celebrated pistol which, though 
 resting on a bosom as gallant and as loyal as Nigel's, spread 
 such causeless alarm among knights and dames at a late high 
 solemnity — not that very pistol caused more temporary con- 
 sternation than was so groundlessly excited by the arms which 
 were taken from Lord Glenvarloch's person; and not Mhic- 
 AUastar-More* himself could repel with greater scorn and 
 indignation the insinuations that they were worn for any 
 sinister purposes. 
 
 " Away with the wretch — the parricide — the blood}^- 
 minded villain ! " was echoed on all hands ; and the King, 
 who naturally enough set the same value on his own life at 
 which it was, or seemed to be, rated by others, cried out, 
 louder than all tlie rest, " Ay — ay, away with him. I have 
 had enough of him, and so has the country. But do him no 
 bodily harm ; and, for God's sake, sirs, if ye are sure that ye 
 have thoroughly disarmed him, put up your swords, dirks, 
 and skenes, for you will certainly do each other a mischief." 
 
 There was a speedy sheathing of weapons at the King's 
 command ; for those who had hitherto been brandishing them 
 in loyal bravado began thereby to call to mind the extreme 
 
 * See Note 31, 
 
THE FORTUXES OF MGJ:.^ 825 
 
 dislike which his Majesty nourished against naked steel— a 
 foible v.'hieh seemed to be" as constitutional as his timidity, 
 and was usually ascribed to the brutal murder of Rizzio hav- 
 ing been perpetrated in his unfortunate mothers presence 
 before he yet saw the light. 
 
 At this moment, tlie Prince, who had been hunting in a 
 different part of the then extensive Park, and had received 
 some hasty and confused information of what was going for- 
 ward, came rapidly up, with one or two noblemen in his train, 
 aiul among others Lord Dalgarno. He sprang from iiis 
 horse, and asked eagerly if his fatiier were wounded. 
 
 "Xot that I am sensible of, Baby Charles; but a wee 
 matter exhausted, with struggling single-handed with the 
 .tssassin. Steenie, fill us a cup of wine— the leathern bottle 
 is lianging at our pommel. Buss me, then. Baby Charles," 
 continued the monarch, after he had taken this cup of coni- 
 fort.* *' man, the Commonwealth and you have had a fair 
 escape from the heavy and bloody loss of a dear father ; for 
 we are pater pat ricB as weel aspaterfannlias.^ Qiiis desiderio 
 sit pudor aid modus tarn cari capitis! Woe is me, black 
 cloth would have been dear in England, and dry een scarce!" 
 
 And, at the very idea of the general grief which must 
 have attended his death, the good-natured monarch cried 
 heartily himself. 
 
 "Is this possible ?-*' said Charles, sternly; for his pride 
 was hurt at his father's demeanor on the one hand, while, on 
 the other, he felt the resentment of a son and a subject at 
 the supposed attempt on the King's life. " Let some one 
 speak who has seen what happened. Uj Lord of Bucking- 
 ham ! " 
 
 -' I cannot say, my lord," replied the Duke, " that I saw 
 any actual violence offered to his Majesty, else I should have 
 avenged him on tlie spot." 
 
 " You would have done wrong, then, in your zeal, 
 George," answered the Prince; " such offenders were better 
 left to be dealt with by the laws. But was the villain not 
 struggling with his Majesty?" 
 
 " 1 cannot term it so, my lord," said the Duke, who, with 
 many faults, would have disdained an untruth. " He seemed 
 to desire to detain his Majesty, who, on the contrary, 
 appeared to wish to mount his horse; but they have found 
 })istols on his person, contrary to the proclamation, and, aait 
 proves to be Nigel Olifaunt, of whose ungoverned disposition 
 vour Eoyal Highness has seen some samples, we seem to be 
 justified in apprehending the Avorst." 
 
 * See King Jaa^es'B Huntiiuc-Bottle. Note 82. 
 
326 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Xigel Olifuinit ! " said the Prince; " can that unhappy 
 man so soon have engaged in a new trespass? Let me see 
 those pistols." 
 
 *' Ye are not so unwise as to meddle with such snap- 
 haunces. Baby Charles?" said James. "Do not give him 
 them, Steenie — I command you on your allegiance. They 
 may go off of their own accord, whilk often befalls. You 
 will do it, then? Saw ever man sic wilful bairns as we are 
 cumbered with! Havena we guardsmen and soldiers enow, 
 but you must unload the weapons yoursell — you, the heir of 
 our body and dignities, and sae mony men around that are 
 paid for venturing life in our cause ? " 
 
 But, without regarding his father's exclamations. Prince 
 Charles, with the obstinacy which characterized him in trifles 
 as Avell as matters of consequence, persisted in unloading the 
 pistols with his own hand of the double bullets with which 
 each was charged. The hands of all around were held up in 
 astonishment at the horror of the crime supposed to have 
 been intended, and the escape which was presumed so 
 narrow. 
 
 Nigel had not yet spoken a word; he now calmly desired 
 to be heard. 
 
 " To what purpose?" answered the Prince, coldly. " You 
 knew yourself accused of a heavy offence, and, instead of 
 rendering yourself up to justice, in terms of the proclama- 
 tion, you are here found intruding yourself on his Majesty's 
 presence, and armed with unlawful weapons." 
 
 " May it please you, sir," answered Nigel, " I wore these 
 unhappy weapons for my own defence; and not very many 
 hours since they were necessary to protect the lives of others." 
 
 "Doubtless, my lord," answered the Prince, still calm and 
 unmoved, " your late mode of life, and the associates with 
 whom you have lived, have made you familiar with scenes and 
 weapons of violence. But it is not to me you are to plead 
 your cause." 
 
 " Hear me — hear me, noble prince ! " said Nigel, eagerly. 
 " Hear me ! Y^ou — even you yourself — may one day ask to 
 be heard, and in vain." 
 
 " How, sir," said the Prince, haughtily — " how am I to 
 construe that, my lord ? " 
 
 " If not on earth, sir," replied the prisoner, " yet to 
 Heaven we must all pray for patient and favorable audience." 
 
 " True, my lord," said the Prince, bending his head with 
 haughty acquiescence; "nor would I now refuse such audience 
 to you, could it avail you. But you shall suffer no wrong 
 We will ourselves look into ^our case." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL 82" 
 
 "Ay— ay," answered the King, "he hath made appellat in 
 ad Ccesarem : we will interrogate Glendarloehides ourselves, 
 time and place fitting; and in the mean while, have him and 
 his weapons away, for I am weary of the sight of tlani." 
 
 In consequence of directions hastily given, Nigel was ac- 
 cordingly removed from the presence, where, however, his wordt- 
 had not altogether fallen to the ground.* "This is a most 
 strange matter, George," said the Prince to the favorite; 
 " this gentleman hath a good countenance, a happy presence, 
 and much calm firmness in his look and speech. I cannot 
 think he would attempt a crime so desperate and useless." 
 
 " I profess neither love nor favor to the young man," 
 answered Buckingham, whose high-spirited ambition bore 
 always an open character; '' out I cannot but agree with your 
 Higlmess, that our dear gossip hatlr been something hasty in 
 aj)prehending personal danger from him." f 
 
 By my saul, Steenie, ye are not blate, to say so ! " said the 
 King. " Do I not ken the smell of pouther, think ye ? Who 
 else nosed out the Fifth of Xovember, save our royal selves? 
 Cecil, and Suffolk, and all of them were at fault, like sae 
 mony mongrel tykes, when I puzzled it out ; and trow ye 
 that I cannot smell pouther? Why, 'sblood, man, Joannes 
 Barclaius thought my ingine was in some measure inspiration, 
 and terms his history of the plot Series jxtfefacii divinitus 
 parricidii; and Spoudanus, in like manner, saith of us, 
 Divinitus evasit." 
 
 " The land Avas happy in your Majesty's escape," said the 
 Duke of Buckingham, " and not less in the quick wit which 
 tracked that labyrinth of treason by so fine and almost in- 
 visible a clew." 
 
 "Saul, man, Steenie, ye are right ! There are few youths 
 have sic true judgment as you respecting the wisdom of their 
 . elders ; and as for this f ause, traitorous smaik, I doubt he is 
 a hawk of the same nest. Saw ye not something Paj^istical 
 about him ? Let them look that he bears not a crucifix or 
 some sic Eoman trinket about him." 
 
 "It would ill become me to attempt the exculpation of this 
 unhappy man," said Lord Dalgarno, "considering tlie height 
 of his present attempt, which has made all true men's blood 
 curdle in their veins. Yet I cannot avoid intimating, with all 
 due submission to his Majesty's infallible judgment, in justice 
 to one who showed himself formerly only my enemy, though 
 he now displays himself in much blacker colors, that this 
 
 • See Scene in Greenwich Park. Not© 83, 
 t See King James's Timidity. Note 84. 
 
828 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 Olifannt always appeared to me more as a Puritan than as a 
 
 Papist." 
 
 "Ah, Dalgarno, art thou there, man?" said the King. 
 " And ye behoved to keep back, too, and leave us to our own 
 natural strength and the care of Providence when we were in 
 grips witli the villain !" 
 
 ""Providence, may it please your most gracious Majesty, 
 would not fail to aid, in sucli a strait, the care of three weep- 
 ing kingdoms," said Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 "Surely, man — surely," replied the King; "but a sight 
 of your fatlier, with his long whinyard, Avould have been a 
 blithe matter a short while s}Tie ; and in future we will aid 
 the ends of Providence in our favor by keeping near us two 
 stout beef-eaters of the guard. And so tliis Olifaunt is a 
 Puritan ? not the less like to be a Papist for all that, for 
 extremities meet, as the scholiast jiroveth. There are, as I 
 have proved in my book, Puritans of Papistical principles : it 
 is just a new tout on an auld horn." 
 
 Here the King was reminded by the Prince, who dreaded 
 perhaps that he was going to recite the whole Basilicon Doron, 
 that it would be best to move towards the palace, and con- 
 sider what was to be done for satisfying the public mind, in 
 whom the morning's adventure was likely to excite much 
 speculation. As they entered the gate of the palace, a female 
 bowed and presented a paper, which the King received, and, 
 with a sort of groan, thrust it into his side pocket. The 
 Prince expressed some curiosity to know its contents. " Tlie 
 valet in waiting will tell you them," said the King, "when 1 
 strip off my cassock. D'ye think, Baby, that I can read all 
 that is thrust into my hands ? 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 I— - 
 stopping betwixt two burdens. Ay — ay, Asimis fort is ac-- 
 cumhens inter terminos as, the Vulgate hath it. Ay, ay, Vid: 
 terrain quod esset ojotima, et supposui humerum ad portan- 
 dum, et f actus sum tributis serviens — I saw this land of 
 England, and became an overburdened king thereof." 
 
 " You are indeed well loaded, my dear dad and gossip," 
 said the Duke of Buckingham, receiving the papers which 
 King James emptied out of his pockets. 
 
 " Ay — ay," continued the monarch; " take them to you per 
 aversionein, bairns — tlie one pouch stuffed with petitions, 
 t'other Avithpasquinadoes; a fine time we have on't. On my 
 conscience, IbelieA'C the tale of Cadmus Avas hieroglyphical, 
 and that the dragon's teeth Avhilk he sowed were the letters 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 323 
 
 he invented. Ye are laughing, Baby Charles ? ilind -what 
 I say. AVhen I came here first frae our ain country, where 
 tlie men are as rude as the weatlier, by my conscience, Eng- 
 land was a bieldy bit: one would liavc tiiuught the King had 
 little to do but to walk by quiet waters — per aquam refec- 
 fionis. But, I kenna how or why, the place is sair changed — 
 read that libel upon us and on our regimen. The dragon's 
 teeth are sown, Baby Charles; I pray God they bearna their 
 armed harvest in your day, if I suld not live to see it. God 
 forbid I should, for there will be an awful day's keraping at 
 the shearing of them." 
 
 " I shall know how to stifle the crop in the blade — ha, 
 George?" said the Prince, turning to the favorite with a look 
 expressive of some contempt for his father's apprehensions, 
 and full of confidence in the superior firmness and decision 
 of his own counsels. 
 
 While this discourse was passing, Xigel, in charge of a 
 pursuivant-at-arms, was pushed and dragged through tlio 
 small town, all the inhabitants of which, having been alarmed 
 by the report of an attack on the King's life, now pressed 
 forward to see the supposed traitor. Amid the confusion of 
 the moment, he could descry the face of the victualler,, 
 arrested into a stare of stolid wonder, and that of the barber 
 grinning betwixt horror and eager curiosity. He thought 
 that he also had a glimpse of his waterman in the green 
 jacket. 
 
 He had no time for remarks, being placed in a boat with 
 the pursuivant and two yeomen of the guard, and rowed up 
 the river as fast as the arms of six stout watermen could pull 
 against the tide. They passed the groves of masts which 
 even then astonished the stranger with the extended com- 
 merce of London, and now approached those low and black- 
 ened walls of curtain and bastion which exhibit here and there 
 a piece of ordnance, and here and there a solitary sentinel 
 under arms, but have otherwise so little of the military ter- 
 rors of a citadel. A projecting low-browed arch, which had 
 lowered over many an innocent and many a guilty head, in sim- 
 ilar circumstances, now spread its dark f ro\\'ns over that of 
 Xigel.* The boat was put close up to the broad steps against 
 which the tide was lapping its lazy wave. The warder on 
 duty looked from the wicket, and spoke to the pursuivant in 
 whispers. In a few minutes the lieutenant of tlie Tower ap- 
 peared, received, and granted an acknowledgment for the boav 
 'jf Nigel Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 • See Traitor's Gate. Note 8&. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 Ye towers of Julius 1 London's lasting shame; 
 With many a foul and midnight murder fed I 
 
 Gray. 
 
 Such is the exclamation of Grray. Bandello, long before 
 him, has said sometliing like it; and the same sentiment mnst, 
 in some sliape or other, liave frequently occurred to those 
 who, remembering the fate of other captives in that memor- 
 able state prison, may have had but too much reason to antici- 
 pate their own. The dark and low arch, which seemed, like the 
 entrance to Dante's Hell, to forbid hope of regress; the mut- 
 tered sounds of the warders, and petty formalities observed in 
 opening and shutting the grated wicket; tlie cold and con- 
 strained salutation of the lieutenant of the fortress, who 
 showed his prisoner that distant and measured respect which 
 authority pays as a tax to decorum — all struck ujDon Xigel's 
 heart, impressing on him the cruel consciousness of captivity. 
 
 " I am a prisoner," he said, the words escaping from him 
 almost unawares — " I am a prisoner, and in the Tower!" 
 
 The lieutenant bowed. "Audit is my duty," he said, 
 "to show your lordship your chamber, where, I am com- 
 pelled to say, my orders are to place you under some restraint. 
 I will make it as easy as my duty permits." 
 
 Nigel only bowed in return to this compliment, and fol- 
 lowed the lieutenant to the ancient buildings on the western 
 side of the parade, and adjoining to the chapel, used in those 
 days as a state prison, but in ours as the mess-room of the 
 officers of the guard upon duty at the fortress. The double 
 doors were unlocked; the prisoner ascended a few steps, fol- 
 lowed by the lieutenant and a warder of the higher class. 
 They entered a large, but irregular, low-roofed, and dark 
 apartment, exhibiting a very scanty proportion of furniture. 
 The warder had orders to light a fire and attend to Lord 
 Glenvarloch's commands in all things consistent with his 
 duty; and the lieutenant, having made his reverence with 
 tlie customary compliment that, "He trusted his lordship 
 would not long remain under his guardianship," took his 
 leave. 
 
 Nigel would have asked some questions of the warder. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 331 
 
 who remained to put the apartment in order, but tlie man 
 had caught the spirit of his office. He seemed not to hear 
 some of the prisoner's questions, though of the most ordi- 
 nary kind, did not reply to others, and when he did speak, it 
 was in a short and sullen tone, which, though not positively 
 disrespectful, was such as at least to encourage no farther 
 communication, 
 
 Xigel left him, therefore, to do his work in silence, and 
 proceeded to amuse himself with the melancholy task of 
 deciphering the names, mottoes, verses, and hieroglyphics 
 with which his predecessors in captivity had covered the walls 
 of their prison-house. There he saw the names of many a for- 
 gotten sufferer, mingled with others which will continue in 
 remembrance until English history shall perish. There were 
 the pious effusions of "the devout" Catholic, poured forth on 
 the eve of his sealing his profession at Tyburn, mingled with 
 those of the firm Protestant, about to feed the fires of Smith- 
 field. There the slender hand of the unfortunate Jane Grey, 
 whose fate was to draw tears from future generations, might 
 be contrasted with the bolder touch which impressed deep on 
 the walls the bear and ragged staff, the proud emblem of the 
 proud Dudleys. It was tike 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.* 
 
 In the sad task of examining the miseries of his predeces- 
 sors in captivity. Lord Glenvarioch was interrupted by the 
 sudden opening of the door of his prison-room. It was the 
 warder, who came to inform him that, by order of the lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower, his lordship was to have the society and 
 attendance of a fellow-prisoner in his place of confinement. 
 Nigel replied hastily, that he wished no attendance, and would 
 rather be left alone ; but the warder gave him to understand, 
 with a kind of grumbling civility, that the lieutenant was the 
 best judge how his prisoners should be accommodated, and 
 that he would have no trouble with the boy, who was such a 
 slip of a thing as was scarce worth turning a key upon. 
 "There, Giles," he said, " bring the child in." 
 
 Another warder put the "lad before him," into the room, 
 and, both withdrawing, bolt crashed and chain clanged as 
 they replaced these ponderous obstacles to freedom. The boy 
 was' clad in a gray suit of the finest cloth, laid down with 
 silver lace, with a buff-colored cloak of the same pattern. 
 His cap, which was a montero of black velvet, was pulled 
 
 • See Memorials of Illustrious Criminals. Not« 86. 
 
332 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 over his brows, and, with the j)rofusion of his long ringlets, 
 almost concealed his face. He stood on the very spot Avhere 
 the warder liad quitted his collar, about two steps from the 
 door of the apartment, his eyes fixed on the ground, and every 
 joint trembling with confusion and terror. Nigel could well 
 liave dispensed with his society, but it was not in his nature 
 to beliold distress, whether of body or mind, without endeav- 
 oring to relieve it. 
 
 " Cheer up," he said, " my pretty lad. We are to be 
 companions, it seems, for a little time — at least I trust your 
 confinement will be short, since you are too young to have 
 done aught to deserve long restraint. Come, come, do not be 
 discouraged. Your hand is cold and trembles, tlie air is 
 warm too — but it may be the damp of this darksome room. 
 Place you by the fire. What! weeping-ripe, my little man? 
 I pray you, do not be a child. You have no beard yet, to be 
 dishonored by your tears, but yet you should not cry like a 
 girl. Think you are only shut up for playing truant, and 
 you can pass a day without weeping, surely." 
 
 The boy suffered himself to be led and seated by the fire, 
 but, after retaining for a long time the very posture which he 
 assumed in sitting down, he suddenly changed it in order to 
 wring his hands with an air of the bitterest distress, and then, 
 spreading them before his face, wept so plentifully that the 
 tears found their way in floods tlirough his slender fingers. 
 
 Nigel was in some degree rendered insensible to his own 
 situation by his feelings for the intense agony by which so 
 young and beautiful a creature seemed to be utterly over- 
 wlielmed ; and, sitting down close beside the boy, he applied 
 the most soothing terms which occurred, to endeavor to alle- 
 viate his distress ; and, with an action which the difference 
 of their age rendered natural, drew his hand kindly along the 
 long hair of the disconsolate child. The lad appeared so shy 
 as even to shrink from this slight approach to familiarity ; 
 yet, when Lord Glenvarloch, perceiving and allowing for his 
 timidity, sat doAvn on the farther side of the fire, he appeared 
 to be more at his ease, and to hearken with some apparent 
 interest to the arguments which from time to time Nigel 
 used, to induce him to moderate, at least, the violence of 
 his grief. As the boy listened, his tears, though they con- 
 tinued to flow freely, seemed to escape from their source 
 more easily, his sobs were less convulsive, and becam.e grad- 
 luilly changed into low sighs, which succeeded each other, in- 
 dicating as much sorrow, perhaps, but less alarm, than his 
 first transports had shown. 
 
THE FORTUXES OF NIGEL Z .3 
 
 " Tell me v.ho and what you are, my pretty boy," said 
 Nigel. "Consider me, cliild, as a companion, who wishes 
 to be kind to you, would you but teach him how he can be 
 
 SO. 
 
 '' Sir — my lord, I mean," answered the boy, very timidly, 
 and in a voice which could scarce be heard even across the 
 brief distance which divided them, " you are very good — and 
 I — am very unliapp}' " 
 
 A second fit of tears interrupted what else he had intended 
 to say, and it required a renewal of Lord Glenvarloch's good- 
 natured expostulations and encouragements to bring him once 
 more to such composure as rendered the lad capable of ex- 
 pressing himself intelligibly. At length, however, he was 
 able to say — " I am sensible of 3'our goodness, my lord, and 
 grateful for it; but I am a poor, unhappy creature, and, what 
 is worse, have myself only to thank for my misfortunes." 
 
 'MVe are seldom absolutely miserable, my young acquaint- 
 ance," said Nigel, "without being ourselves more or less re- 
 sponsible for it. I may well say so, otherwise I had not been 
 here to-day; but you are very young, and can have but little 
 to answer for." 
 
 " sir! I wish I could say so. I have been self-willed 
 and obstinate — and rash and ungovernable — and now — now, 
 liow dearly do I pay the price of it!" 
 
 "Pshaw, my boy," replied Nigel, "this must be some 
 childish frolic — some breaking out of bounds — some truant 
 trick. And yet how should any of tliese have brought you to 
 the Tower? There is something mysterious about you, young 
 man, which I must inquire into." 
 
 " Indeed — indeed, my lord, there is no harm about me," 
 said tlie boy, more moved, it would seem, to confession by the 
 last words, by which he seemed considerably alarmed, than by 
 all the kind expostulations and arguments which Nigel had 
 previously used. " I am inocent — that is, I have done wrong, 
 but nothing to deserve being in this frightful place." 
 
 " Tell me the truth, then," said Nigel, in a tone in which 
 command mingled witli encouragement; "you have nothing 
 to fear from me, and as little to hope, perhaps; yet, placed as 
 I am, I would know with wliom I speak." 
 
 " With an unliappy — boy, sir — and idle and truantly dis- 
 posed, as your lordship said," answered the lad, looking up 
 and sliowing a countenance in which paleness and blushes 
 succeeded eacli other, as fear and shamefacedness alternately 
 had influence. "I left my father's house without leave, to 
 see the King hunt in the Park at Green wicli; there came a 
 
3:^4 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 cry of • Treason/ and all the gates were shut. I was fright- 
 ened, and hid myself in a thicket, and 1 was found by some of 
 the rangers and examined — and they said i gave no good ac- 
 count of myself — and so I was sent liither." 
 
 *' I am an unhappy — a most unhappy being," said Lord 
 Gleuvarloch, rising and walking through the apartment; 
 '* nothing approaclies me but sliares my own bad fate ! Death 
 and iinprisoumont dog my steps, and involve all who are found 
 near me. Yet this boy's story sounds strangely. You say 
 you were exauiined, my young friend. Let me pray you to 
 say whether you told your name, and your means of gaining 
 admission into the Park; if so, they surely would not have 
 detained you?" 
 
 " my lord," said the boy, " I took care not to tell them 
 the name of the friend that let me in; and as to my fatlier — 
 I would not he knew where I now am for all the wealth in 
 London ! " 
 
 " But you do not expect," said Nigel, " that they will dis- 
 miss you till you let them know who and what you are?" 
 
 "What good will it do tliem to keep so useless a creature 
 as myself?" said the boy; " they must let me go, were it but 
 out of shame." 
 
 •' Do not trust to that. Tell me your name and station; 
 I will co'.nmuuicate them to the lieutenant; he is a man of 
 quality and honor, and will not only be willing to procure 
 your liberation, but also, I have no doubt, will intercede with 
 your father. I am partly answerable for such poor aid as 1 
 can afford, to get you out of this embarrassment, since I oc- 
 casioned the alarin owing to which you were arrested; so tell 
 me your name and your father's name." 
 
 ' ' My name to you ? never — never ! " answered the boy, 
 in a tone of deep emotion, the cause of which Nigel could 
 not comprehend. 
 
 " Are you so much afraid of me, young man," he replied, 
 " because I am here accused and a prisoner? Consider, a man 
 may be both and deserve neither suspicion nor restraint. Wliy 
 should you distrust me ? You seem friendless, and I am 
 myself so much in the same circumstances that I cannot bui: 
 pity your situation when I reflect on my OAvn. Be wise; I 
 nave spoken kindly to you, I mean as kindly as I speak." 
 
 '' 0, I doubt it not — I doubt it not, my lord," said the 
 boy, " and I could tell you all — that is, almost all." 
 
 "Telbne nothing, my young friend, excepting what may 
 assist me in being useful to you." said Nigel. 
 
 ** You are generous. mV lord." said the boy; " and I am 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 335 
 
 sure — sure, I might safely trust to your lionor. But yet — 
 but yet — 1 am so sore beset. 1 have been so rasli, so un- 
 guarded — 1 can never tell you of my folly. Besitles, 1 have 
 already told too much to one whose heart I thought I had 
 moved — yet I find myself here." 
 
 " To whom did you make this disclosure ? " said Nigel. 
 
 " I dare not tell," replied the youth. 
 
 " Tliere is something singular about you, my young 
 friend," said Lord Glenvarlocli, withdrawing with a gentle de- 
 gree of compulsion the hand with wliich the boy had again 
 covered his eyes ; "do not pain yourself with thinking on 
 your situation just at present. Your pulse is high, and your 
 hand feverish ; lay yourself on yonder pallet, and try to com- 
 pose yourself to sleep. It is the readiest and best remedy 
 for the fancies with which you are worrying yourself." 
 
 " I thank you for your considerate kindness, my lord," 
 said the boy ; "• with your leave, I will remain for a little 
 space quiet in this chair : I am better thus than on the couch. 
 I can think undisturbedly on what I have done, and have 
 still to do ; and if God sends slumber to a creature so ex- 
 hausted, it shall be most welcome." 
 
 So saying, the boy drew his hand from Lord Nigel's, and, 
 drawing around him and partly over liis face the folds of 
 liis ample cloak, he resigned himself to sleep or meditation, 
 while his companion, notwithstanding the exhausting scenes 
 of this and the preceding day, continued liis pensive walk 
 up and down the apartment. 
 
 Every reader has experienced tliat times occur when, far 
 from being lord of external circumstances, man is unable to 
 rule even tlie wayward realm of his own thoughts. It was 
 Nigel's natural wish to consider his own situation coolly, 
 and fix on the course w^icli it became him as a man of sense 
 and courage to adopt ; and yet, in spite of himself, and not- 
 withstanding the deep interest of the critical state in which 
 he was placed, it did so happen that his fellow-prisoner's 
 situation occupied more of liis thoughts than did his own. 
 There was no accounting for this wandering of the imagina- 
 tion, but also there was no striving with it. The pleading 
 tones of one of the sweetest voices he had ever heard still 
 rang in his ear, though it seemed that sleep had now fettered 
 the tongue of the speaker. He drew near on tijitoe to satisfy 
 himself whether it were so. The folds of the cloak hid the 
 lower part of his face entirely ; but the bonnet, which had 
 fallen a little aside, permitted him to see the forehead 
 streaked with blue veins, the closed eyes, and the long silkeu 
 eyelashes. 
 
336 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " Poor child/' said Nigel to himself, as he looked on him, 
 nestled up as it were in the folds of his mantle, ' ' the dew is 
 yet on thy eyelashes, and thou hast fairly wept thyself asleep. 
 Sorrow is a rough nurse to one so young and delicate as thou 
 art. Peace be to thy slumbers, I will not disturb them. My 
 own misfortunes require my attention, and it is to their con- 
 templation that I must resign myself.'' 
 
 He attempted to do so, but was crossed at every turn by 
 conjectures which intruded themselves as before, and which 
 all regarded the sleeper rather than himself. He was angry 
 and vexed, and expostulated with himself concerning the 
 overweening interest which he took in the concerns of one of 
 whom he knew nothing, saving that the boy was forced into 
 his company, perhaps as a spy, by those to whose custody he 
 was committed ; but the spell could not be broken, and the 
 thoughts which he struggled to dismiss continued to haunt 
 him. 
 
 Thus passed half an hour or more, at the conclusion of 
 Avhich the harsh sound of the revolving bolts was again heard, 
 and the voice of the warder announced that a man desired to 
 speak with Lord Glenvarloch. "A man to speak with me, 
 under my present circumstances! Who can it be ?" And 
 John Christie, his landlord of Paul's Wharf, resolved his 
 doubts by entering the apartment. 
 
 " Welcome — most welcome, mine honest landlord ! " said 
 Lord Glenvarloch. " How could I have dreamt of seeing you 
 in my present close lodgings?" And at the same time, with 
 the frankness of old kindness, he walked uj? to Christie and 
 offered his hand ; but John started back as from the look of 
 a basilisk. 
 
 " Keep your courtesies to yourself, my lord," said he, gruff- 
 ly ; "I have had as many of them already as may serve me for 
 my life." 
 
 "Why, Master Christie," said Nigel," what means this? 
 I trust I have not offended you?" 
 
 " Ask me no questions, my lord," said Christie, bluntly. 
 " I am a man of peace : I came not hither to wrangle with you 
 at this place and season. Just suppose that I am well in- 
 formed of all the obligements from your honor's nobleness, 
 and then acquaint me, in as few words as may be, where is 
 the unhappy woman. What have you done with her?" 
 
 "What have I done with her! "said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 " Done with whom ? I know not what you are speaking of." 
 
 " Oh yes, my lord," said Christie ; " play surprise as 
 well as you will, you must have some guess that I am speak- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL 837 
 
 ing of the poor fool that was my wife, till she became yonr 
 lordship's light o' love." 
 
 " Your wife ! Has your wife left you? and, if she has, 
 do you come to ask her of me? " 
 
 " Yes, my lord, singular as it may seem," returned 
 Christie, in a tone of bitter irony, and with a sort of grin 
 widely discording from the discomposure of his features, the 
 gleam of his eye, and the froth which stood on his lip, " I do 
 come to make that demand of your lordship. Doubtless, 
 you are surprised I should take the trouble; but, I cannot 
 tell, great men and little men think diHerently. She has 
 lain in my bosom and drunk of my cup, and, such as she is, 
 I cannot forget that, though I will never see her again; she 
 must not starve, my lord, or do worse to gain bread, though 
 I reckon your lordship may think I am robbing the public in 
 trying to change her courses." 
 
 " By my faith as a Christian, by my honor as a gentle- 
 man," said Lord Glenvarloch, "if aught amiss has chanced 
 with your wife, I know nothing of it. I trust in Heaven you 
 are as much mistaken in imputing guilt to her as in suppos- 
 ing nie her partner in it." 
 
 " Fie! fie! my lord," said Christie, " why will you make it 
 so tough? She is Mit the wife of a clod-pated old chandler, 
 who was idiot enough to marry a wench twenty years younger 
 than himself. Y^our lordship cannot have more glory by it 
 than you have had already; and, as for advantage and solace, 
 I take it Dame Nelly is now unnecessary to your gratification. 
 I should be sorry to interrupt the course of your pleasure: an 
 old wittol should have more consideration of his condition. 
 But, your precious lordship being mewed up here among 
 other choice jewels of the kingdom. Dame Nelly cannot, I 
 
 take it, be admitted to share the Jiours of dalliance which " 
 
 Here the incensed husband stammered, broke off his tone of 
 irony, and proceeded, striking his staff against the ground — 
 " that these false limbs of yours, which I wish had been 
 hamstrung when they first crossed mv honest threshold, were 
 free from the fetters they have well deserved! I would give 
 you the odds of your youth, and ynur weapon, and would 
 bequeath my soul to the foul fiend, if I, with this piece of oak, 
 did not make you such an example to all ungrateful, pick- 
 thank courtiers that it should be a proverb to the end of time 
 how John Christie swaddled his wife's fine leman!" 
 
 '_' I understand not your insolence," said Nigel, "but I 
 forgive it, because you labor under some strage delusion. In 
 so far as I can comprehend your vehement charge, it is en- 
 
338 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 tirely undeserved on my part. You seem to impute to me 
 the seduction of your wife; I trust slie is innocent. For me, 
 at least, she is as innocent as an angel in bliss. I never 
 thought of her — never touched her hand or cheek, save in hon- 
 orable courtesy." 
 
 " ay — courtesy! that is the very word. She always 
 praised your lordship's honorahle courtesy. Ye have cozened 
 me between ye, with your courtesy. My lord — my lord, you 
 came to us no very wealthy man, you know it. It was for no 
 lucre of gain I took you and your swashbuckler, yoar Don 
 Diego yonder, under my poor roof. I never cared if the 
 little room were let or no : I could live without it. If you 
 could not have paid for it, you should never have been asked. 
 All the wharf knows John Christie has the means and spirit 
 to do a kindness. AVhen you first darkened my honest door- 
 way, I was as happy as a man need to be, who is no young- 
 ster, and has the rheumatism. Nelly was the kindest and 
 best-humored wench — we might have a word now and then 
 about a gown or a ribbon, but a kinder soul on the whole, 
 and a more careful, considering her years, till you came — 
 and what is she now! But I will not be a fool to cry, if I 
 can help it. Wliat she is, is not the question, but ivhere she 
 is ; and that I must learn, sir, of you." 
 
 ''How can you, when I tell you," replied Nigel, " that I 
 am as ignorant as yourself, or rather much more so? Till 
 this moment, I never heard of any disagreement betwixt your 
 dame and you." 
 
 " That is a lie," said John Christie, bluntly. 
 
 ''How, you base villain! " said Lord Glenvarloch, "do 
 you presume on my situation ? If it were not that I hold you 
 mad, and perhaps made so by some wrong sustained, you 
 should find my being weaponless were no protection : I would 
 beat your brains out against the wall." 
 
 " Ay — ay," answered Christie, " bully as ye list. Ye have 
 been at the ordinaries, and in Alsatia, and learned the ruf- 
 fian's rant, I doubt not. But I repeat, you have spoken an 
 untruth, when you said you knew not of my wife's falsehood ; 
 for, when you were twitted with it among your gay mates, it 
 was a common jest among you, and your lordship took all the 
 credit they would give you for your gallantry and gratitude." 
 
 There was a mixture of truth in this part of the charge 
 which disconcerted Lord Glenvarloch exceedingly; for he 
 could not, as a man of honor, deny that Lord Dalgarno and 
 others had occasionally jested with him on the subject of 
 Dame Nelly, and that, although he had not played exactly 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 339 
 
 h fanfaron des vices qu'il u'avoit jyas, he had not at least 
 been sulnciently anxious to clear himself of the suspicion of 
 sucli a crime to men who considered it as a merit. It was 
 therefore with some hesitation, and in a sort of qualifying 
 tone, that he admitted that some idle jests had passed upon 
 such a supposition, although without the least foundation in 
 truth. 
 
 John Christie would not listen to his vindication any 
 longer. " By your own account/Mie said, "you permitted 
 lies to be told of you in jest. Hoav do I know you are speak- 
 ing truth, now you are serious? You thought it, I suppose, 
 a line thing to Avear the reputation of having dishonored an 
 honest family; who will not think that you had real grounds 
 for your base bravado to rest upon? I will not believe other- 
 wise for one, and therefore, my lord, mark what I have to 
 say. You are now yourself in trouble. As you hope to 
 come through it safely, and without loss of life and property, 
 tell me where this unhappy woman is. Tell me, if you hope 
 for Heaven; tell me, if you fear Hell; tell me, as you Avould 
 not have the curse of an utterly ruined woman and a broken- 
 hearted man attend you through life, and bear witness 
 against you at the Great Day which shall come after death. 
 You are moved, my lord, I see it. I cannot forget the wrong 
 you have done me. I cannot oven promise to forgive it; but 
 — tell me, and you shall never see me again, or hear more of 
 my reproaches." 
 
 " Unfortunate man," said Lord Glenvarloch, " you have 
 said more — far more than enough to move me deeply. Were 
 I at liberty, I would lend you my best aid to search out him 
 wlio has wronged you, the rather that I do suspect my having 
 been your lodger has been in some degree the remote cause 
 of bringing the spoiler into the sheepfold." 
 
 " I am glad your lordship grants me so much," said John 
 Christie, resuming the tone of embittered irony with which he 
 had opened the singular conversation; ''I Avill spare you 
 farther reproach and remonstrance; your mind is made up, 
 and so is mine. So ho, warder !" The Avarder entered, and 
 John went on — " I Avant to get out, brother. Look Avell to 
 your cliarge: it were better that half the wild beasts in their 
 dens yonder Avere turned loose upon ToAver Hill than that this 
 same smooth-faced, civil-spoken gentleman avc re again returned 
 to honest men's company I " 
 
 So saying, he hastily left the apartment; and Xigel had 
 full leisure to lament the AvayAvardness of his fate, Avhich seemed 
 never to tire of persecuting liini for crimes of Avhich he was 
 
340 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 innocent, and investing him with the appearances of guilt 
 which his mind abhorred. He could not, however, help ac- 
 knowledging to himself that all the pain which he might 
 sustain from the present accusation of John Christie was so 
 far deserved, from his having suffered himself, out of vanity, 
 or rather an unwillingness to encounter ridicule, to be sup- 
 posed capable of a base inhospitable crime, merely because 
 fools called it an affair of gallantry; and it was no balsam to 
 tlie wound, when he recollected what Richie had told him of 
 his having been ridiculed behind his back by the gallants of 
 the ordinary for affecting the reputation of an intrigue which 
 he had not in reality spirit enougli to have carried on. His 
 simulation had, in a word, placed him in the unlucky pre- 
 dicament of being rallied as a braggart among the dissipated 
 youths, with whom the reality of the amour would have given 
 him credit; while, on the other hand, he was branded as an 
 inhospitable seducer by the injured husband, who was obsti- 
 nately persuaded of his guilt. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 How fares the man on whom good men would look 
 With eyes where scorn and censure combated, 
 But that kind Christian love hath taught the lesson- 
 That they who merit most contempt and hate 
 Do most deserve our pity. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 It might have seemed natural that the visit of John 
 Christie should have entirely diverted Nigel's attention from 
 his slumbering companion, and, for a time, such was the 
 immediate effect of the chain of new ideas which the inci- 
 dent introduced ; yet, soon after the injured man had departed. 
 Lord Glenvarloch began to think it extraordinary that the 
 boy should have slept so soundly while they talked loudly in 
 his vicinity. Yet he certainly did not appear to have stirred. 
 Was he well — was he only feigning sleep ? He went close to 
 him to make his observations, and perceived that he had 
 wept, and was still weeping, though his eyes were closed. 
 He touched him gently on the shoulder ; the boy shrank from 
 his touch, but did not awake. He pulled him harder, and 
 asked him if he was sleeping. 
 
 " Do they waken folk in your country to know whether 
 thev are asleep or no ?" said the boy, in a peevish tone. 
 
 '^''No, my young sir," answered Nigel ; "but when they 
 weep in the 'manner you do in your sleep, they awaken them 
 •to see what ails them." 
 
 " It signifies little to any one what ails me," said the 
 
 boy. 
 
 "True," replied Lord Glenvarloch; "but you knew before 
 you went to sleep how little I could assist you in your diffi- 
 culties, and you seemed disposed, notwithstanding, to put 
 gome confidence in me." 
 
 " If I did, I have changed my mind," said the lad. 
 
 " And wliat may have occasioned this change of mind, I 
 trow ?" said Lord 'Glenvarloch. " Some men speak through 
 their sleep ; perhaps vou have the gift of hearing in it?" 
 
 " No, but the Patriarch Joseph never dreamt truer 
 dreams than I do." 
 
 "Indeed !" said Lord Glenvarloch. " And, pray, what 
 dream have you had that has deprived me of your good 
 
842 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 opinion; for that, I think, seems the moral of the mat- 
 ter? '^ 
 
 " You shall judge yourself," answered the boy. " I 
 dreamed I was in a wild forest, where there was a cry of 
 hounds, and Avinding of horns, exactly as I heard in Green- 
 wich Park." 
 
 " That was because you were in the Park this morning, 
 you simple child," said Nigel. 
 
 " Stay, my lord," said the youth. " I went on in my 
 dream, till, at the toj^ of a broad green alley, I saw a noble 
 stag which had fallen into the toils; and methought I knew 
 that he was the very stag which the whole j)arty were hunt- 
 ing, and that, if the chase came up, the dogs would tear him 
 to pieces, or the hunters would cut his throat; and I had pity 
 on the gallant stag, and though I was of a different kind 
 from him, and though I was somewhat afraid of him, I 
 thought I would venture something to free so stately a crea- 
 ture; and I pulled out my knife, and just as I was begin- 
 ning to cut the meshes of the net, the animal started up in 
 my face in the likeness of a tiger, much larger and fiercer 
 than any you have seen in the ward of the wild beasts 
 yonder, and was just about to tear me limb from limb when 
 you aAvaked me." 
 
 " Methinks," said Nigel, " I deserved more thanks than I 
 have got for rescuing you from such a danger by waking you. 
 But, my pretty master, methinks all this tale of a tiger and a 
 stag has little to do Avithyour change of temper towards me." 
 
 " I know not whether it has or no," said the lad; "^but I 
 will not tell you who I am." 
 
 " You will keep your secret to yourself then, peevish boy," 
 said Nigel, turning from him, and resuming his walk through 
 the room; then stopi^ing suddenly, he said, "And yet you 
 shall not escape from mo without knowing that I penetrate 
 your myster}^" 
 
 " My mystery ! " said the youth, at once alarmed and 
 irritated. "What mean you, my lord?" 
 
 " Only that I can read your dream without the assistance 
 of a Chaldean interpreter, and my exijosition is — that my fair 
 companion does not wear the dress of her sex." 
 
 " And if I do not, my lord," said his companion, hastily 
 starting up and folding her cloak tight around her, "my 
 dress, such as it is, covers one who will not disgrace it." 
 
 " Many would call that speech a fair challenge," said 
 Lord Glenvarloch, looking on her fixedly; "women do not 
 masquerade in men's clothes to make use of men's weapons." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 343 
 
 *' I have no such purpose," said the seeming boy. " I 
 have other means of protection, and powerful; but I woulu 
 first know what is your purpose." 
 
 **' An honorable and a most respectful one," said Lord 
 rrlcnvarloch; " whatever you are — whatever motive may have 
 brought you into this ambiguous situation, I am sensible — 
 every look, word, and action of yours makes me sensible — 
 that you are no proper subject of importunity, far less of 
 ill-usage. What circumstances can have forced you into so 
 doubtful a situation, I know not; but I feel assured there is, 
 and can be, nothing in them of premeditated wrong, Avhich 
 should expose you to cold-blooded insult. From me you 
 have nothing to dread." 
 
 " I expected nothing less from your nobleness, my lord," 
 answered the female; ''my adventure, though I feel it was 
 both desperate and foolish, is not so very foolish, nor my 
 safety here so utterly unprotected, as at first sight, and in 
 this strange dress, it may appear to be. I have suffered 
 enough, and more than enough, by the degradation of having 
 been seen in this unfeminine attire, and the comments you 
 must nece^arily have made on ray conduct; but I thank God 
 that I am so far protected that I could not have been sub- 
 jected to insult unavenged." 
 
 When this extraordinary explanation had proceeded thus 
 far, the warder appeared, to place before Lord Glenvarloch a 
 meal which, for his present situation, might be called com- 
 fortable, and which, if not equal to the cookery of the cele- 
 brated Chevalier Beaujeu, was much superior in neatness and 
 cleanliness to that of Alsatia. A warder attended to do the 
 honors of the table, and made a sign to the disguised female 
 to rise and assist him in his functions. But Nigel, declaring 
 that he knew the youth's parents, interfered, and caused his 
 companion to eat along with him. She consented with a 
 sort of embarrassment which rendered her pretty features 
 yet more interesting. Yet she maintained with a natural 
 grace that sort of good-breeding which belongs to the table ; 
 and it seemed to Nigel, whether already prejudiced in her 
 favor by the extraordinary circumstances of their meeting, 
 or whether really judging from what was actually the fact, 
 that he had seldom seen a young person comport herself with 
 more decorous propriety, mixed with ingenuous simplicity ; 
 while the. consciousness of the peculiarity of her situation 
 threw a singular coloring over her whole demeanor, which 
 could be neither said to be formal, nor easy, nor embarrassed, 
 but was compounded of, and shaded with, an interchange of 
 
344 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 all these three clianicteristies. Wine was placed on the table, 
 of which she could not be prevailed on to taste a glass. 
 Their conversation was, of course, limited by the presence 
 of the warder to the business of tlie table ; but iSTigel had, 
 long ere the cloth was removed, formed the resolution, if 
 possible, of making himself master of this young person's 
 history, the more especially as he now began to think that 
 the tones of her voice and her features were not so strange to 
 him as he had originally supposed. This, however, was 
 a conviction which he adopted slowly, and only as it dawned 
 upon him from particular circumstances during the course 
 of the repast. 
 
 At length the prison-meal was finished, and Lord Glen- 
 varloch began to think how he might most easily enter upon 
 the topic he meditated, when the warder announced a visitor. 
 
 " Soh!" said Nigel, something displeased, "I find even a 
 prison does not save one from importunate visitations." 
 
 He prepared to receive his guest, however, while his 
 alarmed companion flew to the large cradle-shaped chair 
 which had first served her as a place of refuge, drew her 
 cloak around her, and disposed herself as much as she could 
 to avoid observation. She had scarce made her arrangements 
 for that purjjose when the door opened, and the worthy citi- 
 zen, George Ileriot, entered the prison-chamber. 
 
 He cast around the apartment his usual sharp, quick 
 glance of observation, and, advancing to Nigel, said — " My 
 lord, I wish I could say I was happy to see you." 
 
 ''The sight of those who are unhappy themselves. Master 
 Heriot, seldom produces happiness to their friends. I, how- 
 ever, am glad to see you." 
 
 He extended his hand, but Heriot bowed with much 
 formal complaisance, instead of accepting the courtesy, which 
 in those times, when the distinction of ranks was much 
 guarded by etiquette and ceremony, was considered as a dis- 
 tinguished favor. 
 
 "You are displeased with me. Master Heriot," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch, reddening, for he was not deceived by the 
 worthy citizen's affectation of extreme reverence and respect. 
 
 "By no means, my lord," replied Heriot; "but I have 
 been in France, and have thought it as well to import, along 
 with other more substantial articles, a small sample of that 
 good-breeding which the French are so renowned for." 
 
 "It is not kind of you," said Nigel, "to bestow the first 
 use of it on an old and obliged friend." 
 
 Heriot only answered to this observation with a short dry 
 cough, and then proceeded. 
 
'^EE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 845 
 
 ''Hem! hem! — I say, ahem! My lord, as my French 
 politeness may not carry me far, I would willingly know 
 whether I am to speak as a friend, since your lordship is 
 pleased to term me such; or Avhether I am, as befits my con- 
 dition, to confine myself to the needful business which must 
 be treated of between us." 
 
 " Speak as a friend by all means. Master Heriot," said 
 Nigel; ''I perceive you have adopted some of the numerous 
 prejudices against me, if not all of them. Speak out, and 
 frankly — what I cannot deny I will at least confess.'' 
 
 "And I trust, my lord, redress," said Ileriot. 
 
 " So far as is in my power, certainly," answered Nigel. 
 
 " Ah! my lord," continued Heriot, " that is a melancholy 
 though a necessary restriction; for how lightly may any one 
 do an hundred times more than the degree of evil which it 
 may be within his power to repair to the sufferers and to 
 society! But we are not alone here," he said, stopping, and 
 darting his shrewd eye towards the muffled figure of the dis- 
 guised maiden, whose utmost efforts had not enabled her so 
 to adjust her position as altogether to escape observation. 
 
 More anxious to prevent her being discovered than to 
 keep his own affairs private, Xigel hastily answered — "'Tis a 
 page of mine; you may speak freely before him. He is of 
 France, and knows no English." 
 
 *' I am then to speak freely," said Heriot, after a second 
 glance at the chair; "perhaps my words may be more free 
 than welcome." 
 
 "Go on, sir," said Nigel; "I have told you I can bear 
 reproof." 
 
 " In one word, then, my lord, why do I find yon in this 
 place, and whelmed with charges which must blacken a 
 name rendered famous by ages of virtue?" 
 
 "' Simply, then, you find me here," said Nigel, "because, 
 to begin from my original error, I would be wiser than my 
 father." ' 
 
 " It was a difficult task, my lord," replied Heriot: " your 
 father was voiced generally as the wisest and one of the 
 bravest men of Scotland." 
 
 "He commanded me," continued Nigel, "to_ avoid all 
 gambling; and I took upon me to modify this injunction 
 into regulating my play according to my skill, means, and 
 the course of my luck." 
 
 " Ay, self -opinion, acting on a desire of acquisition, my 
 
 lord; you hoped to touch pitch and not to be defiled," an- 
 
 wered Heriot. " TVell, my lord, you need not say, for I 
 
346 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 have heard with much regret, how far this conduct dimin- 
 isiied your reputation. Your next error I may without 
 scruple remind you of. My lord — ray lord, in whatever 
 degree Lord Dalgarno may have failed towards you, the son 
 of his father should have been sacred from your violence." 
 
 " You speak in cold blood. Master Heriot, and I was 
 smarting under a thousand wrongs inflicted on me under the 
 mask of friendship." 
 
 " That is, he gave your lordship bad advice, and you — —' 
 said Heriot. 
 
 *' Was fool enough to follow his counsel," answered Nigel. 
 ''But we will pass this. Master Heriot, if you please. Old 
 men and young men, men of the sword and men of peaceful 
 occupation, always have thought, always will think, dilfer- 
 ently on such subjects." 
 
 '* I grant," answered Heriot, "the distinction between 
 the old goldsmith and the young nobleman; still you should 
 have had patience for Lord Huntinglen's sake, and prudence 
 for your own. Supposing your quarrel just — ■ — " 
 
 " I pray you to pass on to some other charge," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch. 
 
 " I am not your accuser, my lord; but I trust in Heaven 
 that your own heart has already accused you bitterly on the 
 inhos^jitable wrong which your late landlord has sustained at 
 your hand." 
 
 " Had I been guilty of what you allude to," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch — " had a moment of temptation hurried me 
 away, I had long ere now most bitterly repented it. But, 
 whoever may have wronged the unhappy woman, it was not 
 I. I never heard of her folly until Avithin this hour." 
 
 " Come, my lord," said Heriot, with some severity, 
 " this sounds too much like affectation. I know there is 
 among our modern youth a new creed respecting adultery as 
 well as homicide. I would rather hear you speak of a re- 
 vision of the Decalogue, with mitigated penalties in favor of 
 the privileged orders — I would rather hear you do this, than 
 deny a fact in which you have been known to glory." 
 
 " Glory ! I never did, never would have taken honor to 
 myself from such a cause," said Lord Glenvarloch. " I could 
 not prevent other idle tongues and idle brains from making 
 false inferences." 
 
 " You would have known well enough how to stop their 
 mouths, my lord," replied Heriot, *'had they spoke of you 
 what was unpleasing to your ears, and what the truth did 
 not warrant. Come, my lord, remember your promise to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 847 
 
 confess ; and, indeed, to confess is, in this case, in some 
 slight sort to redress. I will grant you are young, the woman 
 handsome, and, as I myself have observed, light-lieaded 
 enough. Let me know where she is. Her foolish husband 
 has still some compassion for her, will save her from infamy, 
 perhaps, in time, receive her back ; for we are a good- 
 natured generation, we traders. Do not, my lord, emulate 
 those who work mischief merely for the pleasure of doing 
 so; it is the very devil's worst quality." 
 
 " Your grave remonstrances will drive me mad," said 
 Mgel. " There is a show of sense and reason in what you 
 say ; and yet it is positively insisting on my telling the re- 
 treat of a^ fugitive of whom I know nothing earthly." 
 
 " It is well, my lord," answered Heriot, coldly. "You 
 have a right, such as it is, to keep your own secrets; but, 
 since my discourse on these points seems so totally unavail- 
 ing, we "had better proceed to business. Yet your father's 
 image rises before me and seems to plead that I should go 
 on." 
 
 "Be it as you Avill, sir," said Glenvarloch; "he who 
 donbts my word shall have no additional security for it." 
 
 " Well, my lord, in the sanctuary at Whitefriars — a place 
 of refuge so unsuitable to a young man of quality and char- 
 acter — I am told a murder was committed." 
 
 " And you believe that I did the deed, I suppose ?" 
 "God forbid, my lord! "said Heriot. "The coroner's 
 inquest hath sat, and it appeared that your lordship, under 
 your assumed name of Grahame, behaved with the utmost 
 bravery." 
 
 " No compliment, I pray you! " said Nigel. " I amonly 
 too happy to find that I did not murder, or am not believed 
 to have murdered, the old man." 
 
 " True, my lord," said Heriot; " but even in this affair 
 there lacks explanation. Your lordship embarked this morn- 
 ing in a wherry with a female, and, it is said, an immense 
 sum of money, in specie and other valuables ; but the woman 
 has not since been heard of." 
 
 "I parted with her at Paul's Wharf," said Nigel, " where 
 she went ashore with her charge. I gave her a letter to that 
 very man, John Christie," 
 
 "Ay, that is the waterman's story; but John Christie 
 denies "that he remembers anything of the matter." 
 
 "I am sorry to hear this," said the young nobleman; 
 " I hope in Heaven she has not been trepanned for the 
 treasure she had with her." 
 
848 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ''I hope not, my lord," replied Heriot; "bnt men's 
 minds are much disturbed about it. Our national character 
 suffers on all hands. Men remember the fatal case of Lord 
 Sanquhar, hanged for the murder of a fencing-master; and 
 exclaim, they will not have their wives whored and their prop- 
 erty stolen by the nobility of Scotland." 
 
 " And all this is laid to my door!" said Nigel; "my ex- 
 culpation is easy." 
 
 " I trust so, my lord,*' said Heriot; ''nay, in this partic- 
 ular, I do not doubt it. But why did you leave Whitef riars 
 under such circumstances?" 
 
 " Master Reginald Lowestoffe sent a boat for me, with 
 intimation to provide for my safety." 
 
 " I am sorry to say," replied Heriot, ''that he denies all 
 knowledge of your lordship's motions, after having dis- 
 patched a messenger to you with some baggage." 
 
 " The watermen told me they were employed by him." 
 
 "Watermen! " said Heriot. "One of these proves to be 
 an idle apprentice, an old acquaintance of mine, the other 
 has escaped; but the fellow who is in custody persists in say- 
 ing he was employed by your lordship, and you only." 
 
 " He lies," said Lord Glenvarloch, hastily. " He told me 
 Master Lowestoffe had sent him. I hope that kind-hearted 
 gentleman is at liberty." 
 
 "He is," answered Heriot; "and has escaped with a re- 
 buke from the benchers, for interfering in such a matter as 
 your lordsiiip's. The court desire to keep well with the 
 young Templars in these times of commotion, or he had not 
 come off so well." 
 
 " That is the only word of comfort I have heard from 
 you," replied Nigel. " But this poor woman — she and her 
 trunk were committed to the charge of two porters." 
 
 "So said the pretended waterman; but none of the fel- 
 lows who ply at the wharf will acknowledge the employment. 
 I see the idea makes you uneasy, my lord; but every effort is 
 made to discover the poor woman's place of retreat — if. indeed, 
 she yet lives. And now, my lord, my errand is spoken, so 
 far as it relates exclusively to your lordship; what remains is 
 matter of business of a more formal kind." 
 
 "Let us proceed to it without delay," said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch. " I would hear of the affairs of any one rather than of 
 my own." 
 
 " You cannot have forgotten, my lord,'' said Heriot, " the 
 transaction which took place some weeks since at Lord Hunt- 
 inglen's, by Avhich a large sum of money Avas advanced foi 
 the redemption of jour lordship's estate?" 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL 349 
 
 •* I remember it perfectly," said Nigel; "and your present 
 austerity cannot make me forget your kindness on the oc- 
 casion." 
 
 Heriot bowed gravely, and went on — " That money was 
 advanced under the expectation and hope that it might be 
 replaced by the contents of a grant to your lordship, under 
 the royal sign-manual, in payment of certain monies due by 
 the crown to your father. 1 trust your lordship understood 
 the transaction at the time ; I trust you now understand my 
 resumption of its import, and hold it to be correct ?" 
 
 " Undeniably correct," answered Lord Glenvarloch. " If 
 t'.ie sums contained in the warrant caimot be recovered, my 
 lands become the property of those who paid off the original 
 holders of the mortgage, and now stand in tlieir right." 
 
 " Even so, my lord," said Heriot. " And your lordship's 
 unhappy circumstances having, it would seem, alarmed these 
 creditors, they are now, I am sorry to say, pressing for one 
 or other of these alternatives — possession of the land or pay- 
 ment of their debt." 
 
 " They have a right to one or other," answered Lord Glen- 
 varloch ; ' ' and as I cannot do the last in my present condition, 
 I suppose they must enter on possession." 
 
 " Stay, my lord," replied Heriot; " if you have ceased to 
 call me a friend to your person, at least you shall see I am 
 willing to be such to your father's house, w^ere it but for the 
 sake of your father's memory. H you will trust me with the 
 warrant under the sign-manual, I believe circumstances do 
 now 80 stand at court that I may be able to recover the money 
 for you." 
 
 " I would do so gladly," said Lord Glenvarloch, " but the 
 casket which contains it is not in my possession. It was seized 
 when I was arrested at Greenwich." 
 
 " It will be no longer withheld from you," said Heriot, 
 " for, I understand, my master's natural good sense, and some 
 information which he has procured, I know not how, has in- 
 duced him to contradict the whole charge of the attempt on 
 his person. It is entirely hushed up; and you will only be 
 proceeded against for your violence on Lord Dalgarno, com- 
 mitted within tlie verge of the palace, and that you will find 
 heavy enough to answer." 
 
 " I will not shrink under the weight," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch. " But that is not the present point. If I had that 
 casket " 
 
 " Your baggage stood in the little anteroom, as I passed," 
 said the citizen; "the casket caught my eye. I think you 
 
350 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 had it of me. It was my old friend Sir Faithful Frugal's. 
 Ay, 1 :e too had a son " 
 
 Here he stopped short. 
 
 " A son who, like Lord Glenvarloch's, did no credit to his 
 father. AVas it not so you would have ended the sentence, 
 Master Heriot?" asked the young nobleman. 
 
 " My lord, it was a word spoken rashly," answered Heriot. 
 " God may mend all in His own good time. This, however, 
 I will say, that I have sometimes envied my friends their fair 
 and fiourisliing families; and yet have I seen such changes 
 when death has removed the head, so many rich men's sons 
 penniless, the heirs of so many knights and nobles acreless, 
 that I think mine own estate and memory, as I shall order it, 
 has a fair chance of outliving those of greater men, though 
 God has given me no heir of my name. But this is from the 
 purpose. Ho! warder, bring in Lord Glenvarloch's bag- 
 gage." 
 
 The officer obeyed. " Seals had been placed upon the 
 trunk and casket, but were now removed," the warder said, 
 " in consequence of the subsequent orders from court, and 
 the whole was placed at the prisoner's free disposal." 
 
 Desirous to bring this painful visit to a conclusion. Lord 
 Glenvarloch opened the casket, and looked through the 
 papers which it contained, first hastily, and then more slowly 
 and accurately; but it was all in vain. The sovereign's 
 signed warrant had disappeared. 
 
 " I thought and expected nothing better," said George 
 Heriot, bitterly. "■ The beginning of evil is the letting out 
 of water. Here is a fair heritage lost, I dare say, on a foul 
 cast at dice or a conjuring-trick at cards! My lord, your sur- 
 prise is well played, I give you full joy of your accomplish- 
 ments. I have seen many as young brawlers and sj^endthrif ts, 
 but never so young and accomplished a dissembler. Nay, 
 man, never bend your angry brows on me. I speak in bitter- 
 ness of heart, from what I remember of your worthy father; 
 and if his son hears of his degeneracy from no one else, he 
 shall hear it from the old goldsmith." 
 
 This new suspicion drove Nigel to the very extremity of 
 his patience; yet the motives and zeal of the good old man, 
 as well as the circumstances of suspicion which created his 
 dis]3leasure, were so excellent an excuse for it, that they 
 formed an absolute curb on the resentment of Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, and constrained him, after two or three hasty exclama- 
 tions, to observe a proud and sullen silence. At length 
 Master Heriot resumed his lecture. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 351 
 
 ''Hark you, my lord," he said, ''it is scarce possible that 
 this most important paper can be absolutely assigned away 
 Let me know in what obscure corner, and for what petty 
 sum, it lies pledged; something may yet be done." 
 
 " Your efforts in my favor are the more generous," said 
 Lord Glenvarloch, *' as you offer them to one whom you 
 believe you have cause to think hardly of ; but they are alto- 
 gether unavailing. Fortune has taken the field against me 
 at every point. Even let her win the battle." 
 
 "Zouns! " exclaimed Ileriot, impatiently, ''you would 
 make a saint swear! "Why, I tell you, if this paper, the loss 
 of which seems to sit so light on you, be not found, farewell 
 to the fair lordship of Glenvarloch — firth and forest, sea and 
 furrow, lake and stream — all that has been in the house of 
 Olifaunt since the days of William the Lion!" 
 
 " Farewell to them, then/' said Nigel, " and that moan 
 is soon made." 
 
 '"Sdeath! my lord, you will make more moan for it ere 
 you die," said Heriot, in the same tone of angry impatience. 
 
 " Not I, my old friend," said Nigel. " If I mourn, 
 Master Heriot, it will be for having lost the good opinion of 
 a worthy man, and lost it, as I must say, most undeservedly." 
 
 " Ay — ay, young man," said Heriot, shaking his head, 
 " make me believe that if you can. To sum the matter up," 
 he said, rising from his seat and walking towards that occu- 
 pied by the disguised female, " for our matters are now drawn 
 into small compass, you shall as soon make me believe that 
 tliis masquerading mummer, on whom I now lay the hand of 
 paternal authority, is a French page, who understands no 
 English." 
 
 So saying, he took hold of the supposed page's cloak, and, 
 not without some gentle degree of violence, led into the mid- 
 dle of the apartment the disguised fair one, who in vain 
 attempted to cover her face, first with her mantle and after- 
 Avards with her hands; both which impediments Master 
 Heriot removed, something unceremoniously, and gave to 
 view the detected daughter of the old chronologist, his own 
 fair goddaughter, Margaret Eamsay. 
 
 "Here is goodly gear!" he said; and, as he spoke, he 
 could not prevent hfmself from giving her a slight shake, for 
 we have elsewhere noticed that he was a severe disciplinarian. 
 "How comes it, minion, that I find you in so shameless a 
 dress and so unworthy a situation? Nay, your modesty is now 
 mistimed, it should have come sooner. Speak, or I will " 
 
 "Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, "whatever 
 
352 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 riglit you may have over this maiden elsewhere, while in my 
 apartment she is under my protection." 
 
 "Your protection, my lord! a proper protector! And 
 how long, mistress, have you been under my lord's pro- 
 tection? Speak out, forsooth!" 
 
 " For the matter of two hours, godfather," answered the 
 maiden, with a countenance bent to the ground and covered 
 with blushes, "but it was against my will." 
 
 " Two hours!" repeated Heriot, •'^ space enough for mis- 
 chief. My lord, this is, I suppose, another victim offered to 
 your character of gallantry — another adventure to be boasted 
 of at Beaujeu's ordinary? Methinks the roof under which 
 you first met this silly maiden should have secured ?ier, at 
 least, from such a fate." 
 
 " On my honor. Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 ''you remind me now, for the first time, that I saw this 
 young lady in your family. Her features are not easily for- 
 gotten, and yet I was trying in vain to recollect where I had 
 last looked on them. For your suspicions, they are as false 
 as they are injurious both to her and me. I had but discov- 
 ered her disguie as you entered. I am satisfied, from her 
 whole behavior, that her presence here in this dress was invol- 
 untary; and God forbid that I had been capable of taking 
 advantage of it to her prejudice." 
 
 " It is well mouthed, my lord," said Master Heriot ; " but 
 a cunning clerk can read the Apocrypha as loud as the Scrip- 
 ture. Frankly, my lord, you are come to that pass where your 
 words will not be received without a warrant. 
 
 "I should not speak, perhaps," said Margaret, the natural 
 vivacity of whose temper could never be long suppressed by any 
 situation, however disadvantageous, ''but I cannot be silent. 
 Godfather, you do me wrong, and no less wrong to this 
 young nobleman. You say his words want a warrant. I 
 know where to find a warrant for some of them, and the rest 
 I deeply and devoutly believe witliout one." 
 
 "And I thank you, maiden," replied Nigel, "for the good 
 opinion you have expressed. I am at that point, it seems, 
 though how I have been driven to it I know not, where 
 every fair construction of my actions and motives is refused 
 me. I am the more obliged to her who grants me that right 
 which the world denies me. For you, lady, were I at liberty, 
 I have a sword and arm should know how to guard your 
 reputation." 
 
 "Upon my word, a perfect Amadis andOriana!" said 
 George Heriot. " I should soon get my throat cut betwixt 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 86S 
 
 tlie knight and the princess, I suppose, but that the beef -eaters 
 are happily within halloo. Come — come, lady light o' love, if 
 you mean to make your way with me, it must be by plain 
 facts, not by speeches from romaunts and play-books. How, 
 in Heaven's name, came you here?" 
 
 *' Sir, " answered Margaret, " since I must speak, I went to 
 Greenwich this morning with Monna Paula, to present a 
 petition to the King on the part of the Lady Hermione." 
 
 *' Mercy-a-gad!" exclaimed Hcriot, " is she in the dance, 
 too? Could she not have waited my return to stir in her 
 affairs? But I suppose the intelligence I sent her had ren- 
 dered her restless. Ah! woman — woman! he that goes partner 
 with you had need of a double share of patience, for you will 
 bring none into the common stock. AVell, but what on earth 
 had this embassy of Monna Paula's to do with your absurd 
 disguise? Speak out." 
 
 " Monna Paula was frightened," answered Margaret, " and 
 did not know how to set about the .rrand, for you know she 
 scarce ever goes out of doors — and so — and so — I agreed to go 
 with her to give her courage; and, for the dress, I am sure you 
 i-emember I wore it at a Christmas mumming, and you 
 thought it not unbeseeming." 
 
 " Yes, for a Christmas parlor," said Heriot, " but not to 
 go a-masking through the country in. I do remember it, 
 minion, and I knew it even now; that and your little shoe 
 there, linked with a hint I had in the morning from a friend, 
 or one who called himself such, led to your detection." 
 
 Here Lord Glenvarloch could not help giving a glance at 
 the pretty foot which even the staid citizen thought worth 
 recollection; it was but a glance, for he saw how much the 
 least degree of observation added to Margaret's distress and 
 confusion. 
 
 "And tell me, maiden," continued Master Heriot, for 
 what we have observed was by-play, ''did the Lady Her- 
 mione know of this fair work ? " 
 
 " I dared not have told her for the world," said Margaret; 
 *'she thought one of our apprentices went with Monna 
 Paula." 
 
 It may be here noticed, that the words " our apprentices'' 
 Bcemed to have in them something of a charm to break the 
 fascination with which Lord Glenvarloch had hitherto lis- 
 tened to the brolcen yet interesting details of Margaret's 
 history. 
 
 " And wherefore went he not? He had been a fitter com- 
 panion for Monna Paula than you, I wot," said the citizen. 
 
354 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " He was otherAvise employed/' said Maiyaret, m a voice 
 scarce audible. 
 
 Master George darted a hasty glance at Nigel, and when 
 he saw his features betoken no consciousness, he muttered to 
 himself — " It must be better than I feared. And so this 
 cursed Spaniard, with her head full, as they all have, of dis- 
 guises, trap-doors, rope-ladders, and masks, was "jade and fool 
 enough to take you with her on this wild-goose errand? And 
 how sped you, I pray?^' 
 
 " Just as we reached the gate of the Park,'' replied Mar- 
 garet, "the cry of 'Treason 'was raised. I know not Avhat 
 became of Monna, but I ran till I fell into the arms of a very 
 decent serving-man, called Linklater; and I was fain to tell 
 him I was your goddaughter, and so he kept the rest of 
 them from me, and got me to speech of his Majesty, as I en- 
 treated him to do," 
 
 " It is the only sign yon showed in the whole matter, that 
 common sense had not utterly deserted your little skull," said 
 Heriot. 
 
 " His Majesty," continued the damsel, "was so gracious 
 as to receive me alone, though the courtiers cried out against 
 the danger to his person, and would have searched me for 
 arms, God help me! hut the King forbade it. I fancy he had 
 a hint from Linklater how the truth stood with me." 
 
 '• Well, maiden, I ask not what passed," said Heriot ; *' it 
 becomes not me to pry into my masters secrets. Had you 
 been closeted with his grandfather, the Eed Tod of St. An- 
 drews, as Davie Lindsay used to call him, by my faith, I 
 should have had my own thoughts of the matter; but our 
 master, God bless him, is douce and temperate, and Solomon 
 in everything save in the chapter of wives and concubines." 
 
 " I know not what you mean, sir," answered Margaret. 
 " His Majesty was most kind and compassionate, but said 1 
 must be sent hither, and that the lieutenant's lady, the Lady 
 Mansel, would have a charge of me, and see that I sustained no 
 WTong; and the King promised to send me m a tilted barge, 
 and under conduct of a person well kno\NTi to you; and thus 
 I come to be in the Tower." 
 
 " But how or why in this apartment, nymph? " said George 
 Heriot. '' Expound that to me, for I think the riddle needs 
 reading." 
 
 "I cannot explain it, sir, farther than that the Lady Man- 
 sel sent me here, in spite of my earnest prayers, tears, and en- 
 treaties. 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!" 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 355 
 
 " Well — well, if your teiirs are genuine," said Ileriot, " they 
 'x.ay the sooner wash out the memory of your fault. Knows 
 your father aught of this escape of yours?" 
 
 " I would not for the world he did," replied she; " he be- 
 lieves me with tlie Lady Hermione." 
 
 " Ay. honest Davie can regulate his horologes hotter than 
 his family. Come, damsel, now I will escort you back to the 
 La.dy Mansel, and pray her, of her kindness, that, when she 
 is agaiu trusted with a goose, she will not give it to the fox 
 to keep. The Avarders will let us pass to my lady's lodgings, 
 I trust," 
 
 " Stay but one moment," said Lord Glenvarloch. "What- 
 ever hard opinion you may have formed of me, I forgive you, 
 for time will show'^that you do mo wrong; and you yourself, I 
 think, will be the first to regret tlie injustice you have done 
 me. But involve not in your suspicions this young person, 
 for whose purity of thought angels themselves should be 
 vouchers. I have marked every look, every gesture; aixl 
 while I can draw breath, I shall ever think of her with " 
 
 ''Think not at all of her, my lord," answered George 
 Heriot, interrupting him; " it is, I have a notion, the best 
 favor you can do her; or think of her as the daughter of 
 Davie Ramsay, the clock-maker, no proper subject for fine 
 speeches, romantic adventures, or high-flown Arcadian 
 compliments. I give you god-den, my lord. I think not 
 altogether so harshly as my speech may have spoken. If I 
 can help — that is, if I saw my way clearly through this 
 labyrinth — but it avails not talking now. I give your lord- 
 ship god-den. Here, warder! Permit us to pass to the 
 Lady Mansel's apartment." 
 
 The warder said he must have orders from the lieutenant; 
 and as he retired to procure them, the parties remained 
 standing near each other, but without speaking, and scarce 
 looking at each other save by stealth — a situation which, 
 in two of the party at least, was sufficiently embarrass- 
 ing. The difference of rank, though in that age a consider- 
 ation so serious, could not prevent Lord Glenvarloch from 
 seeing that Margaret Eamsay was one of the prettiest young 
 Avomen he had ever beheld: from suspecting, he could scarce 
 tell why, that he himself was not indifferent to her; from 
 feeling assured that ho had been the cause of much of her 
 present distress — admiration, self-love, and generosity, acting 
 in favor of the same object, and when tlie yeoman returned 
 with permission to his guests to witlidraw, Nigel's obeisance 
 to the beautiful daughter of the mechanic was marked with 
 
356 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 an expression wliicli called up in her cheeks as mitch color 
 as any incident of the eventfnl day had hitherto excited. 
 She returned the courtesy timidly and irresolutely, clung to 
 her godfather's arm, and left the apartment which, dark as 
 it was, had never yet appeared so obscure to Nigel as when 
 the door-closed behind her. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 Tet though thou shouldst be dragg'd in Bcom 
 
 To yonder ignominious tree, 
 Thou shalt not want one faithful friend 
 
 To share the cruel fates' decree. 
 
 Ballad of Jemmy Dawson. 
 
 Master G eorge Heriot and his ward, as she might justly be 
 termed, for his affection to Margaret imposed on him all the 
 cures of guardian, were ushered by the yeoman of the guard 
 to the lodging of the lieutenant, where they found him seated 
 with his lady. They were received by both with that decorous 
 civility which Master Heriot's character and supposed influence 
 demanded, even at the hand of a punctilious old soldier and 
 courtier like Sir Edward Mansel. Lady Mansel received 
 Margaret Avith like courtesy, and informed Master George 
 that she was now only her guest, and no longer her prisoner. 
 " She is at liberty,-" she said, " to return to her friends 
 under your charge; such is his Majesty's pleasure." 
 
 ''I am glad of it, madam,'' answered Heriot, "but only I 
 could have wished her freedom had taken place before her 
 foolish interview with that singular young man; and I mar- 
 vel your ladyship permitted it." 
 
 ''My good Master Heriot," said Sir Edward, "we act ac- 
 cording' to the commands of one better and wiser than our- 
 selves; our orders from his Majesty must be strictly and liter- 
 ally obeyed; and I need not say that the wisdom of his Majes- 
 ty doth more than insure " 
 
 " I know his Majesty's wisdom well," said Heriot, " yet 
 
 there is an old proverb about fire and flax — well, let it pass.'* 
 
 "I see SirMungo Malagrowther stalking towards the door 
 
 of the lodging." said the Lady Mansel, "with the gait of a 
 
 lame crane; it is his second visit this morning." 
 
 " He brought the warrant for discharging Lord Glenvar- 
 loch of the charge of treason," said Sir Edward. 
 
 "And from him," said Heriot, "I heard much of what 
 had befallen ; for I came from France only late last evening, 
 and somewhat unexpectedly." 
 
 As thev spoke, Sir ^Mungo entered the apartment, saluted 
 the lieutenant of the Tower and his lady with ceremonious 
 civility, honored George Heriot with a patronizing nod of 
 
358 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 ackiiovvledgment^^^ and accosted Margaret with — ''Hey! my 
 young cliarge, you have not doffed your masculine attire 
 
 yet?" 
 
 "She does not mean to lay it aside, Sir Mungo/' said 
 Heriot, speaking loud, '^ until she has had satisfaction from 
 you for betraying her disguise to me, like a false knight; 
 and in very deed. Sir Mungo, I think, when you told me 
 she was rambling about in so strange a dress, you might 
 have said also that she was under Lady Mansel's protection." 
 
 ''That was the King's secret, Master Heriot," said Sir 
 Mungo, throwing himself into a chair with an air of atrabi- 
 larious importance ; "the other was a well-meaning hint to 
 yourself, as the girl's friend." 
 
 " Yes," replied Ileriot, "it was done like yourself ; enough 
 told to make me unhajjpy about her, not a word which could 
 relieve my uneasiness." 
 
 " Sir Mungo will not hear that remark," said the lady ; 
 "vfd must change the subject. Is there any news from 
 court. Sir Mungo ? you have been to Grreenwich ? " 
 
 " You might as well ask me, madam," answered the 
 knight, " whether there is any news from hell." 
 
 "How, Sir Mungo — how !" said Sir Edward ; "measure 
 your words something better. You speak of the court of 
 King James." 
 
 •' Sir Edward, if I spoke of the court of the twelve kaisers, 
 I would say it is as confused for the present as the infernal 
 regions. Courtiers of forty years' standing, and such I may 
 write myself, are as far to seek in the matter as a minnow in 
 the Maelstrom. Some folk say that the King has frowned 
 on the Prince, some that the Prince has looked grave on the 
 Duke, some that Lord Glenvarloch will be hanged for high 
 treason, and some that there is matter against Lord Dal- 
 garno that may cost him as much as his head's worth." 
 
 'And what do you, that are a courtier of forty years 
 standing, think of it all? " said Sir Edward Mansel. 
 
 " Nay — nay, do not ask him. Sir Edward," said the lady, 
 with an expressive look to her husband. 
 
 "Sir Mungo is too witty," added Master Heriot, "to 
 remember that he who says aught that may be repeated to 
 his own prejudice does but load a piece for any of the com- 
 pany to shoot him dead with, at their pleasure and conven- 
 ience." 
 
 " What! " said the bold knight, " you think I am afraid 
 of the trepan? Why now, what if I should say that Dal- 
 garuo has more wit than honesty, the Duke more sail tha i 
 
THF FORTUNES OF NIGEL 359 
 
 ')allast, the Prince more pride than prudence, and that the 
 King "' The Lady Mansel held up her finger in a warn- 
 ing manner — 'that the King is m}' very good master who 
 has given me, for forty years and more, dog's wages, videlicet, 
 bones and beating. Why now, all this is said, and Archie 
 Armstrong * says worse than this of the best of them every 
 day." 
 
 " The more fool he," said George Heriot; " yet he is not 
 so utterly wrong, for folly is his best wisdom. But do not 
 yon. Sir Mungo, set your wit against a fool's, though he be a 
 court fool." 
 
 " A fool, said yon?" replied Sir Mungo, not having fully 
 heard what Master Heriot said, or not choosing to have it 
 thought so — '• I have been a fool indeed, to hang on at a 
 close-fisted court here, when men of understanding and men 
 of action have been making fortunes in every other place of 
 Europe. But here a man comes indifferently off unless he 
 gets a great key to turn [looking at Sir Edward], or can 
 beat tattoo with a hammer on a pewter plate. Well, sirs, I 
 must make as much haste back on mine errand as if I were a 
 fee'd messenger. Sir Edward and my lady, I leave my com- 
 mendations with you; and my good- will with you. Master 
 Heriot; and for this breaker of bounds, if you will act by my 
 counsel, seme maceration by fasting, and a gentle use of the 
 rod, is the best cure for her giddy fits." 
 
 "If you propose for Greenwich, Sir Mungo," said the 
 lieutenant, " I can spare you the labor; the King comes im 
 mediately to Whitehall." 
 
 " And that must be the reason the council are summon^jd 
 to meet in such hurry," said Sir Mungo. " Well, I will, 
 with your permission, go to the poor lad Glenvarloch, and 
 bestow some comfort on him." 
 
 The lieutenant seemed to look \\^ and pause for a moment 
 as if in doubt. 
 
 '' The lad will want a pleasant companion, who can tell him 
 tlie nature of the punishment which he is to suffer, and other 
 matters of concernment. I will not leare him until I show 
 him how absolutely he-hatli ruined himself from feather to 
 spur, how deplorable is his present state, and how small his 
 chance of mending it." 
 
 'MVell, Sir Mungo," replied the lieutenant, "if you really 
 think all this likely to be very consolatory to the party con- 
 cerned, I will send a warder to conduct you." 
 
 *' And 1" said George Heriot, '' will humbly pray of Lady 
 
 * The celebrated court jester. 
 
860 WAVERLEY NOVELL 
 
 Mansel that she will lend some of her handmaiden's apparel 
 to this giddy-brained girl; for I shall forfeit my reputation if 
 I walk up Tower Hill with her in that mad guise —and yet the 
 silly lassie looks not so ill in it neither " 
 
 " I will send my coach with you instantly," said the obliging 
 lady. 
 
 '' Faith, madam, and if you will honor us by such courtesy, 
 I will gladly accept it at your hands," said the citizen, ''for 
 business presses hard on me, and the forenoon is already lost, 
 to little purpose." 
 
 Tlie coach, being ordered accordingly, transported the 
 worthy citizen and his charge to his mansion in Lombard 
 Street. There he found his presence was anxiously expected 
 by the Lady Hermione, who had just received an order to be 
 in readiness to attend upon the royal privy council in the 
 course of an hour; and u]3on whom, in her inexperience of 
 business, and long retirement from society and the world, the 
 intimation had made as deep an impression as if it had not 
 been the necessary consequence of the petition which she had 
 presented to the King by Monna Paula. George Heriot 
 gently blamed her for taking any steps in an affair so impor- 
 tant until his return from France, especially as he had re- 
 quested her to remain quiet, in a letter which accompanied 
 the evidence he had transmitted to her from Paris. She could 
 only plead in answer the influence which her immediately stir- 
 ring in the matter was likely to have on the affair of her kins- 
 man Lord Glenvarloch, for she was ashamed to acknowledge 
 how much she had been gained on by the eager importunity 
 of her youthful companion. The motive of Margaret's eager- 
 ness was, of course, the safety of Nigel, but we must leave it 
 to time to show in what particulars that came to be connected 
 with the petition of the Lady Hermione. Meanwhile, we re- 
 turn to the visit with which Sir Mungo Malagrowther favored 
 the afflicted young nobleman in his place of captivity. 
 
 The knight, after the usual salutations, and having pref- 
 aced his discourse with a great deal of professed regret for 
 Nigel's situation, sat down beside him, and, composing his 
 grotesque features into the most lugubrious despondence^ 
 began his raven-song as follows : 
 
 '' I bless God, my lord, that I was the person who had the 
 pleasure to bring his Majesty's mild message to the lieutenant, 
 discharging the higher prosecution against ye, for anything 
 meditated against his Majesty's sacred person; for, admit you 
 be prosecuted on the lesser offence, or breach of privilege of 
 the palace and its precincts, u^iie ad mutilationemr—eveu to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 361 
 
 dismeniberation — as it is most likely you will, yet the loss of 
 a member is nothing to being hanged and drawn quick, after 
 the fashion of a traitor." 
 
 "I should feel the shame of having deserved such a pun- 
 ishment," answered Nigel, "more than the pain of under- 
 going it." 
 
 " Doubtless, my lord, the having, as you say, deserved it 
 must be an excruciation to your own mind," replied his tor- 
 mentor — " a kind of raentafand metaphysical hanging, draw^ 
 ing, and quartering, which may be in some measure equipol- 
 lent with the external application of hemp, iron, fire, and 
 the like, to the outer man." 
 
 "I say, Sii Mungo," repeated Nigel, "and beg you to 
 understand my words, that I am unconscious of any error, 
 save that of having arms on my person when I chanced to 
 approach that of my sovereign." 
 
 "Ye are right, my lord, to acknowledge nothing," said 
 Sii Mungo. "We have an old proverb. Confess, and — so 
 forth. And indeed, as to the weapons, his Majesty has a 
 special ill-will at all arms * whatsoever, and more especially 
 pistols; but, as I said, there is an end of that matter. I wish 
 vou as well through the next, which is altogether unlikely." 
 
 "Surely, Sir Mungo," answered Xigel, "you yourself 
 might say something in my favor concerning the affair in the 
 Park. None knows better than you that I was at that 
 moment urged by wrongs of the most heinous nature, offered 
 to me by Lord Dalgarno, many of which were reported to me 
 by yourself, much to the inflammation of my passion." 
 
 "Alack-a-day! — alack-a-day!" replied Sir Mungo, "I 
 remember but too well how much your choler was inflamed, 
 in spite of the varioui remonstrances which I made to you 
 respecting the sacred nature of the place. Alas! — alas! you 
 cannot say you leaped into the mire for want ot warning." 
 
 "I see, Sir Mungo, you are determined to remember 
 nothing which can do me service," said Nigel. 
 
 " Blithely would I do ye service," said the knight; "and 
 the best whilk I can think of is, to tell you the process of the 
 punishment to the whilk you will be indubitably sub- 
 jected, I having had the good' fortune to behold it performed 
 in the Queen's time, on a chield thit had written a pasquin- 
 ade. I was then in my Lord Gray's train, who lay leaguer 
 here, and, being always covetous of pleasing and profitable 
 sights, I could not dispense with being present on the occa- 
 sion." 
 
 * See Jamea I.'s Dislika to Arms. Nota V. 
 
362 W AVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 " I should be surprised indeed," said Lord Gleiivarlocn, 
 " if you had so far put restraint upon your benevolence as to 
 stay away from such an exhibition." 
 
 "Hey! was your lordship praying me to be present at 
 your own execution? " answered the knight. '•' Troth, my 
 lord, it will be a painful sight to a friend, but I will rather 
 punish myself than balk you. It is a pretty pageant, in 
 the main — a very pretty pageant. The fallow came on with 
 such a bold face, it was a pleasure to look on him. He was 
 dressed all in white, to signify harmlessness and innocence. 
 The thing was done on a scaffold at Westminster ; most 
 likely yours will be at Charing. There were the sheriff's and 
 the marshal's men, and what not; the executioner, with his 
 cleaver and mallet, and his man, with a pan of hot char- 
 coal, and the irons for cautery. He was a dexterous fallow 
 that Derrick. This man Gregory is not fit to jipper a joint 
 with him; it might be worth your lordship's while to have 
 the loon sent to a barber-surgeon's, to learn some needful 
 scantling of anatomy; it may be for the benefit of yourself and 
 other unhai^iiy sufferers, and also a kindness to Gregory." 
 
 " I will not take the trouble," said Nigel. " If the laws 
 will demand my hand, the executioner may get it off as best 
 he can. If the King leaves it where it is, it may chance to do 
 him better service." 
 
 " Vera noble — vera grand, indeed, my lord," said Sir 
 Mungo; "" it is jileasant to see a brave man suffer. This fallow 
 whom I spoke of — this Tubbs, or Stubbs, or whatever the 
 plebeian was called — came forward as bold as an emperor and 
 said to the people, ' Good friends, I come to leave here 
 the hand of a true Englishman,' and clapped it on the dress- 
 ing-block with as much ease as if he had laid it on his 
 sweetheart's shoulder; whereupon Derrick, the hangman, ad- 
 justing, d'ye mind me, the edge of his cleaver on the very 
 joint, hit it with the mallet with such force that the hand 
 flew off as far from the owner as a gauntlet which the challen- 
 ger casts down in the tilt-yard. Well, sir, Stubbs, or Tubbs, 
 lost no whit of countenance, until the fallow clapped the 
 hissing hot iron on his raw .stump. My lord, it fizzed like a 
 rasher of bacon, and the fallow set up an elritch screech, 
 Avhich made some think his courage was abated; but not a 
 whit, for he plucked off his hat with his left liand and waved 
 it, crying, '^ God save the Queen, and confound all evil coun- 
 sellors:' The people gave him three cheers, which he de- 
 served for his stout heart; and, truly, I hope to see your lord 
 ship suffer with the same magnanimity."* 
 
 • See Punisbment of Stubbs by Mutilation. Note 38. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 388 
 
 " I thank you. Sir Mungo/'said Nigel, who had not been 
 able to forbear some natural feelings of an unpleasant nature 
 during this lively detail; " I have no aoubt the exhibition 
 will be a very engaging one to you and the other spectators, 
 whatever it may prove to the party principally concerned." 
 
 " Vera engaging/' answered Sir Mungo, " vera interesting 
 — vera interesting indeed, though not altogether so much so 
 as an execution for high treason. I saw Digby, the Winters, 
 Fawkes, and the rest of the Gunpowder gang, sutler for that 
 treason, whilk was a vera grand spectacle, as well in regard 
 to their sufferings as to their constancy in enduring." 
 
 *' I am the more obliged to your goodness. Sir Mungo," 
 replied Xigel," that has induced you, although you have lost 
 tlie sight, to congratulate me on my escape from the hazard 
 of making the same edifying aj^pearance." 
 
 " As you say, my lord," answered Sir Mungo, "the loss 
 is chiefly in appearance. Nature has been very bountiful to 
 us, and has given duplicates of some organs, that we may 
 endure the loss of one of them, should some such circumstance 
 chance in our pilgrimage. See my poor dexter, abridged to 
 one thumb, one finger, and a stump — by the blow of my ad- 
 versary's weapon, however, and not by any carnificial knife. 
 Weel, sir, this poor maimed hand doth me, in some sort, as 
 much service as ever; and, admit yours to be taken off by the 
 wrist, you have still your left hand for your service, and 
 are better off than the little Dutch dwarf here about town, 
 who threads a needle, limns, writes, and tosses a pike merely 
 by means of his feet, without ever a hand to help him." 
 
 " Well, Sir Mungo," said Lord Glenvarloch, " this is all 
 no doubt very consolatory; but I hope the King will spare my 
 hand to fight for him in battle, where, notwithstanding all 
 your kind encouragement, I could spend my blood much 
 more cheerfully than on a scaffold." 
 
 ^' It is even a sad truth," replied Sir Mungo, " that your 
 lordship was but too like to have died on a scaffold — not a 
 soul to speak for you but that deluded lassie, Maggie Earn- 
 say." 
 
 " Whom mean you?" said Nigel, with more interest than 
 he had hitherto shown in the knight's communications. 
 
 " Nay, who should I mean but tliat travestied lassie whom 
 we dined with when we honored Ileriot, the goldsmith? Ye 
 ken best how you have made interest with her; but I saw her 
 on her knees to the King for you She Avas committed to my 
 charge, to bring her up hither in honor and safety. Had I 
 had my own will, I would have had her to Bridewell^ to flog 
 
884 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 the wild blood out of her — a cutty-queen, to think of wearing 
 the breeches, and not so much as married yet!" 
 
 " Hark ye, Sir Mungo Malagrowther," answered Nigel, " I 
 would have you talk of that young person with fitting re- 
 spect." 
 
 " With all the respect that befits your lordship's paramour 
 and Davie Ramsay's daughter I shall certainly speak of her, 
 my lord," said Sir Mungo, assuming a dry tone of irony. 
 
 Nigel was greatly disposed to have made a serious quarrel 
 of it, but with Sir Mungo such an affair would have been 
 ridiculous; he smothered his resentment, therefore, and con- 
 jured him to tell what he had heard and seen respecting this 
 young person. 
 
 " Simply, that I was in the anteroom when she had 
 audience, and heard the King say, to my great perplexity, 
 ' Pulchra sane 2Juella; ' and Maxwell, who hath but indiffer- 
 ent Latin ears, thought that his Majesty called on him by his 
 own name of Sawney, and thrust into the presence, and there 
 I saw our sovereign James, with his own hand, raising up the 
 lassie, who, as I said heretofore, was travestied in man's 
 attire. I should have had my own thoughts of it, but our 
 gracious master is auld, and was nae great gilravager amang 
 the queens even in his youth; and he was comforting her in 
 his own way, and saying, ' Ye needna greet about it, my 
 bonny woman, Glenvarlochides shall have fair play; and, in- 
 deed, when the hurry was off our spirits, we could not believe 
 that he had any design on our person. And touching his 
 other offences, we will look wisely and closely into the mat- 
 ter.' So I got charge to take the young fence-louper to the 
 Tower here, and deliver her to the charge of Lady Mansel; 
 and his Majesty charged me to say not a word to her about 
 your offences. ' For,' said he, ' the poor thing is breaking 
 her heart for him.' " 
 
 " And on this you have charitably founded the opinion to 
 the prejudice of this young lady which you have now thought 
 proper to express ? " said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 "In honest truth, my lord," replied Sir Mungo, "what 
 opinion would you have me form of a wench who gets into 
 male habiliments, and goes on her knees to the King for a 
 wild young nobleman? I wot not what the fashionable word 
 may be, for the phrase changes, though the custom abides. 
 But truly I must needs think this young leddy — if you call 
 Watchie Eamsay's daughter a young leddy — demeans her- 
 self more like a leddy of pleasure than a leddy of honor." 
 
 " You do her egregious wrong. Sir Mungo," said Nigel; 
 " or rather you have been misled by appearances.'' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 865 
 
 " So will all the world be misled, my lord/' replied the 
 satirist, " unless you were doing that to disabuse them which 
 your father's son will hardly judge it fit to do/' 
 
 " And what may that be, I pray you?" 
 
 " E'en marry the lass — make her Leddy Glenvarloch. Ay 
 — ay, ye may start, but it is the course you are driving on. 
 Rather marry than do worse, if the worse be not done 
 already." 
 
 " Sir Mungo," said Nigel, "' I pray you to forbear this 
 subject, and rather return to that of the mutilation, upon 
 which it pleased you to enlarge a short while since." 
 
 " I have not time at present," said Sir Mungo, hearing 
 the clock strike four; ''but so soon as you shall have re- 
 ceived sentence, my lord, you may rely on my giving you the 
 fullest detail of the whole solemnity ; and I give you my 
 word, as a knight and gentleman, that I will myself attend 
 you on the scaffold, whoever may cast sour looks on me for 
 doing so. I bear a heart to stand by a friend in the worst of 
 times." 
 
 So saying, he wished Lord Glenvarloch farewell, who felt 
 as heartily rejoiced at his departure, though it may be a bold 
 word, as any person who had ever undergone his society. 
 
 But, when left to his own reflections, Nigel could not 
 help feeling solitude nearly as irksome as the company of 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther. The total wreck of his fortune, 
 which seemed now to be rendered unavoidable by the loss of 
 the royal warrant, that had afforded him the means of redeem- 
 ing his paternal estate, was an unexpected and additional blow. 
 When he had seen the warrant he could not precisely remem- 
 ber; but was inclined to think it was in the casket when he 
 took out money to pay the miser for his lodgings at White- 
 friars. Since then, the casket had been almost constantly 
 under his own eye, except during the short time he was 
 separated from his baggage by the arrest in Greenwich Park. 
 It might, indeed, have been taken out at that time, for he 
 had no reason to think either his person or his property was 
 in the hands of those who wished him well; but, on the 
 other hand, the locks of the strong-box had sustained no 
 violence that he could observe, and, being of a particular and 
 complicated construction, lie thought they could scarce be 
 opened without an instrument made on purpose, adapted to 
 their peculiarities, and for this there had been no time. 
 But, speculate as he would on the matter, it was clear that 
 this important document was gone, and probable that it had 
 passed into no friendly hands. " Let it be so," said Nigel 
 
866 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 to himself; " I am scarcely worse off respecting my prospects 
 of fortune than when I first reached this accursed city. But 
 to be hampered with cruel accusations and stained with foul 
 suspicions* to be the object of pity of the most degrading 
 kind to yonder honest citizen, and of the malignity of that 
 envious and atrabilarious courtier, who can endure the good 
 fortune and good qualities of another no more than the mole 
 can brook sunshine — this is indeed a dejilorable reflection; 
 and the consequences must stick to my future life, and impede 
 whatever my head, or my hand, if it is left me, might be able 
 to execute in my favor. " 
 
 The feeling that he is the object of general dislike and 
 dereliction seems to be one of the most unendurably painful 
 to which a human being can be subjected. The most atrocious 
 criminals, whose nerves have not shrunk from perpetrating 
 the most horrid cruelty, endure more from the consciousness 
 that no man will sympathize with their sufferings than from 
 apprehension of the j)ersonal agony of their impending pun- 
 ishment; and are known often to attempt to palliate their 
 enormities, and sometimes altogether to deny what is estab- 
 lished by the clearest proof, rather than to leave life under 
 the general ban of humanity. It was no wonder that Nigel, 
 laboring under the sense of general, though unjust, suspicion, 
 should, while pondering on so painful a theme, recollect that 
 one at least had not only believed him innocent, but hazarded 
 herself, with all her feeble power, to interpose in his behalf. 
 
 ''Poor girl!" he repeated — " poor, rash, but generous 
 maiden! your fate is that of her in Scottish story, who thrust 
 her arm into the staple of the door, to oppose it as a bar 
 against the assassins who threatened the murder of her sov- 
 ereign.* The deed of devotion was useless, save to give an 
 immortal name to her by whom it was done, and whose blood 
 flows, it is said, in the veins of my house." 
 
 I cannot explain to the reader whether the recollection of 
 this historical deed of devotion, and the lively effect which 
 the comparison, a little overstrained, perhaps, was likely to 
 produce in favor of Margaret Eamsay, was not qualified by 
 the concomitant ideas of ancestry and ancient descent witli 
 which that recollection was mingled. But the contending 
 feelings suggested a new train of ideas. " Ancestry," he 
 thought, "and ancient descent, what are they to me? My 
 patrimony alienated — my title become a reproach — for what 
 can be so absurd as titled beggary? — my character subjected 
 to suspicion — I will not remain in this country; and should 
 
 * See Assassination of James I. of Scotland. Note39. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 367 
 
 I, at leaving it, procure the society of one so lovely, so brave, 
 and so faithful, who should say that I derogated from the 
 rank which I am virtually renouncing?" 
 
 There was something romantic and pleasing, as he pur- 
 sued this picture of an attached and faithful pair, becoming 
 all the world to each other, and stemming the tide of fate 
 arm in arm; and to be linked thus with a creature so beauti- 
 ful, and who had taken such devoted and disinterested con- 
 cern in his fortunes, formed itself into such a vision as 
 romantic youth loves best to dwell upon. 
 
 Suddenly his dream was painfully dispelled by the recol- 
 lection that its very basis rested \\])0\\ the most selfish ingrati- 
 tude on his cwn part. Lord of his castle and his towers, his 
 forests and fields, his fair patrimony and noble name, his 
 mind would have rejected, as a sort of impossibility, the idea 
 of elevating to his rank the daughter of a mechanic; but, 
 when degraded from his nobility and plunged into poverty 
 and difficulties, he was ashamed to feel himself not unwill- 
 ing that this poor girl, in the blindness of her affection, 
 should abandon all the better prospects of her own settled 
 condition to embrace the precarious and doubtful course 
 which he himself was condemned to. The generosity of 
 Nigel's mind recoiled from the selfishness of the plan of hap- 
 piness which he projected; and he made a strong effort to 
 expel from his thoughts for the rest of the evening this 
 fascinating female, or, at least, not to permit them to dwell 
 upon the perilous circumstance that she was at present the 
 only creature living who seemed to consider him as an object 
 of kindness. 
 
 He could not, however, succeed in banishing her from his 
 slumbers, when, after having sjjent a weary day, he betook 
 himself to a jjerturbed couch. The form of Margaret min- 
 gled with the wild mass of dreams which his late adventures 
 had suggested ; and even when, copying the lively narrative 
 of Sir Mungo, fancy j^resented to him the blood bubbling 
 and hissing on the heated iron, Margaret stood behind him 
 like a spirit of light, to breathe healing on the wound. At 
 length nature was exhausted by these fantastic creations, and 
 Nigel slept, and slept soundly, until awakened in the morn- 
 ing by the sound of a well-known voice, which had often 
 broken his slumbers about the same hour. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 Marry, come up, sir. with your gentle blood 
 Here's a red stream beneath tliis coarse blue doublet 
 That warms the heart as kindly as if drawn 
 From the far source of old Assj-rian kings, 
 Who first made mankind subject to their sw&y. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 The sounds to which Ave alluded in our last were no other 
 than the grumbling tones of Richie Moniplies's voice. 
 
 This worthy, like some otlier persons who rank high in 
 their own opinion, was very apt, when he could have no 
 other auditor, to hold conversation with one who was sure to 
 be a willing listener — I mean with himself. He was now 
 brushing and arranging Lord Glenvarloch's clothes, with as 
 much composure and quiet assiduity as if he had never been 
 out of his service, and grumbling betwixt whiles to the fol- 
 lowing purpose — " Humph — ay, time cloak and jerkin were 
 through my hands; I question if horse-hair has been passed 
 over tliem since they and I last parted. The embroidery 
 finely frayed too; and the gold buttons of the cloak— by my 
 conscience, and as I am an honest man, there is a round 
 dozen of them gane! This comes of Alsatian frolics — God 
 keep us with His grace, and not give us over to our own de- 
 vices! I see no sword, but that will be in respect of pi^sent 
 circumstances."' 
 
 Nigel for some time could not help believing that he was 
 still in a dream, so imj^robable did it seem that his domestic, 
 whom he supposed to be in Scotland, should have found him 
 out, and obtained access to him, in his present circumstances. 
 Looking through the curtains, however, he became well 
 assured of the fact, when he beheld the stiff and bony length 
 of Richie, with a visage charged with nearly double its ordi- 
 nary degree of importance, employed sedulously in brushin[" 
 his master's cloak, and refreshing himself with whistling or 
 humming, from interval to interval, some snatch of an old 
 melancholy Scottish ballad-tune. Although sufficiently con- 
 vinced of the identity of the party, Lord Glenvarloch could 
 not help expressing his surprise in the superfluous question^ 
 " In the name of Heaven, Richie, is this you? " 
 
 *' And wha else suld it be, my lord?" answered Richie 
 
 set 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 369 
 
 " I dreamna that your lordsliip's levee in this place is like to 
 be attended by ony that are not bounden thereto by duty." 
 
 " I am rather surprised/'' answered Nigel, " that it should 
 be attended by any one at all — especially by you, Eichie; for 
 you know that we parted, and 1 thought you had reached 
 Scotland long since." 
 
 " I crave your lordship's pardon, but we have not parted 
 yet, nor are soon likely so to do; for there gang twa folks' 
 votes to the unmaking of a bargain, as to the making of ane. 
 Though it was your lordship's pleasure so to conduct yourself 
 that we were like to have parted, yet it was not, on reflection, 
 my will to be gone. To be plain, if your lordship does not 
 ken when you have a good servant, I ken when I have a kind 
 master; and to say truth, you will be easier served now than 
 ever, for there is not much chance of your getting out of 
 bounds." 
 
 "I am indeed bound over to good behavior," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch, with a smile; ''but I hope you will not take ad- 
 vantage of my situation to be too severe on my follies. 
 Richie?" 
 
 ''God forbid, my lord— God forbid!" replied Richie, with 
 an expression betwixt a conceited consciousness of superior 
 wisdom and real feeling, "especially in consideration of your 
 lordship's having a due sense of them. I did indeed remon- 
 strate, as was my humble duty, but I scorn to cast that up to 
 your lordship now. Na — na, I am myself an erring creature, 
 very conscious of some small weaknesses: there is no perfec- 
 tion in man." 
 
 "But, Richie," said Lord Glenvarloch, "although 1 am 
 rnuch obliged to you for your proffered service, it can be of 
 little use to me here, and may be of prejudice to yourself.'' 
 
 " Your lordship shall pardon me again," said Richie, whom 
 the relative situation of the parties had invested with ten 
 times his ordinary dogmatism; "but, as I will manage the 
 matter, your lordship shall be greatly benefited by my serv- 
 ice, and I myself no whit prejudiced." 
 
 ■' I see not how that can be, my friend," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch, " since even as to your pecuniary affairs " 
 
 " Touching my pecuniars, my lord," replied Richie," I am 
 indifferently weel provided; and as it chances, my living here 
 will be no burden to your lordship or distress to myself. 
 Only I crave permission to annex certain conditions to my 
 servitude with your lordship." 
 
 "Annex what you will," said Lord Glenvarloch, "for yon 
 are pretty sure to take your own way whether you make any 
 
 M 
 
870 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 conditions or not. Since you will not leave, which weie, I 
 think, your wisest course, you must, and I suppose will, serve 
 me only on such terms as you like yourself." 
 
 "All that I ask, my lord," said Richie, gravely and with a 
 tone of great moderation, " is to have the uninterrupted com- 
 mand of my own motions, for certain important purposes 
 which I have now in hand, always giving your lordship the 
 solace of my company and attendance at such times as may 
 be at once convenient for me and necessary for your service. '' 
 
 " Of which, I suppose, you constitute yourself sole judge/' 
 replied Nigel, smiling. 
 
 "Unquestionably, my lord," answered Richie, gravely; 
 " tor your lordship can only know what yourself want; where- 
 as I, who see both sides of the picture, ken both what is the 
 best for your affairs and what is the most needful for my own. '' 
 
 " Richie, my good friend," said Nigel, " I fear this 
 arrangement, which places the master much under the dis- 
 posal of tlie servant, would scarce suit us if we were both at 
 large; but a prisoner as I am, I may be as well at your dis- 
 posal as I am at that of so many other persons; and so you 
 may come and go as you list, for I suppose you will not take 
 my advice, to return to your own country and leave me to my 
 fate." 
 
 " The deil be in my feet if I do," said Moniplies. " I am 
 not the lad to leave your lordship in foul weather, when I fol- 
 lowed you and fed upon you through the whole summer day. 
 And besides, there may be brave days behind, for a' that has 
 come and gane yet; for 
 
 " ' It's hame, and it's hame, and it's hame we fain would be, 
 Tliough the cloud is in the lift, and the wind is on the lea; 
 For the sun through the mirk blinks blithe on mine ee. 
 Says — " I'll shine on ye yet in your ain countryl" '" 
 
 Having sung this stanza in the manner of a ballad-singei 
 whose voice has been cracked by matching his windpipe 
 against the bugle of the north blast, Richie Moniplies aided 
 Lord Glenv^arloch to rise, attended his toilet with every pos- 
 •^ible mark ot the most solemn and deferential respect, then 
 waited upon him at breakfast, and finally withdrew, pleading 
 that he had business of importance, which would detain him 
 for some hours. 
 
 Although Lord Glenvarloch necessarily expected to be 
 occasionally annoyed by the self-conceit and dogmatism of 
 Richie Moniplies's character, yet he could not but feel the 
 greatest pleasure from the firm and devoted attachment 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 371 
 
 which this faitliful follower had displayed in the present in- 
 stance, and indeed promised himself an alleviation of the 
 ennui of his imprisonment in having the advantage of his 
 services. It was, therefore, with pleasure that he learned 
 from the warder that his servant's attendance would be al- 
 lowed at all times when the general rules of the fortress per- 
 mitted the entrance of strangers. 
 
 In the mean while, the magnanimous Richie Moniplies had 
 already reached Tower Wharf. Here, after looking with con- 
 tempt on several scullers by whom he was plied, and whose 
 services he rejected with a wave of his hand, he called with 
 dignity, " First oars! " and stirred into activity several loung- 
 ing tritons of the higher order, who had not, on his first 
 appearance, thoudit it worth while to accost him with prof- 
 fers of service. He now took possession of a wdierry, folded 
 his arms -within his ample cloak, and sitting down in the 
 stern with an air of importance, commanded them to row to 
 Whitehall Stairs. Having reached the palace in safety, he 
 demanded to see Master Linklater, the under-clerk of his 
 Majesty's kitchen. The reply was, that he was not to be 
 spoken withal, being then employed in cooking a mess of 
 cock-a-leekie for the King's own mouth. 
 
 "Tell him," said Moniplies, " that it is a dear country- 
 man of his who seeks to converse with Mm on matter of high 
 import." 
 
 "A dear countryman !'' said Linklater, when this press- 
 ing message was delivered to him. "Well, let him come in 
 and be d — d, that I should say sae! This now is some red- 
 headed, long-legged, gillie-white-foot frae the West Port, 
 that, hearing of my promotion, is come up to be a turn-broche 
 or deputy scullion through my interest. It is a great hin- 
 drance to any man who would rise in the world, to have such 
 friends to hang by his skirts, in hope of being towed up along 
 with him. Ha! Richie Moniplies, man, is it thou? And 
 what has brought ye her ? If they should ken thee for the 
 loon that scared tho horse the other day !" 
 
 "No more o' that, neighbor," said Richie. "I am just 
 Iiere on the auld errand: I maun speak with the King." 
 
 " The King! Ye are red-wud," said Linklater; then shout- 
 ed to his assistants in the kitchen, " Look to the broches, 
 ye knaves. Pisces pur ga. Salsamenta fac macerentur pul- 
 chre. I will make you understand Latin, ye knaves, as 
 becomes the scullions of King James." Then in a cautious 
 tone, to Richie's private ear, he continued, " Know ye not 
 
872 fVAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 how ill yonr master came oii tne other aay? i can tell you 
 that job made some folk shake for their office/' 
 
 " Weel, but, Laurie, ye maun befriend me this time, and 
 get this wee bit sifflication slipped into his Majesty's ain most 
 gracious hand. 1 promise you the contents will be most 
 grateful to him." 
 
 " Richie," answered Linklater, " yon have certainly sworn 
 to say your prayers in the porter's lodge, with your back bare, 
 and twa grooms, with dog-whips, to cry 'amen' to you." 
 
 " Na — na, Laurie, lad," said Richie, "1 ken better whax 
 belangs to sifflications than I did yon day; and ye will say 
 that yoursell, if ye will but get that bit note to the King's 
 hand." 
 
 '• I will have neither hand nor foot in the matter,'^ said 
 the cautious clerk of the kitchen; " but there is his Majesty's 
 mess of cock-a-leekie just going to be served to him in his 
 closet; I cannot prevent you from i:)utting the letter between 
 the gilt bowl and the platter; his sacred Majesty will see it 
 when he lifts the bowl, for he aye drinks out the broth." 
 
 " Enough said," replied Richie, and deposited the paper 
 accordingly, just before a page entered to carry away the 
 mess to his Majesty. 
 
 '* Aweel — aweel, neighbor," said Laurence, when the mess 
 was taken away, "if ye have done onythingto bring yoursell 
 to the withy or the seourging-i^ost, it is your ain wilful deed." 
 
 "I will blame no other for it," said Richie; and, with 
 that undismayed pertinacity of conceit which made a funda- 
 mental part of his character, he abode the issue, which was 
 not long of arriving. 
 
 In a few minutes Maxwell himself arrived in the apart- 
 ment, and demanded hastily who had placed a writing on the 
 King's trencher. Linklater denied all knowledge of it; but 
 Richie Moniplies, stepping boldly forth, pronounced the em- 
 phatical confession, "I am the man." 
 
 "Follow me, then," said Maxwell, after regarding him 
 with a look of great curiosity. 
 
 They went up a private staircase — even that private stair- 
 case the privilege of which at court is accounted a nearer 
 road to power than the grcmdes entrees themselves. Arriv- 
 ing m what Richie described as an " ill redd-up " anteroom, 
 the usher made a sign to liim to stop, while he went into the 
 King's closet. Their conference was short, and as Maxwell 
 opened the door to retire. Richie heard the conclusion of i^". 
 
 " Ye are sure he is not dangerous? I was caught once. 
 Bide within call, but not nearer the door than within three 
 geometrical cubits. If I speak loud, start to me like a tai' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 878 
 
 con. If I speak loun, keep your lang lugs out of ear-shot; 
 and now let liim come in/' 
 
 Richie passed forward at Maxwell's mute signal, and in a 
 moment found himself in the presence of the King. Most 
 men of Richie's birth and breeding, and many others, would 
 have been abashed at finding themselves alone with their sov- 
 ereign. But Richie Moniplies had an opinion of himself too 
 high to be controlled by any such ideas ; and having made 
 his stiff reverence, he arose once more into his perpendicular 
 height, and stood before James as stiff as a hedge-stake, 
 
 "Have ye gotten them, man? — have ye gotten them?" 
 said the King, in a fluttered state, betwixt hope and eager- 
 ness, and some touch of suspicious fear. " Gie me them — 
 gie me them — ^before ye speak a word, I charge you, on your 
 allegiance." 
 
 Richie took a box from his bosom, and, stooping on one 
 knee, presented it to his Majesty, who hastily opened it, and 
 having ascertained that it contained a certain carcanet of ru- 
 bies, with which the reader was formerly made acquainted, 
 he could not resist falling into a sort of rapture, kissing the 
 gems, as if the-y had been capable of feeling, and repeating 
 again and again with childish delight, ''' Onyx cum prole, sil- 
 exque — onyx cum prole I Ah, my bright and bonny spark- 
 lers, my heart loups light to see you again." He then turned 
 to Richie, upon whose stoical countenance his Majesty's de- 
 meanor had excited something like a grim smile, which 
 James interrupted his rejoicing to reprehend, saying, " Take 
 heed, sir, you are not to laugh at us: we are your anointed 
 sovereign." 
 
 "'God forbid that I should laugh!" said Richie, compos- 
 ing his countenance into its natural rigidity. " I did but 
 smile, to bring my visage into coincidence and conformity 
 with your Majesty's physiognomy." 
 
 "Ye speak as a dutiful subject and an honest man," said 
 the King; "but what deil's your name, man ?" 
 
 " Even Richie Moniplies, the son of auld Mungo Moni- 
 plies, at the West Port of Edinburgh, who had the honor to 
 supply your Majesty's mother's royal table, as weel as your 
 Majesty's, with flesh and other vivers, when time was." 
 
 " Aha !" said the King, laughing ; for he possessed, as a 
 useful attribute of his situation, a tenacious memory, which 
 recollected every one with whom he was brought into casual 
 contact — "ye are the self- same traitor who had weel-nigh 
 coupit us endlang on the causey of our ain courtyard ? But 
 we stuck by our mare. Equam memento reins in arduis 
 
374 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 servare. "Weel, be not dismayed, Kichie; for, as many men 
 have turned traitors, it is but fair that a traitor, now and 
 then, suld prove to be, contra exjjectanda, a true man. How 
 cam ye by our jewels, man ? cam ye on the part of George 
 Heriot?" ^ 
 
 '' In no sort," said Richie. " May it please your Majesty, 
 I come as Harry Wynd fought, utterly for my own hand, and 
 on no man's errand ; as, indeed, I call no one master, save 
 Him that made me, your most gracious Majesty who governs 
 me, and the noble Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Cllenvarloch, who 
 maintained me as lang as he could maintain himself, poor 
 nobleman ! " 
 
 " Glenvarlochides again!'' exclaimed the King; "by my 
 honor, he lies in ambush for us at every corner ! Maxwell 
 knocks at the door. It is George Heriot come to tell us he 
 cannot find these jewels. Get thee behind the arras, Richie 
 — stand close, man — sneeze not — cough not — breathe not! 
 Jingling Geordie is so damnably ready with his gold-ends of 
 wisdom, and sae accursedly backward with his gold-ends of 
 siller, that, by our royal saul, we are glad to get a hair in his 
 neck." 
 
 Richie got behind the arras, in obedience to the com- 
 mands of the good-natured King, while the monarch, who 
 never allowed his dignity to stand in the way of a frolic, 
 having adjusted, with his own hand, the tapestry so as to 
 complete the ambush, commanded Maxwell to tell him Avhat 
 was the matter without. Maxwell's reply was so low as to 
 be lost by Richie Moniplies, the peculiarity of whose situation 
 by no means abated his curiosity and desire to gratify it to 
 the uttermost. 
 
 " Let Geordie Heriot come in," said the King; and, as 
 Richie could observe through a slit in the tapestry, the honest 
 citizen, if not actually agitated, was at least discomposed. 
 The King, whose talent for wit, or humor, was precisely of 
 a kind to be gratified by such a scene as ensued, received his 
 homage with coldness, and began to talk to him with an air 
 of serious dignity, very different from the usual indecorous 
 levity of his behavior. "Master Heriot," he said, "if we 
 aright remember, we opignorated in your hands certain 
 Jewels of the crown, for a certain sum of money. Did we or 
 did we not?" 
 
 "My most gracious sovereign," said Heriot, "indisputa- 
 bly your Majesty was pleased to do so." 
 
 " The property of which jewels and cwielia remained with 
 Us," continued the King, in the same solemn tone, " subject 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 375 
 
 only to your claim of advance thereupon; which advance 
 being repaid gives us right to repossession of the thing opig- 
 norated, or pledged, or laid in wad. Voetius, Vinnius, 
 Groenwegeneus, Pagenstecherus — all who have treated de 
 contract It opignerationis — consent in nt in eundem — gree on 
 the same point. The Roman law, the English common law, 
 and the municipal law of our ain ancient kingdom of Scot- 
 land, thougli they split in mair particulars than I could 
 desire, unite as strictly in this as the three strands of a 
 twisted rope.'' 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," replied Heriot, " it re- 
 quires not so many learned authorities to prove to any honest 
 man that his interest in a pledge is determined when the 
 money lent is restored." 
 
 *'\Yeel, sir, I proffer restoration of the sum lent, and I 
 demand to be repossessed of the jewels pledged with you. I 
 gave ye a hint, brief while since, that this would be essential 
 to my service, for, as approaching events are like to call us 
 into public, it would seem strange if we did not appear with 
 those ornaments, which are heirlooms of the crown, and the 
 absence whereof is like to place us in contempt and suspicion 
 witli our lie^e subjects." 
 
 Master George Heriot seemed much moved by this ad- 
 dress of his sovereign, and replied with emotion, " I call 
 Heaven to witness, that I am totally harmless in this matter, 
 and that I would willingly lose the sum advanced, so that I 
 could restore those jewels, the absence of which your Majesty 
 so justly laments. Had the jewels remained with me, the 
 account of them would be easily rendered; but your Majesty 
 will do me the justice to remember that, by your express 
 order, I transferred them to another person, who advanced 
 a large sum, just about the time of my departure for Paris. 
 The money Avas pressingly wanted, and no other means to 
 come by it occurred to me. I told your Majesty, when I 
 brouglit tlie needful supply, that the man from whom the 
 monies were obtained was of no good repute; and your most 
 princely answer was, smelling to the gold — 'Non olet — it 
 smells not of the means that liave gotten it.' " 
 
 " Weel, man," said the King, ''but what needs a' this 
 din ? If ye gave my jewels in pledge to such a one, suld ye 
 not, as a liege subject, have taken care that the redemption 
 was in our power ? And we are to suffer ■'■he loss of our '^inielia 
 by your neglect, besides being exposed to the scorn and 
 censure of our lieges and of the foreign ambassadors? " 
 
 " My lord and liege king," said Heriot, " God knows if my 
 
37P WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 bearing blame or shame in this matter would keep it from 
 youi Majesty, it were my duty to endure botli, as a servant 
 grateful fc many benefits ; but when your Majesty considers 
 the violent deatli of the man himself, the disappearance of 
 hi<* daughter and of his wealth, I trust you will remembei 
 that I warned your Majesty, in humble duty, of the possibil- 
 ity of such casualties, and prayed you not to urge me to 
 deal with him on your behalf." 
 
 " But you brought me nae better means," said the King — 
 " Geordie, ye brought me nae better means. I was like a 
 deserted man ; what could I do but grip to the first siller 
 that offered, as a drowning man grasps to the willoW'-vvand 
 that comes readiest ? And now, man, what for have ye not 
 brought back the jewels ? They are surely above grouhJ, if 
 ye wad make strict-- search." 
 
 "All strict search ha^ been made, may it please your 
 Majesty," replied the citizen; " hue and cry has been se,i't out 
 everywhere, and it has been found impossible to recover 
 them." 
 
 "Difficult, ye mean, Geordie, not impossible," replied the 
 King; "for that whilk is impossible is either naturally so, 
 exemph' gratia, to make two into three; or morally so, as to 
 make what is truth falsehood, but what is only difficult 
 may come to pass, with assistance of wisdom and patience; 
 as, for example. Jingling Geordie, look here!" And he dis- 
 played the recovered treasure to the eyes of the astonished 
 jeweller, exclaiming, with great triumph, "What say ye to 
 that, Jingler ? By my sceptre and crown, the man stares as 
 if he took his native prince for a warlock! us that are the 
 very malleus malificarum, the contunding and contritu rating 
 hammer of al' witches, sorcerers, magicians, and the like; he 
 thinks we are taking a touch of the black art oursells! But 
 gang thy way, honest Geordie; thou art a good plain man, 
 but nane of the seven sages of Greece — gang thy way, and 
 mind the soothfast word which you spoke, small time syne 
 that there is one in this land that comes near to Solomon, 
 King 01 Israel in all his gifts, except in his love tc strange 
 women, forbye tlie daughter of Pharaoh." 
 
 If Heriot was surprised at seeing the jewels so unex- 
 pectedly produced at the moment the King was upbraiding 
 him for the loss of them, this allusion to the reflection which 
 had. escaped him while conversing with Lord Glenvarloch 
 altogether completed his astonishment; and the King was sc 
 delighted with the superiority which it gave him at tht 
 moment, that he rubbed his hands, chuckled, and, finally, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 377 
 
 his sense of dignity giving way to the full feeling of triumph, 
 he threw himself into his easy-chair, and laughed with un- 
 constrained violence till he lost his breath, and the tears ran 
 plentifully down his cheeks as he strove to recover it. 
 Meanwhile, the royal cachinnation was echoed out by a discor- 
 dant and portentous laugh from behind the arras, like that of 
 one who, little accustomed to give way to such emotions, feels 
 himself at some particular impulse unable either to control 
 or to modify his obstreperous mirth. Heriot turned his head 
 with new surprise towards the place from which sounds so 
 unfitting the presence of a monarch seemed to burst with such 
 emphatic clamor.* 
 
 The King, too, somewhat sensible of the indecornm, rose 
 up, wiped his eyes, and calling, '' Tod Lowrie, come out o' your 
 den," lie produced from behind the arras the length of Eicliie 
 Moniplies, still laughing with as unrestrained mirth as ever 
 did gossip at a country christening. " Whisht, man — whisht, 
 man," said the King; "ye neediia nicher that gait, like a 
 cusser at a caup o' corn, e'en though it was a pleasing jest, 
 and our ain framing. And yet to see Jingling Geordie, that 
 hands himself so much the wiser than other folk — to see him — 
 ha I ha! ha! — in the vein of Euclic apud Plautum, distressing 
 himself to recover what was lying at his elbow — 
 
 "Perii, interii, occidi — quo curram? que non curram? — 
 Tene, tene — quem? quis? nescio — nihil video. 
 
 Ah! Geordie, your een are sharp enough to look after gowd 
 and silver, gems, rubies, and the like of that, and yet ye 
 kenna how to come by them when they are lost. Ay — ay, 
 look at them, man — look at them ; they are a' right and 
 tight, sound and round, not a doublet crept in among them. " 
 
 George Heriot, when Iiis first surprise was over, was too old 
 a courtier to interrupt the King's imaginary triumph, 
 although he darted a look of some displeasure at honest 
 Richie, who still continued on what is usually termed the 
 broad grin. He quietly examined the stones, and finding 
 them all perfect, he honestly and sincerely congratulated his 
 Majesty on tlie recovery of a treasure which could not have 
 been lost without some dishonor to the crowm; and asked to 
 whom he himself was to pay the sums for which they had 
 been pledged, observing, that he had the money by him in 
 readiness. 
 
 "Ye are in a dcevil of a hurry, when there is paying in 
 the case, Geordie, " said the King. '' What's a' the haste, 
 man? The jewels were restored by an honest, kindly coun- 
 
 * See Richie Moniplies behind the Arras. Note 40. 
 
378 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 tryman of ours. There be stands, and wha kens if he wants 
 the money on the nail, oi if he might not be as Aveel pleased 
 wi' a bit rescript on our treasury some six months hence? Ye 
 ken that our exchequer is even at a low ebb Just now, and ye 
 cry 'pay — pay — pay, ' as if we had all the mines of Ophir." 
 
 " Please your Majesty," said Heriot, " if this man has the 
 real right to these monies, it is doubtless at his will to grant 
 forbearance, if he will. But when I remember the guise in 
 which I first saw him, with a tattered cloak and a broken 
 head, I can hardly conceive it. Are not you Eichie Moniplies, 
 with the King's favor?" 
 
 " Even sae. Master Heriot — of the ancient and honorable 
 house of Castle Collop, near to the West Port of Edinburgh/' 
 answered Eichie. 
 
 *' Why, please your Majesty, he is a poor serving-man," 
 said Heriot. " This money can never be honestly at his dis- 
 posal." 
 
 " What for no ? " said the King. " Wad ye have naebody 
 spraickle up the brae but yoursell, Geordie? Your ain cloak 
 was thin enough when ye cam here, though ye have lined it 
 gay and weel. And for serving-men, there has mony a red- 
 shank coma over tlift Tweed wi' his master's wallet on his 
 shoulders, that now rustles it wi' his six followers behind him. 
 There stands the man himsell; speerat him, Geordie." 
 
 *'His may not be the best authority in the case," answered 
 the cautious citizen. 
 
 " Tut — tut, man," said the King, " ye are over scrupulous. 
 The knave deer-stealers have an apt ^h.r2i&Q,' Non est inqui- 
 rendum uncle venit VE]sriso]sr.' He that brings ths gudes hath 
 surely a right to dispose of the gear. Hark ye, friend, speak 
 the truth and shame the deil. Have ye plenary powers to 
 dispose on the redemption-money as to delay of payments or 
 the like, ay or no F " 
 
 " Full power, an it like your gracious majesty, " answered 
 Richie Moniplies; '^'and I am maist willing to subscrive to 
 whatsoever may inony wise accommodate your Majesty anent 
 the redemption-money, trusting your Majesty's grace will be 
 kind to me in one sjna' favor." 
 
 "Ey, man," said the King, "come veto me there? I 
 thought ye Avad e'en be like the rest of them. One would 
 think our subjects' lives and goods were all our ain, and 
 holden of us at' our free will; but when we stand in need of onj 
 matter of siller from them, which chances more frequently 
 than we would it did. deil a boddle is to be had, save on the 
 auld tenns of giif-gali. It is just nilfer for nifEer, AweeU 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 379 
 
 neighbci, what is ittliat yewiiiit — some monopoly, I reckon? 
 Or it may be a grant of kirk lands and teinds, or a knight- 
 hood, or the like? Ye maun be reasonable, unless you pro- 
 pose tc advance more money for our present occasions." 
 
 *' Ky liege," answered Richie Moniplies, " the owner of 
 these monies places them at your Majesty's command, free of 
 all pledge or usage as long as it is your royal pleasure, pro- 
 viding your Majesty will condescend to show some favor to 
 the noble Lord Glenvarloch, presently prisoner in your royal 
 Tower of London." 
 
 "How, man — how, man — how, man!" exclaimed the 
 King, reddening and stammering, but with emotions more 
 noble than those by which he was sometimes agitated, 
 " What is that you dare to say to us? Sell our justice! — sell 
 our mercy! and we a croAvned king, sworn to do justice to 
 our subjects in the gate, and responsible for our steward- 
 ship to Him that is over all kings?" Here he reverently 
 looked up, touched his bonnet, and continued, with some 
 sharpness — " We dare not traffic in such commodities, sir; 
 and, but that ye are a poor ignorant creature, that have done 
 us this day some not unpleasant service, we wad have a red 
 iron driyen through your tongue, in terrorem of others. 
 Awa^ with him, Geordie; pay him, plack and bawbee, out of 
 our monies in your hands, and let them care that come 
 ahint." 
 
 Richie, who had counted with the utmost certainty upon 
 the success of this master-stroke of policy, was like an archi- 
 tect whose whole scaiiolding at once gives way under him. 
 He caught, however, at what he thought might break his 
 fall. " JSTot only the sum for which the jewels were pledged," 
 he saidj " but the double of it, if required, should be placed 
 at his Majesty's command, and even without hope or condition 
 
 of repayment, if only " 
 
 But the King did not allow him to complete the sentence, 
 crying out with greater vehemence than before, as if he 
 dreaded the stability of his own good resolutions — " A^va' 
 wi' him — swith awa' wi' him! It is time he were gane, if he 
 doubles his bode that gate. And, for your life, letna Steenie 
 or ony of them hear a word from his mouth ; for wha kens 
 what trouble that might bring me into! Ne inducas in 
 tentationem. Vade retro, Salltanas ! Amen." 
 
 In obedience to the royal mandate, George Ileriot hurried 
 the abashed petitioner out of the presence and out of the pal 
 ace; and, when they were in the pnlace-yard. the citizen, re- 
 membering with some resentment the airs of equality which 
 
880 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Eichie had assumed towards him in the commencement of 
 the scene which had just taken place, could not forbear to 
 retaliate, by congratulating him with an ironical smile on his 
 favor at court, and his improved grace in presenting a sup- 
 plication. 
 
 " Never fash your beard about that. Master George Her- 
 iot," said Richie, totally undismayed; " but tell me when 
 and where I am to sifflicate you for eight hundred pounds 
 sterliiig, for which these jewels stood engaged?'" 
 
 " The instant that you bring with you the real owner of 
 the money," replied Heriot; " whom it is important that I 
 should see on more accounts than one." 
 
 " Then will I back to his Majesty," said Richie Moniplies, 
 stoutly, "and get either the money or the pledge back again. 
 I am fully commissionate to act in that matter." 
 
 "It may be so, Richie," said the citizen, "and perchance 
 it may not be so neither, for your tales are not all gospel; 
 and, therefore, be assured I will see that it is so ere I pay you 
 that large sum of money. I shall give you an acknowledg- 
 ment for it, and I will keep it prestable at a moment's warn- 
 ing. But, my good Richard Moniplies of Castle Collop, near 
 the West Port of Edinburgh, in the mean time I am bound to 
 return to his Majesty on matters of weight." So speaking, 
 and mounting the stair to re-enter the palace, he added, by 
 way of summing up the whole — " George Heriot is over old 
 a cock to be caught with chaff." 
 
 Richie stood petrified when he beheld him re-enter the 
 palace, and found himself, as he supposed, left in the lurch. 
 " Now, plague on ye," he muttered, "for a cunning auld 
 skinflint! that, because ye are an honest man yoursell, for- 
 sooth, must needs deal with all the world as if they were 
 knaves. But deil be in me if ye beat me yet! Gude guide 
 ns! yonder comes Laurie Linklater next, and he will be on 
 me about the sifflication. I winna stand him, by St. 
 Andrew!" 
 
 So saying, and changing the haughty stride with which 
 he had that morning entered the precincts of the palace into 
 a skulking shamble, he retreated for his wherry, which was 
 in attendance, with speed which, to use the approved phrase 
 on such occasions, greatly resembled a flight. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 Benedict. This looks not like a nuptial. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 Master George Heriot had no sooner retnrned to the 
 King's apartment than James inquired of Maxwell if the Earl 
 of Huntinglen was in attendance, and, receiving an answer in 
 the afhrmative, desired that he should be admitted. The old 
 Scottish lord having made his reverence in the usual manner, 
 the King extended his hand to be kissed, and then began to 
 address him in a tone of great sympathy. 
 
 " We told your lordship in our secret epistle of this morn- 
 ing, written with our ain hand, in testimony we have neither 
 pretermitted nor forgotten your faithful service, that we had 
 that to communicate'to yon that would require both patience 
 and fortitude to endure, and therefore exhorted you to peruse 
 some of the most pithy passages of Seneca, and of Boethius, 
 De Consolatione, that the back may be, as we say, fitted for 
 the burden. This we commend to you from our ain experi- 
 ence. 
 
 " • Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco,' 
 
 sayeth Dido, and I might say in my own person, non ignarus; 
 tut to change the gender would affect the prosody, whereof 
 our southern subjects are tenacious. So, my lord of Hunting- 
 len, I trust you have acted by our advice, and studied pa- 
 tience before ye need it. Venienti occurrite morlo: mix the 
 medicament when the disease is coming on."' 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," answered Lord Huntinglen, 
 " I am more of an old soldier than a scholar; and if my own 
 rough nature will not bear me out in my calamity, I hope I 
 shall have grace to try a text of Scripture to boot." 
 
 *'Ay, man, are you there with your bears? "said the 
 King ; '' the Bible, man [touching his cap], is indeed ;)ri/^n>- 
 ium et fons ; but it is pity your lordship cannot peruse it m 
 the original. For although we did ourselves promote that 
 work of translation— since ye may read, at the beginning of 
 ?very Bible, that, when some palpable clouds of darkness 
 were thought like to have overshadowed the land, after the 
 setting of that bright occidental star. Queen Elizabeth; yet 
 
883 WAVEELEY NOVELS 
 
 our appearance, like that of the sun in his strength, instantly 
 dispelled these surmised mists — I say that, although, as 
 therein mentioned, we countenanced the preaching of the 
 Gospel, and especially the translation of the Scriptures out 
 of the original sacred tongues; yet, nevertheless, we our- 
 selves confess to have found a comfort in consulting them in 
 the original Hehrew whilk we do not perceive even in the 
 Latin version of the Septuagint, much less in the Engiisb 
 traduction." 
 
 " Please your Majesty," said Lord Huntingleri, " if youi 
 Majesty delays communicating the bad news \utli which 
 your honored letter threatens me until I am capable to read 
 Hebrew like your Majesty, I fear I shall die in ignorance of 
 the misfortune which hath befallen, or is about to befaU, my 
 house." 
 
 "You will learn it but too soon, my lord," replied tliv" 
 King. " I grieve to say it, but your son Dalgarno, whom 1 
 thought a very saint, as he was so much with Steenie an^ 
 Baby Charles, hath turned out a very villain. " 
 
 ''Villain!" repeated Lord Huntinglen; and though he 
 instantly checked himself, and added, "but it is your 
 Majesty speaks the word," the effect of his first tone made 
 the King step back as if he had received a blow. He alsc? 
 recovered himself again, and said in the pettish way which 
 usually indicated his displeasure — " Yes, my lord, it was we 
 that said it. JVon surdo ca7iis: we are not deaf, we pray you 
 not to raise your voice in speech with us. There is the 
 bonny memorial; read and judge for yourself." 
 
 The King then thrust into the old nobleman's hand a 
 paper, containing the story of the Lady Hermione, with the 
 evidence by which it was supported, detailed so briefly and 
 clearly that the infamy of Lord Dalgarno, the lover by whom 
 she had been so shamefully deceived, seemed undeniable. 
 
 But a fatlier yields not up so easily the cause of his son. 
 " May it please your Majesty," he said, " why was this tale not 
 sooner told? This woman hath been here for years; where- 
 fore was the claim on my sou not made the instant she 
 touched English ground?" 
 
 " Tell liim how that came about, Geordie,'* said the King, 
 addressing Heriot. 
 
 " I grieve to distress my Lord Huntinglen," said Heriot; 
 " but I must speak the truth. For a long time the Lady 
 Hermione could not brook the idea of making her situation 
 public; and when her mind became changed in that partic- 
 ular, it was necessary to recover the evidence of the false 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 883 
 
 marriage, and letters and papers connected with it, which, 
 when she came to Paris, and just before 1 saw her, slie had 
 deposited with a correspondent of her father in that city. Hs 
 became afterwards bankrui)t, and in consequence of that mis- 
 fortune the hidj^'s papers passed into other hands, and it was 
 only a few days since I traced and recovered them. Without 
 these documents of evidence, it would have been imprudent 
 for her to have preferred her complaint, favored as Lord 
 Dalgarno is by powerful friends." 
 
 " Ye are saucy to say sae," said the King; " I ken what ye 
 mean weel eneugh: ye think Steenie wad hae putten the 
 weight of his foot into the scales of justice, and garr'd tliem 
 whomle the bucket; ye forget, Geordie, wha it is whose hand 
 uphaulds them. And ye do poor Steenie the mair wrang, for 
 he confessed at ance before us and our privy council that Dal- 
 garno would have put the queen aff on him, the puir simple 
 bairn, making him trow that she was a light o' love; in whilk 
 mind he remained assured even when he parted from her, 
 albeit Steenie might hae weel thought ane of thae cattle 
 wadna hae resisted the like of him." 
 
 " The Lady Hermione," said George Heriot, " has always 
 done the utmost justice to the conduct of the Duke, who, 
 although strongly possessed with prejudice against her char- 
 acter, yet scorned to avail himself of her distress, and on the 
 contrary supplied her with the means of extricating herself 
 from her difficulties." 
 
 ''It was e'en like himsell — blessings on his bonny face!" 
 said the King; "and I believed tiiis lady's tale the mair 
 readily, my Lord Huntinglen, that she spake nae ill of 
 Steenie; and to make a lang tale short, my lord, it is the 
 opinion of our council and ourself , as weel as of Baby Charles 
 and Steenie, that your son maun amend his wrong by wed- 
 ding this lady, or undergo such disgrace and countenance as 
 we can bestow." 
 
 The person to whom he spoke was incapable of answering 
 him. He stood before the King motionless, and glaring with 
 eyes of which even the lids seemed immovable, as if suddenly 
 sonverted into an ancient statue of the times of chivalry, so 
 instantly had his hard features and strong limbs been arrested 
 into rigidity by the blow he had received. And in a second 
 afterwards, like the same statue Avheu the lightning breaks 
 ujion it, he sank at once to the ground with a heavy groan. 
 
 The King Avas in the utmost alarm, called upon Ileriot and 
 Maxwell for help, and, ])resence of mind not being his forte, 
 ran to and fro in his cabinet, exclaiming — " My ancient and 
 
884 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 beloved servant — who saved our anointed self! Vae atqut 
 dolor! My Lord of lluntinglen, look up — look up, man, and 
 your son may marry the Queen of Slieba if he will/'' 
 
 By this time Maxwell and Heriot had raised the old noble- 
 man and placed him on a chair; while the King, observing that 
 he began to recover himself, continued his consolations more 
 methodically. 
 
 " Hand up your head — ^haud up your head, and listen to 
 your ain kind native prince. If there is shame, man, it 
 comesna empty-handed: there is siller to gild it^a gude 
 tocher, and no that bad a pedigree; if she has been a loon, it 
 was your son made her sae, and he can make her an honest 
 woman again." 
 
 These suggestions, however reasonable in the common case, 
 gave no comfort to Lord Huntinglen, if indeed he fully com- 
 prehended them; biit the blubbering of his good-natured old 
 master, which began to accompany and interrupt his royal 
 speech, produced more rapid effect. The large tear gushed 
 reluctantly from his eye, as he kissed the withered hands, 
 which the King, weeping with less dignity and restraint, 
 abandoned to him, first alternately and then both together, 
 until the feelings of the man getting entirely the better of 
 the sovereign's sense of dignity, he grasped and shook Lord 
 Huntinglen's hands Avith the sympathy of an equal and 
 a familiar friend. 
 
 " Compone lachrymas," said the monarch — " be patient, 
 man — be patient. The council, and Baby Charles, and 
 Steenie may a' gang to the deevil; he shall not marry her since 
 it moves you so deeply." 
 
 ''He SHALL marry her, by God!" answered the earl, 
 drawing himself up, dashing the tears from his eyes, and en- 
 deavoring to recover his con>posure. " I pray your Majesty's 
 pardon, but he shall marry her, with her dishonor for her 
 dowry, were she tlie veriest courtesan in all Spain. If he 
 gave his word, he shall make his word good, were it to the 
 meanest creature that haunts the streets; he shall do it, or my 
 own dagger shall take the life that I gave him. If he could 
 stoop to use so base a fraud, though to deceive infamy, let 
 him wed infamy," 
 
 "No — no!" the monarch continued to insinuate, "things 
 are not so bad as that: Steenie himself never thought of her 
 being a street-Avalker, even when he thought the worst of her.'" 
 
 " If it can at all console my Lord of Huntinglen,'' said the 
 citizen, "I can assure him of this lady's good birth and 
 most fair and unspotted fame." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 385 
 
 "I am sorry for it," said Huntiugleu; then interrupting 
 himself, he said—'' Heaven forgive me for being ungrateful 
 for such comfort! but 1 am well-nigh sorry she should be as 
 you represent her — so much better than the villain deserves. 
 To be condemned to wed beauty and innocence and honest 
 birth " 
 
 " A.y, and wealth, my lord— wealth," insinuated the 
 King—" is a better sentence than his perfidy has deserved." 
 
 " It is long/' said the embittered father, " since I saw he 
 was selfish and hard-hearted; but to be a perjured liar— I 
 never dreaded that such a blot would have fallen on my race! 
 I will never look on him again/' 
 
 •• Hoot ay, my lord— hoot ay," said the King; "ye maun 
 tak him to task roundly. I grant you should speak more in 
 the vein of Demea than Mitio, vi nempe et via pervulrjuta 
 patniinj but as for not seeing him again, and he your only 
 son, that is altogether out of reason. I tell ye, man— but I 
 would not for a boddle that Baby Charles heard me — that lie 
 might gie the glaiks to half tlie lasses of Lonnun, ere I could 
 find in my heart to speak such harsh words as you have said 
 of this deil of a Dalgarno of yours." 
 
 "May it please your Majesty to permit me to retire," 
 said Lord Hiintingleu, " and dispose of the case according to 
 your own royal sense of justice, for I desire no favor for 
 him." 
 
 '•' Aweel, my lord, so be it ; and if your lordship can think," 
 added the monarch, " of anything in our power which might 
 comfort you " 
 
 "Your Majesty's gracious sympathy," said Lord Hunt- 
 inglen, "has already comforted me as far as earth can; the 
 rest must be be from the King of kings." 
 
 " To Him I commend you, my auld and faithful servant," 
 said James with emotion, as the earl withdrew from his pres- 
 ence. The King remained fixed in thought for some time, 
 and then said to^Heriot, " Jingling Geordie, ye ken all the 
 privy doings of our court and have dune so these thirty years, 
 though, like a wise man, ye hear, and see, and say nothing. 
 Xow, there is a thing I fain wad ken, in the way of philosoph- 
 ical inquiry: Did you ever hear of tlie umquhile Lady Hunt- 
 iugleu, the departed countess of this noble earl, ganging a 
 wee bii" gleed in her walk through the world; I mean in the 
 way of slipping a foot, casting a leglin-girth* or the like, ye 
 understand me ?" 
 
 " On my word as an honest man," said George Heriot 
 
 ♦ See Not© 41. 
 28 
 
3«6 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 somewhat surprised at the question, " 1 never heard hei 
 wronged by the slightest breatli of sus})icion. She was a 
 worthy lady, very circumspect in her walk, and lived in great- 
 concord with her husband, save that the good countess was 
 something of a Puritan, and kept more company with minis- 
 ters than was altogether agreeable to Lord Huntinglen, who 
 is, as your Majesty well knows, a man of the old rough world, 
 that will drink and swear." 
 
 " Geordiel" exclaimed the King, ''these are auld-warld 
 frailties, of wliilk we dare not pronounce even ourselves abso- 
 lutely free. But the warld grows worse from day to day, 
 Geordie. The juveniles of this age may weel say with the 
 poet — 
 
 " ' ^tas parentum, pejor avis, tulit 
 Nos nequiores ' 
 
 This Dalgarno dos not drink so much or swear so much as 
 his father; but he wenches, Geordie, and he breaks his word 
 and oath baith. As to what you say of the leddy and the 
 ministers, we are a' fallible creatures, Geordie, priests and 
 kings, as weel as others; and Avlia kens but what that may 
 account for the difference between this Dalgarno and his father ? 
 TJie earl is the vera soul of honor, and cares nae mair for 
 v.'arld's gear than a noble hound for the quest of a foulmart: 
 but as for his son, he was like to brazen us a' out — ourselves, 
 Steenie, Baby Charles, and our council — till he heard of the 
 tocher, and then, by my kingly crown, he lap like a cock at a 
 grossart! These are disrepancies betwixt parent and son not 
 to be accounted for naturally, according to Baptista Porta, 
 Michael Scott, De secretis, and others. Ah, Jingling Geordie, 
 if your clouting the caldron, and jingling on pots, pans, and 
 veshels of all manner of metal, hadna jingled a' your grammar 
 out of your head, I could have touched on that matter to you 
 at mair length.'' 
 
 Heriot was too plain-spoken to express much concern for 
 the loss of his grammar learning on this occasion; but after 
 modestly hinting that he liad seen many men who could not 
 fill their father's bonnet, though no one had been suspected of 
 wearing their fathers night-cap. he inquired " whether Loid 
 Dalgarno had consented to do the Lady Hermione justice." 
 
 " Troth, man, I have small doubt that he will/' quoth the 
 King. " I gave him the schedule of her w^orldiy substance, 
 which you delivered to us in the council, and we allowed him 
 half an hour to chew the cud upon that. It is rare reading 
 for bringing him to reason. I left Baby Charles and Steenie 
 laying his duty before him; and if he cnn resist doing what 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 887 
 
 they desire him — why, I wish he would teach me the gate of it. 
 Geordie — Jingling Geordie, it was grand to hear Bab} 
 tJharles laying down the guilt of dissimulation, and Steenie 
 lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence! '' 
 
 *' I am afraid," said George Heriot, more hastily than pru- 
 dently, " I might have thought of the old proverb of Satan le- 
 ju'oving sin." 
 
 "Deil hae our saul, neighbor," said the King, reddening, 
 " but ye are not blate! I gie ye license to speak freely, and, 
 by our saul, ye do not let tha privilege become lost 7ion 
 iitendo; it will suffer no negative prescription in your hands. 
 Is it fit, think ye, that Baby Charles should let his thoughts 
 be jjublicly seen.'' No — no, princes' thoughts are arcana 
 imperii. Qui nescit dissimidare nescit regnare. Every liege 
 subject is bound to speak the whole truth to the king, but 
 there is nae reciprocity of obligation. And for Steenie hav- 
 ing been whiles a dike-louper at a time, is it for you, who 
 are his goldsmith, and to Avhom, I doubt, he awes an un- 
 comeatable sum, to cast that up to him?" 
 
 Heriot did not feel himself called on to play the part of 
 Zeno, and sacrifice himself for upholding the cause of moral 
 truth; he did not desert it, however, by disavowing his 
 words, but simply expressed sorrow for having offended his 
 Majesty, with which the placable king was sufficiently satis- 
 fied. 
 
 "And now, Geordie, man," quoth he, "we will to this 
 culprit, and hear what he has to say for himself, for I will 
 see the job cleared this blessed day. Ye maun come wi' 
 me, for your evidence may be wanted." 
 
 The King led the way. accordingly, into a larger apart- 
 ment, where the Prince, the Duke of Buckingham, and one 
 or two privy councillors were seated at a table, before which 
 stood Lord Dalgarno, in an attitude of as much elegant ease 
 and indift'erence as could be expressed, considering the stiff 
 dress and manners of the times. 
 
 All rose and bowed reverently, while the King, to use a 
 north-country word expressive of his mode of locomotion, 
 " toddled" to his chair or throne, making a sign to Heriot 
 to stand behind him. 
 
 " We hope," said his Majesty, " that Lord Dalgarno 
 stands prepared to do justice to this unfortunate lady and to 
 his own character and honor?" 
 
 "May I humbly inquire the penalty," said Lord Dal- 
 garno, "in case I should unhappily find compliance wi^): 
 your Majes',j's demands impossible?" 
 
688 iVAVERLBY NOVELS 
 
 " Banisliment frae our court, my lord," said the King — 
 ''frae our court and our countenance." 
 
 " Unhappy exile that I may be! " said Lord Dalgarno, in 
 a tone of subdued irony, ''I will at least carry your Majesty's 
 picture with me, for I shall never see such another king." 
 
 "And banishment, my lord," said the Prince, sternly, 
 •'from these our dominions." 
 
 " That must be by form of law, please your Royal Higli- 
 ness," said Dalgarno, with an affectation of deep respect; 
 "and I have not heard that there is a statute comj)elling us, 
 under such penalty, to marry every woman we may play the 
 fool with. Perhaps his Grace of Buckingham can tell me." 
 
 " You are a villain, Dalgarno," said the haughty and 
 vehement favorite. 
 
 " Fie, my lord — fie! to a prisoner, and in presence of your 
 royal and paternal gossij) 1 " said Lord Dalgarno. "But I 
 will cut this deliberation short. I have looked over this sched- 
 ule of the goods and effects of Errainia Pauletti, daughter of 
 the late noble — yes, he is called the noble, or I read wrong — 
 Giovanni Pauletti, of the house of Sansovino, in Genoa, and of 
 the no less noble Lady Maud Olifaunt, of the house of Glen- 
 varloch. Well, I declare that I was pre-contracted in Spain to 
 this noble lady, and there has passed betwixt us some certain 
 lircelihatio matrimonii; and now, what more does this grave 
 assembly require of me?" 
 
 "That you should repair the gross and infamous wrong 
 you have done the lady by marrying her within this hour," 
 said the Prince. 
 
 "0, may it please your Eoyal Highness," answered Dal- 
 garno, "' I have a trifling relationship with an old earl, who 
 calls himself my father, who may claim some vote in the mat- 
 ter. Alas 1 every son is not blessed with an obedient parent ! " 
 He hazarded a slight glance towards the throne, to give mean- 
 ing to his last Avords. 
 
 " We have spoken ourselves with Lord Huntinglen," said 
 the King, "'and are authorized to consent in his name." 
 
 "I could never have expected this intervention of a. prox- 
 eyieta, which tlie vulgar translate blackfoot, of such eminent 
 dignity," said Dalgarno, scarce concealing a sneer. "And 
 my father hath consented? He was wont to say, ere we left 
 Scotland, that the blood of Huntinglen and of Glenvarloch 
 would not mingle, Avere they poured into the same basin. 
 Perhaps he has a mind to try the experiment?" 
 
 " My lord," said James, " Ave Avill not be longer trifled 
 with Will you instantly, and sine mora, take this lady to 
 your Avif e in our chapel ? " 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 389 
 
 " Statim atque m^tanter," answered Lord Dalgarno; 
 " for I perceive by doing so I shall obtain power to render 
 great services to the commonwealth: I shall have acquired 
 wealth to supply the wants of your Majesty, and a fair wife 
 to be at the command of his Grace of Buckingham/' 
 
 The duke rose, passed to the end of the table where Lord 
 Dalgarno was standing, and whis2')ered in his ear, " You 
 have placed a fair sister at my command ere now." 
 
 This taunt cut deep through Lord Dalgarno's assumed 
 composure. He started as if an adder had stung him, but 
 instantly composed himself, and, fixing on the duke's still 
 smiling countenance an eye which spoke unutterable hatred, 
 he pointed the forefinger of his left hand to the hilt of his 
 sword, but in a manner which could scarce be observed by any 
 one save Buckingham. The duke gave him another smile 
 of bitter scorn, and returned to his seat, in obedience to the 
 commands of the King, who continued calling out, " Sit 
 down, Steenie — sit down, I command ye; we will hae nae 
 barns-breaking here." 
 
 " Your Majesty needs not fear my patience," said Lord 
 Dalgarno; ''and that I may keep it the better, I will not 
 utter another word in this presence, save those enjoined to 
 me in that happy portion of the Prayer Book which begins 
 with ' Dearly Beloved,' and ends with ' amazement.' " 
 
 "■ You are a hardened villain, Dalgarno," said the King; 
 "and were I the lass, by my father's saul, I would rather 
 brook the stain of having been your concubine than run the 
 risk of becoming your wife. But she shall be under our 
 special protection. Come, my lords, we will ourselves see 
 this blithesome bridal." He gave the signal by rising, and 
 moved towards the door, followed by the train. Lord Dal- 
 garno attended, speaking to none, and spoken to by no one, 
 yet seeming as easy and unembarrassed in his gait and manner 
 as if in reality a happy bridegroom. 
 
 They reached the chapel by a private entrance, which 
 communicated from the royal apartment. The Bishop of 
 Winchester, in his pontifical dress, stood beside the altar; on 
 the other side, supported by Monna Paula, the colorless, 
 faded, half-lifeless form of the Lady Hermione, or Erminia 
 Pauletti. Lord Dalgarno bowed profoundly to her, and the 
 Prince, observing tlie horror with which she regarded him^ 
 walked up and said to her, with much dignity, " Madam^ 
 ere you put yourself under the authority of this man, let me 
 inform you he liath in the fullest degree vindicated your 
 lionor, so far as concerns your former intercourse. It ia 
 
390 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 for joix to consider whether you will put your fortune and 
 liappiness into the liands of one who has shown himself un- 
 wortliy of all trust/' 
 
 The lady, with much difficulty, found words to make re- 
 ply. "I o\ye to his Majesty's goodness/' she said, ''the 
 care of providing me some reservation out of my own fortune 
 for my decent sustenance. The rest cannot be better dis- 
 posed than in buying back the fair fame of which I am de- 
 prived, and the liberty of ending my life in peace and 
 seclusion.'' 
 
 " The contract has been drawn up," said the King, " un- 
 der our own eye, specially discharging the potestas maritalis, 
 and agreeing they shall live separate. So buckle them, my 
 lord bishop, as fast as you can, that they may sunder again 
 the sooner." 
 
 The bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced 
 the marriage ceremony, under circumstances so novel and so 
 inauspicious. The responses of the bride were only expressed 
 by inclinations of the head and body; while those of the 
 bridegroom were spoken boldly and distinctly, with a tone 
 resembling levity, if not scorn. When it was concluded, 
 Lord Dalgarno advanced as if to salute the bride, but seeing 
 that she drew back in fear and abhorrence, he contented 
 himself with making her a low bow. He then drew up his 
 form to its height, and stretched himself as if examining the 
 power of his limbs, but elegantly, and without any forcible 
 change of attitude. " I could caper yet," he said, " though 
 I am in fetters; but they are of gold, and lightly worn. 
 Well, I see all eyes look cold on me, and it is time I should 
 withdraw. The sun shines elsewhere than in England! But 
 first I must ask how this fair Lady Dalgarno is to be be- 
 stowed. Methinks it is but decent I should know. ' Is she 
 to be sent to the harem of my lord duke? Or is this worthy 
 citizen, as before " 
 
 ''Hold thy base ribald tongue! "said his father. Lord 
 Huntinglen, who had kept in the background during the 
 ceremony, and now stepping suddenly forward, caught the 
 lady by the arm, and confronted her unworthy husband. 
 " The Lady Dalgarno," he continued, " shall remain as a 
 widow in my house. A widow I esteem her, as much as if 
 the grave had closed over her dishonored husband." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno exhibited momentary symptoms of extreme 
 
 confusion, and said, in a submissive tone, " If you, my lord, 
 
 can wish me dead, I cannot, though your heir, return the 
 
 mpliment. Few of the first-born of Israel," he added. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL S91 
 
 recovering himself from the single touch of emotion he had 
 displayed, " can say so much with truth. But I will con- 
 vince you ere I go that I am a true descendant of a house 
 famed for its memory of injuries/' 
 
 "I marvel your Majesty will listen to him longer/' said 
 Prince Ciiarles. " Methinks we have heard enough of his 
 daring insolence." 
 
 But James, who took the interest of a true gossip in such 
 a scene as was now passing, could not bear to cut the con- 
 troversy short, but imposed silence on his son with, " Whisht, 
 Baby Charles — there is a good bairn, whisht ! I want to hear 
 what the frontless loon can say." 
 
 " Only, sir," said Dalgarno, " that but for one single 
 line in this schedule, all else that it contains could not have 
 bribed me to take that woman's hand into mine." 
 
 " That line maun have been the summa totalis," said the 
 King. 
 
 " Not so, sire," replied Dalgarno. " The sum total 
 might indeed have been an object for consideration even to a 
 Scottish king, at no very distant period; but it would have 
 had little charms for me, save that I see here an entry which 
 gives me the power of vengeance over the family of Glenvar- 
 loch; and learn rrom it that yonder pale bride, when she put 
 the wedding-torch into my hand, gave me the power of burn- 
 ing her mother's house to ashes!" 
 
 '*' How is that?" said the King. "What is he speaking 
 about. Jingling Geordie?" 
 
 " This friendly citizen, my liege," said Lord Dalgarno, 
 "hath expended a sum belonging to my lady, and now, I 
 thank Heaven, to me, in acquiring a certain mortgage, or 
 wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, which, if it be not 
 redeemed before to-morrow at noon, will put me in possession 
 of tlie fair demesnes of those who once called themselves our 
 h(»nse's rivals." 
 
 " Can this be true?'"' said the King. 
 
 " It is even but too true, please your Majesty," answered 
 the citizen. " The Lady Hermione having advanced the 
 money for the original creditor, I was obliged, in honor and 
 honesty, to take the rights to her; and, doubtless, they pass 
 to her husband." 
 
 ''But the warrant, man," said tlie King — ''the warrant 
 on our exchequer. Couldna that supply the lad wi' the means 
 of redemption?" 
 
 " Unliappily, my liege, he has lost it, or disposed of it. 
 It is not to be found. He is the most unlucky youth! " 
 
393 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 "'This is a proper spot of work!" said the King, beffin- 
 ning to ambic about and phiy with tlie points of his doublet 
 and hose, in expression of dismay. " We cannot aid him 
 without paying our debts twice over, and we have, in tlie 
 present state of our exchequer, scarce the means of paying 
 them once." 
 
 "You have told me news," said Lord Dalgarno, "but I 
 ■will take no advantage." 
 
 " Do not," said his father. " Be a bold villain, since 
 thou must be one, and seek revenge with arms, and not with 
 the usurer's weapons." 
 
 "Pardon me, my lord," said Lord Dalgarno. " Pen and 
 ink are now my surest means of vengeance; and more land 
 is won by the lawyer with the ram-skin than by the Andrea 
 Ferrara with his sheep's-head handle. But, as I said before, 
 I will take no advantage. I will await in town to-morrow, 
 near Covent Garden; if any one will pay the redemption- 
 money to my scrivener, with whom the deeds lie, the better 
 for Lord Glenvarloch; if not, I will go forward on the next 
 day, and travel with all dispatch to the North, to take pos- 
 session." 
 
 "Take a father's malison with you, unhappy wretch ! " 
 said Lord Huntinglen. 
 
 "And a King's, who l&^jafer ]Jcttri(B," said James. 
 
 "I trust to bear both lightly," said Lord Dalgarno, and 
 bowing around him, he withdrew; while all present, op- 
 pressed, and, as it Avere, overawed, by his determined effront- 
 ery, found they could draw breath more freely when he at 
 length relieved them of his society. Lord Huntinglen, apply- 
 ing himself to comfort his new daughter-in-law, withdrew 
 with her also; and the King, with his privy council, whom 
 he had not dismissed, again returned to his council-chamber, 
 though the hour was unusually late. Heriot's attendan^'-e 
 was still commanded, but for what reason was not expUin*>d 
 to him. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 I'll play the eavesdropper. 
 
 Richard III. Act V. Scene 8. 
 
 James had no sooner resumed his seat at the council-board 
 than he began to hitch in his cliair, cough, use his handker- 
 chief, and make other intimations that he meditated a long 
 speech. The council composed themselves to the beseeming 
 degree of attention. Charles, as strict in his notions of 
 decorum as his father was indifferent to it, fixed himself in 
 an attitude of rigid and respectful attention, while the 
 haughty favorite, conscious of his power over both father and 
 son, stretched himself more easily on his seat, and, in assum- 
 ing an appearance of listening, seemed to pay a debt to 
 ceremonial rather than to duty. 
 
 '• I doubt not, my lords," said the monarch, " that some 
 of you may be thinking the hour of refection is past, and that 
 it is time to ask with the slave in the comedy — Quid de 
 symholo? Nevertheless, to do justice and exercise judgment 
 is our meat and drink; and now we are to pray your wisdom 
 to consider the case of this unhappy youth. Lord Glenvarloch, 
 and see whether, consistently with our honor, anything can 
 be done in his favor." 
 
 " I am surprised at your Majesty's wisdom making the 
 inquiry," said the duke; "it is plain this Dalgarno hath 
 proved one of the most insolent villains on earth, and it must 
 therefore be clear that, if Lord Glenvarloch had run him 
 through the body, there would but have been out of the 
 world a knave who had lived in it too long. I think Lord 
 Glenvarloch hath had much wrong; and I regret that, by the 
 persuasions of this false fellow, I have mvself had some hand 
 in it." 
 
 "Ye speak like a child. Steenie — I mean my Lord of 
 Buckingham," answered the King, " and as one that does not 
 understand the logic of the schools; for an action may be 
 inconsequential or even meritorious quoad hominem, that is, 
 as touching him upon wlinm it is acted; and yet most crim- 
 inal quoad locum, or considering the place wherein it is done, . 
 as a man may lawfully dance Chrighty Beardie or any other 
 dance in a tavern, but not inter parietes ecclesicBj so that. 
 
394 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 though it may have been a good deed to have sticked Lord 
 Dalgarno, being such as he has shown himself, anywhere else, 
 yet it fell under the plain statute when violence was offered 
 within the verge of the court. For, let me tell you, my lords, 
 the statute against striking would be of small use in our 
 court, if it could be eluded by justifying the person stricken 
 to be a knave. It is much to be lamented that I ken nae 
 court in Christendom where knaves are not to be found; and 
 if men are to break the peace under pretence of beating them, 
 why, it Avill rain Jeddart staves* in our very antechamber." 
 
 "What your Majesty says," replied Prince Charles, "is 
 marked with your usual wisdom; the precincts of palaces 
 must be sacred as well as the persons of kings, which are 
 respected even in the most barbarous nations, as being one 
 step only beneath their divinities. But your Majesty's will 
 can control the severity of this and every other law, and it is 
 in your power, on consideration of his case, to grant this 
 rash young man a free pardon." 
 
 " Rem acu tetigisti, Carole, mi pueruU," answered the 
 King; "and know, my lords, that we have, by a shrewd de- 
 vice and gift of our own, already sounded the very dejith of 
 this Lord Glenvarloch's disposition. I trow there be among 
 you some that remember my handling in the curious case of 
 my Lady Lake,f and how I trimmed them about the story 
 of barkening behind the arras. Now this put me to cogita- 
 tion, and I remembered me of having read that Dionysius, 
 King of Syracuse, whom historians call xupavvo'^^ which signi- 
 fieth not in the Greek tongue, as in ours, a truculent usurper, 
 but a royal king who governs, it may be, something moro 
 strictly than we and other lawful monarchs, whom the an- 
 cients termed ^aatlziQ. Now this Dionysius of Syracuse 
 caused cunning workmen to build for himself a ' lu gg.^ D'ye 
 ken what that is, my lord bishop ? " 
 
 " A cathedral, I presume to guess," answered the bishop. 
 
 " What the deil, man — I crave your lordship's pardon for 
 swearing — but it was no cathedral, only a lurking-place called 
 the king's ' lugg,^ or ' ear,' where he could sit undescried and 
 hear the converse of his prisoners. Now, sirs, in imitation 
 of this Dionysius, whom I took for my pattern, the rather 
 that he was a great linguist and grammarian, and taught a 
 school with good applause after his abdication — either he or 
 his successor of the same name; it matters not whilk — I have 
 caused them to make a ' lugg ' up at the state prison of the 
 
 ♦The old-fashioned weapon called the Jeddart staff was a species of battle-axe. 
 Of a very great tempest, it is said, in the south of Soctland, that it rains Jeddart 
 staffs, as in Eugland the common people talk of its raining cats and dogs. 
 
 •^ °-- Note 42. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 395 
 
 Tower 3'on(ier — more like a pulpit than a cathedral, my lord 
 bishop — and communicating with the arras beliind the lieu- 
 tenant's chamber, where he may sit and privily hear the dis- 
 course of such prisoners as are pent up there for state 
 offences, and so creep into the very secrets of our enemies." 
 
 Tiie Prince cast a glance towards the Duke, expressive of 
 great vexation and disgust. Buckingham shrugged his shoul- 
 ders, but the motion was so slight as to be almost impercep- 
 tible. 
 
 "■ Weel, my lords, ye ken the fray at the hunting this 
 morning — I shall not get out of the trembling exies until I 
 have a sound night's sleep — just after that, tney bring ye in 
 a pretty page that had been found in the Park. We were 
 warned against examining him ourselves by the anxious care 
 of tliose around us; nevertheless, holding our life ever at the 
 service of these kingdoms, Ave commanded all to avoid the 
 room, the rather that we suspected this boy to be a girl. 
 What think ye, my lords? Few of you would have thought 
 I had a hawk's eye for sic gear; but we thank God that, 
 though we are old, we know so much of such toys as may be- 
 seem a man of decent gravity, Weel, my lords, we ques- 
 tioned this maiden in male attire ourselves, and I profess it 
 was a very pretty interrogatory, and well followed. For, 
 though she at first professed that she assumed this disguise in 
 order to countenance the woman who should present us with 
 the Lady Hermione's petition, for whom she professed entire 
 affection; yet when we, suspecting angnis in lierha, did put 
 her to the very question, she was compelled to own a virtuous 
 attachment for Glenvarlochides, in such a pretty passion of 
 shame and fear, that we had much ado to keep our own eyes 
 from keeping company with hers in weeping. Also, she laid 
 before us the false practices of this Dalgarno towards Glen- 
 varlochides, inveigling him into houses of ill resort, and giv- 
 ing him evil counsel under pretext of sincere friendship, 
 whereby the inexperienced lad was led to do what was preju- 
 dicial to himself and offensive to us. But, however prettily 
 she told her tale, we determined not altogether to trust to her 
 narration, but rather to try the experiment whilk we had de- 
 vised for such occasions. And having ourselves speedily 
 passed from Greenwich to the Tower, we constituted ourselves 
 eavesdropper, as it is called, to observe what should pass be- 
 tween Glenvarlochides and this page, whom we caused to be 
 admitted to his apartment, well judging that if they were of 
 counsel together to deceive us, it could not be but something 
 of it would spunk out. And wh?"- think ye we saw, my lords? 
 
396 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 Nae thing for you to sniggle and laugh at, Steenie; for I ques- 
 tion if you could have j)layed the temperate and Christian- 
 like part of this poor lad Glenvarloch. He might be a father 
 of the church in comparison of you, man. And then, to try 
 his patience yet farther, we loosed on him a courtier and a 
 citizen, that is. Sir Mungo Malagrowther and our servant 
 George Heriot here, wha dang the poor lad about, and didna 
 greatly spare our royal selves. You mind, Geordie, what you 
 said about tlie wives and concubines? but I forgie ye, man — 
 nae need of kneeling, I forgie ye~the readier that it regards 
 a certain particular whilk, as it aided not much to Solo- 
 mon's credit, the lack of it cannot be said to impinge on 
 ours. Aweel, my lords, for all temptation of sore distress 
 and evil ensample, this poor lad never loosed his tongue on 
 us to say one unbecoming word; which inclines us the rather, 
 acting always by your wise advice, to treat this affair of the 
 Park as a thing done in the heat of blood, and under strong 
 provocation, and therefore to confer our free pardon on Lord 
 Glenvarloch." 
 
 " I am happy your gracious Majesty," said the Duke of 
 Buckingham, " has arrived at that conclusion, though I 
 could never have guessed at the road by which you attained 
 it." 
 
 " I trust," said Prince Charles, " that it is not a path 
 which your Majesty will think it consistent with your high 
 dignity to tread frequently." 
 
 " Kever while I live again, Baby Charles, that I give you 
 my royal word on. They say that hearkeners hear ill tales of 
 themselves: by my saul, my very ears are tingling wi' that 
 auld sorrow Sir Mungo's sarcasms. He called us close-fisted, 
 Steenie; I am sure you can contradict that. But it is mere 
 envy in the auld mutilated sinner, because he himself has 
 neither a noble to hold in his loof nor fingers to close on it if 
 he had." Here the King lost recollection of Sir Mungo's 
 irreverence in chuckling over his own Avit, and only farther 
 alluded to it by saying — " We must give the old maunderer has 
 in linguam — something to stop his mouth, or he will rail at 
 us from Dan to Beersheba. And now, my lords, let our 
 warrant of mercy to Lord Glenvarloch be presently expedited, 
 and he put to his freedom; and as his estate is likely to go so 
 sleeveless a gate, we will consider what means of favor we can 
 show him. My lords, I wish you an appetite to an early sup- 
 per; for our labors have approached that term. Baby 
 Charles and Steenie, you will remain till our couchee. My 
 lord bishop, you will be pleased to stay to bless our meat. 
 Geordie Heriot, a word with you apart." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGFL 3S7 
 
 His Majesty then dreAv tlie citizen into a corner, while the 
 councillors, those excepted who had been commanded to 
 remain, made their obeisance and withdrew. " Geordie," 
 said the King, "my good and trusty servant [here he busied 
 his fingers much with the points and ribbons of his dress], 
 ye see that we have granted, from our own ixatural sense of 
 right and justice, that which yon long-backed fallow — Mon- 
 iplies, I think they ca' him — proffered to purchase from us 
 with a mighty bribe; whilk we refused as being a crowned 
 king, who wad neither sell our justice nor our mercy for 
 pecuniar consideration. Kow, what think ye should be the 
 upshot of this.^" 
 
 •' My Lord Glenvarloch's freedom, and his restoration to 
 your Majesty's favor," said Heriot. 
 
 " I ken that," said the King, peevishly. "Yf^. are very 
 dull to-day. I mean, what do you think thir fall nv Moni- 
 plies should think about the matter?" 
 
 " Surely that your Majesty is a most good and gracious 
 sovereign," answered Heriot. 
 
 " We had need to be gude and gracious baith,' said the 
 King, still more pettishly, "' that have idiots about us that 
 cannot understand what we mint at, unless we speab it out 
 in braid Lowlands. See this chield Moniplies, sir, and tell 
 him what we have done for Lord Glenvarloch, in whom he 
 takes such part, out of our own gracious motion, though we 
 refused to do it on ony proffer of private advantage. ISTow, 
 you may put it till him, as if of your own mind, whether it 
 will be a gracious or a dutiful part in him to press us for 
 present payment of the two or three hundred miserable 
 pounds for whilk we were obliged to opignorate our jeAvels: 
 Indeed, mony men may think ye wad do the part of a good 
 citizen if you took it on yourself to refuse him payment see- 
 ing he hath had what he professed to esteem full satisfaction, 
 and considering, moreover, that it is evident he hath no 
 pressing need of the monev, whereof we have much neces- 
 sity." 
 
 George Heriot sighed internally. " my master," 
 thought he — ''my dear master, is it then fated you are never 
 to indulge any kingly or noble sentiment without its being 
 sullied by some afterthought of interested selfishness! " 
 
 The King troubled himself not about what he thought, 
 but, taking him by the collar, said, " Ye ken my meaning 
 now, Jingler; awa'wi'ye. You are a wise man; manage it 
 your ain gate, but forget not our present straits." 
 
 The citizen made his obeisance and withdrew. 
 
m WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 *' And now, bairns," said the King, " what do you look 
 upon each other for; and what have you got to ask of your 
 dear dad and gossip ? " 
 
 " Only," said the Prince, " that it would please your 
 Majesty to connnand the lurking-place at the prison to be 
 presently built up; the groans of a captive should not be 
 brought in evidence against him." 
 
 " What! build up my lugg. Baby Charles? And yet, 
 better deaf than hear ill tales of one's self. So let them build 
 it up, hard and fast, without delay, the rather that my back 
 is sair with sitting in it for a whole hour. And now let us 
 see what the cooks have been doing for us, bonny bairns." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 To this brave man the knight repairs 
 For counsel in his law affairs; 
 And found him mounted in his pew, 
 With books and money placed for show, 
 Like nest-eggs to make clients lay, 
 And for his false opinion pay. 
 
 Hudtbraa, 
 
 Our readers may recollect a certain smooth-tongued, lank- 
 haired, buckram-suited, Scottish scrivener, who, in the fifth 
 chapter of this history, appeared in the character of a pi'otege 
 of George Heriot. It is to liis house we are about to remove; 
 but times have changed with him. The petty booth hath 
 become a chamber of importance; the buckram suit is changed 
 into black velvet; and although the wearer retains his 
 Puritanical humility and politeness to clients of consequence, 
 he can now look others broad in the face, and treat them 
 with a full allowance of superior opulence, and the insolence 
 arising from it. It was but a short period that had achieved 
 these alterations, nor was tlie party himself as yet entirely 
 accustomed to them, but the change was becoming less em- 
 barr issing to him ^vitll every day's practice. Among other 
 acquisitions of wealth, you may see one of Davie Eamsay's 
 best timepieces on the table, and his eye is frequently observ- 
 ing its revolutions, while a boy, whom he employs as a scribe, 
 is occasionally sent out to compare its progress with the clock 
 of St. Dunstan. 
 
 The scrivener himself seemed considerably agitated. He 
 took from a strong-box a bundle of parchments, and read 
 passages of them with great attention, then began to solilo- 
 quize — " There is no outlet Avhich law can suggest — no back- 
 door of evasion — none: if the lands of Glenvarloch are not 
 redeemed before it rings noon. Lord Dalgarno has them a 
 cheap pennyworth. Strange, that he should have been at 
 l.ist able to set his patron at defiance, and achieve for himself 
 the fair estate, with tlie prospect of which he so long flattered 
 the powerful Buckingham. Might not Andrew Skurlie- 
 whitter nick him as neatly? He hath been my patron, true — 
 not more than Buckingham was his; and he can be so no 
 more, for he departs presently for Scotland. I am glad of 
 
400 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 it; I hate him, and I fear ]iim. He knows too many of my 
 secrets; I know too many of his. But, no — no — no-^I need 
 never attempt it, there are no means of over-reaching him. 
 Well, Willie, what o'clock?" 
 
 ''Ele'en hours just chappit, sir.'' 
 
 " Go to your desk without, child," said the scrivener. 
 " What to do next? I shall lose the old earPs fair business, 
 and, what is worse, his son's foul practice. Old Heriot looks 
 too close into business to permit me more than the paltry and 
 ordinary due-^. The Whitefriars business was profitable, but 
 it has become unsafe ever since — pah! Avhat brought that 
 in my head just now? I can hardly hold my pen ; if men 
 should see me in this way! Willie [calling aloud to the boy], 
 a cup of distilled waters. Soh! now I could face the devil." 
 
 He spoke the last words aloud, and close by the door of 
 tlie apartment, which was suddenly openod by Richie Moni- 
 plies, followed by two gentlemen, and attended by two por- 
 ters bearing money-bags. " If ye can faco the devil, Maister 
 Skurliewhitter," said Richie, " ye will be the less likely to 
 tarn your back on a sack or twa o' siller, whicii I have ta'en 
 the freedom to bring you. Sathanas and Mammon ?.re near 
 akin." The porters, at the same time, ranged their load on 
 the floor. 
 
 '* I — -I," stammered the surprised scrivener — ''I cannot 
 guess what you mean, sir." 
 
 '•' Only that I have brought you the redemption-money on 
 the part of Lord Glenvarloch, in discharge of a certain mort- 
 gage over his family inheritance. And here, in good time, 
 comes Master Reginald Lowestoffe and another honorable 
 gentleman of the Temple, to be witnesses to the transac- 
 tion." 
 
 "1 — I incline to think," said the scrivener, ''that the 
 term is expired." 
 
 " You will pardon us. Master Scrivener," said Lowestoffe. 
 " You will not baffle us ; it wants three-quarters of noon bj 
 every clock in the city." 
 
 " I must have time, gentlemen,'* said Andrew, " to ex- 
 amine the gold by tale and weight." 
 
 "Do so at your leisure. Master Scrivener," replied Lowe- 
 stoffe again. " We have already seen the contents of each 
 sick told and weighed, and we have put our seals on them. 
 There they stand in a row, twenty in number, each contain- 
 ing three hundred yellow-hammers ; we are witnesses to the 
 lawful tender." 
 
 '* Gentlemen," said the scrivener, " this security now be- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 401 
 
 toiigs to a miglity lord. I pray you, abate your haste, and 
 let me send for Lord Dalgarno-^r rather I will run for him 
 myself/' 
 
 So saying, he took up his hat; but Lowestoffe called out 
 — " Friend Moniplies, keep the door fast, an thou be'st a 
 man! he seeks but to put off the time. In plain terms, 
 Andrew, you may send for the devil, if you will, who is the 
 mightiest lord of my acquaintance, but *^from hence you stir 
 not till you have answered our proposition, by rejecting or 
 accepting the redemption-money fairly tendered'; there it 
 lies — take it or leave it as you will. I have skill enough to 
 know that the law is mightier than any lord in Britain: I 
 have learned so much at the Temple, if I have learned noth- 
 ing else. And see that you trifle not with it, lest it make 
 vour long ears an inch shorter. Master Skurliewhitter." 
 
 " Xay, gentlemen, if you threaten me/' said the scrivener, 
 •'I cannot resist compulsion." 
 
 " Xo threats — no threats at all, my little Andrew," said 
 Lowestolfe; *'a little friendly advice only; forget not, honest 
 Andrew, I have seen you in Aisatia." 
 
 Without answering a single word, the scrivener sat down 
 and drew in proper form a full receipt for the money prof- 
 fered. 
 
 *'I take it on your report, Master Lowestoffe," he said; 
 '•'I hope you will remember I have insisted neither upon 
 weight nor tale — I have been civil; if there is deficiency I 
 shall come to loss." 
 
 "■ Fillip his nose with a gold-piece, Richie," quoth the 
 Templar. " Take up the papers, and now wend we merrily 
 to dine thou wot'st where." 
 
 "If I might choose," said Richie, ''it would not be at 
 yonder roguish ordinary; but as it is your pleasure, gentle- 
 men, the treat shall be given wheresoever you will have it. " 
 '•' At the ordinary," said one Templar. 
 " At Beaujeu's," said the other; " it is the only house 
 in London for neat wines, nimble drawers, choice dishes. 
 
 and " 
 
 '' And high charges," quoth Richie Moniplies. " But, as 
 I said before, gentlemen, ye have a right to command me in 
 this thing, having so frankly rendered me your service in 
 this small matter of business, without other stipulation than 
 that of a slight banquet." 
 
 The latter part of this discourse passed in the street, 
 where, immediately afterwards, they met Lord Dalgarno. He 
 appeared in haste, touched his hat slightly to Master Lowe- 
 
402 WAVER^£Y NOVELS 
 
 stoffe, who returned his reverence Avith the same negligence 
 and walked slowly on with his companion, while Lord Dah 
 garno stopped Richie Moniplies with a commanding sign, 
 which the instinct of education compelled Moniplies, though 
 indignant, to obey. 
 
 " Whom do you now follow, sirrah?" demanded the noble. 
 
 " Whomsoever goeth before me, my lord," answered 
 Moniplies. 
 
 " No sauciness, you knave ; I desire to know if yon still 
 serve Nigel Olifaunt?" said Dalgarno. 
 
 " I am friend to the noble Lord Glenvarloch/' answered 
 Moniplies, with dignity. 
 
 " True," replied Lord Dalgarno, '' that noble lord has 
 sunk to seek friends among lackeys. Nevertheless — hark 
 thee hither — nevertheless, if he be of the same mind as when 
 we last met, thou mayst show him that, on to-morrow, at 
 four afternoon, I shall pass northward by Enfield Chase. 
 I will be slenderly attended, as I design to send my train 
 through Barnet. It is my purpose to ride an easy pace 
 through the forest, and to linger awhile by Camlet Moat; he 
 knows the place, and, if he be naught but an Alsatian bully, 
 will think it fitter for some purposes than the Park. He is, 
 I understand, at liberty, or shortly to be so. If he fail me 
 at the place nominated, he must seek me in Scotland, where 
 he will find me possessed of his father's estate and lands." 
 
 "Humph!" muttered Richie, "there go twa words to 
 that bargain." He even meditated a joke on the means 
 which he was conscious he possessed of baffling Lord Dal- 
 garno's expectations; but there was something of keen and 
 dangerous excitement in the eyes of the young nobleman 
 which prompted his discretion for once to rule his wit, and 
 he only answered — " God grant your lordship may well brook 
 your new conquest — when you get it. I shall do your errand 
 to my lord; whilk is to say," he added internally, " he shall 
 never hear a word of it from Richie. I am not the lad to 
 put him in such hazard." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno looked at him sharply for a moment, as if 
 to penetrate the meaning of the dry, ironical tone which, in 
 spite of Richie's awe, mingled with his answer, and then 
 waved his hand, in signal he should pass on. He himself 
 walked slowly till the trio were out of sight, then turned back 
 with hasty steps to the door of the scrivener, which he had 
 passed in his progress, knocked, and was admitted. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno found the man of law with the money-bags 
 still standing before him; and it escaped not his penetrating 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 403 
 
 glance that Skurliewliitter was disconcerted and alarmed at 
 His approach. 
 
 " How now, nian,'^ he said; " what! hast thou not a word 
 of oily compliment to me on my happy marriage? not a word 
 of most philosophical consolation on my disgrace at court? 
 Or has my mien, as a wittol and discarded favorite, the proper- 
 ties of the Gorgon's head, the turhatce Palladis arma, as 
 Majesty might say?" 
 
 "My lord, I am glad — my lord, lam sorry,'' answered the 
 trembling scrivener, who, aware of the vivacity of Lord Dal- 
 garno's temper, dreaded the consequence of the communication 
 he hatl to make to him. 
 
 '''Glad and sorry! '' answered Lord Dalgarno. "That is 
 blowing liot and cold, with a witness. Hark ye, you picture 
 of petty-larceny personified, if you are sorry I am a cuckold, 
 remember I am only mine own, you knave: there is too little 
 blood in her cheeks to have sent her astray elsewhere. Well, 
 I will bear mine an tiered honors as I may — gold shall giJd 
 them; and for my disgrace, revenge shall sweeten it. Ay, 
 revenge! and there strikes the happy hour." 
 
 The hour of noon was accordingly heard to peal from St. 
 Dunstan's. " Well banged, brave hammers!" taid Lord Dal- 
 garno, in triumph. " The estate and lands of Glenvarloch 
 are crushed beneath these clanging blows. If my steel to-mor- 
 row prove but as true as your iron maces to-day, the poor land- 
 less lord will little miss what your peal hath cut him out f re m. 
 Tb.e papers — the joapers, thou varlet! I am to-morrow north- 
 ward ho! At four, afternoon, I am bound to be at Camlet 
 Moat, in the Enfield Chase. To-night most of my retinue 
 set forward. The papers! Come, dispatch." 
 
 " My lord, the — the papers of the Glenvarloch mortgage — 
 I — I have them not." 
 
 " Have them not! " echoed Lord Dalgarno. " Hast thou 
 sent them to my lodging, thou varlet? Did I not say I was 
 eoming hither? What mean you by pointing to that money ? 
 What villany have you done for it.'' It is too large to be 
 come honestly by." 
 
 " Your lordship knows best,"' answered the scrivener, in 
 great perturbation. " The gold is your own. It is — it 
 is " 
 
 " ISTot the redemption-money of the Glenvarloch estate?'' 
 said Dalgarno. " Dare not say it is, or I will, upon the 
 spot, divorce your pettifogging soul from your carrion car- 
 cass!" So saying, he seized the scrivener by the collar and 
 shook him so vehemently that he tore it from the cassock. 
 
404 WAVE RLE Y NOVELS 
 
 " My lord, I must call for help/' said the trembling 
 caitiff, who felt at that moment all the bitterness of the 
 mortal agony. ''It was the law's act, not mine. What 
 could I do?" 
 
 "Dost ask? Why, thou snivelling driblet of damnation, 
 were all thy oatlis, tricks, and lies spent? or do you hold 
 yourself too good to utter them in my service? Thou 
 shouldst have lied, cozened, outsworn truth itself, rather 
 than stood betwixt me and my revenge! But mark me," 
 he continued; "1 know more of your pranks than would 
 hang thee. A line from me to the Attorney- General, and 
 thou art sped." 
 
 "What would you have me to do, my lord?" said the 
 scrivener. "All that art and law can accomplish, I will 
 try." 
 
 "Ah, are you converted? Do so, or pity of your life!" 
 said the lord; "and remember I never fail my word. Then 
 keep that accursed gold," he continued. " Or, stay, I will 
 not trust you; send me this gold home presently to my lodg- 
 ing. I will still forward to Scotland, and it shall go hard 
 but that I hold out Glenvarloch Castle against the owner, by 
 means of the ammunition he has himself furnished. Thou 
 art ready to serve me ? " The scrivener professed the most 
 implicit obedience. 
 
 " Then' remember, the hour was past ere payment was 
 tendered; and see thou hast wituessess of trusty memory to 
 prove that point." 
 
 " Tush, my lord, I will do more," said Andrew, reviving: 
 " I will prove that Lord Glenvarloch's friends threatened, 
 swaggered, and drew swords on me. Did your lordship think 
 I was ungrateful enough to have suffered them to prejudice 
 your lordship, save that the)- had bare swords at my throat ? " 
 
 "Enough said," replied Dalgarno; "you are perfect. 
 ilind that you continue so, as you would avoid my fury. I 
 leave my page below; get porters, and let them follow me 
 instantly with the gold." 
 
 So saying, Lord Dalgarno left the scrivener's habitation. 
 
 Skurliewhitter, having dispatched his boy to get porters of 
 trust for transporting the money, remained alone and in dis- 
 may, meditating by what means he could shake himself free 
 of the vindictive and ferocious nobleman, who possessed at 
 once a dangerous knowledge of his character and the power of 
 exposing him where exposure would be ruin. He had indeed 
 acquiesced in the plan, rapidly sketched, for obtaining posses- 
 sion of the ransomed estate, but his experience foresaw that 
 
TBE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 405 
 
 this would be impossible; while, on the other hand, he could 
 not anticipate the various consequences of Lord Dalgarno's 
 resentment without fears from which his sordid soul recoiled. 
 To be in the power, and subject both to the humors and the 
 extortions, of a spendthrift young lord, just when his industry- 
 had shaped out the means of fortune — it was the most cruel 
 trick which fate could have played the incipient usurer. 
 
 While the scrivener was in this fit of anxious anticipation, 
 one knocked at the door of the apartment, and, being desired 
 to enter, appeared in the coarse riding-cloak of uncut Wiltshire 
 cloth; fastened by a broad leather belt and brass buckle, 
 which was then generally worn by graziers and countrymen, 
 Skurliewhitter, believing he saw in his visitor a country client 
 who might prove profitable, had opened his mouth to request 
 him to be seated, when the stranger, throwing back his frieze 
 hood which he had drawn over his face, showed the scrivener 
 features well imprinted in his recollection, but which he never 
 saw without a disposition to swoon. 
 
 '' Is it you?" he said, faintly, as the stranger replaced the 
 hood which concealed his features, 
 
 " Who else should it be ? " said his visitor. 
 
 ** ♦ Thou son of parchment, got betwixt the ink-horn 
 And the stuff 'd process-bag, that mayest call 
 The pen thy father, and the ink thy mother, 
 The wax thy brother, and the sand thy sister. 
 And the good pillory thy cousin allied — 
 Rise, and do reverence unto me, thy better! ' " 
 
 ''Not yet down to the country," said the scrivener, " after 
 every warning? Do not think your grazier's cloak will bear 
 you out, captain — no, nor your scraps of stage-plays." 
 
 " Why, what would you have me to do? " said the captain. 
 "Would you have me starve? If I am to fly, you must 
 «ke my wings with a few feathers. You can spare them, I 
 think." 
 
 " You had means already: you have had ten pieces. What 
 is become of them ? " 
 
 " Gone," answered Captain Colepepper — " gone, no matter 
 where; I had a mind to bite, and I was bitten, that's all. I 
 think my liand shook at the thought of t'other night's work, 
 for I trowled the doctors like a very baby." 
 
 "And you have lost all, then? AVell, take this and bp 
 gone," said the scrivener. 
 
 " What, two poor smelts! Marry, plague of your bounty! 
 But remember you are as deep in as I." 
 
 "Xot so, by Heaven!" answered the scrivener: "I only 
 
406 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 tliouglit of easing the old man of some paj^ers and a trifle of 
 his gold, and you took his life." 
 
 " \Yere he living/' answered Colepepper, "lie would rather 
 have lost it than his money. But that is not the question. 
 Master Skurliewhitter. Yon undid the private bolts of the 
 window when you visited him about some affairs on the day 
 ere he died; so satisfy yourself that, if lam taken, I will not 
 swing alone. Pity Jack Hempsfield is dead, it spoils the old 
 catch — 
 
 " ' And three merry men, and three merry men. 
 And three merry men are we, 
 As ever did sing three parts in a string. 
 All under the triple tree.'" 
 
 " For God's sake, speak lower," sf.id the scrivener; " is 
 this a place or time to make your midnight catches heard? 
 But how much will serve your turn? I tell you, I am but ill 
 provided." 
 
 " You tell me a lie then,-" said the bull}^ — " a most palpa- 
 ble and gross lie. How much, d'ye say, will serve my turn? 
 Why, one of these bags will do for the present." 
 
 " I swear to you that these bags of money are not at my 
 disposal.'' 
 
 " Not honestly perhaps," said the captain, '' but that makes 
 little difference betwixt us." 
 
 "I swear to you," continued the scrivener, "they are in 
 no way at my disposal: they have been delivered to me by 
 tale; I am to pay them over to Lord Dalgarno, whose boy 
 waits for them, and I could not skelder one piece out of them 
 without risk of hue and cry." 
 
 "Can you not put off the delivery?" said the bravo, his 
 huge hand still fumbling with one of the bags, as if his fin- 
 gers longed to close on it. 
 
 " Impossible !" said the scrivener, *'he sets forward to 
 Scotland to-morrow." 
 
 "Ay! "said the bully, after a moment's thought. 
 " Travels he tlie North road with such a charge?" 
 
 "He is well accompanied," added the scrivener; "but 
 yet " 
 
 " But yet — but what? "said the bravo. 
 
 " Nay, I meant nothing," said the scrivener. 
 
 " Thou didst — thou hadst the wind of some good thing,'' 
 replied Coiepepper; " I saw thee pause like a setting dog. 
 Thou wilt say as little, and make assure a sign, as a well-bred 
 spaniel." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 407 
 
 "All I meant to say, captain, was that liis servants go by 
 Barnet, and he himself, with his page, passes thr.i^h Enfield 
 Chase; and he spoke to me yesterday of riding ^-^ soft pace. 
 
 "Aha! Comest thon to me there, my boy?" 
 
 " A-i^ of resting," continued the scrivener— " resting a 
 space at Camlet Moat." 
 
 " Wny, this is better than cock-fighting!" said the cap- 
 tair . ^, 
 
 1 see not how it can advantage you, captam, said the 
 scnvener. " But, however, thej cannot ride fast, for his 
 page rides the sumpter-horse, which carries all that weight,' 
 pointing to the money on the table. " Lord Dalgarno looks 
 sharp to the world's gear." 
 
 " That horse will be obliged to those Avho may ease him 
 of his burden," said the bravo; "and, egad, he may be met 
 with. lie hath still that page— that same Lutin— that goblm ? 
 Well, the boy hath set game for me ere now. I will be 
 revenged, too, for I owe him a grudge for an old score at the 
 ordinary. Let me see— Black Feltham and Dick Shakebag— 
 WQ shall want a fourth. I love to make sure, and the booty 
 will stand parting, besides Avhat I can bucket them out of. 
 Well, scrivener, lend me two pieces. Bravely done-— nobly 
 imparted! Give ye god-den." And wrapping his disguise 
 closer around him, away he went. 
 
 When he had left the room, the scrivener wrung his hands 
 and exclaimed, ' ' More blood — more blood ! I thought to have 
 had done with it; but this time there was no fault with me— 
 none — and then I shall have all the advantage. If this ruf- 
 fian falls, there is truce with his tugs at my purse-strings; and 
 if Lord Dalgarno dies — as is most likely, for, though as much 
 afraid of cold steel as a debtor of a dun, this fellow is a deadly 
 shot from behind a bush — then am I in a thousand ways safe — 
 safe — safe." 
 
 We willingly drop the curtain over him and his reflectiona. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 We are not worst at once ; the course of evil 
 Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, 
 An infant's hand might stem its breach with clay. 
 But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy — 
 Ay, and religion too — shall strive in vain 
 To turn the headlong torrent. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 The Templars had been regaled by our friend Eicliie Moni- 
 plies in a private chamber at Beaujeu's, where he miglit be 
 considered as good company; for he had exchanged his 
 serving-man's cloak and Jerkin for a grave yet handsome suit 
 of clothes, in the fashion of the times, but such as might 
 have befitted an older man than himself. He had positively 
 declined presenting himself at the ordinary — a point to 
 which his companions were very desirous to have brought 
 him, for it will be easily believed that such wags as Lowe- 
 stoffe and his companion were not indisposed to a little 
 merriment at the expense of the raw and pedantic Scotsman, 
 besides the chance of easing him of a few pieces, of which he 
 appeared to have acquired considerable command. But not 
 even a succession of measures of sparkling sack, in which the 
 •little brilliant atoms circulated like motes in the sun's rays^ 
 had the least effect on Richie's sense of decorum. He re- 
 tained the gravity of a judge, even while he drank like a 
 fish, partly from his own natural inclination to good liquor, 
 partly in the way of good fellowship towards his guests. 
 When the wine began to make some innovation on their 
 heads. Master Lowestoffe, tired, perhaps, of the humors of 
 Richie, who began to become yet more stoically contradictory 
 and dogmatical than even in the earlier part of the enter- 
 tainment, proposed to his friend to break up their debauch 
 and join the gamesters. 
 
 The drawer was called accordingly, and Richie dis- 
 charged the reckoning of the party, with a generous re- 
 muneration to the attendants, which Avas received with cap 
 and knee, and many assurances of — '•' Kindly welcome, gen- 
 tlemen." 
 
 " I grieve we should part so soon, gentlemen," said Richie 
 to his companions; "and I would you had cracked another 
 
TBE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 409 
 
 quart ere you went, or stayed to take some slight matter of 
 supper and a glass of Rhenish. I thank you, however, for 
 having graced my poor collation thus far; and I commend 
 you to fortune, in your oAvn courses, for the ordinary neither 
 was, is, nor shall be an element of mine." 
 
 "Fare thee well, then," said Lowestoffe, ''most sapient 
 and sententious Master Moniplies. May you soon have an- 
 other mortgage to redeem, and may I be there to witness it; 
 and may you play the good fellow as heartily as you have 
 done this day." 
 
 " Xay, gentlemen, it is merely of your grace to say so. 
 but, if you would but hear me speak a few words of admoni- 
 tion respecting this wicked ordinary " 
 
 " Reserve the lesson, most honorable Richie," said Lowe 
 stoffe, " until I have lost all my money," showing, at th« 
 same time, a purse indifferently well provided, "and thei? 
 the lecture is likely to have some weight." 
 
 " And keep my share of it, Richie," said the other Tem- 
 plar, showing an almost empty purse in his turn, " till this 
 be full again, and then I will promise to hear you with some 
 patience." 
 
 " Ay — ay, gallants,*' said Richie, ''the full and the emptj/ 
 gang a' ae gate, and that is a gray one; but the time will 
 come." 
 
 " Xay, it is come already," said Lowestoffe: "they have 
 set out the hazard table. Since you will peremptorily not go 
 with us, why, farewell, Richie." 
 
 "And farewell, gentlemen," said Richie, and left the 
 house, into which they had returned. 
 
 Moniplies was not many steps from the door, when a per- 
 son whom, lost in his reflections on gaming, ordinaries, and 
 the manners of the age, he had not observed, and who had 
 jeen as negligent on his part, ran full against him; and, 
 when Richie desired to know whether he meant "ony in- 
 civility," replied by a curse on Scotland and all that be- 
 longed to it. A less round reflection on his country would, 
 at any time, have provoked Richie, but more especially when 
 he had a double quart of Canary and better in his pate. He 
 Avas about to give a very rough answer, and to second his 
 word by action, when a closer view of his antagonist changed 
 his purpose. 
 
 " You are the vera lad in the warld," said Richie, "whom 
 I most wished to meet." 
 
 " And you," answered the stranger, " or any of your beg- 
 garly countrymen, are the last sight I should ever wish to 
 
410 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 see. You Scots are ever fair and false, and an honest maBt 
 cannot thrive within eye-shot of you." 
 
 " As to our poverty, friend, " replied Richie, " that ia as 
 Heaven pleases; but touching our falset, I'll prove to you that 
 a Scotsman bears as leal and true a heart to his friend as ever 
 beat in English doublet.''^ 
 
 " I care not whether he does or not," said the gallant. 
 ** Let me go; why keep you hold of my cloak? Let me go, or 
 I will thrust you into the kennel." 
 
 " I believe I could f orgie ye, for you did me a good turn 
 once, in plucking me out of it," said the Scot. 
 
 ''Beshrew my fingers, then, if they did so," replied the 
 stranger. " I would your whole country lay there, along Avitb 
 you; and Heaven's curse blight the hand that helped to raise 
 them! Why do you stop my way?" he added, fiercely. 
 
 " Because it is a bad one. Master Jenkin," said Eichie. 
 ''Nay, never start about it, man; you see you are known. 
 Alack-a-day ! that an honest man's son should live to start 
 at hearing himself called by his own name! " 
 
 Jenkin struck his brow violently with his clinched fist. 
 
 " Come — come," said Richie, " this passion availeth noth- 
 ing. Tell me what gate go you?" 
 
 *' To the devil! " answered Jin Vin. 
 
 " That is a black gate, if you speak according to the 
 letter," answered Richie; "^but if metaphorically, there are 
 worse places in this great city than the Devil Tavern ; and I care 
 not if I go thither with you, and bestow a pottle of burnt sacfe 
 on you; it will correct the crudities of my stomach, and form 
 a gentle preparative for the leg of a cold pullet." 
 
 " I pray you, in good fashion, to let me go," said Jenkin. 
 ** You may mean me kindly, and I wish you to have no wrong 
 »t my hand; but I am in the humor to be dangerous to my- 
 self or any one." 
 
 "I will abide the risk," said the Scot, ''if you will but 
 come with me; and here is a place convenient, a howflf nearer 
 than the Devil, whilk is but an ill-omened, drouthy name for 
 a tavern. This other of the St. Andrew is a quiet place, 
 where I have ta'en my whetter now and then when I lodged 
 in the neighboihood of the Temple with Lord Grlenvarloch. 
 What the deil's the matter wi' the man, garr'd him gie sic a 
 spang as that, and almaist brought himself and me on the 
 causeway?" 
 
 "Do not name that false Scot's name to me," said Jin 
 Vin, "if you would not have me go mad! I was happy be- 
 fore I saw him; he has been the cause of all the ill that 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 411 
 
 has befallen me; he lias made a knave and a madman of 
 
 me! 
 
 }» 
 
 '•If yon are a knave/' said Eichie, "yon have met an 
 officer; if yon are daft, yon have met a keeper; but a gentle 
 officer and a kind keeper. Look you, my gude friend, there 
 has been twenty things said about this same lord in which 
 there is no more truth than in the leasings of Mahound. The 
 warst they can say of him is, that he is not always so amen- 
 able to good advice as I would pray him, you, and every 
 young man to be. Come wi' me — Just come ye wi' me; and, 
 if a little spell of siller and a great deal of excellent counsel 
 can relieve your occasions, all I can say is, you have had the 
 luck to meet one capable of giving you both, and maist will- 
 ing to bestow them/' 
 
 The pertinacity of the Scot prevailed over the sullenness 
 of Vincent, who w^as indeed in a state of agitation and inca- 
 pacity to think for himself, which led him to yield the more 
 readily to the suggestions of another. • He suffered himself 
 to be dragged into the small tavern which Eichie recom- 
 mended, and where they soon found themselves seated in a 
 snug niche, with a reeking pottle of burnt sack and a paper 
 of sugar betwixt them. Pipes and tobacco were also provided, 
 but were only used by Eichie, w^ho had adopted the custom 
 of late, as adding considerably to the gravity and importance 
 of his manner, and affording, as it were, a bland and pleas- 
 ant accompaniment to the words of wisdom w^hich flowed 
 from his tongue. After they had filled their glasses and 
 drunk them in silence, Eichie repeated the question, whither 
 his guest was going when they met so fortunately. 
 
 " I told you," said Jenkin, " I w^as going to destruction — 
 I mean to the gaming-house. I am resolved to hazard 
 these two or three pieces, to get as much as will pay for a 
 passage with Captain Sharker, whose ship lies at Gravesend, 
 bound for America; and so eastward ho! I met one devil 
 in the way already, who would have tempted me from my 
 purpose, but I spurned him from me; you maybe another 
 for what I know. What degree of damnation do you propose 
 for me," he added wildly, " and what is the price of it?" 
 
 "I would have you to know," answered Eichie, "that I 
 deal in no such commodities, whether as buyer or seller. But 
 if you will tell me honestly the cause of your distress, I will 
 do what is in my power to help yon out of it — not being, 
 however, prodigal of promises until I know the case, as a 
 learned physician only gives advice when he has observed the 
 diagnostics." 
 
412 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 " No one has anything to do with my affairs/' said the 
 poor hid; and fokling his arms on the table, he laid his head 
 upon tliem, with the sullen dejection of the overburdened 
 lama, when it throws itself down to die in desperation. 
 
 Richie Moniplies, like most folk who have a good opinion of 
 themselves, was fond of the task of consolation, which at 
 once displaj^ed his superiority (for the consoler is necessarily, 
 for the time at least, superior to the afflicted person) and in- 
 dulged his love of talking. He inflicted on the poor penitent 
 a harangue of pitiless length, stuffed full of the usual topics 
 of the mutability of human affairs, the eminent advantages 
 of patience under affliction, the folly of grieving for what hath 
 no remedy, the necessity of taking more care for the future, 
 and some gentle rebukes on account of the past, which acid 
 he threw in to assist in subduing the jjatient's obstinacy, as 
 Hannibal used vinegar in cutting his way through rocks. It 
 was not in human nature to endure this flood of commonplace 
 eloquence in silence; and Jin Yin, whether desirous of stop- 
 ping the flow of words crammed thus into his ear, " against 
 the stomach of his sense," or whether confiding in Eichie's 
 protestations of friendship, which the wretched, says Fielding, 
 are ever so ready to believe, or whether merely to give his sor- 
 rows vent in words, raised his head, and turning his red and 
 swollen eyes to Eichie — 
 
 " Cocksbones, man, only hold thy tongue and thou shalt 
 know all about it; and then all I ask of thee is to shake 
 hands and part. This Margaret Eamsay — you have seen her, 
 man?'* 
 
 " Once," said Eichie — ''once, at Master George Heriot's, 
 in Lombard Street, I was in the room when they dined." 
 
 "Ay, you helped to shift their trenchers, I remember," 
 said Jin Vin. '' Well, that same pretty girl — and I will up- 
 hold her the prettiest betwixt Paul's and the Bar — she is to 
 be wedded to your Lord Glenvarloch, with a pestilence on him ! " 
 
 " That is impossible," said Eichie — " it is raving non- 
 sense, man; they make April gouks of you cockneys every 
 montk in the year. The Lord Glenvarloch marry the daugh- 
 ter of a Lonnun mechanic! I would as soon believe the 
 great Prester John would marry the daughter of a Jew pack- 
 man." 
 
 " Hark ye, brother," said Jin Vin, " I will allow no one to 
 speak disregardfully of the city, for all I am in trouble." 
 
 " I crave your pardon, man — I meant no offence," said 
 "^ehie ; ''but as to the marriage, it is a thing simply impos- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 413 
 
 ''It is a tiling that will take place, though, for the Duke 
 and the Priuce, and all of them, have a finger in it ; and es- 
 pecially the old fool of a King, that makes her out to be some 
 great woman in her own country, as all the Scots pretend to 
 be, you know." 
 
 " Master Vincent, but that you are under afQiction," said 
 the consoler, offended on his part, " I would hear no na- 
 tional reflections." 
 
 The afflicted youth apologized in his turn, but asserted, 
 *' It was true that the King said Peg-a-Ramsay was some far- 
 off sort of noblewoman; and that he had taken interest in 
 the match, and had run about like an old gander, cackling 
 about Peggie ever since he had seen her in hose and doublet 
 — and no wonder," added poor Vin, with a deep sigh. 
 
 " This may be all true," said Richie, " though it sounds 
 strange in my ears; but, man, you should not speak evil of 
 dignities. Curse not the King, Jenkin, not even in thy bed- 
 chamber: stone walls have ears, no one has a right to know 
 that better than I." 
 
 " I do not curse the foolish old man,'* said Jenkin; " but 
 I would have them carry things a peg lower. If they were 
 to see on a plain field thirty thousand such pikes as I have 
 seen in the artillery gardens, it would not be their long- 
 haired courtiers would help them, I trow."* 
 
 " Hout tout, man," said Richie, ''mind where the Stu- 
 arts come frae, and never think they would want spears or 
 claymores either; but leaving sic matters, whilk are perilous 
 to speak on, I say once more, what is your concern in all this 
 matter?" 
 
 "What is it?" said Jenkin; ''why, have I not fixed on 
 Peg-a-Ramsay to be my true love, from the day I came to 
 her old father's shop? And have I not carried her pattens 
 and her chopines for three years, and borne her prayer-book to 
 cliurch, and brushed the cushion for her to kneel down upon; 
 and did she ever say me nay?" 
 
 "I see no cause she had," said Richie, "if the like of 
 such small services were all that ye proffered. Ah, man! 
 there are few — very few, either of fools or of wise men, ken 
 how to guide a woman." 
 
 "Why, did I not serve her at the risk of my freedom, and 
 Tery nigh at the risk of my neck? Did she not — no, it was 
 not her neither, but that accursed beldam whom she caused 
 to work upon me — persuade me like a fool to turn myself 
 into a waterman to help my lord, and a plague to him! down 
 
 ♦ See JVIilitary Traininjf of Londoners. Note 43. 
 
414 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 to Scotland? And instead of going peaceably down to the 
 ship at Gravesend, did not he rant and bully, and show his 
 pistols, and make me land him at Greenwich, where he played 
 some swaggering pranks, that helped both him and me into 
 the Tower?" 
 
 "Aha!" said Eichie, throwing more than his usual wis- 
 dom into his looks, " so you were the green-jacketed water- 
 man that rowed Lord Glenvarloch down the river?" 
 
 " The more fool I, that did not souse him in the Thames," 
 said Jenkin; ''and I was the lad that would not confess one 
 word of who or what I was, though they threatened to make 
 me hug the Duke of Exeter's daughter." 
 
 " Wha is she, man?" said Richie; ''she must be an ill- 
 fashioned piece, if you're so much afraid of her, and she 
 come of such high kin." 
 
 " I mean the rack — the rack, man," said Jenkin. 
 *' Where were you bred that never heard of the Duke of 
 Exeter's daughter? But all the dukes and duchesses in Eng- 
 land could have got nothing out of me; so the truth came 
 out some other way, and I was set free. Home I ran, think- 
 ing myself one of the cleverest and happiest fellows in the 
 ward. And she — she — she wanted to pay me with money for 
 all my true service! and she spoke so sweetly and so coldly at 
 the same time, I wished myself in the deepest dungeon of the 
 Tower. I wish they had racked me to death before I heard 
 this Scottishman was to chouse me out of my sweetheart!" 
 
 "But are ye sure ye have lost her?" said Eichie. "It 
 sounds strange in my ears that my Lord Glenvarloch should 
 marry the daughter of a dealer; though there are uncouth 
 marriages made in London, I'll allow that." 
 
 " Why, I tell you this lord was no sooner clear of the 
 Tower than he and Master George Heriot comes to make 
 proposals for her, with the King's assent, and what not; and 
 fine fair-day prospects of court favor for this lord, for he 
 hath not an acre of land." 
 
 '* Well, and what said the auld watch-maker?" said 
 Eichie; " was he not, as might weel beseem him, ready to 
 loup out of his skin-case for very joy?" 
 
 " He multiplied six figures progressively, and reported the 
 product; then gave his consent." 
 
 "And what did you do?" 
 
 " I rushed into the streets," said the poor lad, " with 
 a burning heart and a bloodshot eye; and where did I first 
 find myself, but with that beldam. Mother Suddlechop; and 
 what did she propose to me, but to take the road? " 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 418 
 
 " Take the road, man! in what sense? " said Richie. 
 
 " Even as a clerk to St. iS'ichohis — as a highwayman, like 
 Poins and Peto, and the good fellows in the play. And who 
 think you was to be my captain? — for she had the whole out 
 ere I could speak to her; I fancy she took silence for con- 
 sent, and thought me damned too unutterably to have one 
 thought left that savored of redemption — who was to be mj 
 captain, but the knave that you saw me cudgel at the ordi- 
 nary when you waited on Lord Glenvarloch — a cowardly, 
 sharking, thievish bully about town here whom they call Cole- 
 pepper."" 
 
 " Colepepper — umpli — I know somewhat of that smaik," 
 said Richie; " ken ye by ony chance where he may be heard 
 of. Master Jenkin? ye wad do me a sincere service to tell 
 me."" 
 
 " Why, he lives something obscurely,"" answered the ap- 
 prentice, " on account of suspicion of some villany — I believe 
 that horrid murder in Whitef riars, or some such matter. But 
 I might have heard all about him from Dame Suddlechop, 
 for she spoke of my meeting him at Enfield Chase, with some 
 other good fellows, to do a robbery on one that goes north- 
 ward with a store of treasure."" 
 
 ''And you did not agree to this fine project?"" said 
 Moniplies. 
 
 " I cursed her for a hag, and came away about my busi- 
 ness,"' answered Jenkin. 
 
 " Ay, and what said she to that, man? That would 
 startle her,"" said Richie. 
 
 "' Not a whit. She laughed, and said, she was in jest,"" 
 answered Jenkin; ''but I know the she-devil's jest from her 
 earnest too well to be taken in that way. But she knows I 
 would never betray her."" 
 
 "Betray her! No," replied Richie; "but are ye in any 
 shape bound to this birkie Pepi^ercull, or Colepepper, or 
 whatever they call him, that ye suld let him do a robbery on 
 the honest gentleman that is travelling to the North, and 
 maybe a kindly Scot for what we know?" 
 
 "Ay — going home with a load of English money," said 
 Jenkin. " But be he who he will, they may rob the whole 
 world an they list, for I am robbed and ruined."" 
 
 Richie filled up his friend's cup to the brim, and insisted 
 that he should drink what he called " clean caup out." "This 
 love," he said, " is but a bairnly matter for a brisk young 
 fellow like yourself, ]\Iaster Jenkin. And if ye must needs 
 have a whimsy, though I think it would be safer to venture 
 
416 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 on a staid -womanly body, why, here be as bonny lasses in 
 London as this Peg-a-Eamsay. Ye need not sigh sae deeply, 
 for it is very true: there is as good fish in the sea as ever 
 came out of it. Now wherefore should you, who are as brisk 
 and trig a young fellow of your inches as the sun needs tc 
 shine on — wherefore need you sit moj^ing this way, and not 
 try some bold way to better your fortune ? " 
 
 '' I tell you. Master Moniplies,'' said Jenkin, " I am as 
 poor as any Scot among you; J have broke my indenture, 
 and I think of running my country/^ 
 
 ** A-well-a-day!" said Eicliie, "but that maunnabe, man. 
 I ken weel, by sad experience, that poortith takes away pith, 
 and the man sits full still that has a rent in his breeks.* 
 But courage, man ; you have served me heretofore, and I will 
 serve you now. If you will but bring me to speech of this 
 same captain, it shall be the best day's work you ever did.''' 
 
 " I guess where you are. Master Eichard: you would save 
 your countryman's long purse," said Jenkin. " I cannot see 
 how that should advantage me, but I reck not if I should bear 
 a hand. I hate that braggart, that bloody-minded, cowardly 
 bully. If you can get me mounted, I care not if I show you 
 where the dame told me I should meet him; but you must 
 stand to the risk, for though he is a coward himself, I know 
 he will have more than one stout fellow with him." 
 
 " We'll have a warrant, man," said Eichie, " and the hue 
 and cry to boot." 
 
 " We will have no such thing," said Jenkin, "if I am to 
 go with you. I am not the lad to betray any one to the har- 
 man-beck. You must do it by manhood if I am to go with 
 you. I am sworn to cutter's law, and will sell no man's 
 blood." 
 
 " Aweel," said Eichie, "a wilful man must have his way; 
 ye must think that I was born and bred where cracked crowns 
 were plentier than whole ones. Besides, I have two noble 
 friends here. Master Lowestoffe of the Temple and his cousin 
 Master Eingwood, that will blithely be of so gallant a 
 party." 
 
 " Lowestoffe and Eingwood!" said Jenkin; "they are 
 both brave gallants, they will be sure company. Know you 
 where they are to be found?" 
 
 " Ay, marry do I," replied Eichie. " They are fast at the 
 cards and dice, till the sma' hours, I warrant them." 
 
 * This elegant speech was made by the Earl of Douglas, called Tineman, aftef 
 being wounded and made prisoner at the battle of Shrewsbury, where 
 
 His well laboring sword 
 Had three times slain the semblance of the king. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 417 
 
 " They are gentlemen of trust and honor/' said Jenkin, 
 ''and, if they advise it, I will try the adventure. Go, try if 
 you can bring them hither, since you have so much to say 
 with them. We must not be seen abroad together. _ I know 
 not how it is, Master Mouiplies," continued he, as his coun- 
 tenance brightened up, and while, in his turn, he filled the 
 cups, " but I feel my heart something lighter since I have 
 thought of this matter." 
 
 -■'Thus it is to have counsellors. Master Jenkin," said 
 Richie; ''and truly I hope to hear you say that your heart is as 
 light as a lavrock's, and tliat before you are many days aulder. 
 Never smile and shake your head, but mind what I tell you; 
 and bide here in the mean while, till I go to seek these gal- 
 lants. I warrant you, cart-ropes would not hold them back 
 from such a ploy as I shall propose to them/' 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 The thieves have bound the true men. Now, could thou and 1 
 wob the thieves, and go merrily to London. 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. 
 
 rHE sun was high npon the glades of Enfield Chase, and 
 the deer, with wliich it then abounded, were seen sporting in 
 picturesque groups among the ancient oaks of the forest, 
 when a cavalier and a lady, on foot, although in riding- 
 apparel, sauntered slowly up one of the long alleys which 
 were cut through the park for the convenience of the 
 hunters. Their only attendant was a page, who, riding a 
 Spanish jennet, which seemed to bear a heavy cloak-bag, fol- 
 lowed them at a respectful distance. The female, attired in all 
 the fantastic finery of the period, with more than the usual 
 quantity of bugles, flounces, and trimmings, and holding her 
 fan of ostrich feathers in one hand and her riding-mask of 
 black velvet in the other, seemed anxious, by all the little 
 coquetry practised on such occasions, to secure the notice of 
 her companion, who sometimes heard her prattle without 
 seeming to attend to it, and at other times interrupted his 
 train of graver reflections to reply to her. 
 
 " Nay, but, my lord — my lord, you walk so fast, you will 
 leave me behind you. Nay, I will have hold of your arm; 
 but how to manage with my mask and my fan? Why would 
 you not let me bring my waiting-gentlewoman to follow us, 
 and hold my things? But see, I will put my fan in my 
 girdle, soh! and now that I have a hand to hold you with, 
 you shall not run away from me."*' 
 
 ''Come on, then,"' answered the gallant, "and let us 
 walk apace, since you would not be persuaded to stay with 
 your gentlewoman, as you call her, and with the rest of the 
 baggage. You may perhaps see tliat, though, you will not 
 like to see.'" 
 
 She took hold of his arm accordingly; but, as he contin- 
 ued to walk at the same pace, she shortly let go her hold, ex- 
 claiming that he had hurt her hand. The cavalier stojiped and 
 looked at the pretty hand and arm Avhicli she showed him, 
 with exclamations against his cruelty. "I dare say," she 
 said, baring her wrist and a part of her arm, "it is all black 
 and blue to the very elbow." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 419 
 
 -'I dare s?7 yon ar? a silly little fool," said the cavalier/' 
 carelessly kissing the aggrieved arm; "it is only a pretty 
 incarnate which sets off the blue veins." 
 
 -^.^'i^S my lord, now it ^.s you are silly," answered the 
 dame; " but I am glad I zdu make you speak and laugh on 
 any terms this morning. I am sure, if I did insist on follow- 
 ing you into the forest, it was all for the sake of diverting 
 you. 1 am better company than your page, I trow. And 
 ncWj t3i\ me, these pretty things with horns, be they not 
 deer?" 
 
 '^Even such they be, Nelly," answered her neglectf ul at- 
 te~d2nt. 
 
 *•' And what can the great folk do with so many of them, 
 forsooth ? " 
 
 " They send them to the city, Nell, where wise men make 
 venison pasties of their flesh, and wear their horns for 
 trophies," answered Lord Dalgarno, whom our reader has al- 
 ready recognized. 
 
 "Nay, now yon laugh at me, my lord," answered his 
 companion; "but I know all about venison, whatever you 
 may think. I always tasted it once a year when we dined 
 with Mr. Deputy," she continued, sadly, as a sense of her 
 degradation stole across a mind bewildered with vanity and 
 folly, " though he would not speak to me now, if we met 
 together in the narrowest lane in the ward!" 
 
 "I warrant he would not," said Lord Dalgarno, "because 
 thou, Nell, wouldst dash him with a single look; for I trust 
 thou hast more spirit than to throw away words on such a 
 fellow as he?" 
 
 " Who, I!" said Dame Nelly. "Nay, I scorn the proud 
 princox too much for that. Do you know, he made all the 
 folk in the ward stand cap in hand to him, my poor old John 
 Christie and all?" Here her recollection began to overflow 
 at her eyes. 
 
 "A plague on your whimpering," said Dalgarno, some- 
 what harshly. "Nay, never look pale for the matter, Nell. 
 I am not angry with you, you simple fool. But what would 
 you have me think, when you are eternally looking back 
 upon your dungeon yonder by the river, which smelt of pitch 
 and old cheese worse than a Welshman does of onions, and 
 all this when I am taking yon down to a castle as fine as is in 
 Fairyland!" 
 
 " Shall we be there to-night, my lord?" said Nelly, dry- 
 ing her tears. 
 
 " To-night, Nelly! no, nor this night fortnight.*' 
 
430 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 "Now, the Lord be with us and keep us! But shall we 
 not go by sea, my lord? I thought everybody came from 
 Scotland by sea. I am sure Lord Glenvarloch and Richie 
 Moniplies came up by sea." 
 
 "There is a wide difference between coming up and go- 
 ing down, Nelly," answered Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 " And so there is, for certain," said his simple companion. 
 '•' But yet I tliink I heard people speaking of going down to 
 Scotland by sea, as well as coming up. Are you well avised 
 of the way ? Do you think it possible we can go by land, my 
 sweet lord?" 
 
 "It is but trying, my sweet lady," said Lord Dalgarno. 
 ^^ Men say England and Scotland are in the same island, so 
 one would hope there may be some road betwixt them bv 
 land." 
 
 "I shall never be able to ride so far," said the lady. 
 
 " We will have your saddle stuffed softer," said the lord. 
 •' I tell you that you shall mew your city slough, and change 
 from the caterpillar of a paltry lane into the butterfly of a 
 prince's garden. You shall have as many tires as there are 
 a ours in the day — as many handmaidens as there are days in 
 the week — as many menials as there are weeks in the year — 
 and you shall ride a-hunting and hawking with a lord, instead 
 of waiting upon an old ship-chandler, who could do nothing 
 but hawk and spit." 
 
 " Ay, but will you make me your lady? " said Dame Nelly. 
 
 "Ay, surely — what else?" replied the lord. "My lady- 
 love." 
 
 "Ay, but I mean your lady-wife," said Nelly. 
 
 " Truly, Nell, in that I cannot promise to oblige you. A 
 lady-wife," continued Dalgarno, "is a very different thing 
 from a lady-love." 
 
 "I heard from Mrs. Suddlechop, whom you lodged me 
 .vith since I left poor old John Christie, that Lord Glenvar- 
 loch is to marry David Ramsay the clockmaker's daughter?" 
 
 " There is much betwixt the cup and the lip, Nelly. I 
 wear something about me may break the banns of that hope- 
 ful alliance, before the day is much older," answered Lord 
 1 )algarno. 
 
 "Well, but my father was as good a man as old Davie 
 Ramsay, and as well to pass in the world, my lord; and, 
 therefore, why should you not marry me? You have done 
 me harm enough, I trow; wherefore should you not do me 
 this justice? " 
 
 " For two good reasons, Nelly. Fate put a husband on 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 421 
 
 /ou, and the King passed a wife upon me," answered Lord 
 Dalgarno. 
 
 '■Ay, my lord," said Nelly, "but they remain in Eng- 
 land, and we go to Scotland." 
 
 " Thy argument is better than thou art aware of," said 
 Lord Dalgarno. "^I have heard Scottish lawyers say the 
 matrimonial tie may be unclasped in our happy country by 
 the gentle hand of the ordinary course of law, whereas in 
 England it can only be burst by an act of Parliament. Well, 
 Xelly, we will look Into that matter; and whether we get mar- 
 ried again or no, we will at least do our best to get unmar- 
 ried." 
 
 '•' Shall we indeed, my honey-sweet lord? And then I will 
 think less about John Christie, for he will marry again, I war- 
 rant you, for he is well to pass; and I would be glad to think 
 he had somebody to take care of him, as I used to do, poor 
 loving old man! He was a kind man, though he was a score 
 of years older than I; and I hope and pray he will never let a 
 young lord cross his honest threshold again!" 
 
 Here the dame was once more much inclined to give way 
 to a passion of tears; but Lord Dalgarno conjured down the 
 emotion by sapng, with some asperity — "' I am weary of these 
 April passions, my pretty mistress, and I think you will do 
 well to preserve your tears for some more pressing occasion. 
 Who knows what turn of fortune may in a few minutes call 
 for more of them than you can render?" 
 
 *' Goodness, my lord! what mean you by such expressions? 
 John Christie, the kind heart! used to keep no secrets from 
 me, and I hope your lordship will not hide your counsel from 
 me?" 
 
 " Sit down beside me on this bank," said the nobleman; 
 '* I am bound to remain here for a short space, and if you can 
 be but silent, I should like to spend a part of it in considering 
 how far I can, on the present occasion, follow the respectable 
 example which you recommend to me." 
 
 The place at which he stopped was at that time little 
 more tlian a mound, partly surrounded by a ditch, from 
 which it derived the name of Camlet Moat. A few hewn 
 stones there were, which had escaped the fate of many others 
 that had been used in building different lodges in the forest 
 for the royal keepers. These vestiges, just sufficient to show 
 that ''here in former times the hand of man had been," 
 marked the ruins of the abode of a once illustrious but long- 
 forgotten family, the Mandevilles, Earls of Essex, to whom 
 Enfield Chase and the extensive domains adjacent had be- 
 
433 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 longed in elder days. A wild woodland prospect led the eye 
 at various points through broad and seemingly interminable 
 alleys, which, meeting at this point as at a common centre, 
 diverged from each other as they receded, and had, there- 
 fore^ been selected by Lord Dalgarno as the rendezvous for 
 the combat, which, througli the medium of Eichie Moniplies, 
 he had olfered to his injured friend. Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " He will surely come?" he said to himself. " Cowardice 
 was not wont to be his fault; at least he was bold enough in 
 the Park. Perhaps yonder churl may not have carried my 
 message? But no — he is a sturdy knave, one of those would 
 prize their master's honor above their life. Look to the pal- 
 frey, Lutin, and see thou let him not loose, and cast thy 
 falcon glance down every avenue to mark if any one comes. 
 Buckingham has undergone my challenge, but the proud 
 minion pleads the King's paltry commands for refusing to 
 answer me. If I can baffle this Glenvarloch, or slay him — i:^ 
 I can spoil him of his honor or his life, I shall go down to 
 Scotland with credit sufficient to gild over past mischances. 
 I know my dear countrymen; they never quarrel with any 
 one wlio brings them home either gold or martial glory, much 
 more if he has both gold and laurels." 
 
 As he thus reflected, and called to mind the disgrace which 
 he had suffered, as well as the causes he imagined for hating 
 Lord Glenvarloch, his countenance altered under the influence 
 of his contending emotions, to the terror of Nelly, who, sitting 
 unnoticed at his feet, and looking anxiously in his face, beheld 
 the cheek kindle, the moutli become compressed, the eye di- 
 lated, and the whole countenance express the desperate and 
 deadly resolution of one wlio awaits an instant and decisive 
 encounter with a mortal enemy. The loneliness of the place, 
 the scenery so different from that to which alone slie had been 
 accustomed, the dark and sombre air which crej)t so suddenly 
 over the countenance of her seducer, liis command imposing 
 silence upon her, and the apparent strangeness of his conduct 
 in idling away so much time without any obvious cause, when 
 a journey of such length lay before them, brought strange 
 thoughts into her weak brain. She had read of women, se- 
 duced from their matrimonial duties by sorcerers allied to the 
 hellish powers^ nay, by the Father of Evil liimself , who, after 
 conveying his victim into some desert remote from human 
 kind, exchanged tlie pleasing shape in which he gained her 
 affections for all his natural horrors. She chased this wild 
 idea away as it crowded itself upon her weak and bewildered 
 imagination; yet she might have lived to see it realized aile- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL ^ 423 
 
 gorically, if not literally, but for the accident which presently 
 followed. 
 
 The page, whose eyes were remarkably acute, at length 
 called out to his master, pointing with his finger at the same 
 time down one of the alleys, that horsemen were advancing in 
 that direction. Lord Dalgarno started up, and shading his 
 eyes with his hand, gazed eagerly down the alley; when, at the 
 same instant, he received a shot, which, grazing his hand, 
 passed right through his brain, and laid him a lifeless corpse 
 at the feet, or rather across the lap, of the unfortunate victim 
 of his profligacy. The countenance, whose varied expression 
 she had been watching for the last five minutes, was convulsed 
 for an instant, and then stiffened into rigidity forever. Three 
 rufiians rushed from the brake from which the shot had been 
 fired, ere the smoke was dispersed. One, with many impre- 
 cations, seized on the page; another on the female, upon 
 whose cries he strove by the most violent threats to impose 
 silence; while the third began to undo the burden from the 
 page's horse. But an instant rescue prevented their availing 
 themselves of the advantage they had obtained. 
 
 It may easily be supposed that Richie Moniplies, having 
 secured the assistance of the two Templars, ready enough to 
 join in anything which promised a fray, with Jin Yin to act as 
 their guide, had set off, gallantly mounted and well armed, 
 under the belief that they would reach Camlet Moat before the 
 robbers, and apprehend them in the fact. They had not calcu- 
 lated that, according to the custom of robbers in other coun- 
 tries, but contrary to that of the English highwaj-mtn of those 
 days, they meant to insure robbery by previous murder. An 
 accident also happened to delay them a little while on the road. 
 In riding through one of the glades of the forest they found a 
 man dismounted and sitting under a tree, groaning with such 
 bitterness of spirit that Lowestoffe could not forbear asking if 
 he was hurt. In answer, he said he was an unhappy man in 
 pursuit of his \niQ, who had been carried off by a villain; and 
 as he raised his countenance, the eyes of Eichie, to his great 
 astonishment, encountered the visage of John Christie. 
 
 " For the Almighty's sake, help me. Master Moniplies! "he 
 said; " I have learned my wife is but a short mile before, with 
 that black villain Lord Dalgarno." 
 
 " Have him forward by all means," said Lowestoffe — ''a 
 second Orpheus seeking his Eurydicel Have him forward; we 
 will save Lord Dalgarno's purse and ease him of his mistress. 
 Have him with us, were it but for the variety of the adven- 
 ture. I owe his lordship u grudge for rooking me. Weha^ve 
 ten minutes good." 
 
424 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 But it is dangerous to calculate closely in matters of life 
 and death. In all probability the minute or two whicli was 
 lost in mounting John Christie behind one of their party might 
 hav^ sr.ved Lord Dalgarno from his fate. Thus his criminal 
 amoiir became the indirect cause of his losing his life; and 
 thus '' our pleasant vices are made the whips to scourge us.'' 
 
 The riders arrived on the field at full gallop the moment 
 •ifter the shot was fired; and Eichie, who had his own reasons 
 for attaching himself to Colepepper, who was bustling to untie 
 the jiortmanteau from the jjage's saddle, pushed against him 
 with such violence as to overthrow him, his own horse at the 
 same time stumbling and dismounting his rider, who was none 
 of the first equestrians. The undaunted Eichie immediately 
 arose, however, and grappled with the ruffian with such good 
 will that, though a strong fellow, and though a coward now 
 rendered desperate, Moniplies got him under, wrenched a long 
 knife from his hand, dealt him a desperate stab with his own 
 weapon, and leaped on his feet; and, as the wounded man 
 struggled to follow his example, he struck him upon the head 
 with the butt-end of a musketoon, which last blow proved fatal. 
 
 "Bravo, Eichie!" cried Lowestoffe, who had himself 
 engaged at sword-point with one of the ruffians, and soon put 
 him to flight. ''Bravo! why, man, there lies sin, struck 
 down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf." 
 
 " I know not why you should upbraid me with my up- 
 bringing. Master Lowestoffe," answered Eichie, with great 
 composure; " but I can tell you the shambles is not a bad 
 place for training one to this work." 
 
 The other Temi^lar now shouted loudly to them — " If je 
 be men, come hither; here lies Lord Dalgarno, murdered!'' 
 
 Lowestoffe and Eichie ran to the spot, and the page took 
 the opportunity, finding himself now neglected on all hands, 
 to ride off in a different direction; and neither he nor the 
 considerable sum with which his horse was burdened were ever 
 heard of from that moment. 
 
 The third ruffian had not waited the attack of the 
 Templar and Jin Vin, the latter of whom had ]}nt down old 
 Christie from behind him that he might ride the lighter; and 
 the whole five now stood gazing with horror on the bloody 
 corpse of the young nobleman, and the wild sorrow of the 
 female, who tore her hair and shrieked in the most disconso- 
 late manner, until her agony was at once checked, or rather 
 received a new direction, by tlie sudden and unexpected ap- 
 pearance of her husbaud, who, fixing on lier a ooJd and 
 severe look, said, lu a tone suited to his manner — "Aj, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 425 
 
 woman! tliou takest on sadly for tlie loss of thy paramour," 
 Then looking on the bloody corpse of him from wliom he 
 had received so deep an injury, he repeated the solemn words 
 of Scripture, " ' Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I 
 will repay it/ I, whom thou hast injured, will be first to 
 render thee the decent offices due to the dead." 
 
 So saying, he covered the dead body with his cloak, and 
 then looking on it for a moment, seemed to reflect on what 
 he had next to perform. As the eye of the injured man 
 slowly passed from the body of the seducer to the partner 
 and victim of his crime, who had sunk down to his feet, 
 which she clasped without venturing to look up, his features, 
 naturally coarse and saturnine, assumed a dignity of expres- 
 sion which overawed the young Templars, and repulsed the 
 officious forwardness of Eichie Moniplies, who was at first 
 eager to have thrust in his advice and opinion. " Kneel not 
 tome, woman, " he said, "but kneel to the God thou hast 
 offended more than thou couldst 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? Vanity brought folly, 
 and folly brought sin, and sin hath brought death, his 
 original companion. Thou must needs leave duty, and 
 decency, and domestic love, to revel itgayly with the wald 
 and with the wicked ; and there thou liest, like a crushed 
 worm, writhing beside the lifeless body of thy paramour. 
 Thou hast done me much wrong — dishonored me among 
 friends — driven credit from my house, and peace from my 
 fireside. But thou wert my first and only love, and I will 
 not see thee an utter castaway, if it lies with me to prevent 
 it. Gentlemen, I render ye such thanks as a broken-hearted 
 man can give. Richard, commend me to your honorable 
 master. I added gall to the bitterness of his affliction, but 
 I was deluded. Else up, woman, and follow me." 
 
 He raised her up by the arm, while, Avith streaming eyes 
 and bitter sobs, she endeavored to express her penitence. 
 She kept her hands spread over her face, yet suffered him to 
 lead her away; and it was only as they turned around a brake 
 which concealed the scene they had left, that she turned 
 back, and casting one wild and^ hurried glance towards the 
 corpse of Dalgarno, uttered a shriek, and clinging to her 
 husband's arm, exclaimed wildly, ''Save me! — save me! 
 They have miirdered him!" 
 
 Lowestoffe Avas much moved by what he had witnessed; 
 but he was ashamed, as a town gallant, of his own unfashion- 
 
426 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 able emotion, and did a force to his feelings when he 
 exclaimed, "Ay, let them go — the kind-hearted, believing, 
 forgiving husband — the liberal, accommodating spouse. 
 what a generous creature is your true London husband! 
 Ilorus hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not. I 
 should like to see her when she hath exchanged her mask 
 and riding-beaver for her peaked hat and muffler. We will 
 visit them at Paul's Wharf, coz; it will be a convenient 
 acquaintance." 
 
 '' You had better think of catching the gypsey thief, 
 Lutin," said Richie Moniplies, " for, by my faith, he is off 
 with his master's baggage and the siller." 
 
 A keeper, with his assistants and several other persons, had 
 now come to the spot, and made hue and cry after Lutin, but 
 in vain. To their custody the Templars surrendered the dead 
 bodies, and after going through some formal investigation, 
 they returned, with Eichard and Vincent, to London, where 
 they received great applause for their gallantry. Vincent's 
 errors were easily expiated in consideration of his having been 
 the means of breaking up this band of villains; and there is 
 some reason to think that what would have diminished the 
 credit of the action in other instances rather added to it in 
 the actual circumstances, namely, that they came too late to 
 save Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 George Heriot, who suspected how matters stood with 
 Vincent, requested and obtained permission from his master 
 to send the poor young fellow on an important piece of busi- 
 ness to Paris. We are unable to trace his fate farther, but 
 believe it was prosperous, and that he entered into an advan- 
 tageous partnership with his fellow-apprentice, upon old 
 Davie Ramsay retiring from business, in consequence of his 
 daughter's marriage. That eminent antiquary. Dr. Dryas- 
 dust, is possessed of an antique watch, with a silver dial-plate, 
 the mainspring being a piece of catgut instead of a chain, 
 wiiich bears the names of " Vincent and Tunstall, memory- 
 monitors." 
 
 Master Lowestoffe failed not to vindicate his character as a 
 man of gayety by inquiring after John Christie and Dame 
 Nelly; but, greatly to his surprise, indeed to his loss, for he 
 had wagered ten pieces that he would domesticate himself in 
 the family, he found the good- will, as it was called, of the 
 shop was sold, the stock auctioned, and the late proprietor 
 and his wife gone, no one knew whither. The prevailing 
 belief was that they had emigrated to one of the new settle- 
 ments in America. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 4SSJ 
 
 Lady Dalgarno received the news of her unworthy hns- 
 band's death with a variety of emotions, among which horror 
 that he should have been cut off in the middle career of his 
 profligacy was the most prominent. Tiie incident greatly 
 deepened her melancholy, and injured her health, already 
 shaken by previous circumstances. Eepossessed of her own for- 
 tune by her husband's death, she was anxious to do justice to 
 Lord Glenvarloch by treating for the recovery of the mort- 
 gage. But the scrivener, having taken fright at the late 
 events, had left the city and absconded, so that it was impos- 
 sible to discover into whose hands the papers had now passed. 
 Eichard Moniplies was silent for his own reasons; the Tem- 
 plars, Avho had witnessed the transaction, kept the secret at 
 his request; and it was universally believed that the scrivener 
 had carried off the writings along Avith him. We may here 
 observe, that fears similar to those of Skurliewhitter freed 
 London forever from the presence of Dame Suddlechop, who 
 ended her career in the rasp-haus (viz. bridewell) of Amster- 
 dam. 
 
 The stout old Lord Huntinglen, with a haughty carriage 
 and unmoistened eye, accompanied the funeral procession of 
 his only son to its last abode; and perhaps the single tear 
 which fell at length upon the coffin was given less to the fate 
 of the individual than to the extinction of the last male of 
 his ancient race. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 Jacques. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples 
 are coming to the arlc 1 Here comes a pair of very strange beasts. 
 
 As You Like It. 
 
 The fashion of such narratives as the present changes like 
 other earthly things. Time was that the tale-teller was obliged 
 to wind up his story by a circumstantial description of the 
 wedding, bedding, and throwing the stocking, as the grand 
 catastrophe to which, through so many circumstances of doubt 
 and difficulty, he had at length happily conducted his hero 
 and heroine. Not a circumstance was then omitted, from the 
 manly ardor of the bridegroom and the modest blushes of 
 the bride to the parson^s new surplice and the silk tabinet 
 mantua of the bridesmaid. But such descriptions are now 
 discarded, for the same reason, I suppose, that public mar- 
 riages are no longer fashionable, and that, instead of calling to- 
 gether their friends to a feast and a dance, the happy couple 
 elope in a solitary post-chaise, as secretly as if they meant to 
 go to Gretna Green or to do worse. 1 am not ungrateful for 
 a change which saves an author the trouble of attempting in 
 vain to give a new color to the commonplace description of 
 such matters; but, notwithstanding, I find myself forced upon 
 it in tlie present instance, as circumstances sometimes compel 
 a stranger to make use of an old road which has been for 
 some time shut up. The experienced reader may have already 
 remarked that the last chapter was employed in sweeping out 
 of tlie way all the unnecessary and less interesting characters, 
 that I might clear the floor for a blithe bridal. 
 
 In truth, it would be unpardonable to pass over slightly 
 what so deeply interested our principal personage. King James. 
 That learned and good-humored monarch made no great figure 
 in the politics of Europe; but then, to make amends, he was 
 prodigiously busy when he could find a fair opportunity of 
 intermeddling with the private affairs of his loving subjects, 
 and the approaching marriage of Lord Glenvarloch was matter 
 of great interest to him. He had been much struck, tliat is, 
 for him, who was not very accessible to such emotions, with 
 the beauty and embarrassment of the pretty Peg-a-Ramsay, as 
 he called her, when he first saw her, and he glorified himself 
 greatly on the acuteness which he had displayed in detecting 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 429 
 
 her disguise, and in carrying through the whole inquiry which 
 took place in consequence of it. 
 
 He labored for several weeks, while the courtship was 
 in progress, with his own royal eyes, so as well-uigh to wear 
 out, he declared, a pair of her father's best barnacles, iu 
 searching through old books and documents for the purpose 
 of establishing the bride's pretensions to a noble, though re- 
 mote, descent, and thereby remove the only objection which 
 envy might conceive against the match. In his own opinion, 
 at least, he was eminently successful; for, when Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther one day, in the pi'esence-chamber, took upon 
 him to grieve bitterly for the bride's lack of pedigree, the 
 monarch cut him short with — '' Ye may save your grief for 
 your ain next occasions. Sir Mungo; for, by our royal saul, 
 we will uphauld her father, Davie Eamsay, to be a gentle- 
 man of nine descents, wliase great gudesire came of the aula 
 martial stock of the house of Dalwolsey, than whom better 
 men never did, and better never will, draw sword for king 
 and country. Heard ye never of Sir William Eamsay of 
 Dalwolsey, man, of whom John Fordoun saith, ' He was 
 hellicosissbnus, nohiUssimus?' His castle stands to witness 
 for itsell, not three miles from Dalkeith, man, and within 
 a mile of Bannockrig. Davie Eamsay came of that auld and 
 honored stock, and I trust he hath not derogated from his 
 ancestors by his present craft. They all wrought wi' steel, 
 man; only the auld knights drilled holes wi' their swords, in 
 their enemies' corselets, and he saws nicks in his brass wheels. 
 And I hope it is as honorable to give eyes to the blind as to 
 slash them out of the head of those that see; and to show us 
 how to value our time as it passes, as to fling it away in 
 drinking, brawling, spear-splintering, and such-like unchris- 
 tian doings. And you maun understand that Davie Eam- 
 say is no mechanic, but follows a liberal art, which approach- 
 eth almost to the act of creifting a living being, seeing it may 
 be said of a watch, as Claudius saith of the sphere of Ar- 
 chimedes, the Syracusan — 
 
 ♦ ' Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris, 
 Et vivuin certis motibus urget opus.' " 
 
 ^' Your Majesty had best give auld Davie a coat of arms 
 as well as a pedigree," said Sir Mungo. 
 
 "It's done or ye bade. Sir Mungo," said the King; "and 
 I trust we, who are the fountain of all earthly honor, are free 
 to spirt a few drops of it on one so near our person, without 
 offence to the kniglit of Castle Girnigo. We have already 
 
430 WAVJ^RLEY NOVELS 
 
 spoken with the learned men of the Herald's College, and we 
 propose to grant him an augmented coat of arms, being his 
 paternal coat, charged with the crown- wlieel of a watch in 
 chief, for a difference; and we purpose to add Time and 
 Eternity, for supporters, as soon as tlie Garter King-at-Arms 
 sliali be able to devise how Eternity is to be represented/' 
 
 " I would make him twice as muckle as Time," * said 
 Archie Armstrong, the court fool, who chanced to be present 
 wlien the King stated this dilemma. 
 
 "• Peace, man — ye shall be whippet," said the King, in re- 
 turn for this hint; " and you, my liege subjects of England, 
 may weel take a hint from what we have said, and not be in 
 such a hurry to laugh at our Scottish pedigrees, though they 
 be somewhat long derived and difficult to be deduced. Ye 
 see that a man of right gentle blood may, for a season, lay by 
 his gentry, and yet ken whare to find it, when he has occa- 
 sion for it. It would be as unseemly for a packman or ped- 
 dler, as ye call a travelling-merchant, whilk is a trade to which 
 our native subjects of Scotland are specially addicted, to be 
 blazing his genealogy in the faces of those to whom he sells a 
 bawbee's worth of ribbon, as it would be to him to have a 
 beaver on his head and a rapier by his side, when the pack 
 was on his shoulders. Na — na, he hings his sword on the 
 cleek, lays his beaver on the shelf, puts his pedigree into his 
 pocket, and gangs as doucely and cannily about his peddling 
 craft as if his blood was nae better than ditch-water; but let 
 our peddler be transformed, as I have kenn'd it happen mail 
 than ance, into a bein thriving merchant, then ye shall have 
 a transformation, my lords. 
 
 In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas. 
 
 Out he pulls his pedigree, on he buckles his sword, gives his 
 beaver a brush, and cocks it in the face of all creation. We 
 mention these things at the mair length, because we would 
 have yon all to know that it is not without due consideration 
 of the circumstances of all parties that we design, in a small 
 and private way, to honor with our own royal presence the 
 marriage of Lord Glenvarloch with Margaret Eanisay, daugh- 
 ter and heiress of David Eamsay, our horologer, and a cadet 
 only thrice removed from the ancient house of Dalwolsey. 
 We are grieved that we cannot have the presence of the noble 
 chief of that house at the ceremony; but where there is honor 
 
 * Chaucer says, there is nothing new but what it has been old. The reader has 
 here the original of an anecdote which has since been fathered on a ScotUsli chiei 
 of our own time. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 431 
 
 to be won abroad, the Lord Dalwolsey is seldom to be found 
 at home. Sic fiiit, est, et erit. Jingling Geordie, as ye 
 stand to the cost of the marriage-feast, we look for good 
 cheer/* 
 
 Heriot bowed, as in duty bound. In fact, the King, who 
 was a great politician about trifles, had manoeuvred greatly 
 on this occasion, and had contrived to get the Prince and 
 Buckingham dispatched on an expedition to jS'ewmarket, in 
 order that he miglit find an opportunity in their absence of 
 indulging himself in his own gossiping, " coshering''' habits, 
 whicli were distasteful to Charles, whose temper inclined to 
 formality, and with which even the favorite, of late, had not 
 thought it worth while to seem to sympathize. 
 
 When the levee was dismissed, Sir Mungo Malagrowther 
 seized upon the worthy citizen in the courtyard of the palace, 
 and detained him, in spite of all his efforts, for the purpose 
 of subjecting him to the following scrutiny: 
 
 " This is a sair job on you. Master George — the King 
 must have had little consideration — this will cost you a bonny 
 penny, this wedding-dinner? *' 
 
 " It will not break me. Sir Mungo," answered Heriot; 
 " the King hath a right to see the table which his bounty 
 hath supplied for years well covered for a single day." 
 
 "■ Vera true — vera true; we'll have a' to pay, I doubt, less 
 or mair; a sort of penny- Avedding* it will prove, where all 
 men contribute to the young folks' maintenance, that they 
 may not have just four bare legs in a bed thegether. What do 
 you purpose to give. Master George? we begin with the city 
 when money is in question." 
 
 " Only a trifle, Sir Mungo: I give my goddaughter the 
 marriage-ring. It is a curious jewel — I bought it in Italy; it 
 belonged to Cosmo de Medici. The bride will not need my 
 help: she has an estate which belonged to her maternal 
 grandfather." 
 
 "The auld soap-boiler," said Sir Mungo; "it will need 
 some of his suds to scour the blot out of the Glenvarloch 
 shield. I have heard that estate was no great things." 
 
 " It is as good as some posts at court. Sir Mungo, which 
 are coveted by persons of high quality," replied George 
 Heriot. 
 
 "Court favor, said ye! — court favor. Master Heriot!" 
 replied Sir Mungo, choosing then to use his malady of mis- 
 apprehension. " Moonshine in water, poor thing, if that ia 
 
 •See Note 44. 
 
482 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 all she is to be tocliered with. I am truly solicitous about 
 them." 
 
 " I will let you into a secret," said the citizen, " which 
 will relieve your tender anxiety. The dowager Lady Dal- 
 garno gives a competent fortune to the bride, and settles the 
 rest of her estate upon her nephew the bridegroom." 
 
 "Ay, say ye sae?" said Sir Mungo, "just to show her 
 regard to her husband that is in the tomb; lucky that her 
 nephew did not send liim tliere. It was a strange story, that 
 death of poor Lord Dalgarno; some folk think the poor gen- 
 tleman had much wrong. Little good comes of marrying the 
 daugliter of the liouse you are at feud with; indeed, it was 
 less poor Dulgarno's fault tlian theirs tliat forced the match 
 on him. But I am glad the young folk are to have some- 
 thing to live on, come how it like, whether by charity or 
 inheritance. But if the Lady Dalgarno were to sell all she 
 has, even to her very wylie-coat, she canna gie them back the 
 fair Castle of Glenvarloch: that is lost and gane — lost and 
 gane." 
 
 "It is but too true," said George Heriot; "we cannot 
 discover what has become of the villain Andrew Skurliewhit- 
 ter, or what Lord Dalgarno has done with the mortgage." 
 
 "Assigned it away to some one, that his wife might not 
 get it after he was gane; it would have disturbed him in his 
 grave to think Glenvarloch should get that land back again," 
 said Sir Mungo; "depend on it, he will have ta'en sure 
 measures to keep that noble lordship out of her gripe or her 
 nevoy's either." 
 
 " Indeed, it is but too probable. Sir Mungo," said Master 
 Heriot; "but, as I am obliged to go and look after many 
 things in consequence of this ceremony, I must leave you to 
 comfort yourself with the reflection." 
 
 '' The bride-day, you say, is to be on the thirtieth of the 
 instant month?" said Sir Mungo, hallooing after the citizen. 
 "I will be with you in the hour of cause." 
 
 " The King invites the guests," said George Heriot, with' 
 out turning back. 
 
 "The base-born, ill-bred mechanic!" soliloquized Sir 
 Mungo, "if it were not the odd score of pounds he lent me 
 last week, I would teach him how to bear himself to a man of 
 quality! But I will beat the bridal banquet in spite of him." 
 
 Sir Mungo contrived to get invited, or commanded, to 
 attend on the bridal accordingly, at which there were but 
 few persons present; for James, on such occasions, preferred 
 a snug privacy, which gave him liberty to lay aside the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL 433 
 
 encumbrance, as he felt it to be, of liis regal dignity. The 
 company was very small, and indeed there were at least two 
 persons absent whose presence might have been expected. 
 The first of these was the Lady Dalgarno, the state of whose 
 health, as well as the recent death of her husband, precluded 
 her attendance on the ceremony. The other absentee was 
 Eichie Moniplies, whose conduct for some time past had 
 been extremely mysterious. Eegulating his attendance on 
 Lord Glenvarloch entirely according to his own will and 
 pleasure, he had, ever since the rencontre in Enfield Chase, 
 appeared regularly at his bedside in the morning to assist 
 him to dress, and at his wardrobe in the evening. The rest 
 of the day he disposed of at his own pleasure, without control 
 from his lord,^ who had now a complete establishment of 
 attendants. Yet he was somewhat curious to know how the 
 fellow disposed of so much of his time; but on this subject 
 Eichie showed no desire to be communicative. 
 
 On the mornijig of the bridal day, Eichie was particularly 
 attentive in doing all a valet-de-cliamhre could, so as to set off 
 to advantage the very handsome figure of his master; and 
 when he had arranged his dress with the utmost exactness, 
 and put to his long curled locks what he called •' the finish- 
 ing touch of the re:lding-kaim," he gravely kneeled down, 
 kissed his hand, and bade him farewell, saying, that he hum- 
 bly craved leave to discharge himself of his lordship's ser- 
 vice. 
 
 "Why, what humor is this?" said Lord Glenvarloch; "if 
 you mean to discharge yourself of my service, Eichie, I sup- 
 pose you intend to enter my wife's?" 
 
 "I wish her good ladyship that shall soon be, and your 
 good lordship, the blessings of as good a servant as myself, 
 in Heaven's good time," said Eichie; "but fate hath so 
 ordained it that I can henceforth only be your servant in the 
 way of friendly courtesy." 
 
 " Well, Eichie," said the young lord, "if you are tired of 
 service, Ave will seek some better provision for you; but you 
 will wait on me to the church, and partake of the bridal 
 dinner?" 
 
 " Under favor, my lord," answered Eichie, " I must remind 
 you of our covenant, having presently some pressing business 
 of mine own, whilk will detain me during the ceremony; but 
 I will not fail to prie Master George's good cheer, in respect 
 he has made very costly fare, whilk it would be unthankful 
 not to partake of." 
 
 " Do as you list," answered Lord Glenyarloch; and, having 
 
434 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 bestowed a passing tliouglit on the wliimsical find pragmatical 
 disposition of his follower, he dismissed the subject for others 
 better suited to the day. 
 
 The reader must fancy the scattered flowers which strewed 
 the path of the happy coujjle to church — the loud music which 
 accompanied the procession — the marriage service performed 
 by a bishop — the King, who met them at St. Paul's, giving 
 away the bride, to the great relief of her father, who had thu^ 
 time, during the ceremony, to calculate the just quotient to be 
 laid on the pinion of report in a timepiece which he was then 
 putting together. 
 
 When the ceremony was finished, the company were trans- 
 ported in the royal carriages to George Heriot's, where a 
 splendid collation was provided for the marriage guests in the 
 Foljambe apartments. The King no sooner found himself in 
 this snug retreat than, casting from him his sword and belt 
 with such haste as if they burnt his fingers, and flinging his 
 plumed hat on the table, as who should say, " Lie there, author- 
 ity! '^ he swallowed a hearty cup of wine to the happiness of 
 the married couple, and began to amble about the room, mump- 
 ing, laughing, and cracking jests, neither the wittiest nor the 
 most delicate, but accompanied and applauded by shouts of 
 his own mirth, in order to encourage that of the company. 
 While his Majesty was in the midst of this gay humor, and a 
 call to the banquet was anxiously expected, a servant whis- 
 pered Master Heriot forth of the apartment. When he re-en- 
 tered, he walked up to the King, and, in his turn, whispered 
 something, at which James started. 
 
 " He is not wanting his siller? '' said the King, shortly and 
 sharply. 
 
 " By no means, my liege," answered Heriot. '' It is a sub- 
 ject he states himself as quite indifferent about, so long as it 
 can pleasure your Majesty." 
 
 "Body of us, man!" said the King, ''it is the speech of 
 a true man and a loving subject, and we will grace him 
 accordingly; what though he be but a carle — a twopenny cat 
 may look at a king. Swith man! have him — pandite fores. 
 Moniplies! They should have called the chield Monypennies, 
 though I sail warrant you English think we have not such a 
 name in Scotland." 
 
 " It is an ancient and honorable stock, the Monypennies," 
 said Sir Mungo Malagrowther; "the only loss is, there are 
 sae few of the name." 
 
 " The family seems to increase among your countrymen. 
 Sir Mungo," said Master Lowestoffe, whom Lord Glenvar- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 435 
 
 loch had invited to be present, " since his Majesty's happy 
 accession brought so many of you here." 
 
 " Right, sir — right/*' said Sir Mungo, nodding and look- 
 ing at George Heriot; "there have some of ourselves been 
 the better of tliat great blessing to the English nation." 
 
 As he spoke, the door flew open, and in entered, to the 
 astonishment of Lord Glenvarloch. his late serving-man, 
 Richie Moniplies, now sumptuously, nay, gorgeously, attired 
 in a superb brocaded suit, and leading in his hand the tall, 
 thin, withered, somewhat distorted form of Martha Trap- 
 bois, arrayed in a complete dress of black velvet, which suited 
 so strangely with the pallid and severe melancholy of her 
 countenance, that the King himself exclaimed in some per- 
 turbation, "What the deil has the fallow brought us here? 
 Body of our regal selves ! it is a corpse that lias run off with 
 the mort-cloth!" 
 
 "May I sifflicate your Majesty to be gracious unto her?" 
 said Richie; " being that she is, in respect of this morn- 
 ing's wark, my ain wedded wife, Mrs. Martha Moniplies by 
 name." 
 
 "Saul of our body, man I but she looks wondrous grim,^' 
 answered King James. "Art thou sure she has not been in 
 her time maid of honor to Queen Mary, our kinswoman, of 
 red-hot memory ? " 
 
 "I am sure, an it like your Majesty, that she has 
 brought me fifty thousand pounds of good siller, and better; 
 and that has enabled me to pleasure your Majesty and other 
 folk." ^ ^ ^ 
 
 "Ye need have said naething about that, man," said the 
 King; "'we ken our obligations in that sma* matter, and we 
 are glad this rudas spouse of thine hath bestowed her treasure 
 on ane wha kens to put it to the profit of his King and coun- 
 try. But how the deil did ye come by her, man?" 
 
 "In the auld Scottish fashion, my liege. She is the cap- 
 tive of my bow and my spear," answered Moniplies. " There 
 was a convention that she should wed me when I avenged 
 her father's death; so I slew and took possession." 
 
 " It is the daughter of old Trapbois, who has been missed 
 so long," said Lowestoile. " Where the devil could you mew 
 her up so closely, friend Richie?" 
 
 " Master Richard, if it be your will," answered Richie ; 
 " or Master Richard Moniplies, if yon like it better. For 
 mewing of her up, I found her a shelter, in all honor and 
 safety, under the roof of an honest countryman of my own; 
 and for secrecy, it was a point of prudence, when wantons 
 like yoa were abroad. Master Lowestoffe.'' 
 
486 WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 There was a laugh at Richie's raagnanimou'-< (epiy, on the 
 part of every one but his bride, who made to hira a signal of 
 impatience, and said, with her usual brevity and sternness, 
 "Peace — peace — I pray you, peace. Let us do that which 
 we came for." So saying, she took out a bundle of parch- 
 ments, and delivering them to Lord Glenvarloch, she said 
 aloud — " I take this royal presence, and all here, to witness^ 
 that I restore the ransomed lordship of Glenvarloch to tht 
 right owner, as free as ever it was held by any of his ances- 
 tors.'' 
 
 ''I witnessed the redemption of the mortgage," said 
 Lowestoffe; "but I little dreamt by whom it had been re- 
 deemed." 
 
 "No need ye should," said Richie; "there would have 
 been small wisdom in crying roast-meat." 
 
 "Peace," said his bride, "once more. This paper," she 
 continued, delivering another to Lord Glenvarloch, " is also 
 your property; take it, but spare me the question how it 
 came into my custody." 
 
 The King had bustled forward beside Lord Glenvarloch, 
 and fixing an eager eye on the writing, exclaimed — " Body 
 of ourselves, it is our royal sign-manual for the money which 
 was so long out of sight f How came you by it, Mrs. Bride?" 
 
 "It is a secret," said Martha, dryly. 
 
 "A secret which my tongue shall never utter," said 
 Richie, resolutely, " unless the King commands me on my 
 allegiance." 
 
 " I do — I do command you," said James, trembling and 
 stammering with the impatient curiosity of a gossip; while 
 Sir Mungo, with more malicious anxiety to get at the bottom 
 of the mystery, stooped his long thin form forward like a 
 bent fishing-rod, raised his thin gray locks from his ear, and 
 curved his hand behind it to collect every vibration of the ex- 
 pected intelligence. Martha, in the mean time, frowned most 
 ominously on Richie, who went on undauntedly to inform the 
 King, "That his- deceased father-in-law, a good careful man 
 in the main, had a touch of worldly wisdom about him, that 
 at times marred the uprightness of his walk; he liked to dab- 
 ble among his neighbor's gear, and some of it would at times 
 stick to his fingers in the handling." 
 
 " For shame, man — for shame ! " said Martha: " since the 
 infamy of the deed must be told, he it at least briefly. Yes, 
 my lord," she added, addressing Glenvarloch, "the piece of 
 gold was not the sole bait which brought the miserable old 
 mai) to jour chamber that dreadful night: his object, and he 
 
TEE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 487 
 
 accomplished it, was to purloin this paper. The wretched 
 scrivener was with him that morning, and, I doubt not, urged 
 th: doting old man to tliisvillany, to offer another bar to the 
 :>-iiSom of your estate. If there was a yet more powerful agent 
 gt the bottom of the conspiracy, God forgive it to him at this 
 moment, for he is now where the crime must be answered!" 
 
 " Amen ! " said Lord Glenvarloch, and it was echoed by all 
 present. 
 
 ** For my father," continued she, with her stern features 
 twitched by an involuntary and convulsive movement, "his 
 guilt and folly cost him his life; and my belief is constant, 
 that the wretch who counselled him that morning to purloin 
 the paper left open the window for the entrance of the mur- 
 derers." 
 
 Everybody was silent for an instant; the King was first to 
 speak, commanding search instantly to be made for the guilty 
 scrivener. "I, lictor," he concluded, " coUiga manus, caput 
 obnuhito, infelici suspendite arhori." 
 
 Lowestone answered with due respect, that the scrivener 
 had absconded at the time of Lord Dalgarno's murder, and 
 had not been heard of since. 
 
 " Let him be sought for," said the King. "And now let 
 us change the discourse; these stories make one's very blood 
 grew, and are altogether unfit for bridal festivity. Hymen, 
 Hymenee ! " added he, snapping his fingers. " Lord Glen- 
 varloch, what say you to Mistress Moniplies, this bonny 
 bride, that has brought you back your father's estate on your 
 bridal day ? " 
 
 " Let him say nothing, my liege," said Martha; " that will 
 best suit his feelings and mine." 
 
 " There is redemption-money, at the least, to be repaid," 
 said Lord Glenvarloch; " in that I cannot remain debtor." 
 
 " We will speak of it hereafter." said Martha; ''7ny debtor 
 you cannot be." And she shut her mouth as if determined 
 to say nothing more on the subject. 
 
 Sir Mungo, however, resolved not to part with the topic, 
 and availing himself of the freedom of the moment, said to 
 Richie — " A queer story that of your father-in-law, honest 
 man; methinksyour bride thanked you little for ripping it 
 up." 
 
 " I make it a rule. Sir Mungo," replied Richie, " always 
 to speak any evil I know about my family myself, having ob- 
 served, that if I do not, it is sure to be told by ither folks." 
 
 " But, Richie," said Sir Mungo, " it seems to me that this 
 bride of vours is like to be master and mair in the conjugal 
 
 gttee«>. 
 
438 WAVEBLEY NOVELS 
 
 " If she abides by words. Sir Mungo/' answered Richie, 
 "I thank Heaven I can be as deaf as any one; and if she 
 comes to dunts, I have twa hands to paik her with." 
 
 " VYeel said, Richie, again,'' said the King; "yon iiave 
 gotten it on baith haffits. Sir Mnngo. Troth, Mistress Bride, 
 for a fule, your gudeman has a pretty turn of wit." 
 
 " There are fools, sire," replied she, " who have wit, and 
 fools who have courage — ay, and fools who have learning 
 and are great fools notwithstanding. I chose this man 
 because he was my protector when I was desolate, and neithe_^ 
 for his wit nor his wisdom. He is truly honest, and has a 
 heiirt and hand that make amends for some folly. Since I 
 was condemned to seek a protector through the world, which 
 is to me a wilderness, I may thank God that I have come by 
 no worse." 
 
 " And that is sae sensibly said," replied the King, " that, 
 by my saul, I'll try whether I canna make him better. Kneel 
 down, Richie; somebody lend me a rapier — yonrs, Mr. Lang- 
 staff — that's a brave name for a lawyer ! Ye need not flash 
 it out that gate. Templar fashion, as if ye were about to pinV 
 abailifE!" 
 
 He took the drawn sword, and with averted eyes, for i^ 
 was a sight he loved not to look on, endeavored to lay it on 
 Richie's shoulder, bnt nearly stuck it into his eye. Richie, 
 starting back, attempted to rise, bnt was held down by Lowe- 
 stoffe, while Sir Mungo guiding the royal weapon, the honor- 
 bestowing blow was given and received. " Surge, cai^nifex. 
 Rise up. Sir Richard Moniplies of Castle Collop! And. my 
 lords and lieges, let us all to our dinner, for the cock-a-leekie 
 is cooling,'* 
 
J>J^OTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 Note 1. — Geokge Heriot's Hospital, p. vii 
 
 After Heriot's death in 1624, the site originally designed for the hospital 
 at the foot of G-ray's Clooe, Covvgate, not far fi'oiu the old mint, consisted of 
 houses, which belonged to Heriot, and which he bequeathed to his executors 
 for that purpose. In June, 1627, when Dr. Balcauquall, Dean of Rochester, 
 came to Edinburgh to make arrangements for carrying Heriot's intentions 
 into effect, of foun liug " so great a work," it was concluded thatthissite was 
 quite ineligible ; auJ, tortunately, the provost and council agreed to transfer 
 certain acres, which they had recently purchased, known as the High Riggs, 
 to the south of the Grassmarket, for the proposed building, and William 
 Wallace, the king's master-mason, was appointed to superintend the work. 
 On the 1st of July, 1628, after a sermon, the ground-stone was laid. Wallace 
 did not lire to complete the bull iing, having died in October, 1631. That the 
 presentquad.-angular building w is actually designed byhini is clear from the 
 minutes of the Governors, and the various items of the treasurer's accounts, 
 from the day when the usual drink-money was paid for laying the founda- 
 tion to Wallace and his workmen, with the sums they received from week 
 to week. A good deal of useless discussion has taken place in regard to the 
 architect: 1 Dean Balcanquall on this head is said to have brought with 
 him a design by Inigo Jones ; 2, the dean himself has been named, he having 
 furnished, not the pattern of the building, but the statutes, in 1627, for the 
 government of the hospital ; and 3, William Aytoun. junior, appointed 
 master-mason as successor to Wallace, 1631-32, has also been lauded, but 
 without the slightest evidence in either of these cases to deprive Wallace of 
 the honor. The governors voted a sum to Wallace's widow, in consideration 
 of his extraordinary pains at the beginning thereof, " upon the Modell, 
 A\D Frame thairof." Aytoun was likewise expre.ssly enjoined "to prose- 
 cute and follow forth the Modell, Frame, axd Bijilding of the said 
 Wark as the same is already begun." Aytoun, who dieil in 1640, was suc- 
 ceeded as ma-ster-mason by John Mylne, but the want of funds prevented 
 the hospital being completed with a handsome spire, as exhibited in an old 
 engraving about 1646, while the buiLling was still in progress. See the Rev. 
 Dr. Steven's Historii of the Hospital, edited by Dr. Bedford, 1S59, and 
 extracts in a paper, " Who was the Architect of Heriot's Hospital ?" in the 
 Transactions of the Architectural Institute of Scotland, sess. 1851-52, 
 p. 13 (Laing). 
 
 Note 2. — Debauchery of the Period, p. xi 
 
 Harrington's Nugce Antiqua;, vol. ii., pp. 129, 130 [ed. 1779]. For the 
 gross debauchery of the period, too much encouraged by the example of the 
 monarch, who was, in other respects, neither without talent nor a good- 
 natured dispositioir, see Winwood's Mpniorials, Howel's Letters and other 
 memorials of the time ; but particularly consult the Private Letters and 
 
440 NOTES 
 
 Correspondence of Steenie, alias Buckingham, with his reverend Dad and 
 Gossip, King James, which abound with the grossest as well as the most 
 childish language. The learned Mr. D'Israeli, in an attempt to vindicate the 
 character of James, has only succeeded in obtaining for himself the character 
 of a ski^^"^ and ingenious advocate, without much advantage to his royal 
 
 Note 3. — Alsatian Characters, p. xii 
 
 " Cheatly, a rascal, who, by reason of debts, dares not stir out of White- 
 friars, but there inveigles young heirs in tail, and helps them to goods and 
 money upon great disadvantages, is bound for them, and shares with them 
 till he undoes them. A lewd, impudent, debauched fellow, very expert in 
 the cant about the town. 
 
 " Shamivell, cousin to the Belfonds, an heir, who, being ruined by Cheatly, 
 is made a decoy-duck for others, not daring to stir out of Alsatia, where he 
 lives. Is bound with Cheatly for heirs, and lives upon them a dissolute, 
 debauched life. 
 
 " Captain Hackuin, a block-headed bully of Alsatia, a cowardly, impu- 
 dent, blustering fellow, formerly a sergeant in Flanders, ran from his colors, 
 retreated into Whitefriars for a very small debt, where by the Alsatians he 
 is dubbed a captain, marries one that lets lodgings, sells cherry -brandy, and 
 is a bawd. 
 
 '■'■ Scrapeall, a hypocritical, repeating, praying, psalm-singing, precise 
 fellow, pretending to great piety ; a godly knave, who joins with Cheatly, 
 and supplies young heirs with goods and money." — Dramatis Personce to 
 the Squire of Alsatia, Shadwell's Works, vol. iv. 
 
 Note 4. — David Ramsay, p. 2 
 
 David Ramsay, watchmaker and horologer to James I. , was a real person, 
 though the Author has taken the liberty of pressing him into the service of 
 fiction. Although his profession led him to cultivate the exact sciences, like 
 many of this period, he mingled them with pursuits which were mystical and 
 fantastic. The truth was, that the boundaries between truth and falsehood 
 in mathematics, astronomy, and similar pursuits were not exactly known, 
 and there existed a sort of tei-ra incogniia between them, in which the wisest 
 men bewildered themselves. David Ramsay risked his money on the success 
 of the vaticinations which his researches led him to form, since ha sold clocks 
 and watches under condition that their value should not become payable till 
 King James was crowned in the Pope's chair at Rome. Such wagers were 
 common in that day, as may be seen by looking at Jonson's Every Man Out 
 of His Hmnour. 
 
 David Ramsay was also an actor in another singular scene, in which the 
 notorious astrologer Lilly was a performer, and had no small expectation on 
 the occasion, since he brought with him a half-quartern sack to put the treas- 
 ure in. 
 
 David Ramsay, his Majesty's clock-maker, had been informed that there was a 
 great quantity of treasure buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey. He acquaints 
 Dean Williams therewith, who was also then Bishop of Lincoln. The dean gave him 
 hberty to search after it, with this proviso, that if any was discovered, his church 
 should have a share of it. Davy Ramsay finds out one John Scott, who pretended 
 the use of the Mosaical rods,* to assist him herein. I was desired to join with him, 
 unto which I consented. One winter's night, Davj' Ramsay, with several gentlemen, 
 myself, and Scott, entered the cloisters. We played the hazel rod round about the 
 cloister. Upon the west side of the cloisters the rods ttu-ned one over another, an 
 argument that the treasure was there. The labourers digged at least six foot deep, 
 
 * The same now called, I believe, the divining-rod, and apphed to the discovery 
 of water not obvious to the eye. 
 
NOTES 441 
 
 and then we met with a coffin ; but [which], in regard it was not heavy, we did not 
 open, which we afterwards much repente i. 
 
 From the cloisters we went into the abljej' church, where, upon a sudden (there 
 being no wind wlien we begani, so fierce, so high, so blustering and loud a wind did 
 rise, that we verily believed the west end of the church would haVe fallen upon us. 
 Our rods would not move at all ; ths candles and torches, all but one, were extin- 
 guished, or burned very dimly. John Scott, my partner, was amazed, looked pale, 
 knew nut what to think or do. until I gave directions and command to dismiss the 
 daemons ; which, when done, all was quiet again. au<l each man returned unto his 
 lodging late, about twelve o'clock at night. I could never since be induced to join 
 with any in such like actions. 
 
 The true miscarriage of the business was by reason of so many people bemg 
 present at the operation ; for there was above thirty, some laughing, others deriding 
 us ; so that, if we had not dismissed the daemons. I believe most part of the abbey 
 church had been blown down. Secrecy and intelligent operators, with a strong con- 
 fuletice and knowledtre of what they are doing, are best for tMs work.— Lilly's Life 
 and Times, pp. 32, 32 [ed. 1715]. 
 
 David Ramsay had a son called William Ramsay, who appears to have 
 possessed all his father's credulity. He became an astrologer, and in 1651-52 
 published Vox Stellar 'im, an Introduction to the Judgment of Eclipse:^ and 
 the Annual Revolutions of the World. The edition of lbo2 is inscribed to 
 his father. It would appear, as indeed it might be argued from his mode of 
 dispising of his goods, that the old horologer had omitted to make hay while 
 the suu sho le ; for his son, in his dedication, has this exception to the paternal 
 virtues : " It's true your carelessness in laying up while the sun shone for the 
 tempests of a stormy day hath given occasion to some inferior-spirited people 
 not to value you according to what you are by nature and in yourself, for such 
 look not to a man longer than he is'in prosperity, esteeming none but for their 
 wealth, not wisdom, power, nor virtue." From these expressions it is to be 
 apprehemled that while old David Ramsay, a fdllower of the Stuarts, sank 
 under the Parliamentary government, his son, "William, had advanced from 
 being a dupe to astrology to the dignity of being himself a cheat. 
 
 Note 5. — George Heriot, p. 23 
 
 This excellent person was but little known by his actions when alive, but 
 we may well use, in this particular, the striking phrase of Scripture, " that 
 being dead he yet speaketh" We have already mentioned, in the Introduc- 
 tion, the splendid charity of which he was the founder; the few notices of his 
 personal history are slight and meagre. 
 
 George Heriot was bom at Trabroun, in the parish of Gladsmuir; he was 
 the eMest son of a goldsmith in Edinburgh, descended from a family of 
 some consequence in East Lothian. His father enjoyed the confidence of his 
 fellow-citizens, and was their representative in Parliament. He was, be- 
 sides, one of the deputies sent by the inhabitants of the city to propitiate the 
 King, when he had left Edinburgh abruptly, after the riot of 17th Decem- 
 ber, 15'.)6. 
 
 George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith, 
 then peculiarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. 
 He enjoyed the favor and protecticjn of James, and of his consort, Anne of 
 Denmark. He married, for his first wife, a maiden of his own rank named 
 Christian Mar joribanks, daughter of a respectable burgess. This was in 1586. 
 He was afterwards named jeweller to the Queen, whose account to him for a 
 space of ten years amounted to nearly £40,000. George Heriot, having lost 
 his wife, connected himself with the distinguished house of Rosebery, by 
 marrying a daughter of James Primrose, clerk to the privy council. Of this 
 lady he was deprived by her dying in childbirth in lt;i2, before attaining her 
 twenty-first year. A.fter a life spent in honorable and successful industry, 
 George Heriot died in London, to which city he had followed his royal 
 master, on the 12th February, 1(;24, at the age of sixty-one years. His pic- 
 ture (copied by ScougaU from a lost original) , in which he is represented in 
 
443 NOTES ' -^ 
 
 the prime of life, is thus described: "His fair hair that overshades the 
 thoughtful brow and calm calculating eye, with the cast of humor on the 
 lower part of the countenance, are all indicative of the genuine Scottish 
 character, and well distinguish a person fitted to move steadily and wisely 
 through the world, with a strength of resolution to insure success and a dis- 
 position to enjoy it." — Historical and DescrijMve Account of HerioVs Hos- 
 pital, with a Memoir of the Founder, by Messrs. James and John Johnstone. 
 Edinburgh, 1827. 
 
 I may add, as everything concerning George Heriot is interesting, that 
 his second wife, Alison Primrose, was interred in St. Gregory's church, from 
 the register of which parish the Rev. Mr. Barham, rector, has, in the kindest 
 manner, sent me the following extract: " Mrs. Alison, the wife of Mr. George 
 Heriot, gentleman, 20th April, 1612." St. Gregory's, before the Great Fire 
 of London whii-h consumed the cathedral, formed one of the towers of old 
 St. Paul's, and occupied the space of ground now filled by Queen Anne's 
 statue. In the south aisle of the choir Mrs. Heriot reposed under a handsome 
 monument, bearing the following inscription: 
 
 " Sanctissimoe et charissiniEe conjugi, Alison.^; Heriot, Jacobi Primrosii, 
 RegifB Majestatis in Sanctiori Concilio Regni Scotice Amanuensis, filise, femi- 
 UcB omnibus tum animi tum corporis dotibtis ac pio cultu instructissimae, 
 moestissimus ipsius maritus Georgius Heriot, armiger, Regis, Reginae, 
 Principum Henrici et Carol! Gemmarius, bene merenti, non sine lachrymis, 
 hoc Monumentum pie posuit. 
 
 " Obiit Mensis Aprilis die 16, anno salut. mdcxii, aetatis 20, in ipso flor© 
 juventa3, et mihi, parentibus, amicis tristissimum sui desiderium reliquit. 
 
 Hie Alicis Primrosa 
 
 Jacet crudo obruta fate, 
 
 Intempestivas 
 
 Ut rosa passa manus. 
 
 Nondum bis denos 
 
 Annoi'um impleverat orbes, 
 
 Pulchra, pudica, 
 
 Patrisdeliciumatq: viri: 
 
 Quum gravida, heu ! nunquam 
 
 Mater, discessit, et inde 
 
 Cura doloi-q: patri, 
 
 Cura dolorq : viro. 
 
 Non sublata tamen, 
 
 Tantum translata, recessit; 
 
 Nunc Rosa prima Poli 
 
 Quae fuit ante soli." 
 
 The loss of a young, beautiful, and amiable partner at a period so interest- 
 ing was the probable reason of her husband devoting his fortune to a chari- 
 table institution. The epitaph occurs in Strype's edition of Stow's Survey of 
 London, Bookiii., p. 2^. 
 
 Note 6. — "Counterblast," p. 25 
 
 A Coimterhlast to Tobacco is included in theworksof King James, Lond., 
 1616, published by James Olontague), Bishop of Winchester. In the Bishop's 
 Latin translation of the King's Works, Lond. , 1619, the tract has this pedantic 
 title, Misocapnus, sive de Abiisu Tobacci, Lusus Regius (Laing). 
 
 Note 7. — James's Love of Flattery, p. 33 
 
 I am certain this prudential advice is not original on Mr. Linklater's part, 
 but I am not at present able to produce my authiirity. I think it amounted 
 
NOTES 443 
 
 to this, that James flung down a petition presented by some supplicant who 
 paid no compliments to his horse and expressed no admiration at the splendor 
 of his furniture, saying, -'ahall a king cumber himself about tlie petition 
 of a beggar, while the beggar disregards the king's splendor ? " It is, I think, 
 Sir John Harrington who recommends, as a sure mode to the king's favor, 
 to praise the paces of the royal palfrey. 
 
 Note 8.— Proclamation against the Scots, p. 35 
 
 The English agreed in nothing more unanimously than in censuring 
 James on account of the beggarly rabble which noc only attended the King 
 "at his coming first out of Scotland, but," says Osborne, "through his 
 whole reign, like a fluent spring, were found still crossing the river of 
 Tweed." Yet it is certain, from the number of proclamatioas published by 
 the privy council in Scotland, and bearing marks of the King's own diction, 
 that be was sensible of the whole inconvenien -es and unpopularity attending 
 the importunate crowd of disrespectable suitors, and as desirous to get rid 
 of them as his Southern subjects could be. But it was in vain that his 
 Majesty argued with his Scottish subjects on the disrespect tliey were brmg- 
 ing ou their native country and sovereign, by causing the English to suppose 
 there were no well-nurtured or independent gentry in Scotland, they who 
 presented themselves being, in the opinion and conceit of ail beholders, " but 
 idle rascals, and poor miserable bodies." It was even in vain that the vessels 
 which brought up this unwelcome cargo of petitioners were threatened with 
 fine and confiscation: the undaunted suitors continued to press forward, 
 and as one of the proclamations says, many of them under pretence of 
 requiring payment of " auld debts due to them by the King," which, it is 
 observed with great naivett^, "is, of all kinds of importunity, most unpleas- 
 iug to his Majesty." The expressions in the text are selected from these 
 curious proclamations. 
 
 Note 9.— Gill's Commentary, p. 51 
 
 A biblical commentary by Gill, which (if the Author's memory serves 
 him) occupies between five and six hundred printed quarto pages, and must 
 therefore have filled more pages of manuscript than the number mentioned 
 in the text, has this quatrain at the end of the volume — 
 
 With one good pen I wrote this book. 
 
 Made of a gray goose quill; 
 A pen it was when it I took, 
 
 And a pen I leave it still. 
 
 Note 10.— Whitehall, p. 52 
 
 "Whitehall, originally the residence of the Archbishops of York, was, on 
 the faU of Wolsey, appropriated by King Henry VIII., who employed Hol- 
 bein to make several additions to the building. 
 
 A disastrous fire, however, in 1(591, and another six years later, consumed 
 all but the banque ting-house {Laing). 
 
 Note 11.— King Jambs, p. 55 
 
 The dress of this monarch, together with his personal appearance, is thus 
 described by a contemporary : 
 
 He was of a middle stature, more corpulent through [i.e. by means of] his clothes 
 than in hia body, yet fat enough. ... His legs were very weak, having had, as 
 
444 NOTES 
 
 » 
 
 was thought, some foul play in his j'outh, or rather before he was born, that he was 
 not able to stand at seven years of age. That weakness made him ever leaning ou 
 other men"s shoulders. His walk was ever circular; his fingers ever in tliat walk 
 
 flddlingabout [a part of dress now laid aside]. . . . He would make a great 
 
 deal too bold with God in his passion, both in cursing and swearing, and on strain 
 higher verging on blasphemy ; but would in his better temper say, he hoped God 
 would not impute them as sius, and lay them to his charge, seeing they proceeded 
 from passion. He had need of great assurance, rather than hopes, that would 
 make daily so bold with God. — Dalzell's Sketches of Scottish History, pp. 84-87. 
 
 Note 13. — Sir Mungo Malagbowther, p. 74 
 
 It will perhaps be recognized by some of my countrymen, that the caustic 
 Scottish knight, as described in Chapter VI., borrowed some of his attributes 
 from a most worthy and respectable baronet, who was to be met with in 
 Edinburgh society about tvventy-tive or thirty years ago. It is not by any 
 means to be inferred that the living person resembled the imaginary one in 
 the course of life ascribed to him, or in his personal attributes. But his for- 
 tune w as little adequate to his rank and the antiquity of his familj' ; and to 
 avenge himself of this disparity, the worthy baronet lost no opportunity of 
 inakuig the more avowed sons of fortune feel the edge of his satire. This he 
 had the art of disguising under the personal infirmity of deafness, and usu- 
 ally introduced his most severe things by an affected mii^take of what was 
 said around him. For example, at a public meeting of a certain county, this 
 worthy gentleman had chosen to display a laced coat, of such a pattern as 
 had not been seen in society for the better part of a century. The joung 
 Tjien who were present amused themselves with rallying him on his taste, 
 wnen he suddenly singled out one of the party — " Auld d'ye think my coat — 
 jiuld fashioned ? Indeed, it caiina be new ; but it was the wark of a braw 
 tailor, and that wa-; your grandfather, who was at the head of the tiade in 
 Edinburgh about the beginning of last century." Upon another occasion, 
 when this type of Sir Muugo Malagrowther happened to hear a nobleman, 
 the high chief of one of those Border clans who were accused of paying very 
 little attention in ancient times to the distinctions of 7nt'um aiid timui, 
 addressing a gentl- man of the same name, as if conjecturing there should 
 be some relationship between them, he volunteei-ed to ascertain the nature 
 of the connection by saying, that the " chief's ancestors had stolen the cows, 
 and the other gentleman's ancestois had killed them," — fame ascribing the 
 wigin of the latter family to a butcher. It may be well imagined that, 
 jiiuoiig a people that have been always punctilious about genealogy, such a 
 persdii, who liad a general acquaintance with all the flaws and specks in the 
 shields of the proud, the pretending, and the iwuveaux riches, muat have had 
 the same scope for amusement as a monkey in a china shop. 
 
 Note 13. — Earl of Dalwolsey, p. 93 
 
 The head of the ancient and distinguished house of Ramsay, and to 
 whom, as their chief, the individuals of that name look as their origin and 
 source of gentry. Allan Hamsa}', the pastoral poet, in the same manner, 
 makes 
 
 Dalhousie of an auld descent, 
 
 M , chief, my stoup, my ornament. 
 
 Note 14. — Mrs. Anne Turner, p. 94 
 
 Mrs. Anne Turner was a dame somewhat of the occupation of Mrs. Sud- 
 dlechop in the text — that is, half-milliner, half-procm"ess, and secret agent 
 in all manner of proceedings. She was a trafficker in the poisoning ol Sir 
 Thomas Overbury, for which so many subordinate agents lost their lives, 
 
NOTES 445 
 
 while, to the great scandal of justice, the Earl of Somerset and his countess 
 were suffered to escape, upon a threat of Somerset to make public some 
 secret which nearly affected his master, King James. Mrs. Turner intro- 
 duced into England a French custom of using yeUow^ starch in " getting up " 
 bands and cuffs, and, by Lord Coke's orders, she appeared in that fashion at 
 the place of execution. She was the widow of a physician, and had been 
 eminently beautiful, as appears from the description of her in the poem called 
 Overhurii''i \'ision. There was produced in court a parcel of dollsor puppets 
 belonging to this lady, some naked, some dressed, and which siie used for 
 exhibiting fashions upon. But, greatly to the horror of the spectators, who 
 accounted these figures to be magical devices, there was, on their being 
 shown, "heard a crack from the scaffolds, which caused great fear, tumult, 
 and confusion among the spectators and throughout the hall, every one fear- 
 ing hurt, as if the devil had been present, and grown angry to have his work- 
 manship showed by such as were not his own scholars."' Compare this curio'is 
 passage in the Flistonj of King James for the First Fourteen Years. 1G51 
 [in vol ii., p. 3o2. of Somers's Tracts, ed. 1809], with the Auliciis Coqninnrius 
 of Dr. Heylin. The latter is published in the Secret History of the Court of 
 James the First [vol. ii., ed. 1811]. 
 
 Note 15.— Lord Huntinglen, f. 106 
 
 The credit of having rescued James I. from the dagger of Alexander 
 Ruthven is here fictitiously ascribed to an imaginary Lord Huntinglen. In 
 reality, as may be read in every history, his preserver was John Ramsay, 
 afterwards created Earl of Holdemess, who stabbed the younger Ruthven 
 with his dagger while he was struggling with the King. Sir Anthony 
 Weldon informs us that, upon the annual return of the day, the King's deliv- 
 erance was commemorated by an anniversary feast. The time was the 5th 
 of August, " upon which," proceeds the satirical historian, " Sir John Ram- 
 say, for his good service in that preservation, was the principal guest, and so 
 did the King grant him any boon he would ask that day ; but had such 
 limitations set to his asking as made his suit unprofitable unto him as that 
 he asked it for was unserviceable to the King " ICourt of King James, vol. 
 ii., p. 321]. 
 
 Note 16. — Buckingham, p. Ill 
 
 Buckingham, who had a frankness in his high and irascible ambition, was 
 always ready to bid defiance to those by whom he was thwarted or opposed. 
 He aspired to be created Prince of Tipperary in Ireland, and Lord High Con- 
 stable of England. Coventry, then Lord Keeper, opposed what seemed such 
 an unreasonable extent of power as was annexed to the office of constable. 
 On this opposition,according to Sir Anthony Weldon, " the Duke peremptorily 
 accosted Coventry, ' Who made you, Coventry, Lord Keeper ? ' He replied, 
 ' The King.' Buckingham sur-replied , ' It's false ; 'twas I did make you, 
 and you shall know that I, who made you, can, and will, unmake you.' 
 Coventry thus answered him, ' Did I conceive I held my place by your 
 favor,! would presently unmake myself bv rendering the seal to his Majesty.' 
 Then Buckingham, in a scorn and fury, flung from him, saying, ' You shall 
 not keep it long ;' and surely, had not Felton prevented him, he had made 
 good his word." — Weldon's Court of King Jam^s and Charles [vol. ii., p. '62, 
 ed. 1811] 
 
 Note 17. — Douglas Wars, p. 123 
 
 The cruel civil wars waged by the Scottish barons during the minority :f 
 James VI. had this name from the figure made in them by the celebrated 
 James Douglas, Earl of MortQa, Both sides executed their prisoners without 
 mercy or favor. 
 
446 NOTES 
 
 Note 18.— Pages, p. 131 
 
 About tbis time the ancient customs arising from the long prevalence of 
 chivalry began to be grossly varied from the ciriginal i)urposesof the institu- 
 tion. None was more remarkable than the change which took place in the 
 breeding and occupation of pages. This peculiar species of menial originally 
 consisted o£ youths of noble birth, who, that they might be trained to the 
 exercise of arms, were early removed from their parental homes, where too 
 much indulgence might have been expected, to be placed in the family of 
 some prince or man of rank and military renown, where they served, as it 
 were, an apprenticeship to the duties of chivalry and courtesy. Their educa- 
 tion was severely moral, and pursued with great strictness in respect to 
 useful exercises, and what were deemed elegant accomplishments. From 
 being pages, they were advanced to the next gradation of squires ; from 
 squires, these candidates for the honors of knighthood were frequently made 
 knights. 
 
 But in the sixteenth century the page had become, in many instances, a 
 mere domestic, who sometimes, by the splendor of his address and appearance, 
 was expected to make up in show for the absence of a whole band of retainers 
 with swords and bucklers. We have Sir John's authority when he cashiers 
 part of his train. 
 
 Falstaff will learn the humour of the age, 
 
 French thrift, you rogues, myself and skirted page. 
 
 Jonson, in a high tone of raoi-al indignation, thus reprobated the change. 
 The host of the New Inn replies to Lord Lovel, who asks to have his son for 
 A page, that he would, with his own hands, hang him sooner 
 
 Than damn him to that desperate course of life. 
 
 Lovel. Call you that desperate, which, by a line 
 Of institution, from our ancestors 
 Hath been derived down to us, and I'eceived 
 In a succession for the noblest way 
 Of breeding up our youth, in letters, arms, 
 Fair mien, discourses, civil exercise, 
 And all the blazon of a gentleman ? 
 Where can he learn to vault, to ride, to fence, 
 To move his bodj' gracefuller, to speak 
 His language purer, or to tune his mind 
 Or manners more to the harmony of nature, 
 Than in these nurseries of nobility ? 
 
 Host. Ay, that was when the nursery's self was noble, 
 And only virtue made it, not the market, 
 That titles were not vended at the drum 
 Or common outcry. Goodness gave the greatness, 
 And greatness worship. Every house became 
 An academy of honour, and those parts 
 We see departed in the practice now 
 Quite from the institution. 
 
 Lovel. Why do you say so, 
 Or think so enviously ? do they not still 
 Learn there the Centaur's skill, the art of Thrace, 
 To ride ? or Pollux' mystery, to fence ? 
 The Pyrrhick gestures, both to dance and spring 
 In armour, to be active for the wars ; 
 To study figures, numbers, and pioportions, 
 May yield them great in counsels and the arts 
 Grave Nestor and the wise Ulysses practised, 
 To make their English sweet upon their tongue ? 
 As reverend Chaucer says. 
 
 Host. Sir, you mistake. 
 To play Sir Pandarus. my copy hath it, 
 And carry messages to Madam Cressid ; 
 Instead of backing the brave steed o' morningSs 
 
NOTES 447 
 
 To [Wss] the chambermaid, and for a leap 
 
 O' the vaulting horse, to ply the vaulting-house ; 
 
 For exercise of arms a bale of dice. 
 
 Or two or three packs of cards to show the cheat 
 
 And nimbleness of hand ; mis-take a cloak 
 
 From my lord's back, and pawn it ; ease his pockets 
 
 Of a superfluous watch, or geld a jewel 
 
 Of an odd stone or so ; twinge three or four buttons 
 
 From off my lady's gown :— these are the arts, 
 
 Or seven hberal deadly sciences, 
 
 Of pagerv, or rather paganism, 
 
 As the tides run ; to which, if he apply him. 
 
 He may, perhaps, take a degree at Tyburn 
 
 A year the earlier, come to read a lecture 
 
 Upon Aquinas at St. Thomas-a-Watering's, 
 
 Aud so go forth a laureate in hemp circle. 
 
 The New Inn, Act i., ac. 1. 
 
 Note 19.— Lord Hexry Howard, p. 132 
 
 Lord Henry Howard was the second son of the poetical Earl of Surrey, 
 and possessed considerable parts and learning. He wrote, in the year 1583, a 
 b.jok called A Defensatice [Fresernative'l against the Poison of Supposed 
 Prophecies. He gained the favor of Queen Elizabeth, by having, he says, 
 directed his battery against a sect of prophets and pretended soothsayers, 
 whom he accounted! a fes^i reqibus, as he expresses it. In the last years of 
 the Queen he became James's most ardent partisan, and conducted vrith great 
 pedantry, but much intrigue, the correspondence betwixt the Scottish king 
 and the younger Cecil. Upon James's accession, he was created Earl of 
 Northampton and Lord Privy Seal. Accordmg to De Beaumont, the French 
 ambassador. Lord Henry Howard was one of the greatest flatterers and ca- 
 lumniators that ever lived. 
 
 Note 20.— Skirmishes in the Public Streets, p. 134 
 
 Edinburgh appears to have been one of the most disorderly towns in 
 Europe during the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. The 
 Diarii of the honest citizen Birrell repeatedly records such incidents as the 
 following: "The 21 of November [15G7], at two afternoon, the Laird of 
 Airth an'd the Laird of Weeins met on theHigli Gate of Edinburgh, and they 
 andtheir followers fought a very bloody skirmish, where there were many 
 hurt on both sides with shot of pistol." These skirmishes also took place in 
 London itself. In Shadwell's play of The Scowrers, an old rake thus boasts 
 of his early exploits : " I knew the Hectors, aud before them the Muns, and 
 the Tityretu's ; they were brave fellows indeed ! In those days a man could 
 nat go from the Rose Tavern to the Piazza once, bat he must venture his life 
 t.vice, my dear Sir Willv" [Act i., sc. 1]. But it appears that the affrays, 
 ^vhich in the Scottish capital arose out of here litary quarrels an I ancient 
 feuds, were in London the growth of licentiousness and arrogance of young 
 debauchees. 
 
 Note 21.— French Cookery, p. 141 
 
 The exertion of French ingenuity mentioned in the text is noticed by some 
 authorities of the period ; the siege of Leith was also distinguished by the 
 protracted obstinacy of the be,4eged, in which was displayed all that the age 
 possessed of defensive war, so that Brantome records that those who wit- 
 nessed this siege had, from that very circumstance, a degree of consequence 
 yielded to their persous and opinions. Ho tolls a story of Strozzi himself, 
 from which it appears that his j^j-;ts 1 ty a good deal in the line of the cuisine. 
 He caused a mule to be stolen from one Brusquet, on whom he wished to play 
 
us NOTES 
 
 a trifk, and soi-ved up the flesh of that unclean animal so well disguised that 
 it passed with Brusquet for venison. 
 
 Note 22— Cuckoo's Nest, p. 143 
 
 The quarrel in Chapter XII. between the pretended captain and the citi- 
 zen of London is taken from a burlesque poem called The Counter Scuffle, 
 that is, the scuffle in the prison at Wood Street, so called. It is a piece of 
 low humor, which had at the time very considerable vogue. The prisoners, 
 it seems, had fallen into a dispute among themselves " which calling was of 
 most repute," and a lawyer put in his claim to be most highly considered. 
 \he man of war repelled his pretence with much arrogance : 
 
 " Wer't not for us, thou swad," quoth he, 
 " Where wouldst thou fog to get a fee ? 
 But to defend such things as thee 
 
 'Tis pity ; 
 For such as you esteem us least, 
 Who ever hare been ready prest 
 To guard you and your Cuckoo's nest, 
 Your city." 
 
 The offence is no sooner given than it is caught up by a gallant citizen, a 
 goldsmith, named Ellis. 
 
 " Of London city I am free, 
 And there I first my wife did see, 
 And for that very cause," quoth he, 
 
 "I love it. 
 And he that calls it cuckoo's nest. 
 Except he says he speaks in jest, 
 He is a villain and a beast, — 
 
 I'll prove it I 
 
 " For though I am a man of trade. 
 And free of London city made. 
 Yet can I use gun, bill, and blade, 
 
 In battle. 
 And citizens, if need require. 
 Themselves can force the foe retire. 
 Whatever this Low Country squire 
 
 May prattle." 
 
 The dispute terminates in the scuffle, which is the subject of the poem. 
 The whole may be found in the second edition of Dryden's Miscellany, 12mo, 
 vol. iii., 1716. 
 
 Note 2.3. — Burbage, p. 148 
 
 Burbage, whom Camden terms another Roscius, was probably the orig- 
 mal representative of Richard III., and seems to have been early almost 
 identified witli liis prototype. Bishop Corbet, in his Iter Boreale, tells us 
 that mine host of Market Bosworth was full of ale and history. 
 
 Hear him. " See you yon wood ? There Richard lay 
 
 With his whole army. Look the other way. 
 
 And lo, where Richmond, in a bed of gorse, 
 
 Encamp'd himself o'er night and all his force. 
 
 Upon this hill they met." Why, he could tell 
 
 The inch where Riclimond stood, where Richard fell; 
 
 Besides, what of his knowledge he could say. 
 
 He had authentic notice from the play. 
 
 Which I might guess by's mustering up the ghosts 
 
 And polici s not incident to hosts ; 
 
 But chiefly by that one perspicuous thing, 
 
NOTES 449 
 
 Where he mistook a player for a king, 
 
 For when he would have said, " Kin^ Richard died. 
 
 And caird, a horse ! a horse ! " he " Burba^e "' cried. 
 
 Richard Corbet's Poeiits, edition 1815, p. 193. 
 
 Note 24. — Mex of AVit and Talent, p. 150 
 
 The condition of men of wit and talents was never more melancholy than 
 about this perit>d. Their lives were so irregular, and their means of livnng 
 so precarious, that they were alternately rioting in debauchery or encoun- 
 tering and struacgling with the meanest ne(?essities. Two or three lost tlieir 
 lives by a surfeit brought on by that fat il banquet of Rhenish wine and 
 pickled herrings, which is familiar to those who study the lightest literature 
 of that age. The whole history is a most melancholy picture of genius 
 degraded at once by its own debaucheries and the patronage of heartless 
 rakes and profligates. 
 
 Note 2.5. — Ducal Register of Alsatia, p. 198 
 
 This curious register is still in existence, being in possession of that emi- 
 nent antiquary Dr. Dryasdust, who liberally offered the Author permission 
 to have the autograph "of Duke Hildebrod engraved as an illustration of this 
 passage. Unhappily, being rigorous as Ritson himself in adhering to the very 
 letter of his copy, the worthy doctor clogged his munificence with the con- 
 dition that we should adopt the duke's orthography, and entitle the work 
 The Fortunes of Xiggle, with which stipulation we did not think it necessary 
 to cjmply 
 
 Note 26. — Earl of Bothwell, p. 226 
 
 Among the original documents preserved among the archives of the hos- 
 pital, there are various precepts or receipts signed by Francis (Stewart) 
 Earl of Bothwell, but only one of them dated, 1594, which show that George 
 Heriot and he had many transactions. In that year Bothwell broke out in 
 rebellion, and, abandoned by Queen Elizabeth, excommunicated by the church, 
 and deserted by his followers, he was obliged to fly for safety to France, 
 and thence to Spain, where he renounced the Protestant faith, and lived for 
 many years in obscurity and immorality. Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, 
 his stepson, succeeded to his large estates, which had been conveyed to him 
 by the earl before his treasonable attempts and forfeiture {Laing). 
 
 Note 27. — The Sklmmixgton, p. 241 
 
 A species of triumphal procession in honor of female supremacy, when it 
 rose to such a height as to attract the attention of the neighborhood. It is 
 described at full length in Hudibras (Fart II., Canto ii.). As the procession 
 passed on, those who attended it in an official capacity were wont to sweep 
 the threshold of the houses in which fame affirmed the mistresses to exercise 
 paramount autho;-ity, which was given and received as a hint that their 
 inmates might, in their turn, be made the subject of a similar ovation. The 
 Skimmington, which in some degree resembled the proceedings of Mumbo 
 Jumbo in an African village, has been long discontinued in Eua;land, appar- 
 ently because female rule has become either milder or less frequent than 
 among our ancestors. 
 
 Note 2S.— The Marshalsea, p. 260 
 
 This penitentiary was under the control of the Royal Knight Marshal, 
 whose jurisdiction exteuiied twelve miles round Whitehall, the city of London 
 excepted. It stood near St. George's church in the Borough (Laing) . 
 
 29 
 
460 NOTES 
 
 NoTB 29.— "God's Revenge agaixst Murder," p. 282 
 
 Only three copies are known to exist ; one in the library at Kennaquhair, 
 and two — one foxed and cropped, the other tall and in good condition — both 
 in possession of an eminent member of the Roxburghe Club. — Note by Cap- 
 tain Clutterbuck. 
 
 The work here referred to, The Triumphs of God's Revenge against 
 Murder, expressed in Thirty Tragicall Histories, by John Reynolds, passed 
 through several editions between 1(W2 and 1753, besides abridgments. Its 
 precursor. The Theatre of Ood\s Judgemenfs, by Thomas Beard, flrstappoared 
 in 1.597, 4to, and is remarkable in containing "An Account of Christopher 
 Marlowe and his Tragical End." It reached a fourth and enlarged edition 
 in 1648 {Laing). 
 
 Note 30.— Scots' Dislike to Pork, p. 314 
 
 The Scots, till within the last generation, disliked swine's flesh as an arti- 
 cle of food as much as the Highlanders do at present. It was remarked as 
 extraordinary rapacity, when the Border depredators condescended to make 
 prey of the accursed race whom the fiend made his habitation. Ben. Jonson, 
 in drawing James's character, says, he loved "no part of a swine." See also 
 Wave7-ley, Note 22, p. 
 
 Note 31. — Mhic-Allastar-More, p. 324 
 
 This is the Highland patronymic of the late gallant Chief of Glengarry. 
 The allusion in the text is to an unnecessary alarm taken by some lady at the 
 ceremonial of the coronation of George IV., at the sight of the pistols which 
 the chief wore as a part of his Highland dress. The circumstance produced 
 some confusion, which was talked of at the time. All who knew Glengarry, 
 and the Author knew him well, were aware that his principles were of 
 devoted loyalty to the person of his sovereign. 
 
 Note 32. — KiXG James's Hunting-Bottlb, p. 325 
 
 Roger Coke, in his Detection of the Court and State of England, London 
 1694, vol. i., p . 70, observes of James I. : 
 
 The Kin^ was excessively addicted to hunting and drinking, not ordinary French 
 and Spanish wines, but strong Greek wines, and though he would divide his hunting 
 from drinking these wines, yet he would compound his hunting with drinlcing these 
 wines ; and to that purpose, he was attended with a special officer, who was, as much 
 as could be, always at hand to fill the King's cup in his hunting when he called for it. 
 I have heard my father say that, being hunting with the King, after the King had 
 drank of the wine, he also drank of it ; and though he was young, and of a healthful 
 ciinstitution. it so disordered his head that it spoiled his pleasure and disordered him 
 for three days after. Whether it were the drinking these wines, or from some other 
 cause, the King became so lazy and unwieldy that he was treist [trussed] on horse- 
 back, and as he was set, so would he ride, without otherwise poising himself on hia 
 sadiUe ; nay, when his hat was set on his head, he would not take the trouble to alter 
 it, but it sate as it was put on. 
 
 The trussing, for which the demi-pique saddle of the day afforded particu- 
 lar facility, is alluded to in the text ; and the Author, among other knick- 
 knacks of antiquity, possesses a leathern flask, like tliose carried by sportsmen, 
 whicli is labelled " King James's Hunting- Bottle," with what authenticity is 
 uncertain. Coke seems to have exaggerated the King's taste for the bottle. 
 Weldon says James was not intemperate in his drinking : 
 
 However, in his old age, Buckingham's jovial suppers, when he had any tunj 
 to do with him, made him sometimes overtaken, which he would the very next 
 
NOTES 451 
 
 Jay r;.nombpr, nn'\ repent with tears. It is true, he drank very often, which was 
 rather ou; of a custom than any dehght ; and his drinks were of that kind for strength, 
 as Frontiniaclc. Canary, hijjli country wine, tent wine, and Scottisli ale, tliat had he 
 not had a very stron;? brain, niijjlit have been daily overtaken, although he seldom 
 drank at any one time above four spoonfuls, many times not above one or two. — 
 .Secret History of King James, vol. ii., p. 3, Edia., 1811. 
 
 Note 33. — Scene in Greenwich Park, p. 327 
 
 I cannot here omit mentioning, that a painting of the old school is in 
 existence, having a remarkable resemblance to the scene described in Chapter 
 XXVII., although it be nevertheless true that the similarity is in all respects 
 casuR , and that the Author knew not of the existence of the painting till it 
 was sold, among others, v^ith the following description attached to it in a 
 well-drawn-up catalogue : 
 
 Frederigo Zucchero 
 
 Scene as represented in the Fortunes of Nigel, by Frederigo Zucchero, the King's 
 
 painter. 
 
 This extraordinary picture, which, independent of its pictorial merit, has been 
 esteemed a great literary curiosity, represents most faithfully the meeting in Green- 
 wich Park, between King James and Nigel Oliphaunt, as described in the Fortunes 
 of Nigel, showing that the Author must have taken the anecdote from authenticated 
 facts. In the centre of the picture sits King James on horseback, very erect and 
 stiffly. Between the King and Prince Charles, who is on the left of the picture, the 
 Duke of Buckingham is represented riding a black horse, and pointing eagerly 
 towards the culprit, Nigel OhiJhaunt, who is standing on the right side of the picture. 
 He grasps with his right hand a g .n, or cross-bow, and looks angrily towards the 
 King, who seems somewhat contused and alarmed. Behind Nigel, his servant is 
 restraining two dogs which are barking fiercely. Nigel and his servant are both 
 clothed in red, the livery of the Oliphaunt family, in which, to this day, the town 
 officers of Perth are clothed, there being an old charter granting to the Oliphaunt 
 family the privilege of dressing the public officers of Perth in their liveri'. The Duke 
 of Buckingham is in all respects equal in magniflceuce of dress to the King or the 
 Prince. The only difference that is marked between him and royaltj' is. that his head 
 Is uncovered. The King and the Prince wear their hats. In Lucy Aikin's Memoirs 
 of the Reign [Court] of King James will be found a letter from Sir Thomas Howard 
 to Ijord J. Harrington, in which he recommends the latter to come to court, mention- 
 tog that his Majesty has spoken favorably of him. He then proceeds to give him 
 some advice, by which he is likely to find favor in the King's eyes. He tells him to 
 wear a bushy ruff, well starched ; and after various other directions as to his dress, 
 he concludes, " iDut, above all things, fail not to praise the roan jennet whereon the 
 King doth daily ride." In this picture King James is represented on the identical 
 roan jennet, in the background of the picture are seen two or three supicious-look- 
 Ing figures, as if watching the success or some plot. These may have been put in by 
 the painter to flatter the King, by making it be supposed that he had actuallj' escaped, 
 or successfully combated, some serious plot. The King is attended by a numerous 
 band oi courtiers and attendants, all o.*" wnom seem moving forward to arrest the 
 defaulter. The painting of this picture is extremely good, but the drawing is very 
 Gtothic, and there is no attempt at the keeping of perspective. The pictui-e is very 
 dark and obscure, which considerably adds to the interest of the scene. 
 
 Note 34.— King James's Timidity, p. 327 
 
 The fears of James for his personal safety were often excited without 
 serious grounds. On one occasion, having been induced to visit a coal-pit on 
 the coast of Fife, he was conducted a little way under the sea, and brought 
 to daylight again on a small island, or what was such at full tide, down 
 which a shaft had been sunk. James, who conceived his life or liberty aimed 
 at, when he found himself on an islet surrounded by the sea, instead ol 
 admiring, as his cicerone hoped, the unexpected change of scene, cried 
 " Treason " with all his might, and could not be pacified until he was rowed 
 ashore. At Lochmaben he took an equally causeless alarm from a still 
 slighter circmrstance. Some vendisses, a fish i)eculiar to the loch, were pre- 
 
462 NOTES 
 
 tented to the royal table as a delisaoy ; but the King, who was not familiar 
 with their appearance, concluded they were poisoned, and broke up the ban- 
 quet " with most admired disorder." 
 
 Note 35. — Traitor's Gate, p. 329 
 
 Traitor's Gate, which opens from the Tower of London to the Thames, 
 was, as its name implies, that by which persons accused of state offences 
 were conveyed to their prison. When the tide is making, and the ancient 
 gate is beheld from within the buildings, it used to be a most striking part of 
 the old fortress; but it is now much injured in appearance, being half built 
 up with masonry to support a steam-engine, or something of that sort, 
 
 Note 36.— Memorials of Illustrious Criminals, p. 331 
 
 These memorials of illustrious criminals, or of innocent persons who had 
 the fate of such, are still preserved, though at one time, in the course of re- 
 pairing the rooms, they were in some danger of being whitewashed. They 
 &re preserved at present with l)ecoming respect, and have most of them been 
 engraved. See Bay ley's History and Antiquities of the Toiver of London 
 
 Note 37. — James I.'s Dislike to Arms, p. 361 
 
 Wilson informs us that when Colonel Grey, a Scotsman who affected the 
 buff dress even in the time of peace, appeared in that military garb at court, 
 the King, seeing hi in with a case of pistols at his girlie, which he never 
 greatly likeil, told him, merrily, " He was now so fortifled that, if lie wers 
 but well victualled, he would be impregnable" (Wilson's Life and Reign of 
 James VI., apud Kennet's History of England, vol. ii., p. 789). In 1(512, 
 the tenth year of James's reign, there was a rumor abroad that a shipload 
 of pocket-pistols had been exported from Spain, with a view to a general 
 massacre of the Protestants. Proclamations were of consequence set forth, 
 prohibiting all persoiis from carrying pistols under a foot long in the bariel 
 llbid., p. 690). 
 
 Note 38. — Punishment of Stubbs by Mutilation, p. 362 
 
 This execution, which so captivated the imagination of Sir Mungo Mala- 
 growther, was really a striking one. The criminal, a furious and bigoted 
 Puritan, had published a book* in very violent terms again-t the m itch of 
 Elizabeth with ihe Duke ot Alengon, which he termed a union of a daughter 
 of God with a son of Anti-chrisr. Queen Elizabeth was gi-eatly incensed at 
 the freedom assumed in this work, and caused the author Stubbs, with Page 
 the publisher, and one Singleton the printer, to be tried on an Act passed by 
 Philip and Mary against the writers and dispersers of seditious publications. 
 They were convicted, and although there was an opinion strongly entertained 
 by lawyers, that the act was only temporary, and expired witii Queen Mary, 
 Stubbs and Page received sentence to have their right hands struck off. 
 They accordingly suffered the punishment, the wrist being divided by a 
 cleaver driven through the joint by force of a mallet. The printer was ])ar- 
 doned. " I remember," says the historian Camden, "being then pi'esent, 
 that Stubbs, when his right hand was cut off, plucked off his hat with the 
 left, and said, with a loud voice, ' God save the Queen ! ' The multitude 
 
 * Thp Disroverie of a Gaping Gnlph, ivhereinto England is like to he swalloived 
 by anotlier French Marriage, if tiie Lord forbid not the Banes, by letting her 
 Majestie see the Sin and Punishment tliereuf (1579). 
 
NOTES 453 
 
 standing about was deeply silent, either out of horror of this new and un 
 wonted kind of punishment, or out of commiseration towards the man, as 
 being of an honest and unblamable repute, or else out of hatred to the mar- 
 riage, which most men presaged would be the overthrow of religion." — 
 Camden's Annuls for the Year 1581. 
 
 Note 39. — Assassination of James I. of Scotland, p. 366 
 
 James I. of Scotland was barbarously murdered at Perth, on the 20th 
 February, 1437. Several of the ladies were hurt, and, according to most of 
 our historians, Catherine Douglas, one of the Queen's attendants, had her 
 arm broken, by thrusting it into the staple in place of a bolt {Laing). 
 
 Note 40. — Richie Moniplies behind the Arras, p. 377 
 
 The practical jest of Richie Moniplies going behind the arras to get an 
 opportunity of teasing Heriot was a pleasantry such as James might be 
 supposed to approve of. It was customary for those who knew his humor to 
 contrive jests of this kind for his amusement. The celebrated Archie Arm- 
 strong, and another jester called Drummond, mounted on other people's 
 backs, used to charge each other like knights in the tilt-yard, to the monarch's 
 great amusement. The following is an instance of the same kind, taken 
 from Webster, Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft (p. 124). The author is 
 speaking of the faculty caiJed ventriloquism. 
 
 But to make this more plain and certain, we shall add a story of a notable im- 
 postor, or ventriloquist, from tlie testimony of Mr. Ady, which we have had confirmed 
 from the mouth of some courtiers, that both saw and knew him, and is this : It 
 hath been, saith he, credibly reported, that there was a man in the court in King 
 James his days chat could act tlus imposture so lively, that he could call the Kinjcby 
 name, and cause the King to look round about him. wondering who it was that called 
 him. whereas he that called him stood before him in his presence, with his face 
 towards him. But after this imposture was known, the King, in his merriment, 
 would sometimes take occasional by this impostor to make sport upon some of his 
 courtiers, as. for instance : 
 
 There was a knight belonging to the court, whom the King caused to come before 
 him in his private room, where no man was but the King and this knight and the 
 impostor, and feigned some occasion of serious discourse with the knight ; but when 
 the King began to speak, and the knight bending his attention to the King, suddenly 
 there came a voice as out of another room, calling the kniglit by name, " Sir John 
 — Sir John ; come away. Sir John ; " at which the King [knight] began to frown that 
 any man should be so unmannerly as to molest the King and him ; and still listening 
 to the King's discourse, the voice came again, "Sir John — Sir John, come away and 
 drink off your sack.'' At that Sir John began to swell with anger, and looked into 
 the next rooms to see who it was that dared to call him so importunately, and could 
 not find out who it was, and having chid with whomsoever he found, he returned 
 again to the King. The King had no sooner begun to speak as formerly, but the 
 *oice came again, 'Sir John, come away, your sack stayeth for you. " At that Sir 
 John beiran to stamp with madness, and looked out and returned several times to 
 the King, but could not be quiet in his discourse with the King, because of the voice 
 that so often troubled turn, till the King had sported enough. 
 
 Note 41. — Leglin-girth, p. 385 
 
 A leglin-girth is the lowest hoop upon a leglin, or milk-pail. Allan Rani' 
 say applies the phreise in the same metaphorical sense. 
 
 Or bairns can read, they first maun spell, 
 
 I leam'd this f rae my mammy, 
 And cast a leglin-girth mj'sell 
 / T'Mig ere I married Tammy. 
 
 Qbaasft Kirk on the Oreen. 
 
464 NOTES 
 
 Note 42.— Lady Lake, p. 394 
 
 Whether out of a meddling propensity common to all who have a gossip- 
 ing disposition, or from the lc5ve of justice, which ought to make part of a 
 prince's character, Ja^iies was very foud of inquiring personally into the 
 causes ci'lebres which occurred during his reign. In the imposture of the 
 Boy of Bilson, who pretended to be possessed, and of one Richard Hay dock, 
 a poor scholar, who pretended to preach during his sleep, the King, to use 
 the historian Wilson's expression, took delight in sounding with the line of 
 his understanding the depth of these brutish impositions, and in doing so, 
 showed the acuteuess with which he was endowed by nature. Lady Lake's 
 story consisted in a clamorous complaint against the Countess of "Exeter, 
 wbom she accused of a purpose to put to death Lady Lake herself, and her 
 daughter, Lady Ross, the wife of the countess's own son-in-law, Lord Ross ; 
 and a forged letter was produced, in which Lady Exeter was made to 
 acknowle(l4'e s'lch a purpose. The account given of the occasion of obtain- 
 ing this letter was, tbat it had been written by the countess at Wimbledon, 
 in presence of Lady Lake and her daughter. Lady Ross, being designed to 
 procure ttieir forgiveness for her mischievous intention. The King re- 
 mained still unsatisfied, the writing, in his opinion, bearing strong marks 
 of forgery. Lady Lake and her daughter then alleged that, besides their 
 own attestation and that of a confidential domestic, named Diego, in whose 
 presence Lady Exeter had written tlie confession, their story might also be 
 supported by the oath of their waiting-maid, Sarah Swarton or Wharton, 
 who had been placed behind the hangings at thetiine the letter was written, 
 and heard the Countess of Exeter read over the confessinn afters-he had 
 signed it. Determined to be at the bottom of this accusation, James, while 
 hunting one day near Wimbledon, the scene of the alleged confession, sud- 
 denly left his sport, and, galloping hastily to Wimbledon, in order to 
 examine personally the room, discovered, from the size of the apartment, 
 that the alleged conversation could not have taken place in the manner 
 sworn to ; and that the tapestry of the chamber, which had remained in 
 the same state for thirty years, was too short by two feet, and, therefore, 
 could not have concealed any one behind it. This matter was accounted an 
 exclusive discovery of the King by his own spirit of shrewd investigation. 
 The parties were punished in the Star Chamber by fine and imprisonment. 
 
 Note 43. — Military Training of Londoners, p. 413 
 
 Clarendon remarks, that the importance of the military exercise of the 
 citizens was severely felt by the Cavaliers during the Civil War, notwith- 
 standing the ridicule that had been showered upon it by the dramatic poets 
 of the day. Nothing less than habitual practice could, at the battle of 
 Newbury and elsewhere, have enabled the Londoners to keep their ranks as 
 pikemen, in spite of the repeated charge of fiery Prince Rupert and his 
 gallant Cavaliers. 
 
 Note 44.— Penny-Wedding, p. 431 
 
 The penny-wedding of the Scots, now disused even among the lowest 
 ranks, was a peculiar species of merry-making, at which, if the wedded 
 pair were popular, the guests who convened contributed considerable sums 
 under pretence of paying for the bridal festivity, but in reahty to set the 
 married folk afioat in the world. See Burt's Letters from, the North of 
 Scotland, Letter xi. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 OF 
 
 WORDS, PHRASES, AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 '' A BASTARD TO THE 
 TIME," etc. (p. 147), 
 from King John. Act i., 
 sc. i. 
 
 Abve, suffer for 
 
 AcciDENS, nuliments of 
 grainiiiar 
 
 A.CC0MPT, coMPT, account 
 
 a.DOLESCENS, etc (p. 104), 
 a youth of a comely 
 countenance and be- 
 coming modesty 
 
 "vEtas parentum," etc. 
 (p. S86), the age of our 
 parents, worse than 
 that of our ancestors, 
 has brought us forth 
 worse than them. 
 
 A.H, HA 1 TRfes HONORfi, 
 
 etc. (p. 139), Oh yes, 
 greatly honored. I re- 
 member—yes. I used 
 to know a Lord Glen- 
 varloch in Scotland 
 , . . my lord's father 
 presumably ? . . . 
 .be was a much better 
 player than I was. 
 How clever he was at 
 the back-handed 
 strokes ! 
 
 AiGRE, tart, sour 
 
 Ai.v, own ; AiN GATE, own 
 way 
 
 AiRT, direction, instruc- 
 tion 
 
 Althea, gave birth to 
 Meleager ; when the 
 boy was seven days old 
 the Fates declared that 
 he would die as soon as 
 a fire-brand then burn- 
 ing on the hearth 
 should be burnt away. 
 To prevent this, his 
 motherputout thefire- 
 brand and kept it hid- 
 den in a chest 
 
 Alumnus, pupil 
 
 Amadis and Oriana, the 
 liero and heroine of the 
 romance of chivalry, 
 Amadis of Gaul 
 
 Ama ST, almost 
 
 Andiamos, or andemos, 
 let's to work 
 
 Andrew, or Andrea, 
 FERRARA,a Scottish 
 broadsword 
 
 Ane, one 
 
 Ane^t, opposite to 
 
 A New Way to Pay Old 
 Debts, the title of a 
 comedy by Philip Mas- 
 singer U633) 
 
 Angel, a gold coin = 
 about 10s. 
 
 Anglis in herba, a snake 
 in the grass, something 
 in the background 
 
 Another-guess, another 
 sort of 
 
 A-peak, said of an an- 
 chor when the ship 
 rides immediately over 
 it with a taut cable 
 
 APPELLATIOAD CffilSA- 
 
 REM, an appeal to 
 Cifsar 
 
 Appened, happened 
 
 Apud Metamorphoseos, 
 in the Metamorphoses, 
 a worlv by the Roman 
 poet Ovid 
 
 Ayi'A mirabilis, wonder- 
 ful water, a cordial 
 made of spirit of wine 
 and spices 
 
 Arcana imperii, etc. (p. 
 387), imperial secrets ; 
 he wlio knows not how 
 to diss('inl)le knows not 
 how ti) govern 
 
 Archik Armstrong, 
 court jester or fool to 
 James I. of England 
 
 "Arripiens geminas.' 
 etc. (p. 129), seizing 
 them twain as the 
 banks receded away 
 
 Asinus fortis, etc. (p. 
 388), a strong ass 
 couching down be- 
 tween the sheepfolda 
 
 Association op gentle- 
 men mentioned by 
 Goldsmith (p. xxrvii). 
 See his Essays, No. ix., 
 '"Specimen of a Maga- 
 zine in Miniature " 
 
 Atoma, a skeleton 
 
 Aught, to owe : eight 
 
 AuLD. old ; Auld Reekie, 
 Edinburgh 
 
 AvisED, advised ; avme- 
 MENT, advice 
 
 Awes, owes 
 
 AwMous, alms, gift 
 
 Axylus, atreeless, 
 waterless region in the 
 middle of Asia Minor 
 
 Babington, Anthony, 
 executed in 1586, at the 
 age of twenty -five, for 
 conspiring the murder 
 of Elizabeth and the 
 liberation of Mary 
 Queen of Scots 
 
 Back sword, a sword 
 with one sharp edge 
 
 Balas ruby, a rose-red 
 variety of ruby 
 
 Bale of dice, a set of 
 dice, usually three 
 
 Balloon, a game in 
 which a large inflated 
 ball, covered with stout 
 leather, was struck to 
 and fro by the arm 
 
 Bandello, Mathieu, an 
 Italian novelist (1480- 
 15»j'2), author of famous 
 Novelle or short tales 
 
456 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 Bankside, the somudii 
 bank of the Thames, 
 between Soutliwaik 
 and B 1 a c k f r i a r s 
 Bridges, where were 
 the Globe and other 
 theatres, also Paris 
 Garden (q.v.) 
 
 Barford's, or Bear- 
 ford's, Park, now 
 George Street, Edin- 
 burgh 
 
 Barns-breaking, frolic, 
 escapade 
 
 Barns, or Barnes, Elms, 
 a hamlet of Surrey, 
 close to London 
 
 Basilicon Doron, a work 
 written (1598; by King 
 James as a guide for 
 his eldest son Henry, 
 when he should suc- 
 ceed himself as king 
 
 Basta, enough ! tliere ! 
 
 Bastard, a sweet Span- 
 ish wine, resembhng 
 Muscadel 
 
 Bawbee, halfpenny 
 
 Baxter, baker 
 
 Bayes, a name given to 
 Dryden in the second 
 Duke of Buckingham's 
 farce. The Rehearsal 
 (1672) 
 
 Bear bannock, a cake of 
 barley-meal 
 
 Bears, ark you there 
 WITH y'our, are you 
 harping on that string 
 again? See further 
 Glossary to The Abbot 
 
 Beati PACIFIC!, blessed 
 are the peacemakers 
 
 Beccafico, a small bird 
 of the warbler species, 
 esteemed a delicacy 
 for the table 
 
 Becking, courtesying 
 
 Be IN, well-to-do 
 
 Bel ai>d the Dragon. 
 See the Apocryphal 
 book w-ith that title 
 
 Belive, by and by 
 
 Bellicosissimus nobil- 
 issiMus, most warlike, 
 most noble 
 
 Ben, stout old, Ben 
 Jonson, the poet and 
 dramatist 
 
 Benevolence, a forced 
 loan or contribution 
 illegally levied by the 
 kings of England 
 
 Ben Jonson on James I. 
 (p. 450). The phrase 
 occurs in the mask 
 entitled The Metamor- 
 phosed Gipsies. 
 
 Bf.NNASKAK. See Jew- 
 eller of Delhi 
 
 "Bestrew'd all with 
 aicH ARRAY," etc, CP- 
 
 xxviii), from Faerie 
 Queene, Bk. III., canto 
 iv., St. 18 
 
 Bicker, a bowl for 
 liquor, usually of wood 
 
 Bide, to remain, con- 
 tinue ; keep ; wait 
 
 Bieldy, sheltered 
 
 Biennium, dicis, etc. (p. 
 IW), Two years, do you 
 say ■? well, well, it was 
 very well done. Not in 
 a day, as they say — 
 understand you, Lord 
 of Glenvarloch ? 
 
 Biggin, a linen cap for a 
 young child 
 
 Bigging, building 
 
 Bilbo, or bilboe, a Bil- 
 boa (Spanish) sword 
 
 Billies, boon compan- 
 ions 
 
 Bilson, boy of, an ac- 
 count of his imposture 
 will be found in Ken- 
 net's History of Eng- 
 land, vol. ii., pp. 709, 
 710 
 
 Bing avast, stop, stay, 
 hold ; bing off, go 
 away, off 
 
 BiRKiE, a smart young 
 fellow, a mettlesome 
 blade 
 
 B: ACK, David, of North 
 Leith, a zealous and 
 distinguished Presby- 
 terian in ibe reign of 
 James VL 
 
 Black Bull, meant for 
 Red Bull, a theatre in 
 St. John's Street, 
 Smithfield; or possibly 
 for the Bull (g.v.) 
 
 Blackfiim, a match- 
 maker, go-between 
 
 Blackmore, Sir Rich- 
 ard, a dull poet satir- 
 ized by Dryden. Steele. 
 Dennis, and other 
 writers of that period 
 
 Black ox tread o.\ your 
 foot, to know what 
 sorrow or adversitj^ is 
 
 Black ward tenure, the 
 condition of servitude 
 lo a servant 
 
 Blatk, bashful 
 
 Blethering, jabbering 
 
 Blowselinda, or Blouze- 
 linda, an ignorant, 
 frolicsome country 
 wench in Gay's Shej}- 
 herd's Week, intended 
 to ridicule the pastoral 
 Delias, Chlorises, and 
 the like 
 
 Blue-band ers, royal 
 guards or attendants 
 
 Boddle. a Scotch copp>er 
 coin, worth 1-Gth penny 
 English 
 
 Bode, wha. Is oidden, 
 an offer 
 
 BoNA-aoEA, a showy 
 wanton 
 
 Bos IN linguam, more 
 correctly bos in lin- 
 gua, literallj' 'an ox 
 on the tongue," hence 
 a bribe. The phrase 
 was current in ancient 
 Athens, which had 
 coins bearing the fig- 
 ure of an ox (60s) on 
 one side 
 
 Bow-hand, left hand, the 
 wrong side 
 
 Braid Lowlands, in 
 plain broad Scotch 
 
 Braw, well-dressed, 
 handsome 
 
 Brewis. the scum that 
 rises to the top of 
 water in which meat is 
 being boiled 
 
 Bristles, dice in which 
 bristles were fixed, so 
 as to bias them 
 
 Broche, a spit 
 
 Brose, oatmeal over 
 which boiling water 
 has been poured 
 
 Brown baker, a baker 
 of brown bread 
 
 Brownie, a benevolent 
 spirit, supposed to 
 haunt old houses 
 
 Buchanan, GEORGE,tutor 
 to James I. 
 
 Bucket (them out of), 
 diddle, cheat 
 
 Bucking-basket, basket 
 for carrying linen in, 
 to be washed and 
 bleached by an old 
 process called " buck- 
 ing " 
 
 Buckle- beggar. See 
 Hedge-parson 
 
 Bull, a theatre in Bish- 
 opsgate Street, where 
 Burbage acted 
 
 Bum-bailey, an under- 
 bailiff 
 
 Bunemost, uppermost 
 
 Burrows-town, or bor- 
 Rows-TOUN, a royal 
 borough 
 
 Buss, to kiss 
 
 Ca. call, move 
 
 Cadger, packman, huck- 
 ster 
 
 Caduca, or rather Cadua, 
 an allusion to Dryden's 
 play. The Wild Gal- 
 lant, Act i , sc. 2 
 
 Calf-ward, place where 
 calves are kept 
 
 Callan', gallant, a lad 
 
 (Jampsie Linn, a cataract 
 in the river Tay in 
 Perthshire 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 ^'i 
 
 Campvere, a seaport on 
 the island of Walcher- 
 en, Holland, where 
 from 1444 to 1795 the 
 Scots enjoyed special 
 trading? privileges. The 
 merchants were under 
 Scottish law, adminis- 
 tered by the Lord Con- 
 servator 
 
 Canny, cautious, pru- 
 dent; CANNILY, skil- 
 fully, knowingly 
 
 Cantabit vacuus, being 
 free from care he will 
 sing 
 
 Cantle, crown of the 
 head 
 
 Capias, writ of, a writ 
 for arresting a person 
 
 Oapin. capon, goose 
 
 Caracco, you decrepit 
 old scamp, a Spanish 
 exclamation 
 
 Carcanet, a necklace, 
 chain 
 
 Carle, fellow 
 
 Carle-hemp, the female 
 hemp, which, because 
 it was the stronger and 
 coarser, was long erro- 
 neously believed to be 
 the male (carle) 
 
 Carsifex. executioner ; 
 carnificial, making 
 flesh, killing 
 
 Caroche. a 17th century 
 carriage 
 
 Carry coals, not suffer 
 an injury unavenged 
 
 Carwitchet or carri- 
 witchet, a pun, puz- 
 zling question 
 
 Cast doublets, play at 
 doublets, a game with 
 dice, somewhat like 
 backgammon 
 
 Catalan: Angelica, a 
 great Italian singer of 
 the beginning of the 
 19th century 
 
 Catchpoll, sheriff's of- 
 ficer 
 
 Cauff. chaff 
 
 Cauldrife, cold, chilly 
 
 Caup, cup, wooden bowl; 
 
 CLEAN CAUP OUT, tO the 
 
 bottom at one draught 
 CENsfe, reputed, consid- 
 ered 
 Chai.mer, chamber 
 Change HOUSE, ale-house 
 Chappit. struck (ot a 
 
 clock) 
 Cheek forchowl, cheek 
 by jowl, close together 
 Chen'/.ie mail, chain mail 
 Cher MiLoR.my dear lord 
 Cs'-'il'. or CHIELD, fellow, 
 
 young man 
 Chitty, childish, baby- 
 like 
 
 Chopins, chopines, high 
 pattens formerly 
 worn by ladies. See 
 Kenihvorth. Note 14, 
 p. :;J95 
 
 Chouse, cheat, swindle 
 
 Chucks, chuck-stones, 
 marbles 
 
 CiMELiA, treasures 
 
 Clary, a mixture of 
 wine, honey, and spices 
 
 Claudius Claudianus, 
 the last of the classic 
 Roman poets, died 
 early in the 5th cen- 
 tury 
 
 Claught, a clutch, knock 
 
 Claver, to talk foolishly 
 
 Cleek. or CLEiK, hook 
 
 Cloot, hoof 
 
 Clour, stroke, blow 
 
 Clouted, patched, 
 mended 
 
 Cock-a-leekie, leek soup 
 in which a cock has 
 been boiled 
 
 CouK Lane, in Stockwell, 
 London, where in 1772 
 mysterious knockings 
 were asserted to be 
 caused by the ghost of 
 a murdered woman — a 
 vulgar imposture 
 
 CocKSBONES, Cocks- 
 nails. Cock and Pie, 
 corruptions of God's 
 bones, etc.. oaths 
 
 Coif, covering for a 
 woman's head ; a wig 
 
 CoisTRiL, cowardly ; a 
 low varlet 
 
 Collins, William, an 
 18th century poet. 
 The lines quoted (p. xv) 
 are from An Ode on 
 the Popular Sujiersti- 
 tions of the Highlands 
 of Scotland 
 
 CoLLoPS, coLLOP, minced 
 
 meat, slice of meat 
 Communis lingua, a com- 
 mon language 
 
 C O M P O N E LACHRYMAS, 
 
 dry your tears 
 
 Confess, and , com- 
 pleted by "be hanged" 
 
 Contra expectanda, 
 contrary to expecta- 
 tion 
 
 CoNY-CATCHER, a sharper 
 
 C o R D o v A N, S p a n i s h 
 leather, so called from 
 the town of Cordova 
 
 CoRNPicKLE, a grain of 
 corn 
 
 Corporal oath, an oath 
 strengthened by 
 touching a sacred ob- 
 ject, as the corporal or 
 iineii altar-cloth u.sed 
 at the celebration of 
 the Eucharist 
 
 CosHEh..*JG, familiar, 
 hospitable 
 
 CossiKK PKACTiCE, alge- 
 bra 
 
 Coted, outstripped 
 
 CoucHEK, evening recep- 
 tion of some great per- 
 son before retiring to 
 sleep 
 
 Coup, tumble, fall , 
 coupit ower, overset ; 
 
 COUP THE GRANS, tO be 
 
 overturned, upset, 
 come to grief 
 
 Coup de MAf tre, master- 
 stroke, master-piece 
 
 Court of Requests, a 
 court of equity, for the 
 relief of those who ad- 
 dressed the king by 
 supplication 
 
 Cracked within the 
 ring. See Ring, 
 cracked within the 
 
 Craig, neck ; crag, rock 
 
 Cramp speech, cramping 
 (the bailiff's) challenge 
 that ends in confine- 
 ment 
 
 Crasso in aere. What a 
 dense atmosphere 
 
 Craw'd sab crouse, 
 talked so loudly 
 
 Cross and pile, an old 
 game of chance with 
 money, a cross mark- 
 ing the obverse of the 
 com, while the reverse 
 was called the pile 
 
 Crush a cup of wine, 
 drink a cup of wine. 
 Comp. Crack a bottle 
 
 Crying roast-meat, pro- 
 claiming publicly one's 
 good fortune 
 
 CuLLioNLY, mean, base 
 
 Cully, one meanly de- 
 ceived, a dupe 
 
 CuRN, a grain 
 
 Cusser, a stallion 
 
 Cutter's law, the rules 
 of comradeship 
 among thieves 
 
 Cutty-qukan, a worth- 
 less woman 
 
 Daft, crazy 
 
 Daikering, strolling 
 
 Dang, knocked 
 
 Davie Lindsay, the pop- 
 ular name of Sir David 
 Lvnilsay of the Mount, 
 a favorite 16th century 
 Scottish poet 
 
 Dk contractu, etc. (p. 
 375), on contract of 
 pledge ; all agree on 
 this point 
 
 Dkcus, a crown-piece 
 
 De la MoTTE,the Marquis 
 de la Mothe-F6neIon, 
 French ambassador at 
 
to8 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 Elizabeth's court, pro- 
 ceeded to Edinburgh 
 iu 1582 
 
 Dependence, an affair in 
 which a man's honor 
 was in question, a duel- 
 list's term 
 
 Despardikux, etc. (p. 
 141), ye gods, what a 
 fine fellow he was 1 
 
 Deutkroscopy, second 
 sight 
 
 Devi I. looks over Lin- 
 coln, an expression 
 to indicate malignant 
 envy, aue to the devil's 
 hatred of the beautiful 
 cathedral at Lincoln. 
 For other explanations 
 of the phrase, see Glos- 
 sary to Kenilworth 
 
 Dbvil's bones, dice 
 
 Dkvil's Tavern, situ- 
 ated near Temple Bar 
 in Fleet Street 
 
 Diet-loaf, a sort of del- 
 icate sweet cake 
 
 DiKU ME damme, God 
 damn me ! 
 
 DiNO, to drive, beat, 
 strike. 
 
 DiONVSIUS OP SVRACUSE. 
 
 It was the Younger 
 who, at'er his st^cond 
 expulsioa in 343 B.C., is 
 said to have kept a 
 school at Corinth. The 
 story of the 'lugg" 
 accords with the suspi- 
 cious character of the 
 Elder 
 
 DiRDUM, commotion, stir 
 
 Dirk, a dagger 
 
 DiviNiTus EVASiT, provi- 
 dentially escaped 
 
 Doctors, doctored, i.e. 
 false dice 
 
 Don Diego, a Spanish 
 like bravo or bully. 
 Richie flloniplies, who 
 is alluded to, has been 
 already (p. 309) likened 
 to a Spaniard in a pas 
 sion 
 
 DONNARD, StupicK 
 
 DoNNERiT, stunned 
 
 Dooms, absolutely, posi- 
 tively 
 
 Dor, giving the, making 
 a fool of. gulling 
 
 Doublet, a counterfeit 
 gem, consisting of two 
 pieces of crystal, with 
 a layer of color be- 
 tween them ; doub- 
 lets, two dice showing 
 faces with exactly the 
 same number of spots 
 or points 
 
 OoucE, sensible, respect- 
 able, quiet 
 
 l)ovER, stun, stupor 
 
 Dow cot. dovecot 
 
 Downa, do not 
 
 DraI'M^-pock, a sack for 
 grains or refuse malt 
 
 Drumble, to be sluggish, 
 delay 
 
 Dud, rag 
 
 Dudgeon dagger, knife, 
 a large knife or dagger, 
 generally with an or- 
 namental haft 
 
 Duke of Lennox, Lodo- 
 wick Stuart, Duke of 
 Lennox and Rich- 
 mond, and cousin to 
 James I. 
 
 DuLK-WEEDS, mourning 
 
 DuNT, knock 
 
 Eard-hunger, hunger 
 for land 
 
 Earl of Warwick (p. 
 18), the mythical Guy 
 of Warwick, the hero 
 of a m e d i as V a 1 ro- 
 mance, who slew a 
 fierce Dun Cow near 
 Warwick 
 
 Eastward ho (p. 411), 
 America is so indicated 
 geographically in an 
 old play of the period 
 
 Een, eyes 
 
 Eichstadius, Lauren- 
 Tius, a doctor of Stet- 
 tin, who wrote Prog- 
 nosticon Conjunc- 
 tione magna Saturni 
 et Jovis (162-2), and 
 other works on astrol- 
 ogy 
 
 Elritch, unearthly, hor- 
 rid 
 
 Enow, enough 
 
 Equam memento, etc. (p. 
 373), remember to stick 
 to your mare in diffi- 
 culties 
 
 Esprit follkt, goblin, 
 ,>-prite 
 
 Ethnic, heathen 
 
 Et quid. etc. (p. 104), 
 And what is spoken of 
 in Leyden to day.— 
 your Vossius, has he 
 written nothing new ? 
 Certainly nothing, 1 re- 
 gret, which has recent- 
 ly appeared in type 
 
 EucLio apud Plautum. 
 See Plautus, Aulula- 
 ria, Act iv., sc. 9 
 
 Euqe ! belle ! optime ! 
 well done ! excellent ! 
 first-rate ! 
 
 Evited. shunned, avoided 
 
 Exempli gratia, for ex- 
 ample 
 
 ExiES, hysterics 
 
 Ex nihilo nihil fit, 
 from nothing, nothing 
 comes 
 
 Expiry of the legal, 
 expiration of the peri- 
 od in which an estate 
 that has been pledged 
 for debt may be re- 
 deemed 
 
 Ex PRoposiTO, on pur- 
 pose 
 
 Facilis descensus Aver- 
 Ni, the easy descent to 
 the infernal regions 
 
 Falkland, an ancient 
 royal palace in Fife- 
 shire 
 
 Falset, falsehood; false 
 
 Fanfaron, a swaggerer, 
 boaster 
 
 Fash, trouble, concern; 
 PASHious, troublesome 
 
 Fatal banquet, etc. (p. 
 449). an allusion to the 
 cause of death of Rob- 
 ert Greene, the drama- 
 tist and poet 
 
 Fause, false, stupid 
 
 Fautor, patron, favorer 
 
 Fence-louper, fence- 
 leaper, appUed to 
 sheep 
 
 Fico, a fig 
 
 Fit, foot 
 
 Fleeching, flattering 
 
 Flesher, butcher 
 
 Flos sulphur, etc., sul- 
 phur ointment 
 
 F L o X - s I L K, floss silk, 
 downy silk 
 
 Fog, to seek gain by pet- 
 tifogging practices 
 
 Forfeit, offence, tres- 
 pass 
 
 FoRPiT, a measure ^ 
 quarter of a peck 
 
 Fortune, a theatre in 
 Aldersgate, London 
 
 Fouat, the house-leek 
 
 FOULMART, or FOUMART. 
 
 a polecat 
 
 Four hours' nunchion. a 
 luncheon or light re- 
 past taken four hours 
 after a principal meal 
 
 Fore quarters, hands 
 and feet, efficient help 
 
 Francis of France, was 
 defeated and taken 
 prisoner at Pavia in 
 1525 by the Emperor 
 Charles V. 
 
 Friar's chicken, chick- 
 en broth boiled with 
 eggs beaten up and 
 dropped into it 
 
 Frontiniack, or Fron- 
 iiGNAN, a sweet mus- 
 cat wine made at Fron- 
 tignan, dept. H6rault, 
 France 
 
 Frontless, shameless 
 
 FuLHAM AND GOURD, dif- 
 ferent kinds of false 
 dice 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 455) 
 
 Galloway, a small 
 stroiiK tiag.bred in Gul- 
 lowa)', the south-west 
 extremity of Scotland 
 
 Hang, go ; ganis, gone 
 
 Gar, cause, make, com- 
 pel 
 
 Gaknish, a fee paid by a 
 prisoner to his fellow- 
 prisoners on first join- 
 ing them in confine- 
 ment 
 
 Gate, gait, way. man- 
 ner, kind of ; out op 
 THE gate, uncommon, 
 unexceptional; 
 
 TO GANG A GRAY GATE, 
 
 see Giay gate 
 
 Gawdy, GAUDY, festivity 
 
 Gay and weel, excep- 
 tionally well 
 
 Gear, goods, money ; 
 affair, business 
 
 Gemevre, gin 
 
 Gexius loci, genius of 
 the place 
 
 George-a-Gbeen, a reso- 
 lute pinder or pound- 
 keeper of Wakefield, 
 who single-handed re- 
 sisted Robin Hood, 
 Little John, and Will 
 Scarlett 
 
 Ghittern, a guitar 
 
 liiK. give ; GiEN, given 
 
 GiFF-GAFF, mutual obli- 
 gation, I will serve you 
 if you will serve me 
 
 Gillie- white-foot, a 
 messenger, errand-boy 
 
 Gii.RAVAGER, a wanton 
 fellow 
 
 Gin, if 
 
 GiP, a college servant at 
 Cambridge 
 
 GiRNED, grmned 
 
 Glaiks, glamor, daz- 
 zling reflection ; gie 
 THE GLAIKS, to deceive, 
 jilt 
 
 Gleed, ganging, gomg 
 awry, astray 
 
 GuD-DHN, good-evening 
 
 Golden ass of Apuleius, 
 a young man named 
 Lucian, m e t a m o r - 
 phosed into an ass, 
 whose adventures are 
 described in an an- 
 cient Greek romance 
 by Apuleius 
 
 Gr)ODYKAR, goodjere, or 
 
 GOUJEERS, WHAT THE. a 
 
 coarse expletive, the 
 pox ! 
 
 Go OVER THE water TO 
 THE GARDKN, Cl'OSS the 
 
 Thames to Paris Gp.r- 
 
 den (g.-u.) 
 GouK. a fool 
 ( lowD. gold 
 Go wooLWARP vsar un- 
 
 comfortable clothinjr, 
 wool next the skin 
 
 Graff, gi-ave 
 
 Grande entree, open or 
 official access to court 
 
 Grannam. grandmother 
 
 GuASSMARKET, an open 
 space in Edinburgh 
 where markets were 
 held 
 
 Grat, wept 
 
 Gray (gate), to gang a, 
 to go a bad road, come 
 to an evil end 
 
 Green, or Greene, Rob- 
 ert, a witty dramatist 
 and poet of the end of 
 the 16th century. See 
 also Fatal banquet,etc. 
 
 Greet, weep 
 
 Grew, to curdle, thrill 
 
 Grisk INS. the small bones 
 taken out of a flitch of 
 bacon 
 
 Grit, great 
 
 Groaning cheese. Com- 
 pare Cuy Mannerincj, 
 '''Groaning Cheese," 
 Note 1, p. 17 
 
 Groenwegenius, or 
 Groenwkgen, Simon 
 VAN DER Made, a Dutch 
 jurist nG13~52). town 
 clerk of Delft, and 
 editor of Grotius 
 
 G R O S A R T, GROSSART, 
 
 gooseberry 
 
 Guided, managed, di- 
 rected ; GUIDING, man- 
 agement 
 
 Gully, large knife 
 
 Gusedub, the goose- 
 pond, duck-pond of the 
 town 
 
 Gusty, savory 
 
 Gutter- BLOOD, one of 
 mean birth 
 
 HaCHIAS, or HAGGIS, a 
 
 Scotch pudding of 
 minced meat, mixed 
 with oatmeal, suet, 
 onions, etc., boiled in 
 a skin bag 
 
 Haet, the smallest thing 
 imaginable 
 
 Haffits. cheeks 
 
 Hafflins. a hobblede- 
 hoy, youth 
 
 Haill, whole, entire 
 
 Hair in his neck, some- 
 thing that will give one 
 an advantage over or a 
 pretext for twitting 
 another 
 
 Hale, whole 
 
 Hallyaru.s, an old man- 
 sion of Fit'eshire be- 
 longing to the Skene 
 family 
 
 Hame sucKi n, assaulting 
 
 a person in his own 
 house 
 Hamilton, Count An- 
 thony, wrote the Me- 
 moirs of his brother- 
 in-law. Count do Grani- 
 mont, giving a lively 
 picture of the court of 
 Charles H. of England 
 Hanked, made fui'ious, 
 
 baited 
 Harle, to drag 
 Harry Wynd fought, an 
 allusion to the smith 
 who volunteered to 
 fight with a Highland 
 clan at Perth for the 
 mere love of fighting. 
 See Fair Maid of 
 Perth 
 Haet of grease, a hart 
 
 in best condition 
 Hatch-door, a half-door 
 Haud, hold 
 Havings, manners 
 Hawk, to cough violent- 
 ly for the purpose of 
 bringing up phlegm 
 Haydock, Richard, an 
 account of his impos- 
 ture will be found in 
 Kennefs History of 
 England, vol. ii.. p. 711 
 Hays, an old-fashioned 
 
 country-dance 
 Hazard, a dice game 
 " Heartless oft," etc. 
 (p. xv), from CoUins's 
 Ode on the Popular 
 Supei-stitions of the 
 Highlands of Scotland 
 II e A utontimoeumenos ; 
 or, The Self-Torment- 
 or, a comedy by Ter- 
 ence 
 Heben-wood, ebony 
 Heck and manger, prod- 
 igal and unconcerned 
 Hedge-parson, a clergy- 
 man who performed 
 irregular marriages 
 Hermit of Parnell. the 
 subject of a poem by 
 Dr. Thomas Parnell. a 
 minor poet of Queen 
 Anne's reign. The 
 lines in the text (p. 
 xxiii) parody the orig- 
 inal 
 Het. hot 
 
 Heugh. dell ; crag 
 Hidalgo, a Spanish no- 
 bleman 
 High Dutch, German. 
 The German woi'd 
 gram means sorrow, 
 affliction, tribulation 
 IIiNNV. honey, darling 
 
 HlRDIEGIRilE, topsy 
 
 turvy 
 Hikpling, hobbling 
 Hirsel, a flock 
 
460 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 Hit, a move in backj^am- 
 mon, by which a plaj'er 
 compels his adversary 
 to begin over again 
 
 HoLBORN, RIDE UP. See 
 Ride lip Holborn 
 
 Horn-mad, starli mad, 
 outrageous 
 
 Horse GRAiTH, trap- 
 pings, harness 
 
 HowFF, a haunt 
 
 Huff, swaggerer, blus- 
 terer, one swollen with 
 pride or arrogance 
 
 Humming, strong. Me- 
 theglin (and so beer) 
 was said to make the 
 head hum like the hive 
 from which the honey 
 was taken, of which it 
 was made 
 
 HuNGERFoRD STAIRS, be- 
 side the Thames, on 
 the spot where Charing 
 Cross railway bridge 
 now crosses the river 
 
 Hustle-cap. pitching 
 halfpence at a mark, 
 and selecting from the 
 whole of the coins such 
 as fall head upwards, 
 according to tlie sev- 
 eral players' nearness 
 to the mark 
 
 Ignoto, unknown 
 I LicTOB, etc. (p. 437), Go, 
 lictor, bind his hands, 
 cover his head, hang 
 him on the accursed 
 tree 
 Ilka, ilk, each, every 
 III REDD-UP, very untidy 
 Ill-willy, ill-natured 
 iMo Kex, etc. (p. 104), 
 Yes. your most august 
 Majesty, I stayed al- 
 most two years among 
 the people of Leyden 
 •'Inclusus varus," etc. 
 (p. 429), an inclosed 
 spirit attends the 
 various stars, and 
 ui^es on the living 
 work with regulated 
 motion. (Claudian, 
 Epigrams, No. 68) 
 In cuerpo, without a 
 cloak, naked, a Spanish 
 phrase 
 Incumbite remis for- 
 TFTER, Apply your- 
 selves strenuously to 
 the oars 
 Infandum, etc. (p. 154), 
 to renew the unspeak- 
 able pain 
 Infksti regibus, dan- 
 gerous to kings 
 Inqine, intuition, genius 
 iNjrRED Thales of the 
 MORALIST. See Dr. 
 
 Johnson's satirical 
 
 poem, London 
 Inkle, a kind of crewel 
 
 or embroidery in wool 
 In malam PAitTEM, in ill 
 
 part 
 In meditatione fvom, 
 
 meditating flight 
 "In nova fert" (pp. 
 
 193 and 430), My mind 
 
 leads me again to 
 
 speak of changed 
 
 forms 
 Inter parietes ec- 
 
 CLESi.a:, within the 
 
 walls of a church 
 In terrorem, as a terror 
 
 to evil-doers 
 In verbo regis, by the 
 
 king's word 
 Iris, in Greek mythol- 
 ogy, the messenger of 
 
 the gods, represented 
 
 by the rainbow 
 "It's hame, and it's 
 
 hame," etc. (p. 3"0), 
 
 from a song by Allan 
 
 Cunningham 
 
 Jacobus, gold coin =■ 25s. 
 
 J ACTA est alea. the die 
 is cast ; he has made 
 his choice 
 
 James with the Fiery 
 Face, James II. of 
 Scotland 
 
 Jaud, jade 
 
 Jeweller of Delhi, etc. 
 (p. XV). See "History 
 of Mahoud," in We- 
 ber's Tales of the East, 
 vol. iii., p. 479, etc. 
 
 JiLL-FLIRT.Or gill-flirt, 
 
 a thoughtless, giddy 
 girl 
 
 JippKR, to jeopard, peril 
 
 Joannes Barclaius, 
 John Barclay, author 
 of Argents, enjoyed the 
 favor of James I. 
 
 John Taylor, the poet, 
 a Thames waterman, 
 usually styled the 
 Water-poet (1580-1664) 
 
 Jolter-pate, blockhead 
 
 JOUK AND LET THE JAW 
 
 gae by. Stoop and let 
 the wave go by, bend 
 to the storm 
 Jowl, toll of a bell 
 Justus et tenax pro- 
 posTi, a just man, and 
 tenacious of his pur- 
 pose 
 
 Kaiser, emperor 
 
 Kemp, to strive for vic- 
 tory ; kkmping, strife, 
 struggle 
 
 K;EN,know;KENNED, 
 1 known; kenning, 
 
 reach, range ; know!. 
 t'dgc 
 Kennel, street-gutter 
 Kersey, a kind of coarse 
 woollen cloth, gener- 
 ally ribbed 
 KiMMER, a gossip 
 
 Kino Cambysess vein, r- 
 ranting character in an 
 old play by Thomas 
 Preston, entitled Com- 
 byses. King of Persia. 
 There is another Vfr- 
 sion by Elkanah Settle 
 (1671) 
 
 King Lud, a mythical 
 king of ancient Britain, 
 whose name is said tr, 
 survive in Ludgate, 
 London 
 
 Kirk and miln, make a. 
 Make what you will ot 
 it, do whatever you 
 please with it 
 
 Kirkcaldy, extends 
 about four miles along 
 the north shore of tlie 
 Firth of Forth, and in 
 nicknamed the Long 
 Town 
 
 KisT, chest, trunk 
 
 Kittle, ticklish, diffi- 
 cult : to tirkle 
 
 Knapping, stealing 
 
 Kraemes, or Crames, 
 shops in a passage be- 
 tween the old Lucken- 
 booths of the High 
 Street of Edinburgh 
 and St. Giles' Cathe- 
 dral 
 
 Kythed, caused, made 
 to show 
 
 Laberius, a Roman 
 " knight,"whom Cassar 
 constrained (45 B.C. ) to 
 take part in a trial of 
 extemporaneous farce 
 against a celebrated 
 "mime," Fublius Syrus 
 
 Lady Chris tabel, a.i 
 allusion to Coleridge's 
 poem 
 
 Laid up in lavender, in 
 prison, confinement 
 
 Laigh, low 
 
 Lair, learning 
 
 Lambmas, or Lammas 
 Day, the first day of 
 August 
 
 Landlouper, adventurer 
 
 Lap, jumped 
 
 Latten. a kind of brass 
 
 Lavrock, the lark 
 
 Lay leaguer, was in gar- 
 rison 
 
 Leasing, lying; leasing- 
 making, treason 
 
 Lb fanfaron, etc. (p. 
 339), the boaster of 
 vices whioh he had not 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 461 
 
 Le petit Leyth, i.e. 
 Leith, which was held 
 by Mary of Lorraine, 
 the queen regent, and 
 the Catholic paity,sup- 
 ported by French 
 troops, and besieged 
 by the Scottish Protes- 
 tants, the Ijords of the 
 Congregation, in 156u 
 
 Leugh. laughed 
 
 Lief. dear, beloved ; as 
 LIEF, as soon, gladly 
 
 Lift, sky 
 
 Lingua franca, a com- 
 mon language; gen- 
 erally a corrupt Ital- 
 ian ; but the word 
 quoted on p. 89 is 
 Spanish 
 
 LiTHER, lazy, supple 
 
 LooF, i>alm of the hand 
 
 LooN, fellow, rascal ; 
 strumpet 
 
 Lord Sanquhar, after 
 having his eye put out 
 by John Turner, a 
 fencing-master, during 
 a friendly trial, caused 
 Turner to b e m u r - 
 dered ; but being a 
 
 Eeer of Scotland only, 
 e was denied the priv- 
 ilege of trial by bis 
 peers, and was execut- 
 ed at Westminster 
 
 LouN, LouND, low, calm 
 
 LoupiN', leaping 
 
 Lucio. in Shakespeare's 
 Measure for Measure, 
 Act v., sc. 1 
 
 Ltjckie, dame, a title 
 given to old women 
 
 Lully's philosophy. 
 Raymond Lullius, or 
 Luily, invented in the 
 13th century a sort of 
 mechanical system of 
 philosophy for convert- 
 ing the Moslems to 
 Christianity ; he also 
 practised alchemy 
 
 Lustre, a period of five 
 years 
 
 Mabre, marble 
 
 Maelstrom, a formid- 
 able whirlpool at the 
 south extremity of the 
 Lofoten Islands, off the 
 west coast of Norway 
 
 Maggot, whim, fancy 
 
 Mahound, the name 
 given in the medi;eval 
 mystery plays to a de- 
 mon intended to repre- 
 sent the prophet Ma- 
 homet 
 
 Mail, baggage 
 
 Main, throw a, take a 
 hand at dice 
 
 Mair, more 
 
 Mair tint on Flodden 
 Edge, a proverbial 
 expression meaning. 
 There was more lost in 
 the battle of Flodden. 
 i.e. Things might have 
 been worse 
 
 Maist, most ; "maibt, al- 
 most 
 
 Malleus malificarum, 
 the liammer to break 
 to pieces the malefac- 
 tor, an allusion to a 
 work (148?) bearing 
 that title, by Sprenger 
 and Kramer, describ- 
 ing the processes to be 
 followed against 
 witches 
 
 Man of Uz, Job of the 
 Old Testament 
 
 MarSchal Strozzi 
 (Philip), French gener- 
 al (1541-82), distin- 
 guished himself In the 
 reign of Francis II. 
 
 Marle. marvel, wonder 
 
 Marmite, porridge pot, 
 iron pot for cooking 
 
 Marmozet, a small mon • 
 key 
 
 Marry guep, corruption 
 of Marry go up ! an 
 exclamation of scorn 
 or contempt 
 
 Master of Glamis, one 
 of the participants in 
 the Raid iq.v.) of 
 Ruthven 
 
 Master Puff, in Sheri- 
 dan's Critic, Act. iii., 
 sc. 1 
 
 Maun, must 
 
 Maze in Tothill Fields. 
 a favorite resort of 
 Londoners in the 16th 
 century, situated near 
 the Westminster and 
 Vauxhall Bridge Road 
 
 Melancholy Jaccjues. 
 See Shakespeare's As 
 You Like It, Act. ii., 
 sc. 1 
 
 Meliora spero, I expect 
 better things 
 
 Mell with, meddle with 
 
 Mbnseful, discreet, ma- 
 ture 
 
 Merk, an old Scotch sil- 
 ver coin = Is. 1 l-3d. 
 
 Mermaid, a tavern be- 
 tween Broad Street 
 and Friday Street, 
 Cheapside, where Sir 
 Walter Kaleigh found- 
 ed a club of wits, and 
 where Ben Jon son 
 used to frequent 
 
 Mew, to moult, shed 
 (feathers, etc.) 
 
 Michael Scott, De 
 Secretis, an alternative 
 
 title for the magician'.s 
 best known work on 
 generation, De Ph i.n- 
 ognomia et Hominis 
 Procreatione (ed. 
 Frankfort, 161.5) 
 
 Miching, mean, c o w- 
 ardly, skulking 
 
 Mickle, large, much 
 
 Mighty Mightinesses, 
 meani for High and 
 Mighty, a mode em- 
 ployed in addressing 
 the States-General of 
 the Netherlands 
 
 Mint, to hint, aim at 
 
 Mirk, dark 
 
 Miscawed, abused 
 
 Misleard, vinmannerly 
 
 Mobility, the common 
 people, rabble 
 
 Montero, huntsman's 
 cap 
 
 Moralist. See Injured 
 Thales of the moralist 
 
 Mort-cloth, a funeral 
 pall 
 
 Mother Redcap of 
 Hungerford Stairs. 
 the name is borrowed 
 from a notorious shrew 
 of Kentish Town, called 
 Mother Redcap or 
 Mother Damnable 
 
 Motion of the poor 
 noble, the puppet- 
 show of the poor noble 
 
 Mournival, all four aces, 
 or kings, etc., in gleek 
 
 MoYLE, or moil, mule 
 
 MucKLE, much 
 
 MuN, dissolute young 
 spark of the reign of 
 Queen Anne 
 
 " My lord, beware of 
 JEALOUSY,'" etc. (p. 128), 
 from Othello, Act iii., 
 sc. 3 ; but for " make " 
 read "mock" 
 
 Nab, not ; naething, 
 nothing 
 
 Namesake of Smith- 
 field MEMORY, Queen 
 Mary of England, in 
 whose reign so many 
 Protestants were 
 burned at Smithfleld 
 
 Nappy (ale), strong, 
 heady 
 
 Nash, Thomas, a merry 
 but unfortunate satir- 
 ist of the end of Eliza- 
 beth's reign 
 
 Needsna, needs not 
 
 Ne inducas, etc. (p. .379), 
 Lead ns not into temp- 
 tation; get thee behind 
 me, Satan 
 
 Nicher, neigh, giggle 
 
 Nick, to defeet, cozen, 
 deceive 
 
462 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 NicoTiA, tobacco 
 
 NiFFER FOR N'IFFKR, a 
 
 fiiir excliange 
 
 Night-rail, a night- 
 go wu 
 
 NiP»KRKtN, a small 
 measure of ale, etc. 
 
 Noble, a gold coiu = Cs. 
 8d. 
 
 NON EST INQUIRENDUM, 
 
 etc. {p. 378). Ko ques- 
 tions must be aslced as 
 to where the venison 
 comes from, i.e. wnat 
 the word " venison "' is 
 etymologically derived 
 from 
 
 " NON IGNARA MALI," etC. 
 
 (p. 881). Not ignorant 
 of evil, I learn to suc- 
 cor the wretched (Vir- 
 gil, ^^neid, i., 63-1) 
 
 NON MEA RENIDET, etC.Cp. 
 
 60), There was no ceil- 
 ing in my house 
 NoN OLET, it does not 
 smell 
 
 NoN OMNIS MORIAR, I 
 
 shall notal together die 
 
 NoN SURDO CANIS, YoU 
 
 sing not to one who is 
 deaf 
 
 NoN UTENDO, for lack of 
 using 
 
 Nooning, a repast at 
 noon 
 
 Norland stots, north- 
 ern folk ; literally, 
 young bullocks 
 
 Nor' Loch, a small lake 
 or swamp in Edin- 
 burgh, where the 
 Princes Street Gardens 
 now are 
 
 Nowte. black cattle 
 
 NuLLiFiDiAN, of no faith, 
 a disbeliever 
 
 NuNCHioN. See Four 
 hours' nunchion 
 
 Oaken towel, oak 
 cudgel 
 
 Old Truepenny, the 
 name Hamlet applies 
 to his father's ghost in 
 Act i., sc. 5 
 
 Onyx cum prole, etc. (p. 
 373), The ony.^c and its 
 child, the pebble, the 
 onyx and its child 
 
 Opignorate, or oppig- 
 norate, to pledge 
 
 Oranienburgh, or 
 Uranienborg, the ob- 
 servatory built by 
 Tycho Brahfi on the 
 Danish island of Hven 
 in the Sound 
 
 Orpheus seeking his 
 EuRYDicE. Eurydice, 
 wife of Orpheus, was 
 killed and taken to 
 
 Hades on her wedding 
 night ; her husband 
 went down to the in- 
 fernal regions to seek 
 for her 
 
 Osborne, Francis, mas- 
 ter of horse to the Earl 
 of Pembroke, the au- 
 thor of Traditional 
 Memoirs of the Heign.'i 
 of Queen Elizabeth 
 and James I., printed 
 in Secret History of 
 the Court of Jaine.t I., 
 edited by Sir Walter 
 Scott, 2 vols. (Edin- 
 burgh. 1811) 
 
 Other g.'^te, other sort 
 of, kind of 
 
 Out taken, except 
 
 OwcHE, or OUCH, an or- 
 namental brooch or 
 clasp 
 
 Ox, BLACK, HAS NOT TROD 
 
 ON YOU, misfortune has 
 not come to you 
 
 Pagenstech erus, or 
 Pagenstecher, J. F. 
 G., a Dutch jurist 
 (1080-1740), lectured on 
 law at Steinf ort and at 
 Harderwyk 
 
 Paik, beat, chastise 
 
 P A N D I T E PORES, thrOW 
 
 open the doors 
 
 Paned, variegated, 
 striped 
 
 Panged, crammed, 
 pressed 
 
 Paris Garden, a bear 
 garden in Bankside 
 (5 r.), one having been 
 kept on the Thames 
 bank by Robert de 
 Paris in the reign of 
 Pvichard II. 
 
 Par voye du fait, by the 
 rough hand, violence 
 
 Pasquinado, a lampoon 
 
 PASs.iGE, game of dice 
 
 Pater patri.e, father of 
 the country 
 
 Paul's Chain, a chain 
 drawn across the car- 
 riage-way of St. Paul's 
 churchyard during 
 time of divine service 
 
 Pavia. See Francis of 
 France 
 
 Pease-bogle, scarecrow 
 
 Peddler's French, vag- 
 abonds' cant, jargon 
 
 Peery, knowing, cun- 
 ning 
 
 Peg-a- Ramsay, the title 
 of an ob.-cene old song ; 
 see Shakespeare's 
 Twelfth Night, Act ii., 
 sc. 3 
 
 Penetralia, inner re- 
 cesses 
 
 Penneech, an old card 
 
 game 
 
 Penny Scots — l-12tli of 
 English penny 
 
 Per aquam refectionis, 
 by refi'eshing waters 
 
 Per aversionem, in the 
 gross 
 
 Perdu, in concealment 
 
 "Peru interii." etc. (p. 
 377), lam lost, ruined, 
 undone ; whither can I 
 run ? whither not run? 
 Hold, hold;- Whom? 
 who am I to hold ? I do 
 not know I see noth 
 ing, Plautus, Aulula- 
 ria. Act iv , sc. 9 
 
 Petits plats exqu is, ex- 
 quisite little dishes 
 
 Piazza, the open arcade 
 running along the 
 north and east sides 
 of old Covent Garden 
 market 
 
 Pickthank, an officious 
 fellow, toady 
 
 Pig, an earthen vessel, 
 jar 
 
 Pineal gland, a part of 
 bi'ain supposed by the 
 philosopher Descartes 
 to be the seat of the 
 soul 
 
 Pisces purga, etc. (p. 
 371), clean the fish. 
 See that the salt fish is 
 well steeped 
 
 PiSTOLET, a little pistol 
 
 Pit up. put up, lodge 
 
 Place de carrousel, 
 
 Elace for showing off 
 orses in chariot-rac- 
 ing and similar exer- 
 cises 
 
 Placet, petition 
 
 Plack, a copper coin = 
 l-3d. sterling ; plack 
 and bawbee, to the 
 full 
 
 Play rex, domineer over, 
 act despotically 
 towards 
 
 Pleached, plashed and 
 woven together (said 
 of branches of a ti-ee 
 or hedge) 
 
 Ploy, frolic, entertain- 
 ment 
 
 Pock, poke, a bag, purse 
 
 Pock-pudding, a Scots- 
 man's term of con- 
 tempt for an English- 
 man 
 
 POINS ANDPETO,in, 
 
 Shakespeare's Henry 
 
 IV. 
 Point-device, in every 
 
 particular, with the 
 
 greatest exactitude 
 Poortith, poverty 
 Port, town-gate 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 463 
 
 P O R T A, B A P T I S T A. or 
 GlAMBATTISTA DELLA, a 
 
 Neapol ican natural 
 
 )'hilosopher,who wrote 
 
 De Humana Physiog- 
 
 iiomonia (1591) and 
 
 otber scientific works 
 
 Portugal piece = 4s , a 
 
 silver coin worth 8 
 
 reals, and sometimes 
 
 called a piece of eight 
 
 Pot, a soldier's steel cap 
 
 Potestas maritalis, the 
 
 rights of a hiisl)and 
 Pottle, pot or tankard 
 Pound Scots — is. 8d. 
 
 English 
 Pouther, gunpowder 
 Pow BuR.v, a ditch in 
 Newington. a southern 
 suburb of Edinburgh 
 Powdered (beef), 
 sprinkled with salt, 
 etc , pickled 
 Pr^libatio matrimonii, 
 
 foretaste of marriage 
 Prestable, pa.vable 
 pRESTER John, a fabu- 
 lous Christian king of 
 distant Asia (or Abys- 
 sinia), reputed to be 
 possessed of immense 
 wealth 
 Prie. to taste 
 
 Pi^INCIPIUM ET FONS, 
 
 head and source 
 Princox. a coxcomb 
 Propera pedem, hasten 
 
 away 
 PROSENETA.a negotiator, 
 
 agent 
 Prunella, a kind of last- 
 ing of which clergy- 
 men's gowns were for- 
 merly made 
 PuBLius Terentius, or 
 Terence, the Roman 
 comedy-writer, was a 
 native of Carthage in 
 Africa, and was taken 
 to Rome a clave 
 
 PULCHRA SANE PDELLA, 
 
 truly a beautifvil girl 
 Punchinello, a puppet- 
 showman 
 
 Q'j^MARiBus. etc., which 
 are attributed only to 
 males 
 
 QuAioH, a smajl drink- 
 ing-cup 
 
 Ql'AM BONUM ET 9UAM 
 JUCL-NDUM. how good 
 
 and how pleasant 
 QuARRfcE, or curSe, 
 
 quany. killed game 
 Quarry Holes, a depres- 
 sion at the fo'»t of Cal- 
 ton Hill, near Holyrood 
 Palace, where duels 
 were fought, and fe- 
 
 male crimin als 
 drowned 
 
 QpEEN. a woman, wench 
 
 Ql'eered, ridiculed, de- 
 rided 
 
 Qi;"est-ce, etc. (p. 140), 
 What have we to do 
 with the past ? 
 
 Quid de symbolo ? What 
 of the sign ? 
 
 Quis desiderio. etc. (p. 
 :W5), What shame or 
 limit can there be to 
 the affection borne for 
 so dear a person 1 
 
 Q u o A D A N o L o s, as re- 
 gards the English 
 
 Quoad hominem, locum, 
 as regards the man, 
 the place 
 
 Rabble, to mob, assault 
 in a riotous fashion 
 
 Raid of Ruthven, a con- 
 spiracy of Scottish 
 nobles in 1.582, to free 
 James VI. (I.), then a 
 boy. from the faction 
 of "Lennox and Arran 
 
 Rampalxian, rascal, vil- 
 lain 
 
 Rasp-haus, more cor- 
 rectly rasp-huis, a 
 house of correction, 
 prison 
 
 Rax, to stretch 
 
 Redding-kaim, unravel- 
 ling comb 
 
 Redd the gate, cleared, 
 prepared the way ; 
 redd up, put in order 
 
 Redriffe. the popular 
 pronunciation of Roth- 
 erhithe 
 
 Red-shank. bare-legged 
 person, a Highlander 
 
 Red Tod of St. An- 
 drews. King James V. 
 ( f .Scotland ; he had red 
 hair 
 
 Red-wud. stark mad 
 
 Reformado, an officer 
 deprived of his com- 
 mand, but retaining 
 his rank and pay 
 
 Regis ad exemplar, etc. 
 (p. 317), the whole 
 world is. irranged after 
 the exam pleof the king 
 
 Reird, clamor, noise 
 
 Rem Acn. etc. (p. 304), 
 }0U have hit the nail 
 on the head, Baby 
 Charles 
 
 Remeid. remedy, redress 
 
 Res angustadomi. strait- 
 ened circumstances at 
 home 
 
 Rf.x. plat. See Play rex 
 
 Ride up Holborn (Hill), 
 in the executioner's 
 
 cart, on the way to be 
 hanged at Tyburn 
 
 Ring, cracked within 
 THE, faulty in sound 
 (ring), not good 
 
 RiTsoN, Joseph, a learn- 
 ed but eccentric 18th 
 century antiquary, 
 animated by a passion 
 for strict and literal 
 accuracy 
 
 Roast-meat, crying. 
 See Crying roast-meat 
 
 R o L L o c K . Robert, the 
 first professor of the 
 University of Edin- 
 burgh, founded in 1582 
 
 Rook, defraud, clear out 
 
 RoopiT, croaking, hoarse 
 
 Rosa soli s, a cordial, 
 made of spirits, fla- 
 vored 'vith cinnamon, 
 orange-flower, etc. 
 
 Rose-noble, noble bear- 
 ing representation of 
 a rose, first coined un 
 der Edward VI., and 
 worth 10s. 
 
 Rose Tavern, in Russell 
 Street. Covent Garden 
 
 RoTi des plus excel 
 lens, a most excellent 
 roast 
 
 Rounding, whispering ; 
 roundly, bluntly, 
 frankly 
 
 Row, roU ; bowls row 
 w R A N G, things go 
 amiss 
 
 RowT, roar, bellow 
 
 RuDAS, bold, masculini 
 woman 
 
 Rummer glasses, large 
 drinking-glasses 
 
 RuNDLET, a small barrel, 
 holding 18 l-;i gallons 
 
 Ruthvens, William Earl 
 of Gowrie and his asso- 
 ciates. See Raid c" 
 Ruthven 
 
 Saam, same 
 
 Sackless, innocent 
 
 Sae, so 
 
 St. Barnaby was ten 
 YEARS, ten years ago 
 last St. Barnabas Day, 
 i.e. 11th June 
 
 St. T h o m a s-a-Water- 
 ING, a church on the 
 Old Kent Road, South- 
 wark, so called from a 
 brook dedicated to St. 
 Thomas-a-Becket 
 
 Sair, sore 
 
 Salt eel, an eel or eel's 
 skin prepared for use 
 as a whip ; a flogging, 
 beating 
 
 Salve bis, etc. (p. 104), 
 Twice hail, and four 
 times, our Glenvar- 
 
464 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 loch! TTnvo you not 
 lately returned to 
 Britain from Li'Viien y 
 Salve magne parens, 
 Hail, great parent 
 
 S A N C HO " S SUPPRESSED 
 
 WITTICISMS, In Don 
 Qttixote, Pt. I., bk. iii., 
 chap. xxi. 
 Sara, the daughter of 
 Ragukl. See the Book 
 of Tobit, iii., 2, 3, iu 
 Apocrypha 
 
 SCANDAALUM MAGNAA- 
 
 tum, an offence against 
 those in authority 
 
 Scantling, a smattering, 
 modicum 
 
 ScAUDiNG, scolding; also 
 scalding 
 
 Scaur, scare, frighten 
 
 Scotch mile =■ 9 fur- 
 longs 
 
 ScouGALL. a Scottish por- 
 trait-painter of the 
 time of Charles II. 
 
 Scout, a college servant 
 at Oxford 
 
 Secundum artem, ac- 
 cording to rule 
 
 Sed skmel insanivimus 
 OMNEs, we have all 
 been mad at one time 
 or another 
 
 Skmi-reducta Venus, 
 half-reclining Venus 
 
 Series patkfacti, etc. 
 (p. 327), the series of the 
 murder providentially 
 revealeil 
 
 S H A - B L E, a crooked 
 sword, or hanger 
 
 Shoon, shoes 
 
 Shot op, shut of, free 
 from 
 
 Shouthi ;, shoulder 
 
 Shule, shovel 
 
 Sib, related 
 
 Sic, such 
 
 Sic fuit, est, erit, thus 
 it was, is, and will be 
 
 Sicker, sure, certain 
 
 SiFFLiCATioN, supplica- 
 tion, petition 
 
 Simmieand his brother, 
 two begging friars, 
 whose rogueries maice 
 the subject of an old 
 satirical ballad ; see 
 David Laing's Select 
 Remains of Ancient 
 Popular Poetry (1822) 
 
 Sinciput, the upper part 
 of the skull ; forehead 
 
 Sine mora, without de- 
 lay 
 
 Skeigh, skittish 
 
 Skelder, to swindle, 
 cheat 
 
 Skene, skeen, a High- 
 lander's knife 
 
 Sksnk, Sir John, a great 
 
 lawyer and scholar, 
 whom in 1589 it had 
 been suggested to send 
 to Denmark to arrange 
 for James I.'s mar- 
 riage with Princess 
 Anne of that country 
 
 Sleeveless gate, a 
 fruitless errand 
 
 Slops, breeches ; huge- 
 paned slops, breeches 
 with large stripes or 
 variegations 
 
 Slurring, a particular 
 way of sliding or slip- 
 ping dice 
 
 Smaik, rascal, contempt- 
 ible fellow 
 
 Smelt, half-guinea 
 
 Snap-haunce, a lirelock 
 
 Snigger, sniggle, to 
 giggle 
 
 Soldado, a soldier 
 
 Soldan, sultan 
 
 Spangs, springs, leaps 
 
 Spanish ambassador's 
 time, in 1603-8, when 
 Don Pedro de Cuniga 
 was Spanish ambassa- 
 dor at the court of 
 James I. 
 
 Speer, to inquire, ask ; 
 speerings, inquiries 
 
 Spolia opima, the rich- 
 est booty 
 
 Spondanus, or Henri de 
 Sponde (1568-1643), 
 bishop of Pamiers in 
 France, wrote several 
 historical works 
 
 Spraickle, clamber 
 
 Springald, a stripling 
 
 Spunkie. will o' the wisp, 
 ignis fatuus 
 
 Spunk out, leak out 
 
 Stabbing, using a box so 
 narrow at the bottom 
 that the dice fall out 
 with those faces upper- 
 most which were put 
 in looking downwards 
 
 Stand buff, confront 
 boldly, without fear 
 
 Standish, inkstand 
 
 STATIU ATQUE INSTANT- 
 
 er, instantly and at 
 once 
 
 Steekit, shut, closed 
 
 Steenie, the nickname 
 James I. gave to 
 George Villiers, Duke 
 of Buckingham, owing 
 to some fancied resem- 
 blance he bore to the 
 martyr Stephen 
 
 Stock-fish, dried cod or 
 ling 
 
 Stocking, putting in the 
 stocks 
 
 Stot, bullock 
 
 S T U A ND-SCOURINQ, gllt- 
 
 ter-huuting 
 
 Strapping up. being 
 hanged 
 
 Styptic, a remedy to 
 check the flow of blood 
 
 S u B s c R I ve, subscribe, 
 sign 
 
 Succory -WATER, chicory 
 water 
 
 Sully, Maximilien de 
 Bethune, Duke of, min- 
 ister of Henry IV. of 
 France, and author of 
 famous Memoires (163-1 
 and 1662) 
 
 Summa TOTALIS, the sum 
 total 
 
 Surge carnifex, rise up, 
 butcher 
 
 Susanna and the Eld- 
 ers. See The History 
 of Susanna iu the 
 Apocrypha 
 
 SwAD, a silly, coarse per- 
 son, country bumpkin 
 
 Swaddled, beat, cud- 
 gelled 
 
 Swan of Avon, Shake- 
 speare, so called by 
 Ben Jonson 
 
 Swith, instantly 
 
 Syllabub, or sillibub, 
 wine, ale, or cider, 
 mixed with cream or 
 milk, then sweetened 
 and flavored with 
 lemon-juice, rose- 
 water, etc. 
 
 Syrus, philosophical, a 
 Syrian slave, known as 
 Publius, under whose 
 name a collection of 
 pithy proverbs was 
 long current in Rome 
 
 Tabinet, a texture of 
 silk and wool, with a 
 watered surface 
 
 Tae, the one 
 
 Ta'en, taken 
 
 Tait of woo', a lock or 
 small portion of wool 
 
 Tanquam in speculo, 
 etc. (p. 317), I order you 
 to look into the dishes 
 as into a mirror 
 
 Tawse, a strap cut into 
 narrow thongs, for 
 whipping boys 
 
 Tecum certasse, to have 
 contended with you 
 
 Tedworth, drum of, 
 beaten, it was believed, 
 by the ghost of a 
 drummer-b o y, m u r- 
 dered under circum- 
 stances similar to 
 those narrated of Jar- 
 vis Matchamin Scott's 
 Demono logy and 
 Witchcraft, Letter x. 
 
 TsiKDS, tithes 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 465 
 
 Templars, law-students 
 of the Temple 
 
 T E M P O R A MUTANTUR, 
 
 times are changed 
 
 1 E N E Z , MONSIEUR, StC. 
 
 (p. 14e), There you are; 
 ic'syou I mean 
 IrsT -WINE, a deep red 
 wine made near Mal- 
 aga in Spain 
 Test?:r, an old silver 
 
 coin = 6d. 
 Tewhesbury mustard, 
 was formerly sent in 
 litile balls all over 
 Eii,'land. Comp. Hen. 
 JT'.,Part n.. Act ii.,so.4 
 TiiALES, INJURED. See 
 Injured Thales of the 
 moralist 
 "The devil damn thee 
 BLACK," etc. (p. llS). 
 Ste Macbeth, Act v., 
 SC.3 
 •' The hallow'd soil." 
 etc. (p. 31-'). Qaeen 
 Elizabeth was bom in 
 Greenwich Palace 
 Theobalds, a roj'al seat 
 of Jiimes I. near Che- 
 shunt, in Hertshire 
 The stalk of carle- 
 hemp, etc. (p. 313), used 
 in Burns's Poem To 
 Blacklock. See also 
 Carle-hemp 
 Third kight (of play- 
 wright). The proceeds 
 of the third night after 
 a new play was put on 
 the stage went to the 
 author 
 "Those lyric feasts," 
 etc. (p. 1-18). from Her- 
 i-ick"s Hfsijerides 
 T h R o r o h-stake.s. flat 
 
 gravestones 
 Tib, ace of trumps in 
 
 gleek, counted 1.5 
 Tiddy. iour of tiamips in 
 
 gleek, counted 4 
 Tilt, an awning 
 Tint, lost 
 
 TiTYRETu's, town sparks 
 of the end of the 17th 
 cen tu ry— name bor- 
 rowed from Virgil's 
 Eclogue, i.. 1 
 Tocher, dowry 
 Tod Lowrie. equivalent 
 to Reynard the Fox, a 
 crafty person 
 TooM, empty 
 Topping, was when only 
 oue die was dropped in 
 the box. the other 
 Ijeing held, concealed, 
 between the fnij^eis at 
 the top of the bi^x 
 Tout, or toot, a blast of 
 a horn ; fit of ill- 
 humor or ill-health 
 
 TowsER, five of trumps 
 in gleek, which 
 counted 5, not 15, « the 
 game 
 
 Trankum, gimcrack, a 
 trumpery thing 
 
 Treen, wooden 
 
 Trepan, or trapan, a 
 snare, trap 
 
 Tr£s box gentilhomme 
 pouRTA>-T, a very ex- 
 cellent gentleman, 
 nevertheless 
 
 Trowl, to throw, roll, 
 drive about 
 
 Truepenny. See Old 
 Truepenny 
 
 Trunnion, a stake, tree- 
 trunk, tnmcheon 
 
 TURBAT^ FALLADIS 
 
 A R m A. a r in s of the 
 troubled Pallas 
 (.\theue\ who made 
 the Gorgon so hideous 
 that whoever looked 
 upon her was turned 
 into stone 
 
 Turn-broche, a turnspit 
 
 TwA, two 
 
 Twelve kaisers, first 
 twelve Ca?sars. or em 
 perors,of •ncient Rome 
 
 TwiRiNG, making eyes, 
 taking sly glances 
 
 Tyke, a cur 
 
 Umquhile. the late 
 
 Unce. ounce 
 
 Under the rose, sub 
 rosa, to tell you in con- 
 fidence 
 
 Un vrai diablk Dfi- 
 chaine. a very un- 
 chained devil 
 
 Usque ad mutilationem, 
 even to dismember- 
 ment 
 
 V^ atque dolor, grief 
 and pain 
 
 Valeat cjuantum, may it 
 avail much 
 
 Valet quidem, etc. (p. 
 104). Vossi IS is indeed 
 well, gracious king, 
 but is a most venerable 
 old man, if I am not 
 mistaken, in his seven- 
 tieth j-ear 
 
 Vapor one the huff, 
 to assume a bullying 
 style; v.vpons you 
 the go-by, treats you 
 with neglect, indiffer- 
 ence 
 
 Vendisses, or vendace, 
 a choice kind of white- 
 fish, found only in one 
 or two places in Eng- 
 land, Scotland, and 
 Sweden 
 
 VgMIENTI OOCCBRITK 
 
 MORBo, meet the com- 
 ing disease 
 
 Vennel, a steep street on 
 the si)uth side of the 
 Grassmarket, Ed- 
 inburgh 
 
 Ventre St. Gris, an 
 oath, meaning prob- 
 ably, " Ry the body of 
 St. Christ"' 
 
 Verquere, an old Dutch 
 game, something re- 
 sembUng b a c k g am- 
 mon 
 
 Vessail, vessels, plate 
 
 Vie, away 
 
 Viditerram, etc. (p.328), 
 I saw the land that it 
 was very good, and I 
 bent my shoulder to 
 carry, and am become 
 a servant under tribute 
 
 Vied th£ ruff and re- 
 vied, staked and 
 staked again on the 
 trump — terms used in 
 gleek 
 
 Vi nempe, etc. (p. 385), 
 doubtless by force, and 
 in a way common to 
 fathers 
 
 ViN-NIUS, or ViNNEN, AR- 
 NOLD, a Dutch jurist, 
 rector of a college at 
 the Hague, and after- 
 wards CI 633-5?) law 
 professor at Leyden 
 Vintry, a portion of 
 Thames Street, be- 
 tween London and 
 Black friars Bridges, 
 where the wine-mer- 
 chants unshipped their 
 cargoes 
 Viretot, on the, on the 
 trudge, on the tramp — 
 a phrase used in Chau- 
 cer's Mill- r's Tale 
 ViRUM mehercle, etc. 
 (p. 104), So help me, 
 Hercules, I had scarce- 
 ly thought him so old 
 a man ; and that Vors- 
 tius, the successor as 
 well as adherent of the 
 reprobate Arminius — 
 is that hero, as I may 
 say with Homer, still 
 alive and seeing the 
 light on earth ? 
 ViVERS, victuals 
 VivuM quidem, etc. (p. 
 10-5), It is not long 
 since I saw tlie man, 
 alive, indeed ; but who 
 can say he flourishes 
 who has long lain 
 prone and prostrate 
 under the bolts of your 
 eloquence, great king 
 VoKTius. There are two 
 celebrated Dutch 
 
466 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 jurists of this name — 
 Paul Voet (1619-77), a 
 professor at Utrecht, 
 and his son John (1647- 
 1714), who practised at 
 Utrecht anil at Leyden 
 
 VoRSTius, or Voorst, 
 Conrad, succeeded 
 Arminius as teacher in 
 Leyden in 1010. James 
 I. wrote a tract against 
 him 
 
 Vossius, Gerard John, 
 a very learned Dutch- 
 man, educated at Ley- 
 den, and some time 
 (1622-30) professor 
 there 
 
 Wad, laid in, pledged, 
 mortgaged 
 
 Wadset, a mortgage 
 
 Waistcoatekr, wearer 
 of a waistcoat, prosti- 
 tute 
 
 Waiter, keeper of a 
 town-gate in Edin- 
 burgh 
 
 Wanion, with a, with a 
 vengeance, the devil ! 
 
 Wap and win, an ob- 
 scene expression, to go 
 in and win 
 
 Warlock, wizard 
 
 Wastrifk, wasteful 
 
 Water of Leith, a nar- 
 row stream that passes 
 along the no th side of 
 Edinburgh to the Firth 
 of Forih at Leith 
 
 Waur, worse 
 
 Well-a-day, or weli.- 
 AWAY, an ejaculation 
 of sorrow or grief 
 
 Welsh main, in cock- 
 fighting, was when the 
 wmners in each bout 
 fought against one 
 another till only one 
 bird remained 
 
 Westward ho, to the 
 west, an old cry of the 
 London watermen 
 soliciting passengers 
 going west 
 
 Wheen, a few 
 
 " Where as she look'd 
 ABOUT," etc. (p. xxviii), 
 from Spenser's Faerie 
 Qiieene, Bk. IIL, canto 
 xi., St. ,54 
 
 Whigmaleery. or whig- 
 meleerie, whimsical 
 
 Whimsy, a whim 
 
 Whinger, a large knife, 
 usually worn at the 
 belt 
 
 Whinyard, a short 
 sword, hanger 
 
 Whomle, turn over 
 
 Whunstane, whinstone 
 
 Wimpled, clothed with a 
 
 wimple, a voluminous 
 
 covering for the head, 
 
 worn by women 
 WiNNA, will not 
 Withy, widdie. a halter, 
 
 the gallows 
 AVoNNOT, won't, will not 
 WooLWARD,to go dressed 
 
 in wool only, worn next 
 
 the skin 
 Wot, know ; w o t n a. 
 
 know not 
 WussiNG, wishing 
 Wylie-coat, under-v3st. 
 
 under-petticoat 
 Wyte, blame 
 
 Yellow-hammer, gold 
 coin 
 
 Yestate, estate 
 
 "Yet, certes, by her 
 face," etc. (p. XV), 
 from Faerie Queene, 
 Bk. VII., canto vii., st.5 
 
 Zeno, the Eleatic, the 
 favorite disciple of 
 Parmenides, is said to 
 have ventured his life 
 to free his native coun- 
 try (unknown) from a 
 tyrant ; or perhaps 
 Zeno the Stoic ia 
 meant 
 
INDEX 
 
 AnoLPH0S, J. L., Letters . ..on the Wav- 
 
 erly Novels, xx 
 Alsatia. See Whitefriars 
 Apprentices of London, 'i 
 Armstrong, Archie, jester, 359, 430 
 Author, his Introduction, vii ; inter- 
 viewed by Captain Clutterbuck, xv ; 
 on soHloquy, 257 
 
 Barber's shop, London, iZy ; Green- 
 wich, 314 
 Barnes. Betty, xxiii 
 Beaujeu, Chevalier de, 136, 138 
 Betterton, the actor, 148 
 Blackchester, Countess of, 1.50 
 Bothwell. Francis. Earl of, 226, 449 
 Buckingham. Duke of, 110 : his charac- 
 ter, 111, 445 ; in St. James's Park, 175 ; 
 at tlie Greenwich hunt, 324 ; scorns 
 Dalyarno, 388 
 Burbaije. actoi-, 148, 448 
 " By spigot and barrel," 201 
 
 Camlet 3Ioat, Enfield Chase, 421 
 CharinR Cross, time of James I., 53 
 Charles. Prince of Wales, 175 ; at the 
 Greenwich hunting, 325 ; in judgment 
 on Dalgarno, 388 
 Christie, Dame Nelly, 24 ; resents Her- 
 iofs advice, 47 ; regret at Nigel's de- 
 parture, 157 ; elopement, 336 ; with 
 Dalg.irno in Enfield Chase, 418 ; taken 
 back by her husband, 425 
 Christie. John. 24 ; quarrel with Moni- 
 
 Slies. 304 ; demands his wife from 
 igel. 336 : recovers her, 425 
 Clutterbuck, Captain, his Introductory 
 
 Epistle, xiii 
 Coke. Roger. Court and State of Eng- 
 
 land, quot(vl. 450 
 Colepppper, Captain, at the ordinary, 
 142; intrudes upon Nigel, 262; mur- 
 ders Trapbois. 285 ; interview with 
 the scrivener, 405 ; killed by Moniplies, 
 42;i 
 Cookery, French, 141, 447 
 Corbet, Iter Borenle, quoted, 448 
 Counterblast to Tobacco, King James's, 
 
 25,442 
 Counter Scuffle, quoted, 448 
 Cuckoo's nest, i.e. London, 143, 448 
 Cunningham, Allan, xxiv 
 
 Dalqarno, Lord, introduced to Nigel, 
 115 ; surprises him in his lodgings, I 
 127 ; sentiments regarding his father, I 
 
 467 
 
 133 ; takes Nigel to the ordinary, 189 ; 
 
 dissuades him from going to court, 
 153 ; shuns Nigel's glance, 175 ; struck 
 by him, 182 ; effrontery before the 
 council, 388 ; married to Hermione. 
 390 ; his message to Nigel through 
 Moniplies, 402 ; rage at the scrivener, 
 403 ; with Dame Christie in Enfield 
 Chase, 418 ; his death, 423 
 
 Dalwolsey, Earl of, 94, 444 
 
 Dalzell, Sketches of Scottish History, 
 quoted, 444 
 
 Deborah, charwoman, 279 
 
 Dionysius of Syracuse, 394 
 
 Douglas, Earl of, Tineman, 416 
 
 Douglas wars, 123, 445 
 
 Duke of Exeter's daughter, 414 
 
 Enfield Chase, 418 
 
 English, their jealousy of the Scotch, T 
 
 Fleet Street, London, 2, 10 
 
 Foljambe, Lady, 207 
 
 Fortunes of Nigel, the novel, vil 
 
 Fortune theatre, London, 148 
 
 French cookery, 141, 447 
 
 " From the touch of the tip," 301 
 
 Gaming, 136, 171, 188 
 
 Gill, Commentary, 51, 443 
 
 Glamis, Master of, 61 
 
 Glengarry, Chief of, 450 
 
 Glenvarloch, Lord. See Nigel 
 
 Glenvarloch, Randal or Ochtred, 61 
 
 Glossary, 455 
 
 God's Revenge against Murder, 282, 450 
 
 Grahame, punning on name, 195 
 
 Green-Jacket, waterman. See Vincent, 
 
 Jenkin 
 Greenwich Park, scene in, 327, 451 
 
 Haldimund, Sir Ewes, 180 
 Heriot, Alison, epitaph to, 442 
 Heriot, George, in Ramsay's shop, 12 ; 
 questions Moniplies, 17 ; visits Nigel, 
 36 ; questions Moniplies again, 39 ; 
 invites Davie Ramsay to dinner, 49 ; . 
 carries the piece of plate to the King, 
 SI; presents Nigel's petition. 59; ac- 
 companies him to court, 98 ; discusses 
 his affairs, 113 ; the Foljambe apart- 
 ments in his house, 207 ; visit to the 
 Tower. .344 ; discovers Margaret Ram- 
 say, 351 ; interview with Sir E. and 
 Lady Mansel, 3.57 ; the King's trick 
 upon him, 874 ; tells the story of Dal- 
 
468 
 
 WA VERLEY NO VEL S 
 
 garno and Hermione, 383 ; snubs Sir 
 Mungo, 432 ; the historical person 
 441, vii 
 Heriot, Judith, 67, 71 ; her relations with 
 
 Margaret Ramsay, 305 
 Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh, vii, 439 
 Hermione, Lady, 7U ; Moniplies's ac- 
 count of, 82 ; brought home by Heriot, 
 208 ; listens to Margaret Ramsay's 
 tale, 215 ; her own story, 226 ; connec- 
 tion with Dalgarno, 383 ; her case be- 
 fore the King, 388 ; married to Dal- 
 garno, 390 ; hears of his death, 427 
 Hiklebrod, Duke, 191, 196 ; visits Nigel, 
 
 269 ; acts the sheriff, 2yO 
 Howard, Lord Henry, 133, 455 
 Huntinglen, Lord, 102 ; claims his boon 
 of the King, 107 ; succeeds with Ni- 
 gel's petition, 109 ; discusses Nigel's 
 affairs, 113 ; counsels him, 153 ; indig- 
 nation at his son, 391 ; at his son's 
 funeral, 427 ; historical prototype, 445 
 
 Introductory Epistle, Captain Clut- 
 terbuck's xiii 
 
 James I. of England, state of society in 
 his reign, ix, 134, 439, 447 ; his Counter- 
 blast, 35, 442 ; love of flattery, 33, 443 ; 
 description of, 54, 443 ; surprised by 
 the petition, 59 ; court reception, 103 ; 
 converses with Nigel in Latin, 104 ; 
 grants his petition, 109 ; hunting in 
 Greenwich Park, 321 ; alarmed by Ni- 
 gel, 333 ; his hunting-bottle, 335, 450 ; 
 his timidity, 327, 451 ; dislike to fire- 
 arms, 361,452; delight at recovering 
 the rubies, 373 ; hides Moniplies be- 
 hind the arras, 374, 453 ; rebukes him, 
 379 ; tells Lord Huntinglen of his son's 
 villainy, 381 ; orders Dalgarno to wed 
 Hermione, 388 ; exculpates Nigel in 
 council, 393 ; his ' lugg ' in the Tower, 
 394 ; interest in Nigel's marriage, 428; 
 finds a pedigree for Margaret Ramsay, 
 428 ; at the marriage, 434 ; reception 
 of Martha Trapbois, 435 ; knights Mo- 
 noplies, 438 
 
 James I. of Scotland, assassination of, 
 360, 453 
 
 Jeddart staff, 394 
 
 Jenny, Scots laundress, 87 
 
 Jim, Lowestoffe's boy, 189 
 
 Jin Vin. See Vincent, Jenkin 
 
 Jock of Milch, 60 
 
 Jonson, Ben, Xeio Inn, quoted, 446 
 
 Kilderkin, Ned, innkeeper, 316 
 Knighton, Buckingham's groom, 73 
 
 Lake Lady, 394 
 
 Latin pronunciation, 105 
 
 Leglin-girth, 386, 453 
 
 I^eith, siege of, 143, 447 
 
 Lilly, Life and Times, quoted, 440 
 
 Linkboys of London, 78 
 
 Linklater, Laurie, 32 ; recognizes Nigel 
 at Greenwich, 317 ; furthers Moni- 
 plies's second "sifflication." 371 
 
 London, apprentices. 3 ; shops, 2 ; Fleet 
 Street, 3, 10 ; St. Dunstan's church, 
 30 : Strand. 53 ; Whitehall, 58, ^8 ; 1 
 
 linkboys, 78 ; Thames, 98 ; St. James's 
 Park, 168; 3Iarshalsea, 260, 449; 
 Thames watermen, 299, 371 ; Tower, 
 339, 453 ; military training of citizens, 
 413, 454. See alsu Whitefriars 
 
 Lowestoffe, Reginald, 185 ; speaks for 
 Nigel, 200 ; witue.ss to repayment of 
 redemption-money, 400 ; entertained 
 by Moniplies, 408 ; in Enfield Chase, 
 423 
 
 Lutin, Dalgarno's page, 130 ; in Enfleld 
 Chase, 417, 433 
 
 MaCoul, Jem, xix 
 
 Malagrowther, Sir Mungo, 65 ; at Her- 
 lot's dinner-party, 67 ; reminded of 
 his debt, 74 ; quarrel with the usher, 
 100 ; dines at Lord Huntinglen's, 134 ; 
 fastens himself upon Nigel, 169 ; at 
 Sir E. Mansel's, 358 ; condoles with 
 Nigel, 361 ; pretends concern for Ni- 
 gel's poverty, 432 ; prototype of, 444 
 
 Mansel, Lady, 357 
 
 Hansel, Sir Edward, 357 
 
 Marshalsea, London, 260, 449 
 
 Maxwell, the usher, 53 ; quarrel with 
 Sir Mungo, 100 ; stops Nigel, 103 
 
 Mhic-Allastar-More, 325, 450 
 
 Monastery, The, criticism on, xvi 
 
 Moniplies, Richie, in Fleet Street, 10; 
 carried to Ramsay's, 14 ; refuses to 
 part from his cloak, 16 ; questioned 
 by Heriot, 17 ; account of his adven- 
 tures, 29 ; cross-questioned by Heriot, 
 39, gossips in liquor, 78 ; expostulates 
 with Nigel, 159 ; quits his service, 165; 
 quarrels with Christie, 304 ; takes 
 charge of Martha Trapbois, 307 ; joins 
 Nigel in the Tower, 368 ; asks a second 
 favor of Linklater, 371 ; returns the 
 rubies to the King, .373 ; hidden behind 
 the arras, 374 ; rebuked by the King, 
 379 ; brings the redemption-money to 
 Skurliewhitter, 400 ; encounter with 
 Lord Dalgarno, 403 ; entertains the 
 Templars, 408 ; his arrangement with 
 Jin Vin, 410 ; dispatches Colepepper, 
 433 ; his mysterious behavior, 433 ; 
 knighted, 438 
 
 Monna Paula, Hermione's maid, 208, 
 214 ; her devotion to her mistress, 232. 
 236 
 
 Murray, Regent, tomb of, 125 
 
 Nelly, Dame. See Christie, Dame Nelly 
 Nigel, Lord Glenvarloch, 34 ; indigna- 
 tion at the proclamation, 34 ; visited 
 by Heriot, 36 ; the mortgage, 43, 61 ; 
 accepts Heriot's assistance, 39 ; at 
 his dinner-party, 69 ; sounds Moniplies 
 about Hermione, 81 ; attends court. 
 98 ; stopped by Maxwell, 102 ; con- 
 verses with the King in Latin, 104 , 
 Lord Huntinglen's successfu media- 
 tion, 109 ; meeting with Buckingham, 
 111 ; surprised by Lord Dalgarno. 127; 
 his scruples about gaming, 136 ; pat- 
 ronized by Countess of Blackchester. 
 150; hisgaylife, 152 ; leaves Christie's 
 house, 1,57; reproved by Moniplies, 
 159 ; hears unwelcome tidings, 161 ; 
 receives a warning, 167 ; meets Sir 
 
:kdex 
 
 439 
 
 Mungo in the Park, 169 ; cut by the 
 Prince, 176 ; striijes Dalgarno, 18a : 
 befriended by Lowestoffe, 185 ; seeks 
 refuge in Whitefriars, 194 ; entered in 
 Duki Hildebrod's book, 198 ; in Trap- 
 bois's house, 251 ; soliloquizes, 258 ; 
 intruded upon by Captain Colepepper, 
 862 ; ov Duke Hildebrod, 2(59 ; shoots 
 the murderer, 286 : leaves Alsatia, 299; 
 put ashore at Greenwich, 311 ; at the 
 barber's 314 ; at Ned Kilderkin's, 316 ; 
 recognized by Linklater, 318 ; accosts 
 the King when hunting, 323 ; lodged 
 in the Tower, 330 ; joined by JIargaret 
 Ramsay, 331; visited by John Christie, 
 336; giiesses Margaret's sex. 342; in- 
 terrogated by Heriot, 344 ; discovers 
 loss of royal warrant, 350 ; condolence 
 from Sir Mungo, 361 : is surprised by 
 Moniplies, 368 ; pardoned by the Kmg, 
 393 ; his marriage, 434 ; recovers the 
 royal warrant, 437 
 
 Ordinary, in 17th century, 135 
 
 Pages, in 17th century, 131, 446 
 Penny wedding, 431, 454 
 Playhouses, London, 146 
 Pork, Scotch dislike to, 315, 450 
 
 Ramsay, David, 2; his irritableness, 
 12 ; invited by Heriot to dinner, 49 ; 
 at Heriot's 68 ; the historical person, 
 450 
 
 Ramsay, Margaret, at Heriot's, 69 ; m- 
 terview, with Dame Ursula, 89; con- 
 fides her love-secret to her, 93 ; her 
 note to Nigel, 167 ; goes to Heriot's 
 house, 205 ; her character, 210 ; asks 
 Hermione to help her, 215 ; brought 
 into the Tower, 331 ; tells Nigel her 
 dream, 342 ; discovered by Heriot, 
 .351 ; her story, 354 ; a pedigree found 
 for her, 428 ; marriage, 434 
 
 Ramsav, Sir John, 445 
 
 Ramsay, William, son of David, 441 
 
 Raredrench, the apothecary, 15 
 
 Regent Murray, tomb of, 125 
 
 Register of Alsatia. 198, 449 
 
 Ringwood, Mr., 400; entertained by 
 Jlouiplies, 408 
 
 Roberts, Heriot's cash - keeper, 73 ; 
 bafiBes Sir Mungo, 74 
 
 St. Dunstan's church in Fleet Street, 
 ;i0. 
 
 St. James's Park, 1G8 
 
 St. Roque's, abbess of, 208 
 
 Scots, disliked by English. 1 ; proclama- 
 tion against, 35, 443 ; their dislike to 
 pork, 315 ; 450 
 
 Scrivener. See Skurliewhitter, Andrew 
 
 Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, xii; quoted, 
 440 ; his Scou-rers, 447 
 
 Shops, London, time of James L, 8 
 
 Simmons ; Widow, 7 
 
 Skimmington, riding the. 242, 449 
 Skurliewhitter, Andrew, scrivener, 51 ; 
 at Lord Huntinglen's 118; soliloquizes, 
 399 ; compelled to accept the redemp- 
 tion-money, 400 ; interview with Lord 
 Dalgarno, 403 ; with Colepepper, 405 
 Society, English, time of James I., ix, 
 
 134, 4:39, 447 
 Soliloquy Author on, 257 
 Strand, London, 52 
 
 Street-fighting, in 17th century, 134,447 
 Stubbs, mutilation of, 363, 452 
 Suddloehop, Benjeniin. 84, 2;i7 
 Suddlechop, Dame Ursula, 84 : called in 
 to see Margaret Ramsay, b~ ; advises 
 with Jin Vin, 239 
 
 Temple Bar, time of James I., 52 
 
 Terry, Daniel, xxiv 
 
 Thaiiies. time of James, I., 98 ; water- 
 men of, 299, 371 
 
 Tineman. See Douglas, Earl of 
 
 Tower, London. 330; Traitor's Gate, 329, 
 452 ; memorials of illustrious pris- 
 oners. 331. 452 
 
 Trapbois, Martha, 203, 254 ; lectures 
 Nigel, 266 ; Duke Hildebrod's proposal 
 regarding her, 273 ; interferes with 
 her father, 278. 284 ; lamentation over 
 his death, 288, 297; leaves Alsatia, 299 ; 
 set ashore at Paul's Wharf. 303 ; taken 
 charge of by Moniplies, 307 ; before 
 the King, .436 
 
 Trapbois, the miser, 202 ; his house in 
 Alsatia, 251 ; his avarice, 255, 277. 283; 
 steals in upon Nigel, 283 ; murder of, 
 286 ; hiding-place of his treasure, 296 
 
 Tunstall, Frank, 5 
 
 Turner, Mrs. Anne, 85, 94, 444 
 
 Ursley, Dame. See Suddlechop, Dame 
 
 Ursula 
 Ventriloquism, James I.'s use of, 453 
 Vincent, Jenkin, 4 ; sells the barnacles, 
 8 ; accosts Moniplies. 10 ; encounter 
 with Colepepper, 143; interview with 
 Dame Ursula, 239 ; fetches Nigel from 
 Whitefriars, 299 ; puts Nigel ashore at 
 Greenwich. 311 ; talk with Moniplies, 
 410 ; with the rescue party, 423 ; sub- 
 sequent history, 426 
 
 Wallace, William, architect of Heriot's 
 
 Hospital, 447 
 Watermen, Thames, 299, 371 
 Webster, Uj-imi Tr/fc/icra/(, quoted, 453 
 WhitefMars, London, ix, 184 ; sanctuary 
 
 of, 194 ; characters in 440 
 Whitehall, time of James. I., 53, 448 
 Winchester, Bishop of, 390 
 Wits, time of James I., 1.50, 449 
 
 " Your suppliant by name," 196 
 
 Zdcchero, Frederigo, 451 
 
•J^-' 
 
The pi rat 
 
 e; The forti^es 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 JAN 2 4 194; 
 
 ' PmrS^fff BO'5 1940 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M29090 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
Jm 
 
 ,«r»^ 
 
 '^. 
 
 /' 
 
 i^_.