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THE
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BY THE
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HON. ALPHEUS FELCH.
BEQUEATHED
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
1896.
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J. Mitchell.
A. Fraser.
REDGAUNTLET.

Scott walter
WAVERLEY NOVELS.
vox. XXXV. 69427
REDGAUNTLET.
I skipp
MICH UNIV
"I was induced at last to lend the rod to the sneering
scoundrel, to see what he would make of it; and he
not only half filled my basket in an hour, but literal-
ly taught me to kill two trouts with my own hand.
1832.
40
R. Graves.
TERARY
PRINTED FOR ROBERT CADELL, EDINBURGH,
AND WHITTAKER & C? LONDON.
REDGAUNTLET.
A TALE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Master, go on; and I will follow thee,
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
As You Like it.
VOL. XXXV.
a
REDGAUNTLET.
A TALE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Master, go on; and I will follow thee,
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
As You Like it.
VOL. XXXV.
a
·
INTRODUCTION
ΤΟ
REDGAUNTLET,
:
THE Jacobite enthusiasm of the eighteenth
century, particularly during the rebellion of
1745, afforded a theme, perhaps the finest that
could be selected, for fictitious composition,
founded upon real or probable incident. This
civil war, and its remarkable events, were re-
membered by the existing generation without
any degree of the bitterness of spirit which
seldom fails to attend internal dissension. The
Highlanders, who formed the principal strength
of Charles Edward's army, were an ancient
and high-spirited race, peculiar in their habits
of war and of peace, brave to romance, and ex-
hibiting a character turning upon points more
adapted to poetry than to the prose of real life.
Their Prince, young, valiant, patient of fatigue,
iv
INTRODUCTION TO
and despising danger, heading his army on foot
in the most toilsome marches, and defeating a
regular force in three battles,-all these were
circumstances fascinating to the imagination,
and might well be supposed to seduce young
and enthusiastic minds to the cause in which
they were found united, although wisdom and
reason frowned upon the enterprise.
The adventurous Prince, as is well known,
proved to be one of those personages who dis-
tinguish themselves during some single and
extraordinarily brilliant period of their lives,
like the course of a shooting star, at which men
wonder, as well on account of the briefness, as
the brilliancy of its splendour. A long trace
of darkness overshadowed the subsequent life
of a man, who, in his youth, showed himself so
capable of great undertakings; and, without
the painful task of tracing his course further,
we may say the latter pursuits and habits of
this unhappy Prince, are those painfully evin-
cing a broken heart, which seeks refuge from
its own thoughts in sordid enjoyments.
Still, however, it was long ere Charles Ed-
ward appeared to be, perhaps it was long ere
he altogether became, so much degraded from
his original self; as he enjoyed for a time the
REDGAUNTLET.
lustre attending the progress and termination
of his enterprise. Those who thought they dis-
cerned in his subsequent conduct an insensi-
bility to the distresses of his followers, coupled
with that egotistical attention to his own inte-
rests, which has been often attributed to the
Stewart Family, and which is the natural ef-
fect of the principles of divine right in which
they were brought up, were now generally con-
sidered as dissatisfied and splenetic persons,
who, displeased with the issue of their adven-
ture, and finding themselves involved in the
ruins of a falling cause, indulged themselves
in undeserved reproaches against their leader.
Indeed, such censures were by no means fre-
quent among those of his followers, who, if
what was alleged had been just, had the best
right to complain. Far the greater number of
those unfortunate gentlemen suffered with the
most dignified patience, and were either too
proud to take notice of ill treatment on the
part of their Prince, or so prudent as to be
aware their complaints would meet with little
sympathy from the world. It may be added,
that the greater part of the banished Jacobites,
and those of high rank and consequence, were
not much within reach of the influence of the
vi
INTRODUCTION TO
Prince's character and conduct, whether well
regulated or otherwise.
In the meantime, that great Jacobite con-
spiracy, of which the insurrection of 1745-6
was but a small part, precipitated into action
on the failure of a far more general scheme,
was resumed and again put into motion by the
Jacobites of England, whose force had never
been broken, as they had prudently avoided
bringing it into the field. The surprising effect
which had been produced by small means, in
1745-6, animated their hopes for more import-
ant successes, when the whole nonjuring in-
terest of Britain, identified as it then was with
great part of the landed gentlemen, should come
forward to finish what had been gallantly at-
tempted by a few Highland chiefs.
It is probable, indeed, that the Jacobites of
the day were incapable of considering that the
very small scale on which the effort was made,
was in one great measure the cause of its un-
expected success. The remarkable speed with
which the insurgents marched, the singularly
good discipline which they preserved, the union
and unanimity which for some time animated
their councils, were all in a considerable degree
produced by the smallness of their numbers.
Ka
REDGAUNTLET.
vii
A
Notwithstanding the discomfiture of Charles
Edward, the nonjurors of the period long con-
tinued to nurse unlawful schemes, and to drink
treasonable toasts, until age stole upon them.
Another generation arose, who did not share
the sentiments which they cherished; and at
length the sparkles of disaffection, which had
long smouldered, but had never been heated
enough to burst into actual flame, became en-
tirely extinguished. But in proportion as the
political enthusiasm died graduallyaway among
men of ordinary temperament, it influenced
those of warm imaginations and weak under-
standings, and hence wild schemes were form-
ed, as desperate as they were adventurous.
Thus a young Scotchman of rank is said
to have stooped so low as to plot the surpri-
sal of St James's palace, and the assassination
of the royal family. While these ill-digested
and desperate conspiracies were agitated among
the few Jacobites who still adhered with more
obstinacy to their purpose, there is no question
but that other plots might have been brought
to an open explosion, had it not suited the
policy of Sir Robert Walpole, rather to prevent
or disable the conspirators in their projects,
than to promulgate the tale of danger, which
viii
INTRODUCTION TO
might thus have been believed to be more
widely diffused than was really the case.
In one instance alone this very prudential
and humane line of conduct was departed
from, and the event seemed to confirm the
policy of the general course. Doctor Archi-
bald Cameron, brother of the celebrated Donald
Cameron of Lochiel, attainted for the rebel-
lion of 1745, was found by a party of soldiers
lurking with a comrade in the wilds of Loch
Katrine, five or six years after the battle of
Culloden, and was there seized. There were
circumstances in his case, so far as was made
known to the public, which attracted much
compassion, and gave to the judicial proceedings
against him an appearance of cold-blooded re-
venge on the part of government; and the fol-
lowing argument of a zealous Jacobite in his
favour was received as conclusive by Dr John-
son, and other persons who might pretend to im-
partiality. Dr Cameron had never borne arms,
although engaged in the Rebellion, but used his
medical skill for the service, indifferently, of the
wounded of both parties. His return to Scot-
land was ascribed exclusively to family affairs.
His behaviour at the bar was decent, firm, and
respectful. His wife threw herself, on three
REDGAUNTLET.
ix
different occasions, before George II. and the
members of his family, was rudely repulsed
from their presence, and at length placed, it
was said, in the same prison with her husband,
and confined with unmanly severity.
Dr Cameron was finally executed, with all
the severities of the law of treason; and his
death remains in popular estimation a dark
blot upon the memory of George II., being al-
most publicly imputed to a mean and personal
hatred of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, the suf-
ferer's heroic brother.
Yet the fact was, that whether the execution
of Archibald Cameron was political or other-
wise, it might certainly have been justified, had
the King's ministers so pleased, upon reasons
of a public nature. The unfortunate sufferer
had not come to the Highlands solely upon his
private affairs, as was the general belief; but
it was not judged prudent by the English
ministry to let it be generally known that he
came to enquire about a considerable sum of
money which had been remitted from France
to the friends of the exiled family. He had
also a commission to hold intercourse with the
well known M‘Pherson of Cluny, chief of the
clan Vourich, whom the Chevalier had left be-
X
INTRODUCTION TO
hind at his departure from Scotland in 1746,
and who remained during ten years of pro-
scription and danger, skulking from place to
place in the Highlands, and maintaining an
uninterrupted correspondence between Charles
and his friends. That Dr Cameron should
have held a commission to assist this chief in
raking together the dispersed embers of disaf-
fection, is in itself sufficiently natural, and, con-
sidering his political principles, in no respect
dishonourable to his memory. But neither
ought it to be imputed to George II., that he
suffered the laws to be enforced against a per-
son taken in the act of breaking them. When
he lost his hazardous game, Dr Cameron only
paid the forfeit which he must have calculated
upon. The ministers, however, thought it pro-
per to leave Dr Cameron's new schemes in
concealment, lest by divulging them they had
indicated the channel of communication which,
it is now well known, they possessed to all the
plots of Charles Edward. But it was equally
ill advised and ungenerous to sacrifice the cha-
racter of the king to the policy of the admi-
nistration. Both points might have been gain-
ed by sparing the life of Dr Cameron after con-
t
$ **
REDGAUNTLET.
xi
viction, and limiting his punishment to per-
petual exile.
These repeated and successive Jacobite plots
rose and burst like bubbles on a fountain; and
one of them, at least, the Chevalier judged of
importance enough to induce him to risk
himself within the dangerous precincts of the
British capital. This appears from Dr King's
Anecdotes of his Own Times.
">
"September, 1750.—I received a note from
my Lady Primrose, who desired to see me
immediately. As soon as I waited on her,
she led me into her dressing-room, and present-
ed me to
[the Chevalier, doubtless.]
"If I was surprised to find him there, I was
still more astonished when he acquainted me
with the motives which had induced him to
hazard a journey to England at this juncture.
The impatience of his friends who were in
exile, had formed a scheme which was imprac-
ticable; but although it had been as feasible
as they had represented it to him, yet no pre-
paration had been made, nor was any thing
ready to carry it into execution. He was soon
convinced that he had been deceived; and,
therefore, after a stay in London of five days
only, he returned to the place from whence
1
xii
INTRODUCTION TO
he came." "Dr King was in 1750 a keen Jaco-
bite, as may be inferred from the visit made by
him to the Prince under such circumstances,
and from his being one of that unfortunate
person's chosen correspondents. He, as well
as other men of sense and observation, began
to despair of making their fortune in the party
which they had chosen. It was indeed suffi-
ciently dangerous; for, during the short visit
just described, one of Dr King's servants
remarked the stranger's likeness to Prince
Charles, whom he recognised from the com-
mon busts.
-
The occasion taken for breaking up the
Stewart interest, we shall tell in Dr King's own
words:-"When he (Charles Edward) was in
Scotland, he had a mistress whose name was
Walkinshaw, and whose sister was at that time,
and is still, housekeeper at Leicester House.
Some years after he was released from his prison,
and conducted out of France, he sent for this
girl, who soon acquired such a dominion over
him, that she was acquainted with all his
schemes, and trusted with his most secret corre-
spondence. As soon as this was known in Eng-
land, all those persons of distinction who were
attached to him were greatly alarmed: they ima-
REDGAUNTLET.
xiii
gined that this wench had been placed in his
family by the English ministers; and, consider-
ing her sister's situation, they seemed to have
some ground for their suspicion; wherefore,
they dispatched a gentleman to Paris, where
the Prince then was, who had instructions to
insist that Mrs Walkinshaw should be removed
to a convent for a certain term; but her gallant
absolutely refused to comply with this demand;
and although Mr M'Namara, the gentleman
who was sent to him, who has a natural elo-
quence, and an excellent understanding, urged
the most cogent reasons, and used all the arts
of persuasion, to induce him to part with his
mistress, and even proceeded so far as to assure
him, according to his instructions, that an im-
mediate interruption of all correspondence with
his most powerful friends in England, and, in
short, that the ruin of his interest, which was
now daily increasing, would be the infallible
consequence of his refusal; yet he continued
inflexible, and all M'Namara's entreaties and
remonstrances were ineffectual. M'Namara
staid in Paris some days beyond the time
prescribed him, endeavouring to reason the
Prince into a better temper; but finding him
obstinately persevere in his first answer, he
A
xiv
INTRODUCTION TO
took his leave with concern and indignation,
saying, as he passed out, What has your
family done, sir, thus to draw down the ven-
geance of Heaven on every branch of it, through
so many ages?' It is worthy of remark, that
in all the conferences which M'Namara had
with the Prince on this occasion, the latter
declared that it was not a violent passion, or
indeed any particular regard, which attached
him to Mrs Walkinshaw, and that he could
see her removed from him without any con-
cern; but he would not receive directions, in
respect to his private conduct, from any man
alive. When McNamara returned to London,
and reported the Prince's answer to the gen-
tlemen who had employed him, they were asto-
nished and confounded. However, they soon
resolved on the measures which they were to
pursue for the future, and determined no longer
to serve a man who could not be persuaded to
serve himself, and chose rather to endanger the
lives of his best and most faithful friends, than
part with an harlot, whom, as he often declared,
he neither loved nor esteemed."
From this anecdote, the general truth of
which is indubitable, the principal fault of
Charles Edward's temper is sufficiently obvi-
REDGAUNTLET.
XV
ous. It was a high sense of his own import-
ance, and an obstinate adherence to what he
had once determined on-qualities which, if he
had succeeded in his bold attempt, gave the
nation little room to hope that he would have
been found free from the love of prerogative and
desire of arbitrary power, which characterised
his unhappy grandfather. He gave a notable
instance how far this was the leading feature
of his character, when, for no reasonable cause
that can be assigned, he placed his own single
will in opposition to the necessities of France,
which, in order to purchase a peace become
necessary to the kingdom, was reduced to
gratify Britain by prohibiting the residence
of Charles within any part of the French
dominions. It was in vain that France en-
deavoured to lessen the disgrace of this step
by making the most flattering offers, in hopes
to induce the Prince of himself to anticipate
this disagreeable alternative, which, if seri-
ously enforced, as it was likely to be, he had
no means whatever of resisting, by leaving
the kingdom as of his own free-will. In-
spired, however, by the spirit of hereditary
obstinacy, Charles preferred a useless resist-
ance to a dignified submission, and by a series
:
xvi
INTRODUCTION TO
of idle bravadoes, laid the French court under
the necessity of arresting their late ally, and
sending him to close confinement in the Bas-
tile, from which he was afterwards sent out of
the French dominions, much in the manner
in which a convict is transported to the place
of his destination.
In addition to these repeated instances of a
rash and inflexible temper, Dr King also adds
faults alleged to belong to the Prince's charac-
ter, of a kind less consonant with his noble
birth and high pretensions. He is said by this
author to have been avaricious, or parsimo-
nious at least, to such a degree of meanness,
as to fail, even when he had ample means,
in relieving the sufferers who had lost their
fortune, and sacrificed their all in his ill-fated
attempt.* We must receive, however, with
* The reproach is thus expressed by Dr King, who brings
the charge:-" But the most odious part of his character is his
love of money, a vice which I do not remember to have been
imputed by our historians to any of his ancestors, and is the cer-
tain index of a base and little mind. I know it may be urged
in his vindication, that a Prince in exile ought to be an econo-
mist. And so he ought; but, nevertheless, his purse should be
always open as long as there is any thing in it, to relieve the
necessities of his friends and adherents. King Charles II.,
during his banishment, would have shared the last pistole in
his pocket with his little family. But I have known this
gentleman with two thousand louis-d'ors in his strong-box, pre-
iend he was in great distress, and borrow money from a lady
www.ca
I
xvii
some degree of jealousy what is said by Dr
King on this subject, recollecting that he had
left at least, if he did not desert, the standard
of the unfortunate Prince, and was not there-
fore a person who was likely to form the fairest
estimate of his virtues and faults. We must
also remember, that if the exiled Prince gave
little, he had but little to give, especially con-
sidering how late he nourished the scheme of
another expedition to Scotland, for which he
was long endeavouring to hoard money.
The case, also, of Charles Edward must be
allowed to have been a difficult one. He had
to satisfy numerous persons, who, having lost
their all in his cause, had, with that all, seen
the extinction of hopes which they accounted
nearly as good as certainties; some of these
were perhaps clamorous in their applications,
and certainly ill pleased with their want of suc-
cess. Other parts of the Chevalier's conduct
may have afforded grounds for charging him
with coldness to the sufferings of his devoted
followers. One of these was a sentiment which
has nothing in it that is generous, but it was
REDGAUNTLET.
in Paris who was not in affluent circumstances. His most
faithful servants, who had closely attended him in all his dif-
ficulties, were ill rewarded."-KING's Memoirs.
VOL. XXXV.
b
។
xviii
INTRODUCTION TO
+
certainly a principle in which the young Prince
was trained, and which may be too probably
denominated peculiar to his family, educated
in all the high notions of passive obedience and
non-resistance. If the unhappy Prince gave
implicit faith to the professions of statesmen
holding such notions, which is implied by his
whole conduct, it must have led to the natural,
though ungracious inference, that the services
of a subject could not, to whatever degree of
ruin they might bring the individual, create
a debt against his sovereign. Such a person
could only boast that he had done his duty; nor
was he entitled to be a claimant for a greater
reward than it was convenient for the Prince
to bestow, or to hold his sovereign his debtor
for losses which he had sustained through his
loyalty. To a certain extent the Jacobite prin-
ciples inevitably led to this cold and egotisti-
cal mode of reasoning on the part of the sove-
reign; nor, with all our natural pity for the
situation of royalty in distress, do we feel en-
titled to affirm that Charles did not use this
opiate to his feelings, on viewing the misery
of his followers, while he certainly possessed,
though in no great degree, the means of afford-
ing them more relief than he practised. His
REDGAUNTLET.
xix
own history, after leaving France, is brief and
melancholy. For a time he seems to have held
the firm belief that Providence, which had
borne him through so many hazards, still re-
served him for some distant occasion, in which
he should be empowered to vindicate the ho-
nours of his birth. But opportunity after oppor-
tunity slipt by unimproved, and the death of
his father gave him the fatal proof that none
of the principal powers of Europe were, after
that event, likely to interest themselves in his
quarrel. They refused to acknowledge him
under the title of the King of England, and,
on his part, he declined to be then recognised
as the Prince of Wales.
f
Family discord came to add its sting to
those of disappointed ambition; and, though
a humiliating circumstance, it is generally ac-
knowledged, that Charles Edward, the adven-
turous, the gallant, and the handsome, the
leader of a race of pristine valour, whose ro-
mantic qualities may be said to have died
along with him, had, in his latter days, yielded
to those humiliating habits of intoxication,
in which the meanest mortals seek to drown
the recollection of their disappointments and
miseries. Under such circumstances, the un-
XX
INTRODUCTION TO
happy Prince lost the friendship even of those
faithful followers who had most devoted them-
selves to his misfortunes, and was surround-
ed, with some honourable exceptions, by men
of a lower description, regardless of the cha-
racter which he was himself no longer able to
protect.
It is a fact consistent with the author's
knowledge, that persons totally unentitled to,
and unfitted for, such a distinction, were pre-
sented to the unfortunate Prince in moments
unfit for presentation of any kind. Amid these
clouds was at length extinguished the torch
which once shook itself over Britain with such
terrific glare, and at last sunk in its own ashes,
scarce remembered and scarce noted.
Meantime, while the life of Charles Edward
was gradually wasting in disappointed solitude,
the number of those who had shared his mis-
fortunes and dangers had shrunk into a small
handful of veterans, th heroes of a tale which
had been told. Most Scottish readers who can
count the number of sixty years, must recol-
lect many respected acquaintances of their
youth, who, as the established phrase gently
worded it, had been out in the Forty-five.
It may be said, that their political principles.
REDGAUNTLET.
xxi
··
and plans no longer either gained proselytes
or attracted terror,—those who held them had
ceased to be the subjects either of fear or op-
position. Jacobites were looked upon in society
as men who had proved their sincerity by sacri-
ficing their interest to their principles; and in
well-regulated companies, it was held a piece
of ill-breeding to injure their feelings or ridi-
cule the compromises by which they endea-
voured to keep themselves abreast of the cur-
rent of the day. Such, for example, was the
evasion of a gentleman of fortune in Perth-
shire, who, in having the newspapers read to
him, caused the King and Queen to be desig-
nated by the initial letters of K. and Q., as if,
by naming the full word, he might imply an
acquiescence in the usurpation of the family
of Hanover. George III., having heard of this
gentleman's custom in the above and other par-
ticulars, commissioned the member for Perth-
shire to carry his compliments to the steady
Jacobite" that is," said the excellent old
King, "not the compliments of the King of
England, but those of the Elector of Hanover,
and tell him how much I respect him for the
steadiness of his principles."
Those who remember such old men, will
xxii
INTRODUCTION TO
probably agree that the progress of time, which
has withdrawn all of them from the field, has
removed, at the same time, a peculiar and
striking feature of ancient manners. Their
love of past times, their tales of bloody battles
fought against romantic odds, were all dear to
the imagination, and their little idolatry of locks
of hair, pictures, rings, ribbons, and other me-
morials of the time in which they still seemed
to live, was an interesting enthusiasm ; and
although their political principles, had they
existed in the relation of fathers, might have
rendered them dangerous to the existing dy-
nasty, yet, as we now recollect them, there
could not be on the earth supposed to exist
persons better qualified to sustain the capacity
of innocuous and respectable grandsires.
It was while reflecting on these things that
the novel of Redgauntlet was undertaken. But
various circumstances in the composition in-
duced the author to alter its purport consider-
ably, as it passed through his hands, and to
carry the action to that point of time when the
Chevalier Charles Edward, though fallen into
the sere and yellow leaf, was yet meditating
a second attempt, which could scarcely have
been more hopeless than his first; although
REDGAUNTLET.
xxiii
one, to which, as we have seen, the unfortunate
Prince, at least as late as seventeen hundred
and fifty-three, still looked with hope and ex-
pectation.
1st April, 1832.
REDGAUNTLET.
VOL. XXXV.
A
}
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER I.
DARSIE LATIMER TO ALAN FAIRFORD.
Dumfries.
CUR me exanimas querelis tuis ?-In plain English,
Why do you deafen me with your croaking? The
disconsolate tone in which you bade me farewell
at Noble-House,* and mounted your miserable
hack to return to your law drudgery, still sounds
in my ears. It seemed to say, " Happy dog! you
can ramble at pleasure over hill and dale, pursue
every object of curiosity that presents itself, and
relinquish the chase when it loses interest; while I,
your senior and your better, must, in this brilliant
season, return to my narrow chamber and my musty
books."
Such was the import of the reflections with which
you saddened our parting bottle of claret, and thus
* The first stage on the road from Edinburgh to Dumfries,
via Moffat.
4
REDGAUNTLET.
I must needs interpret the terms of your melan-
choly adieu.
And why should this be so, Alan? Why the
deuce should you not be sitting precisely opposite
to me at this moment, in the same comfortable
George Inn; thy heels on the fender, and thy ju-
ridical brow expanding its plications as a pun rose
in your fancy? Above all, why, when I fill this
very glass of wine, cannot I push the bottle to you,
and say, "Fairford, you are chased!" Why, I say,
should not all this be, except because Alan Fair-
ford has not the same true sense of friendship as
Darsie Latimer, and will not regard our purses as
common as well as our sentiments?
I am alone in the world; my only guardian writes
to me of a large fortune, which will be mine when
I reach the age of twenty-five complete ; my present
income is, thou knowest, more than sufficient for
all my wants; and yet thou-traitor as thou art to
the cause of friendship-dost deprive me of the
pleasure of thy society, and submittest, besides, to
self-denial on thine own part, rather than my wan-
derings should cost me a few guineas more! Is this
regard for my purse, or for thine own pride? Is it
not equally absurd and unreasonable, whichever
source it springs from? For myself, I tell thee, I
have, and shall have, more than enough for both.
This same methodical Samuel Griffiths, of Iron-
monger-Lane, Guildhall, London, whose letter ar-
rives as duly as quarter-day, has sent me, as I told
thee, double allowance for this my twenty-first birth-
day, and an assurance, in his brief fashion, that it
REDGAUNTLET.
5
will be again doubled for the succeeding years, until
I enter into possession of my own property. Still
I am to refrain from visiting England until my
twenty-fifth year expires; and it is recommended
that I shall forbear all enquiries concerning my
family, and so forth, for the present.
Were it not that I recollect my poor mother in
her deep widow's weeds, with a countenance that
never smiled but when she looked on me-and then,
in such wan and woful sort, as the sun when he
glances through an April cloud-were it not, I say,
that her mild and matron-like form and countenance
forbid such a suspicion, I might think myself the
son of some Indian director, or rich citizen, who had
more wealth than grace, and a handful of hypocrisy
to boot, and who was breeding up privately, and
obscurely enriching, one of whose existence he had
some reason to be ashamed. But, as I said be-
fore, I think on my mother, and am convinced as
much as of the existence of my own soul, that no
touch of shame could arise from aught in which she
was implicated. Meantime, I am wealthy, and I
am alone, and why does my friend scruple to share
my wealth?
Are you not my only friend? and have you not
acquired a right to share my wealth? Answer me
that, Alan Fairford. When I was brought from
the solitude of my mother's dwelling into the tu-
mult of the Gaits' Class at the High School-when
I was mocked for my English accent-salted with
snow as a Southern-rolled in the gutter for a
Saxon pock-pudding,-who, with stout arguments,
6
REDGAUNTLET.
and stouter blows, stood forth my defender?-why,
Alan Fairford. Who beat me soundly when I
brought the arrogance of an only son, and of course
a spoiled urchin, to the forms of the little repub-
lic?—why, Alan. And who taught me to smoke
a cobbler, pin a losen, head a bicker, and hold the
bannets ?*-Alan, once more. If I became the
pride of the Yards, and the dread of the hucksters
in the High-School Wynd, it was under thy pa-
tronage; and, but for thee, I had been contented
with humbly passing through the Cowgate-Port,
without climbing over the top of it, and had never
seen the Kittle nine-steps† nearer than from Bare-
ford's Parks. You taught me to keep my fingers
off the weak, and to clench my fist against the strong
* Break a window, head a skirmish with stones, and hold
the bonnet or handkerchief, which used to divide high-school
boys when fighting.
† A pass on the very brink of the Castle-rock to the north,
by which it is just possible for a goat, or a high-school boy,
to turn the corner of the building where it rises from the edge
of the precipice. This was so favourite a feat with the "hell
and neck boys" of the higher classes, that at one time sentinels
were posted to prevent its repetition. One of the nine-steps
was rendered more secure because the climber could take hold
of the root of a nettle, so precarious were the means of passing
this celebrated spot. The manning the Cowgate Port, especially
in snow-ball time, was also a choice amusement, as it offered
an inaccessible station for the boys who used these missiles to
the annoyance of the passengers. The gateway is now demo-
lished; and probably most of its garrison lie as low as the fort-
ress. To recollect that the author himself, however naturally
disqualified, was one of those juvenile dreadnoughts, is a sad
reflection to one who cannot now step over a brook without
assistance.
1
REDGAUNTLET.
H
-to carry no tales out of school-to stand forth
like a true man—obey the stern order of a Pande
manum, and endure my pawmies without wincing,
like one that is determined not to be the better
for them. In a word, before I knew thee, I knew
nothing.
At College it was the same. When I was in-
corrigibly idle, your example and encouragement
roused me to mental exertion, and showed me the
way to intellectual enjoyment. You made me an
historian, a metaphysician, (invita Minerva,)—nay,
by Heaven! you had almost made an advocate of
me, as well as of yourself. Yes, rather than part
with you, Alan, I attended a weary season at the
Scotch Law Class; a wearier at the Civil; and with
what excellent advantage, my note-book filled with
caricatures of the professors and my fellow-students,
is it not yet extant to testify?
"Thus far have I held on with thee untired;"
and, to say truth, purely and solely that I might
travel the same road with thee. But it will not
do, Alan. By my faith, man, I could as soon think
of being one of those ingenious traders who cheat
little Master Jackies on the outside of the partition
with tops, balls, bats, and battledores, as a mem-
ber of the long-robed fraternity within, who impose
on grown country gentlemen with bouncing bro-
cards of law.* Now, don't you read this to your
-
* The Hall of the Parliament House of Edinburgh was, in
former days, divided into two unequal portions by a partition,
the inner side of which was consecrated to the use of the Courts
8
$
REDGAUNTLET.
I
worthy father, Alan-he loves me well enough, I
know, of a Saturday night; but he thinks me but
idle company for any other day of the week. And
here, I suspect, lies your real objection to taking a
ramble with me through the southern counties in
this delicious weather. I know the good gentleman
has hard thoughts of me for being so unsettled as
to leave Edinburgh before the Session rises; per-
haps, too, he quarrels a little-I will not say, with
my want of ancestry, but with my want of con-
nexions. He reckons me a lone thing in this world,
Alan, and so in good truth I am; and it seems a
reason to him why you should not attach yourself
to me, that I can claim no interest in the general
herd.
Do not suppose I forget what I owe him, for
permitting me to shelter for four years under his
roof: My obligations to him are not the less, but
the greater, if he never heartily loved me. He is
angry, too, that I will not, or cannot, be a lawyer,
and, with reference to you, considers my disinclina-
tion that way as pessimi exempli, as he might say.
But he need not be afraid that a lad of your
steadiness will be influenced by such a reed shaken
by the winds as I am. You will go on doubting
with Dirleton, and resolving those doubts with
of Justice and the gentlemen of the law; while the outer di-
vision was occupied by the stalls of stationers, toymen, and the
like, as in a modern bazaar. From the old play of the Plain
Dealer, it seems such was formerly the case with Westminster-
Hall. Minos has now purified his courts in both cities from
all traffic but his own.
REDGAUNTLET.
9
Stewart,* until the cramp speecht has been spo-
ken more solito from the corner of the bench, and
with covered head-until you have sworn to defend
the liberties and privileges of the College of Jus-
tice—until the black gown is hung on your shoul-
ders, and you are free as any of the Faculty to sue
or defend. Then will I step forth, Alan, and in a
character which even your father will allow may be
more useful to you than had I shared this splendid
termination of your legal studies. In a word, if I
cannot be a counsel, I am determined to be a client,
a sort of person without whom a lawsuit would be
as dull as a supposed case. Yes, I am determined
to give you your first fee. One can easily, I am
assured, get into a lawsuit-it is only the getting
out which is sometimes found troublesome ;—and,
with your kind father for an agent, and you for
C
*«Sir John Nisbett of Dirleton's Doubts and Questions upon
the Law, especially of Scotland;" and, "Sir James Stewart's
Dirleton's Doubts and Questions on the Law of Scotland re-
solved and answered," are works of authority in Scottish juris-
prudence. As is generally the case, the Doubts are held more
in respect than the solution.
+ Till of late years, every advocate who entered at the Scot-
tish bar made a Latin address to the Court, faculty, and audience,
in set terms, and said a few words upon a text of the civil law,
to show his Latinity and jurisprudence. He also wore his
hat for a minute, in order to vindicate his right of being co-
vered before the court, which is said to have originated from
the celebrated lawyer, Sir Thomas Hope, having two sons on
the Bench while he himself remained at the bar. Of late this
ceremony has been dispensed with, as occupying the time of
the court unnecessarily. The entrant lawyer merely takes the
oaths to government, and swears to maintain the rules and
privileges of his order.
10
REDGAUNTLET.
my
counsel learned in the law, and the worshipful
Master Samuel Griffiths to back me, a few sessions
shall not tire my patience. In short, I will make
my way into Court, even if it should cost me the
committing a delict, or at least a quasi delict.-You
see all is not lost of what Erskine wrote, and Wal-
lace taught.
Thus far I have fooled it off well enough; and
yet, Alan, all is not at ease within me.
I am
affected with a sense of loneliness, the more de-
pressing, that it seems to me to be a solitude pecu-
liarly my own. In a country where all the world
have a circle of consanguinity, extending to sixth
cousins at least, I am a solitary individual, having
only one kind heart to throb in unison with my
own. If I were condemned to labour for my bread,
methinks I should less regard this peculiar species
of deprivation. The necessary communication of
master and servant would be at least a tie which
would attach me to the rest of my kind—as it is,
my very independence seems to enhance the pecu-
liarity of my situation. I am in the world as a
stranger in the crowded coffeehouse, where he
enters, calls for what refreshments he wants, pays
his bill, and is forgotten so soon as the waiter's
mouth has pronounced his "Thank ye, sir.”
I know your good father would term this sin-
ning my mercies,* and ask how I should feel if,
instead of being able to throw down my reckoning,
I were obliged to deprecate the resentment of the
•
* A peculiar Scottish phrase, expressive of ingratitude for
the favours of Providence.
REDGAUNTLET.
11
landlord for consuming that which I could not pay
for. I cannot tell how it is; but, though this very
reasonable reflection comes across me, and though
I do confess that four hundred a-year in possession,
eight hundred in near prospect, and the L-d knows
how many hundreds more in the distance, are very
pretty and comfortable things, yet I would freely
give one half of them to call your father father,
though he should scold me for my idleness every
hour of the day, and to call you brother, though a
brother whose merits would throw my own so com-
pletely into the shade.
The faint, yet not improbable belief often has
come across me, that your father knows something
more about my birth and natural condition than he
is willing to communicate; it is so unlikely that I
should have been left in Edinburgh at six years old,
without any other recommendation than the regular
payment of my board to old M
* of the High
School. Before that time, as I have often told you,
I have but a recollection of unbounded indulgence
on my mother's part, and the most tyrannical exer-
tion of caprice on my own. I remember still how
bitterly she sighed, how vainly she strove to soothe
me, while, in the full energy of despotism, I roared
like ten bull calves, for something which it was
impossible to procure for me. She is dead, that
kind, that ill-rewarded mother! I remember the
long faces-the darkened room-the black hang-
Probably Mathieson, the predecessor of Dr Adams, to
whose memory the author and his contemporaries owe a deep
debt of gratitude.
L
12
REDGAUNTLET.
ings-the mysterious impression made upon my
mind by the hearse and mourning coaches, and the
difficulty which I had to reconcile all this to the
disappearance of my mother. I do not think I had
before this event formed any idea of death, or that
I had even heard of that final consummation of all
that lives. The first acquaintance which I formed
with it deprived me of my only relation.
A clergyman of venerable appearance, our only
visitor, was my guide and companion in a journey
of considerable length; and in the charge of another
elderly man, substituted in his place, I know not
how or why, I completed my journey to Scotland
-and this is all I recollect.
I repeat the little history now, as I have a hun-
dred times done before, merely because I would
wring some sense out of it. Turn, then, thy sharp,
wire-drawing, lawyer-like ingenuity to the same
task-make up my history as though thou wert
shaping the blundering allegations of some blue-
bonneted, hard-headed client, into a condescend-
ence of facts and circumstances, and thou shalt be,
not my Apollo-quid tibi cum lyra?-but my Lord
Stair.* Meanwhile, I have written myself out of
my melancholy and blue devils, merely by prosing
about them; so I will now converse half an hour
with Roan Robin in his stall-the rascal knows me
already, and snickers whenever I cross the threshold
of the stable.
The black which you bestrode yesterday morn-
* Celebrated as a Scottish lawyer.
"
T
REDGAUNTLET.
13
ing, promises to be an admirable roadster, and
ambled as easily with Sam and the portmanteau,
as with you and your load of law-learning. Sam
promises to be steady, and has hitherto been so.
No long trial, you will say. He lays the blame of
former inaccuracies on evil company-the people
who were at the livery-stable were too seductive,
I suppose he denies he ever did the horse injus-
tice-would rather have wanted his own dinner, he
says. In this I believe him, as Roan Robin's ribs
and coat show no marks of contradiction. How-
ever, as he will meet with no saints in the inns we
frequent, and as oats are sometimes as speedily con-
verted into ale as John Barleycorn himself, I shall
keep a look-out after Master Sam. Stupid fellow!
had he not abused my good-nature, I might have
chatted to him to keep my tongue in exercise ;
whereas now, I must keep him at a distance.
Do you remember what Mr Fairford said to me
on this subject,—it did not become my father's son
to speak in that manner to Sam's father's son? I
asked you what your father could possibly know
of mine; and you answered, "As much, you sup-
posed, as he knew of Sam's-it was a proverbial
expression." This did not quite satisfy me, though
I am sure I cannot tell why it should not. But I
am returning to a fruitless and exhausted subject.
Do not be afraid that I shall come back on this
well-trodden yet pathless field of conjecture. I
know nothing so useless, so utterly feeble and con-
temptible, as the groaning forth one's helpless la-
mentations into the ears of our friends.
14
REDGAUNTLET.
}
1
I would fain promise you that my letters shall
be as entertaining, as I am determined they shall
be regular and well filled. We have an advantage
over the dear friends of old, every pair of them.
Neither David and Jonathan, nor Orestes and
Pylades, nor Damon and Pythias-although, in the
latter case particularly, a letter by post would have
been very acceptable-ever corresponded together;
for they probably could not write, and certainly had
neither posts nor franks to speed their effusions to
each other; whereas yours, which you had from the
old peer, being handled gently, and opened with
precaution, may be returned to me again, and serve
to make us free of his Majesty's post-office, during
the whole time of my proposed tour.* Mercy upon
us, Alan! what letters I shall have to send you, with
an account of all that I can collect, of pleasant or
rare, in this wildgoose jaunt of mine! All I stipu-
late is, that you do not communicate them to the
Scots Magazine; for though you used, in a left-
handed way, to compliment me on my attainments
in the lighter branches of literature, at the expense
of my deficiency in the weightier matters of the
law, I am not yet audacious enough to enter the
* It is well known and remembered, that when Members of
Parliament enjoyed the unlimited privilege of franking by the
mere writing the name on the cover, it was extended to the
most extraordinary occasions. One noble lord, to express his
regard for a particular regiment, franked a letter for every
rank and file. It was customary also to save the covers and
return them, in order that the correspondence might be car-
ried on as long as the envelopes could hold together.
REDGAUNTLET.
15
portal which the learned Ruddiman so kindly
opened for the acolytes of the Muses.- Vale, sis
memor mei..
D. L.
P. S.-Direct to the Post-Office here. I shall
leave orders to forward your letters wherever I
may travel.
16
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER II.
ALAN FAIRFORD TO DARSIE LATIMER.
NEGATUR, my dear Darsie-you have logic and
law enough to understand the word of denial. I
deny your conclusion. The premises I admit, name-
ly, that when I mounted on that infernal hack, I
might utter what seemed a sigh, although I deemed
it lost amid the puffs and groans of the broken-
winded brute, matchless in the complication of her
complaints by any save she, the poor man's mare,
renowned in song, that died
"A mile aboon Dundee."*
But credit me, Darsie, the sigh which escaped me,
concerned thee more than myself, and regarded
neither the superior mettle of your cavalry, nor
your greater command of the means of travelling.
I could certainly have cheerfully ridden on with
you
for a few days; and assure yourself I would not
have hesitated to tax your better-filled purse for
our joint expenses. But you know my father con-
* Alluding, as all Scotsmen know, to the humorous old
song:
"The auld man's mare's dead,
The puir man's mare's dead,
The auld man's mare's dead,
A mile aboon Dundee."
REDGAUNTLET.
17
siders every moment taken from the law as a step
down hill; and I owe much to his anxiety on my
account, although its effects are sometimes trouble-
some. For example.
:
I found, on my arrival at the shop in Brown's
Square, that the old gentleman had returned that
very evening, impatient, it seems, of remaining a
night out of the guardianship of the domestic Lares.
Having this information from James, whose brow
wore rather an anxious look on the occasion, I dis-
patched a Highland chairman to the livery stable
with my Bucephalus, and slunk, with as little noise
as might be, into my own den, where I began to
mumble certain half-gnawed and not half-digested
doctrines of our municipal code. I was not long
seated, when my father's visage was thrust, in a
peering sort of way, through the half-opened door;
and withdrawn, on seeing my occupation, with a
half-articulated humph! which seemed to convey a
doubt of the seriousness of my application. If it
were so, I cannot condemn him; for recollection of
thee occupied me so entirely during an hour's read-
ing, that although Stair lay before me, and notwith-
standing that I turned over three or four pages, the
sense of his lordship's clear and perspicuous style
so far escaped me, that I had the mortification to
find my labour was utterly in vain.
Ere I had brought up my lee-way, James ap-
peared with his summons to our frugal supper-
radishes, cheese, and a bottle of the old ale-only
two plates though-and no chair set for Mr Darsie,
by the attentive James Wilkinson. Said James,
VOL. XXXV.
B
。
18
REDGAUNTLET.
-
with his long face, lank hair, and very long pigtail in
its leathern strap, was placed, as usual, at the back
of my father's chair, upright as a wooden sentinel
at the door of a puppet-show. "You may go down,
James," said my father; and exit Wilkinson.-
What is to come next? thought I; for the weather
is not clear on the paternal brow.
My boots encountered his first glance of displea-
sure, and he asked me, with a sneer, which way I
had been riding. He expected me to answer, "No-
where," and would then have been at me with his
usual sarcasm, touching the humour of walking in
shoes at twenty shillings a pair. But I answered
with composure, that I had ridden out to dinner as
far as Noble-House. He started, (you know his
way,) as if I had said that I had dined at Jericho ;
and as I did not choose to seem to observe his sur-
prise, but continued munching my radishes in tran-
quillity, he broke forth in ire.
"To Noble-House, sir! and what had you to do
at Noble-House, sir ?-Do you remember you are
studying law, sir?-that your Scots law trials are
coming on, sir?—that every moment of your time
just now is worth hours at another time?—and have
you leisure to go to Noble-House, sir ?—and to
throw your books behind you for so many hours ?
-Had it been a turn in the Meadows, or even a
game at golf-but Noble-House, sir !"
"I went so far with Darsie Latimer, sir, to see
him begin his journey."
"Darsie Latimer?” he replied in a softened tone
-" Humph!—Well, I do not blame you for being
REDGAUNTLET.
19
kind to Darsie Latimer; but it would have done as
much good if you had walked with him as far as
the toll-bar, and then made your farewells-it would
have saved horse-hire-and your reckoning, too, at
dinner."
"Latimer paid that, sir," I replied, thinking to
soften the matter; but I had much better have left
it unspoken.
"The reckoning, sir?" replied my father. "And
did you sponge upon any man for a reckoning? Sir,
no man should enter the door of a public-house
without paying his lawing."
"I admit the general rule, sir," I replied; "but
this was a parting-cup between Darsie and me;
and I should conceive it fell under the exception of
Doch an dorroch."
"You think yourself a wit," said my father, with
as near an approach to a smile as ever he permits
to gild the solemnity of his features; "But I reckon
you did not eat your dinner standing, like the Jews
at their Passover? and it was decided in a case be-
fore the town-bailies of Cupar-Angus, when Luckie
Simpson's cow had drunk up Luckie Jameson's
browst of ale, while it stood in the door to cool,
that there was no damage to pay, because the crum-
mie drank without sitting down; such being the
very circumstance constituting Doch an dorroch,
which is a standing drink, for which no reckoning
is paid. Ha, sir! what says your advocateship
(fieri) to that? Exceptio firmat regulam—But
come, fill your glass, Alan; I am not sorry ye have
shown this attention to Darsie Latimer, who is a
20
REDGAUNTLET.
good lad, as times go; and having now lived under
my roof since he left the school, why, there is really
no great matter in coming under this small obliga-
tion to him."
As I saw my father's scruples were much soft-
ened by the consciousness of his superiority in the
legal argument, I took care to accept my pardon as
a matter of grace, rather than of justice; and only
replied, we should feel ourselves duller of an even-
ing, now that you were absent. I will give you my
father's exact words in reply, Darsie. You know
him so well, that they will not offend you; and you
are also aware, that there mingles with the good
man's preciseness and formality, a fund of shrewd
observation and practical good sense.
"It is very true," he said; “ Darsie was a plea-
sant companion-but over waggish, over waggish,
Alan, and somewhat scatter-brained.-By the way,
Wilkinson must get our ale bottled in English pints
now, for a quart bottle is too much, night after
night, for you and me, without his assistance.-But
Darsie, as I was saying, is an arch lad, and some-
what light in the upper story-I wish him well
through the world; but he has little solidity, Alan,
little solidity."
I scorn to desert an absent friend, Darsie, so I
said for you a little more than my conscience war-
ranted: but your defection from your legal studies
had driven you far to leeward in my father's good
opinion.
-
“Unstable as water, he shall not excel," said my
father; "or, as the Septuagint hath it, Effusa est
REDGAUNTLET.
21
sicut aqua—non crescat. He goeth to dancing-
houses, and readeth novels-sat est.”
I endeavoured to parry these texts by observing,
that the dancing-houses amounted only to one night
at La Pique's ball-the novels (so far as matter
of notoriety, Darsie) to an odd volume of Tom
Jones.
"But he danced from night to morning," replied
my father," and he read the idle trash, which the
author should have been scourged for, at least
twenty times over. It was never out of his hand."
I then hinted, that in all probability your for-
tune was now so easy as to dispense with your pro-
secuting the law any farther than you had done;
and therefore you might think you had some title
to amuse yourself. This was the least palatable
argument of all.
"If he cannot amuse himself with the law," said
my father, snappishly, "it is the worse for him. If
he needs not law to teach him to make a fortune,
I am sure he needs it to teach him how to keep
one; and it would better become him to be learn-
ing this, than to be scouring the country like a land-
louper, going he knows not where, to see he knows
not what, and giving treats at Noble-House to fools
like himself," (an angry glance at poor me.) "Noble-
House, indeed!" he repeated, with elevated voice
and sneering tone, as if there were something offen-
sive to him in the very name, though I will venture
to say that any place in which you had been extra-
vagant enough to spend five shillings, would have
stood as deep in his reprobation.
22
REDGAUNTLET.
White
.
Mindful of your idea, that my father knows
more of your real situation than he thinks proper
to mention, I thought I would hazard a fishing
observation. "I did not see," I said, " how the
Scottish law would be useful to a young gentleman
whose fortune would seem to be vested in Eng-
land.”—I really thought my father would have
beat me.
"D'ye mean to come round me, sir, per amba-
ges, as Counsellor Pest says? What is it to you
where Darsie Latimer's fortune is vested, or whe-
ther he hath any fortune, ay or no?-And what ill
would the Scottish law do to him, though he had
as much of it as either Stair or Bankton, sir? Is
not the foundation of our municipal law the an-
cient code of the Roman Empire, devised at a time
when it was so much renowned for its civil polity,
sir, and wisdom? Go to your bed, sir, after your
expedition to Noble-House, and see that your lamp
be burning, and your book before you, ere the sun
peeps. Ars longa, vita brevis,-were it not a sin
to call the divine science of the law by the inferior
name of art.”
So my lamp did burn, dear Darsie, the next
morning, though the owner took the risk of a do-
miciliary visitation, and lay snug in bed, trusting
its glimmer might, without farther enquiry, be re-
ceived as sufficient evidence of his vigilance. And
now, upon this the third morning after your depart-
ure, things are but little better; for though the
lamp burns in my den, and Voet on the Pandects
hath his wisdom spread open before me, yet as I
REDGAUNTLET.
23
only use him as a reading-desk on which to scrib-
ble this sheet of nonsense to Darsie Latimer, it is
probable the vicinity will be of little furtherance to
my studies.
And now, methinks, I hear thee call me an affect-
ed hypocritical varlet, who, living under such a sys-
tem of distrust and restraint as my father chooses
to govern by, nevertheless pretends not to envy you
your freedom and independence.
me
Latimer, I will tell you no lies. I wish my father
would allow mẹ a little more exercise of my free
will, were it but that I might feel the pleasure of
doing what would please him of my own accord.
A little more spare time, and a little more money
to enjoy it, would, besides, neither misbecome my
age nor my condition; and it is, I own, provoking
to see so many in the same situation winging the
air at freedom, while I sit here, caged up like a
cobbler's linnet, to chant the same unvaried lesson
from sunrise to sunset, not to mention the listening
to so many lectures against idleness, as if I enjoyed
or was making use of the means of amusement !
But then I cannot at heart blame either the motive
or the object of this severity. For the motive, it
is and can only be my father's anxious, devoted, and
unremitting affection and zeal for my improvement,
with a laudable sense of the honour of the profes-
sion to which he has trained me.
As we have no near relations, the tie betwixt us
is of even unusual closeness, though in itself one of
the strongest which nature can form. I am, and have
all along been, the exclusive object of my father's
24
REDGAUNTLET.
did
anxious hopes, and his still more anxious and en-
grossing fears; so what title have I to complain,
although now and then these fears and hopes lead
him to take a troublesome and incessant charge of
all my motions? Besides, I ought to recollect, and,
Darsie, I do recollect, that my father, upon various
important occasions, has shown that he can be in-
dulgent as well as strict. The leaving his old apart-
ments in the Luckenbooths was to him like divor-
cing the soul from the body; yet Dr R
but hint that the better air of this new district was
more favourable to my health, as I was then suf-
fering under the penalties of too rapid a growth,
when he exchanged his old and beloved quarters,
adjacent to the very Heart of Mid-Lothian, for one
of those new tenements [entire within themselves]
which modern taste has so lately introduced.-In-
stance also the inestimable favour which he confer-
red on me by receiving you into his house, when
you had only the unpleasant alternative of remain-
ing, though a grown-up lad, in the society of mere
boys.* This was a thing so contrary to all my fa-
ther's ideas of seclusion, of economy, and of the
safety to my morals and industry, which he wished
* The diminutive and obscure place called Brown's Square,
was hailed about the time of its erection as an extremely ele-
gant improvement upon the style of designing and erecting
Edinburgh residences. Each house was, in the phrase used
by appraisers, "finished within itself," or, in the still newer
phraseology, "self-contained." It was built about the year
1763-4; and the old part of the city being near and accessible,
this square soon received many inhabitants, who ventured to
remove to so moderate a distance from the High Street.
-`
i
+
REDGAUNTLET.
25
to attain, by preserving me from the society of other
young people, that, upon my word, I am always
rather astonished how I should have had the im-
pudence to make the request, than that he should
have complied with it.
Then for the object of his solicitude-Do not
laugh, or hold up your hands, my good Darsie ;
but
upon my word I like the profession to which I
am in the course of being educated, and am serious
in prosecuting the preliminary studies. The law
is my vocation-in an especial, and, I may say, in
an hereditary way, my vocation; for although I
have not the honour to belong to any of the great
families who form in Scotland, as in France, the
noblesse of the robe, and with us, at least, carry
their heads as high, or rather higher, than the no-
blesse of the sword,-for the former consist more
frequently of the "first-born of Egypt,"-yet my
grandfather, who, I dare say, was a most excellent
person, had the honour to sign a bitter protest
against the Union, in the respectable character of
town-clerk to the ancient Borough of Birlthegroat;
and there is some reason— shall I say to hope, or
to suspect?—that he may have been a natural son
of a first cousin of the then Fairford of that Ilk, who
had been long numbered among the minor barons.
Now my father mounted a step higher on the lad-
der of legal promotion, being, as you know as well
as I do, an eminent and respected Writer to his
Majesty's Signet; and I myself am destined to
mount a round higher still, and wear the honoured
robe which is sometimes supposed, like Charity, to
26
REDGAUNTLET.
cover a multitude of sins. I have, therefore, no
choice but to climb upwards, since we have mount-
ed thus high, or else to fall down at the imminent
risk of my neck. So that I reconcile myself to my
destiny; and while you are looking from mountain
peaks at distant lakes and friths, I am, de apicibus
juris, consoling myself with visions of crimson and
scarlet gowns—with the appendages of handsome
cowls, well lined with salary.
You smile, Darsie, more tuo, and seem to say it
is little worth while to cozen one's self with such
vulgar dreams: yours being, on the contrary, of a
high and heroic character, bearing the same resem-
blance to mine, that a bench, covered with purple
cloth, and plentifully loaded with session papers,
does to some Gothic throne, rough with Barbaric
pearl and gold. But what would you have?-Sua
quemque trahit voluptas. And my visions of pre-
ferment, though they may be as unsubstantial at
present, are nevertheless more capable of being
realized, than your aspirations after the Lord knows
what. What says my father's proverb? “Look
to a gown of gold, and you will at least get a sleeve
of it." Such is my pursuit; but what dost thou
look to? The chance that the mystery, as you call
it, which at present overclouds your birth and con-
nexions, will clear up into something inexpressibly
and inconceivably brilliant; and this without any
effort or exertion of your own, but purely by the
good-will of Fortune. I know the pride and naugh-
tiness of thy heart, and sincerely do I wish that thou
hadst more beatings to thank me for, than those
REDGAUNTLET.
27
which thou dost acknowledge so gratefully. Then
had I thumped these Quixotical expectations out of
thee, and thou hadst not, as now, conceived thyself
to be the hero of some romantic history, and con-
verted, in thy vain imagination, honest Griffiths,
citizen and broker, who never bestows more than the
needful upon his quarterly epistles, into some wise
Alcander or sage Alquife, the mystical and magical
protector of thy peerless destiny. But I know not
how it was, thy skull got harder, I think, and my
knuckles became softer; not to mention that at
length thou didst begin to show about thee a spark
of something dangerous, which I was bound to re-
spect at least, if I did not fear it.
And while I speak of this, it is not much amiss
to advise thee to correct a little this cock-a-hoop
courage of thine. I fear much that, like a hot-
mettled horse, it will carry the owner into some
scrape, out of which he will find it difficult to ex-
tricate himself, especially if the daring spirit which
bore thee thither should chance to fail thee at a
pinch. Remember, Darsie, thou art not naturally
courageous; on the contrary, we have long since
agreed, that, quiet as I am, I have the advantage
in this important particular. My courage consists,
I think, in strength of nerves and constitutional in-
difference to danger; which, though it never pushes
me on adventure, secures me in full use of my re-
collection, and tolerably complete self-possession,
when danger actually arrives. Now, thine seems
more what may be called intellectual courage; high-
ness of spirit, and desire of distinction; impulses
28
REDGAUNTLET.
which render thee alive to the love of fame, and
deaf to the apprehension of danger, until it forces
itself suddenly upon thee. I own that whether it
is from my having caught my father's apprehensions,
or that I have reason to entertain doubts of my
own, I often think that this wildfire chase, of ro-
mantic situation and adventure, may lead thee into
some mischief; and then what would become
Alan Fairford? They might make whom the
pleased Lord-Advocate, or licitor-General, I
should never have the heart to strive for it. All
my exertions are intended to vindicate myself one
day in your eyes; and I think I should not care a
farthing for the embroidered silk gown, more than
for an old woman's apron, unless I had hopes that
thou shouldst be walking the boards to admire, and
perhaps to envy me.
That this may be the case, I prithee—beware!
See not a Dulcinea in every slipshod girl, who,
with blue eyes, fair hair, a tattered plaid, and a
willow-wand in her gripe, drives out the village
cows to the loaning. Do not think you will meet
a gallant Valentine in every English rider, or an
Orson in every Highland drover. View things as
they are, and not as they may be magnified through
thy teeming fancy. I have seen thee look at an
old gravel pit, till thou madest out capes, and bays,
and inlets, crags, and precipices, and the whole stu-
pendous scenery of the isle of Feroe, in what was
to all ordinary eyes a mere horsepond. Besides,
did I not once find thee gazing with respect at a
lizard, in the attitude of one who looks upon a cro-
:

REDGAUNTLET.
29
codile ? Now this is, doubtless, so far a harmless
exercise of your imagination, for the puddle cannot
drown you, nor the Lilliputian alligator eat you
up. But it is different in society, where you can-
not mistake the character of those you converse
with, or suffer your fancy to exaggerate their qua-
lities, good or bad, without exposing yourself not
only to ridicule, but to great and serious inconve-
niencies. Keep guard, therefore, on your imagina-
tion, my dear Darsie; and let your old friend as-
sure you, it is the point of your character most
pregnant with peril to its good and generous owner.
Adieu! let not the franks of the worthy peer re-
main unemployed; above all, Sis memor mei.
A. F.
23
30
REDGAUNTLET.
:
LETTER III.
DARSIE LATIMER TO ALAN FAIRFORD.
Shepherd's Bush.
I HAVE received thine absurd and most conceit-
ed epistle. It is well for thee that, Lovelace and
Belford like, we came under a convention to pardon
every species of liberty which we may take with
each other; since, upon my word, there are some
reflections in your last, which would otherwise have
obliged me to return forthwith to Edinburgh, mere-
ly to show you I was not what you took me for.
Why, what a pair of prigs hast thou made of
us!—I plunging into scrapes, without having cou-
rage to get out of them-thy sagacious self, afraid
to put one foot before the other, lest it should run
away from its companion; and so standing still like
a post, out of mere faintness and coldness of heart,
while all the world were driving full speed past
thee. Thou a portrait-painter !-I tell thee, Alan,
I have seen a better seated on the fourth round of
a ladder, and painting a bare-breeched Highlander,
holding a pint-stoup as big as himself, and a booted
Lowlander, in a bobwig, supporting a glass of like
dimensions; the whole being designed to represent
the sign of the Salutation.
REDGAUNTLET.
31
How hadst thou the heart to represent thine
own individual self, with all thy motions, like those
of a great Dutch doll, depending on the pressure
of certain springs, as duty, reflection, and the like;
without the impulse of which, thou wouldst doubt-
less have me believe thou wouldst not budge an
inch? But have I not seen Gravity out of his bed
at midnight? and must I, in plain terms, remind
thee of certain mad pranks? Thou hadst ever, with
the gravest sentiments in thy mouth, and the most
starched reserve in thy manner, a kind of lumbering
proclivity towards mischief, although with more
inclination to set it a-going, than address to carry
it through; and I cannot but chuckle internally,
when I think of having seen my most venerable
monitor, the future President of some high Scot-
tish Court, puffing, blowing, and floundering, like
a clumsy cart-horse in a bog, where his efforts to
extricate himself only plunged him deeper at every
awkward struggle, till some one-I myself, for
example-took compassion on the moaning mon-
ster, and dragged him out by mane and tail.
As for me, my portrait is, if possible, even more
scandalously caricatured. I fail or quail in spirit
at the upcome! Where canst thou show me the
least symptom of the recreant temper with which
thou hast invested me, (as I trust,) merely to set
off the solid and impassible dignity of thine own
stupid indifference? If you ever saw me tremble,
be assured that my flesh, like that of the old Spa-
nish general, only quaked at the dangers into which
my spirit was about to lead it. Seriously, Alan,
:
32
REDGAUNTLET.
this imputed poverty of spirit is a shabby charge
to bring against your friend. I have examined my-
self as closely as I can, being, in very truth, a little
hurt at your having such hard thoughts of me, and
on my life I can see no reason for them. I allow
you have, perhaps, some advantage of me in the
steadiness and indifference of your temper; but I
should despise myself, if I were conscious of the
deficiency in courage which you seem willing enough
to impute to me. However, I suppose this ungracious
hint proceeds from sincere anxiety for my safety;
and so viewing it, I swallow it as I would do me-
dicine from a friendly doctor, although I believed
in my heart he had mistaken my complaint.
This offensive insinuation disposed of, I thank
thee, Alan, for the rest of thy epistle. I thought
I heard your good father pronouncing the word
Noble-House, with a mixture of contempt and dis-
pleasure, as if the very name of the poor little ham-
let were odious to him, or, as if you had selected,
out of all Scotland, the very place at which you had
no call to dine.
But if he had had any particular
aversion to that blameless village, and very sorry
inn, is it not his own fault that I did not accept the
invitation of the Laird of Glengallacher, to shoot a
buck in what he emphatically calls his "country ?”
Truth is, I had a strong desire to have complied
with his Lairdship's invitation. To shoot a buck!
Think how magnificent an idea to one who never
shot any thing but hedge-sparrows, and that with a
horse-pistol, purchased at a broker's stand in the
Cowgate!-You, who stand upon your courage,
REDGAUNTLET.
33
may remember that I took the risk of firing the said
pistol for the first time, while you stood at twenty
yards' distance; and that, when you were persuaded
it would go off without bursting, forgetting all law
but that of the biggest and strongest, you possessed
yourself of it exclusively for the rest of the holydays.
Such a day's sport was no complete introduction to
the noble art of deer-stalking, as it is practised in
the Highlands; but I should not have scrupled to
accept honest Glengallacher's invitation, at the risk
of firing a rifle for the first time, had it not been for
the outcry which your father made at my proposal,
in the full ardour of his zeal for King George, the
Hanover succession, and the Presbyterian faith.
I wish I had stood out, since I have gained so little
upon his good opinion by submission. All his im-
pressions concerning the Highlanders are taken
from the recollections of the Forty-five, when he
retreated from the West-Port with his brother
volunteers, each to the fortalice of his own separate
dwelling, so soon as they heard the Adventurer was
arrived with his clans as near them as Kirkliston.
The flight of Falkirk—parma non bene selecta—in
which I think your sire had his share with the un-
daunted western regiment, does not seem to have
improved his taste for the company of the High-
landers; (quære, Alan, dost thou derive the cou-
rage thou makest such boast of from an hereditary
source?)—and stories of Rob Roy Macgregor, and
Sergeant Alan Mhor Cameron,* have served to
#A
* Of Rob Roy we have had more than enough. Alan
Cameron, commonly called Sergeant Mhor, a freebooter of the
VOL, XXXV.
C
34
REDGAUNTLET.
paint them in still more sable colours to his imagi-
nation.
Now, from all I can understand, these ideas, as
applied to the present state of the country, are ab-
solutely chimerical. The Pretender is no more
remembered in the Highlands, than if the poor
gentleman were gathered to his hundred and eight
fathers, whose portraits adorn the ancient walls of
Holyrood; the broadswords have passed into other
hands; the targets are used to cover the butter-
churns; and the race has sunk, or is fast sinking,
from ruffling bullies into tame cheaters. Indeed,
it was partly my conviction that there is little to be
seen in the north, which, arriving at your father's
conclusion, though from different premises, inclined
my course in this direction, where perhaps I shall
see as little.
One thing, however, I have seen; and it was with
pleasure the more indescribable, that I was debar-
red from treading the land which my eyes were per-
mitted to gaze upon, like those of the dying prophet
from the top of Mount Pisgah,—I have seen, in a
word, the fruitful shores of merry England; merry
England! of which I boast myself a native, and on
which I gaze, even while raging floods and unstable
quicksands divide us, with the filial affection of a
dutiful son.
Thou canst not have forgotten, Alan—for when
didst thou ever forget what was interesting to thy
friend?—that the same letter from my friend Grif-
same period, was equally remarkable for strength, courage, and
generosity.
REDGAUNTLET.
35
fiths, which doubled my income, and placed my
motions at my own free disposal, contained a pro-
hibitory clause, by which, reason none assigned, I
was interdicted, as I respected my present safety
and future fortunes, from visiting England; every
other part of the British dominions, and a tour, if
I pleased, on the continent, being left to my own
choice. Where is the tale, Alan, of a covered dish
in the midst of a royal banquet, upon which the
eyes of every guest were immediately fixed, neglect-
ing all the dainties with which the table was load-
ed? This clause of banishment from England—
from my native country-from the land of the brave,
and the wise, and the free-affects me more than
I am rejoiced by the freedom and independence as-
signed to me in all other respects. Thus, in seek-
ing this extreme boundary of the country which I
am forbidden to tread, I resemble the poor tether-
ed horse, which, you may have observed, is always
grazing on the very verge of the circle to which it
is limited by its halter.
Do not accuse me of romance for obeying this
impulse towards the South; nor suppose that, to
gratify the imaginary longing of an idle curiosity,
I am in any danger of risking the solid comforts
of my present condition. Whoever has hitherto
taken charge of my motions, has shown me, by con-
vincing proofs, more weighty than the assurances
which they have withheld, that my real advantage
is their principal object. I should be, therefore,
worse than a fool did I object to their authority,
even when it seems somewhat capriciously exercised;
·
36
REDGAUNTLET.
!
for assuredly, at my age, I might-intrusted as I
am with the care and management of myself in
every other particular-expect that the cause of
excluding me from England should be frankly and
fairly stated for my own consideration and guidance.
However, I will not grumble about the matter. I
shall know the whole story one day, I suppose; and
perhaps, as you sometimes surmise, I shall not find
there is any mighty matter in it after all.
Yet one cannot help wondering-but, plague on
it, if I wonder any longer, my letter will be as full
of wonders as one of Katterfelto's advertisements.
I have a month's mind, instead of this damnable
iteration of guesses and forebodings, to give thee
the history of a little adventure which befell me
yesterday; though I am sure you will, as usual,
turn the opposite end of the spy-glass on my poor
narrative, and reduce, more tuo, to the most petty
trivialties, the circumstances to which thou accu-
sest me of giving undue consequence. Hang thee,
Alan, thou art as unfit a confidant for a youthful
gallant with some spice of imagination, as the old
taciturn secretary of Facardin of Trebizond. Ne-
vertheless, we must each perform our separate des-
tinies. I am doomed to see, act, and tell :—thou,
like a Dutchman, enclosed in the same Diligence
with a Gascon, to hear, and shrug thy shoulders.
Of Dumfries, the capital town of this county, I
have but little to say, and will not abuse your pa-
tience by reminding you, that it is built on the gal-
lant river Nith, and that its churchyard, the high-
est place of the whole town, commands an extensive
REDGAUNTLET.
37
and fine prospect. Neither will I take the travel-
ler's privilege of inflicting upon you the whole his-
tory of Bruce poniarding the Red Comyn in the
Church of the Dominicans at this place, and beco-
ming a king and patriot, because he had been a
church-breaker and a murderer. The present Dum-
friezers remember and justify the deed, observing,
it was only a papist church-in evidence whereof,
its walls have been so completely demolished, that
no vestiges of them remain. They are a sturdy set
of true-blue Presbyterians, these burghers of Dum-
fries; men after your father's own heart, zealous
for the Protestant succession-the rather that many
of the great families around are suspected to be of
a different way of thinking, and shared, a great
many of them, in the insurrection of the Fifteen,
and some in the more recent business of the Forty-
five. The town itself suffered in the latter era; for
Lord Elcho, with a large party of the rebels, levied
a severe contribution upon Dumfries, on account of
the citizens having annoyed the rear of the Cheva-
lier during his march into England.
Many of these particulars I learned from Provost
C- who, happening to see me in the market-
place, remembered that I was an intimate of your
father's, and very kindly asked me to dinner. Pray
tell your father that the effects of his kindness to
me follow me every where. I became tired, how-
ever, of this pretty town in the course of twenty-
four hours, and crept along the coast eastwards,
amusing myself with looking out for objects of an-
tiquity, and sometimes making, or attempting to
1
38
REDGAUNTLET.
make, use of my new angling-rod. By the way, old
Cotton's instructions, by which I hoped to qualify
myself for one of the gentle society of anglers, are
not worth a farthing for this meridian. I learned
this by mere accident, after I had waited four mor-
tal hours. I shall never forget an impudent urchin,
a cowherd, about twelve years old, without either
brogue or bonnet, barelegged, and with a very in-
different pair of breeches-how the villain grinned
in scorn at my landing-net, my plummet, and the
gorgeous jury of flies which I had assembled to de-
stroy all the fish in the river. I was induced at
last to lend the rod to the sneering scoundrel, to
see what he would make of it; and he not only half
filled my basket in an hour, but literally taught me
to kill two trouts with my own hand. This, and
Sam having found the hay and oats, not forgetting
the ale, very good at this small inn, first made me
take the fancy of resting here for a day or two;
and I have got my grinning blackguard of a Pis-
cator leave to attend on me, by paying sixpence
a-day for a herdboy in his stead.
A notably clean Englishwoman keeps this small
house, and my bedroom is sweetened with laven-
der, has a clean sash-window, and the walls are,
moreover, adorned with ballads of Fair Rosamond
and Cruel Barbara Allan. The woman's accent,
though uncouth enough, sounds yet kindly in my
ear; for I have never yet forgotten the desolate
effect produced on my infant organs, when I heard
on all sides your slow and broad northern pronun-
ciation, which was to me the tone of a foreign land.
REDGAUNTLET.
39
I am sensible I myself have since that time acquired
Scotch in perfection, and many a Scotticism withal.
Still the sound of the English accentuation comes
to my ears as the tones of a friend; and even when
heard from the mouth of some wandering beggar,
it has seldom failed to charm forth my mite. You
Scotch, who are so proud of your own nationality,
must make due allowance for that of other folks.
On the next morning I was about to set forth to
the stream where I had commenced angler the night
before, but was prevented, by a heavy shower of
rain, from stirring abroad the whole forenoon; du-
ring all which time I heard my varlet of a guide
as loud with his blackguard jokes in the kitchen,
as a footman in the shilling gallery ;-so little are
modesty and innocence the inseparable companions
of rusticity and seclusion.
When after dinner the day cleared, and we at
length sallied out to the river side, I found myself
subjected to a new trick on the part of my accom-
plished preceptor. Apparently, he liked fishing
himself better than the trouble of instructing an
awkward novice, such as I; and in hopes of exhaust-
ing my patience, and inducing me to resign the rod,
as I had done on the preceding day, my friend
contrived to keep me thrashing the water more than
an hour with a pointless hook. I detected this trick
at last, by observing the rogue grinning with delight
when he saw a large trout rise and dash harmless
away from the angle. I gave him a sound cuff,
Alan; but the next moment was sorry, and, to
make amends, yielded possession of the fishing-rod
40
REDGAUNTLET.
:
for the rest of the evening, he undertaking to bring
me home a dish of trouts for my supper, in atone-
ment for his offences.
Having thus got honourably rid of the trouble of
amusing myself in a way I cared not for, I turned
my steps towards the sea, or rather the Solway
Frith, which here separates the two sister king-
doms, and which lay at about a mile's distance, by
a pleasant walk over sandy knolls, covered with
short herbage, which you call Links, and we Eng-
lish, Downs.
But the rest of my adventure would weary out
my fingers, and must be deferred until to-morrow,
when you shall hear from me by way of continua-
tion; and, in the meanwhile, to prevent overhasty
conclusions, I must just hint to you, we are but yet
on the verge of the adventure which it is my pur-
pose to communicate.
REDGAUNTLET.
41
?
LETTER IV.
THE SAME TO THE SAME.
Shepherd's Bush.
I MENTIONED in my last, that having abandoned
my fishing-rod as an unprofitable implement, I
crossed over the open downs which divided me from
the margin of the Solway. When I reached the
banks of the great estuary, which are here very bare
and exposed, the waters had receded from the large
and level space of sand, through which a stream,
now feeble and fordable, found its way to the ocean.
The whole was illuminated by the beams of the
low and setting sun, who showed his ruddy front,
like a warrior prepared for defence, over a huge
battlemented and turreted wall of crimson and black
clouds, which appeared like an immense Gothic for-
tress, into which the lord of day was descending.
His setting rays glimmered bright upon the wet
surface of the sands, and the numberless pools of
water by which it was covered, where the inequa-
lity of the ground had occasioned their being left
by the tide.
The scene was animated by the exertions of a
number of horsemen, who were actually employed
in hunting salmon. Ay, Alan, lift up your hands
42
REDGAUNTLET.
and
eyes as you will, I can give their mode of fish-
ing no name so appropriate; for they chased the
fish at full gallop, and struck them with their barb-
ed spears, as you see hunters spearing boars in the
old tapestry. The salmon, to be sure, take the
thing more quietly than the boars; but they are so
swift in their own element, that to pursue and strike
them is the task of a good horseman, with a quick
eye, a determined hand, and full command both of
his horse and weapon. The shouts of the fellows
as they galloped up and down in the animating
exercise their loud bursts of laughter when any of
their number caught a fall—and still louder accla-
mations when any of the party made a capital stroke
with his lance-gave so much animation to the whole
scene, that I caught the enthusiasm of the sport,
and ventured forward a considerable space on the
sands. The feats of one horseman, in particular,
called forth so repeatedly the clamorous applause
of his companions, that the very banks rang again
with their shouts. He was a tall man, well mounted
on a strong black horse, which he caused to turn
and wind like a bird in the air, carried a longer
spear than the others, and wore a sort of fur cap or
bonnet, with a short feather in it, which gave him
on the whole rather a superior appearance to the
other fishermen. He seemed to hold some sort of
authority among them, and occasionally directed
their motions both by voice and hand; at which
times I thought his gestures were striking, and his
voice uncommonly sonorous and commanding.
The riders began to make for the shore, and the
REDGAUNTLET.
43
interest of the scene was almost over, while I lin-
gered on the sands, with my looks turned to the
shores of England, still gilded by the sun's last rays,
and, as it seemed, scarce distant a mile from me.
The anxious thoughts which haunt me began to
muster in my bosom, and my feet slowly and insen-
sibly approached the river which divided me from
the forbidden precincts, though without any formed
intention, when my steps were arrested by the sound
of a horse galloping; and as I turned, the rider (the
same fisherman whom I had formerly distinguished)
called out to me, in an abrupt manner, " Soho, bro-
ther! you are too late for Bowness to-night-the
tide will make presently."
I turned my head and looked at him without
answering; for, to my thinking, his sudden appear-
ance (or rather, I should say, his unexpected ap-
proach) had, amidst the gathering shadows and
lingering light, something in it which was wild and
ominous.
"Are you
deaf?" he added—" or are you mad?
or have you a mind for the next world?"
"I am a stranger," I answered," and had no
other purpose than looking on at the fishing-I am
about to return to the side I came from."
"Best make haste then," said he. "He that
dreams on the bed of the Solway, may wake in the
next world. The sky threatens a blast that will
bring in the waves three feet a-breast."
So saying, he turned his horse and rode off, while
I began to walk back towards the Scottish shore, a
little alarmed at what I had heard; for the tide
替
​•
44
REDGAUNTLET.
advances with such rapidity upon these fatal sands,
that well-mounted horsemen lay aside hopes of
safety, if they see its white surge advancing while
they are yet at a distance from the bank.
These recollections grew more agitating, and,
instead of walking deliberately, I began a race as
fast as I could, feeling, or thinking I felt, each pool
of salt water through which I splashed, grow deeper
and deeper. At length the surface of the sand did
seem considerably more intersected with pools and
channels full of water-either that the tide was
really beginning to influence the bed of the estuary,
or, as I must own is equally probable, that I had,
in the hurry and confusion of my retreat, involved
myself in difficulties which I had avoided in my
more deliberate advance. Either way, it was rather
an unpromising state of affairs, for the sands at the
same time turned softer, and my footsteps, so soon
as I had passed, were instantly filled with water.
I began to have odd recollections concerning the
snugness of your father's parlour, and the secure
footing afforded by the pavement of Brown's Square
and Scot's close, when my better genius, the tall
fisherman, appeared once more close to my side, he
and his sable horse looming gigantic in the now
darkening twilight.
"Are you mad?" he said, in the same deep tone
which had before thrilled on my ear," or are you
weary of your life?—You will be presently amongst
the quicksands."-I professed my ignorance of the
way, to which he only replied, "There is no time
for prating-get up behind me."
REDGAUNTLET.
45
He probably expected me to spring from the
ground with the activity which these Borderers
have, by constant practice, acquired in every thing
relating to horsemanship; but as I stood irresolute,
he extended his hand, and grasping mine, bid me
place my foot on the toe of his boot, and thus raised
me in a trice to the croupe of his horse. I was scarce
securely seated, ere he shook the reins of his horse,
who instantly sprung forward; but annoyed, doubt-
less, by the unusual burden, treated us to two or
three bounds, accompanied by as many flourishes
of his hind heels. The rider sat like a tower, not-
withstanding that the unexpected plunging of the
animal threw me forward upon him. The horse
was soon compelled to submit to the discipline of
the spur and bridle, and went off at a steady hand
gallop; thus shortening the devious, for it was by
no means a direct path, by which the rider, avoid-
ing the loose quicksands, made for the northern
bank.
My friend, perhaps I may call him my preserver,
-for, to a stranger, my situation was fraught with
real danger,-continued to press on at the same
speedy pace, but in perfect silence, and I was un-
der too much anxiety of mind to disturb him with
any questions. At length we arrived at a part of
the shore with which I was utterly unacquainted,
when I alighted and began to return, in the best.
fashion I could, my thanks for the important ser-
vice which he had just rendered me.
The stranger only replied by an impatient
pshaw !" and was about to ride off, and leave me
<<
•
46
REDGAUNTLET.
to my own resources, when I implored him to com-
plete his work of kindness, by directing me to Shep-
herd's Bush, which was, as I informed him, my
home for the present.
"To Shepherd's Bush?" he said; "it is but
three miles, but if you know not the land better
than the sand, you may break your neck before you
get there; for it is no road for a moping boy in a
dark night; and, besides, there are the brook and
the fens to cross.
I was a little dismayed at this communication of
such difficulties as my habits have not called on me
to contend with. Once more the idea of thy father's
fireside came across me; and I could have been
well contented to have swop'd the romance of my
situation, together with the glorious independence
of control which I possessed at the moment, for the
comforts of the chimney-corner, though I were
obliged to keep my eyes chained to Erskine's Lar-
ger Institutes.
I asked my new friend whether he could not
direct me to any house of public entertainment for
the night; and, supposing it probable he was him-
self a poor man, I added, with the conscious dig-
nity of a well-filled pocketbook, that I could make
it worth any man's while to oblige me. The fisher-
man making no answer, I turned away from him
with as gallant an appearance of indifference as I
could command, and began to take, as I thought,
the path which he had pointed out to me.
His deep voice immediately sounded after me to
recall me. "Stay, young man, stay-you have
REDGAUNTLET.
47
mistaken the road already.-I wonder your friends
send out such an inconsiderate youth, without some
one wiser than himself to take care of him."
Perhaps they might not have done so,” said I,
“if I had any friends who cared about the matter.
""
"Well, sir," he said, "it is not my custom to
open my house to strangers, but your pinch is like
to be a smart one; for, besides the risk from bad
roads, fords, and broken ground, and the night,
which looks both black and gloomy, there is bad
company on the road sometimes—at least it has a
bad name, and some have come to harm; so that
I think I must for once make my rule give way to
your necessity, and give you a night's lodging in
my cottage."
Why was it, Alan, that I could not help giving
an involuntary shudder at receiving an invitation
so seasonable in itself, and so suitable to my natu-
rally inquisitive disposition? I easily suppressed
this untimely sensation; and, as I returned thanks,
and expressed my hope that I should not disarrange
his family, I once more dropped a hint of my desire
to make compensation for any trouble I might oc-
casion. The man answered very coldly, “Your
presence will no doubt give me trouble, sir, but it
is of a kind which your purse cannot compensate ;
in a word, although I am content to receive you as
my guest, I am no publican to call a reckoning."
I begged his pardon, and, at his instance, once
more seated myself behind him upon the good
horse, which went forth steady as before-the moon,
whenever she could penetrate the clouds, throwing
48
REDGAUNTLET.
the huge shadow of the animal, with its double
burden, on the wild and bare ground over which we
passed.
Thou mayst laugh till thou lettest the letter fall
if thou wilt, but it reminded me of the Magician
Atlantes on his hippogriff, with a knight trussed up
behind him, in the manner Ariosto has depicted
that matter. Thou art, I know, matter-of-fact
enough to affect contempt of that fascinating and
delicious poem ; but think not that, to conform with
thy bad taste, I shall forbear any suitable illustra-
tion which now or hereafter may occur to me.
On we went, the sky blackening around us, and
the wind beginning to pipe such a wild and melan-
choly tune as best suited the hollow sounds of the
advancing tide, which I could hear at a distance,
like the roar of some immense monster defrauded
of its prey.
At length, our course was crossed by a deep dell
or dingle, such as they call in some parts of Scot-
land a den, and in others a cleuch, or narrow glen.
It seemed, by the broken glances which the moon
continued to throw upon it, to be steep, precipitous,
and full of trees, which are, generally speaking,
rather scarce upon these shores. The descent by
which we plunged into this dell was both steep and
rugged, with two or three abrupt turnings; but
neither danger nor darkness impeded the motion
of the black horse, who seemed rather to slide upon
his haunches, than to gallop down the pass, throw-
ing me again on the shoulders of the athletic rider,
who, sustaining no inconvenience by the circum-
REDGAUNTLET.
49
stance, continued to press the horse forward with
his heel, steadily supporting him at the same time
by raising his bridle-hand, until we stood in safety
at the bottom of the steep-not a little to my con-
solation, as, friend Alan, thou mayst easily conceive.
A very short advance up the glen, the bottom
of which we had attained by this ugly descent,
brought us in front of two or three cottages, one of
which another blink of moonshine enabled me to
rate as rather better than those of the Scottish pea-
santry in this part of the world; for the sashes
seemed glazed, and there were what are called
storm-windows in the roof, giving symptoms of the
magnificence of a second story. The scene around
was very interesting; for the cottages, and the
yards or crofts annexed to them, occupied a haugh,
or holm, of two acres, which a brook of some con-
sequence (to judge from its roar) had left upon one
side of the little glen while finding its course close
to the further bank, and which appeared to be co-
vered and darkened with trees, while the level space
beneath enjoyed such stormy smiles as the moon
had that night to bestow.
I had little time for observation, for my compa-
nion's loud whistle, seconded by an equally loud
halloo, speedily brought to the door of the principal
cottage a man and a woman, together with two
large Newfoundland dogs, the deep baying of which
I had for some time heard. A yelping terrier or
two, which had joined the concert, were silent at
the presence of my conductor, and began to whine,
jump up, and fawn upon him. The female drew
VOL. XXXV.
D
50
REDGAUNTLET.
back when she beheld a stranger; the man, who
had a lighted lantern, advanced, and without any
observation, received the horse from my host,
and led him, doubtless, to stable, while I follow-
ed my conductor into the house. When we had
passed the hallan,* we entered a well-sized apart-
ment, with a clean brick floor, where a fire blazed
(much to my contentment) in the ordinary project-
ing sort of chimney, common in Scottish houses.
There were stone seats within the chimney; and
ordinary utensils, mixed with fishing-spears, nets,
and similar implements of sport, were hung around
the walls of the place. The female who had first
appeared at the door, had now retreated into a side
apartment. She was presently followed by my
guide, after he had silently motioned me to a seat;
and their place was supplied by an elderly woman,
in a grey stuff gown, with a check apron and toy,
obviously a menial, though neater in her dress than
is usual in her apparent rank-an advantage which
was counterbalanced by a very forbidding aspect.
But the most singular part of her attire, in this
very Protestant country, was a rosary, in which the
smaller beads were black oak, and those indicating
the pater-noster of silver, with a crucifix of the same
metal.
This person made preparations for supper, by
spreading a clean though coarse cloth over a large
oaken table, placing trenchers and salt upon it, and
arranging the fire to receive a gridiron. I observed
* The partition which divides a Scottish cottage.
REDGAUNTLET.
51
her motions in silence; for she took no sort of no-
tice of me, and as her looks were singularly forbid-
ding, I felt no disposition to commence conversation.
When this duenna had made all preliminary ar-
rangements, she took from the well-filled pouch of
my conductor, which he had hung up by the door,
one or two salmon, or grilses, as the smaller sort
are termed, and selecting that which seemed best,
and in highest season, began to cut it into slices,
and to prepare a grillade; the savoury smell of
which affected me so powerfully, that I began sin-
cerely to hope that no delay would intervene be-
tween the platter and the lip.
As this thought came across me, the man who
had conducted the horse to the stable entered the
apartment, and discovered to me a countenance yet
more uninviting than that of the old crone who was
performing with such dexterity the office of cook to
the party. He was perhaps sixty years old; yet
his brow was not much furrowed, and his jet black
hair was only grizzled, not whitened, by the ad-
vance of age. All his motions spoke strength un-
abated; and, though rather undersized, he had
very broad shoulders, was square-made, thin-flank-
ed, and apparently combined in his frame muscular
strength and activity; the last somewhat impaired
perhaps by years, but the first remaining in full
vigour. A hard and harsh countenance-eyes far
sunk under projecting eyebrows, which were griz-
zled like his hair-a wide mouth, furnished from
ear to ear with a range of unimpaired teeth, of
uncommon whiteness, and a size and breadth which
52
REDGAUNTLET.
might have become the jaws of an ogre, completed
this delightful portrait. He was clad like a fisher-
man, in jacket and trowsers of the blue cloth com-
monly used by seamen, and had a Dutch case-knife,
like that of a Hamburgh skipper, stuck into a broad
buff belt, which seemed as if it might occasionally
sustain weapons of a description still less equivo-
cally calculated for violence.
This man gave me an inquisitive, and, as I
thought, a sinister look, upon entering the apart-
ment; but without any farther notice of me, took
up the office of arranging the table, which the old
lady had abandoned for that of cooking the fish,
and, with more address than I expected from a per-
son of his coarse appearance, placed two chairs at
the head of the table, and two stools below; ac-
commodating each seat to a cover, beside which he
placed an allowance of barley-bread, and a small
jug, which he replenished with ale from a large
black jack. Three of these jugs were of ordinary
earthenware, but the fourth, which he placed by
the right-hand cover at the upper end of the table,
was a flagon of silver, and displayed armorial bear-
ings. Beside this flagon he placed a saltcellar
of silver, handsomely wrought, containing salt of
exquisite whiteness, with pepper and other spices.
A sliced lemon was also presented on a small sil-
ver salver. The two large water-dogs, who seem-
ed perfectly to understand the nature of the pre-
parations, seated themselves one on each side of
the table, to be ready to receive their portion of
the entertainment. I never saw finer animals, or
REDGAUNTLET.
53
which seemed to be more influenced by a sense of
decorum, excepting that they slobbered a little as
the rich scent from the chimney was wafted past
their noses. The small dogs ensconced themselves
beneath the table.
I am aware that I am dwelling upon trivial and
ordinary circumstances, and that perhaps I may
weary out your patience in doing so. But conceive
me alone in this strange place, which seemed, from
the universal silence, to be the very temple of Har-
pocrates—remember that this is my first excursion
from home-forget not that the manner in which
I had been brought hither had the dignity of dan-
ger and something the air of an adventure, and that
there was a mysterious incongruity in all I had
hitherto witnessed; and you will not, I think, be
surprised that these circumstances, though trifling,
should force themselves on my notice at the time,
and dwell in my memory afterwards.
That a fisher, who pursued the sport perhaps for
his amusement as well as profit, should be well
mounted and better lodged than the lower class of
peasantry, had in it nothing surprising; but there
was something about all that I saw which seemed
to intimate, that I was rather in the abode of a
decayed gentleman, who clung to a few of the forms
and observances of former rank, than in that of a
common peasant, raised above his fellows by com-
parative opulence.
-
Besides the articles of plate which I have already
noticed, the old man now lighted and placed on
the table a silver lamp, or cruisie, as the Scottish
•
41
54
REDGAUNTLET.
term it, filled with very pure oil, which in burning
diffused an aromatic fragrance, and gave me a more
perfect view of the cottage walls, which I had hi-
therto only seen dimly by the light of the fire. The
bink,* with its usual arrangement of pewter and
earthen-ware, which was most strictly and critically
clean, glanced back the flame of the lamp merrily
from one side of the apartment. In a recess, form-
ed by the small bow of a latticed window, was a
large writing-desk of walnut-tree wood, curiously
carved, above which arose shelves of the same,
which supported a few books and papers. The op-
posite side of the recess contained (as far as I could
discern, for it lay in shadow, and I could at any
rate have seen it but imperfectly from the place
where I was seated) one or two guns, together
with swords, pistols, and other arms-a collection
which, in a poor cottage, and in a country so peace-
ful, appeared singular at least, if not even some-
what suspicious.
All these observations, you may suppose, were
made much sooner than I have recorded, or you
(if you have not skipped) have been able to read
them. They were already finished, and I was con-
sidering how I should open some communication
with the mute inhabitants of the mansion, when my
conductor re-entered from the side-door by which
he had made his exit.
He had now thrown off his rough riding-cap, and
his coarse jockey-coat, and stood before me in a grey
* The frame of wooden shelves placed in a Scottish kitchen
for holding plates.
REDGAUNTLET.
55.
jerkin trimmed with black, which sat close to, and
set off, his large and sinewy frame, and a pair of
trowsers of a lighter colour, cut as close to the body
as they are used by Highlandmen. His whole dress
was of finer cloth than that of the old man ; and his
linen, so minute was my observation, clean and un-
sullied. His shirt was without ruffles, and tied at
the collar with a black riband, which showed his
strong and muscular neck rising from it, like that
of an ancient Hercules. His head was small, with
a large forehead, and well-formed ears. He wore
neither peruke nor hair-powder; and his chestnut
locks, curling close to his head, like those of an
antique statue, showed not the least touch of time,
though the owner must have been at least fifty.
His features were high and prominent in such a
degree, that one knew not whether to term them
harsh or handsome. In either case, the sparkling
grey eye, aquiline nose, and well-formed mouth,
combined to render his physiognomy noble and
expressive. An air of sadness, or severity, or of
both, seemed to indicate a melancholy, and, at the
same time, a haughty temper. I could not help
running mentally over the ancient heroes, to whom
I might assimilate the noble form and countenance
before me.
He was too young, and evinced too
little resignation to his fate, to resemble Belisarius.
Coriolanus, standing by the hearth of Tullus Aufi-
dius, came nearer the mark; yet the gloomy and
haughty look of the stranger had, perhaps, still
more of Marius, seated among the ruins of Car-
thage.
56
REDGAUNTLET.
While I was lost in these imaginations, my host
stood by the fire, gazing on me with the same atten-
tion which I paid to him, until, embarrassed by his
look, I was about to break silence at all hazards.
But the supper, now placed upon the table, reminded
me, by its appearance, of those wants which I had
almost forgotten while I was gazing on the fine form
of my conductor. He spoke at length, and I almost
started at the deep rich tone of his voice, though
what he said was but to invite me to sit down to
the table. He himself assumed the seat of honour,
beside which the silver flagon was placed, and beck-
oned to me to sit beside him.
Thou knowest thy father's strict and excellent
domestic discipline has trained me to hear the invo-
cation of a blessing before we break the daily bread,
for which we are taught to pray-I paused a mo-
ment, and, without designing to do so, I suppose
my manner made him sensible of what I expected.
The two domestics, or inferiors, as I should have
before observed, were already seated at the bottom
of the table, when my host shot a glance of a very
peculiar expression towards the old man, observing,
with something approaching to a sneer, «Cristal
Nixon, say grace-the gentleman expects one."
“ The foul fiend shall be clerk, and say amen,
when I turn chaplain," growled out the party ad-
dressed, in tones which might have become the
condition of a dying bear; "if the gentleman is a
whig, he may please himself with his own mum-
mery. My faith is neither in word nor writ, but
in barley bread and brown ale."
1
REDGAUNTLET.
57
"Mabel Moffat," said my guide, looking at the
old woman, and raising his sonorous voice, proba-
bly because she was hard of hearing, "canst thou
ask a blessing upon our victuals ?”
The old woman shook her head, kissed the cross
which hung from her rosary, and was silent.
"Mabel will say grace for no heretic,” said the
master of the house, with the same latent sneer on
his brow and in his accent.
At the same moment, the side-door already men-
tioned opened, and the young woman (so she proved)
whom I had first seen at the door of the cottage,
advanced a little way into the room, then stopped
bashfully, as if she had observed that I was looking
at her, and asked the master of the house, " if he
had called?"
"Not louder than to make old Mabel hear me,"
he replied;" and yet," he added, as she turned to
retire, “it is a shame a stranger should see a house
where not one of the family can or will say a grace,
-do thou be our chaplain."
The girl, who was really pretty, came forward
with timid modesty, and apparently unconscious
that she was doing any thing uncommon, pronoun-
ced the benediction in a silver-toned voice, and with
affecting simplicity-her cheek colouring just so
much as to show, that, on a less solemn occasion,
she would have felt more embarrassed.
Now, if thou expectest a fine description of this
young woman, Alan Fairford, in order to entitle
thee to taunt me with having found a Dulcinea in
the inhabitant of a fisherman's cottage on the Sol-
58
REDGAUNTlet.
way Frith, thou shalt be disappointed; for, having
said she seemed very pretty, and that she was a
sweet and gentle-speaking creature, I have said all
concerning her that I can tell thee. She vanished
when the benediction was spoken.
霹
​My host, with a muttered remark on the cold of
our ride, and the keen air of the Solway Sands, to
which he did not seem to wish an answer, loaded
my plate from Mabel's grillade, which, with a large
wooden bowl of potatoes, formed our whole meal.
A sprinkling from the lemon gave a much higher
zest than the usual condiment of vinegar; and I
promise you that whatever I might hitherto have
felt, either of curiosity or suspicion, did not prevent
me from making a most excellent supper, during
which little passed betwixt me and my entertainer,
unless that he did the usual honours of the table
with courtesy, indeed, but without even the affec-
tation of hearty hospitality, which those in his (ap-
parent) condition generally affect on such occasions,
even when they do not actually feel it. On the
contrary, his manner seemed that of a polished
landlord towards an unexpected and unwelcome
guest, whom, for the sake of his own credit, he
receives with civility, but without either good-will
or cheerfulness.
If
you ask how I learned all this, I cannot tell
you; nor, were I to write down at length the insig-
nificant intercourse which took place between us,
would it perhaps serve to justify these observations.
It is sufficient to say, that in helping his dogs,
which he did from time to time with great libe-
REDGAUNTLET.
59
rality, he seemed to discharge a duty much more
pleasing to himself, than when he paid the same
attention to his guest. Upon the whole, the result
on my mind was as I tell it you.
When supper was over, a small case-bottle of
brandy, in a curious frame of silver filigree, circu-
lated to the guests. I had already taken a small
glass of the liquor, and, when it had passed to Ma-
bel and to Cristal, and was again returned to the
upper end of the table, I could not help taking the
bottle in my hand, to look more at the armorial
bearings, which were chased with considerable taste
on the silver framework. Encountering the eye
of my entertainer, I instantly saw that my curiosity
was highly distasteful; he frowned, bit his lip, and
showed such uncontrollable signs of impatience,
that, setting the bottle immediately down, I at-
tempted some apology. To this he did not deign
either to reply, or even to listen; and Cristal, at a
signal from his master, removed the object of my
curiosity, as well as the cup, upon which the same
arms were engraved.
D
There ensued an awkward pause, which I en-
deavoured to break by observing, that "I feared
my intrusion upon his hospitality had put his fa-
mily to some inconvenience."
"I hope you see no appearance of it, sir," he re-
plied, with cold civility. "What inconvenience a
family so retired as ours may suffer from receiving
an unexpected guest, is like to be trifling, in com-
parison of what the visitor himself sustains from
want of his accustomed comforts. So far, there-
60
REDGAUNTLET.
fore, as our connexion stands, our accounts stand
clear."
Notwithstanding this discouraging reply, I blun-
dered on, as is usual in such cases, wishing to ap-
pear civil, and being, perhaps, in reality the very
reverse. "I was afraid," I said, "that my pre-
sence had banished one of the family" (looking at
the side-door)" from his table."
"If," he coldly replied, "I meant the young
woman whom I had seen in the apartment, he bid
me observe that there was room enough at the
table for her to have seated herself, and meat enough,
such as it was, for her supper. I might, therefore,
be assured, if she had chosen it, she would have
supped with us."
There was no dwelling on this or any other topic
longer; for my entertainer, taking up the lamp,
observed, that "my wet clothes might reconcile me
for the night to their custom of keeping early hours;
that he was under the necessity of going abroad by
peep of day to-morrow morning, and would call me
up at the same time, to point out the way by which
I was to return to the Shepherd's Bush."
This left no opening for farther explanation; nor
was there room for it on the usual terms of civility;
for, as he neither asked my name, nor expressed
the least interest concerning my condition, I-the
obliged person-had no pretence to trouble him
with such enquiries on my part.
He took up the lamp, and led me through the
side-door into a very small room, where a bed had
been hastily arranged for my accommodation, and,
REDGAUNTLET.
61
putting down the lamp, directed me to leave my
wet clothes on the outside of the door, that they
might be exposed to the fire during the night. He
then left me, having muttered something which was
meant to pass for good-night.
I obeyed his directions with respect to my clothes,
the rather that, in despite of the spirits which I had
drank, I felt my teeth begin to chatter, and received
various hints from an aguish feeling, that a town-
bred youth, like myself, could not at once rush into
all the hardihood of country sports with impunity.
But my bed, though coarse and hard, was dry and
clean; and I soon was so little occupied with my
heats and tremors, as to listen with interest to a
heavy foot which seemed to be that of my land-
lord, traversing the boards (there was no ceiling,
as you may believe) which roofed my apartment.
Light glancing through these rude planks, became
visible as soon as my lamp was extinguished; and
as the noise of the slow, solemn, and regular step
continued, and I could distinguish that the person
turned and returned as he reached the end of the
apartment, it seemed clear to me that the walker
was engaged in no domestic occupation, but merely
pacing to and fro for his own pleasure. "An odd
amusement this," I thought, "for one who had been
engaged at least a part of the preceding day in
violent exercise, and who talked of rising by the
peep of dawn on the ensuing morning.'
""
Meantime I heard the storm, which had been
brewing during the evening, begin to descend with
a vengeance; sounds, as of distant thunder, (the
62
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.
noise of the more distant waves, doubtless, on the
shore,) mingled with the roaring of the neighbour-
ing torrent, and with the crashing, groaning, and
even screaming of the trees in the glen, whose
boughs were tormented by the gale. Within the
house, windows clattered, and doors clapped, and
the walls, though sufficiently substantial for a
building of the kind, seemed to me to totter in the
tempest.
But still the heavy steps perambulating the apart-
ment over my head, were distinctly heard amid the
roar and fury of the elements. I thought more than
once I even heard a groan; but I frankly own, that,
placed in this unusual situation, my fancy may have
misled me. I was tempted several times to call
aloud, and ask whether the turmoil around us did
not threaten danger to the building which we inha-
bited; but when I thought of the secluded and un-
social master of the dwelling, who seemed to avoid
human society, and to remain unperturbed amid the
elemental war, it seemed that to speak to him at
that moment, would have been to address the spirit
of the tempest himself, since no other being, I
thought, could have remained calm and tranquil
while winds and waters were thus raging around.
In process of time, fatigue prevailed over anxiety
and curiosity. The storm abated, or my senses
became deadened to its terrors, and I fell asleep ere
yet the mysterious paces of my host had ceased to
shake the flooring over my head.
It might have been expected that the novelty of
my situation, although it did not prevent my slum-
REDGAUNTLET.
63
bers, would have at least diminished their profound-
ness, and shortened their duration. It proved other-
wise, however; for I never slept more soundly in
my life, and only awoke when, at morning dawn,
my landlord shook me by the shoulder, and dispel-
led some dream, of which, fortunately for you, I
have no recollection, otherwise you would have
been favoured with it, in hopes you might have
proved a second Daniel upon the occasion.
66
"You sleep sound"-said his full deep voice;
ere five
years have rolled over your head, your
slumbers will be lighter-unless ere then you are
wrapped in the sleep which is never broken.”
"How!" said I, starting up in the bed; " do
you know any thing of me-of my prospects-of
my views in life ?”
"Nothing," he answered, with a grim smile;
"but it is evident you are entering upon the world
young, inexperienced, and full of hopes, and I do
but prophesy to you what I would to any one in
your condition.-But come; there lie your clothes
a brown crust and a draught of milk wait you,
if you choose to break your fast; but you must
make haste."
"I must first," I said, "take the freedom to
spend a few minutes alone, before beginning the
ordinary works of the day."
"Oh!-humph!-I cry your devotions pardon,"
he replied, and left the apartment.
Alan, there is something terrible about this man.
I joined him, as I had promised, in the kitchen
where we had supped over night, where I found the
64
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articles which he had offered me for breakfast,
without butter or any other addition.
He walked up and down while I partook of the
bread and milk; and the slow measured weighty
step seemed identified with those which I had heard
last night. His pace, from its funereal slowness,
seemed to keep time with some current of internal
passion, dark, slow, and unchanged.-"We run and
leap by the side of a lively and bubbling brook,"
thought I, internally, " as if we would run a race
with it; but beside waters deep, slow, and lonely,
our pace is sullen and silent as their course. What
thoughts may be now corresponding with that fur-
rowed brow, and bearing time with that heavy
step!"
"If you have finished," said he, looking up to me
with a glance of impatience, as he observed that I
ate no longer, but remained with my eyes fixed upon
him, "I wait to show you the way.
We went out together, no individual of the fa-
mily having been visible excepting my landlord. I
was disappointed of the opportunity which I watch-
ed for of giving some gratuity to the domestics, as
they seemed to be. As for offering any recompense
to the Master of the Household, it seemed to me
impossible to have attempted it.
What would I have given for a share of thy com-
posure, who wouldst have thrust half-a-crown into
a man's hand whose necessities seemed to crave it,
conscious that you did right in making the proffer,
and not caring sixpence whether you hurt the feel-
ings of him whom you meant to serve! I saw thee
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65
once give a penny to a man with a long beard, who,
from the dignity of his exterior, might have repre-
sented Solon. I had not thy courage, and there-
fore I made no tender to my mysterious host, al-
though, notwithstanding his display of silver uten-
sils, all around the house bespoke narrow circum-
stances, if not actual poverty.
We left the place together. But I hear thee
murmur thy very new and appropriate ejaculation,
Ohe, jam satis!—The rest for another time. Per-
haps I may delay farther communication till I learn
how my favours are valued.
VOL. XXXV.
E
66
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER V.
ALAN FAIRFORD TO DARSIE LATIMER.
I HAVE thy two last epistles, my dear Darsie,
and, expecting the third, have been in no hurry to
answer them. Do not think my silence ought to
be ascribed to my failing to take interest in them,
for, truly, they excel (though the task was difficult)
thy usual excellings. Since the moon-calf who
earliest discovered the Pandemonium of Milton in
an expiring wood-fire-since the first ingenious
urchin who blew bubbles out of soap and water,
thou, my best of friends, hast the highest knack at
making histories out of nothing. Wert thou to
plant the bean in the nursery-tale, thou wouldst
make out, so soon as it began to germinate, that the
castle of the giant was about to elevate its battle-
ments on the top of it. All that happens to thee
gets a touch of the wonderful and the sublime from
thy own rich imagination. Didst ever see what
artists call a Claude Lorraine glass, which spreads
its own particular hue over the whole landscape
which you see through it ?—thou beholdest ordi-
nary events just through such a medium.
I have looked carefully at the facts of thy last
long letter, and they are just such as might have
befallen any little truant of the High School, who
REDGAUNTLET.
67
had got down to Leith Sands, gone beyond the
prawn-dub, wet his hose and shoon, and, finally, had
been carried home, in compassion, by some high-
kilted fishwife, cursing all the while the trouble
which the brat occasioned her.
I admire the figure which thou must have made,
clinging for dear life behind the old fellow's back-
thy jaws chattering with fear, thy muscles cramp-
ed with anxiety. Thy execrable supper of broiled
salmon, which was enough to insure the night-
mare's regular visits for a twelvemonth, may be
termed a real affliction; but as for the storm of
Thursday last, (such, I observe, was the date,) it
roared, whistled, howled, and bellowed, as fearful-
ly amongst the old chimney-heads in the Candle-
maker-row, as it could on the Solway shore, for the
very wind of it-teste me per totam noctem vigilante.
And then in the morning again, when-Lord help
you-in your sentimental delicacy you bid the poor
man adieu, without even tendering him half-a-crown
for supper and lodging!
You laugh at me for giving a penny (to be accu-
rate, though, thou shouldst have said sixpence) to
an old fellow, whom thou, in thy high flight, wouldst
have sent home supperless, because he was like
Solon or Belisarius. But you forget that the affront
descended like a benediction into the pouch of the old
gaberlunzie, who overflowed in blessings upon the
generous donor-Long ere he would have thanked
thee, Darsie, for thy barren veneration of his beard
and his bearing. Then you laugh at my good
father's retreat from Falkirk, just as if it were not
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time for a man to trudge when three or four moun-
tain knaves, with naked claymores, and heels as light
as their fingers, were scampering after him, crying
furinish. You remember what he said himself when
the Laird of Bucklivat told him that furinish signi-
fied "stay a while." "What the devil," he said,
surprised out of his Presbyterian correctness by the
unreasonableness of such a request under the cir-
cumstances, "would the scoundrels have had me
stop to have my head cut off ?”
Imagine such a train at your own heels, Darsie,
and ask yourself whether you would not exert your
legs as fast as you did in flying from the Solway tide.
And yet you impeach my father's courage! I tell
you he has courage enough to do what is right, and
to spurn what is wrong-courage enough to defend
a righteous cause with hand and purse, and to take
the part of the poor man against his oppressor,
without fear of the consequences to himself. This
is civil courage, Darsie; and it is of little conse-
quence to most men in this age and country, whe-
ther they ever possess military courage or no.
Do not think I am angry with you, though I thus
attempt to rectify your opinions on my father's ac-
count. I am well aware that, upon the whole, he
is scarce regarded with more respect by me than by
thee. And while I am in a serious humour, which
it is difficult to preserve with one who is perpe-
tually tempting me to laugh at him, pray, dearest
Darsie, let not thy ardour for adventure carry thee
into more such scrapes as that of the Solway Sands.
The rest of the story is a mere imagination; but
REDGAUNTLET.
69
1
T
.
that stormy evening might have proved, as the clown
says to Lear, a "naughty night to swim in."
As for the rest, if you can work mysterious and
romantic heroes out of old crossgrained fishermen,
why, I for one will reap some amusement by the
metamorphosis. Yet hold! even there, there is
some need of caution. This same female chaplain
-thou sayest so little of her, and so much of every
one else, that it excites some doubt in my mind.
Very pretty she is, it seems—and that is all thy dis-
cretion informs me of. There are cases in which
silence implies other things than consent. Wert
thou ashamed or afraid, Darsie, to trust thyself
with the praises of the very pretty grace-sayer?—
As I live, thou blushest! Why, do I not know
thee an inveterate Squire of Dames? and have I
not been in thy confidence? An elegant elbow, dis-
played when the rest of the figure was muffled in
a cardinal, or a neat well-turned ankle and instep,
seen by chance as its owner tripped up the Old
Assembly Close,* turned thy brain for eight days.
Thou wert once caught, if I remember rightly, with
a single glance of a single matchless eye, which,
when the fair owner withdrew her veil, proved to
be single in the literal sense of the word. And,
besides, were you not another time enamoured of a
voice-a mere voice, that mingled in the psalmody
at the Old Greyfriars' Church-until you disco-
vered the proprietor of that dulcet organ to be Miss
* Of old this almost deserted alley formed the most common
access betwixt the High Street and the southern suburbs.
70
REDGAUNTLET.
Dolly MacIzzard, who is both "back and breast,”
as our saying goes ?
All these things considered, and contrasted with
thy artful silence on the subject of this grace-say-
ing Nereid of thine, I must beg thee to be more
explicit upon that subject in thy next, unless thou
wouldst have me form the conclusion that thou
thinkest more of her than thou carest to talk of.
You will not expect much news from this quar-
ter, as you know the monotony of my life, and are
aware it must at present be devoted to uninterrupt-
ed study. You have said a thousand times, that I
am only qualified to make my way by dint of plod-
ding, and therefore plod I must.
My father seems to be more impatient of your
absence than he was after your first departure. He
is sensible, I believe, that our solitary meals want
the light which your gay humour was wont to throw
over them, and feels melancholy, as men do when
the light of the sun is no longer upon the land-
scape. If it is thus with him, thou mayst imagine
it is much more so with me, and canst conceive how
heartily I wish that thy frolie were ended, and thou
once more our inmate.
I resume my pen, after a few hours' interval, to
say
that an incident has occurred, on which you
will yourself be building a hundred castles in the
air, and which even I, jealous as I am of such base-
M
!
REDGAUNTLET,
71
less fabrics, cannot but own affords ground for sin
gular conjecture.
My father has of late taken me frequently along
with him when he attends the Courts, in his anxiety
to see me properly initiated into the practical forms
of business. I own I feel something on his account
and my own from this over-anxiety, which, I dare
say, renders us both ridiculous. But what signi-
fies my repugnance! my father drags me up to his
counsel learned in the law," Are you quite ready
to come on to-day, Mr Crossbite ?-This is my son,
designed for the bar-I take the liberty to bring
him with me to-day to the consultation, merely that
he may see how these things are managed."
Mr Crossbite smiles and bows, as a lawyer smiles
on the solicitor who employs him, and I dare say,
thrusts his tongue into his cheek, and whispers into
the first great wig that passes him, "What the
d-1 does old Fairford mean by letting loose his
whelp on me?”
As I stood beside them, too much vexed at the
childish part I was made to play to derive much
information from the valuable arguments of Mr
Crossbite, I observed a rather elderly man, who
stood with his eyes firmly bent on my father, as if
he only waited an end of the business in which he
was engaged, to address him. There was some-
thing, I thought, in the gentleman's appearance,
which commanded attention. Yet his dress was
not in the present taste, and though it had once
been magnificent, was now antiquated and unfa-
shionable. His coat was of branched velvet, with
72
REDGAUNTLET.
a satin lining, a waistcoat of violet-coloured silk,
much embroidered; his breeches the same stuff as
the coat. He wore square-toed shoes, with fore-
tops, as they are called; and his silk stockings were
rolled up over his knee, as you may have seen in
pictures, and here and there on some of those ori-
ginals who seem to pique themselves on dressing
after the mode of Methuselah. A chapeau bras
and sword necessarily completed his equipment,
which, though out of date, showed that it belonged
to a man of distinction.
The instant Mr Crossbite had ended what he had
to say, this gentleman walked up to my father, with,
"Your servant, Mr Fairford—it is long since you
and I met."
My father, whose politeness, you know, is exact
and formal, bowed, and hemmed, and was confused,
and at length professed that the distance since they
had met was so great, that though he remembered
the face perfectly, the name, he was sorry to say,
had-really-somehow-escaped his memory.
"Have you forgot Herries of Birrenswork ?"
said the gentleman, and my father bowed even more
profoundly than before; though I think his recep-
tion of his old friend seemed to lose some of the
respectful civility which he bestowed on him while
his name was yet unknown. It now seemed to be
something like the lip-courtesy which the heart
would have denied had ceremony permitted.
My father, however, again bowed low, and hoped
he saw him well.
"So well, my good Mr Fairford, that I come
REDGAUNTLET.
773
hither determined to renew my acquaintance with
one or two old friends, and with you in the first
place. I halt at my old resting-place-you must
dine with me to-day at Paterson's, at the head of
the Horse Wynd-it is near your new fashionable
dwelling, and I have business with you."
My father excused himself respectfully, and not
without embarrassment-" he was particularly en-
gaged at home.”
"Then I will dine with you, man," said Mr
Herries of Birrenswork; "the few minutes you
can spare me after dinner will suffice for my busi-
ness; and I will not prevent you a moment from
minding your own-I am no bottle-man.'
""
You have often remarked that my father, though
a scrupulous observer of the rites of hospitality,
seems to exercise them rather as a duty than as a
pleasure; indeed, but for a conscientious wish to
feed the hungry and receive the stranger, his doors
would open to guests much seldomer than is the
case. I never saw so strong an example of this
peculiarity, (which I should otherwise have said is
caricatured in your description,) as in his mode of
homologating the self-given invitation of Mr Her-
ries. The embarrassed brow, and the attempt at a
smile which accompanied his "We will expect the
honour of seeing you in Brown Square at three
o'clock," could not deceive any one, and did not
impose upon the old Laird. It was with a look of
scorn that he replied, "I will relieve you then till
that hour, Mr Fairford;" and his whole manner
-
74
REDGAUNTLET.
""
seemed to say, "It is my pleasure to dine with you,
and I care not whether I am welcome or no.
When he turned away, I asked my father who
he was.
"An unfortunate gentleman," was the reply.
"He looks pretty well on his misfortunes," re-
plied I. « I should not have suspected that so gay
an outside was lacking a dinner.”
"Who told you that he does?" replied my father;
"he is omni suspicione major, so far as worldly cir-
cumstances are concerned-It is to be hoped he
makes a good use of them; though, if he does, it
will be for the first time in his life."
"He has then been an irregular liver ?” insinu-
ated I.
My father replied by that famous brocard with
which he silences all unacceptable queries, turning
in the slightest degree upon the failings of our
neighbours," If we mend our own faults, Alan,
we shall all of us have enough to do, without sit-
ting in judgment upon other folks."
Here I was again at fault; but rallying once
more, I observed, he had the air of a man of high
rank and family.
"He is well entitled," said my father, " repre-
senting Herries of Birrenswork; a branch of that
great and once powerful family of Herries, the elder
branch whereof merged in the house of Nithesdale
at the death of Lord Robin the Philosopher, Anno
Domini sixteen hundred and sixty-seven."
"Has he still," said I, "his patrimonial estate
of Birrenswork ?"
""
REDGAUNTLET.
775
"No," replied my father; "so far back as his fa-
ther's time, it was a mere designation—the proper-
ty being forfeited by Herbert Herries following his
kinsman the Earl of Derwentwater, to the Preston
affair in 1715. But they keep up the designation,
thinking, doubtless, that their claims may be revi-
ved in more favourable times for Jacobites and for
Popery; and folks who in no way partake of their
fantastic capriccios, do yet allow it to pass unchal-
lenged, ex comitate, if not ex misericordia.-But
were he the Pope and the Pretender both, we must
get some dinner ready for him, since he has thought
fit to offer himself. So hasten home, my lad, and
tell Hannah, Cook Epps, and James Wilkinson, to
do their best; and do thou look out a pint or two
of Maxwell's best-it is in the fifth bin-there are
the keys of the wine-cellar.-Do not leave them
in the lock-you know poor James's failing, though
he is an honest creature under all other tempta-
tions—and I have but two bottles of the old brandy
left-we must keep it for medicine, Alan.”
Away went I-made my preparations—the hour
of dinner came, and so did Mr Herries of Birrens-
work.
If I had thy power of imagination and descrip-
tion, Darsie, I could make out a fine, dark, mys-
terious, Rembrandt-looking portrait of this same
stranger, which should be as far superior to thy
fisherman, as a shirt of chain-mail is to a herring-
net. I can assure you there is some matter for de-
scription about him; but knowing my own imper-
fections, I can only say, I thought him eminently
76
$
REDGAUNTLET.
disagreeable and ill-bred.-No, ill-bred is not the
proper word; on the contrary, he appeared to know
the rules of good-breeding perfectly, and only to
think that the rank of the company did not require
that he should attend to them-a view of the mat-
ter infinitely more offensive than if his behaviour
had been that of uneducated and proper rudeness.
While my father said grace, the Laird did all but
whistle aloud; and when I, at my father's desire,
returned thanks, he used his toothpick, as if he had
waited that moment for its exercise.
So much for Kirk-with King, matters went
even worse. My father, thou knowest, is particu-
larly full of deference to his guests; and in the pre-
sent case, he seemed more than usually desirous to
escape every cause of dispute. He so far compro-
mised his loyalty, as to announce merely "The
King," as his first toast after dinner, instead of the
emphatic "King George," which is his usual for-
mula. Our guest made a motion with his glass, so
as to pass it over the water-decanter which stood
beside him, and added, " Over the water."
My father coloured, but would not seem to hear
this. Much more there was of careless and disre-
spectful in the stranger's manner and tone of con-
versation; so that though I know my father's preju-
dices in favour of rank and birth, and though I am
aware his otherwise masculine understanding has
never entirely shaken off the slavish awe of the
great, which in his earlier days they had so many
modes of commanding, still I could hardly excuse.
him for enduring so much insolence-such it seem-
H
REDGAUNTLET.
кунд
ed to be as this self-invited guest was disposed to
offer to him at his own table.
One can endure a traveller in the same carriage,
if he treads upon your toes by accident, or even
through negligence; but it is very different when,
knowing that they are rather of a tender descrip-
tion, he continues to pound away at them with his
hoofs. In my poor opinion-and I am a man of
peace-you can, in that case, hardly avoid a decla-
ration of war.
I believe my father read my thoughts in my eye;
for, pulling out his watch, he said, " Half past four,
Alan -you should be in your own room by this
time-Birrenswork will excuse you."
Our visitor nodded carelessly, and I had no
longer any pretence to remain. But as I left the
room I heard this Magnate of Nithesdale distinct-
ly mention the name of Latimer. I lingered; but
at length a direct hint from my father obliged me
to withdraw; and when, an hour afterwards, I was
summoned to partake of a cup of tea, our guest had
departed. He had business that evening in the
High Street, and could not spare time even to drink
tea. I could not help saying, I considered his de-
parture as a relief from incivility. "What busi-
ness has he to upbraid us," I said, "with the change
of our dwelling from a more inconvenient to a
better quarter of the town? What was it to him
if we chose to imitate some of the conveniences or
luxuries of an English dwelling-house, instead of
living piled up above each other in flats? Have
his patrician birth and aristocratic fortunes given
·
78
REDGAUNTLET.
"
him any right to censure those who dispose of the
fruits of their own industry, according to their own
pleasure ?"
My father took a long pinch of snuff, and replied,
"Very well, Alan; very well indeed. I wish Mr
Crossbite or Counsellor Pest had heard you; they
must have acknowledged that you have a talent for
forensic elocution; and it may not be amiss to try
a little declamation at home now and then, to gather
audacity and keep yourself in breath. But touch-
ing the subject of this paraffle of words, it's not worth
a pinch of tobacco. D'ye think that I care for Mr
Herries of Birrenswork more than any other gen-
tleman who comes here about business, although I
do not care to go tilting at his throat, because he
speaks like a grey goose as he is? But to say no
more about him, I want to have Darsie Latimer's
present direction; for it is possible I may have to
write the lad a line with my own hand-and yet I
do not well know-but give me the direction at all
events."
I did so, and if you have heard from my father
accordingly, you know more, probably, about the
subject of this letter than I who write it. But if
you have not, then shall I have discharged a friend's
duty, in letting you know that there certainly is
something afloat between this disagreeable Laird
and my father, in which you are considerably in-
terested.
Adieu! and although I have given thee a sub-
ject for waking dreams, beware of building a castle
REDGAUNTLET.
79
too heavy for the foundation; which, in the pre-
sent instance, is barely the word Latimer occurring
in a conversation betwixt a gentleman of Dumfries-
shire and a W.S. of Edinburgh-Cætera prorsus
ignoro.
[
80
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER VI.
DARSIE LATIMER TO ALAN FAIRFORD.
[In continuation of Letters III. and IV.]
I TOLD thee I walked out into the open air with
my grave and stern landlord. I could now see more
perfectly than on the preceding night the secluded
glen, in which stood the two or three cottages which
appeared to be the abode of him and his family.
It was so narrow, in proportion to its depth, that
no ray of the morning sun was likely to reach it
till it should rise high in the horizon. Looking up
the dell, you saw a brawling brook issuing in foamy
haste from a covert of underwood, like a racehorse
impatient to arrive at the goal; and, if you gazed
yet more earnestly, you might observe part of a
high waterfall glimmering through the foliage,
and giving occasion, doubtless, to the precipitate
speed of the brook. Lower down, the stream be-
came more placid, and opened into a quiet piece of
water, which afforded a rude haven to two or three
fishermen's boats, then lying high and dry on the
sand, the tide being out. Two or three miserable
huts could be seen beside this little haven, inha-
bited probably by the owners of the boats, but infe-
REDGAUNTLET.
81
rior in every respect to the establishment of mine
host, though that was miserable enough.
I had but a minute or two to make these obser-
vations, yet during that space my companion show-
ed symptoms of impatience, and more than once
shouted, "Cristal-Cristal Nixon," until the old
man of the preceding evening appeared at the door
of one of the neighbouring cottages or outhouses,
leading the strong black horse which I before com-
memorated, ready bridled and saddled. My con-
ductor made Cristal a sign with his finger, and,
turning from the cottage door, led the way up the
steep path or ravine which connected the seques-
tered dell with the open country.
Had I been perfectly aware of the character of
the road down which I had been hurried with so
much impetuosity on the preceding evening, I
greatly question if I should have ventured the de-
scent; for it deserved no better name than the
channel of a torrent, now in a good measure filled
with water that dashed in foam and fury into the
dell, being swelled with the rains of the preceding
night. I ascended this ugly path with some diffi-
culty, although on foot, and felt dizzy when I ob-
served, from such traces as the rains had not obli-
terated, that the horse seemed almost to have slid
down it upon his haunches the evening before.
My host threw himself on his horse's back, with-
out placing a foot in the stirrup-passed me in the
perilous ascent, against which he pressed his steed
as if the animal had had the footing of a wild cat.
The water and mud splashed from his heels in his
VOL. XXXV.
F
82
REDGAUNTLET.
reckless course, and a few bounds placed him on the
top of the bank, where I presently joined him, and
found the horse and rider standing still as a statue ;
the former panting and expanding his broad nos-
trils to the morning wind, the latter motionless,
with his eye fixed on the first beams of the rising
'sun, which already began to peer above the eastern
horizon, and gild the distant mountains of Cumber-
land and Liddesdale.
F
He seemed in a reverie, from which he started
at my approach, and putting his horse in motion,
led the way at a leisurely pace, through a broken
and sandy road, which traversed a waste, level, and
uncultivated tract of downs, intermixed with mo-
rass, much like that in the neighbourhood of my
quarters at Shepherd's Bush. Indeed the whole
open ground of this district, where it approaches
the sea, has, except in a few favoured spots, the
same uniform and dreary character.
Advancing about a hundred yards from the brink
of the glen, we gained a still more extensive com-
mand of this desolate prospect, which seemed even
more dreary, as contrasted with the opposite shores
of Cumberland, crossed and intersected by ten thou-
sand lines of trees growing in hedge-rows, shaded
with groves and woods of considerable extent, and
animated by hamlets and villas, from which thin
clouds of smoke already gave sign of human life and
human industry.
My conductor had extended his arm, and was
pointing the road to Shepherd's Bush, when the
step of a horse was heard approaching us. He
REDGAUNTLET.
83
looked sharply around, and having observed who
was approaching, proceeded in his instructions to
me, planting himself at the same time in the very
middle of the path, which, at the place where we
halted, had a slough on the one side, and a sand-
bank on the other.
I observed that the rider who approached us
slackened his horse's pace from a slow trot to a
walk, as if desirous to suffer us to proceed, or at
least to avoid passing us at a spot where the diffi-
culty of doing so must have brought us very close
to each other. You know my old failing, Alan,
and that I am always willing to attend to any thing
in preference to the individual who has for the time
possession of the conversation.
GP
Agreeably to this amiable propensity, I was in-
ternally speculating concerning the cause of the
rider keeping aloof from us, when my companion,
elevating his deep voice so suddenly and so sternly,
as at once to recall my wandering thoughts, ex-
elaimed, “ In the name of the devil, young man, do
you think that others have no better use for their
time than you have, that you oblige me to repeat
the same thing to you three times over?-Do you
see, I say, yonder thing at a mile's distance, that
looks like a finger-post, or rather like a gallows?
-I would it had a dreaming fool hanging upon it,
as an example to all meditative moon-calves!-Yon
gibbet-looking pole will guide you to the bridge,
where you must pass the large brook; then proceed
straight forwards, till several roads divide at a cairn.
-Plague on thee, thou art wandering again !"
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REDGAUNTLET.
It is indeed quite true, that at this moment the
horseman approached us, and my attention was
again called to him as I made way to let him pass.
His whole exterior at once showed that he belong-
ed to the Society of Friends, or, as the world and
the world's law call them, Quakers. A strong
and useful iron-grey galloway showed, by its sleek
and good condition, that the merciful man was
merciful to his beast. His accoutrements were in
the usual unostentatious, but clean and serviceable
order, which characterises these sectaries. His
long surtout of dark-grey superfine cloth descended
down to the middle of his leg, and was buttoned
up to his chin, to defend him against the morning
air. As usual, his ample beaver hung down with-
out button or loop, and shaded a comely and placid
countenance, the gravity of which appeared to con-
tain some seasoning of humour, and had nothing in
common with the pinched puritanical air affected
by devotees in general. The brow was open and
free from wrinkles, whether of age or hypocrisy.
The eye was clear, calm, and considerate, yet ap-
peared to be disturbed by apprehension, not to say
fear, as, pronouncing the usual salutation of “I
wish thee a good morrow, friend," he indicated, by
turning his palfrey close to one side of the path, a
wish to glide past us with as little trouble as pos-
sible-just as a traveller would choose to pass a
mastiff of whose peaceable intentions he is by no
means confident.
But my friend, not meaning, perhaps, that he
should get off so easily, put his horse quite across
REDGAUNTLET.
85
the path, so that, without plunging into the slough,
or scrambling up the bank, the Quaker could not
have passed him. Neither of these was an expe-
riment without hazard greater than the passenger
seemed willing to incur. He halted, therefore, as
if waiting till my companion should make way for
him; and, as they sat fronting each other, I could
not help thinking that they might have formed no
bad emblem of Peace and War; for although my
conductor was unarmed, yet the whole of his man-
ner, his stern look, and his upright seat on horse-
back, were entirely those of a soldier in undress.
He accosted the Quaker in these words, “So ho!
friend Joshua-thou art early to the road this morn-
ing. Has the spirit moved thee and thy righteous
brethren to act with some honesty, and pull down
yonder tide-nets that keep the fish from coming up
the river?"
and we,
"Surely, friend, not so," answered Joshua, firm-
ly, but good-humouredly at the same time; "thou
canst not expect that our own hands should pull
down what our own purses established. Thou kill-
est the fish with spear, line, and coble-net;
with snares and with nets, which work by the ebb
and the flow of the tide. Each doth what seems
best in his eyes to secure a share of the blessing
which Providence hath bestowed on the river, and
that within his own bounds. I prithee seek no
quarrel against us, for thou shalt have no wrong at
our hand."
"Be assured I will take none at the hand of
any man, whether his hat be cocked or broad-brim-
86
REDGAUNTLET.
med," answered the fisherman. "I tell you in fair
terms, Joshua Geddes, that you and your partners,
are using unlawful craft to destroy the fish in the
Solway by stake-nets and wears; and that we, who
fish fairly, and like men, as our fathers did, have
daily and yearly less sport and less profit. Do not
think gravity or hypocrisy can carry it off as you
have done. The world knows you, and we know
you. You will destroy the salmon which make
the livelihood of fifty poor families, and then wipe
your mouth, and go to make a speech at Meeting.
But do not hope it will last thus. I give you fair
warning, we will be upon you one morning soon,
when we will not leave a stake standing in the
pools of the Solway; and down the tide they shall
every one go, and well if we do not send a lessee
along with them."
"Friend," replied Joshua, with a constrained
smile, "but that I know thou dost not mean as
thou say'st, I would tell thee we are under the pro-
tection of this country's laws; nor do we the less
trust to obtain their protection, that our principles
permit us not, by any act of violent resistance, tó
protect ourselves.”
“All villainous cant and cowardice," exclaimed
the fisherman, “ and assumed merely as a cloak to
your hypocritical avarice."
"Nay, say not cowardice, my friend," answered
the Quaker," since thou knowest there may be
as much courage in enduring as in acting; and I
will be judged by this youth, or by any one else,
whether there is not more cowardice-even in the
REDGAUNTLET.
87
opinion of that world whose thoughts are the breath
in thy nostrils-in the armed oppressor, who doth
injury, than in the defenceless and patient sufferer,
who endureth it with constancy."
"I will change no more words with you on the
subject," said the fisherman, who, as if something
moved at the last argument which Mr Geddes had
used, now made room for him to pass forward on
his journey." Do not forget, however," he added,
❝ that you have had fair warning, nor suppose that
we will accept of fair words in apology for foul play.
These nets of yours are unlawful-they spoil our
fishings—and we will have them down at all risks
and hazards. I am a man of my word, friend
Joshua."
"I trust thou art," said the Quaker; "but thou
art the rather bound to be cautious in rashly af-
firming what thou wilt never execute. For I tell
thee, friend, that though there is as great a differ-
ence between thee and one of our people, as there
is between a lion and a sheep, yet I know and be-
lieve thou hast so much of the lion in thee, that
thou wouldst scarce employ thy strength and thy
rage upon that which professeth no means of re-
sistance. Report says so much good of thee, at
least, if it says little more."
"Time will try," answered the fisherman; "and
hark thee, Joshua, before we part I will put thee
in the way of doing one good deed, which, credit
me, is better than twenty moral speeches. Here
is a stranger youth, whom heaven has so scantily
gifted with brains, that he will bewilder himself in
1
88
REDGAUNTLET.
the Sands, as he did last night, unless thou wilt
kindly show him the way to Shepherd's Bush; for
I have been in vain endeavouring to make him com-
prehend the road thither-Hast thou so much cha-
rity under thy simplicity, Quaker, as to do this good
turn ?"
"Nay, it is thou, friend," answered Joshua,
"that dost lack charity, to suppose any one un-
willing to do so simple a kindness."
"Thou art right-I should have remembered
it can cost thee nothing.-Young gentleman, this
pious pattern of primitive simplicity will teach thee
the right way to the Shepherd's Bush—ay, and will
himself shear thee like a sheep, if you come to buy-
ing and selling with him."
He then abruptly asked me, how long I intended
to remain at Shepherd's Bush.
I replied I was at present uncertain-as long,
probably, as I could amuse myself in the neigh-
bourhood.
"You are fond of sport ?" he added, in the same
tone of brief enquiry.
I answered in the affirmative, but added, I was
totally inexperienced.
"Perhaps if you reside here for some days," he
said, "we may meet again, and I may have the
chance of giving you a lesson."
Ere I could express either thanks or assent, he
turned short round with a wave of his hand, by
way of adieu, and rode back to the verge of the dell
from which we had emerged together; and as he
remained standing upon the banks, I could long
REDGAUNTLET.
89
hear his voice while he shouted down to those with-
in its recesses.
Meanwhile the Quaker and I proceeded on our
journey for some time in silence; he restraining
his soberminded steed to a pace which might have
suited a much less active walker than myself, and
looking on me from time to time with an expres-
sion of curiosity, mingled with benignity. For my
part, I cared not to speak first. It happened I had
never before been in company with one of this par-
ticular sect, and, afraid that in addressing him I
might unwittingly infringe upon some of their pre-
judices or peculiarities, I patiently remained silent.
At length he asked me, whether I had been long
in the service of the Laird, as men called him.
I repeated the words "in his service ?" with such
an accent of surprise, as induced him to say, "Nay,
but, friend, I mean no offence; perhaps I should
have said in his society-an inmate, I mean, in his
house ?"
"I am totally unknown to the person from whom
we have just parted," said I, "and our connexion
is only temporary-He had the charity to give me
his guidance from the Sands, and a night's har-
bourage from the tempest. So our acquaintance
began, and there it is likely to end; for you may
observe that our friend is by no means apt to en-
courage familiarity."
"So little so," answered my companion, "that
thy case is, I think, the first in which I ever heard
of his receiving any one into his house; that is, if
thou hast really spent the night there.”
90
REDGAUNTLET.
"Why should you doubt it ?" replied I; "there
is no motive I can have to deceive you, nor is the.
object worth it."
"Be not angry with me," said the Quaker;
"but thou knowest that thine own people do not,
as we humbly endeavour to do, confine themselves
within the simplicity of truth, but employ the lan-
guage of falsehood, not only for profit, but for com-
pliment, and sometimes for mere diversion. I have
heard various stories of my neighbour; of most of
which I only believe a small part, and even then
they are difficult to reconcile with each other. But
this being the first time I ever heard of his recei-
ving a stranger within his dwelling, made me ex-
press some doubts. I pray thee let them not offend
thee."
«He does not,” said I, "appear to possess in
much abundance the means of exercising hospitality,
and so may be excused from offering it in ordinary
cases."
"That is to say, friend," replied Joshua, "thou
hast supped ill, and perhaps breakfasted worse.
Now my small tenement, called Mount Sharon, is
nearer to us by two miles than thine inn; and al-
though going thither may prolong thy walk, as
taking thee off the straighter road to Shepherd's
Bush, yet methinks exercise will suit thy youthful
limbs, as well as a good plain meal thy youthful
appetite. What say'st thou, my young acquaint-
ance ?"
"If it puts you not to inconvenience," I replied;
for the invitation was cordially given, and my bread
REDGAUNTLET.
91
and milk had been hastily swallowed, and in small
quantity.
"Nay," said Joshua, "use not the language of
compliment with those who renounce it. Had this
poor courtesy been very inconvenient, perhaps I
had not offered it."
“I accept the invitation then,” said I, “in the
same good spirit in which you give it.”
The Quaker smiled, reached me his hand, I shook
it, and we travelled on in great cordiality with each
other. The fact is, I was much entertained by con-
trasting in my own mind, the open manner of the
kind-hearted Joshua Geddes, with the abrupt, dark,
and lofty demeanour of my entertainer on the pre-
ceding evening. Both were blunt and unceremo-
nious; but the plainness of the Quaker had the
character of devotional simplicity, and was mingled
with the more real kindness, as if honest Joshua
was desirous of atoning, by his sincerity, for the
lack of external courtesy. On the contrary, the
manners of the fisherman were those of one to whom
the rules of good behaviour might be familiar, but
who, either from pride or misanthropy, scorned to
observe them. Still I thought of him with interest
and curiosity, notwithstanding so much about him
that was repulsive; and I promised myself, in the
course of my conversation with the Quaker, to learn
all that he knew on the subject. He turned the
conversation, however, into a different channel, and
enquired into my own condition of life, and views
in visiting this remote frontier.
I only thought it necessary to mention my name,
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REDGAUNTLET.
and add, that I had been educated to the law, but
finding myself possessed of some independence, I
had of late permitted myself some relaxation, and
was residing at Shepherd's Bush to enjoy the plea-
sure of angling.
"I do thee no harm, young man,” said my new
friend," in wishing thee a better employment for
thy grave hours, and a more humane amusement
(if amusement thou must have) for those of a lighter
character."
"You are severe, sir," I replied. "I heard you
but a moment since refer yourself to the protection
of the laws of the country-if there be laws, there
must be lawyers to explain, and judges to admi-
nister them."
Joshua smiled, and pointed to the sheep which
were grazing on the downs over which we were
travelling." Were a wolf," he said, "to come
even now upon yonder flocks, they would crowd for
protection, doubtless, around the shepherd and his
dogs; yet they are bitten and harassed daily by
the one, shorn, and finally killed and eaten by the
other. But I say not this to shock you; for, though
laws and lawyers are evils, yet they are necessary
evils in this probationary state of society, till man
shall learn to render unto his fellows that which is
their due, according to the light of his own con-
science, and through no other compulsion. Mean-
while, I have known many righteous men who have
followed thy intended profession in honesty and up-
rightness of walk. The greater their merit, who
walk erect in a path which so many find slippery."
REDGAUNTLET.
93
"And angling," said I, "you object to that
also as an amusement, you who, if I understood
rightly what passed between you and my late land-
lord, are yourself a proprietor of fisheries ?"
"Not a proprietor," he replied, "I am only, in
copartnery with others, a tacksman or lessee of some
valuable salmon-fisheries a little down the coast.
But mistake me not. The evil of angling, with
which I class all sports, as they are called, which
have the sufferings of animals for their end and
object, does not consist in the mere catching and
killing those animals with which the bounty of
Providence hath stocked the earth for the good of
man, but in making their protracted agony a prin-
ciple of delight and enjoyment. I do indeed cause
these fisheries to be conducted for the necessary
taking, killing, and selling the fish; and, in the
same way, were I a farmer, I should send my lambs
to market. But I should as soon think of contri-
ving myself a sport and amusement out of the trade
of the butcher as out of that of the fisher."
We argued this point no farther; for though I
thought his arguments a little too high-strained,
yet as my mind acquitted me of having taken de-
light in aught but the theory of field-sports, I did
not think myself called upon stubbornly to advocate
a practice which had afforded me so little pleasure..
We had by this time arrived at the remains of an
old finger-post, which my host had formerly point-
ed out as a landmark. Here, a ruinous wooden
bridge, supported by long posts resembling crutches,
served me to get across the water, while my new
94
REDGAUNTLET.
friend sought a ford a good way higher up, for the
stream was considerably swelled.
As I paused for his rejoining me, I observed an
angler at a little distance pouching trout after trout,
as fast almost as he could cast his line; and I own,
in spite of Joshua's lecture on humanity, I could
not but envy his adroitness and success,—so natu-
ral is the love of sport to our minds, or so easily
are we taught to assimilate success in field-sports
with ideas of pleasure, and with the praise due to
address and agility. I soon recognised in the suc-
cessful angler little Benjie, who had been my guide
and tutor in that gentle art, as you have learned
from my former letters. I called-I whistled-the
rascal recognised me, and, starting like a guilty
thing, seemed hesitating whether to approach or to
run away; and when he determined on the former,
it was to assail me with a loud, clamorous, and ex-
aggerated report of the anxiety of all at the Shep-
herd's Bush for my personal safety; how my land-
lady had wept, how Sam and the ostler had not the
heart to go to bed, but sat up all night drinking—
and how he himself had been up long before day-
break to go in quest of me.
"And you were switching the water, I suppose,"
said I, “to discover my dead body ?”
This observation produced a long "Na-a-a"
of acknowledged detection; but, with his natural
impudence, and confidence in my good-nature, he
immediately added, "that he thought I would like
a fresh trout or twa for breakfast, and the water
REDGAUNTLET.
95
being in such rare trim for the saumon raun,* he
couldna help taking a cast."
While we were engaged in this discussion, the
honest Quaker returned to the farther end of the
wooden bridge to tell me he could not venture to
cross the brook in its present state, but would be
under the necessity to ride round by the stone
bridge, which was a mile and a half higher up than
his own house. He was about to give me directions
how to proceed without him, and enquire for his
sister, when I suggested to him, that if he pleased
to trust his horse to little Benjie, the boy might
carry him round by the bridge, while we walked
the shorter and more pleasant road.
Joshua shook his head, for he was well acquaint-
ed with Benjie, who, he said, was the naughtiest
varlet in the whole neighbourhood. Nevertheless,
rather than part company, he agreed to put the pony
under his charge for a short season, with many in-
junctions that he should not attempt to mount, but
lead the pony (even Solomon) by the bridle, under
the assurances of sixpence in case of proper demean-
our, and penalty that if he transgressed the orders
given him, "verily he should be scourged."
Promises cost Benjie nothing, and he showered
them out wholesale; till the Quaker at length
yielded up the bridle to him, repeating his charges,
and enforcing them by holding up his forefinger.
On my part, I called to Benjie to leave the fish he
In
* The bait made of salmon-row salted and preserved.
a swollen river, and about the month of October, it is a most
deadly bait.
96
REDGAUNTLET.
had taken at Mount Sharon, making, at the same
time, an apologetic countenance to my new friend,
not being quite aware whether the compliment
would be agreeable to such a condemner of field-
sports.
He understood me at once, and reminded me of
the practical distinction betwixt catching the ani-
mals as an object of cruel and wanton sport, and
eating them as lawful and gratifying articles of food
after they were killed. On the latter point he had
no scruples; but, on the contrary, assured me, that
this brook contained the real red trout, so highly
esteemed by all connoisseurs, and that, when eaten
within an hour of their being caught, they had a
peculiar firmness of substance and delicacy of fla-
your, which rendered them an agreeable addition to
a morning meal, especially when earned, like ours,
by early rising, and an hour or two's wholesome
¿
exercise.
But to thy alarm be it spoken, Alan, we did not
come so far as the frying of our fish without farther
adventure. So it is only to spare thy patience, and
mine own eyes, that I pull up for the present, and
send thee the rest of my story in a subsequent letter,
REDGAUNTLET.
97
LETTER VII.
THE SAME TO THE SAME.
[In continuation.]
LITTLE BENJIE, with the pony, having been sent
off on the left side of the brook, the Quaker and I
sauntered on, like the cavalry and infantry of the
same army occupying the opposite banks of a river,
and observing the same line of march. But, while
my worthy companion was assuring me of a plea-
sant greensward walk to his mansion, little Benjie,
who had been charged to keep in sight, chose to
deviate from the path assigned him, and, turning
to the right, led his charge, Solomon, out of our
vision.
"The villain means to mount him !" cried Joshua,
with more vivacity than was consistent with his pro-
fession of passive endurance.
I endeavoured to appease his apprehensions, as
he pushed on, wiping his brow with vexation, assu-
ring him, that if the boy did mount, he would, for
his own sake, ride gently.
"You do not know him," said Joshua, rejecting
all consolation; "he do any thing gently!-no, he
will gallop Solomon-he will misuse the sober
patience of the poor animal who has borne me so
VOL. XXXV.
G
•
98
REDGAUNTLET.
long! Yes, I was given over to my own devices
when I ever let him touch the bridle, for such a
little miscreant there never was before him in this
country!"
He then proceeded to expatiate on every sort of
rustic enormity of which he accused Benjie. He
had been suspected of snaring partridges—was de-
tected by Joshua himself in liming singing birds-
stood fully charged with having worried several
cats, by aid of a lurcher which attended him, and
which was as lean, and ragged, and mischievous, as
his master. Finally, Benjie stood accused of having
stolen a duck, to hunt it with the said lurcher, which
was as dexterous on water as on land. I chimed
in with my friend, in order to avoid giving him far-
ther irritation, and declared, I should be disposed,
from my own experience, to give up Benjie as one
of Satan's imps. Joshua Geddes began to censure
the phrase as too much exaggerated, and otherwise
unbecoming the mouth of a reflecting person; and,
just as I was apologizing for it, as being a term of
common parlance, we heard certain sounds on the
opposite side of the brook, which seemed to indicate
that Solomon and Benjie were at issue together.
The sand-hills behind which Benjie seemed to take
his course, had concealed from us, as doubtless he
meant they should, his ascent into the forbidden sad-
dle, and, putting Solomon to his mettle, which he
was seldom called upon to exert, they had cantered
away together in great amity, till they came near
to the ford from which the palfrey's legitimate own
er had already turned back.
REDGAUNTLET.
99
Here a contest of opinions took place between
the horse and his rider. The latter, according to
his instructions, attempted to direct Solomon to-
wards the distant bridge of stone; but Solomon
opined that the ford was the shortest way to his own
stable. The point was sharply contested, and we
heard Benjie gee-hupping, tchek-tcheking, and,
above all, flogging in great style; while Solomon,
who, docile in his general habits, was now stirred
beyond his patience, made a great trampling and
recalcitration; and it was their joint noise which
we heard, without being able to see, though Joshua
might too well guess, the cause of it.
Alarmed at these indications, the Quaker began
to shout out, "Benjie-thou varlet !-Solomon-
thou fool!" when the couple presented themselves
in full drive, Solomon having now decidedly ob-
tained the better of the conflict, and bringing his
unwilling rider in high career down to the ford.
Never was there anger changed so fast into humane
fear, as that of my good companion. "The varlet
will be drowned!" he exclaimed—“ a widow's son !
-her only son and drowned !—let me go"-
And he struggled with me stoutly as I hung upon
him, to prevent him from plunging into the ford.
I had no fear whatever for Benjie; for the black-
guard vermin, though he could not manage the re-
fractory horse, stuck on his seat like a monkey. So-
lomon and Benjie scrambled through the ford with
little inconvenience, and resumed their gallop on
the other side.
It was impossible to guess whether on this last
4-83
€
100
REDGAUNTLET.
occasion Benjie was running off with Solomon, or
Solomon with Benjie; but, judging from character
and motives, I rather suspected the former. I could
not help laughing as the rascal passed me, grinning
betwixt terror and delight, perched on the very
pommel of the saddle, and holding with extended
arms by bridle and mane; while Solomon, the bit
secured between his teeth, and his head bored down
betwixt his fore-legs, passed his master in this un-
wonted guise as hard as he could pelt.
"The mischievous bastard!" exclaimed the Qua-
ker, terrified out of his usual moderation of speech
-"the doomed gallows-bird!-he will break So-
lomon's wind to a certainty."
I prayed him to be comforted-assured him a
brushing gallop would do his favourite no harm-
and reminded him of the censure he had bestowed
on me a minute before, for applying a harsh epithet
to the boy.
But Joshua was not without his answer;-
"Friend youth," he said, "thou didst speak of the
lad's soul, which thou didst affirm belonged to the
enemy, and of that thou couldst say nothing of thine
own knowledge; on the contrary, I did but speak
of his outward man, which will assuredly be sus-
pended by a cord, if he mendeth not his manners.
Men say that, young as he is, he is one of the Laird's
gang."
"Of the Laird's gang!" said I, repeating the
words in surprise-“ Do
“Do you mean the person with
whom I slept last night?—I heard you call him
the Laird Is he at the head of a gang
?"
Mnol
REDGAUNTLET,
101
"Nay, I meant not precisely a gang," said the
Quaker, who appeared in his haste to have spoken
more than he intended-" a company, or party, I
should have said; but thus it is, friend Latimer,
with the wisest men, when they permit themselves
to be perturbed with passion, and speak as in a
fever, or as with the tongue of the foolish and the
forward. And although thou hast been hasty to
mark my infirmity, yet I grieve not that thou hast
been a witness to it, seeing that the stumbles of the
wise may be no less a caution to youth and inexpe-
rience than is the fall of the foolish."
This was a sort of acknowledgment of what I
had already begun to suspect-that my new friend's
real goodness of disposition, joined to the acquired
quietism of his religious sect, had been unable en-
tirely to check the effervescence of a temper natu-
rally warm and hasty.
Upon the present occasion, as if sensible he had
displayed a greater degree of emotion than became
his character, Joshua avoided farther allusion to
Benjie and Solomon, and proceeded to solicit my
attention to the natural objects around us, which
increased in beauty and interest, as, still conducted
by the meanders of the brook, we left the common
behind us, and entered a more cultivated and en-
closed country, where arable and pasture ground
was agreeably varied with groves and hedges. De-
scending now almost close to the stream, our course
lay through a little gate, into a pathway, kept with
great neatness, the sides of which were decorated
with trees and flowering shrubs of the hardier
spe-
•
102
REDGAUNTLET.
cies; until, ascending by a gentle slope, we issued
from the grove, and stood almost at once in front
of a low but very neat building, of an irregular
form; and my guide, shaking me cordially by the
hand, made me welcome to Mount Sharon.
The wood through which we had approached this
little mansion was thrown around it both on the
north and north-west, but, breaking off into differ-
ent directions, was intersected by a few fields, well
watered and sheltered. The house fronted to the
south-east, and from thence the pleasure-ground, or,
I should rather say, the gardens, sloped down to
the water. I afterwards understood that the fa-
ther of the present proprietor had a considerable
taste for horticulture, which had been inherited by
his son, and had formed these gardens, which, with
their shaven turf, pleached alleys, wildernesses, and
exotic trees and shrubs, greatly excelled any thing
of the kind which had been attempted in the neigh-
bourhood.
If there was a little vanity in the complacent
smile with which Joshua Geddes saw me gaze with
delight on a scene so different from the naked waste
we had that day traversed in company, it might
surely be permitted to one, who, cultivating and
improving the beauties of nature, had found there-
in, as he said, bodily health and a pleasing relaxa-
tion for the mind. At the bottom of the extend-
ed gardens the brook wheeled round in a wide semi-
circle, and was itself their boundary. The oppo-
site side was no part of Joshua's domain, but the
brook was there skirted by a precipitous rock of
REDGAUNTLET.
103
limestone, which seemed a barrier of Nature's own
erecting around his little Eden of beauty, comfort,
and peace.
"But I must not let thee forget," said the kind
Quaker, "amidst thy admiration of these beauties
of our little inheritance, that thy breakfast has been
a light one."
So saying, Joshua conducted me to a small sash-
ed door, opening under a porch amply mantled by
honeysuckle and clematis, into a parlour of mode-
rate size; the furniture of which, in plainness and
excessive cleanliness, bore the characteristic marks
of the sect to which the owner belonged.
Thy father's Hannah is generally allowed to be
an exception to all Scottish housekeepers, and stands
unparalleled for cleanliness among the women of
Auld Reekie; but the cleanliness of Hannah is slut-
tishness, compared to the scrupulous purifications
of these people, who seem to carry into the minor
decencies of life that conscientious rigour which
they affect in their morals.
The parlour would have been gloomy, for the
windows were small and the ceiling low; but the
present proprietor had rendered it more cheerful by
opening one end into a small conservatory, roofed
with glass, and divided from the parlour by a par-
tition of the same. I have never before seen this
very pleasing manner of uniting the comforts of an
apartment with the beauties of a garden, and I won-
der it is not more practised by the great. Some-
thing of the kind is hinted at in a paper of the
Spectator.
104
REDGAUNTLET.
As I walked towards the conservatory to view it
more closely, the parlour chimney engaged my at-
tention. It was a pile of massive stone, entirely
out of proportion to the size of the apartment. On
the front had once been an armorial scutcheon; for
the hammer, or chisel, which had been employed
to deface the shield and crest, had left uninjured
the scroll beneath, which bore the pious motto,
"Trust in God." Black-letter, you know, was
my early passion, and the tombstones in the Grey-
friars' Churchyard early yielded up to my know-
ledge as a decipherer what little they could tell of
the forgotten dead.
Joshua Geddes paused when he saw my eye fixed
on this relic of antiquity. "Thou canst read it ?”.
he said.
I repeated the motto, and added, there seemed
vestiges of a date.
"It should be 1537," said he; "for so long ago,
at the least computation, did my ancestors, in the
blinded times of Papistry, possess these lands, and
in that year did they build their house."
"It is an ancient descent," said I, looking with
respect upon the monument. "I am sorry the arms
have been defaced."
It was perhaps impossible for my friend, Quaker
as he was, to seem altogether void of respect for the
pedigree which he began to recount to me, disclaim-
ing all the while the vanity usually connected with
the subject; in short, with the air of mingled me-
lancholy, regret, and conscious dignity, with which
Jack Fawkes used to tell us, at College, of his an-
REDGAUNTLET.
105
cestor's unfortunate connexion with the Gunpowder-
Plot.
،،
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher,"—thus
harangued Joshua Geddes of Mount Sharon ;-“ if
we ourselves are nothing in the sight of Heaven,
how much less than nothing must be our derivation
from rotten bones and mouldering dust, whose im-
mortal spirits have long since gone to their private
account! Yes, friend Latimer, my ancestors were
renowned among the ravenous and bloodthirsty
men who then dwelt in this vexed country;
and so
much were they famed for successful freebooting,
robbery, and bloodshed, that they are said to have
been called Geddes, as likening them to the fish
called a Jack, Pike, or Luce, and in our country
tongue, a Ged—a goodly distinction truly for Chris-
tian men! Yet did they paint this shark of the
fresh waters upon their shields, and these profane
priests of a wicked idolatry, the empty boasters
called heralds, who make engraven images of fishes,
fowls, and fourfooted beasts, that men may fall
down and worship them, assigned the Ged for the
device and escutcheon of my fathers, and hewed it
over their chimneys, and placed it above their
tombs; and the men were elated in mind, and be-
came yet more Ged-like, slaying, leading into cap-
tivity, and dividing the spoil, until the place where.
they dwelt obtained the name of Sharing-Knowe,
from the booty which was there divided amongst
them and their accomplices. But a better judg-
ment was given to my father's father, Philip Ged-
des, who, after trying to light his candle at some
*
106
REDGAUNTLET.
of the vain wildfires then held aloft at different
meetings and steeple-houses, at length obtained a
spark from the lamp of the blessed George Fox,
who came into Scotland spreading light among
darkness, as he himself hath written, as plentifully
as fly the sparkles from the hoof of the horse which
gallops swiftly along the stony road."-Here the
good Quaker interrupted himself with, " And that
is very true, I must go speedily to see after the
condition of Solomon."
A Quaker servant here entered the room with a
tray, and inclining his head towards his master, but
not after the manner of one who bows, said com-
posedly, “Thou art welcome home, friend Joshua,
we expected thee not so early; but what hath be-
fallen Solomon thy horse ?"
"What hath befallen him, indeed!" said my
friend; “hath he not been returned hither by the
child whom they call Benjie?"
"He hath," said his domestic, "but it was after
a strange fashion; for he came hither at a swift and
furious pace, and flung the child Benjie from his
back, upon the heap of dung which is in the stable-
yard."
"I am glad of it," said Joshua, hastily,—" glad
of it, with all my heart and spirit !-But stay, he
is the child of the widow-hath the boy any hurt ?"
"Not so," answered the servant, " for he rose
and fled swiftly."
Joshua muttered something about a scourge, and
then enquired after Solomon's present condition.
"He seetheth like a steaming caldron," answer-
·
REDGAUNTLET.
107
ed the servant; "and Bauldie, the lad, walketh him
about the yard with a halter, lest he take cold.”
Mr Geddes hastened to the stable-yard to view
personally the condition of his favourite, and I fol-
lowed, to offer my counsel as a jockey--Don't laugh,
Alan; sure I have jockeyship enough to assist a
Quaker-in this unpleasing predicament.
The lad who was leading the horse seemed to be
no Quaker, though his intercourse with the family
had given him a touch of their prim sobriety of look
and manner. He assured Joshua that his horse had
received no injury, and I even hinted that the exer-
cise would be of service to him. Solomon himself
neighed towards his master, and rubbed his head
against the good Quaker's shoulder, as if to assure
him of his being quite well; so that Joshua returned
in comfort to his parlour, where breakfast was now
about to be displayed.
I have since learned that the affection of Joshua
for his pony is considered as inordinate by some of
his own sect; and that he has been much blamed
for permitting it to be called by the name of So-
lomon, or any other name whatever; but he has
gained so much respect and influence among them
that they overlook these foibles.
I learned from him (whilst the old servant, Je-
hoiachim, entering and re-entering, seemed to make
no end of the materials which he brought in for
breakfast) that his grandfather Philip, the convert
of George Fox, had suffered much from the perse-
cution to which these harmless devotees were sub-
jected on all sides during that intolerant period,
108
REDGAUNTLET.
and much of their family estate had been dilapi
dated. But better days dawned on Joshua's fa-
ther, who, connecting himself by marriage with a
wealthy family of Quakers in Lancashire, engaged
successfully in various branches of commerce, and
redeemed the remnants of the property, changing
its name in sense, without much alteration of sound,
from the Border appellation of Sharing-Knowe, to
the evangelical appellation of Mount Sharon.
This Philip Geddes, as I before hinted, had im-
bibed the taste for horticulture and the pursuits of
the florist, which are not uncommon among the
peaceful sect he belongs to. He had destroyed
the remnants of the old peel-house, substituting the
modern mansion in its place; and while he reserved
the hearth of his ancestors, in memory of their hos-
pitality, as also the pious motto which they had
chanced to assume, he failed not to obliterate the
worldly and military emblems displayed upon the
shield and helmet, together with all their blazonry.
In a few minutes after Mr Geddes had concluded
the account of himself and his family, his sister
Rachel, the only surviving member of it, entered
the room. Her appearance is remarkably pleasing,
and although her age is certainly thirty at least,
she still retains the shape and motion of an earlier
period. The absence of every thing like fashion or
ornament was, as usual, atoned for by the most per-
fect neatness and cleanliness of her dress; and her
simple close cap was particularly suited to eyes
which had the softness and simplicity of the dove's.
Her features were also extremely agreeable, but
REDGAUNTLET.
109
had suffered a little through the ravages of that
professed enemy to beauty, the small-pox; a dis-
advantage which was in part counterbalanced by a
well-formed mouth, teeth like pearls, and a plea-
sing sobriety of smile, that seemed to wish good
here and hereafter to every one she spoke to. You
cannot make any of your vile inferences here, Alan,
for I have given a full-length picture of Rachel
Geddes; so that you cannot say in this case, as in
the letter I have just received, that she was passed
over as a subject on which I feared to dilate. More
of this anon.
Well, we settled to our breakfast after a blessing,
or rather an extempore prayer, which Joshua made
upon the occasion, and which the spirit moved him
to prolong rather more than I felt altogether agree-
able. Then, Alan, there was such a dispatching of
the good things of the morning, as you have not
witnessed since you have seen Darsie Latimer at
breakfast. Tea and chocolate, eggs, ham, and
pastry, not forgetting the broiled fish, disappeared
with a celerity which seemed to astonish the good-
humoured Quakers, who kept loading my plate with
supplies, as if desirous of seeing whether they could
by any possibility tire me out. One hint, however,
I received, which put me in mind where I was.
Miss Geddes had offered me some sweet-cake,
which, at the moment, I declined; but presently
afterwards, seeing it within my reach, I naturally
enough helped myself to a slice, and had just de-
posited it beside my plate, when Joshua, mine host,
not with the authoritative air of Sancho's doctor;
110
REDGAUNTLET.
Tirtea Fuera, but in a very calm and quiet man-
ner, lifted it away and replaced it on the dish, ob-
serving only, "Thou didst refuse it before, friend
Latimer."
These good folks, Alan, make no allowance for
what your father calls the Aberdeen-man's privi-
lege of "taking his word again;" or what the wise
call second thoughts.
Bating this slight hint, that I was among a pre-
cise generation, there was nothing in my reception
that was peculiar-unless, indeed, I were to notice
the solicitous and uniform kindness with which all
the attentions of my new friends were seasoned, as
if they were anxious to assure me that the neglect
of worldly compliments interdicted by their sect,
only served to render their hospitality more sincere.
At length my hunger was satisfied, and the worthy
Quaker, who, with looks of great good-nature, had
watched my progress, thus addressed his sister :-—
"This young man, Rachel, hath last night so-
journed in the tents of our neighbour, whom men
call the Laird. I am sorry I had not met him the
evening before, for our neighbour's hospitality is
too unfrequently exercised to be well prepared with
the means of welcome."
Nay, but, Joshua,” said Rachel, “if our neigh-
bour hath done a kindness, thou shouldst not grudge
him the opportunity; and if our young friend hath
fared ill for a night, he will the better relish what
Providence may send him of better provisions."
"And that he may do so at leisure,” said Joshua,
“we will pray him, Rachel, to tarry a day or twain
REDGAUNTLET.
111
with us: he is young, and is but now entering upon
the world, and our habitation may, if he will, be
like a resting-place, from which he may look abroad
upon the pilgrimage which he must make, and the
path which he has to travel.-What sayest thou,
friend Latimer? We constrain not our friends to
our ways, and thou art, I think, too wise to quar-
rel with us for following our own fashions; and if
we should even give thee a word of advice, thou
wilt not, I think, be angry, so that it is spoken in
season."
You know, Alan, how easily I am determined by
any thing resembling cordiality—and so, though a
little afraid of the formality of my host and hostess,
I accepted their invitation, provided I could get
some messenger to send to Shepherd's Bush for my
servant and portmanteau.
"Why, truly, friend," said Joshua, "thine out-
ward frame would be improved by cleaner garments;
but I will do thine errand myself to the Widow
Gregson's house of reception, and send thy lad hither
with thy clothes. Meanwhile, Rachel will show
thee these little gardens, and then will put thee in
some way of spending thy time usefully, till our
meal calls us together at the second hour afternoon.
I bid thee farewell for the present, having some
space to walk, seeing I must leave the animal So-
lomon to his refreshing rest."
With these words, Mr Joshua Geddes withdrew.`
Some ladies we have known would have felt, or at
least affected, reserve or embarrassment, at being
left to do the honours of the grounds to-(it will
--
112
REDGAUNTLET.
•
be out, Alan)-a smart young fellow-an entire
stranger. She went out for a few minutes, and
returned in her plain cloak and bonnet, with her
beaver-gloves, prepared to act as my guide, with as
much simplicity as if she had been to wait upon thy
father. So forth I sallied with my fair Quaker.
If the house at Mount Sharon be merely a plain
and convenient dwelling, of moderate size, and small
pretensions, the gardens and offices, though not
extensive, might rival an earl's in point of care and
expense. Rachel carried me first to her own fa-
vourite resort, a poultry-yard, stocked with a va-
riety of domestic fowls, of the more rare as well as
the more ordinary kinds, furnished with every ac-
commodation which may suit their various habits.
A rivulet which spread into a pond for the conve-
nience of the aquatic birds, trickled over gravel as
it passed through the yards dedicated to the land
poultry, which were thus amply supplied with the
means they use for digestion.
All these creatures seemed to recognise the pre-
sence of their mistress, and some especial favourites
hastened to her feet, and continued to follow her
as far as their limits permitted. She pointed out
their peculiarities and qualities, with the discrimi-
nation of one who had made natural history her
study; and I own I never looked on barn-door
fowls with so much interest before-at least until
they were boiled or roasted. I could not help ask-
ing the trying question, how she could order the
execution of any of the creatures of which she
seemed so careful.
1
REDGAUNTLET.
113
“It was painful," she said, "but it was accord
ing to the law of their being. They must die; but
they knew not when death was approaching; and
in making them comfortable while they lived, we
contributed to their happiness as much as the con-
ditions of their existence permitted to us."
I am not quite of her mind, Alan. I do not be-
lieve either pigs or poultry would admit that the
chief end of their being was to be killed and eaten.
However, I did not press the argument, from which
my Quaker seemed rather desirous to escape; for,
conducting me to the greenhouse, which was exten-
sive, and filled with the choicest plants, she point-
ed out an aviary which occupied the farther end,
where, she said, she employed herself with attend-
ing the inhabitants, without being disturbed with
any painful recollections concerning their future
destination.
4.4
I will not trouble you with any account of the
various hothouses and gardens, and their contents.
No small sum of money must have been expended
in erecting and maintaining them in the exquisite
degree of good order which they exhibited. The
family, I understood, were connected with that of
the celebrated Millar, and had imbibed his taste
for flowers and for horticulture. But instead of
murdering botanical names, I will rather conduct
you to the policy, or pleasure-garden, which the
taste of Joshua or his father had extended on the
banks betwixt the house and river. This also, in
contradistinction to the prevailing simplicity, was
ornamented in an unusual degree. There were
VOL. XXXV.
H
114
REDGAUNTLET.
1
various compartments, the connexion of which was
well managed, and although the whole ground did
not exceed five or six acres, it was so much varied
as to seem four times larger. The space contained
close alleys and open walks; a very pretty artificial
waterfall; a fountain also, consisting of a consider-
able jet-d'eau, whose streams glittered in the sun-
beams, and exhibited a continual rainbow. There
was a cabinet of verdure, as the French call it, to
cool the summer heat, and there was a terrace shel-
tered from the north-east by a noble holly hedge,
with all its glittering spears, where you might have
the full advantage of the sun in the clear frosty days
of winter.
•
I know that you, Alan, will condemn all this as
bad and antiquated; for, ever since Dodsley has
described the Leasowes, and talked of Brown's
imitations of nature, and Horace Walpole's late
Essay on Gardening, you are all for simple nature
-condemn walking up and down stairs in the open
air, and declare for wood and wilderness. But ne
quid nimis. I would not deface a scene of natural
grandeur or beauty, by the introduction of crowded
artificial decorations; yet such may, I think, be very
interesting, where the situation, in its natural state,
otherwise has no particular charms.
So that when I have a country-house, (who can
say how soon?) you may look for grottoes, and
cascades, and fountains; nay, if you vex me by con-
tradiction, perhaps I may go the length of a temple
--so provoke me not, for you see of what enormi-
ties I am capable.
REDGAUNTLET.
115
•
At any rate, Alan, had you condemned as arti-
ficial the rest of Friend Geddes's grounds, there is
a willow walk by the very verge of the stream, so
sad, so solemn, and so silent, that it must have
commanded your admiration. The brook, restrain-
ed at the ultimate boundary of the grounds by a
natural dam-dike or ledge of rocks, seemed, even
in its present swoln state, scarcely to glide along;
and the pale willow-trees, dropping their long
branches into the stream, gathered around them
little coronals of the foam that floated down from
the more rapid stream above. The high rock, which
formed the opposite bank of the brook, was seen
dimly through the branches, and its pale and splin-
tered front, garlanded with long streamers of briers
and other creeping plants, seemed a barrier between
the quiet path which we trode, and the toiling and
bustling world beyond. The path itself, following
the sweep of the stream, made a very gentle curve;
enough, however, served by its inflection complete-
ly to hide the end of the walk, until you arrived at
it. A deep and sullen sound, which increased as
you proceeded, prepared you for this termination,
which was indeed only a plain root-seat, from which
you looked on a fall of about six or seven feet,
where the brook flung itself over the ledge of na-
tural rock I have already mentioned, which there
crossed its course.
The quiet and twilight seclusion of this walk
rendered it a fit scene for confidential communing ;
and having nothing more interesting to say to my
fair Quaker, I took the liberty of questioning her
116
REDGAUNTLET.
about the Laird; for you are, or ought to be, aware,
that next to discussing the affairs of the heart, the
fair sex are most interested in those of their neigh-
bours.
I did not conceal either my curiosity, or the
check which it had received from Joshua, and I
saw that my companion answered with embarrass-
ment. "I must not speak otherwise than truly,"
she said; "and therefore I tell thee, that my bro-
ther dislikes, and that I fear, the man of whom
thou hast asked me. Perhaps we are both wrong
-but he is a man of violence, and hath great in-
fluence over many, who, following the trade of
sailors and fishermen, become as rude as the ele-
ments with which they contend. He hath no cer-
tain name among them, which is not unusual, their
rude fashion being to distinguish each other by
nicknames; and they have called him the Laird of
the Lakes, (not remembering there should be no
one called Lord, save one only,) in idle derision;
the pools of salt water left by the tide among the
sands being called the Lakes of Solway."
"Has he no other revenue than he derives from
these sands ?" I asked.
“That I cannot answer," replied Rachel; "men
say that he wants not money, though he lives like
an ordinary fisherman, and that he imparts freely
of his means to the poor around him. They inti-
mate that he is a man of consequence, once deeply
engaged in the unhappy affair of the rebellion, and
even still too much in danger from the government
to assume his own name. He is often absent from
REDGAUNTLET.
117
his cottage at Broken-burn-cliffs, for weeks and
months."
"I should have thought," said I, “ that the go-
vernment would scarce, at this time of day, be likely
to proceed against any one even of the most ob-
noxious rebels. Many years have passed away".
"It is true," she replied; "yet such persons
may understand that their being connived at de-
pends on their living in obscurity. But indeed
there can nothing certain be known among these
rude people. The truth is not in them-most of
them participate in the unlawful trade betwixt these
parts and the neighbouring shore of England; and
they are familiar with every species of falsehood and
deceit."
"It is a pity,” I remarked, " that your brother
should have neighbours of such a description, espe-
cially as I understand he is at some variance with
them."
“Where, when, and about what matter?" an-
swered Miss Geddes, with an eager and timorous
anxiety, which made me regret having touched on
the subject.
I told her, in a way as little alarming as I could
devise, the purport of what had passed betwixt this
Laird of the Lakes and her brother, at their morn-
ing's interview.
"You affright me much," answered she; “it is
this very circumstance which has scared me in the
watches of the night. When my brother Joshua
withdrew from an active share in the commercial
concerns of my father, being satisfied with the por-
118
REDGAUNTLET.
tion of worldly substance which he already possess-
ed, there were one or two undertakings in which
he retained an interest, either because his with-
drawing might have been prejudicial to friends, or
because he wished to retain some mode of occupy-
ing his time. Amongst the more important of
these, is a fishing station on the coast, where, by
certain improved modes of erecting snares, opening
at the advance of the tide, and shutting at the re-
flux, many more fish are taken than can be destroy-
ed by those who, like the men of Broken-burn, use
only the boat-net and spear, or fishing-rod. They
complain of these tide-nets, as men call them, as an
innovation, and pretend to a right to remove and
destroy them by the strong hand. I fear me, this
man of violence, whom they call the Laird, will
execute these his threats, which cannot be without
both loss and danger to my brother."
"Mr Geddes," said I, " ought to apply to the
civil magistrate; there are soldiers at Dumfries
who would be detached for his protection."
""
"Thou speakest, friend Latimer," answered the
lady, as one who is still in the gall of bitterness.
and bond of iniquity. God forbid that we should
endeavour to preserve nets of flax and stakes of
wood, or the Mammon of gain which they procure
for us, by the hands of men of war, and at the risk
of spilling human blood!"
"I respect your scruples," I replied; "but since
such is your way of thinking, your brother ought
to avert the danger by compromise or submission."
"Perhaps it would be best," answered Rachel;
REDGAUNTLET.
119
"but what can I say? Even in the best-trained
temper there may remain some leaven of the old
Adam; and I know not whether it is this or a
better spirit that maketh my brother Joshua deter-
mine, that though he will not resist force by force,
neither will he yield up his right to mere threats,
or encourage wrong to others by yielding to me-
naces. His partners, he says, confide in his steadi-
ness; and that he must not disappoint them by
yielding up their right for the fear of the threats
of man, whose breath is in his nostrils.”
This observation convinced me that the spirit of
the old sharers of the spoil was not utterly departed
even from the bosom of the peaceful Quaker; and
I could not help confessing internally that Joshua
had the right, when he averred that there was as
much courage in sufferance as in exertion.
As we approached the further end of the willow
walk, the sullen and continuous sound of the dash-
ing waters became still more and more audible, and
at length rendered it difficult for us to communicate
with each other. The conversation dropped, but
apparently my companion continued to dwell upon
the apprehensions which it had excited. At the
bottom of the walk, we obtained a view of the cas-
cade, where the swoln brook flung itself in foam
and tumult over the natural barrier of rock, which
seemed in vain to attempt to bar its course.
I
gazed with delight, and, turning to express my sen-
timents to my companion, I observed that she had
folded her hands in an attitude of sorrowful resig-
nation, which showed her thoughts were far from
<
•
120
REDGAUNTLET.
the scene which lay before her. When she saw that
her abstraction was observed, she resumed her for
mer placidity of manner; and having given me suf-
ficient time to admire this termination of our sober
and secluded walk, proposed that we should return
to the house through her brother's farm. "Even
we Quakers, as we are called, have our little pride,"
she said; " and my brother Joshua would not for-
give me, were I not to show thee the fields which
he taketh delight to cultivate, after the newest and
best fashion; for which, I promise thee, he hath
received much praise from good judges, as well as
some ridicule from those who think it folly to im-
prove on the customs of our ancestors."
As she spoke, she opened a low door, leading
through a moss and ivy-covered wall, the bound-
ary of the pleasure-ground, into the open fields;
through which we moved by a convenient path,
leading, with good taste and simplicity, by stile and
hedge-row, through pasturage, and arable, and
woodland; so that, in all ordinary weather, the good
man might, without even soiling his shoes, perform
his perambulation round the farm. There were
seats also, on which to rest; and though not adorn-
ed with inscriptions, nor quite so frequent in oc-
currence as those mentioned in the account of the
Leasowes, their situation was always chosen with
respect to some distant prospect to be commanded,
or some home-view to be enjoyed.
But what struck me most in Joshua's domain,
was the quantity and the tameness of the game.
The hen partridge scarce abandoned the roost at
REDGAUNTLET.´
121
the foot of the hedge where she had assembled her
covey, though the path went close beside her; and
the hare, remaining on her form, gazed at us as we
passed, with her full dark eye, or, rising lazily and
hopping to a little distance, stood erect to look at
us with more curiosity than apprehension. I ob-
served to Miss Geddes the extreme tameness of
these timid and shy animals, and she informed me
that their confidence arose from protection in the
summer, and relief during the winter.
"They are pets,” she said, "of my brother, who
considers them as the better entitled to this kind-
ness that they are a race persecuted by the world
in general. He denieth himself," she said, "even
the company of a dog, that these creatures may
here at least enjoy undisturbed security. Yet this
harmless or humane propensity, or humour, hath
given offence," she added, "to our dangerous neigh-
bour."
She explained this, by telling me that my host of
the preceding night was remarkable for his attach-
ment to field sports, which he pursued without much
regard to the wishes of the individuals over whose
property he followed them. The undefined mixture
of respect and fear with which he was generally
regarded, induced most of the neighbouring land-
holders to connive at what they would perhaps in
another have punished as a trespass; but Joshua
Geddes would not permit the intrusion of any one
upon his premises, and as he had before offended
several country neighbours, who, because he would
neither shoot himself nor permit others to do so,
122
REDGAUNTLET.
compared him to the dog in the manger, so he now
aggravated the displeasure which the Laird of the
Lakes had already conceived against him, by posi-
tively debarring him from pursuing his sport over
his grounds-"So that," said Rachel Geddes, "I
sometimes wish our lot had been cast elsewhere than
in these pleasant borders, where, if we had less of
beauty around us, we might have had a neighbour-
hood of peace and good-will."
We at length returned to the house, where Miss
Geddes showed me a small study, containing a little
collection of books, in two separate presses.
"These," said she, pointing to the smaller press,
" will, if thou bestowest thy leisure upon them, do
thee good; and these," pointing to the other and
larger cabinet, "can, I believe, do thee little harm.
Some of our people do indeed hold, that every writer
who is not with us is against us; but brother Joshua
is mitigated in his opinions, and correspondeth with
our friend John Scot of Amwell, who hath himself
constructed verses well approved of even in the
world. I wish thee many good thoughts till our
family meet at the hour of dinner.”
Left alone, I tried both collections; the first con-
sisted entirely of religious and controversial tracts,
and the latter formed a small selection of history,
and of moral writers, both in proșe and verse.
C
Neither collection promising much amusement,
thou hast, in these close pages, the fruits of my
tediousness; and truly, I think, writing history
(one's self being the subject) is as amusing as read-
ing that of foreign countries, at any time.
REDGAUNTLET.
123
Sam, still more drunk than sober, arrived in due
time with my portmanteau, and enabled me to put
my dress into order, better befitting this temple of
cleanliness and decorum, where (to conclude) I
believe I shall be a sojourner for more days than
one.*
P.S.-I have noted your adventure, as you home-
bred youths may perhaps term it, concerning the
visit of your doughty Laird. We travellers hold
such an incident of no great consequence, though it
may serve to embellish the uniform life of Brown's
Square. But art thou not ashamed to attempt to
interest one who is seeing the world at large, and
studying human nature on a large scale, by so bald
a narrative? Why, what does it amount to, after
all, but that a Tory Laird dined with a Whig
Lawyer? no very uncommon matter, especially as
you state Mr Herries to have lost the estate, though
retaining the designation. The Laird behaves with
haughtiness and impertinence-nothing out of cha-
racter in that: Is not kicked down stairs, as he
ought to have been, were Alan Fairford half the
man that he would wish his friends to think him.
-Ay, but then, as the young lawyer, instead of
showing his friend the door, chose to make use of
it himself, he overheard the Laird aforesaid ask the
old lawyer concerning Darsie Latimer-no doubt
earnestly enquiring after the handsome, accomplish-
ed inmate of his family, who has so lately made
* Note, p. 125.
124
REDGAUNTLET.
Themis his bow, and declined the honour of fol-
lowing her farther. You laugh at me for my air-
drawn castles; but confess, have they not surer
footing, in general, than two words spoken by such
a man as Herries? And yet—and yet—I would
rally the matter off, Alan; but in dark nights, even
the glow-worm becomes an object of lustre, and to
one plunged in my uncertainty and ignorance, the
slightest gleam that promises intelligence, is inte-
resting. My life is like the subterranean river in
the Peak of Derby, visible only where it crosses
the celebrated cavern. I am here, and this much I
know; but where I have sprung from, or whither
my course of life is like to tend, who shall tell me?
Your father, too, seemed interested and alarmed,
and talked of writing; would to Heaven he may !
-I send daily to the post-town for letters.
•
REDGAUNTLET.
125
NOTE TO LETTER VII.
Note, p. 123.
In explanation of this circumstance, I cannot help adding a
note not very necessary for the reader, which yet I record with
pleasure, from recollection of the kindness which it evinces..
In early youth I resided for a considerable time in the vicinity
of the beautiful village of Kelso, where my life passed in a
very solitary manner. I had few acquaintances, scarce any
companions, and books, which were at the time almost essen-
tial to my happiness, were difficult to come by. It was then
that I was particularly indebted to the liberality and friend-
ship of an old lady of the Society of Friends, eminent for her
benevolence and charity. Her deceased husband had been a
medical man of eminence, and left her, with other valuable
property, a small and well-selected library. This the kind old
lady permitted me to rummage at pleasure, and carry home
what volumes I chose, on condition that I should take, at the
same time, some of the tracts printed for encouraging and ex-
tending the doctrines of her own sect. She did not even exact
any assurance that I would read these performances, being too
justly afraid of involving me in a breach of promise, but was
merely desirous that I should have the chance of instruction
within my reach, in case whim, curiosity, or accident, might
induce me to have recourse to it.
126
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER VIII.
ALAN FAIRFORD TO DARSIE LATIMER.
THOU mayst clap thy wings and crow as thou
pleasest. You go in search of adventures, but ad-
ventures come to me unsought for; and oh! in what
a pleasing shape came mine, since it arrived in the
form of a client-and a fair client to boot! What
think you of that, Darsie, you who are such a sworn
squire of dames? Will this not match my adven-
tures with thine, that hunt salmon on horseback,
and will it not, besides, eclipse the history of a whole
tribe of Broadbrims?—But I must proceed metho-
dically.
When I returned to-day from the College, I was
surprised to see a broad grin distending the adust
countenance of the faithful James Wilkinson, which,
as the circumstance seldom happens above once
a-year, was matter of some surprise. Moreover, he
had a knowing glance with his eye, which I should
have as soon expected from a dumb-waiter-an arti-
cle of furniture to which James, in his usual state,
may be happily assimilated. "What the devil is
the matter, James ?"
"The devil may be in the matter, for aught 1
ken," said James, with another provoking grin ;
REDGAUNTLET.
127
* for here has been a woman calling for you, Mais-
ter Alan."
"A woman calling for me ?" said I in surprise;
for you know well, that excepting old Aunt Peggy,
who comes to dinner of a Sunday, and the still older
Lady Bedrooket, who calls ten times a-year for the
quarterly payment of her jointure of four hundred
merks, a female scarce approaches our threshold,
as my father visits all his female clients at their
own lodgings. James protested, however, that there
had been a lady calling, and for me.
"As bonny
a lass as I have seen," added James, ❝ since I was
in the Fusileers, and kept company with Peg Bax-
ter." Thou knowest all James's gay recollections
go back to the period of his military service, the
years he has spent in ours having probably been
dull enough.
"Did the lady leave no name nor place of ad-
dress ?"
"No," replied James; "but she asked when you
wad be at hame, and I appointed her for twelve
o'clock, when the house wad be quiet, and your
father at the Bank.".
"For shame, James! how can you think my
father's being at home or abroad could be of con-
sequence?—The lady is of course a decent person?”
"I'se uphaud her that, sir-she is nane of your-
whew"-[Here James supplied a blank with a low
whistle]" but I didna ken-my maister makes an
unco wark if a woman comes here."
I passed into my own room, not ill-pleased that
my father was absent, notwithstanding I had thought
128
REDGAUNTLET.
it
proper to rebuke James for having so contrived
it. I disarranged my books, to give them the ap-
pearance of a graceful confusion on the table, and
laying my foils (useless since your departure) across
the mantelpiece, that the lady might see I was
tam Marte quam Mercurio-I endeavoured to dis-
pose my dress so as to resemble an elegant morn-
ing dishabille-gave my hair the general shade of
powder which marks the gentleman-laid my watch
and seals on the table, to hint that I understood
the value of time;-and when I had made all these
arrangements—of which I am a little ashamed when
I think of them—I had nothing better to do than to
watch the dial-plate till the index pointed to noon.
Five minutes elapsed, which I allowed for varia-
tion of clocks-five minutes more rendered me
anxious and doubtful-and five minutes more would
have made me impatient.
Laugh as thou wilt; but remember, Darsie, I was
a lawyer, expecting his first client-a young man,
how strictly bred up I need not remind you, expect-
ing a private interview with a young and beautiful
woman. But ere the third term of five minutes
had elapsed, the door-bell was heard to tinkle low
and modestly, as if touched by some timid hand.
James Wilkinson, swift in nothing, is, as thou
knowest, peculiarly slow in answering the door-
bell; and I reckoned on five minutes good, ere his
solemn step should have ascended the stair. Time
enough, thought I, for a peep through the blinds,
and was hastening to the window accordingly. But
I reckoned without my host; for James, who had
REDGAUNTLET.
129
his own curiosity as well as I, was lying perdu in
the lobby, ready to open at the first tinkle; and
there was, "This way, ma'am-Yes, ma'am-The
lady, Mr Alan," before I could get to the chair in
which I proposed to be discovered, seated in all
legal dignity. The consciousness of being half
caught in the act of peeping, joined to that native
air of awkward bashfulness of which I am told the
law will soon free me, kept me standing on the floor
in some confusion; while the lady, disconcerted on
her part, remained on the threshold of the room.
James Wilkinson, who had his senses most about
him, and was perhaps willing to prolong his stay in
the apartment, busied himself in setting a chair for
the lady, and recalled me to my good breeding by
the hint. I invited her to take possession of it, and
bid James withdraw.
My visitor was undeniably a lady, and probably
considerably above the ordinary rank—very mo-
dest, too, judging from the mixture of grace and
timidity with which she moved, and at my entreaty
sat down. Her dress was, I should suppose, both
handsome and fashionable; but it was much con-
cealed by a walking-cloak of green silk, fancifully
embroidered; in which, though heavy for the sea-
son, her person was enveloped, and which, more-
over, was furnished with a hood.
The devil take that hood, Darsie! for I was just
able to distinguish that, pulled as it was over the
face, it concealed from me, as I was convinced, one
of the prettiest countenances I have seen, and which,
from a sense of embarrassment, seemed to be crim-
VOL. XXXV.
I
130
REDGAUNTLET.
soned with a deep blush. I could see her com-
plexion was beautiful-her chin finely turned-her
lips coral-and her teeth rivals to ivory. But fur-
ther the deponent sayeth not; for a clasp of gold,
ornamented with a sapphire, closed the envious
mantle under the incognita's throat, and the cursed
hood concealed entirely the upper part of the face.
I ought to have spoke first, that is certain; but
ere I could get my phrases well arranged, the young
lady, rendered desperate, I suppose, by my hesita-
tion, opened the conversation herself.
"I fear I am an intruder, sir-I expected to
meet an elderly gentleman."
This brought me to myself. "My father, ma-
dam, perhaps. But you enquired for Alan Fair-
ford-my father's name is Alexander."
"It is Mr Alan Fairford, undoubtedly, with
whom I wished to speak," she said, with greater
confusion; "but I was told that he was advanced
in life."
my
"Some mistake, madam, I presume, betwixt
father and myself—our Christian names have the
same initials, though the terminations are different,
—I—I—I would esteem it a most fortunate mis-
take if I could have the honour of supplying my
father's place in any thing that could be of service
to you.
"You are very obliging, sir." A pause, during
which she seemed undetermined whether to rise or
sit still.
"I am just about to be called to the bar, ma-
`dam," said I, in hopes to remove her scruples to
99
10
•
REDGAUNTLET.
131
open her case to me; " and if my advice or opinion
could be of the slightest use, although I cannot pre-
sume to say that they are much to be depended
upon, yet".
The lady arose. "I am truly sensible of your
kindness, sir; and I have no doubt of your talents.
I will be very plain with you—it is you whom I
came to visit; although, now that we have met, I
find it will be much better that I should commit
my
communication to writing."
"I hope, madam, you will not be so cruel-so
tantalizing, I would say. Consider, you are my first
client-your business my first consultation—do not
do me the displeasure of withdrawing your confi-
dence because I am a few years younger than you
seem to have expected-My attention shall make
amends for my want of experience.”
"I have no doubt of either," said the lady, in
a grave tone, calculated to restrain the air of gal-
lantry with which I had endeavoured to address
her. "But when you have received my letter, you
will find good reasons assigned why a written com-
munication will best suit my purpose. I wish you,
sir, a good morning." And she left the apartment,
her poor baffled counsel scraping, and bowing, and
apologizing for any thing that might have been dis-
agreeable to her, although the front of my offence
seems to be my having been discovered to be
young-
er than my father.
The door was opened-out she went-walked
along the pavement, turned down the close, and
put the sun, I believe, into her pocket when she dis-
132
REDGAUNTLET.
appeared, so suddenly did dulness and darkness sink
down on the square, when she was no longer visible.
I stood for a moment as if I had been senseless,
not recollecting what a fund of entertainment I
must have supplied to our watchful friends on the
other side of the green. Then it darted on my
mind that I might dog her, and ascertain at least
who or what she was. Off I set-ran down the
close where she was no longer to be seen, and de-
manded of one of the dyer's lads whether he had
seen a lady go down the close, or had observed which
way she turned.
"A leddy !"-said the dyer, staring at me with
his rainbow countenance. "Mr Alan, what takes
you out, rinning like daft, without your hat ?"
"The devil take my hat!" answered I, running
back, however, in quest of it; snatched it up, and
again sallied forth. But as I reached the head of
the close once more, I had sense enough to recol-
lect that all pursuit would be now in vain. Be-
sides, I saw my friend, the journeyman dyer, in
close confabulation with a pea-green personage of
his own profession, and was conscious, like Scrub,
that they talked of me, because they laughed con-
sumedly. I had no mind, by a second sudden ap-
pearance, to confirm the report that Advocate Fair-
ford was "gaen daft," which had probably spread
from Campbell's close-foot to the Mealmarket Stairs;
and so slunk back within my own hole again.
My first employment was to remove all traces
of that elegant and fanciful disposition of my effects,
from which I had hoped for so much credit; for I
REDGAUNTLET.
133
was now ashamed and angry at having thought an
instant upon the mode of receiving a visit which
had commenced so agreeably, but terminated in a
manner so unsatisfactory. I put my folios in their
places-threw the foils into the dressing-closet—
tormenting myself all the while with the fruitless
doubt, whether I had missed an opportunity or
escaped a stratagem, or whether the young person
had been really startled, as she seemed to intimate,
by the extreme youth of her intended legal adviser.
The mirror was not unnaturally called in to aid;
and that cabinet-counsellor pronounced me rather
short, thick-set, with a cast of features fitter, I trust,
for the bar than the ball—not handsome enough for
blushing virgins to pine for my sake, or even to
invent sham cases to bring them to my chambers
-yet not ugly enough, either, to scare those away
who came on real business-dark, to be sure, but
nigri sunt hyacinthi-there are pretty things to be.
said in favour of that complexion.
At length-as common sense will get the better.
in all cases, when a man will but give it fair play
-I began to stand convicted in my own mind, as
an ass before the interview, for having expected
too much-an ass during the interview, for having
failed to extract the lady's real purpose-and an
especial ass, now that it was over, for thinking so
much about it. But I can think of nothing else,
and therefore I am determined to think of this to
some good purpose.
You remember Murtough O'Hara's defence of
the Catholic doctrine of confession; because, " by
134
REDGAUNTLET.
his soul, his sins were always a great burden to his
mind, till he had told them to the priest; and once
confessed, he never thought more about them.” I
have tried his receipt, therefore; and having poured
my secret mortification into thy trusty ear, I will
think no more about this maid of the mist,
"Who, with no face, as 'twere, outfaced me."
Four o'clock.
Plague on her green mantle, she can be nothing
better than a fairy; she keeps possession of my head
yet! All during dinner-time I was terribly absent;
but, luckily, my father gave the whole credit of my
reverie to the abstract nature of the doctrine, Vinco
vincentem, ergo vinco te; upon which brocard of
law the Professor this morning lectured. So I got
an early dismissal to my own crib, and here am I
studying, in one sense, vincere vincentem, to get the
better of the silly passion of curiosity—I think-I
think it amounts to nothing else—which has taken
such possession of my imagination, and is perpe-
tually worrying me with the question-will she
write or no? She will not-she will not! So says
Reason, and adds, Why should she take the trouble
to enter into correspondence with one, who, instead
of a bold, alert, prompt gallant, proved a chicken-
hearted boy, and left her the whole awkwardness
of explanation, which he should have met half-way?
But then, says Fancy, she will write, for she was
not a bit that sort of person whom you, Mr Reason,
REDGAUNTLET.
135
ļ
in your wisdom, take her to be. She was discon-
certed enough, without my adding to her distress
by any impudent conduct on my part. And she
will write, for
By Heaven, she HAS written, Darsie, and with
a vengeance !-Here is her letter, thrown into the
kitchen by a cadie, too faithful to be bribed, either
by money or whisky, to say more than that he re-
ceived it, with sixpence, from an ordinary-looking
woman, as he was plying on his station near the
Cross.
"FOR ALAN FAIRFORD, ESQUIRE, BARRISTER.
❝ SIR,
"Excuse my mistake of to-day. I had accident-
ally learned that Mr Darsie Latimer had an intimate
friend and associate in a Mr A. Fairford. When
I enquired for such a person, he was pointed out
to me at the Cross, (as I think the Exchange of
your city is called,) in the character of a respectable
elderly man-your father, as I now understand.
On enquiry at Brown's Square, where I understood
he resided, I used the full name of Alan, which
naturally occasioned you the trouble of this day's
visit. Upon further enquiry, I am led to believe
that you are likely to be the person most active in
the matter to which I am now about to direct your
attention; and I regret much that circumstances,
arising out of my own particular situation, prevent
my communicating to you personally what I now
apprize you of in this manner.
136
REDGAUNTLET.
"Your friend, Mr Darsie Latimer, is in a situ-
ation of considerable danger. You are doubtless
aware, that he has been cautioned not to trust him-
self in England-Now, if he has not absolutely
transgressed this friendly injunction, he has at least
approached as nearly to the menaced danger as he
could do, consistently with the letter of the prohi-
bition. He has chosen his abode in a neighbour-
hood very perilous to him; and it is only by a
speedy return to Edinburgh, or at least by a re-
moval to some more remote part of Scotland, that he
can escape the machinations of those whose enmity
he has to fear. I must speak in mystery, but my
words are not the less certain; and, I believe, you
know enough of your friend's fortunes to be aware,
that I could not write this much without being
even more intimate with them than you are.
"If he cannot, or will not, take the advice here
given, it is my opinion that you should join him, if
possible, without delay, and urge, by your personal
presence and entreaty, the arguments which may
prove ineffectual in writing. One word more, and
I implore of your candour to take it as it is meant.
No one supposes that Mr Fairford's zeal in his
friend's service, needs to be quickened by merce-
nary motives. But report says that Mr Alan Fair-
ford not having yet entered on his professional ca-
reer, may, in such a case as this, want the means,
though he cannot want the inclination, to act with
promptitude. The enclosed note, Mr Alan Fair-
ford must be pleased to consider as his first profes-
sional emolument; and she who sends it hopes it
REDGAUNTLET.
137
will be the omen of unbounded success, though the
fee comes from a hand so unknown as that of
"GREEN Mantle.”
A bank note of L.20 was the enclosure, and the
whole incident left me speechless with astonishment.
I am not able to read over the beginning of my own
letter, which forms the introduction to this extra-
ordinary communication. I only know that, though
mixed with a quantity of foolery, (God knows, very
much different from my present feelings,) it gives
an account sufficiently accurate, of the mysterious
person from whom this letter comes, and that I have
neither time nor patience to separate the absurd
commentary from the text, which it is so necessary
you should know.
Combine this warning, so strangely conveyed,
with the caution impressed on you bv your London
correspondent, Griffiths, against your visiting Eng-
land-with the character of your Laird of the Sol-
way Lakes-with the lawless habits of the people
on that frontier country, where warrants are not
easily executed, owing to the jealousy entertained
by either country of the legal interference of the
other; remember, that even Sir John Fielding said
to my father, that he could never trace a rogue
be-
yond the Briggend of Dumfries-think that the
distinctions of Whig and Tory, Papist and Pro-
testant, still keep that country in a loose and com-
paratively lawless state-think of all this, my dear-
est Darsie, and remember that, while at this Mount
Sharon of yours, you are residing with a family ac-
138
REDGAUNTLET;
tually menaced with forcible interference, and who,
while their obstinacy provokes violence, are by
principle bound to abstain from resistance.
Nay, let me tell you, professionally, that the
legality of the mode of fishing practised by your
friend Joshua, is greatly doubted by our best law-
yers; and that, if the stake-nets be considered as
actually an unlawful obstruction raised in the chan-
nel of the estuary, an assembly of persons who shall
proceed, via facti, to pull down and destroy them,
would not, in the eye of the law, be esteemed guilty
of a riot. So, by remaining where you are, you
are likely to be engaged in a quarrel with which
you have nothing to do, and thus to enable your
enemies, whoever these may be, to execute, amid
the confusion of a general hubbub, whatever de-
signs they may have against your personal safety.
Black-fishers, poachers, and smugglers, are a sort
of gentry that will not be much checked, either by
your Quaker's texts, or by your chivalry. If you
are Don Quixote enough to lay lance in rest, in
defence of those of the stake-net, and of the sad-
coloured garment, I pronounce you but a lost
knight; for, as I said before, I doubt if these po-
tent redressers of wrongs, the justices and consta-
bles, will hold themselves warranted to interfere.
In a word, return, my dear Amadis ; the adventure
of the Solway-nets is not reserved for your worship.
Come back, and I will be your faithful Sancho
Panza upon a more hopeful quest. We will beat
about together, in search of this Urganda, the Un-
known She of the Green Mantle, who can read this,
C
REDGAUNTLET.
139
the riddle of thy fate, better than wise Eppie of
Buckhaven,* or Cassandra herself.
I would fain trifle, Darsie; for in debating with
you, jests will sometimes go farther than arguments;
but I am sick at heart, and cannot keep the ball
up. If you have a moment's regard for the friend-
ship we have so often vowed to each other, let my
wishes for once prevail over your own venturous
and romantic temper. I am quite serious in think-
ing, that the information communicated to my fa-
ther by this Mr Herries, and the admonitory letter
of the young lady, bear upon each other; and that,
were you here, you might learn something from
one or other, or from both, that might throw light
on your birth and parentage. You will not, surely,
prefer an idle whim to the prospect which is thus
held out to you?
I would, agreeably to the hint I have received
in the young lady's letter, (for I am confident that
such is her condition,) have ere now been with you
to urge these things, instead of pouring them out
upon paper. But you know that the day for my
trial is appointed; I have already gone through
the form of being introduced to the examinators,
and have gotten my titles assigned me. All this
should not keep me at home, but my father would
view any irregularity upon this occasion as a mortal
blow to the hopes which he has cherished most
fondly during his life; viz. my being called to the
bar with some credit. For my own part, I know
* Well known in the Chap-Book, called the History of
Buckhaven.
f
140
REDGAUNTLET.
there is no great difficulty in passing these formal
examinations, else how have some of our acquaint-
ance got through them? But, to my father, these
formalities compose an august and serious solemni-
ty, to which he has long looked forward, and my
absenting myself at this moment would wellnigh
drive him distracted. Yet I shall go altogether
distracted myself, if I have not an instant assurance
from you that you are hastening hither-Mean-
while I have desired Hannah to get your little crib
into the best order possible. I cannot learn that
my father has yet written to you; nor has he spoken
more of his communication with Birrenswork; but
when I let him have some inkling of the dangers
you are at present incurring, I know my request
that you will return immediately, will have his
cordial support.
Another reason yet-I must give a dinner, as
usual, upon my admission, to our friends; and my
father, laying aside all his usual considerations of
economy, has desired it may be in the best style
possible. Come hither then, dear Darsie! or, I
protest to you, I shall send examination, admission-
dinner, and guests, to the devil, and come, in per-
son, to fetch you with a vengeance. Thine, in
much anxiety,
A. F.
REDGAUNTLET.
141
LETTER IX.
ALEXANDER FAIRFORD, W.S., TO MR DARSIE
LATIMER.
DEAR MR Darsie,
HAVING been your factor loco tutoris, or rather,
I ought to say, in correctness, (since I acted with-
out warrant from the Court,) your negotiorum ges-
tor; that connexion occasions my present writing.
And although having rendered an account of my
intromissions, which have been regularly approved
of, not only by yourself, (whom I could not prevail
upon to look at more than the docket and sum total,)
but also by the worthy Mr Samuel Griffiths of Lon-
don, being the hand through whom the remittances
were made, I may, in some sense, be considered as
to you functus officio; yet, to speak facetiously, I
trust you will not hold me accountable as a vicious
intromitter, should I still consider myself as occa-
sionally interested in your welfare. My motives
for writing, at this time, are twofold.
I have met with a Mr Herries of Birrenswork,
a gentleman of very ancient descent, but who hath
in time past been in difficulties, nor do I know if
his affairs are yet well redd. Birrenswork says,
that he believes he was very familiar with your
father, whom he states to have been called Ralph.
142
REDGAUNTLET.
.
Latimer of Langcote-Hall, in Westmoreland; and
he mentioned family affairs, which it may be of the
highest importance to you to be acquainted with;
but as he seemed to decline communicating them
to me, I could not civilly urge him thereanent.
Thus much I know, that Mr Herries had his own
share in the late desperate and unhappy matter of
1745, and was in trouble about it, although that is
probably now over. Moreover, although he did not
profess the Popish religion openly, he had an eye
that way. And both of these are reasons why I
have hesitated to recommend him to a youth who
maybe hath not altogether so well founded his opi-
nions concerning Kirk and State, that they might
not be changed by some sudden wind of doctrine.
For I have observed ye, Master Darsie, to be rather
tinctured with the old leaven of prelacy-this un-
der your leave; and although God forbid that you
should be in any manner disaffected to the Protest-
ant Hanoverian line, yet ye have ever loved to hear
the blawing, bleezing stories which the Hieland gen-
tlemen tell of those troublous times, which, if it
were their will, they had better pretermit, as tend-
ing rather to shame than to honour. It is come to
me also by a side-wind, as I may say, that you have
been neighbouring more than was needful among
some of the pestilent sect of Quakers—a people
who own neither priest, nor king, nor civil magis-
trate, nor the fabric of our law, and will not depone
either in civilibus or criminalibus, be the loss to the
lieges what it may. Anent which heresies, it were
good ye read "the Snake in the Grass," or "the
-
w
S
REDGAUNTLET.
143
Foot out of the Snare," being both well-approved
tracts touching these doctrines.
Now, Mr Darsie, ye are to judge for yourself
whether ye can safely to your soul's weal remain
longer among these Papists and Quakers,—these
defections on the right hand, and fallings away on
the left; and truly if you can confidently resist
these evil examples of doctrine, I think ye may as
well tarry in the bounds where ye are, until you
see Mr Herries of Birrenswork, who does assuredly
know more of your matters than I thought had been
communicated to any man in Scotland. I would
fain have precognosced him myself on these affairs,
but found him unwilling to speak out, as I have
partly intimated before.
""
To call a new cause I have the pleasure to tell
you, that Alan has passed his private Scots Law
examinations with good approbation-a great re-
lief to my mind; especially as worthy Mr Pest told
me in my ear there was no fear of the " callant,'
as he familiarly called him, which gives me great
heart. His public trials, which are nothing in
comparison save a mere form, are to take place, by
order of the Honourable Dean of Faculty, on Wed-
nesday first; and on Friday he puts on the gown,
and gives a bit chack of dinner to his friends and
acquaintances, as is, you know, the custom. Your
company will be wished for there, Master Darsie,
by more than him, which I regret to think is im-
possible to have, as well by your engagements, as
that our cousin, Peter Fairford, comes from the
west on purpose, and we have no place to offer
144
REDGAUNTLET.
him but your chamber in the wall. And, to be
plain with you, after my use and wont, Master
Darsie, it may be as well that Alan and you do
not meet till he is hefted as it were to his new call-
ing. You are a pleasant gentleman, and full of
daffing, which may well become you, as you have
enough (as I understand) to uphold your merry
humour. If you regard the matter wisely, you
would perchance consider that a man of substance
should have a douce and staid demeanour; yet you
are so far from growing grave and considerate with
the increase of your annual income, that the richer
you become, the merrier I think you grow. But
this must be at your own pleasure, so far as you
are concerned. Alan, however, (overpassing my
small savings,) has the world to win; and louping
and laughing, as you and he were wont to do, would
soon make the powder flee out of his wig, and the
pence out of his pocket. Nevertheless, I trust you
will meet when you return from your rambles ;
for there is a time, as the wise man sayeth, for
gathering, and a time for casting away; it is al-
ways the part of a man of sense to take the gather-
ing time first. I remain, dear sir, your well-wish-
ing friend, and obedient to command,
ALEXANDER FAIRFORD.
P.S.-Alan's Thesis is upon the title De peri-
culo et commodo rei venditæ, and is a very pretty
piece of Latinity.-Ross-House, in our neighbour-
hood, is nearly finished, and is thought to excel
Duff-House in ornature.
REDGAUNTLET.
145
LETTER X.
DARSIE LATIMER TO ALAN FAIRFORD.
THE plot thickens, Alan. I have your letter,
and also one from your father. The last makes it
impossible for me to comply with the kind request
which the former urges. No-I cannot be with
you, Alan; and that, for the best of all reasons—
I cannot and ought not to counteract your father's
anxious wishes. I do not take it unkind of him
that he desires my absence. It is natural that he
should wish for his son, what his son so well de-
serves- the advantage of a wiser and steadier com-
panion than I seem to him. And yet I am sure I
have often laboured hard enough to acquire that
decency of demeanour which can no more be sus-
pected of breaking bounds, than an owl of catching
a butterfly.
But it was in vain that I have knitted my brows
till I had the headach, in order to acquire the re-
putation of a grave, solid, and well-judging youth.
Your father always has discovered, or thought that
he discovered, a harebrained eccentricity lying fold-
ed among the wrinkles of my forehead, which ren-
dered me a perilous associate for the future coun-
sellor and ultimate judge. Well, Corporal Nym's
VOL. XXXV.
K
WE
146
REDGAUNTLET.
philosophy must be my comfort-" Things must
be as they may."-I cannot come to your father's
house, where he wishes not to see me; and as to
your coming hither,-by all that is dear to me, I
vow that if you are guilty of such a piece of reck-
less folly-not to say undutiful cruelty, consider-
ing your father's thoughts and wishes-I will never
speak to you again as long as I live! I am perfectly
serious. And besides, your father, while he in a
manner prohibits me from returning to Edinburgh,
gives me the strongest reasons for continuing a little
while longer in this country, by holding out the
hope that I may receive from your old friend, Mr
Herries of Birrenswork, some particulars concern-
ing my origin, with which that ancient recusant
seems to be acquainted.
That gentleman mentioned the name of a family
in Westmoreland, with which he supposes me con-
nected. My enquiries here after such a family have
been ineffectual, for the borderers, on either side,
know little of each other. But I shall doubtless
find some English person of whom to make en-
quiries, since the confounded fetterlock clapped on
my movements by old Griffiths, prevents me re-
pairing to England in person. At least, the pros-
pect of obtaining some information is greater here
than elsewhere; it will be an apology for my ma-
king a longer stay in this neighbourhood, a line of
conduct which seems to have your father's sanc-
tion, whose opinion must be sounder than that of
your wandering damoiselle.
If the road were paved with dangers which leads
t
REDGAUNTLET.
147
to such a discovery, I cannot for a moment hesi-
tate to tread it. But in fact there is no peril in
the case.
If the Tritons of the Solway shall pro-
ceed to pull down honest Joshua's tide-nets, I am
neither Quixote enough in disposition, nor Goliath
enough in person, to attempt their protection. I
have no idea of attempting to prop a falling house,
by putting my shoulders against it. And indeed
Joshua gave me a hint, that the company which
he belongs to, injured in the way threatened, (some
of them being men who thought after the fashion
of the world,) would pursue the rioters at law, and
recover damages, in which probably his own ideas
of non-resistance will not prevent his participating.
Therefore the whole affair will take its course as
law will, as I only mean to interfere when it may
be necessary to direct the course of the plaintiffs
to thy chambers; and I request they may find thee
intimate with all the Scottish statutes concerning
salmon-fisheries, from the Lex Aquarum, down-
ward.
As for the Lady of the Mantle, I will lay a wager
that the sun so bedazzled thine eyes on that memo-
rable morning, that every thing thou didst look
upon seemed green; and notwithstanding James
Wilkinson's experience in the Fusileers, as well as
his negative whistle, I. will venture to hold a crown
that she is but a what-shall-call-'um after all. Let
not even the gold persuade you to the contrary.
She may make a shift to cause you to disgorge that,
and (immense spoil !) a session's fees to boot, if you
look not all the sharper about you. Or if it should
148
REDGAUNTLET.
L
be otherwise, and if indeed there lurk some mystery
under this visitation, credit me, it is one which thou
canst not penetrate, nor can I as yet even attempt
to explain it; since, if I prove mistaken, and mis-
taken I may easily be, I would be fain to creep
into Phalaris's bull, were it standing before me
ready heated, rather than be roasted with thy rail-
lery. Do not tax me with want of confidence; for
the instant I can throw any light on the matter
thou shalt have it; but while I am only blundering
about in the dark, I do not choose to call wise folks
to see me, perchance, break my nose against a post.
So if you marvel at this,
« E'en marvel on till time makes all things plain."
In the meantime, kind Alan, let me proceed in
my diurnal.
On the third or fourth day after my arrival at
Mount Sharon, Time, that bald sexton to whom I
have just referred you, did certainly limp more hea-
vily along with me than he had done at first. The
quaint morality of Joshua, and Huguenot simpli-
city of his sister, began to lose much of their raci-
ness with their novelty, and my mode of life, by
dint of being very quiet, began to feel abominably
dull. It was, as thou say'st, as if the Quakers had
put the sun in their pockets-all around was soft
and mild, and even pleasant; but there was, in the
whole routine, a uniformity, a want of interest, a
helpless and hopeless languor, which rendered life
insipid. No doubt, my worthy host and hostess felt
none of this void, this want of excitation, which was
REDGAUNTLET.
149
becoming oppressive to their guest. They had their
little round of occupations, charities, and pleasures;
Rachel had her poultry-yard and conservatory, and
Joshua his garden. Besides this, they enjoyed,
doubtless, their devotional meditations; and, on the
whole, time glided softly and imperceptibly on with
them, though to me, who long for stream and cata-
ract, it seemed absolutely to stand still. I meditated
returning to Shepherd's Bush, and began to think,
with some hankering, after little Benjie and the
rod. The imp has ventured hither, and hovers
about to catch a peep of me now and then; I sup-
pose the little sharper is angling for a few more
sixpences. But this would have been, in Joshua's
eyes, a return of the washed sow to wallowing in
the mire, and I resolved, while I remained his guest,
to spare him so violent a shock to his prejudices.
The next point was, to shorten the time of my pro-
posed stay; but, alas! that I felt to be equally im-
possible. I had named a week; and however rashly
my promise had been pledged, it must be held sa-
cred, even according to the letter, from which the
Friends permit no deviation.
All these considerations wrought me up to a
kind of impatience yesterday evening; so that I
snatched up my hat, and prepared for a sally be-
yond the cultivated farm and ornamented grounds
of Mount Sharon, just as if I were desirous to
escape from the realms of art, into those of free
and unconstrained nature.
I was scarcely more delighted when I first entered
this peaceful demesne, than I now was-such is the
150
REDGAUNTLET.
instability and inconsistency of human nature !——
when I escaped from it to the open downs, which
had formerly seemed so waste and dreary. The air
I breathed felt purer and more bracing. The clouds,
riding high upon a summer breeze, drove, in gay
succession, over my head, now obscuring the sun,
now letting its rays stream in transient flashes
various parts of the landscape, and especially upon
the broad mirror of the distant Frith of Solway.
upon
I advanced on the scene with the light step of a
liberated captive; and, like John Bunyan's Pil-
grim, could have found in my heart to sing as I
went on my way. It seemed as if my gaiety had
accumulated while suppressed, and that I was, in
my present joyous mood, entitled to expend the
savings of the previous week. But just as I was
about to uplift a merry stave, I heard, to my joy-
ful surprise, the voices of three or more choristers,
singing, with considerable success, the lively old
catch,
"For all our men were very very merry,
And all our men were drinking:
There were two men of mine,
Three men of thine,
And three that belong'd to old Sir Thom o' Lyne;
As they went to the ferry, they were very very merry,
And all our men were drinking."*
* The original of this catch is to be found in Cowley's witty
comedy of the Guardian, the first edition. It does not exist.
in the second and revised edition, called the Cutter of Coleman
Street.
"CAPTAIN BLADE. Ha, ha, boys, another catch.
And all our men were very very merry,
And all our men were drinking.
REDGAUNTLET.
151
As the chorus ended, there followed a loud and
hearty laugh by way of cheers. Attracted by sounds
which were so congenial to my present feelings, I
made towards the spot from which they came,—
cautiously however, for the downs, as had been re-
peatedly hinted to me, had no good name; and the
attraction of the music, without rivalling that of
the Syrens in melody, might have been followed
by similarly inconvenient consequences to an incau-
tious amateur.
I crept on, therefore, trusting that the sinuosi-
ties of the ground, broken as it was into knolls and
sand-pits, would permit me to obtain a sight of the
musicians before I should be observed by them.
As I advanced, the old ditty was again raised. The
voices seemed those of a man and two boys; they
were rough, but kept good time, and were managed
with too much skill to belong to the ordinary coun-
try people.
"Jack look'd at the sun, and cried, Fire, fire, fire;
Jem stabled his keffel in Birkendale mire;
Tom startled a calf, and halloo'd for a stag;
Will mounted a gate-post instead of his nag:
CUTTER. One man of mine.
DOGREL. Two men of mine.
BLADE. Three men of mine.
!
CUTTER. And one man of mine.
OMNES. As we went by the way we were drunk, drunk, damnably
drunk.
And all our men were very very merry, &c.”
Such are the words, which are somewhat altered and am-
plified in the text. The play was acted in presence of Charles
II., then Prince of Wales, in 1641. The catch in the text has
been happily set to music.
152
REDGAUNTLET.
For all our men were very very merry,
And all our men were drinking;
There were two men of mine,
Three men of thine,
And three that belong'd to old Sir Thòm o' Lyne;
As they went to the ferry they were very very merry,
For all our men were drinking."
The voices, as they mixed in their several parts,
and ran through them, untwisting and again en-
twining all the links of the merry old catch, seemed
to have a little touch of the bacchanalian spirit
which they celebrated, and showed plainly that the
musicians were engaged in the same joyous revel
as the menyie of old Sir Thom o' Lyne. At length
I came within sight of them, three in number,
where they sat cosily niched into what you might
call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and
surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in
full bloom.
The only one of the trio whom I recognised as a
personal acquaintance was the notorious little Ben-
jie, who, having just finished his stave, was cram-
ming a huge luncheon of pie-crust into his mouth
with one hand, while in the other he held a foam-
ing tankard, his eyes dancing with all the glee of
a forbidden revel; and his features, which have at
all times a mischievous archness of expression, con-
fessing the full sweetness of stolen waters, and bread
eaten in secret.
There was no mistaking the profession of the
male and female, who were partners with Benjie in
these merry doings. The man's long loose-bodied
great-coat, (wrap-rascal as the vulgar term it,) the
REDGAUNTLET.
153
fiddle-case, with its straps, which lay beside him,
and a small knapsack which might contain his few
necessaries; a clear grey eye; features which, in
contending with many a storm, had not lost a wild
and careless expression of glee, animated at present,
when he was exercising for his own pleasure the
arts which he usually practised for bread,—all an-
nounced one of those peripatetic followers of Or-
pheus, whom the vulgar call a strolling fiddler.
Gazing more attentively, I easily discovered that
though the poor musician's eyes were open, their
sense was shut, and that the ecstasy with which he
turned them up to Heaven, only derived its appa-
rent expression from his own internal emotions,
but received no assistance from the visible objects
around. Beside him sat his female companion, in
a man's hat, a blue coat, which seemed also to have
been an article of male apparel, and a red petticoat.
She was cleaner, in person and in clothes, than such
itinerants generally are; and, having been in her
day a strapping bona roba, she did not even yet
neglect some attention to her appearance; wore a
large amber necklace, and silver ear-rings, and had
her plaid fastened across her breast with a brooch
of the same metal.
:
The man also looked clean, notwithstanding the
meanness of his attire, and had a decent silk hand-
kerchief well knotted about his throat, under which
peeped a clean owrelay. His beard, also, instead of
displaying a grizzly stubble, unmowed for several
days, flowed in thick and comely abundance over
the breast, to the length of six inches, and mingled
154
REDGAUNTLET.
with his hair, which was but beginning to exhibit
a touch of age. To sum up his appearance, the
loose garment which I have described, was secured
around him by a large old-fashioned belt, with brass
studs, in which hung a dirk, with a knife and fork,
its usual accompaniments. Altogether, there was
something more wild and adventurous-looking about
the man, than I could have expected to see in an
ordinary modern crowder; and the bow which he
now and then drew across the violin, to direct his
little choir, was decidedly that of no ordinary per-
former.
You must understand, that many of these ob-
servations were the fruits of after remark; for I
had scarce approached so near as to get a distinct
view of the party, when my friend Benjie's lurching
attendant, which he calls by the appropriate name
of Hemp, began to cock his tail and ears, and, sen-
sible of my presence, flew, barking like a fury, to
the place where I had meant to lie concealed till I
heard another song. I was obliged, however, to
jump on my feet, and intimidate Hemp, who would
otherwise have bit me, by two sound kicks on the
ribs, which sent him howling back to his master.
Little Benjie seemed somewhat dismayed at my
appearance; but, calculating on my placability, and
remembering, perhaps, that the ill-used Solomon
was no palfrey of mine, he speedily affected great
glee, and almost in one breath assured the itinerants
that I was "a grand gentleman, and had plenty of
money, and was very kind to poor folk ;" and in-
formed me that this was " Willie Steenson-Wan-
REDGAUNTLET,
155
dering Willie-the best fiddler that ever kittled
thairm with horse-hair."
The woman rose and curtsied; and Wandering
Willie sanctioned his own praises with a nod, and
the ejaculation, "All is true that the little boy says."
I asked him if he was of this country.
“This country!” replied the blind man—“ I am
of every country in broad Scotland, and a wee bit
of England to the boot. But yet I am, in some
sense, of this country; for I was born within hear-
ing of the roar of Solway. Will I give your honour
a touch of the auld bread-winner ?”
He preluded as he spoke, in a manner which
really excited my curiosity; and then taking the
old tune of Galashiels for his theme, he graced it
with a number of wild, complicated, and beautiful
variations ; during which, it was wonderful to ob-
serve how his sightless face was lighted up under
the conscious pride and heartfelt delight in the ex-
ercise of his own very considerable powers.
"What think you of that, now, for threescore
and twa?"
I expressed my surprise and pleasure.
"A rant, man-an auld rant,” said Willie; "nae-
thing like the music ye hae in your ball-houses and
your playhouses in Edinbro'; but it's weel aneugh
anes in a way at a dike-side.-Here's another-it's
no a Scots tune, but it passes for ane-Oswald made
it himsell, I reckon he has cheated mony ane, but
he canna cheat Wandering Willie.”
He then played your favourite air of Roslin Cas-
156
REDGAUNTLET.
tle, with a number of beautiful variations, some of
which I am certain were almost extempore.
"You have another fiddle there, my friend," said
I-❝ Have you a comrade?" But Willie's ears
were deaf, or his attention was still busied with the
tune.
The female replied in his stead, "O ay, sir-
troth we have a partner—a gangrel body like our-
sells. No but my hinny might have been better if
he had liked; for mony a bein nook in mony a braw
house has been offered to my hinny Willie, if he
wad but just bide still and play to the gentles."
"Whisht, woman! whisht !" said the blind man,
angrily, shaking his locks; "dinna deave the gen-
tleman wi' your havers. Stay in a house and play
to the gentles !-strike up when my leddy pleases,
and lay down the bow when my lord bids! Na, na,
that's nae life for Willie.-Look out, Maggie-peer
out, woman, and see if ye can see Robin coming.-
Deil be in him! he has got to the lea-side of some
smuggler's punch-bowl, and he wunna budge the
night, I doubt."
-
"That is your consort's instrument," said I—
"Will you give me leave to try my skill ?" I slip-
ped at the same time a shilling into the woman's
hand.
“I dinna ken whether I dare trust Robin's fiddle
to ye," said Willie, bluntly. His wife gave him a
twitch. "Hout awa, Maggie," he said, in con-
tempt of the hint; "though the gentleman may
hae gien ye siller, he may have nae bow-hand for
a' that, and I'll no trust Robin's fiddle wi' an igno-
REDGAUNTLET.
157
ramus.—But that's no sae muckle amiss,” he added,
as I began to touch the instrument; " I am think-
ing ye have some skill o' the craft.”
To confirm him in this favourable opinion, I
began to execute such a complicated flourish as I
thought must have turned Crowdero into a pillar of
stone with envy and wonder. I scaled the top of
the finger-board, to dive at once to the bottom-
skipped with flying fingers, like Timotheus, from
shift to shift-struck arpeggios and harmonic tones,
but without exciting any of the astonishment which
I had expected.
Willie indeed listened to me with considerable
attention; but I was no sooner finished, than he
immediately mimicked on his own instrument the
fantastic complication of tones which I had produ-
ced, and made so whimsical a parody of my per-
formance, that, although somewhat angry, I could
not help laughing heartily, in which I was joined
by Benjie, whose reverence for me held him under
no restraint; while the poor dame, fearful, doubt-
less, of my taking offence at this familiarity, seem-
ed divided betwixt her conjugal reverence for her
Willie, and her desire to give him a hint for his
guidance.
At length the old man stopped of his own accord,
and, as if he had sufficiently rebuked me by his
mimicry, he said, "But for a' that, ye will play very
weel wi' a little practice and some gude teaching.
But
ye maun learn to put the heart into it, man→
to put the heart into it.”
158
REDGAUNTLET.
I played an air in simpler taste, and received
more decided approbation.
"That's something like it, man. Od, ye are a
clever birkie !"
The woman touched his coat again. « The gen-
tleman is a gentleman, Willie-ye maunna speak
that gate to him, hinny."
"The deevil I maunna!" said Willie; " and
what for maunna I?—If he was ten gentles, he
canna draw a bow like me, can he ?”
"Indeed I cannot, my honest friend," said I;
" and if you will go with me to a house hard by, I
would be glad to have a night with you."
Here I looked round, and observed Benjie smo-
thering a laugh, which I was sure had mischief in
it. I seized him suddenly by the ear, and made him
confess that he was laughing at the thoughts of the
reception which a fiddler was likely to get from the
Quakers at Mount Sharon. I chucked him from
me, not sorry that his mirth had reminded me in
time of what I had for the moment forgotten; and
invited the itinerant to go with me to Shepherd's
Bush, from which I proposed to send word to Mr
Geddes that I should not return home that evening.
But the minstrel declined this invitation also. He
was engaged for the night, he said, to a dance in
the neighbourhood, and vented a round execration
on the laziness or drunkenness of his comrade, who
had not appeared at the place of rendezvous.
"I will go with you instead of him,” said I, in
a sudden whim; " and I will give you a crown to
introduce me as your comrade."
REDGAUNTLET.
159
"You gang instead of Rob the Rambler! My
certie, freend, ye are no blate !" answered Wander-
ing Willie, in a tone which announced death to
my frolic.
But Maggie, whom the offer of the crown had
not escaped, began to open on that scent with a
maundering sort of lecture.
"O Willie! hinny
Willie, whan will ye learn to be wise? There's a
crown to be win for naething but saying ae man's
name instead of anither. And, wae's me! I hae
just a shilling of this gentleman's gieing, and a
bodle of my ain; and ye wunna bend your will sae
muckle as to take up the siller that's flung at your
feet! Ye will die the death of a cadger's powney
in a wreath of drift! and what can I do better than
lie doun and die wi' you ? for ye winna let me win
siller to keep either you or mysell leevin."
"Haud your nonsense tongue, woman," said
Willie, but less absolutely than before. "Is he a
real gentleman, or ane of the player-men ?"
"I'se uphaud him a real gentleman," said the
woman.
"I'se uphaud ye ken little of the matter," said
Willie ; "let us see haud of your hand, neebor, gin
ye like."
17
I gave him my hand. He said to himself, " Ay,
ay, here are fingers that have seen canny service.'
Then running his hand over my hair, my face, and
my dress, he went on with his soliloquy; " Ay, ay,
muisted hair, braid-claith o' the best, and seenteen
hundred linen on his back, at the least o' it.—And
.
160
REDGAUNTLET.
how do you think, my braw birkie, that ye are to
pass for a tramping fiddler ?"
"My dress is plain,” said I,—indeed I had cho-
sen my most ordinary suit, out of compliment to
my Quaker friends," and I can easily pass for a
young farmer out upon a frolic. Come, I will dou-
ble the crown I promised you."
"Damn your crowns!" said the disinterested
man of music. "I would like to have a round wi’
you, that's certain ;—but a farmer, and with a hand
that never held pleugh-stilt or pettle, that will never
do. Ye may pass for a trades-lad from Dumfries,
or a student upon the ramble, or the like o' that.-
But hark ye, lad; if ye expect to be ranting amang
the queans o' lasses where ye are gaun, ye will come
by the waur, I can tell ye; for the fishers are wild
chaps, and will bide nae taunts."
I promised to be civil and cautious; and, to smooth
the good woman, I slipped the promised piece into
her hand. The acute organs of the blind man de-
tected this little manœuvre.
“Are ye at it again wi' the siller, ye jaud? I'll
be sworn ye wad rather hear ae twalpenny clink
against another, than have a spring from Rory Dall,*
if he was coming alive again, anes errand. Gang
doun the gate to Lucky Gregson's and get the
things ye want, and bide there till ele'en hours in
the morn; and if ye see Robin, send him on to
me.”
* Blind Rorie, a famous performer, according to tradition.
REDGAUNTLET.
161
"Am I no gaun to the ploy, then ?" said Maggie,
in a disappointed tone.
"And what for should ye ?" said her lord and
master; "to dance a' night, I'se warrant, and no
to be fit to walk your tae's-length the morn, and
we have ten Scots miles afore us? Na, na. Stable
the steed, and pit your wife to bed, when there's
night wark to do."
"Aweel, aweel, Willie hinnie, ye ken best; but
O, take an unco care o' yoursell, and mind ye hae
nae the blessing o' sight."
"Your tongue gars me whiles tire of the bless-
ing of hearing, woman," replied Willie, in answer
to this tender exhortation.
But I now put in for my interest. "Hollo, good
folks, remember that I am to send the boy to Mount
Sharon, and if you go to the Shepherd's Bush, ho-
nest woman, how the deuce am I to guide the blind
man where he is going? I know little or nothing
of the country."
" An
ye ken mickle less of my hinnie, sir,” re-
plied Maggie, "that think he needs ony guiding;
he's the best guide himsell, that ye'll find between
Criffell and Carlisle. Horse-road and footpath,
parish-road and kirk-road, high-road and cross-road,
he kens ilka foot of ground in Nithsdale.”
Ay, ye might have said in braid Scotland,
gudewife," added the fiddler.
"But gang your
ways, Maggie, that's the first wise word ye hae
spoke the day. I wish it was dark night, and rain,
and wind, for the gentleman's sake, that I might
show him there is whiles when ane had better want
VOL. XXXV.
L
162
REDGAUNTLET.
een than have them; for I am as true a guide by
darkness as by daylight."
Internally as well pleased that my companion was
not put to give me this last proof of his skill, I
wrote a note with a pencil, desiring Samuel to bring
my horses at midnight, when I thought my frolic
would be wellnigh over, to the place to which the
bearer should direct him, and I sent little Benjie
with an apology to the worthy Quakers.
As we parted in different directions, the good
woman said, "Oh, sir, if ye wad but ask Willie to
tell ye ane of his tales to shorten the gate! He can
speak like ony minister frae the pu'pit, and he might
have been a minister himsell, but".
"Had your tongue, ye fule!" said Willie,-
"But stay, Meg-gie me a kiss, we maunna part in
anger, neither.'
neither."—And thus our society separated.*
* It is certain that in many cases the blind have, by con-
stant exercise of their other organs, learned to overcome a de-
fect which one would think incapable of being supplied. Every
reader must remember the celebrated Blind Jack of Knares-
borough, who lived by laying out roads.
REDGAUNTLET.
163
LETTER XI.
THE SAME TO THE SAME.
?
•
You are now to conceive us proceeding in our
different directions across the bare downs. Yonder
flies little Benjie to the northward, with Hemp
scampering at his heels, both running as if for dear
life, so long as the rogue is within sight of his em-
ployer, and certain to take the walk very easy, so
soon as he is out of ken. Stepping westward, you
see Maggie's tall form and high-crowned hat, re-
lieved by the fluttering of her plaid upon the left
shoulder, darkening as the distance diminishes her
size, and as the level sunbeams begin to sink upon
the sea. She is taking her quiet journey to the
Shepherd's Bush.
Then, stoutly striding over the lea, you have a
full view of Darsie Latimer, with his new acquaint-
ance, Wandering Willie, who, bating that he touch-
ed the ground now and then with his staff, not in
a doubtful groping manner, but with the confident
air of an experienced pilot, heaving the lead when
he has the soundings by heart, walks as firmly and
boldly as if he possessed the eyes of Argus. There
they go, each with his violin slung at his back, but
one of them at least totally ignorant whither their
course is directed.
164
REDGAUNtlet.
And wherefore did you enter so keenly into such
a mad frolic? says my wise counsellor-Why, I
think, upon the whole, that as a sense of loneliness,
and a longing for that kindness which is inter-
changed in society, led me to take up my temporary
residence at Mount Sharon, the monotony of my
life there, the quiet simplicity of the conversation
of the Geddeses, and the uniformity of their amuse-
ments and employments, wearied out my impatient
temper, and prepared me for the first escapade which
chance might throw in my way.
What would I have given that I could have
pro-
cured that solemn grave visage of thine, to dignify
this joke, as it has done full many a one of thine
own! · Thou hast so happy a knack of doing the
most foolish things in the wisest manner, that thou
mightst pass thy extravagancies for rational actions,
even in the eyes of prudence herself.
From the direction which my guide observed, I
began to suspect that the dell at Brokenburn was
our probable destination; and it became important
to me to consider whether I could, with propriety,
or even perfect safety, intrude myself again upon
the hospitality of my former host. I therefore asked
Willie, whether we were bound for the Laird's,
as folk called him.
"Do ye ken the Laird ?" said Willie, interrupt-
ing a sonata of Corelli, of which he had whistled
several bars with great precision.
"I know the Laird a little," said I; " and there-
fore, I was doubting whether I ought to go to his
town in disguise."
REDGAUNTLET.
165
"And I should doubt, not a little only, but a
great deal, before I took ye there, my chap," said
Wandering Willie; "for I am thinking it wad be
worth little less than broken banes baith to you and
me. Na, na, chap, we are no ganging to the Laird's,
but to a blithe birling at the Brokenburn-foot, where
there will be mony a braw lad and lass; and maybe
there may be some of the Laird's folk, for he never
comes to sic splores himsell. He is all for fowling-
piece and salmon spear, now that pike and musket
are out of the question."
"He has been a soldier, then ?” said I.
"I'se warrant him a soger," answered Willie ;
❝ but take my advice, and speer as little about him
as he does about you. Best to let sleeping dogs
lie. Better say naething about the Laird, my man,
and tell me instead, what sort of a chap ye are,
that are sae ready to cleik in with an auld gaber-
lunzie fiddler? Maggie says ye're gentle, but a
shilling maks a' the difference that Maggie kens,
between a gentle and a semple, and your crowns
wad mak ye a prince of the blood in her een. But
I am ane that kens full weel that ye may wear good
claithes, and have a saft hand, and yet that may
come of idleness as weel as gentrice."
I told him my name, with the same addition I had
formerly given to Mr Joshua Geddes; that I was a
law-student, tired of my studies, and rambling about
for exercise and amusement.
"And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' a'
the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high-road,
166
REDGAUNTLET.
or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links ?”
demanded Willie.
"Oh no; only with honest folks like yourself,
Willie," was my reply.
“Honest folks like me !—How do ye ken whe-
ther I am honest, or what I am?-I may be the
deevil himsell for what ye ken; for he has power
to come disguised like an angel of light; and besides,
he is a prime fiddler. He played a sonata to Corelli,
ye ken."
There was something odd in this speech, and the
tone in which it was said. It seemed as if my com-
panion was not always in his constant mind, or that
he was willing to try if he could frighten me. I
laughed at the extravagance of his language, how-
ever, and asked him in reply, if he was fool enough
to believe that the foul fiend would play so silly a
masquerade.
"Ye ken little about it-little about it," said the
old man, shaking his head and beard, and knitting
his brows-" I could tell ye something about that."
What his wife mentioned of his being a tale-
teller, as well as a musician, now occurred to me;
and as you know I like tales of superstition, I
begged to have a specimen of his talent as we
went along.
"It is very true," said the blind man, "that when
I am tired of scraping thairm or singing ballants, I
whiles make a tale serve the turn among the country
bodies; and I have some fearsome anes, that make
the auld carlines shake on the settle, and the bits
'bairns skirl on their minnies out frae their beds.
REDGAUNTLET.
167
But this that I am gaun to tell you was a thing that
befell in our ain house in my father's time—that is,
my father was then a hafflins callant; and I tell it
to you, that it may be a lesson to you, that are but
a young, thoughtless chap, wha ye draw up wi' on
a lonely road; for muckle was the dool and care that
came o't to my gudesire."
He commenced his tale accordingly, in a distinct
narrative tone of voice, which he raised and de-
pressed with considerable skill; at times sinking
almost into a whisper, and turning his clear but
sightless eyeballs upon my face, as if it had been
possible for him to witness the impression which
his narrative made upon my features. I will not
spare you a syllable of it, although it be of the
longest; so I make a dash-and begin
Wandering Willie's Tale.
YE maun have heard of Sir Robert Redgauntlet
of that Ilk, who lived in these parts before the dear
years. The country will lang mind him; and our
fathers used to draw breath thick if ever they heard
him named. He was out wi' the Hielandmen in
Montrose's time; and again he was in the hills wi'
Glencairn in the saxteen hundred and fifty-twa ;
and sae when King Charles the Second came in,
wha was in sic favour as the Laird of Redgauntlet?
He was knighted at Lonon court, wi' the King's
ain sword; and being a redhot prelatist, he came
down here, rampauging like a lion, with commis-
168
REDGAUNTLET.
sions of lieutenancy, (and of lunacy, for what I
ken,) to put down a' the Whigs and Covenanters in
the country. Wild wark they made of it; for the
Whigs were as dour as the Cavaliers were fierce,
and it was which should first tire the other. Red-
gauntlet was aye for the strong hand; and his name
is kend as wide in the country as Claverhouse's or
Tam Dalyell's. Glen, nor dargle, nor mountain,
nor cave, could hide the puir hill-folk when Red-
gauntlet was out with bugle and bloodhound after
them, as if they had been sae mony deer. And
troth when they fand them, they didna mak muckle
mair ceremony than a Hielandman wi' a roebuck
It was just, "Will ye tak the test ?"-if not,
Make ready-present-fire !"-and there lay the
recusant.
Far and wide was Sir Robert hated and feared.
Men thought he had a direct compact with Satan
-that he was proof against steel-and that bullets
happed aff his buff-coat like hailstanes from a hearth
-that he had a mear that would turn a hare on
the side of Carrifra-gawns*—and muckle to the
same purpose, of whilk mair anon. The best bless-
ing they wared on him was, "Deil scowp wi' Red-
gauntlet!" He wasna a bad maister to his ain folk
though, and was weel aneugh liked by his tenants;
and as for the lackies and troopers that raid out wi'
him to the persecutions, as the Whigs caa'd those
killing times, they wad hae drunken themsells blind
to his health at ony time.
* A precipitous side of a mountain in Moffatdale.
REDGAUNTLET.
169
Now you are to ken that my gudesire lived on
Redgauntlet's grund-they ca' the place Primrose-
Knowe. We had lived on the grund, and under
the Redgauntlets, since the riding days, and lang
before. It was a pleasant bit; and I think the air
is callerer and fresher there than ony where else in
the country. It's a' deserted now; and I sat on the
broken door-cheek three days since, and was glad
I couldna see the plight the place was in; but that's
a' wide o' the mark. There dwelt my gudesire,
Steenie Steenson, a rambling, rattling chiel he had
been in his young days, and could play weel on the
pipes; he was famous at " Hoopers and Girders”
-a' Cumberland couldna touch him at "Jockie
Lattin❞—and he had the finest finger for the back-
lilt between Berwick and Carlisle. The like o'
Steenie wasna the sort that they made Whigs o'.
And so he became a Tory, as they ca' it, which we
now ca' Jacobites, just out of a kind of needcessity,
that he might belang to some side or other. He
had nae ill-will to the Whig bodies, and liked little
to see the blude rin, though, being obliged to follow
Sir Robert in hunting and hosting, watching and
warding, he saw muckle mischief, and maybe did
some, that he couldna avoid.
Now Steenie was a kind of favourite with his
master, and kend a' the folks about the castle, and
was often sent for to play the pipes when they were
at their merriment. Auld Dougal MacCallum, the
butler, that had followed Sir Robert through gude
and ill, thick and thin, pool and stream, was spe-
170
REDGAUNTLET.
cially fond of the pipes, and aye gae my gudesire
his gude word wi' the Laird; for Dougal could turn
his master round his finger.
Weel, round came the Revolution, and it had
like to have broken the hearts baith of Dougal and
his master. But the change was not a'thegether
sae great as they feared, and other folk thought for.
The Whigs made an unco crawing what they wad
do with their auld enemies, and in special wi' Sir
Robert Redgauntlet. But there were ower mony
great folks dipped in the same doings, to mak a
spick and span new warld. So parliament passed
it a' ower easy; and Sir Robert, bating that he
was held to hunting foxes instead of Covenanters,
remained just the man he was. His revel was as
loud, and his hall as weel lighted, as ever it had
been, though maybe he lacked the fines of the non-
conformists, that used to come to stock his larder
and cellar; for it is certain he began to be keener
about the rents than his tenants used to find him
before, and they behoved to be prompt to the rent-
day, or else the Laird wasna pleased. And he was
sic an awsome body, that naebody cared to anger
him ;
for the oaths he swore, and the rage that he
used to get into, and the looks that he put on, made
men sometimes think him a devil incarnate.*
* The caution and moderation of King William III., and
his principles of unlimited toleration, deprived the Cameron-
ians of the opportunity they ardently desired, to retaliate the
injuries which they had received during the reign of pre-
lacy, and purify the land, as they called it, from the pollu
REDGAUNTLET.
171
Weel, my gudesire was nae manager-no that
he was a very great misguider-but he hadna the
saving gift, and he got twa terms' rent in arrear.
He got the first brash at Whitsunday put ower wi’
fair word and piping; but when Martinmas came,
there was a summons from the grund-officer to come
wi' the rent on a day preceese, or else Steenie be-
hoved to flit. Sair wark he had to get the siller;
but he was weel-freended, and at last he got the
haill scraped thegither-a thousand merks-the
maist of it was from a neighbour they caa'd Laurie
Lapraik-a sly tod. Laurie had walth o' gear-
could hunt wi' the hound and rin wi' the hare-and
be Whig or Tory, saunt or sinner, as the wind stood.
He was a professor in this Revolution warld, but
he liked an orra sough of this warld; and a tune on
the pipes weel aneugh at a bytime, and abune a',
he thought he had gude security for the siller he
lent my gudesire ower the stocking at Primrose-
Knowe.
Away trots my gudesire to Redgauntlet Castle,
wi' a heavy purse and a light heart, glad to be out.
of the Laird's danger. Weel, the first thing he
learned at the Castle was, that Sir Robert had
fretted himself into a fit of the gout, because he did
not appear before twelve o'clock. It wasna a'the-
gether for sake of the money, Dougal thought; but
because he didna like to part wi' my gudesire aff
tion of blood. They esteemed the Revolution, therefore, only
a half measure, which neither comprehended the rebuilding
the Kirk in its full splendour, nor the revenge of the death
of the Saints on their persecutors.
7
172
REDGAUNTLET.
the grund. Dougal was glad to see Steenie, and
brought him into the great oak parlour, and there
sat the Laird his leesome lane, excepting that he
had beside him a great, ill-favoured jackanape, that
was a special pet of his; a cankered beast it was,
and mony an ill-natured trick it played-ill to
please it was, and easily angered—ran about the
haill castle, chattering and yowling, and pinching
and biting folk, especially before ill weather, or dis-
turbances in the state. Sir Robert caa'd it Major
Weir, after the warlock that was burnt ;* and few
folk liked either the name or the conditions of the
creature-they thought there was something in it
by ordinar—and my gudesire was not just easy in
his mind when the door shut on him, and he saw
himself in the room wi' naebody but the Laird,
Dougal MacCallum, and the Major, a thing that
hadna chanced to him before.
Sir Robert sat, or, I should say, lay, in a great
armed chair, wi' his grand velvet gown, and his feet
on a cradle; for he had baith gout and gravel, and
his face looked as gash and ghastly as Satan's.
Major Weir sat opposite to him, in a red laced
coat, and the Laird's wig on his head; and
Sir Robert girned wi' pain, the jackanape girned
too, like a sheep's-head between a pair of tangs-
an ill-faured, fearsome couple they were. The Laird's
buff-coat was hung on a pin behind him, and his
broadsword and his pistols within reach; for he
keepit up the auld fashion of having the weapons
aye as
* A celebrated wizard, executed at Edinburgh for sorcery
and other crimes.
REDGAUNTLET.
173
ready, and a horse saddled day and night, just as
he used to do when he was able to loup on horse-
back, and away after ony of the hill-folk he could
get speerings of. Some said it was for fear of the
Whigs taking vengeance, but I judge it was just
his auld custom-he wasna gien to fear ony thing.
The rental-book, wi' its black cover and brass clasps,
was lying beside him; and a book of sculduddry
sangs was put betwixt the leaves, to keep it open
at the place where it bore evidence against the
Goodman of Primrose-Knowe, as behind the hand
with his mails and duties. Sir Robert gave my
gudesire a look, as if he would have withered his
heart in his bosom. Ye maun ken he had a way
of bending his brows, that men saw the visible
mark of a horse-shoe in his forehead, deep-dinted,
as if it had been stamped there.
"Are ye come light-handed, ye son of a toom
whistle?" said Sir Robert.
"Zounds! if you
are".
My gudesire, with as gude a countenance as he
could put on, made a leg, and placed the bag of
money on the table wi' a dash, like a man that does
something clever. The Laird drew it to him hasti-
ly" Is it all here, Steenie, man?"
"Your honour will find it right," said my gude-
sire.
"Here, Dougal," said the Laird, "gie Steenie
a tass of brandy down stairs, till I count the siller
and write the receipt."
But they werena weel out of the room, when Sir
Robert gied a yelloch that garr'd the Castle rock!
::
174
REDGAUNTLET.
Back ran Dougal-in flew the livery-men-yell on
yell gied the Laird, ilk ane mair awfu' than the
ither. My gudesire knew not whether to stand or
flee, but he ventured back into the parlour, where
a' was gaun hirdy-girdie-naebody to say 'come
in,' or 'gae out.' Terribly the Laird roared for
cauld water to his feet, and wine to cool his throat;
and hell, hell, hell, and its flames, was aye the
word in his mouth. They brought him water, and
when they plunged his swoln feet into the tub, he
cried out it was burning; and folk say that it did
bubble and sparkle like a seething caldron. He
flung the cup at Dougal's head, and said he had
given him blood instead of burgundy; and, sure
aneugh, the lass washed clotted blood aff the car-
pet the neist day. The jackanape they caa'd Major
Weir, it jibbered and cried as if it was mocking
its master; my gudesire's head was like to turn-
he forgot baith siller and receipt, and down stairs
he banged; but as he ran, the shrieks came faint
and fainter; there was a deep-drawn shivering
groan, and word gaed through the Castle, that the
Laird was dead.
Weel, away came my gudesire, wi' his finger in
his mouth, and his best hope was, that Dougal had
seen the money-bag, and heard the Laird speak of
writing the receipt. The young Laird, now Sir
John, came from Edinburgh, to see things put to
rights. Sir John and his father never gree'd weel.
Sir John had been bred an advocate, and afterwards
sat in the last Scots Parliament and voted for the
Union, having gotten, it was thought, a rug of the
REDGAUNTLET.
175
compensations-if his father could have come out
of his grave, he would have brained him for it on
his awn hearthstane. Some thought it was easier
counting with the auld rough Knight than the fair-
spoken young ane-but mair of that anon.
Dougal MacCallum, poor body, neither grat nor
graned, but gaed about the house looking like a
corpse, but directing, as was his duty, a' the order
of the grand funeral. Now, Dougal looked aye
waur and waur when night was coming, and was
aye the last to gang to his bed, whilk was in a little
round just opposite the chamber of dais, whilk.his
master occupied while he was living, and where he
now lay in state, as they caa'd it, weel-a-day! The
night before the funeral, Dougal could keep his awn
counsel nae langer; he came doun with his proud
spirit, and fairly asked auld Hutcheon to sit in his
room with him for an hour. When they were in
the round, Dougal took ae tass of brandy to himsell,
and gave another to Hutcheon, and wished him all
health and lang life, and said that, for himsell, he
wasna lang for this world; for that, every night since
Sir Robert's death, his silver call had sounded from
the state chamber, just as it used to do at nights in
his lifetime, to call Dougal to help to turn him in
his bed. Dougal said, that being alone with the dead
on that floor of the tower, (for naebody cared to
wake Sir Robert Redgauntlet like another corpse,)
he had never daured to answer the call, but that
now his conscience checked him for neglecting his
duty; for, "though death breaks service," said Mac-
Callum, «it shall never break my service to Sir
Uor M
176
REDGAUNTLET.
Robert; and I will answer his next whistle, so be
you will stand by me, Hutcheon."
Hutcheon had nae will to the wark, but he had
stood by Dougal in battle and broil, and he wad
not fail him at this pinch; so down the carles sat
ower a stoup of brandy, and Hutcheon, who was
something of a clerk, would have read a chapter of
the Bible; but Dougal would hear naething but a
blaud of Davie Lindsay, whilk was the waur pre-
paration.
Qu
When midnight came, and the house was quiet
as the grave, sure aneugh the silver whistle sound-
ed as sharp and shrill as if Sir Robert was blowing
it, and up gat the twa auld serving-men, and tot-
tered into the room where the dead man lay. Hut-
cheon saw aneugh at the first glance; for there were
torches in the room, which showed him the foul
fiend in his ain shape, sitting on the Laird's coffin !
Over he cowped as if he had been dead. He could
not tell how lang he lay in a trance at the door, but
when he gathered himself, he cried on his neigh-
bour, and getting nae answer, raised the house, when
Dougal was found lying dead within twa steps of
the bed where his master's coffin was placed. As
for the whistle, it was gaen anes and aye; but mony
a time was it heard at the top of the house on the
bartizan, and amang the auld chimneys and turrets,
where the howlets have their nests. Sir John hush-
ed the matter up, and the funeral passed over with-
out mair bogle-wark.
But when a' was ower, and the Laird was begin-
ning to settle his affairs, every tenant was called
REDGAUNTLET.
177
up for his arrears, and my gudesire for the full sum
that stood against him in the rental-book. Weel,
away he trots to the Castle, to tell his story, and
there he is introduced to Sir John, sitting in his
father's chair, in deep mourning, with weepers and
hanging cravat, and a small walking rapier by his
side, instead of the auld broadsword that had a
hundred-weight of steel about it, what with blade,
chape, and basket-hilt. I have heard their com-
muning so often tauld ower, that I almost think I
was there mysell, though I couldna be born at the
time. (In fact, Alan, my companion mimicked,
with a good deal of humour, the flattering, concili-
ating tone of the tenant's address, and the hypo-
critical melancholy of the Laird's reply. His grand-
father, he said, had, while he spoke, his eye fixed
on the rental-book, as if it were a mastiff-dog that
he was afraid would spring up and bite him.)
"I wuss ye joy, sir, of the head seat, and the
white loaf, and the braid lairdship. Your father
was a kind man to friends and followers; muckle
grace to you, Sir John, to fill his shoon-his boots,
I suld say, for he seldom wore shoon, unless it were
muils when he had the gout."
"Ay, Steenie," quoth the Laird, sighing deeply,
and putting his napkin to his een, "his was a sud-
den call, and he will be missed in the country; no
time to set his house in order-weel prepared God-
ward, no doubt, which is the root of the matter-
but left us behind a tangled hesp to wind, Steenie.
-Hem! hem! We maun go to business, Steenie;
much to do, and little time to do it in."
VOL. XXXV.
M
178
REDGAUNTLET.
Here he opened the fatal volume. I have heard
of a thing they call Doomsday-book-I am clear
it has been a rental of back-ganging tenants.
(C
Stephen," said Sir John, still in the same soft,
sleekit tone of voice-" Stephen Stevenson, or
Steenson, ye are down here for a year's rent behind
the hand-due at last term."
Stephen. "Please your honour, Sir John, I paid
it to your father."
Sir John. "Ye took a receipt then, doubtless,
Stephen; and can produce it?"
Stephen. "Indeed I hadna time, an it like your
honour; for nae sooner had I set doun the siller,
and just as his honour Sir Robert, that's gaen, drew
it till him to count it, and write out the receipt, he
was ta'en wi' the pains that removed him.”
"That was unlucky," said Sir John, after a pause.
"But ye maybe paid it in the presence of somebody.
I want but a talis qualis evidence, Stephen. I
would go ower strictly to work with no poor man."
Stephen. "Troth, Sir John, there was naebody
in the room but Dougal MacCallum, the butler.
But, as your honour kens, he has e'en followed his
auld master."
"Very unlucky again, Stephen," said Sir John,
without altering his voice a single note. "The man
to whom ye paid the money is dead—and the man
who witnessed the payment is dead too-and the
siller, which should have been to the fore, is neither
seen nor heard tell of in the repositories. How am
I to believe a' this?"
Stephen. "I dinna ken, your honour; but there
MOU
REDGAUNTLET.
179
is a bit memorandum note of the very coins; for,
God help me! I had to borrow out of twenty
purses; and I am sure that ilka man there set down
will take his grit oath for what purpose I borrowed
the money."
Sir John. "I have little doubt ye borrowed the
money, Steenie. It is the payment to my father that
I want to have some proof of."
Stephen. "The siller maun be about the house,
Sir John. And since your honour never got it, and
his honour that was canna have ta'en it wi' him,
maybe some of the family may have seen it."
Sir John. "We will examine the servants, Ste-
phen; that is but reasonable."
But lackey and lass, and page and groom, all
denied stoutly that they had ever seen such a bag
of money as my gudesire described. What was
waur, he had unluckily not mentioned to any living
soul of them his purpose of paying his rent. Ae
quean had noticed something under his arm, but
she took it for the pipes.
Sir John Redgauntlet ordered the servants out
of the room, and then said to my gudesire, "Now,
Steenie, ye see you have fair play; and, as I have
little doubt ye ken better where to find the siller
than ony other body, I beg, in fair terms, and for
your own sake, that you will end this fasherie; for,
Stephen, ye maun pay or flit."
"The Lord forgie your opinion," said Stephen,
driven almost to his wit's end-" I am an honest
man."
"So am I, Stephen," said his honour; "and so
A
180
REDGAUNTLET.
To
are all the folks in the house, I hope. But if there
be a knave amongst us, it must be he that tells the
story he cannot prove." He paused, and then added,
mair sternly, " If I understand your trick, sir, you
want to take advantage of some malicious reports
concerning things in this family, and particularly
respecting my father's sudden death, thereby to
cheat me out of the money, and perhaps take away
my character, by insinuating that I have received
the rent I am demanding.—Where do you suppose
this money to be?—I insist upon knowing."
My gudesire saw every thing look sae muckle
against him that he grew nearly desperate-how-
ever, he shifted from one foot to another, looked
to every corner of the room, and made no answer.
"Speak out, sirrah," said the Laird, assuming
a look of his father's, a very particular ane, which
he had when he was angry-it seemed as if the
wrinkles of his frown made that selfsame fearful
shape of a horse's shoe in the middle of his brow;
—“ Speak out, sir! I will know your thoughts ;-
do you suppose that I have this money ?”
"Far be it frae me to say so," said Stephen.
"Do you charge any of my people with having
taken it ?"
"I wad be laith to charge them that may be
innocent," said my gudesire; " and if there be any
one that is guilty, I have nae proof."
"Somewhere the money must be, if there is a
word of truth in your story," said Sir John; "I
ask where you think it is—and demand a correct
answer?"
•
REDGAUNTLET,
181
"In hell, if you will have my thoughts of it,"
said my gudesire, driven to extremity,-"in hell!
with your father, his jackanape, and his silver
whistle."
Down the stairs he ran, (for the parlour was nae
place for him after such a word,) and he heard the
Laird swearing blood and wounds behind him, as
fast as ever did Sir Robert, and roaring for the
bailie and the baron-officer.
Away rode my gudesire to his chief creditor,
(him they caa'd Laurie Lapraik,) to try if he could
make ony thing out of him; but when he tauld his
story, he got but the warst word in his wame—
thief, beggar, and dyvour, were the saftest terms;
and to the boot of these hard terms, Laurie brought
up the auld story of his dipping his hand in the
blood of God's saunts, just as if a tenant could have
helped riding with the Laird, and that a laird like
Sir Robert Redgauntlet. My gudesire was, by
this time, far beyond the bounds of patience, and
while he and Laurie were at deil speed the liars,
he was wanchancie aneugh to abuse Lapraik's doc-
trine as weel as the man, and said things that garr'd
folk's flesh grue that heard them ;—he wasna just
himsell, and he had lived wi' a wild set in his day.
At last they parted, and my gudesire was to ride
hame through the wood of Pitmurkie, that is a
fou of black firs, as they say.—I ken the wood, but
the firs may be black or white for what I can tell.
-At the entry of the wood there is a wild com-
mon, and on the edge of the common, a little lone-
ly change-house, that was keepit then by an ostler-
182
REDGAUNTLET.
wife, they suld hae caa'd her Tibbie Faw, and there
puir Steenie cried for a mutchkin of brandy, for
he had had no refreshment the haill day. Tibbie
was earnest wi' him to take a bite of meat, but he
couldna think o't, nor would he take his foot out
of the stirrup, and took off the brandy wholely at
twa draughts, and named a toast at each:-the
first was, the memory of Sir Robert Redgauntlet,
and might he never lie quiet in his grave till he
had righted his poor bond-tenant; and the second
was, a health to Man's Enemy, if he would but get
him back the pock of siller, or tell him what came
o't, for he saw the haill world was like to regard
him as a thief and a cheat, and he took that waur
than even the ruin of his house and hauld.
On he rode, little caring where. It was a dark
night turned, and the trees made it yet darker, and
he let the beast take its ain road through the wood;
when, all of a sudden, from tired and wearied that
it was before, the nag began to spring, and flee,
and stend, that my gudesire could hardly keep the
saddle-Upon the whilk, a horseman, suddenly
riding up beside him, said, "That's a mettle beast
of yours, freend; will you sell him?"-So saying,
he touched the horse's neck with his riding-wand,
and it fell into its auld heigh-ho of a stumbling
trot. "But his spunk's soon out of him, I think,"
continued the stranger, "and that is like mony a
man's courage, that thinks he wad do great things
till he come to the proof."
My gudesire scarce listened to this, but spurred
his horse, with " Gude e'en to you, freend."
REDGAUNTLET.
183
But it's like the stranger was ane that doesna
lightly yield his point; for, ride as Steenie liked,
he was aye beside him at the selfsame pace. At
last my gudesire, Steenie Steenson, grew half an-
gry; and, to say the truth, half feared.
"What is it that ye want with me, freend?"
he said. "If ye be a robber, I have nae money;
if
ye be a leal man, wanting company, I have nae
heart to mirth or speaking; and if ye want to ken
the road, I scarce ken it mysell."
"If you will tell me your grief," said the stran-
ger, "I am one that, though I have been sair mis-
caa'd in the world, am the only hand for helping
my freends."
So my gudesire, to ease his ain heart, mair than
from any hope of help, told him the story from be-
ginning to end.
"It's a hard pinch," said the stranger; "but I
think I can help you."
"If you could lend the money, sir, and take a
lang day--I ken nae other help on earth," said my
gudesire.
"But there may be some under the earth,” said
the stranger.
"Come, I'll be frank wi' you; I
could lend you the money on bond, but you would
maybe scruple my terms. Now, I can tell you,
that your auld Laird is disturbed in his grave by
your curses, and the wailing of your family, and if
ye daur venture to go to see him, he will give you
the receipt."
My gudesire's hair stood on end at this propo-
sal, but he thought his companion might be some
T
184
REDGAUNTLET.
Į
humorsome chield that was trying to frighten
him, and might end with lending him the money.
Besides, he was bauld wi' brandy, and desperate
wi' distress; and he said, he had courage to go to
the gate of hell, and a step farther, for that receipt.
-The stranger laughed.
Weel, they rode on through the thickest of the
wood; when, all of a sudden, the horse stopped at
the door of a great house; and, but that he knew
the place was ten miles off, my father would have
thought he was at Redgauntlet Castle. They rode
into the outer court-yard, through the muckle
faulding yetts, and aneath the auld portcullis; and
the whole front of the house was lighted, and there
were pipes and fiddles, and as much dancing and
deray within as used to be in Sir Robert's house
at Pace and Yule, and such high seasons. They
lap off, and my gudesire, as seemed to him, fasten-
ed his horse to the very ring he had tied him to
that morning, when he gaed to wait on the young
Sir John.
"God!" said my gudesire, "if Sir Robert's
death be but a dream !"
He knocked at the ha' door just as he was wont,
and his auld acquaintance, Dougal MacCallum,—
just after his wont, too,-came to open the door,
and said, "Piper Steenie, are ye there, lad? Sir
Robert has been crying for you."
My gudesire was like a man in a dream-he
looked for the stranger, but he was gane for the
time. At last he just tried to say, " Ha! Dougal
REDGAUNTLET.
185
Driveower, are ye living? I thought ye had been
dead."
"Never fash yoursell wi' me," said Dougal, "but
look to yoursell; and see ye tak naething frae ony-
body here, neither meat, drink, or siller, except
just the receipt that is your
ain."
So saying, he led the way out through halls and
trances that were weel kend to my gudesire, and
into the auld oak parlour; and there was as much
singing of profane sangs, and birling of red wine,
and speaking blasphemy and sculduddry, as had
ever been in Redgauntlet Castle when it was at
the blithest.
But, Lord take us in keeping! what a set of
ghastly revellers they were that sat round that
table !-My gudesire kend mony that had long be-
fore gane to their place, for often had he piped to
the most part in the hall of Redgauntlet. There
was the fierce Middleton, and the dissolute Rothes,
and the crafty Lauderdale; and Dalyell, with his
bald head and a beard to his girdle; and Earlshall,
with Cameron's blude on his hand; and wild Bon-
shaw, that tied blessed Mr Cargill's limbs till the
blude sprung; and Dumbarton Douglas, the twice-
turned traitor baith to country and king. There
was the Bluidy Advocate MacKenyie, who, for his
worldly wit and wisdom, had been to the rest as a
god. And there was Claverhouse, as beautiful as
when he lived, with his long, dark, curled locks,
streaming down over his laced buff-coat, and his
left hand always on his right spule-blade, to hide
186
REDGAUNTLET.
•
He
the wound that the silver bullet had made.*
sat apart from them all, and looked at them with a
melancholy, haughty countenance; while the rest
hallooed, and sung, and laughed, that the room
rang. But their smiles were fearfully contorted
from time to time; and their laughter passed into
such wild sounds, as made my gudesire's very nails
grow blue, and chilled the marrow in his banes.
They that waited at the table were just the wick-
ed serving-men and troopers, that had done their
work and cruel bidding on earth. There was the
Lang Lad of the Nethertown, that helped to take
Argyle; and the Bishop's summoner, that they
called the Deil's Rattle-bag; and the wicked
guardsmen, in their laced coats; and the savage
Highland Amorites, that shed blood like water;
and many a proud serving-man, haughty of heart
and bloody of hand, cringing to the rich, and ma-
king them wickeder than they would be; grind-
ing the poor to powder, when the rich had broken
them to fragments. And mony, mony mair were
coming and ganging, a' as busy in their vocation
as if they had been alive.
Sir Robert Redgauntlet, in the midst of a' this
fearful riot, cried, wi' a voice like thunder, on
Steenie Piper, to come to the board-head where he
was sitting; his legs stretched out before him, and
swathed up with flannel, with his holster pistols
aside him, while the great broadsword rested against
his chair, just as my gudesire had seen him the last
*Note I., p. 196.
REDGAUNTLET.
187
time upon earth-the very cushion for the jack-
anape was close to him, but the creature itsell
was not there--it wasna its hour, it's likely; for
he heard them say as he came forward, “ Is not
the Major come yet?" And another answered,
"The jackanape will be here betimes the morn.
And when my gudesire came forward, Sir Robert,
or his ghaist, or the deevil in his likeness, said,
Weel, piper, hae ye settled wi' my son for the
year's rent ?"
With much ado my father gat breath to say, that
Sir John would not settle without his honour's re-
ceipt.
"Ye shall hae that for a tune of the pipes, Stee-
nie,” said the appearance of Sir Robert-" Play
· Weel hoddled, Luckie.''
us up,
Now this was a tune my gudesire learned frae
a warlock, that heard it when they were worship-
ping Satan at their meetings; and my gudesire had
sometimes played it at the ranting suppers in Red-
gauntlet Castle, but never very willingly; and now
he grew cauld at the very name of it, and said, for
excuse, he hadna his pipes wi' him.
"MacCallum, ye limb of Beelzebub,” said the
fearfu' Sir Robert, "bring Steenie the pipes that
I am keeping for him !"
MacCallum brought a pair of pipes might have
served the piper of Donald of the Isles. But he
gave my gudesire a nudge as he offered them; and
looking secretly and closely, Steenie saw that the
chanter was of steel, and heated to a white heat ;
so he had fair warning not to trust his fingers with
188
REDGAUNTLET.
it. So he excused himself again, and said, he was
faint and frightened, and had not wind aneugh to
fill the bag.
"Then ye maun eat and drink, Steenie," said
the figure; "for we do little else here; and it's ill
speaking between a fou man and a fasting."
Now these were the very words that the bloody
Earl of Douglas said to keep the King's messen-
ger in hand, while he cut the head off MacLellan
of Bombie, at the Threave Castle ;* and that put
Steenie mair and mair on his guard. So he spoke
up like a man, and said he came neither to eat, or
drink, or make minstrelsy; but simply for his ain
-to ken what was come o' the money he had paid,
and to get a discharge for it; and he was so stout-
hearted by this time, that he charged Sir Robert
for conscience-sake-(he had no power to say the
holy name)—and as he hoped for peace and rest,
to spread no snares for him, but just to give him
his ain.
The appearance gnashed its teeth and laughed,
but it took from a large pocketbook the receipt,
and handed it to Steenie. "There is your receipt,
ye pitiful cur; and for the money, my dog-whelp
of a son may go look for it in the Cat's Cradle."
My gudesire uttered mony thanks, and was about
to retire, when Sir Robert roared aloud, "Stop
though, thou sack-doudling son of a whore! I am
not done with thee. HERE we do nothing for
nothing; and you must return on this very day
* The reader is referred for particulars to Pitscottie's His-
tory of Scotland.
REDGAUNTLET.
189
twelvemonth, to pay your master the homage that
you owe me for my protection."
My father's tongue was loosed of a suddenty, and
he said aloud, "I refer mysell to God's pleasure,
and not to yours."
""
He had no sooner uttered the word than all was
dark around him; and he sunk on the earth with
such a sudden shock, that he lost both breath and
sense.
How lang Steenie lay there, he could not tell 1;
but when he came to himsell, he was lying in the
auld kirkyard of Redgauntlet parochine, just at the
door of the family aisle, and the scutcheon of the
auld knight, Sir Robert, hanging over his head.
There was a deep morning fog on grass and grave-
stane around him, and his horse was feeding quietly
beside the minister's twa cows. Steenie would have
thought the whole was a dream, but he had the re-
ceipt in his hand, fairly written and signed by the
auld Laird; only the last letters of his name were
a little disorderly, written like one seized with sud-
den pain.
Sorely troubled in his mind, he left that dreary
place, rode through the mist to Redgauntlet Castle,
and with much ado he got speech of the Laird.
"Well, you dyvour bankrupt," was the first
word, "have you brought me my rent ?"
"No," answered my gudesire, "I have not; but
I have brought your honour Sir Robert's receipt
for it."
"How, sirrah ?-Sir Robert's receipt-You
told me he had not given you one."
190
REDGAUNTLET.
"Will your honour please to see if that bit line
is right ?"
Sir John looked at every line, and at every let-
ter, with much attention; and at last, at the date,
which my gudesire had not observed,-" From my
appointed place," he read, "this twenty-fifth of No-
vember." "What!—That is yesterday !—Villain,
thou must have gone to hell for this !"
"I got it from your honour's father-whether
he be in heaven or hell, I know not," said Steenie.
"I will delate you for a warlock to the Privy
Council!" said Sir John. "I will send you to your
master, the devil, with the help of a tar-barrel and
a torch !"
“I intend to delate mysell to the Presbytery,'
said Steenie," and tell them all I have seen last
night, whilk are things fitter for them to judge of
than a borrel man like me."
""
Sir John paused, composed himsell, and desired
to hear the full history; and my gudesire told it
him from point to point, as I have told it you—
word for word, neither more nor less.
Sir John was silent again for a long time, and at
last he said, very composedly," Steenie, this story
of yours concerns the honour of many a noble fa-
mily besides mine; and if it be a leasing-making,
to keep yourself out of my danger, the least you
can expect is to have a redhot iron driven through
your tongue, and that will be as bad as scauding
your fingers with a redhot chanter. But yet it may
be true, Steenie; and if the money cast up, I shall
not know what to think of it. But where shall we
REDGAUNTLET.
191
find the Cat's Cradle? There are cats enough about
the old house, but I think they kitten without the
ceremony of bed or cradle."
"We were best ask Hutcheon," said my gude-
sire; "he kens a' the odd corners about as weel as
—another serving-man that is now gane, and that
I wad not like to name.”
Aweel, Hutcheon, when he was asked, told them,
that a ruinous turret, lang disused, next to the
clock-house, only accessible by a ladder, for the
opening was on the outside, and far above the bat-
tlements, was called of old the Cat's Cradle.
"There will I go immediately," said Sir John;
and he took (with what purpose, Heaven kens) one
of his father's pistols from the hall-table, where they
had lain since the night he died, and hastened to
the battlements.
It was a dangerous place to climb, for the ladder
was auld and frail, and wanted ane or twa rounds.
However, up got Sir John, and entered at the turret
door, where his body stopped the only little light
that was in the bit turret. Something flees at him
wi' a vengeance, maist dang him back ower-bang
gaed the knight's pistol, and Hutcheon, that held
the ladder, and my gudesire that stood beside him,
hears a loud skelloch. A minute after, Sir John
flings the body of the jackanape down to them,
and cries that the siller is fund, and that they should
come up and help him. And there was the bag of
siller sure aneugh, and mony orra things besides,
that had been missing for mony a day. And Sir
John, when he had riped the turret weel, led my
192
REDGAUNTLET.
gudesire into the dining-parlour, and took him by
the hand, and spoke kindly to him, and said he was
sorry
he should have doubted his word, and that he
would hereafter be a good master to him, to make
amends.
"And now, Steenie," said Sir John," although
this vision of yours tends, on the whole, to my fa-
ther's credit, as an honest man, that he should, even
after his death, desire to see justice done to a poor
man like you, yet you are sensible that ill-disposi-
tioned men might make bad constructions upon it,
concerning his soul's health. So, I think, we had
better lay the haill dirdum on that ill-deedie crea-
ture, Major Weir, and say naething about your
dream in the wood of Pitmurkie. You had taken
ower muckle brandy to be very certain about ony
thing; and, Steenie, this receipt," (his hand shook
while he held it out,)—" its but a queer kind of
document, and we will do best, I think, to put it
quietly in the fire."
"Od, but for as queer as it is, it's a' the voucher
I have for my rent," said my gudesire, who was
afraid, it may be, of losing the benefit of Sir Ro-
bert's discharge.
"I will bear the contents to your credit in the
rental-book, and give you a discharge under my
own hand," said Sir John," and that on the spot.
And, Steenie, if you can hold your tongue about
this matter, you shall sit, from this term downward,
at an easier rent.”
"Mony thanks to your honour," said Steenie,
who saw easily in what corner the wind was ;
:
:
REDGAUNTLET.
193
“doubtless I will be conformable to all your honour's
commands; only I would willingly speak wi' some
powerful minister on the subject, for I do not like
the sort of soumons of appointment whilk your ho-
nour's father".
"Do not call the phantom my father!" said Sir
John, interrupting him.
"Weel, then, the thing that was so like him,"
-said my gudesire; "he spoke of my coming back
to him this time twelvemonth, and it's a weight on
my conscience."
"Aweel, then," said Sir John," if
"if you be so
much distressed in mind, you may speak to our
minister of the parish; he is a douce man, regards
the honour of our family, and the mair that he may
look for some patronage from me."
Wi' that my gudesire readily agreed that the re-
ceipt should be burnt, and the Laird threw it into
the chimney with his ain hand. Burn it would not
for them, though; but away it flew up the lum,
wi' a lang train of sparks at its tail, and a hissing
noise like a squib.
My gudesire gaed down to the manse, and the
minister, when he had heard the story, said, it was
his real opinion, that though my gudesire had gaen
very far in tampering with dangerous matters, yet,
as he had refused the devil's arles, (for such was
the offer of meat and drink,) and had refused to do
homage by piping at his bidding, he hoped, that if
he held a circumspect walk hereafter, Satan could
take little advantage by what was come and gane.
And, indeed, my gudesire, of his ain accord, lang
VOL. XXXV.
N
•
194
REDGAUNTLET.
forswore baith the pipes and the brandy—it was not
even till the year was out, and the fatal day passed,
that he would so much as take the fiddle, or drink
usquebaugh or tippenny.
Sir John made up his story about the jackan-
ape as he liked himsell; and some believe till this
day there was no more in the matter than the
filching nature of the brute. Indeed, ye'll no hin-
der some to threap, that it was nane o' the Auld
Enemy that Dougal and my gudesire saw in the
Laird's room, but only that wanchancy creature, the
Major, capering on the coffin; and that as to the
blawing on the Laird's whistle that was heard after
he was dead, the filthy brute could do that as weel
as the Laird himsell, if no better. But Heaven
kens the truth, whilk first came out by the minister's
wife, after Sir John and her ain gudeman were
baith in the moulds. And then, my gudesire, wha
was failed in his limbs, but not in his judgment or
memory—at least nothing to speak of—was obliged
to tell the real narrative to his freends, for the credit
of his good name. He might else have been charged
for a warlock.*
THE shades of evening were growing thicker
around us as my conductor finished his long nar-
rative with this moral-" Ye see, birkie, it is nae
*Note II, p. 197.
REDGAUNTLET.
195
chancy thing to tak a stranger traveller for a guide,
when ye are in an uncouth land."
"I should not have made that inference," said
((
I. "Your grandfather's adventure was fortunate
for himself, whom it saved from ruin and distress ;
and fortunate for his landlord also, whom it pre-
vented from committing a gross act of injustice."
Ay, but they had baith to sup the sauce o't
sooner or later,” said Wandering Willie-" What
was fristed wasna forgiven. Sir John died before
he was much over threescore; and it was just like
of a moment's illness. And for my gudesire, though
he departed in fulness of years, yet there was my
father, a yauld man of forty-five, fell down betwixt
the stilts of his pleugh, and raise never again, and
left nae bairn but me, a puir sightless, fatherless,
motherless creature, could neither work nor want.
Things gaed weel aneugh at first; for Sir Redwald
Redgauntlet, the only son of Sir John, and the oye
of auld Sir Robert, and, waes me! the last of the
honourable house, took the farm off our hands, and
brought me into his household to have care of me.
He liked music, and I had the best teachers baith
England and Scotland could gie me. Mony a merry
year was I wi' him; but waes me! he gaed out
with other pretty men in the forty-five-I'll say nae
mair about it—My head never settled weel since I
lost him; and if I say another word about it, deil a
bar will I have the heart to play the night.-Look
out, my gentle chap," he resumed in a different tone,
"ye should see the lights in Brokenburn Glen by
this time."
196
REDGAUNTLET.
NOTES TO LETTER XI.
Note I., p. 186.
The personages here mentioned are most of them characters
of historical fame; but those less known and remembered may
be found in the tract entitled, “The Judgment and Justice of
God Exemplified, or, a Brief Historical Account of some of
the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of some of the most
remarkable Apostates and Bloody Persecutors, from the Re-
formation till after the Revolution." This constitutes a sort
of postscript or appendix to John Howie of Lochgoin's "Ac-
count of the Lives of the most eminent Scots Worthies." The
author has, with considerable ingenuity, reversed his reasoning
upon the inference to be drawn from the prosperity or mis-
fortunes which befall individuals in this world, either in the
course of their lives or in the hour of death. In the account
of the martyrs' sufferings, such inflictions are mentioned only
as trials permitted by Providence, for the better and brighter
display of their faith, and constancy of principle. But when
similar afflictions befell the opposite party, they are imputed to
the direct vengeance of Heaven upon their impiety. If, in-
deed, the life of any person obnoxious to the historian's cen-
sures happened to have passed in unusual prosperity, the mere
fact of its being finally concluded by death, is assumed as an
undeniable token of the judgment of Heaven, and, to render
the conclusion inevitable, his last scene is generally garnished
with some singular circumstances. Thus the Duke of Lau-
derdale is said, through old age but immense corpulence, to
have become so sunk in spirits, "that his heart was not the
bigness of a walnut.”
7.
REDGAUNTLET.
197
Note II., p. 194.
I have heard in my youth some such wild tale as that placed
in the mouth of the blind fiddler, of which, I think, the hero
was Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg, the famous persecutor. But
the belief was general throughout Scotland, that the excessive
lamentation over the loss of friends disturbed the repose of the
dead, and broke even the rest of the grave. There are several
instances of this in tradition, but one struck me particularly,
as I heard it from the lips of one who professed receiving it
from those of a ghost-seer. This was a Highland lady, named
Mrs C of B-, who probably believed firmly in the truth
of an apparition, which seems to have originated in the weak-
ness of her nerves and strength of her imagination. She had
been lately left a widow by her husband, with the office of
guardian to their only child. The young man added to the
difficulties of his charge by an extreme propensity for a mili-
tary life, which his mother was unwilling to give way to, while
she found it impossible to repress it. About this time the In-
dependent Companies, formed for the preservation of the peace
of the Highlands, were in the course of being levied ; and as a
gentleman named Cameron, nearly connected with Mrs C—,
commanded one of those companies, she was at length persua-
ded to compromise the matter with her son, by permitting him
to enter this company in the capacity of a cadet; thus grati-
fying his love of a military life without the dangers of fo-
reign service, to which no one then thought these troops
were at all liable to be exposed, while even their active ser-
vice at home was not likely to be attended with much dan-
ger. She readily obtained a promise from her relative that he
would be particular in his attention to her son, and there-
fore concluded she had accommodated matters between her.
son's wishes and his safety in a way sufficiently attentive to
both. She set off to Edinburgh to get what was awanting for
his outfit, and shortly afterwards received melancholy news
from the Highlands. The Independent Company into which
her son was to enter had a skirmish with a party of catherans
engaged in some act of spoil, and her friend the Captain being
wounded, and out of the reach of medical assistance, died in
consequence. This news was a thunderbolt to the poor mo-
198
REDGAUNTLET.
ther, who was at once deprived of her kinsman's advice and
assistance, and instructed by his fate of the unexpected danger
She remained
to which her son's new calling exposed him.
also in great sorrow for her relative, whom she loved with
sisterly affection. These conflicting causes of anxiety, to-
gether with her uncertainty whether to continue or change
her son's destination, were terminated in the following man-
ner:
P
The house in which Mrs C resided in the old town of
Edinburgh, was a flat or story of a land, accessible, as was
then universal, by a common stair. The family who occupied
the story beneath were her acquaintances, and she was in the
habit of drinking tea with them every evening. It was ac-
cordingly about six o'clock, when, recovering herself from a
deep fit of anxious reflection, she was about to leave the parlour
in which she sat in order to attend this engagement. The
door through which she was to pass opened, as was very com-
mon in Edinburgh, into a dark passage. In this passage, and
within a yard of her when she opened the door, stood the
apparition of her kinsman, the deceased officer, in his full
tartans, and wearing his bonnet. Terrified at what she saw,
or thought she saw, she closed the door hastily, and, sinking
on her knees by a chair, prayed to be delivered from the hor-
rors of the vision. She remained in that posture till her
friends below tapped on the floor to intimate that tea was
ready. Recalled to herself by the signal, she arose, and, on
opening the apartment door, again was confronted by the vi-
sionary Highlander, whose bloody brow bore token, on this se-
cond appearance, to the death he had died. Unable to endure
this repetition of her terrors, Mrs C― sunk on the floor in a
swoon. Her friends below, startled with the noise, came up
stairs, and, alarmed at the situation in which they found her,
insisted on her going to bed and taking some medicine, in order
to compose what they took for a nervous attack. They had no
sooner left her in quiet, than the apparition of the soldier was
once more visible in the apartment. This time she took courage
and said, "In the name of God, Donald, why do you haunt
one who respected and loved you when living?" To which he
answered readily, in Gaelic, "Cousin, why did you not speak
sooner? My rest is disturbed by your unnecessary lamenta-
tion-your tears scald me in my shroud. I come to tell you
REDGAUNTLET.
199
that my untimely death ought to make no difference in your
views for your son; God will raise patrons to supply my place,
and he will live to the fulness of years, and die honoured and
at peace.
The lady of course followed her kinsman's advice;
and as she was accounted a person of strict veracity, we may
conclude the first apparition an illusion of the fancy, the final
one a lively dream suggested by the other two.
200
REDGAUNTLET.
LETTER XII.
THE SAME TO THE SAME.
Tam Luter was their minstrel meet,
Gude Lord as he could lance,
He played sae shrill and sang sae sweet,
Till Towsie took a trance.
Auld Lightfoot there he did forleet,
And counterfeited France;
He used himself as man discreet,
And took up Morrice danse
Sae loud,
At Christ's Kirk on the Green that day.
KING JAMES I.
I CONTINUE to scribble at length, though the
subject may seem somewhat deficient in interest.
Let the grace of the narrative, therefore, and the
concern we take in each other's matters, make
amends for its tenuity. We fools of fancy, who
suffer ourselves, like Malvolio, to be cheated with
our own visions, have, nevertheless, this advantage
over the wise ones of the earth, that we have our
whole stock of enjoyments under our own command,
and can dish for ourselves an intellectual banquet
with most moderate assistance from external ob-
jects. It is, to be sure, something like the feast
which the Barmecide served up to Alnaschar; and
we cannot be expected to get fat upon such diet.
REDGAUNTLET.
201
But then, neither is there repletion nor nausea,
which often succeed the grosser and more material
revel. On the whole, I still pray, with the Ode to
Castle Building-
"Give me thy hope which sickens not the heart;
Give me thy wealth which has no wings to fly;
Give me the bliss thy visions can impart;
Thy friendship give me, warm in poverty!"
And so, despite thy solemn smile and sapient shake
of the head, I will go on picking such interest as I
can out of my trivial adventures, even though that
interest should be the creation of my own fancy;
nor will I cease to inflict on thy devoted eyes the
labour of perusing the scrolls in which I shall record
my narrative.
My last broke off as we were on the point of de-
scending into the glen at Brokenburn, by the dan-
gerous track which I had first travelled en croupe,
behind a furious horseman, and was now again to
brave under the precarious guidance of a blind man.
It was now getting dark; but this was no incon-
venience to my guide, who moved on, as formerly,
with instinctive security of step, so that we soon
reached the bottom, and I could see lights twink-
ling in the cottage which had been my place of
refuge on a former occasion. It was not thither,
however, that our course was directed. We left
the habitation of the Laird to the left, and turning
down the brook, soon approached the small hamlet
which had been erected at the mouth of the stream,
probably on account of the convenience which it
afforded as a harbour to the fishing-boats. A large
202
REDGAUNTLET.
low cottage, full in our front, seemed highly illumi-
nated; for the light not only glanced from every
window and aperture in its frail walls, but was
even visible from rents and fractures in the roof,
composed of tarred shingles, repaired in part by
thatch and divot.
While these appearances engaged my attention,
that of my companion was attracted by a regular
succession of sounds, like a bouncing on the floor,
mixed with a very faint noise of music, which Wil-
lie's acute organs at once recognised and accounted
for, while to me it was almost inaudible. The old
man struck the earth with his staff in a violent
passion. "The whoreson fisher rabble! They have
brought another violer upon my walk! They are
such smuggling blackguards, that they must run
in their very music; but I'll sort them waur than
ony gauger in the country.-Stay-hark-it's no a
fiddle neither—it's the pipe and tabor bastard, Si-
mon of Sowport, frae the Nicol Forest; but I'll pipe
and tabor him !—Let me hae ance my left hand on
his cravat, and ye shall see what my right will do.
Come away, chap-come away, gentle chap-nae
time to be picking and waling your steps." And
on he passed with long and determined strides,
dragging me along with him.
I was not quite easy in his company; for, now
that his minstrel pride was hurt, the man had
changed from the quiet, decorous, I might almost
say respectable person, which he seemed while he
told his tale, into the appearance of a fierce, brawl-
ing, dissolute stroller. So that when he entered the
REDGAUNTLET.
203
·
large hut, where a great number of fishers, with
their wives and daughters, were engaged in eating,
drinking, and dancing, I was somewhat afraid that
the impatient violence of my companion might
procure us an indifferent reception.
But the universal shout of welcome with which
Wandering Willie was received-the hearty con-
gratulation—the repeated "Here's t'ye, Willie !”
"Whare hae ye been, ye blind deevil ?" and the
call upon him to pledge them-above all, the speed
with which the obnoxious pipe and tabor were put
to silence, gave the old man such effectual assurance
of undiminished popularity and importance, as at
once put his jealousy to rest, and changed his tone
of offended dignity, into one better fitted to receive
such cordial greetings. Young men and women
crowded round, to tell how much they were afraid
some mischance had detained him, and how two or
three young fellows had set out in quest of him.
"It was nae mischance, praised be Heaven," said
Willie," but the absence of the lazy loon Rob the
Rambler, my comrade, that didna come to meet
me on the Links; but I hae gotten a braw consort
in his stead, worth a dozen of him, the unhanged
blackguard."
"And wha is't tou's gotten, Wullie, lad ?" said
half a score of voices, while all eyes were turned
on your humble servant, who kept the best coun-
tenance he could, though not quite easy at beco-
ming the centre to which all eyes were pointed.
"I ken him by his hemmed cravat,” said one
fellow; " it's Gil Hobson, the souple tailor frae
204
REDGAUNTLET.
Burgh. Ye are welcome to Scotland, ye prick-
the-clout loon," he said, thrusting forth a paw much
the colour of a badger's back, and of most portent-
ous dimensions.
"Gil Hobson? Gil whoreson!" exclaimed Wan-
dering Willie; "it's a gentle chap that I judge to
be an apprentice wi' auld Joshua Geddes, to the
quaker-trade."
"What trade be's that, man?" said he of the
badger-coloured fist.
"Canting and lying," said Willie, which pro-
duced a thundering laugh; "but I am teaching
the callant a better trade, and that is feasting and
fiddling."
Willie's conduct in thus announcing something
like my real character, was contrary to compact;
and yet I was rather glad he did so, for the conse-
quence of putting a trick upon these rude and fe-
rocious men, might, in case of discovery, have been
dangerous to us both, and I was at the same time
delivered from the painful effort to support a ficti-
tious character. The good company, except perhaps
one or two of the young women, whose looks ex-
pressed some desire for better acquaintance, gave
themselves no farther trouble about me; but, while
the seniors resumed their places near an immense
bowl, or rather reeking caldron of brandy-punch,
the younger arranged themselves on the floor, and.
called loudly on Willie to strike up.
99
With a brief caution to me, to "mind my credit,
for fishers have ears, though fish have none, Willie
led off in capital style, and I followed, certainly not
REDGAUNTLET.
205
so as to disgrace my companion, who, every now
and then, gave me a nod of approbation. The
dances were, of course, the Scottish jigs, and reels,
and "twasome dances," with a strathspey or horn-
pipe for interlude; and the want of grace, on the
part of the performers, was amply supplied by truth
of ear, vigour and decision of step, and the agility
proper to the northern performers. My own spirits
rose with the mirth around me, and with old Wil-
lie's admirable execution, and frequent "weel dune,
gentle chap, yet!"—and, to confess the truth, I felt
a great deal more pleasure in this rustic revel, than
I have done at the more formal balls and concerts
in your famed city, to which I have sometimes
made my way. Perhaps this was, because I was
a person of more importance to the presiding ma-
tron of Brokenburn-foot, than I had the means of
rendering myself to the far-famed Miss Nickie
Murray, the patroness of your Edinburgh assem-
blies. The person I mean was a buxom dame of
about thirty, her fingers loaded with many a silver
ring, and three or four of gold; her ankles liberally
displayed from under her numerous blue, white,
and scarlet short petticoats, and attired in hose of
the finest and whitest lamb's-wool, which arose from
shoes of Spanish cordwain, fastened with silver
buckles. She took the lead in my favour, and de-
clared, "that the brave young gentleman should
not weary himself to death wi' playing, but take
the floor for a dance or twa."
"And what's to come of me, Dame Martin'?”
said Willie.
206
REDGAUNTLET.
"Come o' thee ?" said the dame; "mischanter
on the auld beard o' ye! ye could play for twenty
hours on end, and tire out the haill country-side wi'
dancing before ye laid down your bow, saving for
a by-drink or the like o' that.”
"In troth, dame," answered Willie, "ye are
nae sae far wrang; sae if my comrade is to take his
dance, ye maun gie me my drink, and then bob it
away like Madge of Middlebie."
The drink was soon brought; but while Willie
was partaking of it, a party entered the hut, which
arrested my attention at once, and intercepted the
intended gallantry with which I had proposed to
present my hand to the fresh-coloured, well-made,
white-ankled Thetis, who had obtained me manu-
mission from my musical task.
This was nothing less than the sudden appear-
ance of the old woman whom the Laird had termed
Mabel; Cristal Nixon, his male attendant; and
the young person who had said grace to us when I
supped with him.
This young person-Alan, thou art in thy way
a bit of a conjurer-this young person whom I did
not describe, and whom you, for that very reason,
suspected was not an indifferent object to me-is,
I am sorry to say it, in very fact not so much so as
in prudence she ought. I will not use the name
of love on this occasion; for I have applied it too
often to transient whims and fancies to escape your
satire, should I venture to apply it now. For it is
a phrase, I must confess, which I have used-a
romancer would say, profaned—a little too often,
REDGAUNTLET.
207
considering how few years have passed over my
head. But seriously, the fair chaplain of Broken-
burn has been often in my head when she had no
business there; and if this can give thee any clew
for explaining my motives in lingering about the
country, and assuming the character of Willie's
companion, why, hang thee, thou art welcome to
make use of it—a permission for which thou need'st
not thank me much, as thou wouldst not have fail-
ed to assume it, whether it were given or no.
Such being my feelings, conceive how they must
have been excited, when, like a beam upon a cloud,
I saw this uncommonly beautiful girl enter the
apartment in which they were dancing; not, how-
ever, with the air of an equal, but that of a supe-
rior, come to grace with her presence the festival
of her dependants. The old man and woman at-
tended, with looks as sinister as hers were lovely,
like two of the worst winter months waiting upon
the bright-eyed May.
When she entered-wonder if thou wilt-she
wore a green mantle, such as thou hast described
as the garb of thy fair client, and confirmed what
I had partly guessed from thy personal description,
that my chaplain and thy visitor were the same
person. There was an alteration on her brow the
instant she recognised me. She gave her cloak to
her female attendant, and, after a momentary he-
sitation, as if uncertain whether to advance or re-
tire, she walked into the room with dignity and
composure, all making way, the men unbonneting,
and the women curtsying respectfully, as she assu-
208
REDGAUNTLET.
med a chair which was reverently placed for her
accommodatión, apart from others.
There was then a pause, until the bustling mis-
tress of the ceremonies, with awkward, but kindly
courtesy, offered the young lady a glass of wine,
which was at first declined, and at length only thus
far accepted, that, bowing round to the festive com-
pany, the fair visitor wished them all health and
mirth, and, just touching the brim with her lip, re-
placed it on the salver. There was another pause ;
and I did not immediately recollect, confused as I
was by this unexpected apparition, that it belonged
to me to break it. At length a murmur was heard
around me, being expected to exhibit,―nay, to lead
down the dance,-in consequence of the previous
conversation.
"Deil's in the fiddler lad," was muttered from
more quarters than one-" saw folk ever sic a thing
as a shamefaced fiddler before?"
At length a venerable Triton, seconding his re-
monstrances with a hearty thump on my shoulder,
cried out, "To the floor-to the floor, and let us
see how ye can fling-the lasses are a' waiting."
Up I jumped, sprung from the elevated station
which constituted our orchestra, and, arranging my
ideas as rapidly as I could, advanced to the head of
the room, and, instead of offering my hand to the
white-footed Thetis aforesaid, I venturously made
the same proposal to her of the Green Mantle.
The nymph's lovely eyes seemed to open with
astonishment at the audacity of this offer; and, from
the murmurs I heard around me, I also understood
REDGAUNTLET.
209
that it surprised, and perhaps offended, the by-
standers. But after the first moment's emotion, she
wreathed her neck, and drawing herself haughtily
up, like one who was willing to show that she was
sensible of the full extent of her own condescension,
extended her hand towards me, like a princess
gracing a squire of low degree.
There is affectation in all this, thought I to my-
self, if the Green Mantle has borne true evidence
for young ladies do not make visits, or write let-
ters to counsel learned in the law, to interfere in
the motions of those whom they hold as cheap as
this nymph seems to do me; and if I am cheated
by a resemblance of cloaks, still I am interested to
show myself, in some degree, worthy of the favour
she has granted with so much state and reserve.—
The dance to be performed was the old Scots Jigg,
in which you are aware I used to play no sorry
figure at La Pique's, when thy clumsy movements
used to be rebuked by raps over the knuckles with
that great professor's fiddlestick. The choice of the
tune was left to my comrade Willie, who, having
finished his drink, feloniously struck up to the well-
known and popular measure,
"Merrily danced the Quaker's wife,
And merrily danced the Quaker."
An astounding laugh arose at my expense, and I
should have been annihilated, but that the smile
which mantled on the lip of my partner, had a dif-
ferent expression from that of ridicule, and seemed
to say,
"Do not take this to heart." And I did
VOL. XXXV.
O
210
REDGAUNTLET.
not, Alan. My partner danced admirably, and I
like one who was determined, if outshone, which I
could not help, not to be altogether thrown into the
shade.
I assure you our performance, as well as Willie's
music, deserved more polished spectators and audi-
tors; but we could not then have been greeted with
such enthusiastic shouts of applause as attended
while I handed my partner to her seat, and took
my place by her side, as one who had a right to
offer the attentions usual on such an occasion. She
was visibly embarrassed, but I was determined not
to observe her confusion, and to avail myself of
the opportunity of learning whether this beautiful
creature's mind was worthy of the casket in which
Nature had lodged it.
Nevertheless, however courageously I formed
this resolution, you cannot but too well guess the
difficulties I must needs have felt in carrying it into
execution; since want of habitual intercourse with
the charmers of the other sex has rendered me a
sheepish cur, only one grain less awkward than thy-
self. Then she was so very beautiful, and assumed
an air of so much dignity, that I was like to fall
under the fatal error of supposing she should only
be addressed with something very clever; and in the
hasty racking which my brains underwent in this
persuasion, not a single idea occurred that common
sense did not reject as fustian on the one hand, or
weary, flat, and stale triticism on the other. I felt
as if my understanding were no longer my own, but
was alternately under the dominion of Aldiboron-
REDGAUNTLET.
211
tiphoscophornio, and that of his facetious friend
Rigdum-Funnidos. How did I envy at that moment
our friend Jack Oliver, who produces with such
happy complacence his fardel of small talk, and
who, as he never doubts his own powers of affording
amusement, passes them current with every pretty
woman he approaches, and fills up the intervals of
chat by his complete acquaintance with the exercise
of the fan, the façon, and the other duties of the
Cavaliere Serviente. Some of these I attempted,
but I suppose it was awkwardly; at least the Lady
Greenmantle received them as a princess accepts
the homage of a clown.
Meantime the floor remained empty, and as the
mirth of the good meeting was somewhat checked,
I ventured, as a dernier resort, to propose a minuet.
She thanked me, and told me haughtily enough,
"she was here to encourage the harmless pleasures
of these good folks, but was not disposed to make
an exhibition of her own indifferent dancing for
their amusement."
She paused a moment, as if she expected me to
suggest something; and as I remained silent and
rebuked, she bowed her head more graciously, and
said, "Not to affront you, however, a country-dance,
if you please."
What an ass was I, Alan, not to have anticipa-
ted her wishes! Should I not have observed that
the ill-favoured couple, Mabel and Cristal, had
placed themselves on each side of her seat, like the
supporters of the royal arms? the man, thick, short,
shaggy, and hirsute, as the lion; the female, skin-
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dried, tight-laced, long, lean, and hungry-faced,
like the unicorn. I ought to have recollected, that
under the close inspection of two such watchful
salvages, our communication, while in repose, could
not have been easy; that the period of dancing a
minuet was not the very choicest time for conver-
sation; but that the noise, the exercise, and the
mazy confusion of a country-dance, where the in-
experienced performers were every now and then
running against each other, and compelling the
other couples to stand still for a minute at a time,
besides the more regular repose afforded by the in-
tervals of the dance itself, gave the best possible
openings for a word or two spoken in season, and
without being liable to observation.
We had but just led down, when an opportunity
of the kind occurred, and my partner said, with
great gentleness and modesty, "It is not perhaps
very proper in me to acknowledge an acquaintance
that is not claimed; but I believe I speak to Mr
Darsie Latimer ?"
"Darsie Latimer was indeed the person that had
now the honour and happiness”.
I would have gone on in the false gallop of com-
pliment, but she cut me short. "And why," she
said, "is Mr Latimer here, and in disguise, or at
least assuming an office unworthy of a man of edu-
cation?-I beg pardon," she continued," I would
not give you pain, but surely making an associate
of a person of that description".
She looked towards my friend Willie, and was
silent. I felt heartily ashamed of myself, and has-
REDGAUNTLET.
213
tened to say it was an idle frolic, which want of
occupation had suggested, and which I could not
regret, since it had procured me the pleasure I at
present enjoyed.
Without seeming to notice my compliment, she
took the next opportunity to say, “Will Mr La-
timer permit a stranger who wishes him well to ask,
whether it is right that, at his active age, he should
be in so far void of occupation, as to be ready to
adopt low society for the sake of idle amusement ?”
"You are severe, madam," I answered; “but I
cannot think myself degraded by mixing with any
society where I meet".
Here I stopped short, conscious that I was giving
my answer an unhandsome turn. The argumen-
tum ad hominem, the last to which a polite man
has recourse, may, however, be justified by circum-
stances, but seldom or never the argumentum ad
fœminam.
She filled up the blank herself which I had left.
"Where you meet me, I suppose you would say ?
But the case is different. I am, from my unhappy
fate, obliged to move by the will of others, and to
be in places which I would by my own will gladly
avoid. Besides, I am, except for these few minutes,
no participator of the revels-a spectator only, and
attended by my servants. Your situation is differ-
ent—you are here by choice, the partaker and mi-
nister of the pleasures of a class below you in edu-
cation, birth, and fortunes.-If I speak harshly, Mr
Latimer," she added, with much sweetness of man--
ner, “I mean kindly."
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I was confounded by her speech, “ severe in
youthful wisdom;" all of naïve or lively, suitable
to such a dialogue, vanished from my recollection,
and I answered, with gravity like her own, “I am,
indeed, better educated than these poor people; but
you, madam, whose kind admonition I am grateful
for, must know more of my condition than I do my-
self-I dare not say I am their superior in birth,
since I know nothing of my own, or in fortunes,
over which hangs an impenetrable cloud."
"And why should your ignorance on these points
drive you into low society and idle habits?” an-
swered my female monitor." Is it manly to wait
till fortune cast her beams upon you, when by ex-
ertion of your own energy you might distinguish
yourself?-Do not the pursuits of learning lie open
to you-of manly ambition-of war?—But no—
not of war, that has already cost you too dear."
"I will be what you wish me to be," I replied
with eagerness-"You have but to choose my path,
and you shall see
see if I do not pursue it with energy,
were it only because you command me."
"Not because I command you," said the maiden,
"but because reason, common sense, manhood, and,
in one word, regard for your own safety, give the
same counsel."
"At least permit me to reply, that reason and
sense never assumed a fairer form-of persuasion,"
I hastily added; for she turned from me-nor did
she give me another opportunity of continuing what
I had to say till the next pause of the dance, when,
determined to bring our dialogue to a point, I said,
REDGAUNTLET.
215
"You mentioned manhood also, madam, and, in
the same breath, personal danger. My ideas of
manhood suggest that it is cowardice to retreat be-
fore dangers of a doubtful character. You, who ap-
pear to know so much of my fortunes that I might
call you my guardian angel, tell me what these
dangers are, that I may judge whether manhood
calls on me to face or to fly them.”
She was evidently perplexed by this appeal.
"You make me pay dearly for acting as your
humane adviser," she replied at last : " I acknow-
ledge an interest in your fate, and yet I dare not
tell you whence it arises; neither am I at liberty
to say why, or from whom, you are in danger; but
it is not less true that danger is near and imminent.
- Ask me no more, but, for your own sake, begone
from this country. Elsewhere you are safe-here
you do but invite your fate.”
"But, am I doomed to bid thus farewell to al-
most the only human being who has showed an in-
terest in my welfare ?-Do not say so-say that
we shall meet again, and the hope shall be the lead-
ing star to regulate my course!"
"It is more than probable," she said-" much
more than probable, that we may never meet again.
The help which I now render you is all that may
be in my power; it is such as I should render to a
blind man whom I might observe approaching the
verge of a precipice; it ought to excite no surprise,
and requires no gratitude."
So saying, she again turned from me, nor did she
address me until the dance was on the point of end-
216
REDGAUNTLET.
ing, when she said, " Do not attempt to speak to,
or approach me again in the course of the night;
leave the company as soon as you can, but not
abruptly, and God be with you.'
""
I handed her to her seat, and did not quit the
fair palm I held, without expressing my feelings by
a gentle pressure. She coloured slightly, and with-
drew her hand, but not angrily. Seeing the eyes
of Cristal and Mabel sternly fixed on me, I bowed
deeply, and withdrew from her; my heart sadden-
ing, and my eyes becoming dim in spite of me, as
the shifting crowd hid us from each other.
It was my intention to have crept back to my
comrade Willie, and resumed my bow with such
spirit as I might, although at the moment I would
have given half my income for an instant's solitude.
But my retreat was cut off by Dame Martin, with
the frankness—if it is not an inconsistent phrase
—of rustic coquetry, that goes straight up to the
point.
"Ay, lad, ye seem unca sune weary, to dance sae
lightly? Better the nag that ambles a' the day,
than him that makes a brattle for a mile, and then's
dune wi' the road."
This was a fair challenge, and I could not decline
accepting it. Besides, I could see Dame Martin
was queen of the revels; and so many were the rude
and singular figures about me, that I was by no
means certain whether I might not need some pro-
tection. I seized on her willing hand, and we took
our places in the dance, where, if I did not acquit
myself with all the accuracy of step and movement
REDGAUNTLET.
217
which I had before attempted, I at least came up
to the expectations of my partner, who said, and
almost swore,
"I was prime at it;" while, stimu-
lated to her utmost exertions, she herself frisked
like a kid, snapped her fingers like castanets, whoop-
ed like a Bacchanal, and bounded from the floor
like a tennis-ball,―ay, till the colour of her garters
was no particular mystery. She made the less se-
cret of this, perhaps, that they were sky-blue, and
fringed with silver.
The time has been that this would have been
special fun; or rather, last night was the only time
I can recollect these four years when it would not
have been so; yet, at this moment, I cannot tell
you how I longed to be rid of Dame Martin. I al-
most wished she would sprain one of those " many-
twinkling" ankles, which served her so alertly; and
when, in the midst of her exuberant caprioling, I
saw my former partner leaving the apartment, and
with eyes, as I thought, turning towards me, this
unwillingness to carry on the dance increased to
such a point, that I was almost about to feign a
sprain or a dislocation myself, in order to put an
end to the performance. But there were around
me scores of old women, all of whom looked as if
they might have some sovereign recipe for such an
accident; and, remembering Gil Blas and his pre-
tended disorder in the robbers' cavern, I thought
it as wise to play Dame Martin fair, and dance till
she thought proper to dismiss me. What I did I
resolved to do strenuously, and in the latter part of
the exhibition, I cut and sprang from the floor as
218
REDGAUNTLET,
high and as perpendicularly as Dame Martin her-
self; and received, I promise you, thunders of ap-
plause, for the common people always prefer exer-
tion and agility to grace. At length Dame Mar-
tin could dance no more, and, rejoicing at my re-
lease, I led her to a seat, and took the privilege of
a partner to attend her.
66
Hegh, sirs," exclaimed Dame Martin, "I am
sair forfoughen! Troth, callant, I think ye hae been
amaist the death o' me."
I could only atone for the alleged offence by
fetching her some refreshment, of which she readily
partook.
"I have been lucky in my partners," I said,
"first that pretty young lady, and then you, Mrs
Martin."
"Hout wi' your fleeching," said Dame Martin.
“Gae wa―gae wa, lad; dinna blaw in folk's lugs
that gate; me and Miss Lilias even'd thegither!
Na, na, lad—od, she is maybe four or five years
younger than the like o' me,-by and attour her
gentle havings."
"She is the Laird's daughter ?" said I, in as
careless a tone of enquiry as I could assume.
"His daughter, man? Na, na, only his niece
-and sib aneugh to him, I think.'
""
"Ay, indeed," I replied; "I thought she had
borne his name?"
"She bears her ain name, and that's Lilias."
"And has she no other name ?" asked I.
"What needs she another till she gets a gude-
man?" answered my Thetis, a little miffed perhaps
REDGAUNTLET.
219
-to use the women's phrase-that I turned the
conversation upon my former partner, rather than
.addressed it to herself.
There was a short pause, which was interrupted
by Dame Martin observing, "They are standing
up again."
“True,” said I, having no mind to renew my late
violent capriole, "and I must go help old Willie."
Ere I could extricate myself, I heard poor Thetis
address herself to a sort of Mer-man in a jacket of
seaman's blue, and a pair of trowsers, (whose hand,
by the way, she had rejected at an earlier part of
the evening,) and intimate that she was now dis-
posed to take a trip.
"Trip away then, dearie," said the vindictive man
of the waters, without offering his hand; "there,'
pointing to the floor, "is a roomy berth for you.”
Certain I had made one enemy, and perhaps two,
I hastened to my original seat beside Willie, and
began to handle my bow. But I could see that my
conduct had made an unfavourable impression; the
words, "flory conceited chap,"-" hafflins gentle,"
and at length, the still more alarming epithet of
"spy," began to be buzzed about, and I was heartily
glad when the apparition of Sam's visage at the
door, who was already possessed of and draining a
can of punch, gave me assurance that my means of
retreat were at hand. I intimated as much to Wil-
lie, who probably had heard more of the murmurs
of the company than I had, for he whispered, "Ay,
ay—awa wi' ye—ower lang here-slide out canny
dinna let them see ye are on the tramp."
""
32
220
REDGAUNTLET.
I slipped half-a-guinea into the old man's hand,
who answered, "Truts! pruts! nonsense! but I'se
no refuse, trusting ye can afford it.—Awa wi' ye—
and if ony body stops ye, cry on me.'
""
I glided, by his advice, along the room as if look-
ing for a partner, joined Sam, whom I disengaged
with some difficulty from his can, and we left the
cottage together in a manner to attract the least
possible observation. The horses were tied in a
neighbouring shed, and as the moon was up and I
was now familiar with the road, broken and com-
plicated as it is, we soon reached the Shepherd's
Bush, where the old landlady was sitting up wait-
ing for us, under some anxiety of mind, to account
for which she did not hesitate to tell me that some
folks had gone to Brokenburn from her house, or
neighbouring towns, that did not come so safe back
again. “Wandering Willie," she said, " was doubt-
less a kind of protection."
Here Willie's wife, who was smoking in the
chimney corner, took up the praises of her "hinnie,"
as she called him, and endeavoured to awaken my
generosity afresh, by describing the dangers from
which, as she was pleased to allege, her husband's
countenance had assuredly been the means of pre-
serving me. I was not, however, to be fooled out
of more money at this time, and went to bed in
haste, full of various cogitations.
I have since spent a couple of days betwixt Mount
Sharon and this place, and betwixt reading, writing
to thee this momentous history, forming plans for
seeing the lovely Lilias, and-partly, I think, for
REDGAUNTLET.
221
{
the sake of contradiction-angling a little in spite
of Joshua's scruples-though I am rather liking
the amusement better as I begin to have some suc-
cess in it.
And now, my dearest Alan, you are in full pos--
session of my secret-let me as frankly into the
recesses of your bosom. How do you feel towards
this fair ignis fatuus, this lily of the desert? Tell
me honestly; for however the recollection of her
may haunt my own mind, my love for Alan Fair-
ford surpasses the love of woman. I know, too,
that when you do love, it will be to
"Love once and love no more.
A deep-consuming passion, once kindled in a breast
so steady as yours, would never be extinguished
but with life. I am of another and more volatile
temper, and though I shall open your next with a
trembling hand, and uncertain heart, yet let it bring
a frank confession that this fair unknown has made
a deeper impression on your gravity than you reck-
oned for, and you will see I can tear the arrow from
my own wound, barb and all. In the meantime,
though I have formed schemes once more to see
her, I will, you may rely on it, take no step for
putting them into practice. I have refrained from
this hitherto, and I give you my word of honour,
I shall continue to do so; yet why should you need
any further assurance from one who is so entirely
yours as
D. L.
REDGAUNTLET.
222
P. S.-I shall be on thorns till I receive your:
answer. I read, and re-read your letter, and can-
not for my soul discover what your real sentiments
are. Sometimes I think you write of her as one-
in jest and sometimes I think that cannot be. Put
me at ease as soon as possible.
REDGAUNTLET.
223
LETTER XIII.
ALAN FAIRFORD TO DARSIE LATIMER.
I WRITE on the instant, as you direct ; and in a
tragi-comic humour, for I have a tear in my eye,
and a smile on my cheek. Dearest Darsie, sure
never a being but yourself could be so generous-
sure never a being but yourself could be so absurd!
I remember when you were a boy you wished to
make your fine new whip a present to old aunt
Peggy, merely because she admired it; and now,
with like unreflecting and unappropriate liberality,
you would resign your beloved to a smoke-dried
young sophister, who cares not one of the hairs
which it is his occupation to split, for all the daugh-
ters of Eve. Iin love with your Lilias-your green-
mantle-your unknown enchantress!-why I scarce
saw her for five minutes, and even then only the
tip of her chin was distinctly visible. She was well
made, and the tip of her chin was of a most pro-
mising cast for the rest of the face; but, Heaven
save you! she came upon business! and for a law-
yer to fall in love with a pretty client on a single
consultation, would be as wise as if he became ena-
moured of a particularly bright sunbeam which
chanced for a moment to gild his bar-wig. I give
you my word I am heart-whole; and, moreover, I
224
REDGAUNTLET.
assure you, that before I suffer a woman to sit near
my heart's core, I must see her full face, without
mask or mantle, ay, and know a good deal of her
mind into the bargain. So never fret yourself on
my account, my kind and generous Darsie; but, for
your own sake, have a care, and let not an idle
attachment, so lightly taken up, lead you into seri-
ous danger.
On this subject I feel so apprehensive, that now
when I am decorated with the honours of the gown,
I should have abandoned my career at the very
starting to come to you, but for my father having
contrived to clog my heels with fetters of a profes-
sional nature. I will tell you the matter at length,
for it is comical enough; and why should not you
list to my juridical adventures, as well as I to those
of your fiddling knight-errantry?
It was after dinner, and I was considering how I
might best introduce to my father the private reso-
lution I had formed to set off for Dumfries-shire,
or whether I had not better run away at once, and
plead my excuse by letter, when, assuming the
peculiar look with which he communicates any of
his intentions respecting me, that he suspects may
not be altogether acceptable," Alan," he said,
66
ye now wear a gown-ye have opened shop, as
we would say of a more mechanical profession;
and, doubtless, ye think the floor of the courts is
strewed with guineas, and that ye have only to stoop
down to gather them?"
"I hope I am sensible, sir," I replied, "that I
•
REDGAUNTLET.
225
have some knowledge and practice to acquire, and
must stoop for that in the first place."
"It is well said," answered my father; and, al-
ways afraid to give too much encouragement, add-
ed, "Very well said, if it be well acted up to
Stoop to get knowledge and practice is the very
word. Ye know very well, Alan, that in the other
faculty who study the Ars medendi, before the young
doctor gets to the bedsides of palaces, he must, as
they call it, walk the hospitals; and cure Lazarus
of his sores, before he be admitted to prescribe for
Dives, when he has gout or indigestion"-
"I am aware, sir, that”.
-
"Whisht-do not interrupt the court-Well
-also the chirurgeons have an useful practice, by
which they put their apprentices and tyrones to
work upon senseless dead bodies, to which, as they
can do no good, so they certainly can do as little
harm; while at the same time the tyro, or appren-
tice, gains experience, and becomes fit to whip off
a leg or arm from a living subject, as cleanly as ye
would slice an onion."
"I believe I guess your meaning, sir," answered
I; "and were it not for a very particular engage-
ment".
"Do not speak to me of engagements; but
whisht-there is a good lad—and do not interrupt
the court."
My father, you know, is apt-be it said with all
filial duty-to be a little prolix in his harangues.
I had nothing for it but to lean back and listen.
VOL. XXXV.
P
226
REDGAUNTLET.
་
"Maybe you think, Alan, because I have, doubt-
less, the management of some actions in depend-
ence, whilk my worthy clients have intrusted me
with, that I may think of airting them your way
instanter; and so setting you up in practice, so far
as my small business or influence may go; and,
doubtless, Alan, that is a day whilk I hope may
come round. But then, before I give, as the pro-
verb hath it, My own fish-guts to my own sea-
maws,' I must, for the sake of my own character,
be very sure that my sea-maw can pick them to
some purpose. What say ye?"
،
"I am so far," answered I, "from wishing to get
early into practice, sir, that I would willingly be-
stow a few days"-
"In farther study, ye would say, Alan. But
that is not the way either-ye must walk the hos-
pitals-ye must cure Lazarus-ye must cut and
carve on a departed subject, to show your skill."
I am sure," I replied, "I will undertake the
cause of any poor man with pleasure, and bestow
as much pains upon it as if it were a duke's; but
for the next two or three days"-
(C
They must be devoted to close study, Alan—
very close study indeed; for ye must stand primed
for a hearing, in presentia Dominorum, upon Tues-
day next."
"
I, sir!" I replied in astonishment-" I have
not opened my mouth in the Outer-House yet!"
"Never mind the Court of the Gentiles, man,”
said my father; we will have you into the Sanc◄
tuary at once-over shoes, over boots."
""
REDGAUNTLET.
227
“But, sir, I should really spoil any cause thrust
on me so hastily."
"Ye cannot spoil it, Alan," said my father, rub-
bing his hands with much complacency; "that is
the very cream of the business, man—it is just, as
I said before, a subject upon whilk all the tyrones
have been trying their whittles for fifteen years;
and as there have been about ten or a dozen agents
concerned, and each took his own way, the case is
come to that pass, that Stair or Arniston could not
mend it; and I do not think even you, Alan, can
do it much harm-ye may get credit by it, but ye
can lose none."
"And pray what is the name of my happy client,
sir ?” said I, ungraciously enough, I believe.
"It is a well-known name in the Parliament-
House," replied my father. "To say the truth, I
expect him every moment; it is Peter Peebles."*
"Peter Peebles!" exclaimed I, in astonishment;
"he is an insane beggar-as poor as Job, and as
mad as a March hare !"
"He has been pleaing in the court for fifteen
years," said my father, in a tone of commiseration,
which seemed to acknowledge that this fact was
enough to account for the poor man's condition both
in mind and circumstances.
“Besides, sir,” I added, "he is on the Poor's
Roll; and you know there are advocates regularly
appointed to manage those cases; and for me to
presume to interfere".
*Note, p. 241. Peter Peebles.
228
REDGAUNTLET.
“Whisht, Alan !—never interrupt the court-
all that is managed for ye like a tee'd ball;" (my
father sometimes draws his similes from his once
favourite game of golf ;)—" you must know, Alan,
that Peter's cause was to have been opened by young
Dumtoustie―ye may ken the lad, a son of Dum-
toustie of that ilk, member of Parliament for the
county of
and a nephew of the Laird's younger
brother, worthy Lord Bladderskate, whilk ye are
aware sounds as like being akin to a peatship*
and a sheriffdom, as a sieve is sib to a riddle. Now,
Saunders Drudgeit, my lord's clerk, came to me
this morning in the House, like ane bereft of his
wits; for it seems that young Dumtoustie is ane of
the Poor's Lawyers, and Peter Peebles's process
had been remitted to him of course. But so soon
as the harebrained goose saw the pokes,† (as, in-
deed, Alan, they are none of the least,) he took
fright, called for his nag, lap on, and away to the
country is he gone; and so, said Saunders, my lord
is at his wit's end wi' vexation and shame, to see
his nevoy break off the course at the very starting.
I'll tell you, Saunders,' said I, were I
my lord,
and a friend or kinsman of mine should leave the
town while the court was sitting, that kinsman, or
be he what he liked, should never darken my door
again.' And then, Alan, I thought to turn the ball
our own way; and I said that you were a gey sharp
6
* Formerly, a lawyer, supposed to be under the peculiar
patronage of
any particular judge, was invidiously termed his
peat or pet.
+ Process-bags.
REDGAUNTLET.
229
birkie, just off the irons, and if it would oblige my
lord, and so forth, you would open Peter's cause
on Tuesday, and make some handsome apology for
the necessary absence of your learned friend, and
the loss which your client and the court had sus-
tained, and so forth. Saunders lap at the proposi-
tion, like a cock at a grossart; for, he said, the only
chance was to get a new hand, that did not ken the
charge he was taking upon him; for there was not
a lad of two Sessions' standing that was not dead-
sick of Peter Peebles and his cause; and he advised
me to break the matter gently to you at the first;
but I told him you were a good bairn, Alan, and
had no will and pleasure in these matters but mine."
What could I say, Darsie, in answer to this ar-
rangement, so very well meant
well meant-so very vexatious
at the same time?—To imitate the defection and
flight of young Dumtoustie, was at once to destroy
my father's hopes of me for ever; nay, such is the
keenness with which he regards all connected with
his profession, it might have been a step to break-
ing his heart. I was obliged, therefore, to bow in
sad acquiescence, when my father called to James
Wilkinson to bring the two bits of pokes he would
find on his table.
Exit James, and presently re-enters, bending
under the load of two huge leathern bags, full of
papers to the brim, and labelled on the greasy
greasy backs
with the magic impress of the clerks of court, and
the title, Peebles against Plainstanes. This huge
mass was deposited on the table, and my father,
with no ordinary glee in his countenance, began to
-
230
REDGAUNTLET.
draw out the various bundles of papers, secured by
none of your red tape or whipcord, but stout, sub-
stantial casts of tarred rope, such as might have
held small craft at their moorings.
I made a last and desperate effort to get rid of
the impending job. "I am really afraid, sir, that
this case seems so much complicated, and there is
so little time to prepare, that we had better move
the Court to supersede it till next Session."
How, sir?-how, Alan ?" said my father-
"Would you approbate and reprobate, sir?-You
have accepted the poor man's cause, and if you haye
not his fee in your pocket, it is because he has none
to give you; and now would you approbate and
reprobate in the same breath of your mouth ?—
Think of your oath of office, Alan, and your duty
to your father, my dear boy."
Once more, what could I say?—I saw, from my
father's hurried and alarmed manner, that nothing
could vex him so much as failing in the point he
had determined to carry, and once more intimated
my readiness to do my best, under every disadvan-
tage.
"Well, well, my boy," said my father, "the
Lord will make your days long in the land, for the
honour you have given to your father's grey hairs.
You may find wiser advisers, Alan, but none that
can wish you better."
My father, you know, does not usually give way
to expressions of affection, and they are interesting
in proportion to their rarity. My eyes began to
fill at seeing his glisten; and my delight at having
REDGAUNTLET.
231
given him such sensible gratification would have
been unmixed, but for the thoughts of you. These
out of the question, I could have grappled with the
bags, had they been as large as corn-sacks. But, to
turn what was grave into farce, the door opened,
and Wilkinson ushered in Peter Peebles.
You must have seen this original, Darsie, who,
like others in the same predicament, continues to
haunt the courts of justice, where he has made ship-
wreck of time, means, and understanding. Such
insane paupers have sometimes seemed to me to re-
semble wrecks lying upon the shoals on the Good-
win Sands, or in Yarmouth Roads, warning other
vessels to keep aloof from the banks on which they
have been lost; or rather such ruined clients are like
scarecrows and potatoe-bogles, distributed through
the courts to scare away fools from the scene of
litigation.
The identical Peter wears a huge great-coat,
threadbare and patched itself, yet carefully so dis-
posed and secured by what buttons remain, and
many supplementary pins, as to conceal the still
more infirm state of his under garments. The
shoes and stockings of a ploughman were, however,
seen to meet at his knees, with a pair of brownish,
blackish breeches; a rusty-coloured handkerchief,
that has been black in its day, surrounded his
throat, and was an apology for linen. His hair,
half grey, half black, escaped in elf-locks around a
huge wig, made of tow, as it seemed to me, and so
much shrunk, that it stood up on the very top of
his head; above which he plants, when covered, an
232
REDGAUNTLET.
vi.
AM
immense cocked hat, which, like the chieftain's ban-
ner in an ancient battle, may be seen any sederunt
day betwixt nine and ten, high towering above all
the fluctuating and changeful scene in the Outer-
House, where his eccentricities often make him the
centre of a group of petulant and teasing boys, whọ
exercise upon him every art of ingenious torture.
His countenance, originally that of a portly, comely
burgess, is now emaciated with poverty and anxie-
ty, and rendered wild by an insane lightness about
the eyes; a withered and blighted skin and com-
plexion; features begrimed with snuff, charged
with the self-importance peculiar to insanity; and
a habit of perpetually speaking to himself. Such
was my unfortunate client; and I must allow, Darsie,
that my profession had need to do a great deal of
good, if, as is much to be feared, it brings many
Individuals to such a pass.
After we had been, with a good deal of form,
presented to each other, at which time I easily saw
by my father's manner that he was desirous of sup-
porting Peter's character in my eyes, as much as
circumstances would permit, "Alan," he said, "this
is the gentleman who has agreed to accept of you
as his counsel, in place of young Dumtoustie."
(6
Entirely out of favour to my old acquaintance
your father," said Peter, with a benign and patron-
ising countenance, "out of respect to your father,
and my old intimacy with Lord Bladderskate.
Otherwise, by the Regiam Majestatem! I would
have presented a petition and complaint against
Daniel Dumtoustie, Advocate, by name and sur-
REDGAUNTLET.
233
name-I would, by all the practiques!-I know the
forms of process; and I am not to be trifled with.”
My father here interrupted my client, and re-
minded him that there was a good deal of business
to do, as he proposed to give the young counsel an
outline of the state of the conjoined process, with
a view to letting him into the merits of the cause,
disencumbered from the points of form. "I have
made a short abbreviate, Mr Peebles," said he;
having sat up late last night, and employed much
of this morning in wading through these papers,
to save Alan some trouble, and I am now about to
state the result.'
66
"I will state it myself," said Peter, breaking in
without reverence upon his solicitor.
No, by no means," said my father; "I am
your agent for the time.”
“Mine eleventh in number," said Peter; « I
have a new one every year; I wish I could get a
new coat as regularly."
"Your agent for the time," resumed my father;
"and you, who are acquainted with the forms,
know that the client states the cause to the agent
—the agent to the counsel"
"The counsel to the Lord Ordinary," continued
Peter, once set a-going, like the peal of an alarm
clock," the Ordinary to the Inner-House, the Pre-
sident to the Bench. It is just like the rope to the
man, the man to the axe, the axe to the ox, the
ox to the water, the water to the fire".
66
'Hush, for Heaven's sake, Mr Peebles," said my
father, cutting his recitation short; "time wears
234
REDGAUNTLET.
on-we must get to business-you must not in-
terrupt the court, you know.-Hem, hem! From
this abbreviate it appears".
"Before you begin," said Peter Peebles, “I'll
thank you to order me a morsel of bread and cheese,
or some cauld meat, or broth, or the like aliment-
ary provision; I was so anxious to see your son,
that I could not eat a mouthful of dinner."
Heartily glad, I believe, to have so good a chance
of stopping his client's mouth effectually, my father
ordered some cold meat; to which James Wilkin-
son, for the honour of the house, was about to add
the brandy bottle, which remained on the sideboard,
but, at a wink from my father, supplied its place
with small beer. Peter charged the provisions
with the rapacity of a famished lion; and so well
did the diversion engage him, that though, while
my
father stated the case, he looked at him repeat-
edly, as if he meant to interrupt his statement, yet
he always found more agreeable employment for
his mouth, and returned to the cold beef with an
avidity which convinced me he had not had such an
opportunity for many a day of satiating his appe-
tite. Omitting much formal phraseology, and many
legal details, I will endeavour to give you, in ex-
change for your fiddler's tale, the history of a liti-
gant, or rather, the history of his lawsuit.
"Peter Peebles and Paul Plainstanes,” said my
father, "entered into partnership, in the year
as mercers and linendrapers, in the Luckenbooths,
and carried on a great line of business to mutual
advantage. But the learned counsel needeth not
REDGAUNTLET.
235
to be told, societas est mater discordiarum, partner-
ship oft makes pleaship. The company being dis-
solved by mutual consent, in the year the
affairs had to be wound up, and after certain at-
tempts to settle the matter extrajudicially, it was
at last brought into the Court, and has branched
out into several distinct processes, most of whilk
have been conjoined by the Ordinary. It is to the
state of these processes that counsel's attention is
particularly directed. There is the original action
of Peebles v. Plainstanes, convening him for pay-
ment of L.3000, less or more, as alleged balance
due by Plainstanes. 2dly, There is a counter ac-
tion, in which Plainstanes is pursuer and Peebles
defender, for L.2500, less or more, being balance
alleged per contra, to be due by Peebles. 3dly, Mr
Peebles's seventh agent advised an action of Compt
and Reckoning at his instance, wherein what ba-
lance should prove due on either side might be
fairly struck and ascertained. 4thly, To meet the
hypothetical case, that Peebles might be found lia-
ble in a balance to Plainstanes, Mr Wildgoose,
Mr Peebles's eighth agent, recommended a Multi-
plepoinding, to bring all parties concerned into the
field."
My brain was like to turn at this account of law-
suit within lawsuit, like a nest of chip-boxes, with
all of which I was expected to make myself ac-
quainted.
"I understand," I said, "that Mr Peebles claims
a sum of money from Plainstanes-how then can
he be his debtor? and if not his debtor, how can
236
REDGAUNTLET.
he bring a Multiplepoinding, the very summons of
which sets forth, that the pursuer does owe certain
monies, which he is desirous to pay by warrant of
a judge?"*
"Ye know little of the matter, I doubt, friend,"
said Mr Peebles; "a Multiplepoinding is the safest
remedium juris in the whole form of process. I have
known it conjoined with a declarator of marriage.
-Your beef is excellent," he said to my father,
who in vain endeavoured to resume his legal dis-
quisition; "but something highly powdered-and
the twopenny is undeniable; but it is small swipes
-small swipes-more of hop than malt-with your
leave I'll try your black bottle.”
My father started to help him with his own hand,
and in due measure; but, infinitely to my amuse-
ment, Peter got possession of the bottle by the
neck, and my father's ideas of hospitality were far
too scrupulous to permit his attempting, by any di-
rect means, to redeem it; so that Peter returned to
the table triumphant, with his prey in his clutch.
"Better have a wine-glass, Mr Peebles," said
my father, in an admonitory tone, "you will find
it pretty strong."
"If the kirk is ower muckle, we can sing mass
in the quire," said Peter, helping himself in the
goblet out of which he had been drinking the small
beer. "What is it, usquebaugh ?—BRANDY, as I
am an honest man! I had almost forgotten the name
and taste of brandy.-Mr Fairford elder, your good
* Multiplepoinding is, I believe, equivalent to what is called
in England a case of Double Distress.
REDGAUNTLET.
237
health," (a mouthful of brandy)-" Mr Alan Fair-
ford, wishing you well through your arduous un-
dertaking," (another go-down of the comfortable
liquor.) "And now, though you have given a to-
lerable breviate of this great lawsuit, of whilk every
body has heard something that has walked the
boards in the Outer-House, (here's to ye again, by
way of interim decreet,) yet ye have omitted to
speak a word of the arrestments."
"I was just coming to that point, Mr Peebles."
"Or of the action of suspension of the charge
on the bill."
"I was just coming to that."
"Or the advocation of the Sheriff-Court pro-
99
cess.'
"I was just coming to it."
"As Tweed comes to Melrose, I think," said
the litigant; and then filling his goblet about a
quarter full of brandy, as if in absence of mind,
“Oh, Mr Alan Fairford, ye are a lucky man to
buckle to such a cause as mine at the very outset !
it is like a specimen of all causes, man. By the
Regiam, there is not a remedium juris in the prac-
tiques but ye'll find a spice o't. Here's to your
getting weel through with it-Pshut-I am drink-
ing naked spirits, I think. But if the heathen be
ower strong, we'll christen him with the brewer,"
(here he added a little small beer to his beverage,
paused, rolled his eyes, winked, and proceeded,)—
"Mr Fairford-the action of assault and battery,
Mr Fairford, when I compelled the villain Plain-
stanes to pull my nose within two steps of King
238
REDGAUNTLET.
Charles's statue, in the Parliament Close-there
I had him in a hose-net. Never man could tell me
how to shape that process-no counsel that ever
selled wind could condescend and say whether it
were best to proceed by way of petition and com-
plaint, ad vindictam publicam, with consent of his
Majesty's advocate, or by action on the statute for
battery, pendente lite, whilk would be the winning
my plea at once, and so getting a back-door out of
Court. By the Regiam, that beef and brandy is
unco het at my heart-I maun try the ale again,"
(sipped a little beer); "and the ale's but cauld, I
maun e'en put in the rest of the brandy."
He was as good as his word, and proceeded in so
loud and animated a style of elocution, thumping
the table, drinking and snuffing alternately, that
my father, abandoning all attempts to interrupt
him, sat silent and ashamed, suffering and anxious
for the conclusion of the scene.
1
C
"And then to come back to my pet process of
all—my battery and assault process, when I had the
good luck to provoke him to pull my nose at the
very threshold of the Court, whilk was the very
thing I wanted-Mr Pest, ye ken him, Daddie
Fairford? Old Pest was for making it out hame-
sucken, for he said the Court might be said-said
-ugh!—to be my dwelling-place. I dwell mair
there than ony gate else, and the essence of hame-
sucken is to strike a man in his dwelling-place-
mind that, young advocate-and so there's hope
Plainstanes may be hanged, as many has for a less
matter; for, my Lords,-will Pest say to the Jus-
REDGAUNTLET.
239
F
ticiary bodies,—my Lords, the Parliament House
is Peebles's place of dwelling, says he-being com-
mune forum, and commune forum est commune domi-
cilium-Lass, fetch another glass of whisky, and
score it-time to gae hame-by the practiques, I
cannot find the jug—yet there's twa of them, I
think. By the Regiam, Fairford-Daddie Fairford
-lend us twal pennies to buy sneeshing, mine is
done-Macer, call another cause.
The box fell from his hands, and his body would
at the same time have fallen from the chair, had
I not supported him.
"This is intolerable," said my father—“ Call a
chairman, James Wilkinson, to carry this degraded,
worthless, drunken beast home."
"?
When Peter Peebles was removed from this
memorable consultation, under the care of an able-
bodied Celt, my father hastily bundled up the
papers, as a showman, whose exhibition has mis-
carried, hastes to remove his booth.
"Here are
my memoranda, Alan,” he said, in a hurried way;
“look them carefully over-compare them with the
processes, and turn it in your head before Tuesday.
Many a good speech has been made for a beast of a
client; and hark ye, lad, hark ye-I never intended
to cheat you of your fee when all was done, though
I would have liked to have heard the speech first;
but there is nothing like corning the horse before
the journey. Here are five goud guineas in a silk
purse of your poor mother's netting, Alan-she
would have been a blithe woman to have seen her
24.0
REDGAUNTLET.
;
·
young son with a gown on his back-but no more of
that—be a good boy, and to the work like a tiger."
I did set to work, Darsie; for who could resist
such motives? With my father's assistance, I have
mastered the details, confused as they are; and on
Tuesday, I shall plead as well for Peter Peebles, as
I could for a duke. Indeed, I feel my head so clear
on the subject, as to be able to write this long letter
to you; into which, however, Peter and his law-
suit have insinuated themselves so far, as to show
you how much they at present occupy my thoughts.
Once more, be careful of yourself, and mindful of
me, who am ever thine, while
ALAN FAIRford.
From circumstances, to be hereafter mentioned,
it was long ere this letter reached the person to
whom it was addressed.
1
1
REDGAUNTLET.
241
NOTE TO LETTER XIII.
Note, p. 227.-PETER PEEBLES.
VOL. XXXV,
This unfortunate litigant (for a person named Peter Peebles
actually flourished) frequented the courts of justice in Scot-
land about the year 1792, and the sketch of his appearance is
given from recollection. The author is of opinion that he him-
self had at one time the honour to be counsel for Peter Peebles,
whose voluminous course of litigation served as a sort of assay-
pieces to most young men who were called to the bar. The
scene of the consultation is entirely imaginary.
-

242
REDGAUNTLET.
↑
CHAPTER I.
NARRATIVE.
THE advantage of laying before the reader, in
the words of the actors themselves, the adventures
which we must otherwise have narrated in our own,
has given great popularity to the publication of epis-
tolary correspondence, as practised by various great
authors, and by ourselves in the preceding chapters.
Nevertheless, a genuine correspondence of this
kind (and Heaven forbid it should be in any respect
sophisticated by interpolations of our own!) can sel-
dom be found to contain all in which it is necessary
to instruct the reader for his full comprehension of
the story. Also it must often happen that various
prolixities and redundancies occur in the course of
an interchange of letters, which must hang as a
dead weight on the progress of the narrative. To
avoid this dilemma, some biographers have used
the letters of the personages concerned, or liberal
extracts from them, to describe particular incidents,
or express the sentiments which they entertained;
while they connect them occasionally with such
portions of narrative, as may serve to carry on the
thread of the story.
It is thus that the adventurous travellers who

REDGAUNtlet.
243
explore the summit of Mont Blanc, now move on
through the crumbling snow-drift so slowly, that
their progress is almost imperceptible, and anon
abridge their journey by springing over the inter-
vening chasms which cross their path, with the
assistance of their pilgrim-staves. Or, to make a
briefer simile, the course of story-telling which we
have for the present adopted, resembles the origi-
nal discipline of the dragoons, who were trained to
serve either on foot or horseback, as the emergen-
cies of the service required. With this explanation,
we shall proceed to narrate some circumstances
which Alan Fairford did not, and could not, write
to his correspondent.
Our reader, we trust, has formed somewhat ap-
proaching to a distinct idea of the principal charac-
ters who have appeared before him during our
narrative; but in case our good opinion of his saga-
city has been exaggerated, and in order to satisfy
such as are addicted to the laudable practice of
skipping, (with whom we have at times a strong
fellow-feeling,) the following particulars may not
be superfluous.
Mr Saunders Fairford, as he was usually called,
was a man of business of the old school, moderate
in his charges, economical and even niggardly in his
expenditure, strictly honest in conducting his own
affairs, and those of his clients, but taught by long
experience to be wary and suspicious in observing
the motions of others. Punctual as the clock of
Saint Giles tolled nine, the neat dapper form of
the little hale old gentleman was seen at the thresh-
244
REDGAUNTLET.
old of the Court hall, or at farthest, at the head of
the Back Stairs, trimly dressed in a complete suit
of snuff-coloured brown, with stockings of silk or
woollen, as suited the weather; a bobwig, and a
small cocked hat; shoes blacked as Warren would
have blacked them; silver shoe-buckles, and a gold
stock-buckle. A nosegay in summer, and a sprig of
holly in winter, completed his well-known dress and
appearance. His manners corresponded with his
attire, for they were scrupulously civil, and not a
little formal. He was an elder of the kirk, and, of
course, zealous for King George and the govern-
ment even to slaying, as he had showed by taking up
arms in their cause. But then, as he had clients and
connexions of business among families of opposite
political tenets, he was particularly cautious to use
all the conventional phrases which the civility of
the time had devised, as an admissible mode of
language betwixt the two parties. Thus he spoke
sometimes of the Chevalier, but never either of the
Prince, which would have been sacrificing his own
principles, or of the Pretender, which would have
been offensive to those of others. Again, he usually
designated the Rebellion as the affair of 1745,
and spoke of any one engaged in it as a person who
had been out at a certain period.* So that, on the
* OLD-FASHIONED SCOTTISH CIVILITY.-Such were literally
the points of politeness observed in general society during the
author's youth, where it was by no means unusual in a com-
pany assembled by chance, to find individuals who had borne
arms on one side or other in the civil broils of 1745. Nothing,
according to my recollection, could be more gentle and decorous
REDGAUNTLET.
245
4
whole, Mr Fairford was a man much liked and re-
spected on all sides, though his friends would not
have been sorry if he had given a dinner more fre-
quently, as his little cellar contained some choice
old wine, of which, on such rare occasions, he was
no niggard.
The whole pleasure of this good old-fashioned
man of method, besides that which he really felt in
the discharge of his daily business, was the hope to
see his son Alan, the only fruit of a union which
death early dissolved, attain what in the father's
eyes was the proudest of all distinctions-the rank
and fame of a well-employed lawyer.
Every profession has its peculiar honours, and
Mr Fairford's mind was constructed upon so limited
and exclusive a plan, that he valued nothing, save
the objects of ambition which his own presented.
He would have shuddered at Alan's acquiring the
renown of a hero, and laughed with scorn at the
equally barren laurels of literature; it was by the
path of the law alone that he was desirous to see
him rise to eminence, and the probabilities of success
or disappointment were the thoughts of his father
by day, and his dream by night.
The disposition of Alan Fairford, as well as his
talents, were such as to encourage his father's ex-
pectations. He had acuteness of intellect, joined
to habits of long and patient study, improved no
doubt by the discipline of his father's house; to
than the respect these old enemies paid to each other's preju-
dices. But in this I speak generally. I have witnessed one or
two explosions.
246
REDGAUNTLET.
which, generally speaking, he conformed with the
utmost docility, expressing no wish for greater or
more frequent relaxation than consisted with his
father's anxious and severe restrictions. When he
did indulge in any juvenile frolics, his father had
the candour to lay the whole blame upon his more
mercurial companion, Darsie Latimer.
This youth, as the reader must be aware, had
been received as an inmate into the family of Mr
Fairford, senior, at a time when some of the deli-
cacy of constitution which had abridged the life of
his consort, began to show itself in the son, and
when the father was, of course, peculiarly disposed
to indulge his slightest wish. That the young Eng-
lishman was able to pay a considerable board, was
a matter of no importance to Mr Fairford; it was
enough that his presence seemed to make his son
cheerful and happy. He was compelled to allow
that "Darsie was a fine lad, though unsettled," and
he would have had some difficulty in getting rid of
him, and the apprehensions which his levities ex-
cited, had it not been for the voluntary excursion
which gave rise to the preceding correspondence,
and in which Mr Fairford secretly rejoiced, as
affording the means of separating Alan from his
gay companion, at least until he should have assu-
med, and become accustomed to, the duties of his
dry and laborious profession.
-
But the absence of Darsie was far from promoting
the end which the elder Mr Fairford had expected
and desired. The young men were united by the
closest bonds of intimacy; and the more so, that
REDGAUNTLET.
247
neither of them sought nor desired to admit any
others into their society. Alan Fairford was averse
to general company, from a disposition naturally
reserved, and Darsie Latimer from a painful sense
of his own unknown origin, peculiarly afflicting in
a country where high and low are professed genea-
logists. The young men were all in all to each
other; it is no wonder, therefore, that their separa-
tion was painful, and that its effects upon Alan
Fairford, joined to the anxiety occasioned by the
tenor of his friend's letters, greatly exceeded what
the senior had anticipated. The young man went
through his usual duties, his studies, and the exa-
minations to which he was subjected, but with
nothing like the zeal and assiduity which he had
formerly displayed; and his anxious and observant
father saw but too plainly that his heart was with
his absent comrade.
A philosopher would have given way to this tide
of feeling, in hopes to have diminished its excess,
and permitted the youths to have been some time
together, that their intimacy might have been broken
off by degrees; but Mr Fairford only saw the more
direct mode of continued restraint, which, however,
he was desirous of veiling under some plausible
pretext. In the anxiety which he felt on this occa-
sion, he had held communication with an old ac-
quaintance, Peter Drudgeit, with whom the reader
is partly acquainted. "Alan," he said, "was ance
wud, and aye waur; and he was expecting every
moment when he would start off in a wildgoose-
chase after the callant Latimer; Will Sampson, the
•
248
REDGAUNTLET.
horse-hirer in Candlemaker Row, had given him a
hint that Alan had been looking for a good hack,
to go to the country for a few days. And then to
oppose him downright-he could not but think on
the way his poor mother was removed-Would to
Heaven he was yoked to some tight piece of busi-
ness, no matter whether well or ill paid, but some
job that would hamshackle him at least until the
Courts rose, if it were but for decency's sake."
Peter Drudgeit sympathized, for Peter had a
son, who, reason or none, would needs exchange
the torn and inky fustian sleeves for the blue jacket
and white lapelle; and he suggested, as the reader
knows, the engaging our friend Alan in the mat-
ter of Poor Peter Peebles, just opened by the de-
sertion of young Dumtoustie, whose defection would
be at the same time concealed; and this, Drudgeit
said, “would be felling two dogs with one stone."
With these explanations, the reader will hold a
man of the elder Fairford's sense and experience
free from the hazardous and impatient curiosity with
which boys fling a puppy into a deep pond, merely
to see if the creature can swim. However confident
in his son's talents, which were really considerable,
he would have been very sorry to have involved
him in the duty of pleading a complicated and diffi-
cult case, upon his very first appearance at the bar,
had he not resorted to it as an effectual way to
prevent the young man from taking a step, which
his habits of thinking represented as a most fatal
one at his outset of life.
Betwixt two evils, Mr Fairford chose that which
REDGAUNTLET.
249
was in his own apprehension the least ; and, like a
brave officer sending forth his son to battle, rather
chose he should die upon the breach, than desert
the conflict with dishonour. Neither did he leave
him to his own unassisted energies. Like Alpheus
preceding Hercules, he himself encountered the
Augean mass of Peter Peebles's law-matters. It
was to the old man a labour of love to place in a
clear and undistorted view the real merits of this
case, which the carelessness and blunders of Peter's
former solicitors had converted into a huge chaotic
mass of unintelligible technicality; and such was
his skill and industry, that he was able, after the
severe toil of two or three days, to present to the
consideration of the young counsel the principal
facts of the case, in a light equally simple and com-
prehensible. With the assistance of a solicitor so
affectionate and indefatigable, Alan Fairford was
enabled, when the day of trial arrived, to walk
towards the Court, attended by his anxious yet
encouraging parent, with some degree of confidence
that he would lose no reputation upon this arduous
occasion.
They were met at the door of the Court by Poor
Peter Peebles, in his usual plenitude of wig and
celsitude of hat. He seized on the young pleader
like a lion on his prey.
"How is a' wi' you, Mr
Alan-how is a' wi' you, man ?—The awfu' day is
come at last—a day that will be lang minded in
this house. Poor Peter Peebles against Plain-
stanes-conjoined processes-Hearing in presence
-stands for the Short Roll for this day--I have
250
REDGAUNTLET.
not been able to sleep for a week for thinking of
it, and, I dare to say, neither has the Lord Pre-
sident himsell-for such a cause!! But your fa-
ther garr'd me tak a wee drap ower muckle of his
pint bottle the other night; it's no right to mix
brandy wi' business, Mr Fairford. I would have
been the waur o' liquor if I would have drank as
muckle as you twa would have had me. But there's
a time for a' things, and if ye will dine with me
after the case is heard, or, whilk is the same, or
maybe better, I'll gang my ways hame wi' you,
and I winna object to a cheerfu' glass, within the
bounds of moderation.”
Old Fairford shrugged his shoulders and hur-
ried past the client, saw his son wrapt in the sable
bombazine, which, in his eyes, was more venerable
than an archbishop's lawn, and could not help fond-
ly patting his shoulder, and whispering to him to
take courage, and show he was worthy to wear it.
The party entered the Outer Hall of the Court,
once the place of meeting of the ancient Scottish
Parliament, and which corresponds to the use of
Westminster Hall in England, serving as a vesti-
bule to the Inner-House, as it is termed, and a
place of dominion to certain sedentary personages
called Lords Ordinary.
The earlier part of the morning was spent by
old Fairford in reiterating his instructions to Alan,
and in running from one person to another, from
whom he thought he could still glean some grains
of information, either concerning the point at issue,
or collateral cases. Meantime Poor Peter Peebles,
REDGAUNTLET.
251
whose shallow brain was altogether unable to bear
the importance of the moment, kept as close to his
young counsel as shadow to substance, affected now
to speak loud, now to whisper in his ear, now to
deck his ghastly countenance with wreathed smiles,
now to cloud it with a shade of deep and solemn
importance, and anon to contort it with the sneer
of scorn and derision. These moods of the client's
mind were accompanied with singular "mopings
and mowings," fantastic gestures, which the man
of rags and litigation deemed appropriate to his
changes of countenance. Now he brandished his
arm aloft, now thrust his fist straight out, as if to
knock his opponent down. Now he laid his open
palm on his bosom, and now flinging it abroad, he
gallantly snapped his fingers in the air.
These demonstrations, and the obvious shame
and embarrassment of Alan Fairford, did not escape
the observation of the juvenile idlers in the hall.
They did not, indeed, approach Peter with their
usual familiarity, from some feeling of deference
towards Fairford, though many accused him of
conceit in presuming to undertake at this early
stage of his practice a case of considerable difficulty.
But Alan, notwithstanding this forbearance, was
not the less sensible that he and his companion
were the subjects of many a passing jest, and many
a shout of laughter, with which that region at all
times abounds.
At length the young counsel's patience gave way,
and as it threatened to carry his presence of mind
and recollection along with it, Alan frankly told
252
REDGAUNTLET.
his father, that unless he was relieved from the in-
fliction of his client's personal presence and instruc-
tions, he must necessarily throw up his brief, and
decline pleading the case.
"Hush, hush, my dear Alan," said the old gen-
tleman, almost at his own wit's end upon hearing
this dilemma; "dinna mind the silly ne'er-do-weel;
we cannot keep the man from hearing his own cause,
though he be not quite right in the head."
"On my life, sir," answered Alan, “ I shall be
unable to go on, he drives every thing out of my
remembrance; and if I attempt to speak seriously
of the injuries he has sustained, and the condition
he is reduced to, how can I expect but that the
very appearance of such an absurd scarecrow will
turn it all into ridicule ?"
"There is something in that," said Saunders
Fairford, glancing a look at Poor Peter, and then
cautiously inserting his forefinger under his bob-
wig, in order to rub his temple and aid his inven-
tion; "he is no figure for the fore-bar to see with-
out laughing; but how to get rid of him? To speak
sense, or any thing like it, is the last thing he will
listen to.-Stay, ay-Alan, my darling, hae pa-
tience; I'll get him off on the instant, like a gowff
ba'."
So saying, he hastened to his ally, Peter Drud-
geit, who, on seeing him with marks of haste in his
gait, and care upon his countenance, clapped his
pen
behind his ear, with "What's the stir now, Mr
Saunders? Is there aught wrang?"
"Here's a dollar, man," said Mr Saunders;
REDGAUNTLET.
253
now, or never, Peter, do me a good turn. Yon-
der's your namesake, Peter Peebles, will drive the
swine through our bonny hanks of yarn ;* get him
over to John's Coffee-house, man-gie him his me-
ridian-keep him there, drunk or sober, till the
hearing is ower.”
""
"Eneugh said," quoth Peter Drudgeit, no way
displeased with his own share in the service re-
quired," We'se do your bidding."
Accordingly, the scribe was presently seen whis-
pering in the ear of Peter Peebles, whose responses
came forth in the following broken form :—
“ Leave the Court for ae minute on this great
day of judgment?-not I, by the Reg-Eh!
what? Brandy, did ye say-French Brandy?—
couldna ye fetch a stoup to the bar under your
coat, man ?—Impossible? Na, if it's clean impos-
sible, and if we have an hour good till they get
through the single bills and the summar-roll, I
carena if I cross the close wi' you; I am sure I need
something to keep my heart up this awful day;
but I'll no stay above an instant-not above a mi-
nute of time—nor drink aboon a single gill.”
In a few minutes afterwards, the two Peters were
seen moving through the Parliament Close, (which
newfangled affectation has termed a Square,) the
triumphant Drudgeit leading captive the passive
*The simile is obvious, from the old manufacture of Scot-
land, when the guidwife's thrift, as the yarn wrought in the
winter was called, when laid down to bleach by the burn-side,
was peculiarly exposed to the inroads of the pigs, seldom well-
regulated about a Scottish farm-house.
.
..
•
↓
254
REDGAUNTLET.
Peebles, whose legs conducted him towards the
dram-shop, while his reverted eyes were fixed upon
the Court. They dived into the Cimmerian abysses
of John's Coffee-house,* formerly the favourite ren-
dezvous of the classical and genial Doctor Pitcairn,
and were for the present seen no more.
Relieved from his tormentor, Alan Fairford had
time to rally his recollections, which, in the irrita-
tion of his spirits, had nearly escaped him, and to
prepare himself for a task, the successful discharge
or failure in which must, he was aware, have the
deepest influence upon his fortunes. He had pride,
was not without a consciousness of talent, and the
sense of his father's feelings upon the subject im-
pelled him to the utmost exertion. Above all, he
had that sort of self-command which is essential to
success in every arduous undertaking, and he was
constitutionally free from that feverish irritability,
by which those whose over-active imaginations ex-
*This small dark coffeehouse, now burnt down, was the
resort of such writers and clerks belonging to the Parliament
House above thirty years ago, as retained the ancient Scottish
custom of a meridian, as it was called, or noontide dram of
spirits. If their proceedings were watched, they might be seen
to turn fidgety about the hour of noon, and exchange looks with
each other from their separate desks, till at length some one of
formal and dignified presence assumed the honour of leading the
band, when away they went, threading the crowd like a string
of wild-fowl, crossed the square or close, and following each
other into the coffeehouse, received in turn from the hand of
the waiter, the meridian, which was placed ready at the bar.
This they did, day by day: and though they did not speak to
each other, they seemed to attach a certain degree of sociability
to performing the ceremony in company.
REDGAUNTLET.
255
aggerate difficulties, render themselves incapable
of encountering such when they arrive.
Having collected all the scattered and broken
associations which were necessary, Alan's thoughts
reverted to Dumfries-shire, and the precarious situ-
ation in which he feared his beloved friend had
placed himself; and once and again he consulted
his watch, eager to have his present task commenced
and ended, that he might hasten to Darsie's assist-
ance. The hour and moment at length arrived.
The Macer shouted, with all his well-remembered
brazen strength of lungs, "Poor Peter Peebles
versus Plainstanes, per Dumtoustie et Tough
Maister Da-a-niel Dumtoustie !" Dumtoustie an-
swered not the summons, which, deep and swelling
as it was, could not reach across the Queensferry;
but our Maister Alan Fairford appeared in his
place.
-
The Court was very much crowded; for much
amusement had been received on former occasions
when Peter had volunteered his own oratory, and
had been completely successful in routing the gra-
vity of the whole procedure, and putting to silence,
not indeed the counsel of the opposite party, but
his own.
Both bench and audience seemed considerably
surprised at the juvenile appearance of the young
man who appeared in the room of Dumtoustie, for
the purpose of opening this complicated and long
depending process, and the common herd were dis-
appointed at the absence of Peter the client, the
Punchinello of the expected entertainment. The
256
REDGAUNTLET.
Judges looked with a very favourable countenance
on our friend Alan, most of them being acquainted,
more or less, with so old a practitioner as his father,
and all, or almost all, affording, from civility, the
same fair play to the first pleading of a counsel,
which the House of Commons yields to the maiden
speech of one of its members.
Lord Bladderskate was an exception to this gene-
ral expression of benevolence. He scowled upon
Alan from beneath his large, shaggy, grey eye-
brows, just as if the young lawyer had been usurp-
ing his nephew's honours, instead of covering his
disgrace; and, from feelings which did his lordship
little honour, he privately hoped the young man
would not succeed in the cause which his kinsman
had abandoned.
Even Lord Bladderskate, however, was, in spite
of himself, pleased with the judicious and modest
tone in which Alan began his address to the Court,
apologizing for his own presumption, and excusing
it by the sudden illness of his learned brother, for
whom the labour of opening a cause of some diffi-
culty and importance had been much more worthily
designed. He spoke of himself as he really was,
and of young Dumtoustie as what he ought to have
been, taking care not to dwell on either topic a
moment longer than was necessary. The old Judge's
looks became benign; his family pride was propi-
tiated, and, pleased equally with the modesty and
civility of the young man whom he had thought
forward and officious, he relaxed the scorn of his
features into an expression of profound attention;
REDGAUNTLET.
257
ļ
the highest compliment, and the greatest encou-
ragement, which a judge can render to the counsel
addressing him.
Having succeeded in securing the favourable
attention of the Court, the young lawyer, using the
lights which his father's experience and knowledge
of business had afforded him, proceeded with an
address and clearness, unexpected from one of his
years, to remove from the case itself those compli-
cated formalities with which it had been loaded, as
a surgeon strips from a wound the dressings which
have been hastily wrapped round it, in order to
proceed to his cure secundum artem. Developed
of the cumbrous and complicated technicalities of
litigation, with which the perverse obstinacy of the
client, the inconsiderate haste or ignorance of his
agents, and the evasions of a subtle adversary, had
invested the process, the cause of Poor Peter Pee-
bles, standing upon its simple merits, was no bad
subject for the declamation of a young counsel, nor
did our friend Alan fail to avail himself of its strong
points.
He exhibited his client as a simple-hearted, ho-
nest, well-meaning man, who, during a copartner-
ship of twelve years, had gradually become impo-
verished, while his partner, (his former clerk,) ha-
ving no funds but his share of the same business,
into which he had been admitted without
any
ad-
vance of stock, had become gradually more and more
wealthy.
"Their association," said Alan, and the little
flight was received with some applause, "reṣembled
VOL. XXXV.
R
258
•
REDGAUNTLET.
+
the ancient story of the fruit which was carved with
a knife poisoned on one side of the blade only, so
that the individual to whom the envenomed portion
was served, drew decay and death from what afford-
ed savour and sustenance to the consumer of the
other moiety." He then plunged boldly into the
mare magnum of accompts between the parties; he
pursued each false statement from the waste-book
to the day-book, from the day-book to the bill-book,
from the bill-book to the ledger; placed the artful
interpolations and insertions of the fallacious Plain-
stanes in array against each other, and against the
fact; and, availing himself to the utmost of his fa-
ther's previous labours, and his own knowledge of
accompts, in which he had been sedulously trained,
he laid before the Court a clear and intelligible
statement of the affairs of the copartnery, showing,
with precision, that a large balance must, at the dis-
solution, have been due to his client, sufficient to
have enabled him to have carried on business on his
own account, and thus to have retained his situa-
tion in society, as an independent and industrious
tradesman." But, instead of this justice being vo-
luntarily rendered by the former clerk to his former
master, by the party obliged to his benefactor,—
by one honest man to another,—his wretched client
had been compelled to follow his quondam clerk,
his present debtor, from Court to Court; had found
his just claims met with well-invented but unfound-
ed counter-claims; had seen his party shift his cha-
racter of pursuer or defender, as often as Harlequin
effects his transformations, till, in a chase so varied
REDGAUNTLET.
259
and so long, the unhappy litigant had lost sub-
stance, reputation, and almost the use of reason
itself, and came before their Lordships an object of
thoughtless derision to the unreflecting, of compas-
sion to the better-hearted, and of awful meditation
to every one, who considered that, in a country where
excellent laws were administered by upright and
incorruptible judges, a man might pursue an almost
indisputable claim through all the mazes of litiga-
tion; lose fortune, reputation, and reason itself in
the chase, and at length come before the Supreme
Court of his country in the wretched condition of
his unhappy client, a victim to protracted justice,
and to that hope delayed which sickens the heart.”
The force of this appeal to feeling made as much
impression on the Bench, as had been previously
effected by the clearness of Alan's argument. The
absurd form of Peter himself, with his tow-wig, was
fortunately not present to excite any ludicrous emo-
tion, and the pause that took place when the young
lawyer had concluded his speech, was followed by
a murmur of approbation, which the ears of his fa-
ther drank in as the sweetest sounds that had ever
entered them. Many a hand of gratulation was
thrust out to his grasp, trembling as it was with
anxiety, and finally with delight; his voice falter-
ing, as he replied, " Ay, ay, I kend Alan was the
lad to make a spoon or spoil a horn.”*
The counsel on the other side arose, an old prac-
titioner, who had noted too closely the impression
·
* Said of an adventurous gipsy, who resolves at all risks to
convert a sheep's horn into a spoon.
260
REDGAUNTLET.
made by Alan's pleading, not to fear the conse-
quences of an immediate decision. He paid the
highest compliments to his very young brother—
"the Benjamin, as he would presume to call him,
of the learned Faculty-said the alleged hardships
of Mr Peebles were compensated, by his being
placed in a situation where the benevolence of their
Lordships had assigned him gratuitously such as-
sistance as he might not otherwise have obtained
at a high price and allowed his young brother had
put many things in such a new point of view, that,
although he was quite certain of his ability to re-
fute them, he was honestly desirous of having a few
hours to arrange his answer, in order to be able to
follow Mr Fairford from point to point. He had
further to observe, there was one point of the case
to which his brother, whose attention had been
otherwise so wonderfully comprehensive, had not
given the consideration which he expected; it was
founded on the interpretation of certain correspon-
dence which had passed betwixt the parties, soon
after the dissolution of the copartnery."
The Court having heard Mr Tough, readily al-
lowed him two days for preparing himself, hinting,
at the same time, that he might find his task diffi-
cult, and affording the young counsel, with high
encomiums upon the mode in which he had acquit-
ted himself, the choice of speaking, either now or
at next calling of the cause, upon the point which
Plainstanes's lawyer had adverted to.
Alan modestly apologized for what in fact had
been an omission very pardonable in so complica-
REDGAUNTLET.
261
ted a case, and professed himself instantly ready to
go through that correspondence, and prove that it
was in form and substance exactly applicable to the
view of the case he had submitted to their lordships.
He applied to his father, who sat behind him, to
hand him, from time to time, the letters, in the
order in which he meant to read and comment upon
them.
Old Counsellor Tough had probably formed an
ingenious enough scheme to blunt the effect of the
young lawyer's reasoning, by thus obliging him to
follow up a process of reasoning, clear and complete
in itself, by a hasty and extemporary appendix. If
so, he seemed likely to be disappointed; for Alan
was well prepared on this, as on other parts of the
cause, and recommenced his pleading with a degree
of animation and spirit, which added force even to
what he had formerly stated, and might perhaps
have occasioned the old gentleman to regret his
having again called him up; when his father, as
he handed him the letters, put one into his hand
which produced a singular effect on the pleader.
At the first glance, he saw that the paper had
no reference to the affairs of Peter Peebles; but
the first glance also showed him, what, even at that
time, and in that presence, he could not help read-
ing; and which, being read, seemed totally to discon-
cert his ideas. He stopped short in his harangue-
gazed on the paper with a look of surprise and hor-
ror-uttered an exclamation, and, flinging down the
brief which he had in his hand, hurried out of Court
without returning a single word of answer to the
262
REDGAUNTLET.
"Was
various questions, "what was the matter?".
he taken unwell?"-" Should not a chair be called?"
&c. &c. &c.
The elder Mr Fairford, who remained seated,
and looking as senseless as if he had been made
of stone, was at length recalled to himself by the
anxious enquiries of the judges and the counsel
after his son's health. He then rose with an air,
in which was mingled the deep habitual reverence
in which he held the Court, with some internal
cause of agitation, and with difficulty mentioned
something of a mistake-a piece of bad news-—-
Alan, he hoped, would be well enough to-morrow.
But unable to proceed farther, he clasped his hands
together, exclaiming, "My son ! my son!" and left
the court hastily, as if in pursuit of him.
"What's the matter with the auld bitch next ?"*
said an acute metaphysical judge, though somewhat
coarse in his manners, aside to his brethren. "This
is a daft cause, Bladderskate-first, it drives the
poor man mad that aught it-then your nevoy goes
daft with fright, and flies the pit-then this smart
young hopeful is aff the hooks with too hard study, I
fancy-and now auld Saunders Fairford is as lunatic
as the best of them. What say ye till't, ye bitch ?"
"Nothing, my lord," answered Bladderskate,
much too formal to admire the levities in which
his philosophical brother sometimes indulged-" I
say nothing, but pray to Heaven to keep our own
wits."
* Tradition ascribes this whimsical style of language to the
ingenious and philosophical Lord Kaimes,
REDGAUNTLET.
263
"Amen, amen," answered his learned brother
“for some of us have but few to spare."
The Court then arose, and the audience depart-
ed, greatly wondering at the talent displayed by
Alan Fairford, at his first appearance, in a case so
difficult and so complicated, and assigning an hun-
dred conjectural causes, each different from the
others, for the singular interruption which had
clouded his day of success. The worst of the whole
was, that six agents, who had each come to the
separate resolution of thrusting a retaining fee into
Alan's hand as he left the court, shook their heads
as they returned the money into their leathern
pouches, and said, "that the lad was clever, but
they would like to see more of him before they
engaged him in the way of business-they did not
like his lowping away like a flea in a blanket.”
V
264
REDGAUNTLET.
CHAPTER II.
HAD our friend Alexander Fairford known the
consequences of his son's abrupt retreat from the
Court, which are mentioned in the end of the last
chapter, it might have accomplished the prediction
of the lively old judge, and driven him utterly dis-
tracted. As it was, he was miserable enough. His
son had risen ten degrees higher in his estimation
than ever, by his display of juridical talents, which
seemed to assure him that the applause of the judges
and professors of the law, which, in his estimation,
was worth that of all mankind besides, authorized
to the fullest extent the advantageous estimate
which even his parental partiality had been induced
to form of Alan's powers. On the other hand, he
felt that he was himself a little humbled, from a
disguise which he had practised towards this son of
his hopes and wishes.
The truth was, that on the morning of this event-
ful day, Mr Alexander Fairford had received from
his correspondent and friend, Provost Crosbie of
Dumfries, a letter of the following tenor :-
"DEAR SIR,
"YOUR respected favour of 25th ultimo, per
favour of Mr Darsie Latimer, reached me in safety,
REDGAUNTLET.
265
and I showed to the young gentleman such atten-
tions as he was pleased to accept of. The object
of my present writing is twofold. First, the coun-
cil are of opinion that you should now begin to stir
in the thirlage cause; and they think they will be
able, from evidence noviter repertum, to enable you
to amend your condescendence upon the use and
wont of the burgh, touching the grana invecta et
illata. So you will please consider yourself as au-
thorized to speak to Mr Pest, and lay before him
the papers which you will receive by the coach.
The council think that a fee of two guineas may be
sufficient on this occasion, as Mr Pest had three for
drawing the original condescendence.
"I take the opportunity of adding, that there
has been a great riot among the Solway fishermen,
who have destroyed, in a masterful manner, the
stake-nets set up near the mouth of this river; and
have besides attacked the house of Quaker Geddes,
one of the principal partners of the Tide-net Fish-
ing Company, and done a great deal of damage.
Am sorry to add, young Master Latimer was in the
fray, and has not since been heard of. Murder is
spoke of, but that may be a word of course. As
the young gentleman has behaved rather oddly
while in these parts, as in declining to dine with
me more than once, and going about the country
with strolling fiddlers and such-like, I rather hope
that his present absence is only occasioned by a
frolic; but as his servant has been making enquiries
of me respecting his master, I thought it best to
acquaint you in course of post. I have only to add,
266
REDGAUNTLET.
that our sheriff has taken a precognition, and com-
mitted one or two of the rioters. If I can be use-
ful in this matter, either by advertising for Mr La-
timer as missing, publishing a reward, or otherwise,
I will obey your respected instructions, being your
most obedient to command,
"WILLIAM CROSBIE."
When Mr Fairford received this letter, and had
read it to an end, his first idea was to communicate
it to his son, that an express might be instantly dis-
patched, or a King's messenger sent with proper
authority to search after his late guest.
The habits of the fishers were rude, as he well
knew, though not absolutely sanguinary or fero-
cious; and there had been instances of their trans-
porting persons who had interfered in their smug-
gling trade to the Isle of Man, and elsewhere, and
keeping them under restraint for many weeks. On
this account Mr Fairford was naturally led to feel
anxiety concerning the fate of his late inmate; and,
at a less interesting moment, would certainly have
set out himself, or licensed his son to go in pursuit
of his friend.
But, alas! he was both a father and an agent.
In the one capacity, he looked on his son as dearer to
him than all the world besides; in the other, the
lawsuit which he conducted was to him like an in-
fant to its nurse, and the case of Poor Peter Peebles
against Plainstanes was, he saw, adjourned, perhaps
sine die, should this document reach the hands of
his son.
The mutual and enthusiastical affection
REDGAUNTLET.
267
+
betwixt the young men was well known to him
and he concluded, that if the precarious state of
Latimer were made known to Alan Fairford, it
would render him not only unwilling, but totally
unfit, to discharge the duty of the day, to which
the old gentleman attached such ideas of import-
ance.
On mature reflection, therefore, he resolved,
though not without some feelings of compunction,
to delay communicating to his son the disagreeable
intelligence which he had received, until the busi-
ness of the day should be ended. The delay, he
persuaded himself, could be of little consequence to
Darsie Latimer, whose folly, he dared to say, had
led him into some scrape which would meet an ap-
propriate punishment, in some accidental restraint,
which would be thus prolonged for only a few hours.
longer. Besides, he would have time to speak to
the Sheriff of the county-perhaps to the King's
Advocate—and set about the matter in a regular
manner, or, as he termed it, as summing up the
duties of a solicitor, to agé as accords.*
The scheme, as we have seen, was partially suc-
cessful, and was only ultimately defeated, as he
confessed to himself with shame, by his own very
unbusiness-like mistake of shuffling the Provost's
letter, in the hurry and anxiety of the morning,
among some papers belonging to Peter Peebles's
affairs, and then handing it to his son, without ob-
serving the blunder. He used to protest, even till
* A Scots law phrase of no very determinate import, mean-
ing, generally, to do what is fitting.
268
REDGAUNTLET.
the day of his death, that he never had been guilty
of such an inaccuracy as giving a paper out of his
hand without looking at the docketing, except on
that unhappy occasion, when, of all others, he had
such particular reason to regret his negligence.
Disturbed by these reflections, the old gentle-
man had, for the first time in his life, some disin-
clination, arising from shame and vexation, to face
his own son; so that to protract for a little the
meeting which he feared would be a painful one,
he went to wait upon the Sheriff-depute, who he
found had set off for Dumfries, in great haste, to
superintend in person the investigation which had
been set on foot by his Substitute. This gentle-
man's clerk could say little on the subject of the
riot, excepting that it had been serious, much da-
mage done to property, and some personal violence
offered to individuals; but, as far as he had yet
heard, no lives lost on the spot.
Mr Fairford was compelled to return home with
this intelligence; and on enquiring at James Wil-
kinson where his son was, received for answer, that
“Maister Alan was in his own room, and very
busy."
"We must have our explanation over,” said
Saunders Fairford to himself. "Better a finger off,
as aye wagging ;" and going to the door of his son's
apartment he knocked at first gently-then more
loudly—but received no answer. Somewhat alarm-
ed at this silence, he opened the door of the cham-
ber-it was empty-clothes lay mixed in confu-
sion with the law-books and papers, as if the inmate
REDGAUNTLET.
269
had been engaged in hastily packing for a journey.
As Mr Fairford looked around in alarm, his eye
was arrested by a sealed letter lying upon his son's
writing-table, and addressed to himself. It con-
tained the following words :-
"MY DEAREST Father,
"You will not, I trust, be surprised, nor per-
haps very much displeased, to learn that I am now
on my way to Dumfries-shire, to learn, by my own
personal investigation, the present state of my dear
friend, and afford him such relief as may be in my
power, and which, I trust, will be effectual. I do
not presume to reflect upon you, dearest sir, for
concealing from me information of so much conse-
quence to my peace of mind and happiness; but I
hope your having done so will be, if not an excuse,
at least some mitigation of my present offence, in
taking a step of consequence without consulting
your pleasure; and, I must further own, under cir-
cumstances which perhaps might lead to your dis-
approbation of my purpose. I can only say, in
further apology, that if any thing unhappy, which
Heaven forbid! shall have occurred to the person
who, next to yourself, is dearest to me in this
world, I shall have on my heart, as a subject of eter-
nal regret, that being in a certain degree warned
of his danger, and furnished with the means of ob-
viating it, I did not instantly hasten to his assist-
ance, but preferred giving my attention to the busi-
ness of this unlucky morning. No view of personal
distinction, nothing, indeed, short of your earnest
270
REDGAUNTLET.
and often expressed wishes, could have detained me
in town till this day; and having made this sacri-
fice to filial duty, I trust you will hold me excused,
if I now obey the calls of friendship and humanity.
Do not be in the least anxious on my account; I
shall know, I trust, how to conduct myself with
due caution in any emergence which may occur,
otherwise my legal studies for so many years have
been to little purpose. I am fully provided with
money, and also with arms, in case of need; but
you may rely on my prudence in avoiding all occa-
sions of using the latter, short of the last necessity.
God Almighty bless you, my dearest father! and
grant that you may forgive the first, and, I trust,
the last act approaching towards premeditated dis-
obedience, of which I either have now, or shall
hereafter have, to accuse myself. I remain, till
death, your dutiful and affectionate son,
"ALAN FAIRFORD.
"P.S.—I shall write with the utmost regularity,
acquainting you with my motions, and requesting
your advice. I trust my stay will be very short, and
I think it possible that I may bring back Darsie
along with me."
The paper dropped from the old man's hand
when he was thus assured of the misfortune which
he apprehended. His first idea was to get a post-
chaise and pursue the fugitive; but he recollected,
that, upon the very rare occasions when Alan had
shown himself indocile to the patria potestas, his
REDGAUNTLET.
271
natural ease and gentleness of disposition seemed
hardened into obstinacy, and that now, entitled, as
arrived at the years of majority, and a member of
the learned Faculty, to direct his own motions,
there was great doubt, whether, in the event of his
overtaking his son, he might be able to prevail upon
him to return back. In such a risk of failure, he
thought it wiser to desist from his purpose, espe-
cially as even his success in such a pursuit would
give a ridiculous éclat to the whole affair, which
could not be otherwise than prejudicial to his son's
rising character.
Bitter, however, were Saunders Fairford's reflec-
tions, as, again picking up the fatal scroll, he threw
himself into his son's leathern easy-chair, and be-
stowed upon it a disjointed commentary. "Bring
back Darsie? little doubt of that-the bad shilling
is sure enough to come back again. I wish Darsie
no worse ill than that he were carried where the
silly fool Alan should never see him again. It was
an ill hour that he darkened my doors in, for, ever
since that, Alan has given up his ain old-fashioned
mother-wit, for the t'other's capernoited maggots
and nonsense.-Provided with money? you must
have more than I know of, then, my friend, for I
trow I kept you pretty short for your own good.-
Can he have gotten more fees? or, does he think five
guineas has neither beginning nor end?-Arms!
What would he do with arms, or what would any
man do with them that is not a regular soldier un-
der government, or else a thief-taker? I have had
enough of arms, I trow, although I carried them
272
REDGAUNTLET.
for King George and the government. But this
is a worse strait than Falkirk-field yet!—God guide
us, we are poor inconsistent creatures! To think
the lad should have made so able an appearance,
and then bolted off this gate, after a glaiket ne'er-
do-weel, like a hound upon a false scent!-Las-
a-day! it's a sore thing to see a stunkard cow kick
down the pail when it's reaming fou.-But, after
all, it's an ill bird that defiles its ain nest. I must
cover up the scandal as well as I can.—
can. What's the
matter now, James ?"
"A message, sir," said James Wilkinson," from
my Lord President; and he hopes Mr Alan is not
seriously indisposed."
"From the Lord President? the Lord preserve
us !—I'll send an answer this instant; bid the lad
sit down, and ask him to drink, James.-Let me
see," continued he, taking a sheet of gilt paper,
"how we are to draw our answers.
""
Ere his pen had touched the paper, James was
in the room again.
"What now, James?"
"Lord Bladderskate's lad is come to ask how
Mr Alan is, as he left the Court".
“Ay, ay, ay,” answered Saunders, bitterly; "he
has e'en made a moonlight flitting, like my lord's
ain nevoy."
"Shall I say sae, sir ?" said James, who, as an
old soldier, was literal in all things touching the
service.
"The devil! no, no!-Bid the lad sit down and
taste our ale. I will write his lordship an answer."
REDGAUNTLET.
273
Once more the gilt paper was resumed, and once
more the door was opened by James.
sends his servitor to ask after Mr
"Lord
Alan."
"Oh, the deevil take their civility!" said poor
Saunders. "Set him down to drink too-I will
write to his lordship."
"The lads will bide your pleasure, sir, as lang
as I keep the bicker fou; but this ringing is like
to wear out the bell, I think; there are they at it
again."
He answered the fresh summons accordingly, and
came back to inform Mr Fairford, that the Dean
of Faculty was below, enquiring for Mr Alan.—
"Will I set him down to drink, too ?" said James.
"Will you be an idiot, sir?" said Mr Fairford,
«Show Mr Dean into the parlour.”
In going slowly down stairs, step by step, the
perplexed man of business had time enough to re-
flect, that if it be possible to put a fair gloss upon
a true story, the verity always serves the purpose
better than any substitute which ingenuity can de-
vise. He therefore told his learned visitor, that
although his son had been incommoded by the heat
of the court, and the long train of hard study, by
day and night, preceding his exertions, yet he had
fortunately so far recovered, as to be in condition
to obey upon the instant a sudden summons which
had called him to the country, on a matter of life
and death.
"It should be a serious matter indeed that takes
my young friend away at this moment,” said the
VOL. XXXV.
S
274
REDGAUNTLET.
good-natured Dean. " I wish he had staid to finish
his pleading, and put down old Tough. Without
compliment, Mr Fairford, it was as fine a first ap-
pearance as I ever heard. I should be sorry your
son did not follow it up in a reply. Nothing like
striking while the iron is hot."
Mr Saunders Fairford made a bitter grimace as
he acquiesced in an opinion which was indeed de-
cidedly his own; but he thought it most prudent to
reply, "that the affair which rendered his son Alan's
presence in the country absolutely necessary, re-
garded the affairs of a young gentleman of great
fortune, who was a particular friend of Alan's, and
who never took any material step in his affairs,
without consulting his counsel learned in the law.'
""
"Well, well, Mr Fairford, you know best," an-
swered the learned Dean; "if there be death or
marriage in the case, a will or a wedding is to be
preferred to all other business. I am happy Mr
Alan is so much recovered as to be able for travel,
and wish you a very good morning."
Having thus taken his ground to the Dean of
Faculty, Mr Fairford hastily wrote cards in an-
swer to the enquiry of the three judges, accounting
for Alan's absence in the same manner. These,
being properly sealed and addressed, he delivered to
James, with directions to dismiss the parti-coloured
gentry, who, in the meanwhile, had consumed a gal-
lon of twopenny ale, while discussing points of law,
and addressing each other by their masters' titles.*
* The Scottish Judges are distinguished by the title of
lord prefixed to their own temporal designation. As the ladies
REDGAUNTLET.
275
The exertion which these matters demanded, and
the interest which so many persons of legal distinc-
tion appeared to have taken in his son, greatly re-
lieved the oppressed spirit of Saunders Fairford,
who continued to talk mysteriously of the very im-
portant business which had interfered with his son's
attendance during the brief remainder of the ses-
sion. He endeavoured to lay the same unction to
his own heart; but here the application was less for-
tunate, for his conscience told him, that no end, how-
ever important, which could be achieved in Darsie
Latimer's affairs, could be balanced against the re-
putation which Alan was like to forfeit, by deserting
the cause of Poor Peter Peebles.
In the meanwhile, although the haze which sur-
rounded the cause, or causes, of that unfortunate
litigant had been for a time dispelled by Alan's elo-
quence, like a fog by the thunder of artillery, yet it
seemed once more to settle down upon the mass of
litigation, thick as the palpable darkness of Egypt,
at the very sound of Mr Tough's voice, who on the
second day after Alan's departure, was heard in an-
swer to the opening counsel. Deep-mouthed, long-
breathed, and pertinacious, taking a pinch of snuff
of these official dignitaries do not bear any share in their hus-
band's honours, they are distinguished only by their lords' fa-
mily name. They were not always contented with this spe-
cies of Salique law, which certainly is somewhat inconsistent.
But their pretensions to title are said to have been long since
repelled by James V., the Sovereign who founded the College
of Justice." I," said he, “ made the carles lords, but who the
devil made the carlines ladies?"
•
276
REDGAUNTLET.
betwixt every sentence, which otherwise seemed in-
terminable—the veteran pleader prosed over all the
themes which had been treated so luminously by
Fairford; he quietly and imperceptibly replaced all
the rubbish which the other had cleared away; and
succeeded in restoring the veil of obscurity and un-
intelligibility which had for many years darkened
the case of Peebles against Plainstanes; and the
matter was once more hung up by a remit to an
accountant, with instruction to report before an-
swer. So different a result from that which the
public had been led to expect from Alan's speech,
gave rise to various speculations.
The client himself opined that it was entirely
owing, first, to his own absence during the first day's
pleading, being, as he said, deboshed with brandy,
usquebaugh, and other strong waters, at John's
Coffee-house, per ambages of Peter Drudgeit, em-
ployed to that effect by and through the device,
counsel, and covyne of Saunders Fairford, his agent,
or pretended agent. Secondly, by the flight and
voluntary desertion of the younger Fairford, the
advocate; on account of which he served both father
and son with a petition and complaint against them,
for malversation in office. So that the apparent
and most probable issue of this cause seemed to
menace the melancholy Mr Saunders Fairford with
additional subject for plague and mortification;
which was the more galling, as his conscience told
him that the case was really given away, and that a
very brief resumption of the former argument, with
reference to the necessary authorities and points of
REDGAUNTLET.
277
!
evidence, would have enabled Alan, by the mere
breath, as it were, of his mouth, to blow away the
various cobwebs with which Mr Tough had again
invested the proceedings. But it went, he said,
just like a decreet in absence, and was lost for want
of a contradictor.
In the meantime, nearly a week passed over with-
out Mr Fairford hearing a word directly from his son.
He learned, indeed, by a letter from Mr Crosbie,
that the young counsellor had safely reached Dum-
fries, but had left that town upon some ulterior re-
searches, the purpose of which he had not commu-
nicated. The old man, thus left to suspense, and
to mortifying recollections, deprived also of the
domestic society to which he had been habituated,
began to suffer in body as well as in mind. He
had formed the determination of setting out in per-
son for Dumfries-shire, when, after having been
dogged, peevish, and snappish to his clerks and
domestics, to an unusual and almost intolerable
degree, the acrimonious humours settled in a hiss-
ing-hot fit of the gout, which is a well-known
tamer of the most froward spirits, and under whose
discipline we shall, for the present, leave him, as
the continuation of this history assumes, with the
next division, a form somewhat different from direct
narrative and epistolary correspondence, though
partaking of the character of both.
278
REDGAUNTLET.
CHAPTER III.
JOURNAL OF DARSIE LATIMER.
[The following Address is written on the inside of the enve-
lope which contained the Journal.]
INTO what hands soever these leaves may fall,
they will instruct him, during a certain time at
least, in the history of the life of an unfortunate
young man, who, in the heart of a free country,
and without any crime being laid to his charge, has
been, and is, subjected to a course of unlawful and
violent restraint. He who opens this letter, is there-
fore conjured to apply to the nearest magistrate,
and, following such indications as the papers may
afford, to exert himself for the relief of one, who,
while he possesses every claim to assistance which
oppressed innocence can give, has, at the same time,
both the inclination and the means of being grate-
ful to his deliverers. Or, if the person obtaining
these letters shall want courage or means to effect
the writer's release, he is, in that case, conjured, by
every duty of a man to his fellow-mortals, and of
a Christian towards one who professes the same
holy faith, to take the earliest measures for con-
veying them with speed and safety to the hands of
Alan Fairford, Esq., Advocate, residing in the fa-
REDGAUNTLET.
279
mily of his father, Alexander Fairford, Esq., Writer
to the Signet, Brown's Square, Edinburgh. He
may be assured of a liberal reward, besides the
consciousness of having discharged a real duty to
humanity.
MY DEAREST ALAN,
FEELING as warmly towards you in doubt and
in distress, as I ever did in the brightest days of
our intimacy, it is to you whom I address a history
which may perhaps fall into very different hands.
A portion of my former spirit descends to my pen,
when I write your name, and indulging the happy
thought that you may be my deliverer from my
present uncomfortable and alarming situation, as
you have been my guide and counsellor on every
former occasion, I will subdue the dejection which
would otherwise overwhelm me. Therefore, as,
Heaven knows, I have time enough to write, I will
endeavour to pour my thoughts out, as fully and
freely as of old, though probably without the same
gay and happy levity.
If the papers should reach other hands than
yours, still I will not regret this exposure of my
feelings; for, allowing for an ample share of the
folly incidental to youth and inexperience, I fear
not that I have much to be ashamed of in my nar-
rative; nay, I even hope, that the open simplicity
and frankness with which I am about to relate
every singular and distressing circumstance, may
280
REDGAUNTLET.
prepossess even a stranger in my favour; and that,
amid the multitude of seemingly trivial circum-
stances which I detailed at length, a clew may be
found to effect my liberation.
Another chance certainly remains-the Journal,
as I may call it, may never reach the hands, either
of the dear friend to whom it is addressed, or those
of an indifferent stranger, but may become the prey
of the persons by whom I am at present treated as
a prisoner. Let it be so-they will learn from it
little but what they already know; that, as a man,
and an Englishman, my soul revolts at the usage
which I have received; that I am determined to
essay every possible means to obtain my freedom;
that captivity has not broken my spirit, and that,
although they may doubtless complete their oppres-
sion by murder, I am still willing to bequeath my
cause to the justice of my country. Undeterred,
therefore, by the probability that my papers may
be torn from me, and subjected to the inspection
of one in particular, who, causelessly my enemy
already, may be yet farther incensed at me for
recording the history of my wrongs, I proceed to
resume the history of events which have befallen
me since the conclusion of my last letter to my dear
Alan Fairford, dated, if I mistake not, on the 5th
day of this still current month of August.
Upon the night preceding the date of that let-
ter, I had been present, for the purpose of an idle
frolic, at a dancing party at the village of Broken-
burn, about six miles from Dumfries; many per-
sons must have seen me there, should the fact ap-
REDGAUNTLET.
281
"
pear of importance sufficient to require investiga-
tion. I danced, played on the violin, and took
part in the festivity, till about midnight, when my
servant, Samuel Owen, brought me my horses, and
I rode back to a small inn called Shepherd's Bush,
kept by Mrs Gregson, which had been occasionally
my residence for about a fortnight past. I spent
the earlier part of the forenoon in writing a letter
which I have already mentioned, to you, my dear
Alan, and which, I think, you must have received
in safety. Why did I not follow your advice, so
often given me? Why did I linger in the neigh-
bourhood of a danger, of which a kind voice had
warned me? These are now unavailing questions.
I was blinded by a fatality, and remained flutter-
ing like a moth around the candle, until I have been
scorched to some purpose.
The greater part of the day had passed, and time
hung heavy on my hands. I ought, perhaps, to
blush at recollecting what has been often objected
to me by the dear friend to whom this letter is
addressed, viz. the facility with which I have, in
moments of indolence, suffered my motions to be
directed by any person who chanced to be near me,
instead of taking the labour' of thinking or deciding
for myself. I had employed for some time, as a
sort of guide and errand-boy, a lad named Benja-
min, the son of one widow Coltherd, who lives near
the Shepherd's Bush, and I cannot but remember
that, upon several occasions, I had of late suffered him
to possess more influence over my motions, than at
all became the difference of our age and condition.
282
REDGAUNTLET.
At present he exerted himself to persuade me that
it was the finest possible sport to see the fish taken
out from the nets placed in the Solway at the re-
flux of the tide, and urged my going thither this
evening so much, that, looking back on the whole
circumstances, I cannot but think he had some
especial motive for his conduct. These particulars
I have mentioned, that if these papers fall into
friendly hands, the boy may be sought after and
submitted to examination.
His eloquence being unable to persuade me that
I should take any pleasure in seeing the fruitless
struggles of the fish when left in the nets and de-
serted by the tide, he artfully suggested, that Mr
and Miss Geddes, a respectable Quaker family well
known in the neighbourhood, and with whom I
had contracted habits of intimacy, would possibly
be offended if I did not make them an early visit.
Both, he said, had been particularly enquiring the
reasons of my leaving their house rather suddenly
on the previous day. I resolved, therefore, to walk
up to Mount Sharon and make my apologies; and
I agreed to permit the boy to attend upon me, and
wait my return from the house, that I might fish on
my way homeward to Shepherd's Bush, for which
amusement, he assured me, I would find the even-
ing most favourable. I mention this minute cir-
cumstance, because I strongly suspect that this boy
had a presentiment how the evening was to termi-
nate with me, and entertained the selfish though
childish wish of securing to himself an angling-rod
which he had often admired, as a part of my spoils.
·
REDGAUNTLET.
283
I
may
do the boy wrong, but I had before remark-
ed in him the peculiar art of pursuing the trifling
objects of cupidity proper to his age, with the sys-
tematic address of much riper years.
When we had commenced our walk, I upbraided
him with the coolness of the evening, considering the
season, the easterly wind, and other circumstances,
unfavourable for angling. He persisted in his own
story, and made a few casts, as if to convince me
of my error, but caught no fish; and, indeed, as I
am now convinced, was much more intent on watch-
ing my motions, than on taking any. When I ri-
diculed him once more on his fruitless endeavours,
he answered with a sneering smile, that "the trouts
would not rise, because there was thunder in the
air;" an intimation which, in one sense, I have
found too true.
I arrived at Mount Sharon; was received by my
friends there with their wonted kindness; and after
being a little rallied on my having suddenly left
them on the preceding evening, I agreed to make
atonement by staying all night, and dismissed the
lad who attended with my fishing-rod, to carry that
information to Shepherd's Bush. It may be doubted
whether he went thither, or in a different direction.
Betwixt eight and nine o'clock, when it began
to become dark, we walked on the terrace to enjoy
the appearance of the firmament, glittering with
ten million of stars; to which a slight touch of
early frost gave tenfold lustre. As we gazed on
this splendid scene, Miss Geddes, I think, was the
first to point out to our admiration a shooting or
284
REDGAUNTLET.
falling star, which, she said, drew a long train after
it. Looking to the part of the heavens which she
pointed out, I distinctly observed two successive
sky-rockets arise, and burst in the sky.
“These meteors,” said Mr Geddes, in answer to
his sister's observation," are not formed in heaven,
nor do they bode any good to the dwellers upon
earth."
As he spoke, I looked to another quarter of the
sky, and a rocket, as if a signal in answer to those
which had already appeared, rose high from the
earth, and burst apparently among the stars.
66
Mr Geddes seemed very thoughtful for some
minutes, and then said to his sister, "Rachel, though
it waxes late, I must go down to the fishing station,
and pass the night in the overseer's room there."
Nay, then," replied the lady, "I am but too
well assured that the sons of Belial are menacing
these nets and devices. Joshua, art thou a man of
peace, and wilt thou willingly and wittingly thrust
thyself, where thou mayst be tempted by the old man
Adam within thee, to enter into debate and strife?"
"I am a man of peace, Rachel," answered Mr
Geddes," even to the utmost extent which our
friends can demand of humanity; and neither have
I ever used, nor, with the help of God, will I at
any future time employ, the arm of flesh to repel
or to revenge injuries. But if I can, by mild rea-
sons and firm conduct, save those rude men from
committing a crime, and the property belonging to
myself and others from sustaining damage, surely
I do but the duty of a man and a Christian."
REDGAUNTLET.
285
With these words, he ordered his horse instant-
ly; and his sister ceasing to argue with him, folded
her arms upon her bosom, and looked up to heaven
with a resigned and yet sorrowful countenance.
These particulars may appear trivial; but it is
better, in my present condition, to exert my facul-
ties in recollecting the past, and in recording it,
than waste them in vain and anxious anticipations
of the future.
It would have been scarcely proper in me to
remain in the house, from which the master was
thus suddenly summoned away; and I therefore
begged permission to attend him to the fishing sta-
tion, assuring his sister that I would be a guarantee
for his safety.
The proposal seemed to give much pleasure to
Miss Geddes. "Let it be so, brother," she said;
"and let the young man have the desire of his
heart, that there may be a faithful witness to stand
by thee in the hour of need, and to report how it
shall fare with thee.”
"No, Rachel," said the worthy man," thou art
to blame in this, that, to quiet thy apprehensions
on my account, thou shouldst thrust into danger—
if danger it shall prove to be-this youth, our guest;
for whom, doubtless, in case of mishap, as many
hearts will ache as may be afflicted on our account.'
""
“Nay, my good friend,” said I, taking Mr Ged-
des's hand, "I am not so happy as you suppose me.
Were my span to be concluded this evening, few
would so much as know that sucha being had existed
for twenty years on the face of the earth; and of
286
REDGAUNTLET.
these few, only one would sincerely regret me. Do
not, therefore, refuse me the privilege of attending
you; and of showing, by so trifling an act of kind-
ness, that if I have few friends, I am at least de-
sirous to serve them."
"Thou hast a kind heart, I warrant thee,” said
Joshua Geddes, returning the pressure of my hand.
"Rachel, the young man shall go with me. Why
should he not face danger, in order to do justice
and preserve peace? There is that within me," he
added, looking upwards, and with a passing enthu-
siasm which I had not before observed, and the ab-
sence of which perhaps rather belonged to the sect
than to his own personal character" I say, I have
that within which assures me, that though the un-
godly may rage even like the storm of the ocean,
they shall not have freedom to prevail against us."
Having spoken thus, Mr Geddes appointed a
pony to be saddled for my use; and having taken
a basket with some provisions, and a servant to
carry back the horses, for which there was no ac-
commodation at the fishing station, we set off about
nine o'clock at night, and after three quarters of an
hour's riding, arrived at our place of destination.
The station consists, or then consisted, of huts.
for four or five fishermen, a cooperage and sheds,
and a better sort of cottage, at which the superin-
tendent resided. We gave our horses to the ser-
vant, to be carried back to Mount Sharon; my com-
panion expressing himself humanely anxious for
their safety-and knocked at the door of the house.
At first we only heard a barking of dogs; but these
REDGAUNTLET.
287
animals became quiet on snuffing beneath the door,
and acknowledging the presence of friends. A
hoarse voice then demanded, in rather unfriendly
accents, who we were, and what we wanted; and
it was not until Joshua named himself, and called
upon his superintendent to open, that the latter
appeared at the door of the hut, attended by three
large dogs of the Newfoundland breed. He had a
flambeau in his hand, and two large heavy ship-
pistols stuck into his belt. He was a stout, elderly
man, who had been a sailor, as I learned, during
the earlier part of his life, and was now much con-
fided in by the Fishing Company, whose concerns
he directed under the orders of Mr Geddes.
"Thou didst not expect me to-night, friend
Davies ?" said my friend to the old man, who was
arranging seats for us by the fire.
"No, Master Geddes," answered he, "I did not
expect you, nor, to speak the truth, did I wish for
you either."
“These are plain terms, John Davies," answered
Mr Geddes.
66
Ay, ay, sir, I know your worship loves no
holyday speeches."
"Thou dost guess, I suppose, what brings us
here so late, John Davies ?" said Mr Geddes.
"I do suppose, sir," answered the superintendent,
"that it was because these d-d smuggling wreck-
ers on the coast are showing their lights to gather
their forces, as they did the night before they broke
down the dam-dike and wears up the country; but
if that same be the case, I wish once more you had
י
288
REDGAUNTLET.
staid away, for your worship carries no fighting
tackle aboard, I think; and there will be work for
such ere morning, your worship."
(C
Worship is due to Heaven only, John Davies,"
said Geddes. "I have often desired thee to desist
from using that phrase to me."
"I won't, then," said John; "no offence meant:
But how the devil can a man stand picking his
words, when he is just going to come to blows ?"
"I hope not, John Davies," said Joshua Geddes.
"Call in the rest of the men, that I may give them
their instructions."
"I may cry till doomsday, Master Geddes, ere a
soul answers—the cowardly lubbers have all made
sail-the cooper, and all the rest of them, so soon
as they heard the enemy were at sea. They have
all taken to the long-boat, and left the ship among
the breakers, except little Phil and myself—they
have, by
["
"Swear not at all, John Davies-thou art an
honest man; and I believe, without an oath, that
thy comrades love their own bones better than my
goods and chattels. And so thou hast no assistance
but little Phil against a hundred men or two?"
"Why, there are the dogs, your honour knows,
Neptune and Thetis-and the
puppy may do some-
thing; and then though your worship-I beg par-
don-though your honour be no great fighter, this
young gentleman may bear a hand."
“Ay, and I see you are provided with arms,'
said Mr Geddes; "let me see them."
66
Ay, ay, sir; here be a pair of buffers will bite
"
V
REDGAUNTLET.
289
as well as bark—these will make sure of two rogues
at least. It would be a shame to strike without
firing a shot. Take care, your honour, they are
double-shotted."
"Ay, John Davies, I will take care of them,"
throwing the pistols into a tub of water beside him ;
" and I wish I could render the whole generation
of them useless at the same moment."
<<
A deep shade of displeasure passed over John
Davies's weatherbeaten countenance. "Belike
your honour is going to take the command yourself,
then ?" he said, after a pause.
Why, I can be of
little use now; and since your worship, or your
honour, or whatever you are, means to strike quiet-
ly, I believe you will do it better without me than
with me, for I am like enough to make mischief, I
admit; but I'll never leave my post without orders."
"Then you have mine, John Davies, to go to
Mount Sharon directly, and take the boy Phil with
you. Where is he?"
"He is on the outlook for these scums of the
earth,” answered Davies; "but it is to no purpose
to know when they come, if we are not to stand to
our weapons."
"We will use none but those of sense and rea-
son, John."
“And you may just as well cast chaff against
the wind, as speak sense and reason to the like of
them."
"Well, well, be it so," said Joshua; " and now,
John Davies, I know thou art what the world calls
a brave fellow, and I have ever found thee an
VOL. XXXV.
T
290
REDGAUNTLET.
honest one.
And now I command you to go to
Mount Sharon, and let Phil lie on the bank-side
-see the poor boy hath a sea-cloak, though-and
watch what happens here, and let him bring you
the news; and if any violence shall be offered to the
property there, I trust to your fidelity to carry my
sister to Dumfries, to the house of our friends the
Corsacks, and inform the civil authorities of what
mischief hath befallen."
The old seaman paused a moment. "It is hard
lines for me," he said, "to leave your honour in
tribulation; and yet, staying here, I am only like
to make bad worse; and your honour's sister, Miss
Rachel, must be looked to, that's certain; for if the
rogues once get their hand to mischief, they will
come to Mount Sharon after they have wasted and
destroyed this here snug little roadstead, where I
thought to ride at anchor for life.”
"Right, right, John Davies," said Joshua Ged-
des; " and best call the dogs with you."
“Ay, ay, sir,” said the veteran, " for they are
something of my mind, and would not keep quiet
if they saw mischief doing; so maybe they might
come to mischief, poor dumb creatures. So God
bless your honour-I mean your worship—I can-
not bring my mouth to say fare you well.-Here,
Neptune, Thetis ! come, dogs, come.
So saying, and with a very crestfallen counte-
nance, John Davies left the hut.
""
"Now there goes one of the best and most faith-
ful creatures that ever was born," said Mr Geddes,
as the superintendent shut the door of the cottage.
REDGAUNTLET.
291
«Nature made him with a heart that would not
have suffered him to harm a fly; but thou seest,
friend Latimer, that as men arm their bull-dogs
with spiked collars, and their game-cocks with steel
spurs, to aid them in fight, so they corrupt, by
education, the best and mildest natures, until for-
titude and spirit become stubbornness and ferocity.
Believe me, friend Latimer, I would as soon expose
my faithful household dog to a vain combat with a
herd of wolves, as yon trusty creature to the vio-
lence of the enraged multitude. But I need say
little on this subject to thee, friend Latimer, who,
I doubt not, art trained to believe that courage is
displayed and honour attained, not by doing and
suffering, as becomes a man, that which fate calls
us to suffer, and justice commands us to do, but
because thou art ready to retort violence for vio-
lence, and considerest the lightest insult as a suffi-
cient cause for the spilling of blood, nay, the taking
of life. But, leaving these points of controversy to
a more fit season, let us see what our basket of pro-
vision contains; for in truth, friend Latimer, I am
one of those whom neither fear nor anxiety deprive
of their ordinary appetite."
We found the means of good cheer accordingly,
which Mr Geddes seemed to enjoy as much as if
it had been eaten in a situation of perfect safety;
nay,
his conversation appeared to be rather more
gay than on ordinary occasions. After eating our
supper we left the hut together, and walked for a
few minutes on the banks of the sea. It was high
water, and the ebb had not yet commenced. The
292
REDGAUNTLET.
moon shone broad and bright upon the placid face
of the Solway Frith, and showed a slight ripple
upon the stakes, the tops of which were just visible
above the waves, and on the dark-coloured buoys
which marked the upper edge of the enclosure of
nets. At a much greater distance,—for the estuary
is here very wide,-the line of the English coast
was seen on the verge of the water, resembling one
of those fog-banks on which mariners are said to
gaze, uncertain whether it be land or atmospherical
delusion.
"We shall be undisturbed for some hours," said
Mr Geddes; "they will not come down upon us
till the state of the tide permits them to destroy the
tide-nets. Is it not strange to think that human
passions will so soon transform such a tranquil scene
as this, into one of devastation and confusion ?”
It was indeed a scene of exquisite stillness; so
much so, that the restless waves of the Solway
seemed, if not absolutely to sleep, at least to slum-
ber;
—on the shore no night-bird was heard—the
cock had not sung his first matins, and we ourselves
walked more lightly than by day, as if to suit the
sound of our own paces to the serene tranquillity
around us. At length, the plaintive cry of a dog
broke the silence, and on our return to the cottage,
we found that the younger of the three animals
which had gone along with John Davies, unaccus-
tomed, perhaps, to distant journeys, and the duty
of following to heel, had strayed from the party,
and, unable to rejoin them, had wandered back to
the place of its birth.
REDGAUNTLET.
293
"Another feeble addition to our feeble garri-
son," said Mr Geddes, as he caressed the dog, and
admitted it into the cottage. "Poor thing! as
thou art incapable of doing any mischief, I hope
thou wilt sustain none. At least thou mayst do us
the good service of a sentinel, and permit us to en-
joy a quiet repose, under the certainty that thou
wilt alarm us when the enemy is at hand."
There were two beds in the superintendent's
room, upon which we threw ourselves. Mr Geddes,
with his happy equanimity of temper, was asleep
in the first five minutes. I lay for some time in
doubtful and anxious thoughts, watching the fire
and the motions of the restless dog, which, disturbed
probably at the absence of John Davies, wandered
from the hearth to the door and back again, then
came to the bedside, and licked my hands and face,
and at length, experiencing no repulse to its ad-
vances, established itself at my feet, and went to
sleep, an example which I soon afterwards followed.
The rage of narration, my dear Alan-for I will
never relinquish the hope that what I am writing
may one day reach your hands-has not forsaken
me even in my confinement, and the extensive
though unimportant details into which I have been
hurried, render it necessary that I commence anò-
ther sheet. Fortunately, my pigmy characters com-
prehend a great many words within a small space
of paper.
1
294
REDGAUNTLET.
CHAPTER IV.
DARSIE LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION.
THE morning was dawning, and Mr Geddes and
I myself were still sleeping soundly, when the alarm
was given by my canine bedfellow, who first growled
deeply at intervals, and at length bore more decided
testimony to the approach of some enemy. I opened
the door of the cottage, and perceived, at the dis-
tance of about two hundred yards, a small but close
column of men, which I would have taken for a dark
hedge, but that I could perceive it was advancing
rapidly and in silence.
The dog flew towards them, but instantly ran
howling back to me, having probably been chastised
by a stick or a stone. Uncertain as to the plan of
tactics or of treaty which Mr Geddes might think
proper to adopt, I was about to retire into the cot-
tage, when he suddenly joined me at the door, and,
slipping his arm through mine, said, " Let us go
to meet them manfully; we have done nothing to
be ashamed of.-Friends," he said, raising his voice
as we approached them," who and what are you,
and with what purpose are you here on my pro-
perty ?"
.
A loud cheer was the answer returned, and a
REDGAUNTLET.
295
brace of fiddlers who occupied the front of the
march immediately struck up the insulting air, the
words of which begin,
"Merrily danced the Quaker's wife,
And merrily danced the Quaker."
Even at that moment of alarm, I think I recog-
nised the tones of the blind fiddler, known by the
name of Wandering Willie, from his itinerant ha-
bits. They continued to advance swiftly and in
great order, in their front
"The fiery fiddlers playing martial airs;"
when, coming close up, they surrounded us by a
single movement, and there was a universal cry,
"Whoop, Quaker-whoop, Quaker! Here have
we them both, the wet Quaker and the dry one."
Hang up the wet Quaker to dry, and wet the
dry one with a ducking," answered another voice.
"Where is the sea-otter, John Davies, that
destroyed more fish than any sealch upon Ailsay
Craig?" exclaimed a third voice. "I have an old
crow to pluck with him, and a pock to put the fea-
thers in.'
""
We stood perfectly passive; for, to have attempt-
ed resistance against more than a hundred men,
armed with guns, fish-spears, iron-crows, spades,
and bludgeons, would have been an act of utter in-
sanity. Mr Geddes, with his strong sonorous voice,
answered the question about the superintendent in
a manner, the manly indifference of which compel-
led them to attend to him.
296
REDGAUNTLET.
"John Davies," he said, " will, I trust, soon bơ
at Dumfries".
"To fetch down redcoats and dragoons against
us, you canting old villain !”
A blow was, at the same time, levelled at my
friend, which I parried by interposing the stick I
had in my hand. I was instantly struck down, and
have a faint recollection of hearing some crying,
"Kill the young spy!" and others, as I thought,
interposing on my behalf. But a second blow on
the head, received in the scuffle, soon deprived me
of sense and consciousness, and threw me into a
state of insensibility, from which I did not recover
immediately. When I did come to myself, I was
lying on the bed from which I had just risen before
the fray, and my poor companion, the Newfound-
land puppy, its courage entirely cowed by the tu-
mult of the riot, had crept as close to me as it could,
and lay trembling and whining, as if under the most
dreadful terror. I doubted at first whether I had
not dreamed of the tumult, until, as I attempted
to rise, a feeling of pain and dizziness assured me
that the injury I had sustained was but too real. I
gathered together my senses-listened-and heard
at a distance the shouts of the rioters, busy, doubt-
less, in their work of devastation. I made a second
effort to rise, or at least to turn myself, for I lay
with my face to the wall of the cottage, but I found
that my limbs were secured, and my motions effect-
ually prevented-not indeed by cords, but by linen
or cloth bandages swathed around my ankles, and
securing my arms to my sides. Aware of my ut-
REDGAUNTLET.
297
terly captive condition, I groaned betwixt bodily
pain and mental distress.
A voice by my bedside whispered, in a whining
tone, “Whisht a-ye, hinnie-whisht, a-ye; haud
your tongue, like a gude bairn-ye have cost us
dear aneugh already. My hinnie's clean gane now."
Knowing, as I thought, the phraseology of the
wife of the itinerant musician, I asked her where
her husband was, and whether he had been hurt.
"Broken," answered the dame, "all broken to
pieces; fit for nought but to be made spunks of—
the best blood that was in Scotland."
"Broken ?-blood?—is your husband wounded';
has there been bloodshed-broken limbs ?"
"Broken limbs ?—I wish," answered the bel-
dam, "that my hinnie had broken the best bane
in his body, before he had broken his fiddle, that
was the best blood in Scotland-it was a cremony,
for aught that I ken."
"Pshaw-only his fiddle?" said I.
"I dinna ken what waur your honour could have
wished him to do, unless he had broken his neck;
and this is muckle the same to my hinnie Willie
and me. Chaw, indeed! It is easy to say chaw,
but wha is to gie us ony thing to chaw?—the bread-
winner's gane, and we may e'en sit down and starve."
"No, no," I said, "I will pay you for twenty
such fiddles."
(6 Twenty such! is that a' ye ken about it? the
country hadna the like o't. But if
your honour
were to pay us, as nae doubt wad be to your credit
here and hereafter, where are ye to get the siller ?"
298
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"I have enough of money," said I, attempting to
reach my hand towards my side-pocket; "unloose
these bandages, and I will pay you on the spot.”
This hint appeared to move her, and she was
approaching the bedside, as I hoped, to liberate me
from my bonds, when a nearer and more desperate
shout was heard, as if the rioters were close by the
hut.
"I daurna-I daurna," said the poor woman,
"they would murder me and my hinnie Willie
baith, and they have misguided us aneugh already;
-but if there is any thing worldly I could do for
your honour, leave out loosing ye?"
What she said recalled me to my bodily suffer-
ing. Agitation, and the effects of the usage I had
received, had produced a burning thirst. I asked
for a drink of water.
"Heaven Almighty forbid that Epps Ainslie
should gie ony sick gentleman cauld well-water,
and him in a fever. Na, na, hinnie, let me alane,
I'll do better for ye than the like of that.”
"Give me what you will,” I replied; "let it but
be liquid and cool."
The woman gave me a large horn accordingly,
filled with spirits and water, which, without minute
enquiry concerning the nature of its contents, I
drained at a draught. Either the spirits taken in
such a manner, acted more suddenly than usual on
my brain, or else there was some drug mixed with
the beverage. I remember little after drinking it
off, only that the appearance of things around me
became indistinct; that the woman's form seemed
REDGAUNTLET.
299
to multiply itself, and to flit in various figures around
me, bearing the same lineaments as she herself did.
I remember also that the discordant noises and cries
of those without the cottage seemed to die away in
a hum like that with which a nurse hushes her babe.
At length I fell into a deep sound sleep, or rather,
a state of absolute insensibility.
I have reason to think this species of trance last-
ed for many hours; indeed, for the whole subse-
quent day and part of the night. It was not uni-
formly so profound, for my recollection of it is che-
quered with many dreams, all of a painful nature,
but too faint and too indistinct to be remembered.
At length the moment of waking came, and my sen-
sations were horrible.
A deep sound, which, in the confusion of my
senses, I identified with the cries of the rioters, was
the first thing of which I was sensible; next, I be-
came conscious that I was carried violently forward
in some conveyance, with an unequal motion, which
gave me much pain. My position was horizontal, and
when I attempted to stretch my hands in order to
find some mode of securing myself against this spe-
cies of suffering, I found I was bound as before,
and the horrible reality rushed on my mind, that I
was in the hands of those who had lately committed
a great outrage on property, and were now about
to kidnap, if not to murder me. I opened my eyes,
it was to no purpose-all around me was dark, for
a day had passed over during my captivity. A
dispiriting sickness oppressed my head—my heart
seemed on fire, while my feet and hands were chill-
300
REDGAUNTLET.
ed and benumbed with want of circulation. It was
with the utmost difficulty that I at length, and gra-
dually, recovered in a sufficient degree the power
of observing external sounds and circumstances;
and when I did so, they presented nothing conso-
latory.
Groping with my hands, as far as the bandages
would permit, and receiving the assistance of some
occasional glances of the moonlight, I became aware
that the carriage in which I was transported was
one of the light carts of the country, called tumblers,
and that a little attention had been paid to my ac-
commodation, as I was laid upon some sacks cover-
ed with matting, and filled with straw. Without
these, my condition would have been still more in-
tolerable, for the vehicle, sinking now on one side,
and now on the other, sometimes sticking absolutely
fast, and requiring the utmost exertions of the ani-
mal which drew it to put it once more in motion,
was subjected to jolts in all directions, which were
very severe. At other times it rolled silently and
smoothly over what seemed to be wet sand; and,
as I heard the distant roar of the tide, I had little
doubt that we were engaged in passing the formi-
dable estuary which divides the two kingdoms.
There seemed to be at least five or six people
about the cart, some on foot, others on horseback ;
the former lent assistance whenever it was in dan-
ger of upsetting, or sticking fast in the quicksand;
the others rode before and acted as guides, often
changing the direction of the vehicle as the preca-
rious state of the passage required.
REDGAUNTLET.
301
I addressed myself to the men around the cart,
and endeavoured to move their compassion. I had
harmed, I said, no one, and for no action in my life
had deserved such cruel treatment. I had no con-
cern whatever in the fishing station which had in-
curred their displeasure, and my acquaintance with
Mr Geddes was of a very late date. Lastly, and
as my strongest argument, I endeavoured to excite
their fears, by informing them that my rank in life
would not permit me to be either murdered or se-
creted with impunity; and to interest their avarice,
by the promises I made them of reward, if they
would effect my deliverance. I only received a
scornful laugh in reply to my threats; my promises
might have done more, for the fellows were whis-
pering together as if in hesitation, and I began to
reiterate and increase my offers, when the voice of
one of the horsemen, who had suddenly come up,
enjoined silence to the men on foot, and, approach-
ing the side of the cart, said to me, with a strong
and determined voice, "Young man, there is no
personal harm designed to you. If you remain
silent and quiet, you may reckon on good treat-
ment; but if you endeavour to tamper with these
men in the execution of their duty, I will take such
measures for silencing you, as you shall remember
the longest day you have to live."
I thought I knew the voice which uttered these
threats; but, in such a situation, my perceptions
could not be supposed to be perfectly accurate. I
was contented to reply, "Whoever you are that
speak to me, I entreat the benefit of the meanest
302
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prisoner, who is not to be subjected legally to
greater hardship than is necessary for the restraint
of his person. I entreat that these bonds, which
hurt me so cruelly, may be slackened at least, if not
removed altogether."
"I will slacken the belts," said the former speaker;
"nay, I will altogether remove them, and allow you
to pursue your journey in a more convenient man-
ner, provided you will give me your word of honour
that you will not attempt an escape."
""
“Never!” I answered, with an energy of which
despair alone could have rendered me capable-
"I will never submit to loss of freedom a moment
longer than I am subjected to it by force."
"Enough," he replied; "the sentiment is na-
tural; but do not on your side complain that I, who
am carrying on an important undertaking, use the
only means in my power for ensuring its success.'
""
I entreated to know what it was designed to do
with me; but my conductor, in a voice of menacing
authority, desired me to be silent on my peril; and
my strength and spirits were too much exhausted
to permit my continuing a dialogue so singular,
even if I could have promised myself any good re-
sult by doing so.
It is proper here to add, that, from my recollec-
tions at the time, and from what has since taken
place, I have the strongest possible belief that the
man with whom I held this expostulation, was the
singular person residing at Brokenburn, in Dum-
fries-shire, and called by the fishers of that hamlet,
the Laird of the Solway Lochs. The cause for his
REDGAUNTLET.
303
inveterate persecution I cannot pretend even to
guess at.
In the meantime, the cart was dragged heavily
and wearily on, until the nearer roar of the advan-
cing tide excited the apprehension of another dan-
ger. I could not mistake the sound, which I had
heard upon another occasion, when it was only the
speed of a fleet horse which saved me from perish-
ing in the quicksands. Thou, my dear Alan, canst
not but remember the former circumstances; and
now, wonderful contrast! the very man, to the best
of my belief, who then saved me from peril, was the
leader of the lawless band who had deprived me of
my liberty. I conjectured that the danger grew
imminent; for I heard some words and circum-
stances which made me aware that a rider hastily
fastened his own horse to the shafts of the cart, in
order to assist the exhausted animal which drew it,
and the vehicle was now pulled forward at a faster
pace, which the horses were urged to maintain by
blows and curses. The men, however, were inha-
bitants of the neighbourhood; and I had strong
personal reason to believe, that one of them, at
least, was intimately acquainted with all the depths
and shallows of the perilous paths in which we were
engaged. But they were in imminent danger them-
selves; and if so, as from the whispering and exer-
tions to push on with the cart, was much to be
apprehended, there was little doubt that I should
be left behind as a useless encumbrance, and that
while I was in a condition which rendered every
chance of escape impracticable. These were awful
304
REDGAUNTLET.
apprehensions; but it pleased Providence to increase
them to a point which my brain was scarcely able
to endure.
As we approached very near to a black line,
which, dimly visible as it was, I could make out to
be the shore, we heard two or three sounds, which
appeared to be the report of fire-arms. Immediately
all was bustle among our party to get forward. Pre-
sently a fellow galloped up to us, crying out, "Ware
hawk! ware hawk! the land-sharks are out from
Burgh, and Allonby Tom will lose his cargo if you
do not bear a hand."
Most of my company seemed to make hastily for
the shore on receiving this intelligence. A driver
was left with the cart; but at length, when, after
repeated and hair-breadth escapes, it actually stuck
fast in a slough or quicksand, the fellow with an
oath cut the harness, and, as I presume, departed
with the horses, whose feet I heard splashing over
the wet sand, and through the shallows, as he gal-
loped off.
The dropping sound of fire-arms was still conti-
nued, but lost almost entirely in the thunder of the
advancing surge. By a desperate effort I raised
myself in the cart, and attained a sitting posture,
which served only to show me the extent of my
danger. There lay my native land-my own Eng-
land-the land where I was born, and to which my
wishes, since my earliest age, had turned with all
the prejudices of national feeling-there it lay,
within a furlong of the place where I yet was; that
furlong which an infant would have raced over in
REDGAUNTLET.
305
a minute, was yet a barrier effectual to divide me
for ever from England and from life. I soon not
only heard the roar of this dreadful torrent, but
saw, by the fitful moonlight, the foamy crests of
the devouring waves, as they advanced with the
speed and fury of a pack of hungry wolves.
The consciousness that the slightest ray of hope,
or power of struggling, was not left me, quite over-
came the constancy which I had hitherto maintained.
My eyes began to swim-my head grew giddy and
mad with fear-I chattered and howled to the howl-
ing and roaring sea. One or two great waves already
reached the cart, when the conductor of the party
whom I have mentioned so often, was, as if by
magic, at my side. He sprang from his horse into
the vehicle, cut the ligatures which restrained me,
and bade me get up and mount in the fiend's name.
Seeing I was incapable of obeying, he seized me,
as if I had been a child of six months old, threw
me across the horse, sprung on behind, supporting
with one hand, while he directed the animal with the
other. In my helpless and painful posture, I was
unconscious of the degree of danger which we in-
curred; but I believe at one time the horse was
swimming, or nearly so; and that it was with dif-
ficulty that my stern and powerful assistant kept
my head above water. I remember particularly
the shock which I felt when the animal, endeavour-
ing to gain the bank, reared, and very nearly fell
back on his burden. The time during which I con-
tinued in this dreadful condition did not probably
exceed two or three minutes, yet so strongly were
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U
306
REDGAUNTLET.
they marked with horror and agony, that they seem
to my recollection a much more considerable space
of time.
When I had been thus snatched from destruc-
tion, I had only power to say to my protector,—or
oppressor,—for he merited either name at my hand,
"You do not, then, design to murder me?"
He laughed as he replied, but it was a sort of
laughter which I scarce desire to hear again,-
"Else you think I had let the waves do their work?
But remember, the shepherd saves his sheep from
the torrent—is it to preserve its life?—Be silent,
however, with questions or entreaties. What I
mean to do, thou canst no more discover or prevent,
than a man, with his bare palm, can scoop dry the
Solway."
I was too much exhausted to continue the argu-
ment; and, still numbed and torpid in all my limbs,
permitted myself without reluctance to be placed on
a horse brought for the purpose. My formidable
conductor rode on the one side, and another person
on the other, keeping me upright in the saddle. In
this manner we travelled forward at a considerable
rate, and by by-roads, with which my attendant
seemed as familiar as with the perilous passages of
the Solway.
At length, after stumbling through a labyrinth
of dark and deep lanes, and crossing more than one
rough and barren heath, we found ourselves on the
edge of a high-road, where a chaise and four await-
ed, as it appeared, our arrival. To my great relief,
we now changed our mode of conveyance; for my
REDGAUNTLET.
307
dizziness and headach had returned in so strong
a degree, that I should otherwise have been totally
unable to keep my seat on horseback, even with
the support which I received.
My doubted and dangerous companion signed
to me to enter the carriage-the man who had rid-
den on the left side of my horse stepped in after me,
and, drawing up the blinds of the vehicle, gave the
signal for instant departure.
I had obtained a glimpse of the countenance of
my new companion, as by the aid of a dark lantern
the drivers opened the carriage door, and I was well-
nigh persuaded that I recognised in him the do-
mestic of the leader of this party, whom I had seen
at his house in Brokenburn on a former occasion.
To ascertain the truth of my suspicion, I asked him
whether his name was not Cristal Nixon.
"What is other folk's names to you," he replied,
gruffly, “who cannot tell your own father and mo-
ther ?"
"You know them, perhaps?" I exclaimed ea-
gerly. "You know them! and with that secret is
connected the treatment which I am now receiving?
It must be so, for in my life have I never injured
any one. Tell me the cause of my misfortunes, or
rather, help me to my liberty, and I will reward
you richly."
"Ay, ay," replied my keeper; "but what use
to give you liberty, who know nothing how to use
it like a gentleman, but spend your time with Qua-
kers and fiddlers, and such-like raff? If I was your
-hem, hem, hem !"
308
REDGAUNTLET.
I
Here Cristal stopped short, just on the point, as
it appeared, when some information was likely to
escape him. I urged him once more to be my
friend, and promised him all the stock of money
which I had about me, and it was not inconsider-
able, if he would assist in my escape.
He listened, as if to a proposition which had
some interest, and replied, but in a voice rather
softer than before, "Ay, but men do not catch old
birds with chaff, my master. Where have you got
the rhino you are so flush of?”
"I will give you earnest directly, and that in
bank-notes," said I; but, thrusting my hand into
my side-pocket, I found my pocketbook was gone.
I would have persuaded myself that it was only the
numbness of my hands which prevented my find-
ing it; but Cristal Nixon, who bears in his coun-
tenance that cynicism which is especially entertain-
ed with human misery, no longer suppressed his
laughter.
--
St
"we
"Oh, ho! my young master," he said;
have taken good enough care you have not kept the
means of bribing poor folk's fidelity. What, man,
they have souls as well as other people, and to make
them break trust is a deadly sin. And as for me,
young gentleman, if you would fill Saint Mary's
Kirk with gold, Cristal Nixon would mind it no
more than so many chucky-stones."
I would have persisted, were it but in hopes of
his letting drop that which it concerned me to
know, but he cut off further communication, by
REDGAUNTLET.
309
desiring me to lean back in the corner and go to
sleep.
"Thou art cockbrained enough already," he
added, “and we shall have thy young pate addled
entirely, if you do not take some natural rest.'
">
I did indeed require repose, if not slumber; the
draught which I had taken continued to operate,
and satisfied in my own mind that no attempt on
my life was designed, the fear of instant death no
longer combated the torpor which crept over me—
I slept, and slept soundly, but still without re-
freshment.
When I awoke, I found myself extremely in-
disposed; images of the past, and anticipations of
the future, floated confusedly through my brain. I
perceived, however, that my situation was changed,
greatly for the better. I was in a good bed, with
the curtains drawn round it; I heard the lowered
voice and cautious step of attendants, who seemed
to respect my repose; it appeared as if I was in the
hands either of friends, or of such as meant me no
personal harm.
I can give but an indistinct account of two or
three broken and feverish days which succeeded, but
if they were chequered with dreams and visions of
terror, other and more agreeable objects were also
sometimes presented. Alan Fairford will under-
stand me when I say, I am convinced I saw G. M.
during this interval of oblivion. I had medical at-
tendance, and was bled more than once. I also
remember a painful operation performed on my
head, where I had received a severe blow on the
310
REDGAUNTLET.
night of the riot. My hair was cut short, and the
bone of the skull examined, to discover if the cra-
nium had received any injury.
On seeing the physician, it would have been
natural to have appealed to him on the subject of
my confinement, and I remember more than once
attempting to do so. But the fever lay like a spell
upon my tongue, and when I would have implored
the doctor's assistance, I rambled from the subject,
and spoke I know not what-nonsense. Some
power, which I was unable to resist, seemed to im-
pel me into a different course of conversation from
what I intended, and though conscious, in some
degree, of the failure, I could not mend it; and re-
solved, therefore, to be patient, until my capacity
of steady thought and expression was restored to
me with my ordinary health, which had sustained
a severe shock from the vicissitudes to which I had
been exposed.*
*Note, p. 311. Riotous attack upon the dam-dike of Sir
James Graham of Netherby.
REDGAUNTLET.
311
NOTE TO CHAPTER IV.
Note, p. 310.-RIOTOUS ATTAck upon the DAM-DIKE OF SIR
JAMES GRAHAM OF NETHERBY.
It may be here mentioned, that a violent and popular attack
upon what the country people of this district considered as an
invasion of their fishing right, is by no means an improbable
fiction. Shortly after the close of the American war, Sir James
Graham of Netherby constructed a dam-dike, or cauld, across
the Esk, at a place where it flowed through his estate, though
it has its origin, and the principal part of its course, in Scotland.
The new barrier at Netherby was considered as an encroach-
ment calculated to prevent the salmon from ascending into
Scotland; and the right of erecting it being an international
question of law betwixt the sister kingdoms, there was no court
in either competent to its decision. In this dilemma, the Scots
people assembled in numbers by signal of rocket lights, and,
rudely armed with fowlingpieces, fishspears, and such rustic
weapons, marched to the banks of the river for the purpose of
pulling down the dam-dike objected to. Sir James Graham
armed many of his own people to protect his property, and had
some military from Carlisle for the same purpose. A renewal
of the Border wars had nearly taken place in the eighteenth
century, when prudence and moderation on both sides saved
much tumult, and perhaps some bloodshed. The English pro-
prietor consented that a breach should be made in his dam-
dike sufficient for the passage of the fish, and thus removed the
Scottish grievance. I believe the river has since that time
taken the matter into its own disposal, and entirely swept away
the dam-dike in question.
312
REDGAUNTLET.
CHAPTER V.
DARSIE LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION.
Two or three days, perhaps more, perhaps less,
had been spent in bed, where I was carefully at-
tended, and treated, I believe, with as much judg-
ment as the case required, and I was at length al-
lowed to quit my bed, though not the chamber. I
was now more able to make some observation on
the place of my confinement.
The room, in appearance and furniture, resem-
bled the best apartment in a farmer's house; and
the window, two stories high, looked into a back-
yard, or court, filled with poultry. There were
the usual domestic offices about this yard. I could
distinguish the brewhouse and the barn, and I
heard, from a more remote building, the lowing
of the cattle and other rural sounds, announcing a
large and well-stocked farm. These were sights
and sounds qualified to dispel any apprehension of
immediate violence. Yet the building seemed an-
cient and strong, a part of the roof was battlement-
ed, and the walls were of great thickness; lastly,
I observed with some unpleasant sensations, that
the windows of my chamber had been lately se-
cured with iron stanchions, and that the servants
who brought me victuals, or visited my apartment
REDGAUNTLET.
313
to render other menial offices, always locked the
door when they retired.
The comfort and cleanliness of my chamber were
of true English growth, and such as I had rarely
seen on the other side of the Tweed;
the very
old
wainscot, which composed the floor and the pa-
nelling of the room, was scrubbed with a degree of
labour which the Scottish housewife rarely bestows
on her most costly furniture.
The whole apartments appropriated to my use
consisted of the bedroom, a small parlour adjacent,
within which was a still smaller closet, having a nar-
row window, which seemed anciently to have been
used as a shot-hole, admitting, indeed, a very mo-
derate portion of light and air, but without its be-
ing possible to see any thing from it except the blue
sky, and that only by mounting on a chair. There
were appearances of a separate entrance into this
cabinet, besides that which communicated with the
parlour, but it had been recently built up, as I dis-
covered, by removing a piece of tapestry which co-
vered the fresh mason-work. I found some of my
clothes here, with linen and other articles, as well
as my writing case, containing pen, ink, and paper,
which enables me, at my leisure, (which, God
knows, is undisturbed enough,) to make this record
of my confinement. It may be well believed, how-
ever, that I do not trust to the security of the bu-
reau, but carry the written sheets about my person,
so that I can only be deprived of them by actual
violence. I also am cautious to write in the little
cabinet only, so that I can hear any person approach
314
REDGAUNTLET.
me through the other apartments, and have time
enough to put aside my journal before they come
upon me.
The servants, a stout country fellow, and a very
pretty milkmaid-looking lass, by whom I am at-
tended, seem of the true Joan and Hodge school,
thinking of little, and desiring nothing, beyond the
very limited sphere of their own duties or enjoy-
ments, and having no curiosity whatever about the
affairs of others. Their behaviour to me, in parti-
cular, is, at the same time, very kind and very pro-
voking. My table is abundantly supplied, and they
seem anxious to comply with my taste in that de-
partment. But whenever I make enquiries beyond
"what's for dinner,” the brute of a lad baffles me by
his anan, and his dunna knaw, and, if hard pressed,
turns his back on me composedly, and leaves the
room. The girl, too, pretends to be as simple as
he; but an arch grin, which she cannot always sup-
press, seems to acknowledge that she understands
perfectly well the game which she is playing, and
is determined to keep me in ignorance. Both of
them, and the wench in particular, treat me as they
would do a spoiled child, and never directly refuse
me any thing which I ask, taking care, at the same
time, not to make their words good by effectually
granting my request. Thus, if I desire to go out,
I am promised by Dorcas that I shall walk in the
park at night and see the cows milked, just as she
would propose such an amusement to a child. But
she takes care never to keep her word, if it is in her
power to do so.
REDGAUNTLET.
315
In the meantime, there has stolen on me insen-
sibly an indifference to my freedom-a carelessness
about my situation, for which I am unable to ac-
count, unless it be the consequence of weakness and
loss of blood. I have read of men who, immured
as I am, have surprised the world by the address
with which they have successfully overcome the
most formidable obstacles to their escape; and when
I have heard such anecdotes, I have said to myself,
that no one who is possessed only of a fragment of
freestone, or a rusty nail, to grind down rivets and
to pick locks, having his full leisure to employ in
the task, need continue the inhabitant of a prison.
Here, however, I sit, day after day, without a single
effort to effect my liberation.
Yet my inactivity is not the result of despond-
ency, but arises, in part at least, from feelings of
a very different cast. My story, long a mysterious
one, seems now upon the verge of some strange
developement; and I feel a solemn impression that
I ought to wait the course of events, to struggle
against which is opposing my feeble efforts to the
high will of fate. Thou, my Alan, wilt treat as
timidity this passive acquiescence, which has sunk
down on me like a benumbing torpor; but if thou
hast remembered by what visions my couch was
haunted, and dost but think of the probability that
I am in the vicinity, perhaps under the same roof
with G. M., thou wilt acknowledge that other feel-
ings than pusillanimity have tended in some degree
to reconcile me to my fate.
Still I own it is unmanly to submit with patience
316
REDGAUNTLET.
to this oppressive confinement. My heart rises
against it, especially when I sit down to record my
sufferings in this Journal; and I am determined, as
the first step to my deliverance, to have my letters
sent to the post-house.
I am disappointed. When the girl Dorcas, upon
whom I had fixed for a messenger, heard me talk
of sending a letter, she willingly offered her ser-
vices, and received the crown which I gave her,
(for my purse had not taken flight with the more
valuable contents of my pocketbook,) with a smile
which showed her whole set of white teeth.
But when, with the purpose of gaining some in-
telligence respecting my present place of abode, I
asked, to which post-town she was to send or carry
the letter, a stolid "Anan" showed me she was
either ignorant of the nature of a post-office, or that,
for the present, she chose to seem so." Simple-
ton!" I said, with some sharpness.
"O Lord, sir!" answered the girl, turning pale,
which they always do when I show any sparks of
anger,—“ Don't put yourself in a passion !—I'll put
the letter in the post."
"What! and not know the name of the post-
town?" said I, out of patience.
do you propose to manage that?”
"How on earth
"La you there, good master. What need you
REDGAUNTLET.
317
frighten a poor girl that is no schollard, bating what
she learned at the Charity-School of Saint Bees?"
"Is Saint Bees far from this place, Dorcas ?-
Do you send your letters there?" said I, in a manner
as insinuating, and yet careless, as I could assume.
C
"Saint Bees!-La, who but a madman-beg-
ging your honour's pardon-it's a matter of twenty
years since fader lived at Saint Bees, which is twen-
ty, or forty, or I dunna know not how many miles
from this part, to the West, on the coast-side; and I
would not have left Saint Bees, but that fader".
“Oh, the devil take your father!” replied I.
To which she answered, "Nay, but thof your
honour be a little how-come-so, you shouldn't damn
folk's faders; and I won't stand to it, for one.”
"Oh, I beg you a thousand pardons-I wish
your father no ill in the world—he was a very ho-
nest man in his way."
"Was an honest man!" she exclaimed; for the
Cumbrians are, it would seem, like their neighbours
the Scotch, ticklish on the point of ancestry,-" He
is a very honest man, as ever led nag with halter on
head to Staneshaw-Bank Fair-Honest!—He is
a horse-couper."
"Right, right," I replied; "I know it-I have
heard of your father-as honest as any horse-couper
of them all. Why, Dorcas, I mean to buy a horse
of him."
"Ah, your honour," sighed Dorcas, "he is the
man to serve your honour well—if ever you should
get round again-or, thof you were a bit off the
hooks, he would no more cheat you than".
•
3.18
REDGAUNTLET.
de-
“Well, well, we will deal, my girl, you may
pend on't. But tell me now, were I to give you a
letter, what would you do to get it forward ?”
"Why, put it into Squire's own bag that hangs
in hall," answered poor Dorcas. "What else could
I do? He sends it to Brampton, or to Carloisle, or
where it pleases him, once a-week, and that gate."
"Ah!" said I; "and I suppose your sweet-
heart John carries it?”
"Noa-disn't now-and Jan is no sweetheart
of mine, ever since he danced at his mother's feast
with Kitty Rutledge, and let me sit still; that a did.”
"It was most abominable in Jan, and what I
could never have thought of him," I replied.
"O, but a did though—a let me sit still on my
seat, a did."
Well, well, my pretty May, you will get a
handsomer fellow than Jan-Jan's not the fellow
for
you, I see that."
"Noa, noa," answered the damsel; "but he is
weel aneugh for a' that, mon. But I carena a but-
ton for him; for there is the miller's son, that suit-
ored me last Appleby Fair, when I went wi' oncle,
is a gway canny lad as you will see in the sun-
"?
shine.'
"Ay, a fine stout fellow-Do you think he would
carry my letter to Carlisle ?”
"To Carloisle! 'Twould be all his life is worth;
he maun wait on clap and hopper, as they say. Odd,
his father would brain him if he went to Carloisle,
bating to wrestling for the belt, or sic loike. But I
REDGAUNTLET.
319
ha' more bachelors than him; there is the school-
master can write almaist as weel as tou canst, mon."
"Then he is the very man to take charge of a
letter; he knows the trouble of writing one.
""
<<
Ay, marry does he, an tou comest to that, mon;
only it takes him four hours to write as mony lines.
Tan, it is a great round hand loike, that one can
read easily, and not loike your honour's, that are
like midge's taes. But for ganging to Carloisle, he's
dead foundered, man, as cripple as Eckie's mear."
"In the name of God," said I, "how is it that
you propose to get my letter to the post?"
،،
Why, just to put it into Squire's bag loike,"
reiterated Dorcas; "he sends it by Cristal Nixon
to post, as you call it, when such is his pleasure."
Here I was then, not much edified by having
obtained a list of Dorcas's bachelors; and by find-
ing myself with respect to any information which I
desired, just exactly at the point where I set out.
It was of consequence to me, however, to accustom
the girl to converse with me familiarly. If she did
so, she could not always be on her guard, and some-
thing, I thought, might drop from her which I could
turn to advantage.
"Does not the Squire usually look into his let-
ter-bag, Dorcas ?" said I, with as much indifference
as I could assume.
"That a does," said Dorcas ;" and a threw out a
letter of mine to Raff Miller, because a said"-
“Well, well, I won't trouble him with mine,"
said I, "Dorcas; but, instead, I will write to him-
self, Dorcas. But how shall I address him ?”
320
REDGAUNTLET.
"Anan ?" was again Dorcas's resource.
"I mean how is he called?-What is his name?"
"Sure your honour should know best," said
Dorcas.
"I know?—The devil!-You drive me beyond
patience."
“Noa, noa ! donna your honour go beyond pa-
tience-donna ye now," implored the wench. "And
for his neame, they say he has mair nor ane in
Westmoreland and on the Scottish side. But he is
but seldom wi' us, excepting in the cocking season ;
and then we just call him Squoire loike ; and so do
my measter and dame."
"And is he here at present ?" said I.
"Not he, not he; he is a buck-hoonting, as they
tell me, somewhere up the Patterdale way; but he
comes and gangs like a flap of a whirlwind, or sic
loike."
I broke off the conversation, after forcing on
Dorcas a little silver to buy ribbons, with which
she was so much delighted, that she exclaimed,
“God! Cristal Nixon may say his worst on thee;
but thou art a civil gentleman for all him; and a
quoit man wi' woman folk loike."
There is no sense in being too quiet with women
folk, so I added a kiss with my crown piece; and
I cannot help thinking, that I have secured a par-
tisan in Dorcas. At least she blushed, and pocket-
ed her little compliment with one hand, while,
with the other, she adjusted her cherry-coloured
ribbons, a little disordered by the struggle it cost
me to attain the honour of a salute.
REDGAUNTLET.
321
As she unlocked the door to leave the apartment,
she turned back, and looking on me with a strong
expression of compassion, added the remarkable
words, "La-be'st mad or no, thou'se a mettled
lad, after all.”
There was something very ominous in the sound
of these farewell words, which seemed to afford me
a clew to the pretext under which I was detained
in confinement. My demeanour was probably in-
sane enough, while I was agitated at once by the
frenzy incident to the fever, and the anxiety ari-
sing from my extraordinary situation. But is it
possible they can now establish any cause for con-
fining me, arising out of the state of my mind?
If this be really the pretext under which I am
restrained from my liberty, nothing but the sedate
correctness of my conduct can remove the preju-
dices which these circumstances may have excited
in the minds of all who have approached me du-
ring my illness. I have heard-dreadful thought!
—of men who, for various reasons, have been tre-
panned into the custody of the keepers of private
madhouses, and whose brain, after years of misery,
became at length unsettled, through irresistible
sympathy with the wretched beings among whom
they were classed. This shall not be my case, if,
by strong internal resolution, it is in human nature
to avoid the action of exterior and contagious sym-
pathies.
Meantime I sat down to compose and arrange
my thoughts, for my purposed appeal to my jailer
-so I must call him-whom I addressed in the
VOL. XXXV.
X
322
REDGAUNTLET.
following manner; having at length, and after
making several copies, found language to qualify
the sense of resentment which burned in the first
draughts of my letter, and endeavoured to assume
a tone more conciliating. I mentioned the two
occasions on which he had certainly saved my life,
when at the utmost peril; and I added, that what-
ever was the purpose of the restraint now prac-
tised on me, as I was given to understand, by his
authority, it could not certainly be with any view
to ultimately injuring me. He might, I said, have
mistaken me for some other person; and I gave
him what account I could of my situation and edu-
cation, to correct such an error. I supposed it next
possible, that he might think me too weak for tra-
velling, and not capable of taking care of myself;
and I begged to assure him, that I was restored to
perfect health, and quite able to endure the fatigue
of a journey. Lastly, I reminded him in firm
though measured terms, that the restraint which I
sustained was an illegal one, and highly punishable
by the laws which protect the liberties of the sub-
ject. I ended by demanding, that he would take
me before a magistrate; or, at least, that he would
favour me with a personal interview, and explain
his meaning with regard to me.
Perhaps this letter was expressed in a tone
humble for the situation of an injured man, and I
am inclined to think so when I again recapitulate
its tenor. But what could I do? I was in the
power of one whose passions seem as violent as his
means of gratifying them appear unbounded. I
REDGAUNTLET.
323
had reason, too, to believe [this to thee, Alan] that
all his family did not approve of the violence of
his conduct towards me; my object, in fine, was
freedom, and who would not sacrifice much to at-
tain it?
I had no means of addressing my letter except-
ing, "For the Squire's own hand." He could be
at no great distance, for in the course of twenty-
four hours I received an answer. It was addressed
to Darsie Latimer, and contained these words:
"You have demanded an interview with me. You
have required to be carried before a magistrate.
Your first wish shall be granted—perhaps the se-
cond also. Meanwhile, be assured that you are a
prisoner for the time, by competent authority, and
that such authority is supported by adequate power.
Beware, therefore, of struggling with a force suffi-
cient to crush you, but abandon yourself to that
train of events by which we are both swept along,
and which it is impossible that either of us can
resist."
-
These mysterious words were without signature
of any kind, and left me nothing more important
to do than to prepare myself for the meeting which
they promised. For that purpose I must now break
off, and make sure of the manuscript,—so far as I
can, in my present condition, be sure of any thing,
-by concealing it within the lining of my coat, so
as not to be found without strict search.
324
REDGAUNTLET.
=
CHAPTER VII.
LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION.
THE important interview expected at the conclu-
sion of my last took place sooner than I had calcu-
lated; for thevery day I received the letter, and just
when my dinner was finished, the Squire, or what-
ever he is called, entered the room so suddenly, that
I almost thought I beheld an apparition. The figure
of this man is peculiarly noble and stately, and his
voice has that deep fulness of accent which implies
unresisted authority. I had risen involuntarily as
he entered; we gazed on each other for a moment
in silence, which was at length broken by my visitor.
"You have desired to see me,” he said. “I am
here; if you have aught to say, let me hear it; my
time is too brief to be consumed in childish dumb-
show."
"I would ask of you," said I, " by what autho-
rity I am detained in this place of confinement, and
for what purpose?"
"I have told you already," said he, "that my
authority is sufficient, and my power equal to it;
this is all which it is necessary for you at present
to know."
"Every British subject has a right to know why
he suffers restraint," I replied; "nor can he be
REDGAUNTLET.
325
deprived of liberty without a legal warrant-Show
me that by which you confine me thus."
"You shall see more," he said; you shall see
the magistrate by whom it is granted, and that
without a moment's delay."
This sudden proposal fluttered and alarmed me;
I felt, nevertheless, that I had the right cause, and
resolved to plead it boldly, although I could well
have desired a little further time for preparation.
He turned, however, threw open the door of the
apartment, and commanded me to follow him. I
felt some inclination, when I crossed the threshold
of my prison-chamber, to have turned and run for
it;
but I knew not where to find the stairs-had
reason to think the outer-doors would be secured
—and, to conclude, so soon as I had quitted the
room to follow the proud step of my conductor,
I observed that I was dogged by Cristal Nixon,
who suddenly appeared within two paces of me, and
with whose great personal strength, independent of
the assistance he might have received from his
master, I saw no chance of contending. I therefore
followed, unresistingly, and in silence, along one or
two passages of much greater length than consisted
with the ideas I had previously entertained of the
size of the house. At length a door was flung
open, and we entered a large, old-fashioned parlour,
having coloured glass in the windows, oaken panel-
ling on the wall, a huge grate, in which a large
fagot or two smoked under an arched chimneypiece
of stone, which bore some armorial device, whilst
the walls were adorned with the usual number of
326
REDGAUNTLET.
heroes in armour, with large wigs instead of hel-
mets, and ladies in sacques, smelling to nosegays.
Behind a long table, on which were several books,
sat a smart underbred-looking man, wearing his
own hair tied in a club, and who, from the quire of
paper laid before him, and the pen which he handled
at my entrance, seemed prepared to officiate as clerk.
As I wish to describe these persons as accurately
as possible, I may add, he wore a dark-coloured
coat, corduroy breeches, and spatterdashes. At the
upper end of the same table, in an ample easy-chair,
covered with black leather, reposed a fat personage,
about fifty years old, who either was actually a
country justice, or was well selected to represent
such a character. His leathern breeches were fault-
less in make, his jockey boots spotless in the var-
nish, and a handsome and flourishing pair of boot-
garters, as they are called, united the one part of
his garments to the other; in fine, a richly-laced
scarlet waistcoat, and a purple coat, set off the neat
though corpulent figure of the little man, and threw
an additional bloom upon his plethoric aspect. I
suppose he had dined, for it was two hours past
noon, and he was amusing himself, and aiding di-
gestion, with a pipe of tobacco. There was an air
of importance in his manner which corresponded to
the rural dignity of his exterior, and a habit which
he had of throwing out a number of interjectional
sounds, uttered with a strange variety of intonation,
running from bass up to treble in a very extraor-
dinary manner, or breaking off his sentences with
a whiff of his pipe, seemed adopted to give an air
REDGAUNTLET.
327
of thought and mature deliberation to his opinions
and decisions. Notwithstanding all this, Alan, it
might be dooted, as our old Professor used to say,
whether the Justice was any thing more than an
ass. Certainly, besides a great deference for the
legal opinion of his clerk, which might be quite
according to the order of things, he seemed to be
wonderfully under the command of his brother
Squire, if squire either of them were, and indeed
much more than was consistent with so much assu-
med consequence of his own.
"Ho-ha-ay-so-so-Hum-humph-this is
the young man, I suppose-Hum-ay-seems sick-
ly-Young gentleman, you may sit down."
I used the permission given, for I had been much
more reduced by my illness than I was aware of,
and felt myself really fatigued, even by the few
paces I had walked, joined to the agitation I suf-
fered.
}
"And your name, young man, is-humph-ay
-ha-what is it ?"
"Darsie Latimer.”
"Right-ay-humph-very right. Darsie La-
timer is the very thing-ha-ay-where do you
come from ?"
"From Scotland, sir," I replied.
"A native of Scotland-a-humph-eh-how
is it ?"
« I am an Englishman by birth, sir.”
"Right-ay-yes, you are so. But pray, Mr
Darsie Latimer, have you always been called by
>
328
REDGAUNTLET.
that name, or have you any other?-Nick, write
down his answers, Nick."
"As far as I remember, I never bore any other,”
was my answer.
"How, no?-well I should not have thought so
-Hey, neighbour, would you?”
Here he looked towards the other Squire, who
had thrown himself into a chair; and, with his legs
stretched out before him, and his arms folded on
his bosom, seemed carelessly attending to what was
going forward. He answered the appeal of the
Justice by saying, that perhaps the young man's
memory did not go back to a very early period.
“Ah-eh-ha-you hear the gentleman-Pray,
how far may your memory be pleased to run back
to ?-umph?
"Perhaps, sir, to the age of three years, or a
little farther.”
"And will you presume to say, sir,” said the
Squire, drawing himself suddenly erect in his seat,
and exerting the strength of his powerful voice,
"that you then bore your present name ?”
I was startled at the confidence with which this
question was put, and in vain rummaged my me-
mory for the means of replying. "At least," I
said, "I always remember being called Darsie;
children, at that early age, seldom get more than
their Christian name.”
“O, I thought so," he replied, and again stretch-
ed himself on his seat, in the same lounging pos-
ture as before.
"So you were called Darsie in your infancy,"
1
REDGAUNTLET.
329
said the Justice; " and hum-ay-when did you
first take the name of Latimer ?"
"I did not take it, sir; it was given to me."
“I ask you,” said the lord of the mansion, but
with less severity in his voice than formerly, "whe-
ther you can remember that you were ever called
Latimer, until you had that name given you in
Scotland ?"
"I will be candid; I cannot recollect an instance
that I was so called when in England, but neither
can I recollect when the name was first given me ;
and if any thing is to be founded on these queries
and my answers, I desire my early childhood may
be taken into consideration."
"Hum-ay-yes," said the Justice; "all that
requires consideration shall be duly considered.
Young man-eh—I beg to know the name of your
father and mother ?"
This was galling a wound that has festered for
years, and I did not endure the question so patiently
as those which preceded it; but replied, "I demand,
in my turn, to know if I am before an English
Justice of the Peace?"
"His worship Squire Foxley, of Foxley Hall,
has been of the quorum these twenty years," said
Master Nicholas.
"Then he ought to know, or you, sir, as his
clerk, should inform him," said I, " that I am the
complainer in this case, and that my complaint
ought to be heard before I am subjected to cross-
examination."
"Humph-hoy-what, ay-there is something in
330
REDGAUNTLET.
that, neighbour," said the poor Justice, who, blown
about by every wind of doctrine, seemed desirous
to attain the sanction of his brother Squire.
"I wonder at you, Foxley," said his firm-mind-
ed acquaintance; "how can you render the young
man justice unless you know who he is ?"
"Ha—yes—egad that's true," said Mr Justice
Foxley; " and now-looking into the matter more
closely—there is, eh, upon the whole-nothing at
all in what he says-so, sir, you must tell your
father's name, and surname.
""
"It is out of my power, sir; they are not known
to me, since you must needs know so much of my
private affairs."
The Justice collected a great afflatus in his
cheeks, which puffed them up like those of a Dutch
cherub, while his eyes seemed flying out of his
head, from the effort with which he retained his
breath. He then blew it forth with,-" Whew!
-Hoom-poof-ha!-not know your parents,
youngster ?—Then I must commit you for a va-
grant, I warrant you. Omne ignotum pro terribili,
as we used to say at Appleby school; that is, every
one that is not known to the Justice, is a rogue and
a vagabond. Ha!-ay, you may sneer, sir; but I
question if you would have known the meaning of
that Latin unless I had told you.”
I acknowledged myself obliged for a new edi-
tion of the adage, and an interpretation which I
could never have reached alone and unassisted. I
then proceeded to state my case with greater con-
fidence. The Justice was an ass, that was clear ;
REDGAUNTLET.
331
but it was scarcely possible he could be so utterly
ignorant as not to know what was necessary in so
plain a case as mine. I therefore informed him of
the riot which had been committed on the Scottish
side of the Solway Frith; explained how I came
to be placed in my present situation; and request-
ed of his worship to set me at liberty. I pleaded
my cause with as much earnestness as I could, cast-
ing an eye from time to time upon the opposite
party, who seemed entirely indifferent to all the
animation with which I accused him.
As for the Justice, when at length I had ceased,
as really not knowing what more to say in a case
so very plain, he replied, "Ho-ay-ay-yes-
wonderful! and so this is all the gratitude you
show to this good gentleman for the great charge
and trouble he hath had with respect to and con-
cerning of you?”
"He saved my life, sir, I acknowledge, on one
occasion certainly, and most probably on two; but
his having done so gives him no right over my
person. I am not, however, asking for any punish-
ment or revenge; on the contrary, I am content
to part friends with the gentleman, whose motives
I am unwilling to suppose are bad, though his
actions have been, towards me, unauthorized and
violent."
This moderation, Alan, thou wilt comprehend,
was not entirely dictated by my feelings towards
the individual of whom I complained; there were
other reasons, in which regard for him had little
share. It seemed, however, as if the mildness with
•
332
REDGAUNTLET.
which I pleaded my cause had more effect upon
him than any thing I had yet said. He was moved
to the point of being almost out of countenance;
and took snuff repeatedly, as if to gain time to
stifle some degree of emotion.
But on Justice Foxley, on whom my eloquence
was particularly designed to make impression, the
result was much less favourable. He consulted in
a whisper with Mr Nicholas his clerk-pshawed,
hemmed, and elevated his eyebrows, as if in scorn
of my supplication. At length, having apparently
made up his mind, he leaned back in his chair, and
smoked his pipe with great energy, with a look of
defiance, designed to make me aware that all my
reasoning was lost on him.
At length, when I stopped, more from lack of
breath than want of argument, he opened his ora-
cular jaws, and made the following reply, inter-
rupted by his usual interjectional ejaculations, and
by long volumes of smoke:-"Hem-ay-eh-poof
-And, youngster, do you think Matthew Foxley,
who has been one of the quorum for these twenty
years, is to be come over with such trash as would
hardly cheat an apple-woman ?-Poof-poof-eh!
Why, man-eh-dost thou not know the charge
is not a bailable matter—and that-hum-ay-the
greatest man-poof-the Baron of Graystock him-
self, must stand committed? and yet you pretend
to have been kidnapped by this gentleman, and
robbed of property, and what not; and-eh-poof
-you would persuade me all you want is to get
away from him?—I do believe-eh-that it is all
REDGAUNTLET.
333
you want. Therefore, as you are a sort of a slip-
string gentleman, and-ay-hum-a kind of idle
apprentice, and something cockbrained withal, as
the honest folk of the house tell me why, you
must e'en remain under custody of your guardian,
till your coming of age, or my Lord Chancellor's
warrant, shall give you the management of your
own affairs, which, if you can gather your brains
again, you will even then not be-ay-hem-poof
-in particular haste to assume."
The time occupied by his worship's hums, and
haws, and puffs of tobacco smoke, together with the
slow and pompous manner in which he spoke, gave
me a minute's space to collect my ideas, dispersed
as they were by the extraordinary purport of this
annunciation.
S
"I cannot conceive, sir," I replied, "by what
singular tenure this person claims my obedience as
a guardian; it is a barefaced imposture-I never
in my life saw him, until I came unhappily to this
country, about four weeks since.”
66
Ay, sir-we-eh-know, and are aware—that
-poof—you do not like to hear some folk's names ;
and that—eh—you understand me- -there are
things, and sounds, and matters, conversation about
names, and such like, which put you off the hooks
—which I have no humour to witness. Neverthe-
less, Mr Darsie-or-poof-Mr Darsie Latimer
-or-poof, poof-eh-ay, Mr Darsie without the
Latimer-you have acknowledged as much to-day
as assures me you will best be disposed of under
the honourable care of my friend here—all your
334
REDGAUNTLET.
confessions—besides that-poof—eh—I know him
to be a most responsible person-a-hay-ay-
most responsible and honourable person-Can you
deny this?"
"I know nothing of him," I repeated; “not even
his name; and I have not, as I told you, seen him
in the course of my whole life, till a few weeks
since."
"Will you swear to that?" said the singular
man, who seemed to await the result of this debate,
secure as a rattlesnake is of the prey which has
once felt its fascination. And while he said these
words in a deep under-tone, he withdrew his chair a
little behind that of the Justice, so as to be unseen
by him or his clerk, who sat upon the same side;
while he bent on me a frown so portentous, that
no one who has witnessed the look can forget it
during the whole of his life. The furrows of the
brow above the eyes became livid and almost black,
and were bent into a semicircular, or rather ellip-
tical form, above the junction of the eyebrows. I
had heard such a look described in an old tale of
diablerie, which it was my chance to be entertained
with not long since; when this deep and gloomy
contortion of the frontal muscles was not unaptly
described, as forming the representation of a small
horseshoe.
The tale, when told, awaked a dreadful vision
of infancy, which the withering and blighting look
now fixed on me again forced on my recollection,
but with much more vivacity. Indeed I was so
much surprised, and, I must add, terrified, at the
REDGAUNTLET.
335
vague ideas which were awakened in my mind by
this fearful sign, that I kept my eyes fixed on the
face in which it was exhibited, as on a frightful
vision; until, passing his handkerchief a moment
across his countenance, this mysterious man relaxed
at once the look which had for me something so
appalling. "The young man will no longer deny
that he has seen me before," said he to the Justice,
in a tone of complacency; " and I trust he will now
be reconciled to my temporary guardianship, which
may end better for him than he expects."
"Whatever I expect," I replied, summoning my
scattered recollections together, "I see I am neither
to expect justice nor protection from this gentle-
man, whose office it is to render both to the lieges.
For you, sir, how strangely you have wrought your-
self into the fate of an unhappy young man, or what
interest you can pretend in me, you yourself only
can explain. That I have seen you before, is cer-
tain: for none can forget the look with which you
seem to have the power of blighting those upon
whom you cast it."
The Justice seemed not very easy under this
hint. "Ho!-ay," he said; "it is time to be going,
neighbour. I have a many miles to ride, and I care
not to ride darkling in these parts.—You and I,
Mr Nicholas, must be jogging."
The Justice fumbled with his gloves, in endea-
vouring to draw them on hastily, and Mr Nicholas
bustled to get his great-coat and whip. Their land-
lord endeavoured to detain them, and spoke of sup-
per and beds. Both pouring forth many thanks for
336
REDGAUNTLET.
his invitation, seemed as if they would much rather
not; and Mr Justice Foxley was making a score
of apologies, with at least a hundred cautionary
hems and eh-ehs, when the girl Dorcas burst into
the room, and announced a gentleman on justice
business.
"What gentleman?-and whom does he want?"
"He is cuome post on his ten toes," said the
wench;" and on justice business to his worship
loike. I'se uphald him a gentleman, for he speaks
as good Latin as the schulemeaster; but, lack-a-
day he has gotten a queer mop of a wig."
The gentleman, thus announced and described,
bounced into the room. But I have already writ-
ten as much as fills a sheet of my paper, and my
singular embarrassments press so hard on me, that
I have matter to fill another from what followed
the intrusion of—my dear Alan-your crazy client
-Poor Peter Peebles!
END OF VOLUME THIRTY-FIFTH.
EDINBURGH :
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,
PAUL'S WORK, CANONGATE,
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