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Waverley

S >> Sir Walter Scott >> Waverley




'Said the Highland prophet sooth? Or must second-sight go for
nothing?'

Waverley turned, and was warmly embraced by Fergus Mac-Ivor. 'A
thousand welcomes to Holyrood, once more possessed by her
legitimate sovereign! Did I not say we should prosper, and that
you would fall into the hands of the Philistines if you parted
from us?'

'Dear Fergus!' said Waverley, eagerly returning his greeting. 'It
is long since I have heard a friend's voice. Where is Flora?'

'Safe, and a triumphant spectator of our success.'

'In this place?' said Waverley.

'Ay, in this city at least,' answered his friend, 'and you shall
see her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think
of, who has been frequent in his inquiries after you.'

Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard
chamber, and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found
himself in a presence room, fitted up with some attempt at royal
state.

A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the
dignity of his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed
and regular features, advanced out of a circle of military
gentlemen and Highland chiefs by whom he was surrounded. In his
easy and graceful manners Waverley afterwards thought he could
have discovered his high birth and rank, although the star on his
breast and the embroidered garter at his knee had not appeared as
its indications.

'Let me present to your Royal Highness,' said Fergus, bowing
profoundly--

'The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in
England,' said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. 'I beg your
pardon for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master of
ceremonies is necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.'

Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost
courtesy, who could not, had he desired it, have avoided rendering
him the homage which seemed due to his rank, and was certainly the
right of his birth. 'I am sorry to understand, Mr. Waverley, that,
owing to circumstances which have been as yet but ill explained,
you have suffered some restraint among my followers in Perthshire
and on your march here; but we are in such a situation that we
hardly know our friends, and I am even at this moment uncertain
whether I can have the pleasure of considering Mr. Waverley as
among mine.'

He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a
suitable reply, or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the
Prince took out a paper and then proceeded:--'I should indeed have
no doubts upon this subject if I could trust to this proclamation,
set forth by the friends of the Elector of Hanover, in which they
rank Mr. Waverley among the nobility and gentry who are menaced
with the pains of high-treason for loyalty to their legitimate
sovereign. But I desire to gain no adherents save from affection
and conviction; and if Mr. Waverley inclines to prosecute his
journey to the south, or to join the forces of the Elector, he
shall have my passport and free permission to do so; and I can
only regret that my present power will not extend to protect him
against the probable consequences of such a measure. But,'
continued Charles Edward, after another short pause, 'if Mr.
Waverley should, like his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to
embrace a cause which has little to recommend it but its justice,
and follow a prince who throws himself upon the affections of his
people to recover the throne of his ancestors or perish in the
attempt, I can only say, that among these nobles and gentlemen he
will find worthy associates in a gallant enterprise, and will
follow a master who may be unfortunate, but, I trust, will never
be ungrateful.'

The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in
introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal
adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a polished
court, in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words and his
kindness penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily outweighed
all prudential motives. To be thus personally solicited for
assistance by a prince whose form and manners, as well as the
spirit which he displayed in this singular enterprise, answered
his ideas of a hero of romance; to be courted by him in the
ancient halls of his paternal palace, recovered by the sword which
he was already bending towards other conquests, gave Edward, in
his own eyes, the dignity and importance which he had ceased to
consider as his attributes. Rejected, slandered, and threatened
upon the one side, he was irresistibly attracted to the cause
which the prejudices of education and the political principles of
his family had already recommended as the most just. These
thoughts rushed through his mind like a torrent, sweeping before
them every consideration of an opposite tendency,--the time,
besides, admitted of no deliberation,--and Waverley, kneeling to
Charles Edward, devoted his heart and sword to the vindication of
his rights!

The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies of
his forefathers, we shall here and elsewhere give him the title
due to his birth) raised Waverley from the ground and embraced him
with an expression of thanks too warm not to be genuine. He also
thanked Fergus Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having brought him such an
adherent, and presented Waverley to the various noblemen,
chieftains, and officers who were about his person as a young
gentleman of the highest hopes and prospects, in whose bold and
enthusiastic avowal of his cause they might see an evidence of the
sentiments of the English families of rank at this important
crisis. [Footnote: See Note 4.] Indeed, this was a point much
doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a well-
founded disbelief in the cooperation of the English Jacobites kept
many Scottish men of rank from his standard, and diminished the
courage of those who had joined it, nothing could be more
seasonable for the Chevalier than the open declaration in his
favour of the representative of the house of Waverley-Honour, so
long known as Cavaliers and Royalists. This Fergus had foreseen
from the beginning. He really loved Waverley, because their
feelings and projects never thwarted each other; he hoped to see
him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they were effectually
engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted, he also
exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party a
partizan of such consequence; and he was far from being insensible
to the personal importance which he himself gained with the Prince
from having so materially assisted in making the acquisition.

Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants
the value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering
immediately, as in confidence, upon the circumstances of his
situation. 'You have been secluded so much from intelligence, Mr.
Waverley, from causes of which I am but indistinctly informed,
that I presume you are even yet unacquainted with the important
particulars of my present situation. You have, however, heard of
my landing in the remote district of Moidart, with only seven
attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and clans whose loyal
enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at the head of a
gallant army. You must also, I think, have learned that the
commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, Sir John Cope,
marched into the Highlands at the head of a numerous and well-
appointed military force with the intention of giving us battle,
but that his courage failed him when we were within three hours'
march of each other, so that he fairly gave us the slip and
marched northward to Aberdeen, leaving the Low Country open and
undefended. Not to lose so favourable an opportunity, I marched on
to this metropolis, driving before me two regiments of horse,
Gardiner's and Hamilton's, who had threatened to cut to pieces
every Highlander that should venture to pass Stirling; and while
discussions were carrying forward among the magistracy and
citizens of Edinburgh whether they should defend themselves or
surrender, my good friend Lochiel (laying his hand on the shoulder
of that gallant and accomplished chieftain) saved them the trouble
of farther deliberation by entering the gates with five hundred
Camerons. Thus far, therefore, we have done well; but, in the
meanwhile, this doughty general's nerves being braced by the keen
air of Aberdeen, he has taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just
received certain information that he landed there yesterday. His
purpose must unquestionably be to march towards us to recover
possession of the capital. Now there are two opinions in my
council of war: one, that being inferior probably in numbers, and
certainly in discipline and military appointments, not to mention
our total want of artillery and the weakness of our cavalry, it
will be safest to fall back towards the mountains, and there
protract the war until fresh succours arrive from France, and the
whole body of the Highland clans shall have taken arms in our
favour. The opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde
movement, in our circumstances, is certain to throw utter
discredit on our arms and undertaking; and, far from gaining us
new partizans, will be the means of disheartening those who have
joined our standard. The officers who use these last arguments,
among whom is your friend Fergus Mac-Ivor, maintain that, if the
Highlanders are strangers to the usual military discipline of
Europe, the soldiers whom they are to encounter are no less
strangers to their peculiar and formidable mode of attack; that
the attachment and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to
be doubted; and that, as they will be in the midst of the enemy,
their clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having
drawn the sword we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our
cause to battle and to the God of battles. Will Mr. Waverley
favour us with his opinion in these arduous circumstances?'

Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the
distinction implied in this question, and answered, with equal
spirit and readiness, that he could not venture to offer an
opinion as derived from military skill, but that the counsel would
be far the most acceptable to him which should first afford him an
opportunity to evince his zeal in his Royal Highness's service.

'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; 'and that you
may hold a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow
me, instead of the captain's commission which you have lost, to
offer you the brevet rank of major in my service, with the
advantage of acting as one of my aides-de-camp until you can be
attached to a regiment, of which I hope several will be speedily
embodied.'

'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his
recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'if I
decline accepting any rank until the time and place where I may
have interest enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my
command useful to your Royal Highness's service. In the meanwhile,
I hope for your permission to serve as a volunteer under my friend
Fergus Mac-Ivor.'

'At least,' said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this
proposal, 'allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland
fashion.' With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he
wore, the belt of which was plaited with silver, and the steel
basket-hilt richly and curiously inlaid. 'The blade,' said the
Prince, 'is a genuine Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of heir-
loom in our family; but I am convinced I put it into better hands
than my own, and will add to it pistols of the same workmanship.
Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have much to say to your friend; I will
detain you no longer from your private conversation; but remember
we expect you both to attend us in the evening. It may be perhaps
the last night we may enjoy in these halls, and as we go to the
field with a clear conscience, we will spend the eve of battle
merrily.'

Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber.





CHAPTER XLI

THE MYSTERY BEGINS TO BE CLEARED UP


'How do you like him?' was Fergus's first question, as they
descended the large stone staircase.

'A prince to live and die under' was Waverley's enthusiastic
answer.

'I knew you would think so when you saw him, and I intended you
should have met earlier, but was prevented by your sprain. And yet
he has his foibles, or rather he has difficult cards to play, and
his Irish officers, [Footnote: See Note 5.] who are much about
him, are but sorry advisers: they cannot discriminate among the
numerous pretensions that are set up. Would you think it--I have
been obliged for the present to suppress an earl's patent, granted
for services rendered ten years ago, for fear of exciting the
jealousy, forsooth, of C----and M----? But you were very right,
Edward, to refuse the situation of aide-de-camp. There are two
vacant, indeed, but Clanronald and Lochiel, and almost all of us,
have requested one for young Aberchallader, and the Lowlanders and
the Irish party are equally desirous to have the other for the
master of F--. Now, if either of these candidates were to be
superseded in your favour, you would make enemies. And then I am
surprised that the Prince should have offered you a majority, when
he knows very well that nothing short of lieutenant-colonel will
satisfy others, who cannot bring one hundred and fifty men to the
field. "But patience, cousin, and shuffle the cards!" It is all
very well for the present, and we must have you properly equipped
for the evening in your new costume; for, to say truth, your
outward man is scarce fit for a court.'

'Why,' said Waverley, looking at his soiled dress,'my shooting
jacket has seen service since we parted; but that probably you, my
friend, know as well or better than I.'

'You do my second-sight too much honour,' said Fergus. 'We were so
busy, first with the scheme of giving battle to Cope, and
afterwards with our operations in the Lowlands, that I could only
give general directions to such of our people as were left in
Perthshire to respect and protect you, should you come in their
way. But let me hear the full story of your adventures, for they
have reached us in a very partial and mutilated manner.'

Waverley then detailed at length the circumstances with which the
reader is already acquainted, to which Fergus listened with great
attention. By this time they had reached the door of his quarters,
which he had taken up in a small paved court, retiring from the
street called the Canongate, at the house of a buxom widow of
forty, who seemed to smile very graciously upon the handsome young
Chief, she being a person with whom good looks and good-humour
were sure to secure an interest, whatever might be the party's
"political opinions". Here Callum Beg received them with a smile
of recognition. 'Callum,' said the Chief, 'call Shemus an Snachad'
(James of the Needle). This was the hereditary tailor of Vich lan
Vohr. 'Shemus, Mr. Waverley is to wear the cath dath (battle
colour, or tartan); his trews must be ready in four hours. You
know the measure of a well-made man--two double nails to the small
of the leg--'

'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist. I give your
honour leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of sheers in the
Highlands that has a baulder sneck than her's ain at the cumadh an
truais' (shape of the trews).

'Get a plaid of Mac-Ivor tartan and sash,' continued the
Chieftain, 'and a blue bonnet of the Prince's pattern, at Mr.
Mouat's in the Crames. My short green coat, with silver lace and
silver buttons, will fit him exactly, and I have never worn it.
Tell Ensign Maccombich to pick out a handsome target from among
mine. The Prince has given Mr. Waverley broadsword and pistols, I
will furnish him with a dirk and purse; add but a pair of low-
heeled shoes, and then, my dear Edward (turning to him), you will
be a complete son of Ivor.'

These necessary directions given, the Chieftain resumed the
subject of Waverley's adventures. 'It is plain,' he said,'that you
have been in the custody of Donald Bean Lean. You must know that,
when I marched away my clan to join the Prince, I laid my
injunctions on that worthy member of society to perform a certain
piece of service, which done, he was to join me with all the force
he could muster. But, instead of doing so, the gentleman, finding
the coast clear, thought it better to make war on his own account,
and has scoured the country, plundering, I believe, both friend
and foe, under pretence of levying blackmail, sometimes as if by
my authority, and sometimes (and be cursed to his consummate
impudence) in his own great name! Upon my honour, if I live to see
the cairn of Benmore again, I shall be tempted to hang that
fellow! I recognise his hand particularly in the mode of your
rescue from that canting rascal Gilfillan, and I have little doubt
that Donald himself played the part of the pedlar on that
occasion; but how he should not have plundered you, or put you to
ransom, or availed himself in some way or other of your captivity
for his own advantage, passes my judgment.'

'When and how did you hear the intelligence of my confinement?'
asked Waverley.

'The Prince himself told me,' said Fergus, 'and inquired very
minutely into your history. He then mentioned your being at that
moment in the power of one of our northern parties--you know I
could not ask him to explain particulars--and requested my opinion
about disposing of you. I recommended that you should be brought
here as a prisoner, because I did not wish to prejudice you
farther with the English government, in case you pursued your
purpose of going southward. I knew nothing, you must recollect, of
the charge brought against you of aiding and abetting high
treason, which, I presume, had some share in changing your
original plan. That sullen, good-for-nothing brute, Balmawhapple,
was sent to escort you from Doune, with what he calls his troop of
horse. As to his behaviour, in addition to his natural antipathy
to everything that resembles a gentleman, I presume his adventure
with Bradwardine rankles in his recollection, the rather that I
daresay his mode of telling that story contributed to the evil
reports which reached your quondam regiment.'

'Very likely,' said Waverley; 'but now surely, my dear Fergus, you
may find time to tell me something of Flora.'

'Why,' replied Fergus, 'I can only tell you that she is well, and
residing for the present with a relation in this city. I thought
it better she should come here, as since our success a good many
ladies of rank attend our military court; and I assure you that
there is a sort of consequence annexed to the near relative of
such a person as Flora Mac-Ivor, and where there is such a
justling of claims and requests, a man must use every fair means
to enhance his importance.'

There was something in this last sentence which grated on
Waverley's feelings. He could not bear that Flora should be
considered as conducing to her brother's preferment by the
admiration which she must unquestionably attract; and although it
was in strict correspondence with many points of Fergus's
character, it shocked him as selfish, and unworthy of his sister's
high mind and his own independent pride. Fergus, to whom such
manoeuvres were familiar, as to one brought up at the French
court, did not observe the unfavourable impression which he had
unwarily made upon his friend's mind, and concluded by saying,'
that they could hardly see Flora before the evening, when she
would be at the concert and ball with which the Prince's party
were to be entertained. She and I had a quarrel about her not
appearing to take leave of you. I am unwilling to renew it by
soliciting her to receive you this morning; and perhaps my doing
so might not only be ineffectual, but prevent your meeting this
evening.'

While thus conversing, Waverley heard in the court, before the
windows of the parlour, a well-known voice. 'I aver to you, my
worthy friend,' said the speaker, 'that it is a total dereliction
of military discipline; and were you not as it were a tyro, your
purpose would deserve strong reprobation. For a prisoner of war is
on no account to be coerced with fetters, or debinded in
ergastulo, as would have been the case had you put this gentleman
into the pit of the peel-house at Balmawhapple. I grant, indeed,
that such a prisoner may for security be coerced in carcere, that
is, in a public prison.'

The growling voice of Balmawhapple was heard as taking leave in
displeasure, but the word 'land-louper' alone was distinctly
audible. He had disappeared before Waverley reached the house in
order to greet the worthy Baron of Bradwardine. The uniform in
which he was now attired, a blue coat, namely, with gold lace, a
scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and immense jack-boots, seemed to
have added fresh stiffness and rigidity to his tall, perpendicular
figure; and the consciousness of military command and authority
had increased, in the same proportion, the self-importance of his
demeanour and the dogmatism of his conversation.

He received Waverley with his usual kindness, and expressed
immediate anxiety to hear an explanation of the circumstances
attending the loss of his commission in Gardiner's dragoons;
'not,' he said, 'that he had the least apprehension of his young
friend having done aught which could merit such ungenerous
treatment as he had received from government, but because it was
right and seemly that the Baron of Bradwardine should be, in point
of trust and in point of power, fully able to refute all calumnies
against the heir of Waverley-Honour, whom he had so much right to
regard as his own son.'

Fergus Mac-Ivor, who had now joined them, went hastily over the
circumstances of Waverley's story, and concluded with the
flattering reception he had met from the young Chevalier. The
Baron listened in silence, and at the conclusion shook Waverley
heartily by the hand and congratulated him upon entering the
service of his lawful Prince. 'For,' continued he, 'although it
has been justly held in all nations a matter of scandal and
dishonour to infringe the sacramentum militare, and that whether
it was taken by each soldier singly, whilk the Romans denominated
per conjurationem, or by one soldier in name of the rest, yet no
one ever doubted that the allegiance so sworn was discharged by
the dimissio, or discharging of a soldier, whose case would be as
hard as that of colliers, salters, and other adscripti glebes, or
slaves of the soil, were it to be accounted otherwise. This is
something like the brocard expressed by the learned Sanchez in his
work "De Jure-jurando" which you have questionless consulted upon
this occasion. As for those who have calumniated you by leasing-
making, I protest to Heaven I think they have justly incurred the
penalty of the "Memnonia Lex," also called "Lex Rhemnia," which is
prelected upon by Tullius in his oration "In Verrem." I should
have deemed, however, Mr. Waverley, that before destining yourself
to any special service in the army of the Prince, ye might have
inquired what rank the old Bradwardine held there, and whether he
would not have been peculiarly happy to have had your services in
the regiment of horse which he is now about to levy.' Edward
eluded this reproach by pleading the necessity of giving an
immediate answer to the Prince's proposal, and his uncertainty at
the moment whether his friend the Baron was with the army or
engaged upon service elsewhere.

This punctilio being settled, Waverley made inquiry after Miss
Bradwardine, and was informed she had come to Edinburgh with Flora
Mac-Ivor, under guard of a party of the Chieftain's men. This step
was indeed necessary, Tully-Veolan having become a very
unpleasant, and even dangerous, place of residence for an
unprotected young lady, on account of its vicinity to the
Highlands, and also to one or two large villages which, from
aversion as much to the caterans as zeal for presbytery, had
declared themselves on the side of government, and formed
irregular bodies of partizans, who had frequent skirmishes with
the mountaineers, and sometimes attacked the houses of the
Jacobite gentry in the braes, or frontier betwixt the mountain and
plain.

'I would propose to you,' continued the Baron,'to walk as far as
my quarters in the Luckenbooths, and to admire in your passage the
High Street, whilk is, beyond a shadow of dubitation, finer than
any street whether in London or Paris. But Rose, poor thing, is
sorely discomposed with the firing of the Castle, though I have
proved to her from Blondel and Coehorn, that it is impossible a
bullet can reach these buildings; and, besides, I have it in
charge from his Royal Highness to go to the camp, or leaguer of
our army, to see that the men do condamare vasa, that is, truss up
their bag and baggage for tomorrow's march.'

'That will be easily done by most of us,' said Mac-Ivor, laughing.

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