The Hermit's Cell.
"I know not," returned the hermit; "I never saw your gallant deliverer
before yesterday morning. Broken from my matins by a sudden noise, I
beheld a deer rush down the precipice, and fall headlong. As he lay
struggling amongst the stones at the entrance of my cave, I had just
observed an arrow in his side, when a shout issued from the rocks
above, and looking up, I beheld a young chieftain, with a bow in his
hand, leaping from cliff to cliff, till springing from a high
projection on the right, he alighted at once at the head of the wounded
deer.
"I emerged from the recess that concealed me, and addressed him with
the benediction of the morning. His plaided followers immediately
appeared, and with a stroke of their ready weapons slew the animal.
The chief left them to dress it for their own refreshment; and on my
invitation, entered the cell to share a hermit's fare.
"I told him who I was, and what had driven me to this seclusion. In
return, he informed me of a design he had conceived, to stimulate the
surrounding chiefs to some exertions for their country; but as he never
mentioned his name, I concluded he wished it to remain unrevealed, and
therefore I forbore to inquire it. I imparted to him my doubts of the
possibility of any single individual being able to arouse the
slumbering courage of thoughts. The arguments he means to use are few
and conclusive. They are these: The perfidy of King Edward, who,
deemed a prince of high honor, had been chosen umpire in the cause of
Bruce and Baliol. He accepted the task, in the character of a friend
to Scotland; but no sooner was he advanced into the heart of our
kingdom, and at the head of the large army he had treacherously
introduced as a mere appendage of state, than he declared the act of
judgement was his right as liege lord of the realm! This falsehood,
which our records disproved at the outset, was not his only baseness;
he bought the conscience of Baliol, and adjudged to him the throne.
The recreant prince acknowledged him his master; and in that degrading
ceremony of homage, he was followed by almost all the lowland Scottish
lords. But this vile yielding did not purchase them peace: Edward
demanded oppressive services from the king, and the castles of the
nobility to be resigned to English governors. These requisitions being
remonstrated against by a few of our boldest chiefs (amongst whom, your
illustrious father, gentle lady, stood the most conspicuous), the
tyrant repeated them with additional demands, and prepared to resent
the appeal on the whole nation.
"Three months have hardly elapsed since the fatal battle of Dunbar,
where, indignant at the accumulated outrages committed on their passive
monarch, our irritated nobles at last rose, but too late, to assert
their rights. Alas! one defeat drove them to despair. Baliol was
taken, and themselves obliged to again swear fealty to their enemy.
Then came the seizure of the treasures of our monasteries, the burning
of the national records, the sequestration of our property, the
banishment of our chiefs, the violation of our women, and the slavery
or murder of the poor people yoked to the land. 'The storm of
desolation, thus raging over our country; how,' cried the young warrior
to me, 'can any of her sons shrink from the glory of again attempting
her restoration?' He then informed me that Earl de Warenne (whom
Edward had left lord warden of Scotland), was taken ill, and retired to
London, leaving Aymer de Valence to be his deputy. To this new tyrant,
De Warenne has lately sent a host of mercenaries, to hold the south of
Scotland in subjection; and to reinforce Cressingham and Ormsby, two
noted plunderers, who command northward, from Stirling to the shores of
Sutherland.
"With these representations of the conduct of our oppressors, the brave
knight demonstrated the facility with which invaders, drunk with power,
and gorged with rapine, could be vanquished by a resolute and hardy
people. The absence of Edward, who is now abroad, increases the
probability of success. The knight's design is to infuse his own
spirit into the bosoms of the chiefs in this part of the kingdom. By
their assistance, to seize the fortresses in the Lowlands, and so form
a chain of repulsion against the admission of fresh troops from
England. Then, while other chiefs (to whom he means to apply) rise in
the Highlands, the Southron garrisons there, being unsupported by
supplies, must become an easy prey, and would yield men of consequence,
to be exchanged for our countrymen, now prisoners in England. For the
present, he wishes to be furnished with troops merely enough to take
some castle, of power sufficient to give confidence to his friends. On
his becoming master of such a place, it should be the signal for all to
declare themselves; and, rising at once, overwhelm Edward's garrisons
in every part of Scotland.
"This is the knight's plan; and for your sake, as well as for the
cause. I hope the first fortress he gains may be that of Dumbarton.
It has been always considered the key of the country."
"May Heaven grant it, holy father," returned Helen, "and whoever this
knight may be, I pray the blessed St. Andrew to guide his arms!"
"If I may venture to guess who he is," replied the hermit, "I would say
that noble brow was formed to some day wear a crown."
"What!" cried Helen, starting, "you think this knight is the royal
Bruce?"
"I am at a loss what to think," replied the hermit; "he has a most
princely air; and there is such an overflowing of soul toward his
country, when he speaks of it, that--Such love can spring from no other
than the royal heart, created to foster and to bless it."
"But is he not too young?" inquired Helen. "I have heard my father say
that Bruce, Lord of Annandale, the opponent of Baliol for the crown,
was much his senior; and that his son, the Earl of Carrick, must be now
fifty years of age. This knight, if I am any judge of looks, cannot be
twenty-five."
"True," answered the hermit; "and yet he may be a Bruce. For it is
neither of the two you have mentioned that I mean; but the grandson of
the one, and the son of the other. You may see by this silver beard,
lady, that the winter of my life is far spent. The elder Bruce,
Robert, Lord of Annandale, was my contemporary; we were boys together,
and educated at the same college in Icolmkill. He was brave, and
passed his manhood in visiting different courts; at last, marrying a
lady of the princely house of Clare, he took her to France, and
confided his only son to be brought up under the renowned St. Louis.
This young Robert took the cross while quite a youth; and carrying the
banner of the holy King of France to the plains of Palestine, covered
himself with glory. In storming a Saracen fortress, he rescued the
person of Prince Edward of England. The horrible tyrant, who now
tramples on all laws, human and divine, was then in the bloom of youth,
defending the cause of Christianity! Think on that, sweet lady, and
marvel at the changing power of ambition!
"From that hour a strict friendship subsisted between the two young
crusaders; and when Edward mounted the throne of England, it being then
the ally of Scotland, the old Earl of Annandale, to please his brave
son, took up his residence at the English court. When the male issue
of our King David failed in the untimely death of Alexander III., then
came the contention between Bruce and Baliol for the vacant crown. Our
most venerable chiefs, the guardians of our laws, and the witnesses of
the parliamentary settlement made on the house of Bruce during the
reign of the late king, all declared for Lord Annandale. He was not
only the male heir in propinquity of blood, but his experienced years
and known virtues excited all true Scots to place him on the throne.
"Meanwhile Edward, forgetting friendship to his friend, and fidelity to
a faithful ally, was undermining the interest of Bruce, and the peace
of the kingdom. Inferior rivals to our favorite to our favorite prince
were soon discountenanced; but by covert ways, with bribes and
promises, the King of England raised such a opposition on the side of
Baliol, as threatened a civil war. Secure in his right, and averse to
plunging his country in blood, Bruce easily fell in with a proposal
insidiously hinted to him by one of Edward's creatures--'to require that
monarch to be umpire between him and Baliol.' Then it was that Edward,
after soliciting the requisition as an honor to be conferred on him,
declared it was his right as supreme lord of Scotland. The Earl of
Annandale refused to acknowledge this assumption. Baliol bowed to it;
and for such obedience, the unrighteous judge gave him the crown.
Bruce absolutely refused to acknowledge the justice of this decision;
and so to avoid the power of the king who had betrayed his rights, and
the jealousy of the other who had usurped them, he immediately left the
scene of action, going over seas, to join his son, who had been cajoled
away to Paris. But, alas! he died on the road of a broken heart.
"When his son Robert (who was Earl of Carrick in right of his wife)
returned to Britain, he, like his father, disdained to acknowledge
Baliol as king. But being more incensed at his successful rival, than
at the treachery of his false friend Edward, he believed his glossing
speeches; and--by what infatuation I cannot tell--established his
residence at the monarch's court. This forgetfulness of his royal
blood, and of the independence of Scotland, has nearly obliterated him
from every Scottish heart; for, when we look at Bruce the courtier, we
cease to remember Bruce the descendant of St. David-Bruce the valiant
knight of the Cross, who bled for true liberty before the walls of
Jerusalem.
"His eldest son may be now about the age of the young knight who has
just left us; and when I look on his royal port, and listen to the
patriotic fervors of his royal soul, I cannot but think that the spirit
of his noble grandsire has revived in his breast, and that, leaving his
indolent father to the vassal luxuries of Edward's palace, he is come
hither in secret, to arouse Scotland, and to assert his claim."
"It is very likely," rejoined Helen, deeply sighing; "and may Heaven
reward his virtue with the crown of his ancestors."
"To that end," replied the Hermit, "shall my hands be lifted up in
prayer day and night. May I, O gracious Power!" cried he, looking
upward, and pressing the cross to his breast, "live but to see that
hero victorious, and Scotland free, and then 'let thy servant depart in
peace, since mine eyes will have seen her salvation!'"
"Her salvation, father?" said Helen, timidly. "Is not that too sacred
a word to apply to anything, however dear, that relates to earth?"
She blushed as she spoke; and fearful of having too daringly objected,
looked down as she awaited his answer. The hermit observed her
attentively; and, with a benign smile, replied, "Earth and heaven are
the work of the Creator. He careth alike for angel and for man; and
therefore nothing that he has made is too mean to be the object of his
salvation. The word is comprehensive; in one sense it may signify our
redemption from sin and death by the coming of the Lord of Life into
this world; and in another, it intimates the different means b which
Providence decrees the ultimate happiness of men. Happiness can only
be found in virtue; virtue cannot exit without liberty; and the seat of
liberty is good laws! Hence when Scotland is again made free, the
bonds of the tyrant who corrupts her principles with temptations, or
compels her to iniquity by threats, are broken. Again the honest
peasant may cultivate his lands in security, the liberal hand feed the
hungry, and industry spread smiling plenty through all ranks; every man
to whom his Maker hath given talents, let them be one or five, may
apply them to their use; and, by eating the bread of peaceful labor,
rear families to virtuous action and the worship of God. The nobles,
meanwhile, looking alone to the legislation of Heaven and to the laws
of Scotland, which alike demand justice and mercy from all, will live
the fathers of their country, teaching her brave sons that the only
homage which does not debase a man, is that which he pays to virtue and
to God.
"This it is to be free; this it is to be virtuous; this it is to be
happy; this it is to live the life of righteousness, and to die in the
hope of immortal glory. Say then, dear daughter, if, in praying for
the liberty of Scotland, I said too much in calling it her salvation?"
"Forgive me, father," cried Helen, overcome with shame at having
questioned him.
"Forgive you what?" returned he. "I love the holy zeal which is
jealous of allowing objects, dear even to your wishes, to encroach on
the sanctuary of heaven. Be ever thus, meek child of the church, and
no human idol will be able to usurp that part of your virgin heart
which belongs to God."
Helen blushed.
"My heart, reverend father," returned she, "has but one wish--the
liberty of Scotland; and, with that, the safety of my father and his
brave deliverers."
"Sir William Wallace I never have seen," rejoined the hermit; "but,
when he was quite a youth, I heard of his graceful victories in the
mimic war of the jousts at Berwick, when Edward first marched into this
country under the mask of friendship. From what you have said, I do
not doubt his being a worthy supporter of Bruce. However, dear
daughter, as it is only a suspicion of mine that this knight is that
young prince, for his safety, and for the sake of the cause, we must
not let that name escape our lips; no, not even to your relations when
you rejoin them, nor to the youth whom his humanity put under my
protection. Till he reveals his own secret, for us to divulge it would
be folly and dishonor."
Helen bowed acquiescence; and the hermit proceeded to inform her who
the youth was whom the stranger had left to be her page.
In addition to what the knight had himself told her of Walter Hay, the
unfortunate shepherd boy of the ruined hut, her venerable host narrated
that the young warrior having quitted the holy cell after his first
appearance there, soon returned with the wounded youth, whom he had
found. He committed him to the care of the hermit, promising to
revisit him on his way from the south, and take the recovered Walter
under his own protection. "He then left us," continued the old man,
"but soon reappeared with you; showing, in the strongest language, that
he who, in spite of every danger, succors the sons and daughters of
violated Scotland, is proclaimed by the Spirit of Heaven to be her
future deliverer and king."
As he ended speaking, he rose; and taking Helen by the hand, led her
into an inner excavation of the rock, where a bed of dried leaves lay
on the ground. "Here, gentle lady," said he, "I leave you to repose.
In the evening I expect a lay brother from St. Oran's Monastery, and he
will be your messenger to the friends you may wish to rejoin. At
present, may gentlest seraphs guard your slumbers!"
Helen, fatigued in spirit and in body, thanked the good hermit for his
care; and bowing to his blessing, he left her to repose.