INVESTIGATION OF THE ADVENTURE OF THE HUNTING--A DISCOVERY--GREGORY'S
MANHOOD--PATE OF GASTON SAINT CLERE--CONCLUSION
So soon as they arrived at the princely mansion of Boteler, the Lady
Emma craved permission to retire to her chamber, that she might compose
her spirits after the terror she had undergone. Henry Saint Clere, in a
few words, proceeded to explain the adventure to the curious audience.
'I had no sooner seen my sister's palfrey, in spite of her endeavours
to the contrary, entering with spirit into the chase set on foot by the
worshipful Gregory, than I rode after to give her assistance. So long
was the chase that, when the greyhounds pulled down the knobbler, we
were out of hearing of your bugles; and having rewarded and coupled the
dogs, I gave them to be led by the jester, and we wandered in quest of
our company, whom it would seem the sport had led in a different
direction. At length, passing through the thicket where you found us, I
was surprised by a cross-bow bolt whizzing past mine head. I drew my
sword and rushed into the thicket, but was instantly assailed by two
ruffians, while other two made towards my sister and Gregory. The poor
knave fled, crying for help, pursued by my false kinsman, now your
prisoner; and the designs of the other on my poor Emma (murderous no
doubt) were prevented by the sudden apparition of a brave woodsman,
who, after a short encounter, stretched the miscreant at his feet and
came to my assistance. I was already slightly wounded, and nearly
overlaid with odds. The combat lasted some time, for the caitiffs were
both well armed, strong, and desperate; at length, however, we had each
mastered our antagonist, when your retinue, my Lord Boteler, arrived to
my relief. So ends my story; but, by my knighthood, I would give an
earl's ransom for an opportunity of thanking the gallant forester by
whose aid I live to tell it.'
'Fear not,' said Lord Boteler, 'he shall be found, if this or the four
adjacent counties hold him. And now Lord Fitzosborne will be pleased to
doff the armour he has so kindly assumed for our sakes, and we will all
bowne ourselves for the banquet.'
When the hour of dinner approached, the Lady Matilda and her cousin
visited the chamber of the fair Darcy. They found her in a composed but
melancholy postmire. She turned the discourse upon the misfortunes of
her life, and hinted, that having recovered her brother, and seeing him
look forward to the society of one who would amply repay to him the
loss of hers, she had thoughts of dedicating her remaining life to
Heaven, by whose providential interference it had been so often
preserved.
Matilda coloured deeply at something in this speech, and her cousin
inveighed loudly against Emma's resolution. 'Ah, my dear lady Eleanor,'
replied she, 'I have to-day witnessed what I cannot but judge a
supernatural visitation, and to what end can it call me but to give
myself to the altar? That peasant who guided me to Baddow through the
Park of Danbury, the same who appeared before me at different times and
in different forms during that eventful journey--that youth, whose
features are imprinted on my memory, is the very individual forester
who this day rescued us in the forest. I cannot be mistaken; and,
connecting these marvellous appearances with the spectre which I saw
while at Gay Bowers, I cannot resist the conviction that Heaven has
permitted my guardian angel to assume mortal shape for my relief and
protection.'
The fair cousins, after exchanging looks which implied a fear that her
mind was wandering, answered her in soothing terms, and finally
prevailed upon her to accompany them to the banqueting-hall. Here the
first person they encountered was the Baron Fitzosborne of Diggswell,
now divested of his armour, at the sight of whom the Lady Emma changed
colour, and exclaiming, 'It is the same!' sunk senseless into the arms
of Matilda.
'She is bewildered by the terrors of the day,' said Eleanor;' and we
have done ill in obliging her to descend.'
'And I,'said Fitzosborne, 'have done madly in presenting before her one
whose presence must recall moments the most alarming in her life.'
While the ladies supported Emma from the hall, Lord Boteler and Saint
Clere requested an explanation from Fitzosborne of the words he had
used.
'Trust me, gentle lords,' said the Baron of Diggswell, 'ye shall have
what ye demand when I learn that Lady Emma Darcy has not suffered from
my imprudence.'
At this moment Lady Matilda, returning, said that her fair friend, on
her recovery, had calmly and deliberately insisted that she had seen
Fitzosborne before, in the most dangerous crisis of her life.
'I dread,' said she, 'her disordered mind connects all that her eye
beholds with the terrible passages that she has witnessed.'
'Nay,' said Fitzosborne, 'if noble Saint Clere can pardon the
unauthorized interest which, with the purest and most honourable
intentions, I have taken in his sister's fate, it is easy for me to
explain this mysterious impression.'
He proceeded to say that, happening to be in the hostelry called the
Griffin, near Baddow, while upon a journey in that country, he had met
with the old nurse of the Lady Emma Darcy, who, being just expelled
from Gay Bowers, was in the height of her grief and indignation, and
made loud and public proclamation of Lady Emma's wrongs. From the
description she gave of the beauty of her foster-child, as well as from
the spirit of chivalry, Fitzosborne became interested in her fate. This
interest was deeply enhanced when, by a bribe to old Gaunt the Reve, he
procured a view of the Lady Emma as she walked near the castle of Gay
Bowers. The aged churl refused to give him access to the castle; yet
dropped some hints as if he thought the lady in danger, and wished she
were well out of it. His master, he said, had heard she had a brother
in life, and since that deprived him of all chance of gaining her
domains by purchase, he--in short, Gaunt wished they were safely
separated. 'If any injury,' quoth he, 'should happen to the damsel
here, it were ill for us all. I tried by an innocent stratagem to
frighten her from the castle, by introducing a figure through a
trap-door, and warning her, as if by a voice from the dead, to retreat
from thence; but the giglet is wilful, and is running upon her fate.'
Finding Gaunt, although covetous and communicative, too faithful a
servant to his wicked master to take any active steps against his
commands, Fitzosborne applied himself to old Ursely, whom he found more
tractable. Through her he learned the dreadful plot Gaston had laid to
rid himself of his kinswoman, and resolved to effect her deliverance.
But aware of the delicacy of Emma's situation, he charged Ursely to
conceal from her the interest he took in her distress, resolving to
watch over her in disguise until he saw her in a place of safety. Hence
the appearance he made before her in various dresses during her
journey, in the course of which he was never far distant; and he had
always four stout yeomen within hearing of his bugle, had assistance
been necessary. When she was placed in safety at the lodge, it was
Fitzosborne's intention to have prevailed upon his sisters to visit and
take her under their protection; but he found them absent from
Diggswell, having gone to attend an aged relation who lay dangerously
ill in a distant county. They did not return until the day before the
May-games; and the other events followed too rapidly to permit
Fitzosborne to lay any plan for introducing them to Lady Emma Darcy. On
the day of the chase he resolved to preserve his romantic disguise, and
attend the Lady Emma as a forester, partly to have the pleasure of
being near her and partly to judge whether, according to an idle report
in the country, she favoured his friend and comrade Fitzallen of
Marden. This last motive, it may easily be believed, he did not declare
to the company. After the skirmish with the ruffians, he waited till
the Baron and the hunters arrived, and then, still doubting the farther
designs of Gaston, hastened to his castle to arm the band which had
escorted them to Queenhoo-Hall.
Fitzosborne's story being finished, he received the thanks of all the
company, particularly of Saint Clere, who felt deeply the respectful
delicacy with which he had conducted himself towards his sister. The
lady was carefully informed of her obligations to him; and it is left
to the well-judging reader whether even the raillery of Lady Eleanor
made her regret that Heaven had only employed natural means for her
security, and that the guardian angel was converted into a handsome,
gallant, and enamoured knight.
The joy of the company in the hall extended itself to the buttery,
where Gregory the jester narrated such feats of arms done by himself in
the fray of the morning as might have shamed Bevis and Guy of Warwick.
He was, according to his narrative, singled out for destruction by the
gigantic Baron himself, while he abandoned to meaner hands the
destruction of Saint Clere and Fitzosborne.
'But certes,' said he, 'the foul paynim met his match; for, ever as he
foined at me with his brand, I parried his blows with my bauble, and,
closing with him upon the third veny, threw him to the ground, and made
him cry recreant to an unarmed man.'
'Tush, man,' said Drawslot, 'thou forgettest thy best auxiliaries, the
good greyhounds, Help and Holdfast! I warrant thee, that when the
hump-backed Baron caught thee by the cowl, which he hath almost torn
off, thou hadst been in a fair plight had they not remembered an old
friend, and come in to the rescue. Why, man, I found them fastened on
him myself; and there was odd staving and stickling to make them "ware
haunch!" Their mouths were full of the flex, for I pulled a piece of
the garment from their jaws. I warrant thee, that when they brought him
to ground thou fledst like a frighted pricket.'
'And as for Gregory's gigantic paynim,' said Fabian, 'why, he lies
yonder in the guard-room, the very size, shape, and colour of a spider
in a yew-hedge.'
'It is false!' said Gregory. 'Colbrand the Dane was a dwarf to him.'
'It is as true,' returned Fabian, 'as that the Tasker is to be married
on Tuesday to pretty Margery. Gregory, thy sheet hath brought them
between a pair of blankets.'
'I care no more for such a gillflirt,' said the jester,' than I do for
thy leasings. Marry, thou hop-o'-my-thumb, happy wouldst thou be could
thy head reach the captive Baron's girdle.'
'By the mass,' said Peter Lanaret, 'I will have one peep at this burly
gallant'; and, leaving the buttery, he went to the guard-room where
Gaston Saint Clere was confined. A man-at-arms, who kept sentinel on
the strong studded door of the apartment, said he believed he slept;
for that, after raging, stamping, and uttering the most horrid
imprecations, he had been of late perfectly still. The falconer gently
drew back a sliding board of a foot square towards the top of the door,
which covered a hole of the same size, strongly latticed, through which
the warder, without opening the door, could look in upon his prisoner.
From this aperture he beheld the wretched Gaston suspended by the neck
by his own girdle to an iron ring in the side of his prison. He had
clambered to it by means of the table on which his food had been
placed; and, in the agonies of shame and disappointed malice, had
adopted this mode of ridding himself of a wretched life. He was found
yet warm, but totally lifeless. A proper account of the manner of his
death was drawn up and certified. He was buried that evening in the
chapel of the castle, out of respect to his high birth; and the
chaplain of Fitzallen of Marden, who said the service upon the
occasion, preached the next Sunday an excellent sermon upon the text,
'Radix malorum est cupiditas,' which we have here transcribed.
Here the manuscript, from which we have painfully transcribed, and
frequently, as it were, translated, this tale for the reader's
edification, is so indistinct and defaced, that, excepting certain
howbeits, nathlesses, lo ye's! etc., we can pick out little that is
intelligible, saving that avarice is defined 'a likourishness of heart
after earthly things.' A little farther there seems to have been a gay
account of Margery's wedding with Ralph the Tasker, the running at the
quintain, and other rural games practised on the occasion. There are
also fragments of a mock sermon preached by Gregory upon that occasion,
as for example:--
'My dear cursed caitiffs, there was once a king, and he wedded a young
old queen, and she had a child; and this child was sent to Solomon the
Sage, praying he would give it the same blessing which he got from the
witch of Endor when she bit him by the heel. Hereof speaks the worthy
Doctor Radigundus Potator; why should not mass be said for all the
roasted shoe souls served up in the king's dish on Saturday; for true
it is, that Saint Peter asked Father Adam, as they journeyed to
Camelot, an high, great, and doubtful question, "Adam, Adam, why
eated'st thou the apple without paring?"
[Footnote: This tirade of gibberish is literally taken or selected from
a mock discourse pronounced by a professed jester, which occurs in an
ancient manuscript in the Advocates' Library, the same from which the
late ingenious Mr. Weber published the curious comic romance of the
Hunting of the Hare. It was introduced in compliance with Mr Strutt's
plan of rendering his tale an illustration of ancient manners A similar
burlesque sermon is pronounced by the fool in Sir David Lindesay's
satire of the Three Estates. The nonsense and vulgar burlesque of that
composition illustrate the ground of Sir Andrew Aguecheek's eulogy on
the exploits of the jester in Twelfth Night, who, reserving his sharper
jests for Sir Toby, had doubtless enough of the jargon of his calling
to captivate the imbecility of his brother knight, who is made to
exclaim--'In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when
thou spokest of Pigrogremitus, and of the vapours passing the
equinoctials of Quenbus; 't was very good, i' faith!' It is
entertaining to find commentators seeking to discover some meaning in
the professional jargon of such a passage as this.]
With much goodly gibberish to the same effect; which display of
Gregory's ready wit not only threw the whole company into convulsions
of laughter, but made such an impression on Rose, the Potter's
daughter, that it was thought it would be the Jester's own fault if
Jack was long without his Jill. Much pithy matter, concerning the
bringing the bride to bed, the loosing the bridegroom's points, the
scramble which ensued for them, and the casting of the stocking, is
also omitted from its obscurity.
The following song which has been since borrowed by the worshipful
author of the famous History of Fryar Bacon, has been with difficulty
deciphered. It seems to have been sung on occasion of carrying home the
bride
Bridal Song
To the tune of--'I have been a Fiddler,' etc,
And did you not hear of a mirth befell
The morrow after a wedding day,
And carrying a bride at home to dwell?
And away to Tewin, away, away!
The quintain was set, and the garlands were made,
'T is pity old customs should ever decay;
And woe be to him that was horsed on a jade,
For he carried no credit away, away.
We met a consort of fiddle-de-dees;
We set them a cockhorse, and made them play
The winning of Bullen and Upsey-frees,
And away to Tewin, away, away!
There was ne'er a lad in all the parish
That would go to the plough that day;
But on his fore-horse his wench he carries.
And away to Tewin, away, away!
The butler was quick, and the ale he did tap,
The maidens did make the chamber full gay;
The servants did give me a fuddling cup,
And I did carry't away, away.
The smith of the town his liquor so took,
That he was persuaded that the ground look'd blue;
And I dare boldly be sworn on a book,
Such smiths as he there's but a few.
A posset was made, and the women did sip,
And simpering said, they could eat no more;
Full many a maiden was laid on the lip,--
I'll say no more, but give o'er (give o'er).
But what our fair readers will chiefly regret is the loss of three
declarations of love; the first by Saint Clere to Matilda; which, with
the lady's answer, occupies fifteen closely written pages of
manuscript. That of Fitzosborne to Emma is not much shorter; but the
amours of Fitzallen and Eleanor, being of a less romantic cast, are
closed in three pages only. The three noble couples were married in
Queenhoo-Hall upon the same day, being the twentieth Sunday after
Easter. There is a prolix account of the marriage-feast, of which we
can pick out the names of a few dishes, such as peterel, crane,
sturgeon, swan, etc. etc., with a profusion of wild-fowl and venison.
We also see that a suitable song was produced by Peretto on the
occasion; and that the bishop who blessed the bridal beds which
received the happy couples was no niggard of his holy water, bestowing
half a gallon upon each of the couches. We regret we cannot give these
curiosities to the reader in detail, but we hope to expose the
manuscript to abler antiquaries so soon as it shall be framed and
glazed by the ingenious artist who rendered that service to Mr.
Ireland's Shakspeare MSS. And so (being unable to lay aside the style
to which our pen is habituated), gentle reader, we bid thee heartily
farewell.
NO. III
ANECDOTE OF SCHOOL DAYS
UPON WHICH MR. THOMAS SCOTT PROPOSED TO FOUND A TALE OF FICTION
It is well known in the South that there is little or no boxing at the
Scottish schools. About forty or fifty years ago, however, a far more
dangerous mode of fighting, in parties or factions, was permitted in
the streets of Edinburgh, to the great disgrace of the police and
danger of the parties concerned. These parties were generally formed
from the quarters of the town in which the combatants resided, those of
a particular square or district fighting against those of an adjoining
one. Hence it happened that the children of the higher classes were
often pitted against those of the lower, each taking their side
according to the residence of their friends. So far as I recollect,
however, it was unmingled either with feelings of democracy or
aristocracy, or indeed with malice or ill-will of any kind towards the
opposite party. In fact, it was only a rough mode of play. Such
contests were, however, maintained with great vigour with stones and
sticks and fisticuffs, when one party dared to charge and the other
stood their ground. Of course mischief sometimes happened; boys are
said to have been killed at these bickers, as they were called, and
serious accidents certainly took place, as many contemporaries can bear
witness.
The author's father residing in George Square, in the southern side of
Edinburgh, the boys belonging to that family, with others in the
square, were arranged into a sort of company, to which a lady of
distinction presented a handsome set of colours. Now this company or
regiment, as a matter of course, was engaged in weekly warfare with the
boys inhabiting the Crosscauseway, Bristo Street, the Potterrow--in
short, the neighbouring suburbs. These last were chiefly of the lower
rank, but hardy loons, who threw stones to a hair's-breadth and were
very rugged antagonists at close quarters. The skirmish sometimes
lasted for a whole evening, until one party or the other was
victorious, when, if ours were successful, we drove the enemy to their
quarters, and were usually chased back by the reinforcement of bigger
lads who came to their assistance. If, on the contrary, we were
pursued, as was often the case, into the precincts of our square, we
were in our turn supported by our elder brothers, domestic servants,
and similar auxiliaries.
It followed, from our frequent opposition to each other, that, though
not knowing the names of our enemies, we were yet well acquainted with
their appearance, and had nicknames for the most remarkable of them.
One very active and spirited boy might be considered as the principal
leader in the cohort of the suburbs. He was, I suppose, thirteen or
fourteen years old, finely made, tall, blue-eyed, with long fair hair,
the very picture of a youthful Goth. This lad was always first in the
charge and last in the retreat--the Achilles, at once, and Ajax of the
Crosscauseway. He was too formidable to us not to have a cognomen, and,
like that of a knight of old, it was taken from the most remarkable
part of his dress, being a pair of old green livery breeches, which was
the principal part of his clothing; for, like Pentapolin, according to
Don Quixote's account, Green-Breeks, as we called him, always entered
the battle with bare arms, legs, and feet.
It fell, that once upon a time, when the combat was at the thickest,
this plebeian champion headed a sudden charge, so rapid and furious
that all fled before him. He was several paces before his comrades, and
had actually laid his hands on the patrician standard, when one of our
party, whom some misjudging friend had entrusted with a couleau de
chasse, or hanger, inspired with a zeal for the honour of the corps
worthy of Major Sturgeon himself, struck poor Green-Breeks over the
head with strength sufficient to cut him down. When this was seen, the
casualty was so far beyond what had ever taken place before, that both
parties fled different ways, leaving poor Green-Breeks, with his bright
hair plentifully dabbled in blood, to the care of the watchman, who
(honest man) took care not to know who had done the mischief. The
bloody hanger was flung into one of the Meadow ditches, and solemn
secrecy was sworn on all hands; but the remorse and terror of the actor
were beyond all bounds, and his apprehensions of the most dreadful
character. The wounded hero was for a few days in the Infirmary, the
case being only a trifling one. But, though inquiry was strongly
pressed on him, no argument could make him indicate the person from
whom he had received the wound, though he must have been perfectly well
known to him. When he recovered and was dismissed, the author and his
brothers opened a communication with him, through the medium of a
popular ginger-bread baker, of whom both parties were customers, in
order to tender a subsidy in name of smart-money. The sum would excite
ridicule were I to name it; but sure I am that the pockets of the noted
Green-Breeks never held as much money of his own. He declined the
remittance, saying that he would not sell his blood; but at the same
time reprobated the idea of being an informer, which he said was clam,
i.e. base or mean. With much urgency he accepted a pound of snuff for
the use of some old woman--aunt, grandmother, or the like--with whom he
lived. We did not become friends, for the bickers were more agreeable
to both parties than any more pacific amusement; but we conducted them
ever after under mutual assurances of the highest consideration for
each other.
Such was the hero whom Mr. Thomas Scott proposed to carry to Canada,
and involve in adventures with the natives and colonists of that
country. Perhaps the youthful generosity of the lad will not seem so
great in the eyes of others as to those whom it was the means of
screening from severe rebuke and punishment. But it seemed to those
concerned to argue a nobleness of sentiment far beyond the pitch of
most minds; and however obscurely the lad who showed such a frame of
noble spirit may have lived or died, I cannot help being of opinion
that, if fortune had placed him in circumstances calling for gallantry
or generosity, the man would have fulfilled the promise of the boy.
Long afterwards, when the story was told to my father, he censured us
severely for not telling the truth at the time, that he might have
attempted to be of use to the young man in entering on life. But our
alarms for the consequences of the drawn sword, and the wound inflicted
with such a weapon, were far too predominant at the time for such a
pitch of generosity.
Perhaps I ought not to have inserted this schoolboy tale; but, besides
the strong impression made by the incident at the time, the whole
accompaniments of the story are matters to me of solemn and sad
recollection. Of all the little band who were concerned in those
juvenile sports or brawls, I can scarce recollect a single survivor.
Some left the ranks of mimic war to die in the active service of their
country. Many sought distant lands to return no more. Others, dispersed
in different paths of life,'my dim eyes now seek for in vain.' Of five
brothers, all healthy and promising in a degree far beyond one whose
infancy was visited by personal infirmity, and whose health after this
period seemed long very precarious, I am, nevertheless, the only
survivor. The best loved, and the best deserving to be loved, who had
destined this incident to be the foundation of literary composition,
died 'before his day' in a distant and foreign land; and trifles assume
an importance not their own when connected with those who have been
loved and lost.
NOTES
NOTE I
LONG the oracle of the country gentlemen of the high Tory party. The
ancient News-Letter was written in manuscript and copied by clerks, who
addressed the copies to the subscribers. The politician by whom they
were compiled picked up his intelligence at coffee-houses, and often
pleaded for an additional gratuity in consideration of the extra
expense attached to frequenting such places of fashionable resort.
NOTE 2
There is a family legend to this purpose, belonging to the knightly
family of Bradshaigh, the proprietors of Haigh Hall, in Lancashire,
where, I have been told, the event is recorded on a painted glass
window. The German ballad of the Noble Moringer turns upon a similar
topic. But undoubtedly many such incidents may have taken place, where,
the distance being great and the intercourse infrequent, false reports
concerning the fate of the absent Crusaders must have been commonly
circulated, and sometimes perhaps rather hastily credited at home.
NOTE 3
The attachment to this classic was, it is said, actually displayed in
the manner mentioned in the text by an unfortunate Jacobite in that
unhappy period. He escaped from the jail in which he was confined for a
hasty trial and certain condemnation, and was retaken as he hovered
around the place in which he had been imprisoned, for which he could
give no better reason than the hope of recovering his favourite Titus
Livius. I am sorry to add that the simplicity of such a character was
found to form no apology for his guilt as a rebel, and that he was
condemned and executed.
NOTE 4
Nicholas Amhurst, a noted political writer, who conducted for many
years a paper called the Craftsman, under the assumed name of Caleb
D'Anvers. He was devoted to the Tory interest, and seconded with much
ability the attacks of Pulteney on Sir Robert Walpole. He died in 1742,
neglected by his great patrons and in the most miserable circumstances.
'Amhurst survived the downfall of Walpole's power, and had reason to
expect a reward for his labours. If we excuse Bolingbroke, who had only
saved the shipwreck of his fortunes, we shall be at a loss to justify
Pulteney, who could with ease have given this man a considerable
income. The utmost of his generosity to Amhurst that I ever heard of
was a hogshead of claret! He died, it is supposed, of a broken heart;
and was buried at the charge of his honest printer, Richard
Francklin.'--Lord Chesterfield's Characters Reviewed, p. 42.
NOTE 5
I have now given in the text the full name of this gallant and
excellent man, and proceed to copy the account of his remarkable
conversion, as related by Doctor Doddridge.
'This memorable event,' says the pious writer, 'happened towards the
middle of July 1719. The major had spent the evening (and, if I mistake
not, it was the Sabbath) in some gay company, and had an unhappy
assignation with a married woman, whom he was to attend exactly at
twelve. The company broke up about eleven, and, not judging it
convenient to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber
to kill the tedious hour, perhaps with some amusing book, or some other
way. But it very accidentally happened that he took up a religious
book, which his good mother or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped
into his portmanteau. It was called, if I remember the title exactly,
The Christian Soldier, or Heaven taken by Storm, and it was written by
Mr. Thomas Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find some
phrases of his own profession spiritualised in a manner which he
thought might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip into it,
but he took no serious notice of anything it had in it; and yet, while
this book was in his hand, an impression was made upon his mind
(perhaps God only knows how) which drew after it a train of the most
important and happy consequences. He thought he saw an unusual blaze of
light fall upon the book which he was reading, which he at first
imagined might happen by some accident in the candle, but, lifting up
his eyes, he apprehended to his extreme amazement that there was before
him, as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of the
Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory;
and was impressed as if a voice, or something equivalent to a voice,
had come to him, to this effect (for he was not confident as to the
words), "Oh, sinner! did I suffer this for thee, and are these thy
returns?" Struck with so amazing a phenomenon as this, there remained
hardly any life in him, so that he sunk down in the arm-chair in which
he sat, and continued, he knew not how long, insensible.'
'With regard to this vision,' says the ingenious Dr. Hibbert, 'the
appearance of our Saviour on the cross, and the awful words repeated,
can be considered in no other light than as so many recollected images
of the mind, which probably had their origin in the language of some
urgent appeal to repentance that the colonel might have casually read
or heard delivered. From what cause, however, such ideas were rendered
as vivid as actual impressions, we have no information to be depended
upon. This vision was certainly attended with one of the most important
of consequences connected with the Christian dispensation--the
conversion of a sinner. And hence no single narrative has, perhaps,
done more to confirm the superstitious opinion that apparitions of this
awful kind cannot arise without a divine fiat.' Doctor Hibbert adds in
a note--'A short time before the vision, Colonel Gardiner had received
a severe fall from his horse. Did the brain receive some slight degree
of injury from the accident, so as to predispose him to this spiritual
illusion?'--Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, Edinburgh, 1824, p.
190.
NOTE 6
The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or at
least that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest called
for, was expected by certain old landlords in Scotland even in the
youth of the author. In requital mine host was always furnished with
the news of the country, and was probably a little of a humorist to
boot. The devolution of the whole actual business and drudgery of the
inn upon the poor gudewife was very common among the Scottish
Bonifaces. There was in ancient times, in the city of Edinburgh, a
gentleman of good family who condescended, in order to gain a
livelihood, to become the nominal keeper of a coffee-house, one of the
first places of the kind which had been opened in the Scottish
metropolis. As usual, it was entirely managed by the careful and
industrious Mrs. B--; while her husband amused himself with field
sports, without troubling his head about the matter. Once upon a time,
the premises having taken fire, the husband was met walking up the High
Street loaded with his guns and fishing-rods, and replied calmly to
someone who inquired after his wife, 'that the poor woman was trying to
save a parcel of crockery and some trumpery books'; the last being
those which served her to conduct the business of the house.
There were many elderly gentlemen in the author's younger days who
still held it part of the amusement of a journey 'to parley with mine
host,' who often resembled, in his quaint humour, mine Host of the
Garter in the Merry Wives of Windsor; or Blague of the George in the
Merry Devil of Edmonton. Sometimes the landlady took her share of
entertaining the company. In either case the omitting to pay them due
attention gave displeasure, and perhaps brought down a smart jest, as
on the following occasion:
A jolly dame who, not 'Sixty Years Since,' kept the principal
caravansary at Greenlaw, in Berwickshire, had the honour to receive
under her roof a very worthy clergyman, with three sons of the same
profession, each having a cure of souls; be it said in passing, none of
the reverend party were reckoned powerful in the pulpit. After dinner
was over, the worthy senior, in the pride of his heart, asked Mrs.
Buchan whether she ever had had such a party in her house before. 'Here
sit I,' he said, 'a placed minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and here
sit my three sons, each a placed minister of the same kirk. Confess,
Luckie Buchan, you never had such a party in your house before.' The
question was not premised by any invitation to sit down and take a
glass of wine or the like, so Mrs. B. answered drily, 'Indeed, sir, I
cannot just say that ever I had such a party in my house before, except
once in the forty-five, when I had a Highland piper here, with his
three sons, all Highland pipers; and deil a spring they could play
amang them.'
NOTE 7
There is no particular mansion described under the name of
Tully-Veolan; but the peculiarities of the description occur in various
old Scottish seats. The House of Warrender upon Bruntsfield Links and
that of Old Ravelston, belonging, the former to Sir George Warrender,
the latter to Sir Alexander Keith, have both contributed several hints
to the description in the text. The House of Dean, near Edinburgh, has
also some points of resemblance with Tully-Veolan. The author has,
however, been informed that the House of Grandtully resembles that of
the Baron of Bradwardine still more than any of the above.
NOTE 8
I am ignorant how long the ancient and established custom of keeping
fools has been disused in England. Swift writes an epitaph on the Earl
of Suffolk's fool--
Whose name was Dickie Pearce
In Scotland, the custom subsisted till late in the last century; at
Glamis Castle is preserved the dress of one of the jesters, very
handsome, and ornamented with many bells. It is not above thirty years
since such a character stood by the sideboard of a nobleman of the
first rank in Scotland, and occasionally mixed in the conversation,
till he carried the joke rather too far, in making proposals to one of
the young ladies of the family, and publishing the bans betwixt her and
himself in the public church.
NOTE 9
After the Revolution of 1688, and on some occasions when the spirit of
the Presbyterians had been unusually animated against their opponents,
the Episcopal clergymen, who were chiefly nonjurors, were exposed to be
mobbed, as we should now say, or rabbled, as the phrase then went, to
expiate their political heresies. But notwithstanding that the
Presbyterians had the persecution in Charles II and his brother's time
to exasperate them, there was little mischief done beyond the kind of
petty violence mentioned in the text.
NOTE 10
I may here mention that the fashion of compotation described in the
text was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the author's
youth. A company, after having taken leave of their host, often went to
finish the evening at the clachan or village, in 'womb of tavern.'
Their entertainer always accompanied them to take the stirrup-cup,
which often occasioned a long and late revel.
The poculum potatorium of the valiant Baron, his blessed Bear, has a
prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in memorials of
ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded
into the shape of a lion, and holding about an English pint of wine.
The form alludes to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and,
when exhibited, the cup must necessarily be emptied to the Earl's
health. The author ought perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has
had the honour of swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the
recollection of the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of
Bradwardine. In the family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in
the Forest, but the place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long
preserved a cup of the same kind, in the form of a jack-boot. Each
guest was obliged to empty this at his departure. If the guest's name
was Scott, the necessity was doubly imperative.
When the landlord of an inn presented his guests with deoch an doruis,
that is, the drink at the door, or the stirrup-cup, the draught was not
charged in the reckoning. On this point a learned bailie of the town of
Forfar pronounced a very sound judgment.
A., an ale-wife in Forfar, had brewed her 'peck of malt' and set the
liquor out of doors to cool; the cow of B., a neighbour of A., chanced
to come by, and seeing the good beverage, was allured to taste it, and
finally to drink it up. When A. came to take in her liquor, she found
her tub empty, and from the cow's staggering and staring, so as to
betray her intemperance, she easily divined the mode in which her
'browst' had disappeared. To take vengeance on Crummie's ribs with a
stick was her first effort. The roaring of the cow brought B., her
master, who remonstrated with his angry neighbour, and received in
reply a demand for the value of the ale which Crummie had drunk up. B.
refused payment, and was conveyed before C., the bailie, or sitting
magistrate. He heard the case patiently; and then demanded of the
plaintiff A. whether the cow had sat down to her potation or taken it
standing. The plaintiff answered, she had not seen the deed committed,
but she supposed the cow drank the ale while standing on her feet,
adding, that had she been near she would have made her use them to some
purpose. The bailie, on this admission, solemnly adjudged the cow's
drink to be deoch an doruis, a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could
be made without violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland.
NOTE 11
The story last told was said to have happened in the south of Scotland;
but cedant arma togae and let the gown have its dues. It was an old
clergyman, who had wisdom and firmness enough to resist the panic which
seized his brethren, who was the means of rescuing a poor insane
creature from the cruel fate which would otherwise have overtaken her.
The accounts of the trials for witchcraft form one of the most
deplorable chapters in Scottish story.
NOTE 12
Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems
nevertheless to have been adopted in the arms and mottos of many
honourable families. Thus the motto of the Vernons, Ver non semper
viret, is a perfect pun, and so is that of the Onslows, Festina lente.
The Periissem ni per-iissem of the Anstruthers is liable to a similar
objection. One of that ancient race, finding that an antagonist, with
whom he had fixed a friendly meeting, was determined to take the
opportunity of assassinating him, prevented the hazard by dashing out
his brains with a battle-axe. Two sturdy arms, brandishing such a
weapon, form the usual crest of the family, with the above motto,
Periissem ni per-iissem--I had died, unless I had gone through with it.
NOTE 13
Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen who
carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a scholar and
a well-bred gentleman. He engraved on his broad-swords the well-known
lines--
Hae tibi erunt artes pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.
Indeed, the levying of black-mail was, before 1745, practised by
several chiefs of very high rank, who, in doing so, contended that they
were lending the laws the assistance of their arms and swords, and
affording a protection which could not be obtained from the magistracy
in the disturbed state of the country. The author has seen a Memoir of
Mac-Pherson of Cluny, chief of that ancient clan, from which it appears
that he levied protection-money to a very large amount, which was
willingly paid even by some of his most powerful neighbours. A
gentleman of this clan, hearing a clergyman hold forth to his
congregation on the crime of theft, interrupted the preacher to assure
him, he might leave the enforcement of such doctrines to Cluny
Mac-Pherson, whose broadsword would put a stop to theft sooner than all
the sermons of all the ministers of the synod.
NOTE 14
The Town-guard of Edinburgh were, till a late period, armed with this
weapon when on their police-duty. There was a hook at the back of the
axe, which the ancient Highlanders used to assist them to climb over
walls, fixing the hook upon it and raising themselves by the handle.
The axe, which was also much used by the natives of Ireland, is
supposed to have been introduced into both countries from Scandinavia.
NOTE 15
An adventure very similar to what is here stated actually befell the
late Mr. Abercromby of Tullibody, grandfather of the present Lord
Abercromby, and father of the celebrated Sir Ralph. When this
gentleman, who lived to a very advanced period of life, first settled
in Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven off by the
celebrated Rob Roy, or some of his gang; and at length he was obliged,
after obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make the cateran such a visit
as that of Waverley to Bean Lean in the text. Rob received him with
much courtesy, and made many apologies for the accident, which must
have happened, he said, through some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was
regaled with collops from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by
the heels in the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after
having agreed to pay in future a small sum of black-mail, in
consideration of which Rob Roy not only undertook to forbear his herds
in future, but to replace any that should be stolen from him by other
freebooters. Mr. Abercromby said Rob Roy affected to consider him as a
friend to the Jacobite interest and a sincere enemy to the Union.
Neither of these circumstances were true; but the laird thought it
quite unnecessary to undeceive his Highland host at the risk of
bringing on a political dispute in such a situation. This anecdote I
received many years since (about 1792) from the mouth of the venerable
gentleman who was concerned in it.
NOTE 16
This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last generation, still
standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in Perthshire. Why
it was called the kind gallows we are unable to inform the reader with
certainty; but it is alleged that the Highlanders used to touch their
bonnets as they passed a place which had been fatal to many of their
countrymen, with the ejaculation 'God bless her nain sell, and the Teil
tamn you!' It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort of
native or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in
fulfilment of a natural destiny.
NOTE 17
The story of the bridegroom carried off by caterans on his bridal-day
is taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of
Mac-Nab many years since. To carry off persons from the Lowlands, and
to put them to ransom, was a common practice with the wild Highlanders,
as it is said to be at the present day with the banditti in the south
of Italy. Upon the occasion alluded to, a party of caterans carried off
the bridegroom and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of
Schiehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before his ransom
could be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the place,
or the want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not pretend to be
positive; but so it was, that the prisoner recovered, his ransom was
paid, and he was restored to his friends and bride, but always
considered the Highland robbers as having saved his life by their
treatment of his malady.
NOTE 18
This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the
total destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers
could be found who offered a fair price for the estates forfeited in
1715, which were then brought to sale by the creditors of the York
Buildings Company, who had purchased the whole, or greater part, from
government at a very small price. Even so late as the period first
mentioned, the prejudices of the public in favour of the heirs of the
forfeited families threw various impediments in the way of intending
purchasers of such property.
NOTE 19
This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality played
by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in particular,
who used that kind of finesse to the uttermost. The Laird of Mac---was
also captain of an independent company, but valued the sweets of
present pay too well to incur the risk of losing them in the Jacobite
cause. His martial consort raised his clan and headed it in 1745. But
the chief himself would have nothing to do with king-making, declaring
himself for that monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac ----
'half-a-guinea the day and half-a-guinea the morn.'
NOTE 20
In explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle of
Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark that the Highlanders were not
only well practised in the use of the broadsword, firelock, and most of
the manly sports and trials of strength common throughout Scotland, but
also used a peculiar sort of drill, suited to their own dress and mode
of warfare. There were, for instance, different modes of disposing the
plaid, one when on a peaceful journey, another when danger was
apprehended; one way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting
undisturbed repose, and another which enabled them to start up with
sword and pistol in hand on the slightest alarm.
Previous to 1720 or thereabouts, the belted plaid was universally worn,
in which the portion which surrounded the middle of the wearer and that
which was flung around his shoulders were all of the same piece of
tartan. In a desperate onset all was thrown away, and the clan charged
bare beneath the doublet, save for an artificial arrangement of the
shirt, which, like that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the
sporran-mollach, or goat's-skin purse.
The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the
Highland manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through by men
who had learned it in their youth.
NOTE 21
Pork or swine's flesh, in any shape, was, till of late years, much
abominated by the Scotch, nor is it yet a favourite food amongst them.
King Jamie carried this prejudice to England, and is known to have
abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. Ben Jonson has recorded
this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a masque, examining the king's
hand, says--
You should, by this line,
Love a horse and a hound, but no part of a swine.
The Gipsies Metamorphosed.
James's own proposed banquet for the Devil was a loin of pork and a
poll of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion.
NOTE 22
In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same table,
though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland chiefs only
retained a custom which had been formerly universally observed
throughout Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller, Fynes Morrison, in
the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene being the Lowlands of
Scotland, 'was at a knight's house, who had many servants to attend
him, that brought in his meat with their heads covered with blue caps,
the table being more than half furnished with great platters of
porridge, each having a little piece of sodden meat. And when the table
was served, the servants did sit down with us; but the upper mess,
instead of porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the
broth.'--Travels, p. 155.
Till within this last century the farmers, even of a respectable
condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those
of high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below
the salt, or sometimes by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table.
Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the
appetites of his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser who had the
slightest pretensions to be a Duinhewassel the full honour of the
sitting, but at the same time took care that his young kinsmen did not
acquire at his table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His lordship
was always ready with some honourable apology why foreign wines and
French brandy, delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits
of his cousins, should not circulate past an assigned point on the
table.
NOTE 23
In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac-Pherson) there
occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes,
each of whom has some distinguishing attribute; upon these qualities,
and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed,
which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan
is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and
daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a
blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity,
descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the
Arch-fiend who presided there, which he instantly returned, using the
expression in the text. Sometimes the proverb is worded thus--'Claw for
claw, and the devil take the shortest nails, as Conan said to the
devil.'
NOTE 24
The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is taken
from that of Ledeard, at the farm so called, on the northern side of
Lochard, and near the head of the lake, four or five miles from
Aberfoyle. It is upon a small scale, but otherwise one of the most
exquisite cascades it is possible to behold. The appearance of Flora
with the harp, as described, has been justly censured as too theatrical
and affected for the lady-like simplicity of her character. But
something may be allowed to her French education, in which point and
striking effect always make a considerable object.
NOTE 25
The author has been sometimes accused of confounding fiction with
reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state that the
circumstance of the hunting described in the text as preparatory to the
insurrection of 1745 is, so far as he knows, entirely imaginary. But it
is well known such a great hunting was held in the Forest of Brae-Mar,
under the auspices of the Earl of Mar, as preparatory to the Rebellion
of 1715; and most of the Highland chieftains who afterwards engaged in
that civil commotion were present on this occasion.
GLOSSARY
A', all.
ABOON, abune, above.
ABY, abye, endure, suffer.
ACCOLADE, the salutation marking the bestowal of knighthood.
AIN, own.
ALANE, alone.
AN, if.
ANE, one.
ARRAY, annoy, trouble.
AULD, old.
AWEEL, well.
AYE, always.
BAILIE, a city magistrate in Scotland.
BAN, curse.
BAWTY, sly, cunning.
BAXTER, a baker.
BEES, in the, stupefied, bewildered.
BELIVE, belyve, by and by.
BEN, in, inside.
BENT, an open field.
BHAIRD, a bard.
BLACK-FISHING, fishing by torchlight poaching.
BLINKED, glanced.
BLUDE, braid, blood.
BLYTHE, gay, glad.
BODLE, a copper coin worth a third of an English penny.
BOLE, a bowl.
BOOT-KETCH, a boot-jack.
BRAE, the side of a hill.
BRISSEL-COCK, a turkey cock.
BREEKS, breeches.
BROGUES, Highland shoes.
BROKEN MEN, outlaws.
BROUGHT FAR BEN, held in special favor
BROWST, a brewing.
BRUIK, enjoy.
BUCKIE, a perverse or refractory person.
BULLSEGG, a gelded bull.
BURD, bird, a term of familiarity.
BURN, a brook.
BUSKING, dress, decoration.
BUTTOCK-MAIL, a fine for fornication.
BYDAND, awaiting.
CAILLIACHS, old women on whom devolved the duty of lamenting for the
dead, which the Irish call keening.
CALLANT, a young lad, a fine fellow.
CANNY, prudent, skillful, lucky.
CANTER, a canting, whining beggar.
CANTRIP, a trick.
CARLE, a churl, an old man.
CATERAN, a Highland irregular soldier, a freebooter.
CHAP, a customer.
CLACHAN, a hamlet.
CLAW FAVOUR, curry favour.
CLAYMORE, a broad sword.
CLEEK, a hook.
CLEIK the cunzie, steal the silver.
COB, beat.
COBLE, a small fishing boat.
COGS, wooden vessels.
COGUE, a round wooden vessel.
CONCUSSED, violently shaken, disturbed, forced.
CORONACH, a dirge.
CORRIE, a mountain hollow.
COVE, a cave.
CRAME, a booth, a merchant's shop.
CREAGH, an incursion for plunder, termed on the Borders a raid.
CROUSE, bold, courageous.
CRUMMY, a cow with crooked horns.
CUITTLE, tickle.
CURRAGH, a Highland boat.
DAFT, mad, foolish.
DEBINDED, bound down.
DECREET, an order of decree.
DEOCH AN DORUIS, the stirrup-cup or parting drink.
DERN, concealed, secret.
DINMONTS, wethers in the second year.
DOER, an agent, a manager.
DOON, doun, down.
DOVERING, dozing.
DUINHE-WASSEL, dunniewassal, a Highland gentleman, usually the cadet of
a family of rank.
EANARUICH, the regalia presented by Rob Roy to the Laird of Tullibody.
ENEUGH, eneuch, enough.
ERGASTULO, in a penitentiary.
EXEEMED, exempt.
FACTORY, stewardship.
FEAL AND DIVOT, turf and thatch.
FECK, a quantity.
FEIFTEEN, the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
FENDY, good at making a shift.
FIRE-RAISING, setting an incendiary fire.
FLEMIT, frightened,
FRAE, from.
FU, full.
FULE, fool.
GABERLUNZIE, a kind of professional beggar.
GANE, gone.
GANG, go.
GAR, make.
GATE, gait, way.
GAUN, going.
GAY, gey, very.
GEAR, goods, property.
GILLFLIRT, a flirty girl.
GILLIE, a servant, an attendant.
GILLIE-WET-FOOT, a barefooted Highland lad.
GIMMER, a ewe from one to two years old.
GLISKED, glimpsed.
GRIPPLE, rapacious, niggardly.
GULPIN, a simpleton.
HA', hall.
HAG, a portion of copse marked off for cutting.
HAIL, whole.
HALLAN, a partition, a screen.
HAME, home.
HANTLE, a great deal.
HARST, harvest.
HERSHIPS, plunder.
HILDING, a coward.
HIRSTS, knolls.
HORNING, charge of, a summons to pay a debt, on pain of being
pronounced a rebel, to the sound of a horn.
HOWE, a hollow.
HOULERYING AND POULERYING, hustling and pulling.
HURLEY-HOUSE, a brokendown manor house.
ILK, same; of that ilk, of the same name or place.
ILKA, each, every.
IN THE BEES, stupefied.
INTROMIT, meddle with.
KEN, know.
KITTLE, tickle, ticklish.
KNOBBLER, a male deer in its second year.
KYLOE, a small Highland cow.
LAIRD, squire, lord of the manor.
LANG-LEGGIT, long-legged.
LAWING, a tavern reckoning.
LEE LAND, pasture land.
LIE, a word used in old Scottish legal documents to call attention to
the following word or phrase.
LIFT, capture, carry off by theft.
LIMMER, a jade.
LOCH, a lake.
LOON, an idle fellow, a lout, a rogue.
LUCKIE, an elderly woman.
LUG, an ear, a handle.
LUNZIE, the loins, the waist.
MAE, mair, more.
MAINS, the chief farm of an estate.
MALT ABUNE THE MEAL, the drink above the food, half-seas over.
MAUN, must.
MEAL ARK, a meal chest.
MERK, 13 1/3 pence in English money.
MICKLE, much, great.
MISGUGGLED, mangled, rumpled.
MONY, many.
MORN, the morn, tomorrow.
MORNING, a morning dram.
MUCKLE, much, great.
MUIR, moor.
NA, nae, no, not.
NAINSELL, own self.
NICE, simple.
NOLT, black cattle. ony, any.
ORRA, odd, unemployed.
ORRA-TIME, occasionally.
OWER, over.
PEEL-HOUSE, a fortified tower.
PENDICLE, a small piece of ground.
PINGLE, a fuss, trouble.
PLENISHING, furnishings.
PLOY, sport, entertainment.
PRETTY MEN, stout, warlike fellows.
REIFS, robberies.
REIVERS, robbers.
RIGGS, ridges, ploughed ground.
ROKELAY, a short cloak.
RUDAS, coarse, hag-like.
SAIN, mark with the sign of the cross, bless.
SAIR, sore, very.
SAUMON, salmon.
SAUT, salt.
SAY, a sample.
SCHELLUM, a rascal.
SCOUPING, scowping, skipping, leaping, running.
SEANNACHIE, a Highland antiquary.
SHEARING, reaping, harvest.
SHILPIT, weak, sickly.
SHOON, shoes.
SIC, siccan, such.
SIDIER DHU, black soldiers, independent companies raised to keep peace
in the Highlands; named from the tartans they wore.
SIDIER ROY, red soldiers, King George's men.
SIKES, small brooks.
SILLER, silver, money.
SIMMER, summer.
SLIVER, slice, slit.
SMOKY, suspicious.
SNECK, cut.
SNOOD, a fillet worn by young women.
SOPITE, quiet a brawl.
SORNERS, sornars, sojourners, sturdy beggars, especially those
unwelcome visitors who exact lodgings and victuals by force.
SORTED, arranged, adjusted.
SPEIR, ask, investigate.
SPORRAN-MOLLACH, a Highland purse of goatskin.
SPRACK, animated, lively.
SPRING, a cheerful tune.
SPURRZIE, spoil.
STIEVE, stiff, firm.
STIRK, a young steer or heifer.
STOT, a bullock.
STOUP, a jug, a pitcher.
STOUTHREEF, robbery.
STRAE, straw.
STRATH, a valley through which a river runs.
SYBOES, onions.
TA, the. TAIGLIT, harassed, loitered.
TAILZIE, taillie, a deed of entail.
TAPPIT-HEN, a pewter pot that holds three English quarts.
TAYOUT, tailliers-hors; in modern phrase, Tally-ho!
TEIL, the devil.
TEINDS, tithes.
TELT, told.
TILL, to. TOUN, a hamlet, a farm.
TREWS, trousers.
TROW, believe, suppose.
TWA, two.
TYKE, a dog, a snarling fellow.
UNCO, strange, very.
UNKENN'D, unknown.
USQUEBAUGH, whiskey.
WA', wall.
WARE, spend.
WEEL, well.
WHA, who.
WHAR, where.
WHAT FOR, why.
WHILK, which.
WISKE, whisk, brandish.
END OF VOLUME I WAVERLEY
BY SIR WALTER SCOTT
VOLUME II
WAVERLEY
OR 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE