AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
While he was deep sunk in his reverie, the rustle of tartans was heard
behind him, a friendly arm clasped his shoulders, and a friendly voice
exclaimed,
'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.
'Aye, 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. [See Note 23.] Indeed, this was a point
much doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a
well-founded disbelief in the co-operation 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 partisan 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
further 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 partisans, 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 plated 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 heirloom 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.