THE BALL
Ensign Maccombich having gone to the Highland camp upon duty, and Bailie
Macwheeble having retired to digest his dinner and Evan Dhu's intimation
of martial law in some blind change-house, Waverley, with the Baron and
the Chieftain, proceeded to Holyrood House. The two last were in full
tide of spirits, and the Baron rallied in his way our hero upon the
handsome figure which his new dress displayed to advantage. 'If you have
any design upon the heart of a bonny Scotch lassie, I would premonish
you, when you address her, to remember and quote the words of
Virgilius:--
Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis,
Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes:
whilk verses Robertson of Struan, Chief of the Clan Donnochy (unless
the claims of Lude ought to be preferred PRIMO LOCO), has thus elegantly
rendered;
For cruel love has gartan'd low my leg,
And clad my hurdies in a philabeg.
Although, indeed, ye wear the trews, a garment whilk I approve maist of
the twa, as mair ancient and seemly.' 'Or rather,' said Fergus, 'hear my
song:
She wadna hae a Lowland laird,
Nor be an English lady;
But she's away with Duncan Graeme,
And he's row'd her in his plaidy.'
By this time they reached the palace of Holyrood, and were announced
respectively as they entered the apartments.
It is but too well known how many gentlemen of rank, education, and
fortune, took a concern in the ill-fated and desperate undertaking of
1745. The ladies, also, of Scotland very generally espoused the cause of
the gallant and handsome young Prince, who threw himself upon the mercy
of his countrymen, rather like a hero of romance than a calculating
politician. It is not, therefore, to be wondered that Edward, who
had spent the greater part of his life in the solemn seclusion of
Waverley-Honour, should have been dazzled at the liveliness and elegance
of the scene now exhibited in the long-deserted halls of the Scottish
palace. The accompaniments, indeed, fell short of splendour, being such
as the confusion and hurry of the time admitted; still, however, the
general effect was striking, and, the rank of the company considered,
might well be called brilliant.
It was not long before the lover's eye discovered the object of his
attachment. Flora Mac-Ivor was in the act; of returning to her seat,
near the top of the room, with Rose Bradwardine by her side. Among much
elegance and beauty, they had attracted a great degree of the public
attention, being certainly two of the handsomest women present. The
Prince took much notice of both, particularly of Flora, with whom he
danced; a preference which she probably owed to her foreign education,
and command of the French and Italian languages.
When the bustle attending the conclusion of the dance permitted, Edward,
almost intuitively, followed Fergus to the place where Miss Mac-Ivor was
seated. The sensation of hope, with which he had nursed his affection
in absence of the beloved object, seemed to vanish in her presence, and,
like one striving to recover the particulars of a forgotten dream,
he would have given the world at that moment to have recollected
the grounds on which he had founded expectations which now seemed so
delusive. He accompanied Fergus with downcast eyes, tingling ears,
and the feelings of the criminal, who, while the melancholy cart moves
slowly through the crowds that have assembled to behold his execution,
receives no clear sensation either from the noise which fills his ears,
or the tumult on which he casts his wandering look.
Flora seemed a little--a very little--affected and discomposed at his
approach. 'I bring you an adopted son of Ivor,' said Fergus.
'And I receive him as a second brother,' replied Flora.
There was a slight emphasis on the word, which would have escaped
every ear but one that was feverish with apprehension. It was, however,
distinctly marked, and, combined with her whole tone and manner, plainly
intimated, 'I will never think of Mr. Waverley as a more intimate
connexion.' Edward stopped, bowed, and looked at Fergus, who bit his
lip; a movement of anger, which proved that he also had put a sinister
interpretation on the reception which his sister had given his friend.
'This, then, is an end of my day-dream!' Such was Waverley's first
thought, and it was so exquisitely painful as to banish from his cheek
every drop of blood.
'Good God!' said Rose Bradwardine, 'he is not yet recovered!'
These words, which she uttered with great emotion, were overheard by the
Chevalier himself, who stepped hastily forward, and, taking Waverley by
the hand, inquired kindly after his health, and added, that he wished to
speak with him. By a strong and sudden effort, which the circumstances
rendered indispensable, Waverley recovered himself so far as to follow
the Chevalier in silence to a recess in the apartment.
Here the Prince detained him some time, asking various questions about
the great Tory and Catholic families of England, their connexions,
their influence, and the state of their affections towards the house of
Stuart. To these queries Edward could not at any time have given more
than general answers, and it may be supposed that, in the present state
of his feelings, his responses were indistinct even to confusion. The
Chevalier smiled once or twice at the incongruity of his replies, but
continued the same style of conversation, although he found himself
obliged to occupy the principal share of it, until he perceived that
Waverley had recovered his presence of mind. It is probable that this
long audience was partly meant to further the idea which the Prince
desired should be entertained among his followers, that Waverley was a
character of political influence. But it appeared, from his concluding
expressions, that he had a different and good-natured motive, personal
to our hero, for prolonging the conference. 'I cannot resist the
temptation,' he said, 'of boasting of my own discretion as a lady's
confidant. You see, Mr. Waverley, that I know all, and I assure you I am
deeply interested in the affair. But, my good young friend, you must put
a more severe restraint upon your feelings. There are many here whose
eyes can see as clearly as mine, but the prudence of whose tongues may
not be equally trusted.'
So saying, he turned easily away, and joined a circle of officers at
a few paces' distance, leaving Waverley to meditate upon his parting
expression, which though not intelligible to him in its whole purport,
was sufficiently so in the caution which the last word recommended.
Making, therefore, an effort to show himself worthy of the interest
which his new master had expressed, by instant obedience to his
recommendation, he walked up to the spot where Flora and Miss
Bradwardine were still seated, and having made his compliments to the
latter, he succeeded, even beyond his own expectation, in entering into
conversation upon general topics.
If, my dear reader, thou hast ever happened to take post-horses at--,
or at--(one at least of which blanks, or more probably both, you will
be able to fill up from an inn near your own residence), you must have
observed, and doubtless with sympathetic pain, the reluctant agony with
which the poor jades at first apply their galled necks to the collars
of the harness. But when the irresistible arguments of the postboy have
prevailed upon them to proceed a mile or two, they will become callous
to the first sensation; and being warm at the harness, as the said
postboy may term it, proceed as if their withers were altogether
unwrung. This simile so much corresponds with the state of Waverley's
feelings in the course of this memorable evening, that I prefer it
(especially as being, I trust, wholly original) to any more splendid
illustration with which Byshe's ART OF POETRY might supply me.
Exertion, like virtue, is its own reward; and our hero had, moreover,
other stimulating motives for persevering in a display of affected
composure and indifference to Flora's obvious unkindness. Pride, which
supplies its caustic as a useful, though severe, remedy for the wounds
of affection, came rapidly to his aid. Distinguished by the favour of a
Prince; destined, he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in
the revolution which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably,
in mental acquirements, and equalling, at least, in personal
accomplishments, most of the noble and distinguished persons with whom
he was now ranked; young, wealthy, and high-born--could he, or ought he
to droop beneath the frown of a capricious beauty?
O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art,
My bosom is proud as thine own.
With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, however,
were not then written) [They occur in Miss Seward's fine verses,
beginning--To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.], Waverley determined
upon convincing Flora that he was not to be depressed by a rejection,
in which his vanity whispered that perhaps she did her own prospects as
much injustice as his. And, to aid this change of feeling, there lurked
the secret and unacknowledged hope, that she might learn to prize his
affection more highly when she did not conceive it to be altogether
within her own choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone
of encouragement, also, in the Chevalier's words, though he feared they
only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of a union between
him and his sister. But the whole circumstances of time, place, and
incident, combined at once to awaken his imagination, and to call upon
him for a manly and decisive tone of conduct, leaving to fate to dispose
of the issue. Should he appear to be the only one sad and disheartened
on the eve of battle, how greedily would the tale be commented upon by
the slander which had been already but too busy with his fame? Never,
never, he internally resolved, shall my unprovoked enemies possess such
an advantage over my reputation.
Under the influence of these mixed sensations, and cheered at times by
a smile of intelligence and approbation from the Prince as he passed the
group, Waverley exerted his powers of fancy, animation, and eloquence,
and attracted the general admiration of the company. The conversation
gradually assumed the tone best qualified for the display of his talents
and acquisitions. The gaiety of the evening was exalted in character,
rather than checked, by the approaching dangers of the morrow. All
nerves were strung for the future, and prepared to enjoy the present.
This mood of mind is highly favourable for the exercise of the powers
of imagination, for poetry, and for that eloquence which is allied to
poetry. Waverley, as we have elsewhere observed, possessed at times a
wonderful flow of rhetoric; and, on the present occasion, he touched
more than once the higher notes of feeling, and then again ran off in
a wild voluntary of fanciful mirth. He was supported and excited by
kindred spirits, who felt the same impulse of mood and time; and even
those of more cold and calculating habits were hurried along by the
torrent. Many ladies declined the dance, which still went forward, and,
under various pretences, joined the party to which the 'handsome young
Englishman' seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to
several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present were
altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a moment of less
excitation, they were usually clouded, gave universal delight.
Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who regarded him
with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she could not suppress
a sort of wonder at talents which, in the course of their acquaintance,
she had never seen displayed with equal brilliancy and impressive
effect. I do not know whether she might not feel a momentary regret at
having taken so decisive a resolution upon the addresses of a lover, who
seemed fitted so well to fill a high place in the highest stations
of society. Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable
deficiencies of Edward's disposition, the MAUVAISE HONTE, which, as
she had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was little
acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was, in her opinion,
too nearly related to timidity and imbecility of disposition. But if
a passing wish occurred that Waverley could have rendered himself
uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its influence was momentary; for
circumstances had arisen since they met, which rendered, in her eyes,
the resolution she had formed respecting him final and irrevocable.
With opposite feelings, Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to listen.
She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to one, whose merit
she had learned to prize too early and too fondly. Without a thought of
jealousy, without a feeling of fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by
a single selfish consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of
observing the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear
was exclusively filled with his voice; when others answered, her eye
took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. Perhaps
the delight which she experienced in the course of that evening, though
transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in its nature the most pure
and disinterested which the human mind is capable of enjoying.
'Baron,' said the Chevalier, 'I would not trust my mistress in the
company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps somewhat
romantic, one of the most fascinating young men whom I have ever seen.'
'And by my honour, sir,' replied the Baron, 'the lad can sometimes be as
dowff as a sexagenary like myself. If your Royal Highness had seen
him dreaming and dozing about the banks of Tully-Veolan like an
hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's ANATOMIA hath it, a phrenesiac or
lethargic patient, you would wonder where he hath sae suddenly acquired
all this fine sprack festivity and jocularity.'
'Truly,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, 'I think it can only be the inspiration
of the tartans; for, though Waverley be always a young fellow of
sense and honour, I have hitherto often found him a very absent and
inattentive companion.'
'We are the more obliged to him,' said the Prince, 'for having reserved
for this evening qualities which even such intimate friends had not
discovered.--But come, gentlemen, the night advances, and the business
of to-morrow must be early thought upon. Each take charge of his fair
partner, and honour a small refreshment with your company.'
He led the way to another suite of apartments, and assumed the seat and
canopy at the head of a long range of tables, with an air of dignity
mingled with courtesy, which well became his high birth and lofty
pretensions. An hour had hardly flown away when the musicians played the
signal for parting, so well known in Scotland.' [Which is, or was wont
to be, the old air of 'Good-night, and joy be with you a'!']
'Good-night, then, said the Chevalier, rising; 'Good-night, and joy
be with you!--Good-night, fair ladies, who have so highly honoured a
proscribed and banished Prince.--Good-night, my brave friends;--may the
happiness we have this evening experienced be an omen of our return to
these our paternal halls, speedily and in triumph, and of many and many
future meetings of mirth and pleasure in the palace of Holyrood!'
When the Baron of Bradwardine afterwards mentioned this adieu of the
Chevalier, he never failed to repeat, in a melancholy tone,
Audiit, et voti Phoebus succedere partem
Mente dedit; partem volueres dispersit in auras,
'which,' as he added, 'is weel rendered into English metre by my friend
Bangour:
Ae half the prayer, wi' Phoebus grace did find,
The t'other half he whistled down the wind.'