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.
'Ay, in this city at least,' answered his friend, 'and you shall
see her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think
of, who has been frequent in his inquiries after you.'
Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard
chamber, and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found
himself in a presence room, fitted up with some attempt at royal
state.
A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the
dignity of his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed
and regular features, advanced out of a circle of military
gentlemen and Highland chiefs by whom he was surrounded. In his
easy and graceful manners Waverley afterwards thought he could
have discovered his high birth and rank, although the star on his
breast and the embroidered garter at his knee had not appeared as
its indications.
'Let me present to your Royal Highness,' said Fergus, bowing
profoundly--
'The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in
England,' said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. 'I beg your
pardon for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master of
ceremonies is necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.'
Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost
courtesy, who could not, had he desired it, have avoided rendering
him the homage which seemed due to his rank, and was certainly the
right of his birth. 'I am sorry to understand, Mr. Waverley, that,
owing to circumstances which have been as yet but ill explained,
you have suffered some restraint among my followers in Perthshire
and on your march here; but we are in such a situation that we
hardly know our friends, and I am even at this moment uncertain
whether I can have the pleasure of considering Mr. Waverley as
among mine.'
He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a
suitable reply, or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the
Prince took out a paper and then proceeded:--'I should indeed have
no doubts upon this subject if I could trust to this proclamation,
set forth by the friends of the Elector of Hanover, in which they
rank Mr. Waverley among the nobility and gentry who are menaced
with the pains of high-treason for loyalty to their legitimate
sovereign. But I desire to gain no adherents save from affection
and conviction; and if Mr. Waverley inclines to prosecute his
journey to the south, or to join the forces of the Elector, he
shall have my passport and free permission to do so; and I can
only regret that my present power will not extend to protect him
against the probable consequences of such a measure. But,'
continued Charles Edward, after another short pause, 'if Mr.
Waverley should, like his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to
embrace a cause which has little to recommend it but its justice,
and follow a prince who throws himself upon the affections of his
people to recover the throne of his ancestors or perish in the
attempt, I can only say, that among these nobles and gentlemen he
will find worthy associates in a gallant enterprise, and will
follow a master who may be unfortunate, but, I trust, will never
be ungrateful.'
The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in
introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal
adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a polished
court, in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words and his
kindness penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily outweighed
all prudential motives. To be thus personally solicited for
assistance by a prince whose form and manners, as well as the
spirit which he displayed in this singular enterprise, answered
his ideas of a hero of romance; to be courted by him in the
ancient halls of his paternal palace, recovered by the sword which
he was already bending towards other conquests, gave Edward, in
his own eyes, the dignity and importance which he had ceased to
consider as his attributes. Rejected, slandered, and threatened
upon the one side, he was irresistibly attracted to the cause
which the prejudices of education and the political principles of
his family had already recommended as the most just. These
thoughts rushed through his mind like a torrent, sweeping before
them every consideration of an opposite tendency,--the time,
besides, admitted of no deliberation,--and Waverley, kneeling to
Charles Edward, devoted his heart and sword to the vindication of
his rights!
The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies of
his forefathers, we shall here and elsewhere give him the title
due to his birth) raised Waverley from the ground and embraced him
with an expression of thanks too warm not to be genuine. He also
thanked Fergus Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having brought him such an
adherent, and presented Waverley to the various noblemen,
chieftains, and officers who were about his person as a young
gentleman of the highest hopes and prospects, in whose bold and
enthusiastic avowal of his cause they might see an evidence of the
sentiments of the English families of rank at this important
crisis. [Footnote: See Note 4.] Indeed, this was a point much
doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a well-
founded disbelief in the cooperation of the English Jacobites kept
many Scottish men of rank from his standard, and diminished the
courage of those who had joined it, nothing could be more
seasonable for the Chevalier than the open declaration in his
favour of the representative of the house of Waverley-Honour, so
long known as Cavaliers and Royalists. This Fergus had foreseen
from the beginning. He really loved Waverley, because their
feelings and projects never thwarted each other; he hoped to see
him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they were effectually
engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted, he also
exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party a
partizan of such consequence; and he was far from being insensible
to the personal importance which he himself gained with the Prince
from having so materially assisted in making the acquisition.
Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants
the value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering
immediately, as in confidence, upon the circumstances of his
situation. 'You have been secluded so much from intelligence, Mr.
Waverley, from causes of which I am but indistinctly informed,
that I presume you are even yet unacquainted with the important
particulars of my present situation. You have, however, heard of
my landing in the remote district of Moidart, with only seven
attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and clans whose loyal
enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at the head of a
gallant army. You must also, I think, have learned that the
commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, Sir John Cope,
marched into the Highlands at the head of a numerous and well-
appointed military force with the intention of giving us battle,
but that his courage failed him when we were within three hours'
march of each other, so that he fairly gave us the slip and
marched northward to Aberdeen, leaving the Low Country open and
undefended. Not to lose so favourable an opportunity, I marched on
to this metropolis, driving before me two regiments of horse,
Gardiner's and Hamilton's, who had threatened to cut to pieces
every Highlander that should venture to pass Stirling; and while
discussions were carrying forward among the magistracy and
citizens of Edinburgh whether they should defend themselves or
surrender, my good friend Lochiel (laying his hand on the shoulder
of that gallant and accomplished chieftain) saved them the trouble
of farther deliberation by entering the gates with five hundred
Camerons. Thus far, therefore, we have done well; but, in the
meanwhile, this doughty general's nerves being braced by the keen
air of Aberdeen, he has taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just
received certain information that he landed there yesterday. His
purpose must unquestionably be to march towards us to recover
possession of the capital. Now there are two opinions in my
council of war: one, that being inferior probably in numbers, and
certainly in discipline and military appointments, not to mention
our total want of artillery and the weakness of our cavalry, it
will be safest to fall back towards the mountains, and there
protract the war until fresh succours arrive from France, and the
whole body of the Highland clans shall have taken arms in our
favour. The opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde
movement, in our circumstances, is certain to throw utter
discredit on our arms and undertaking; and, far from gaining us
new partizans, will be the means of disheartening those who have
joined our standard. The officers who use these last arguments,
among whom is your friend Fergus Mac-Ivor, maintain that, if the
Highlanders are strangers to the usual military discipline of
Europe, the soldiers whom they are to encounter are no less
strangers to their peculiar and formidable mode of attack; that
the attachment and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to
be doubted; and that, as they will be in the midst of the enemy,
their clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having
drawn the sword we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our
cause to battle and to the God of battles. Will Mr. Waverley
favour us with his opinion in these arduous circumstances?'
Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the
distinction implied in this question, and answered, with equal
spirit and readiness, that he could not venture to offer an
opinion as derived from military skill, but that the counsel would
be far the most acceptable to him which should first afford him an
opportunity to evince his zeal in his Royal Highness's service.
'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; 'and that you
may hold a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow
me, instead of the captain's commission which you have lost, to
offer you the brevet rank of major in my service, with the
advantage of acting as one of my aides-de-camp until you can be
attached to a regiment, of which I hope several will be speedily
embodied.'
'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his
recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'if I
decline accepting any rank until the time and place where I may
have interest enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my
command useful to your Royal Highness's service. In the meanwhile,
I hope for your permission to serve as a volunteer under my friend
Fergus Mac-Ivor.'
'At least,' said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this
proposal, 'allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland
fashion.' With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he
wore, the belt of which was plaited with silver, and the steel
basket-hilt richly and curiously inlaid. 'The blade,' said the
Prince, 'is a genuine Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of heir-
loom in our family; but I am convinced I put it into better hands
than my own, and will add to it pistols of the same workmanship.
Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have much to say to your friend; I will
detain you no longer from your private conversation; but remember
we expect you both to attend us in the evening. It may be perhaps
the last night we may enjoy in these halls, and as we go to the
field with a clear conscience, we will spend the eve of battle
merrily.'
Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber.