THE MARCH
The conflicting passions and exhausted feelings of Waverley had
resigned him to late but sound repose. He was dreaming of
Glennaquoich, and had transferred to the halls of lan nan Chaistel
the festal train which so lately graced those of Holyrood. The
pibroch too was distinctly heard; and this at least was no
delusion, for the 'proud step of the chief piper' of the 'chlain
MacIvor' was perambulating the court before the door of his
Chieftain's quarters, and as Mrs. Flockhart, apparently no friend
to his minstrelsy, was pleased to observe, 'garring the very
stane-and-lime wa's dingle wi' his screeching.' Of course it soon
became too powerful for Waverley's dream, with which it had at
first rather harmonised.
The sound of Callum's brogues in his apartment (for Mac-Ivor had
again assigned Waverley to his care) was the next note of parting.
'Winna yer honour bang up? Vich lan Vohr and ta Prince are awa to
the lang green glen ahint the clachan, tat they ca' the King's
Park, [Footnote: The main body of the Highland army encamped, or
rather bivouacked, in that part of the King's Park which lies
towards the village of Duddingston.] and mony ane's on his ain
shanks the day that will be carried on ither folk's ere night.'
Waverley sprung up, and, with Callum's assistance and
instructions, adjusted his tartans in proper costume. Callum told
him also,' tat his leather dorlach wi' the lock on her was come
frae Doune, and she was awa again in the wain wi' Vich Ian Vohr's
walise.'
By this periphrasis Waverley readily apprehended his portmanteau
was intended. He thought upon the mysterious packet of the maid of
the cavern, which seemed always to escape him when within his very
grasp. But this was no time for indulgence of curiosity; and
having declined Mrs. Flockhart's compliment of a MORNING, i.e. a
matutinal dram, being probably the only man in the Chevalier's
army by whom such a courtesy would have been rejected, he made his
adieus and departed with Callum.
'Callum,' said he, as they proceeded down a dirty close to gain
the southern skirts of the Canongate, 'what shall I do for a
horse?'
'Ta deil ane ye maun think o',' said Callum. 'Vich Ian Vohr's
marching on foot at the head o' his kin (not to say ta Prince, wha
does the like), wi' his target on his shoulder; and ye maun e'en
be neighbour-like.'
'And so I will, Callum, give me my target; so, there we are fixed.
How does it look?'
'Like the bra' Highlander tat's painted on the board afore the
mickle change-house they ca' Luckie Middlemass's,' answered
Callum; meaning, I must observe, a high compliment, for in his
opinion Luckie Middlemass's sign was an exquisite specimen of art.
Waverley, however, not feeling the full force of this polite
simile, asked him no further questions.
Upon extricating themselves from the mean and dirty suburbs of the
metropolis, and emerging into the open air, Waverley felt a
renewal of both health and spirits, and turned his recollection
with firmness upon the events of the preceding evening, and with
hope and resolution towards those of the approaching day.
When he had surmounted a small craggy eminence called St.
Leonard's Hill, the King's Park, or the hollow between the
mountain of Arthur's Seat and the rising grounds on which the
southern part of Edinburgh is now built, lay beneath him, and
displayed a singular and animating prospect. It was occupied by
the army of the Highlanders, now in the act of preparing for their
march. Waverley had already seen something of the kind at the
hunting-match which he attended with Fergus MacIvor; but this was
on a scale of much greater magnitude, and incomparably deeper
interest. The rocks, which formed the background of the scene, and
the very sky itself, rang with the clang of the bagpipers,
summoning forth, each with his appropriate pibroch, his chieftain
and clan. The mountaineers, rousing themselves from their couch
under the canopy of heaven with the hum and bustle of a confused
and irregular multitude, like bees alarmed and arming in their
hives, seemed to possess all the pliability of movement fitted to
execute military manoeuvres. Their motions appeared spontaneous
and confused, but the result was order and regularity; so that a
general must have praised the conclusion, though a martinet might
have ridiculed the method by which it was attained.
The sort of complicated medley created by the hasty arrangements
of the various clans under their respective banners, for the
purpose of getting into the order of march, was in itself a gay
and lively spectacle. They had no tents to strike having
generally, and by choice, slept upon the open field, although the
autumn was now waning and the nights began to be frosty. For a
little space, while they were getting into order, there was
exhibited a changing, fluctuating, and confused appearance of
waving tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the
proud gathering word of Clanronald, Ganion Coheriga (Gainsay who
dares), Loch-Sloy, the watchword of the MacFarlanes; Forth,
fortune, and fill the fetters, the motto of the Marquis of
Tullibardine; Bydand, that of Lord Lewis Gordon, and the
appropriate signal words and emblems of many other chieftains and
clans.
At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves
into a narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching through
the whole extent of the valley. In the front of the column the
standard of the Chevalier was displayed, bearing a red cross upon
a white ground, with the motto Tandem Triumphans. The few cavalry,
being chiefly Lowland gentry, with their domestic servants and
retainers, formed the advanced guard of the army; and their
standards, of which they had rather too many in respect of their
numbers, were seen waving upon the extreme verge of the horizon.
Many horsemen of this body, among whom Waverley accidentally
remarked Balmawhapple and his lieutenant, Jinker (which last,
however, had been reduced, with several others, by the advice of
the Baron of Bradwardine, to the situation of what he called
reformed officers, or reformadoes), added to the liveliness,
though by no means to the regularity, of the scene, by galloping
their horses as fast forward as the press would permit, to join
their proper station in the van. The fascinations of the Circes of
the High Street, and the potations of strength with which they had
been drenched over night, had probably detained these heroes
within the walls of Edinburgh somewhat later than was consistent
with their morning duty. Of such loiterers, the prudent took the
longer and circuitous, but more open, route to attain their place
in the march, by keeping at some distance from the infantry, and
making their way through the inclosures to the right, at the
expense of leaping over or pulling down the drystone fences. The
irregular appearance and vanishing of these small parties of
horsemen, as well as the confusion occasioned by those who
endeavoured, though generally without effect, to press to the
front through the crowd of Highlanders, maugre their curses,
oaths, and opposition, added to the picturesque wildness what it
took from the military regularity of the scene.
While Waverley gazed upon this remarkable spectacle, rendered yet
more impressive by the occasional discharge of cannon-shot from
the Castle at the Highland guards as they were withdrawn from its
vicinity to join their main body, Callum, with his usual freedom
of interference, reminded him that Vich lan Vohr's folk were
nearly at the head of the column of march which was still distant,
and that 'they would gang very fast after the cannon fired.' Thus
admonished, Waverley walked briskly forward, yet often casting a
glance upon the darksome clouds of warriors who were collected
before and beneath him. A nearer view, indeed, rather diminished
the effect impressed on the mind by the more distant appearance of
the army. The leading men of each clan were well armed with broad-
sword, target, and fusee, to which all added the dirk, and most
the steel pistol. But these consisted of gentlemen, that is,
relations of the chief, however distant, and who had an immediate
title to his countenance and protection. Finer and hardier men
could not have been selected out of any army in Christendom; while
the free and independent habits which each possessed, and which
each was yet so well taught to subject to the command of his
chief, and the peculiar mode of discipline adopted in Highland
warfare, rendered them equally formidable by their individual
courage and high spirit, and from their rational conviction of the
necessity of acting in unison, and of giving their national mode
of attack the fullest opportunity of success.
But, in a lower rank to these, there were found individuals of an
inferior description, the common peasantry of the Highland
country, who, although they did not allow themselves to be so
called, and claimed often, with apparent truth, to be of more
ancient descent than the masters whom they served, bore,
nevertheless, the livery of extreme penury, being indifferently
accoutred, and worse armed, half naked, stinted in growth, and
miserable in aspect. Each important clan had some of those Helots
attached to them: thus, the MacCouls, though tracing their descent
from Comhal, the father of Finn or Fingal, were a sort of
Gibeonites, or hereditary servants to the Stewarts of Appin; the
Macbeths, descended from the unhappy monarch of that name, were
subjects to the Morays and clan Donnochy, or Robertsons of Athole;
and many other examples might be given, were it not for the risk
of hurting any pride of clanship which may yet be left, and
thereby drawing a Highland tempest into the shop of my publisher.
Now these same Helots, though forced into the field by the
arbitrary authority of the chieftains under whom they hewed wood
and drew water, were in general very sparingly fed, ill dressed,
and worse armed. The latter circumstance was indeed owing chiefly
to the general disarming act, which had been carried into effect
ostensibly through the whole Highlands, although most of the
chieftains contrived to elude its influence by retaining the
weapons of their own immediate clansmen, and delivering up those
of less value, which they collected from these inferior
satellites. It followed, as a matter of course, that, as we have
already hinted, many of these poor fellows were brought to the
field in a very wretched condition.
From this it happened that, in bodies, the van of which were
admirably well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled
actual banditti. Here was a pole-axe, there a sword without a
scabbard; here a gun without a lock, there a scythe set straight
upon a pole; and some had only their dirks, and bludgeons or
stakes pulled out of hedges. The grim, uncombed, and wild
appearance of these men, most of whom gazed with all the
admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary productions of
domestic art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also
created terror. So little was the condition of the Highlands known
at that late period that the character and appearance of their
population, while thus sallying forth as military adventurers,
conveyed to the South-Country Lowlanders as much surprise as if an
invasion of African Negroes or Esquimaux Indians had issued forth
from the northern mountains of their own native country. It cannot
therefore be wondered if Waverley, who had hitherto judged of the
Highlanders generally from the samples which the policy of Fergus
had from time to time exhibited, should have felt damped and
astonished at the daring attempt of a body not then exceeding four
thousand men, and of whom not above half the number, at the
utmost, were armed, to change the fate and alter the dynasty of
the British kingdoms.
As he moved along the column, which still remained stationary, an
iron gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by the army which
meditated so important a revolution, was fired as the signal of
march. The Chevalier had expressed a wish to leave this useless
piece of ordnance behind him; but, to his surprise, the Highland
chiefs interposed to solicit that it might accompany their march,
pleading the prejudices of their followers, who, little accustomed
to artillery, attached a degree of absurd importance to this
field-piece, and expected it would contribute essentially to a
victory which they could only owe to their own muskets and
broadswords. Two or three French artillerymen were therefore
appointed to the management of this military engine, which was
drawn along by a string of Highland ponies, and was, after all,
only used for the purpose of firing signals. [Footnote: See Note
6.]
No sooner was its voice heard upon the present occasion than the
whole line was in motion. A wild cry of joy from the advancing
batallions rent the air, and was then lost in the shrill clangour
of the bagpipes, as the sound of these, in their turn, was
partially drowned by the heavy tread of so many men put at once
into motion. The banners glittered and shook as they moved
forward, and the horse hastened to occupy their station as the
advanced guard, and to push on reconnoitring parties to ascertain
and report the motions of the enemy. They vanished from Waverley's
eye as they wheeled round the base of Arthur's Seat, under the
remarkable ridge of basaltic rocks which fronts the little lake of
Duddingston.
The infantry followed in the same direction, regulating their pace
by another body which occupied a road more to the southward. It
cost Edward some exertion of activity to attain the place which
Fergus's followers occupied in the line of march.