Why, now I have Dame Fortune by the Forelock,
And if she escapes my grasp, the fault is mine;
He that hath buffeted with stern adversity
Best knows the shape his course to favouring breezes.
Old Play.
Our travellers reach Edinburgh without any farther adventure, and the
Master of Ravenswood, as had been previously settled, took up his abode
with his noble friend.
In the mean time, the political crisis which had been expected took
place, and the Tory party obtained in the Scottish, as in the English,
councils of Queen Anne a short-lived ascendency, of which it is not our
business to trace either the cause or consequences. Suffice it to say,
that it affected the different political parties according to the
nature of their principles. In England, many of the High Church party,
with Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, at their head, affected to
separate their principles from those of the Jacobites, and, on that
account, obtained the denomination of Whimsicals. The Scottish High
Church party, on the contrary, or, as they termed themselves, the
Cavaliers, were more consistent, if not so prudent, in their politics,
and viewed all the changes now made as preparatory to calling to the
throne, upon the queen’s demise, her brother the Chevalier de St.
George. Those who had suffered in his service now entertained the most
unreasonable hopes, not only of indemnification, but of vengeance upon
their political adversaries; while families attached to the Whig
interest saw nothing before them but a renewal of the hardships they
had undergone during the reigns of Charles the Second and his brother,
and a retaliation of the confiscation which had been inflicted upon the
Jacobites during that of King William.
But the most alarmed at the change of system was that prudential set of
persons, some of whom are found in all governments, but who abound in a
provincial administration like that of Scotland during the period, and
who are what Cromwell called waiters upon Providence, or, in other
words, uniform adherents to the party who are uppermost. Many of these
hastened to read their recantation to the Marquis of A——; and, as it
was easily seen that he took a deep interest in the affairs of his
kinsman, the Master of Ravenswood, they were the first to suggest
measures for retrieving at least a part of his property, and for
restoring him in blood against his father’s attainder.
Old Lord Turntippet professed to be one of the most anxious for the
success of these measures; for “it grieved him to the very saul,” he
said, “to see so brave a young gentleman, of sic auld and undoubted
nobility, and, what was mair than a’ that, a bluid relation of the
Marquis of A——, the man whom,” he swore, “he honoured most upon the
face of the earth, brought to so severe a pass. For his ain puir
peculiar,” as he said, “and to contribute something to the
rehabilitation of sae auld ane house,” the said Turntippet sent in
three family pictures lacking the frames, and six high-backed chairs,
with worked Turkey cushions, having the crest of Ravenswood broidered
thereon, without charging a penny either of the principal or interest
they had cost him, when he bought them, sixteen years before, at a roup
of the furniture of Lord Ravenswood’s lodgings in the Canongate.
Much more to Lord Turntippet’s dismay than to his surprise, although he
affected to feel more of the latter than the former, the Marquis
received his gift very drily, and observed, that his lordship’s
restitution, if he expected it to be received by the Master of
Ravenswood and his friends, must comprehend a pretty large farm, which,
having been mortgaged to Turntippet for a very inadequate sum, he had
contrived, during the confusion of the family affairs, and by means
well understood by the lawyers of that period, to acquire to himself in
absolute property.
The old time-serving lord winced excessively under the requisition,
protesting to God, that he saw no occasion the lad could have for the
instant possession of the land, seeing he would doubtless now recover
the bulk of his estate from Sir William Ashton, to which he was ready
to contribute by every means in his power, as was just and reasonable;
and finally declaring, that he was willing to settle the land on the
young gentleman after his own natural demise.
But all these excuses availed nothing, and he was compelled to disgorge
the property, on receiving back the sum for which it had been
mortgaged. Having no other means of making peace with the higher
powers, he returned home sorrowful and malcontent, complaining to his
confidants, “That every mutation or change in the state had hitherto
been productive of some sma’ advantage to him in his ain quiet affairs;
but that the present had—pize upon it!—cost him one of the best
penfeathers o’ his wing.”
Similar measures were threatened against others who had profited by the
wreck of the fortune of Ravenswood; and Sir William Ashton, in
particular, was menaced with an appeal to the House of Peers, a court
of equity, against the judicial sentences, proceeding upon a strict and
severe construction of the letter of the law, under which he held the
castle and barony of Ravenswood. With him, however, the Master, as well
for Lucy’s sake as on account of the hospitality he had received from
him, felt himself under the necessity of proceeding with great candor.
He wrote to the late Lord Keeper, for he no longer held that office,
stating frankly the engagement which existed between him and Miss
Ashton, requesting his permission for their union, and assuring him of
his willingness to put the settlement of all matters between them upon
such a footing as Sir William himself should think favourable.
The same messenger was charged with a letter to Lady Ashton,
deprecating any cause of displeasure which the Master might
unintentionally have given her, enlarging upon his attachment to Miss
Ashton, and the length to which it had proceeded, and conjuring the
lady, as a Douglas in nature as well as in name, generously to forget
ancient prejudices and misunderstandings, and to believe that the
family had acquired a friend, and she herself a respectful and attached
humble servant, in him who subscribed himself, “Edgar, Master of
Ravenswood.” A third letter Ravenswood addressed to Lucy, and the
messenger was instructed to find some secret and secure means of
delivering it into her own hands. It contained the strongest
protestations of continued affection, and dwelt upon the approaching
change of the writer’s fortunes, as chiefly valuable by tending to
remove the impediments to their union. He related the steps he had
taken to overcome the prejudices of her parents, and especially of her
mother, and expressed his hope they might prove effectual. If not, he
still trusted that his absence from Scotland upon an important and
honourable mission might give time for prejudices to die away; while he
hoped and trusted Miss Ashton’s constancy, on which he had the most
implicit reliance, would baffle any effort that might be used to divert
her attachment. Much more there was, which, however interesting to the
lovers themselves, would afford the reader neither interest nor
information. To each of these three letters the Master of Ravenswood
received an answer, but by different means of conveyance, and certainly
couched in very different styles.
Lady Ashton answered his letter by his own messenger, who was not
allowed to remain at Ravenswood a moment longer than she was engaged in
penning these lines.
“_For the hand of Mr. Ravenswood of Wolf’s Crag—These:_
“SIR, UNKNOWN,—I have received a letter, signed ‘Edgar, Master of
Ravenswood,’ concerning the writer whereof I am uncertain, seeing that
the honours of such a family were forfeited for high treason in the
person of Allan, late Lord Ravenswood. Sir, if you shall happen to be
the person so subscribing yourself, you will please to know, that I
claim the full interest of a parent in Miss Lucy Ashton, which I have
disposed of irrevocably in behalf of a worthy person. And, sir, were
this otherwise, I would not listen to a proposal from you, or any of
your house, seeing their hand has been uniformly held up against the
freedom of the subject and the immunities of God’s kirk. Sir, it is not
a flightering blink of prosperity which can change my constant opinion
in this regard, seeing it has been my lot before now, like holy David,
to see the wicked great in power and flourishing like a green bay-tree;
nevertheless I passed, and they were not, and the place thereof knew
them no more. Wishing you to lay these things to your heart for your
own sake, so far as they may concern you, I pray you to take no farther
notice of her who desires to remain your unknown servant,
“MARGARET DOUGLAS,
“otherwise ASHTON.”
About two days after he had received this very unsatisfactory epistle,
the Master of Ravenswood, while walking up the High Street of
Edinburgh, was jostled by a person, in whom, as the man pulled off his
hat to make an apology, he recognized Lockhard, the confidential
domestic of Sir William Ashton. The man bowed, slipt a letter into his
hand, and disappeared. The packet contained four close-written folios,
from which, however, as is sometimes incident to the compositions of
great lawyers, little could be extracted, excepting that the writer
felt himself in a very puzzling predicament.
Sir William spoke at length of his high value and regard for his dear
young friend, the Master of Ravenswood, and of his very extreme high
value and regard for the Marquis of A——, his very dear old friend; he
trusted that any measures that they might adopt, in which he was
concerned, would be carried on with due regard to the sanctity of
decreets and judgments obtained _in foro contentioso;_ protesting,
before men and angels, that if the law of Scotland, as declared in her
supreme courts, were to undergo a reversal in the English House of
Lords, the evils which would thence arise to the public would inflict a
greater wound upon his heart than any loss he might himself sustain by
such irregular proceedings. He flourished much on generosity and
forgiveness of mutual injuries, and hinted at the mutability of human
affairs, always favourite topics with the weaker party in politics. He
pathetically lamented, and gently censured, the haste which had been
used in depriving him of his situation of Lord Keeper, which his
experience had enabled him to fill with some advantage to the public,
without so much as giving him an opportunity of explaining how far his
own views of general politics might essentially differ from those now
in power. He was convinced the Marquis of A—— had as sincere intentions
towards the public as himself or any man; and if, upon a conference,
they could have agreed upon the measures by which it was to be pursued,
his experience and his interest should have gone to support the present
administration. Upon the engagement betwixt Ravenswood and his
daughter, he spoke in a dry and confused manner. He regretted so
premature a step as the engagement of the young people should have been
taken, and conjured the Master to remember he had never given any
encouragement thereunto; and observed that, as a transaction _inter
minores_, and without concurrence of his daughter’s natural curators,
the engagement was inept, and void in law. This precipitate measure, he
added, had produced a very bad effect upon Lady Ashton’s mind, which it
was impossible at present to remove. Her son, Colonel Douglas Ashton,
had embraced her prejudices in the fullest extent, and it was
impossible for Sir William to adopt a course disagreeable to them
without a fatal and irreconcilable breach in his family; which was not
at present to be thought of. Time, the great physician, he hoped, would
mend all.
In a postscript, Sir William said something more explicitly, which
seemed to intimate that, rather than the law of Scotland should sustain
a severe wound through his sides, by a reversal of the judgment of her
supreme courts, in the case of the barony of Ravenswood, through the
intervention of what, with all submission, he must term a foreign court
of appeal, he himself would extrajudically consent to considerable
sacrifices.
From Lucy Ashton, by some unknown conveyance, the Master received the
following lines:
“I received yours, but it was at the utmost risk; do not attempt to
write again till better times. I am sore beset, but I will be true to
my word, while the exercise of my reason is vouchsafed to me. That you
are happy and prosperous is some consolation, and my situation requires
it all.”
The note was signed “L.A.”
This letter filled Ravenswood with the most lively alarm. He made many
attempts, notwithstanding her prohibition, to convey letters to Miss
Ashton, and even to obtain an interview; but his plans were frustrated,
and he had only the mortification to learn that anxious and effectual
precautions had been taken to prevent the possibility of their
correspondence. The Master was the more distressed by these
circumstances, as it became impossible to delay his departure from
Scotland, upon the important mission which had been confided to him.
Before his departure, he put Sir William Ashton’s letter into the hands
of the Marquis of A——, who observed with a smile, that Sir William’s
day of grace was past, and that he had now to learn which side of the
hedge the sun had got to. It was with the greatest difficulty that
Ravenswood extorted from the Marquis a promise that he would compromise
the proceedings in Parliament, providing Sir William should be disposed
to acquiesce in a union between him and Lucy Ashton.
“I would hardly,” said the Marquis, “consent to your throwing away your
birthright in this manner, were I not perfectly confident that Lady
Ashton, or Lady Douglas, or whatever she calls herself, will, as
Scotchmen say, keep her threep; and that her husband dares not
contradict her.”
“But yet,” said the Master, “I trust your lordship will consider my
engagement as sacred.”
“Believe my word of honour,” said the Marquis, “I would be a friend
even to your follies; and having thus told you _my_ opinion, I will
endeavour, as occasion offers, to serve you according to your own.”
The master of Ravenswood could but thank his generous kinsman and
patron, and leave him full power to act in all his affairs. He departed
from Scotland upon his mission, which, it was supposed, might detain
him upon the continent for some months.