Waverley

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CHAPTER XL

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.



CHAPTER XLI

THE MYSTERY BEGINS TO BE CLEARED UP

'How do you like him?' was Fergus's first question, as they descended
the large stone staircase.

'A prince to live and die under,' was Waverley's enthusiastic answer.

'I knew you would think so when you saw him, and I intended you should
have met earlier, but was prevented by your sprain. And yet he has
his foibles, or rather he has difficult cards to play, and his
Irish officers, [See note 24.] who are much about him, are but sorry
advisers,--they cannot discriminate among the numerous pretensions that
are set up. Would you think it--I have been obliged for the present to
suppress an earl's patent, granted for services rendered ten years ago,
for fear of exciting the jealousy, forsooth, of C-- and M--. But you
were very right, Edward, to refuse the situation of aide de camp. There
are two vacant, indeed, but Clanronald and Lochiel, and almost all of
us, have requested one for young Aberchallader, and the Lowlanders and
the Irish party are equally desirous to have the other for the Master
of F--. Now, if either of these candidates were to be superseded in your
favour, you would make enemies. And then I am surprised that the Prince
should have offered you a majority, when he knows very well that nothing
short of lieutenant-colonel will satisfy others, who cannot bring one
hundred and fifty men to the field. "But patience, cousin, and shuffle
the cards!" It is all very well for the present, and we must have you
regularly equipped for the evening in your new costume; for, to say
truth, your outward man is scarce fit for a court.'

'Why,' said Waverley, looking at his soiled dress, 'my shooting-jacket
has seen service since we parted; but that, probably, you, my friend,
know as well or better than I.'

'You do my second-sight too much honour,' said Fergus, 'We were so busy,
first with the scheme of giving battle to Cope, and afterwards with our
operations in the Lowlands, that I could only give general directions
to such of our people as were left in Perthshire to respect and protect
you, should you come in their way. But let me hear the full story
of your adventures, for they have reached us in a very partial and
mutilated manner.'

Waverley then detailed at length the circumstances with which the reader
is already acquainted, to which Fergus listened with great attention. By
this time they had reached the door of his quarters, which he had
taken up in a small paved court, retiring from the street called the
Canongate, at the house of a buxom widow of forty, who seemed to smile
very graciously upon the handsome young Chief, she being a person
with whom good looks and good humour were sure to secure an interest,
whatever might be the party's political opinions. Here Callum Beg
received them with a smile of recognition. 'Callum,' said the Chief,
'call Shemus an Snachad' (James of the Needle). This was the hereditary
tailor of Vich Ian Vohr. 'Shemus, Mr. Waverley is to wear the CATH DATH
(battle colour, or tartan); his trews must be ready in four hours. You
know the measure of a well-made man: two double nails to the small of
the leg'--

'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist--I give your honour
leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of sheers in the Highlands that
has a baulder sneck than her's ain at the CUMADH AN TRUAIS' (shape of
the trews).

'Get a plaid of Mac-Ivor tartan, and sash,' continued the Chieftain,
'and a blue bonnet of the Prince's pattern, at Mr. Mouat's in the
Crames. My short green coat, with silver lace and silver buttons, will
fit him exactly, and I have never worn it. Tell Ensign Maccombich to
pick out a handsome target from among mine. The Prince has given Mr.
Waverley broadsword and pistols, I will furnish him with a dirk and
purse; add but a pair of low-heeled shoes, and then, my dear Edward
(turning to him), you will be a complete son of Ivor.

These necessary directions given, the Chieftain resumed the subject of
Waverley's adventures. 'It is plain,' he said, 'that you have been in
the custody of Donald Bean Lean. You must know, that when I marched away
my clan to join the Prince, I laid my injunctions on that worthy member
of society to perform a certain piece of service, which done, he was to
join me with all the force he could muster. But instead of doing so, the
gentleman, finding the coast clear, thought it better to make war on his
own account, and has scoured the country, plundering, I believe, both
friend and foe, under pretence of levying blackmail, sometimes as if by
my authority, and sometimes (and be cursed to his consummate impudence)
in his own great name! Upon my honour, if I live to see the cairn of
Benmore again, I shall be tempted to hang that fellow! I recognize his
hand particularly in the mode of your rescue from that canting rascal
Gilfillan, and I have little doubt that Donald himself played the part
of the pedlar on that occasion; but how he should not have plundered
you, or put you to ransom, or availed himself in some way or other of
your captivity for his own advantage, passes my judgement.'

'When and how did you hear the intelligence of my confinement?' asked
Waverley.

'The Prince himself told me,' said Fergus,' and inquired very minutely
into your history. He then mentioned your being at that moment in the
power of one of our northern parties--you know I could not ask him to
explain particulars--and requested my opinion about disposing of you. I
recommended that you should be brought here as a prisoner, because I did
not wish to prejudice you further with the English Government, in case
you pursued your purpose of going southward. I knew nothing, you must
recollect, of the charge brought against you of aiding and abetting
high treason, which, I presume, had some share in changing your original
plan. That sullen, good-for-nothing brute, Balmawhapple, was sent to
escort you from Doune, with what he calls his troop of horse. As to
his behaviour, in addition to his natural antipathy to everything that
resembles a gentleman, I presume his adventure with Bradwardine rankles
in his recollection, the rather that I dare say his mode of telling
that story contributed to the evil reports which reached your quondam
regiment.'

'Very likely,' said Waverley; 'but now surely, my dear Fergus, you may
find time to tell me something of Flora.'

'Why,' replied Fergus, 'I can only tell you that she is well, and
residing for the present with a relation in this city. I thought it
better she should come here, as since our success a good many ladies of
rank attend our military court; and I assure you, that there is a sort
of consequence annexed to the near relative of such a person as Flora
Mac-Ivor; and where there is such a justling of claims and requests, a
man must use every fair means to enhance his importance.'

There was something in this last sentence which grated on Waverley's
feelings. He could not bear that Flora should be considered as
conducing to her brother's preferment, by the admiration which she must
unquestionably attract; and although it was in strict correspondence
with many points of Fergus's character, it shocked him as selfish,
and unworthy of his sister's high mind, and his own independent pride.
Fergus, to whom such manoeuvres were familiar, as to one brought up at
the French court, did not observe the unfavourable impression which he
had unwarily made upon his friend's mind, and concluded by saying, that
they could hardly see Flora before the evening, when she would be at the
concert and ball, with which the Prince's party were to be entertained.
She and I had a quarrel about her not appearing to take leave of you. I
am unwilling to renew it, by soliciting her to receive you this morning;
and perhaps my doing so might not only be ineffectual, but prevent your
meeting this evening.'

While thus conversing, Waverley heard in the court, before the windows
of the parlour, a well-known voice. 'I aver to you, my worthy
friend,' said the speaker, 'that it is a total dereliction of military
discipline; and were you not as it were a TYRO, your purpose would
deserve strong reprobation. For a prisoner of war is on no account to be
coerced with fetters, or detained IN ERGASTULO, as would have been
the case had you put this gentleman into the pit of the peel-house at
Balmawhapple. I grant, indeed, that such a prisoner may for security be
coerced IN CARCERE, that is, in a public prison.'

The growling voice of Balmawhapple was heard as taking leave in
displeasure, but the word 'land-louper' alone was distinctly audible. He
had disappeared before Waverley reached the house, in order to greet the
worthy Baron of Bradwardine. The uniform in which he was now attired, a
blue coat, namely, with gold lace, a scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and
immense jack-boots, seemed to have added fresh stiffness and rigidity
to his tall, perpendicular figure; and the consciousness of military
command and authority had increased, in the same proportion, the
self-importance of his demeanour, and the dogmatism of his conversation.

He received Waverley with his usual kindness, and expressed immediate
anxiety to hear an explanation of the circumstances attending the loss
of his commission in Gardiner's dragoons; 'not,' he said, 'that he had
the least apprehension of his young friend having done aught which could
merit such ungenerous treatment as he had received from Government, but
because it was right and seemly that the Baron of Bradwardine should
be, in point of trust and in point of power, fully able to refute all
calumnies against the heir of Waverley-Honour, whom he had so much right
to regard as his own son.'

Fergus Mac-Ivor, who had now joined them, went hastily over the
circumstances of Waverley's story, and concluded with the flattering
reception he had met from the young Chevalier. The Baron listened in
silence, and at the conclusion shook Waverley heartily by the hand, and
congratulated him upon entering the service of his lawful Prince. 'For,'
continued he, 'although it has been justly held in all nations a matter
of scandal and dishonour to infringe the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, and
that whether it was taken by each soldier singly, whilk the Romans
denominated PER CONJURATIONEM, or by one soldier in name of the rest,
yet no one ever doubted that the allegiance so sworn was discharged by
the DIMISSIO, or discharging of a soldier, whose case would be as hard
as that of colliers, salters, and other ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, or slaves of
the soil, were it to be accounted otherwise. This is something like the
brocard expressed by the learned Sanchez in his work DE JURE-JURANDO,
which you have questionless consulted upon this occasion. As for those
who have calumniated you by leasing-making, I protest to Heaven I think
they have justly incurred the penalty of the MEMNONIA LEX, also called
LEX RHEMNIA, which is prelected upon by Tullius in his oration IN
VERREM. I should have deemed, however, Mr. Waverley, that before
destining yourself to any special service in the army of the Prince,
ye might have inquired what rank the old Bradwardine held there,
and whether he would not have been peculiarly happy to have had your
services in the regiment of horse which he is now about to levy.'

Edward eluded this reproach by pleading the necessity of giving an
immediate answer to the Prince's proposal, and his uncertainty at the
moment whether his friend the Baron was with the army, or engaged upon
service elsewhere.

This punctilio being settled, Waverley made inquiry after Miss
Bradwardine, and was informed she had come to Edinburgh with Flora
Mac-Ivor, under guard of a party of the Chieftain's men. This step was
indeed necessary, Tully-Veolan having become a very unpleasant, and even
dangerous place of residence for an unprotected young lady, on account
of its vicinity to the Highlands, and also to one or two large villages,
which, from aversion as much to the Caterans as zeal for presbytery,
had declared themselves on the side of Government, and formed irregular
bodies of partisans, who had frequent skirmishes with the mountaineers,
and sometimes attacked the houses of the Jacobite gentry in the braes,
or frontier betwixt the mountain and plain.

'I would propose to you,' continued the Baron, 'to walk as far as my
quarters in the Luckenbooths, and to admire in your passage the High
Street, whilk is, beyond a shadow of dubitation, finer than any street,
whether in London or Paris. But Rose, poor thing, is sorely discomposed
with the firing of the Castle, though I have proved to her from Blondel
and Coehorn, that it is impossible a bullet can reach these buildings;
and, besides, I have it in charge from His Royal Highness to go to the
camp, or leaguer of our army, to see that the men do CONCLAMARE VASA,
that is, truss up their bag and baggage for to-morrow's march.'