Waverley

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NOTE 4.--COLONEL GARDINER

I have now given in the text the full name of this gallant and excellent
man, and proceed to copy the account of his remarkable conversion, as
related by Dr. Doddridge.

'This memorable event,' says the pious writer, 'happened towards the
middle of July, 1719. The major had spent the evening (and, if I
mistake not, it was the Sabbath) in some gay company, and had an unhappy
assignation with a married woman, whom he was to attend exactly at
twelve. The company broke up about eleven; and not judging it convenient
to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber to kill the
tedious hour, perhaps with some amusing book, or some other way. But it
very accidentally happened that he took up a religious book, which
his good mother or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped into
his portmanteau. It was called, if I remember the title exactly, THE
CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, or HEAVEN TAKEN BY STORM; and it was written by
Mr. Thomas Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find some
phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a manner which he thought
might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip into it; but he took
no serious notice of anything it had in it; and yet, while this book was
in his hand an impression was made upon his mind (perhaps God only
knows how) which drew after it a train of the most important and happy
consequences. He thought he saw an unusual blaze of light fall upon the
book which he was reading, which he at first imagined might happen by
some accident in the candle: but lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to
his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended
in the air, a visible representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the
cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and was impressed, as if
a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this
effect (for he was not confident as to the words)--"Oh, sinner! did I
suffer this for thee? and are these thy returns?" Struck with so amazing
a phenomenon as this, there remained hardly any life in him, so that he
sunk down in the arm-chair in which he sat, and continued, he knew not
how long, insensible.'

'With regard to this vision,' says the ingenious Dr. Hibbert, 'the
appearance of our Saviour on the cross, and the awful words repeated,
can be considered in no other light than as so many recollected images
of the mind, which, probably, had their origin in the language of some
urgent appeal to repentance, that the colonel might have casually read
or heard delivered. From what cause, however, such ideas were rendered
as vivid as actual impressions, we have no information to be depended
upon. This vision was certainly attended with one of the most important
of consequences connected with the Christian dispensation--the
conversion of a sinner; and hence no single narrative has, perhaps, done
more to confirm the superstitious opinion that apparitions of this
awful kind cannot arise without a divine fiat.' Dr. Hibbert adds, in a
note--'A short time before the vision, Colonel Gardiner had received a
severe fall from his horse. Did the brain receive some slight degree
of injury from the accident, so as to predispose him to this spiritual
illusion?'--HIBBERT'S PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS, Edinburgh, 1824, p.
190.


NOTE 5.--SCOTTISH INNS

The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or at least
that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest called for, was
expected by certain old landlords in Scotland, even in the youth of the
author. In requital, mine host was always furnished with the news of the
country, and was probably a little of a humorist to boot. The devolution
of the whole actual business and drudgery of the inn upon the poor
gudewife, was very common among the Scottish Bonifaces. There was in
ancient times, in the city of Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family,
who condescended, in order to gain a livelihood, to become the nominal
keeper of a coffee house, one of the first places of the kind which
had been opened in the Scottish metropolis. As usual, it was entirely
managed by the careful and industrious Mrs. B--; while her husband
amused himself with field sports, without troubling his head about the
matter. Once upon a time the premises having taken fire, the husband was
met, walking up the High Street loaded with his guns and fishing-rods,
and replied calmly to some one who inquired after his wife, 'that the
poor woman was trying to save a parcel of crockery, and some trumpery
books'; the last being those which served her to conduct the business of
the house.

There were many elderly gentlemen in the author's younger days, who
still held it part of the amusement of a journey 'to parley with mine
host,' who often resembled, in his quaint humour, mine Host of the
Garter in the MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; or Blague of the George in the
MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON. Sometimes the landlady took her share of
entertaining the company. In either case, the omitting to pay them due
attention gave displeasure, and perhaps brought down a smart jest, as on
the following occasion:--

A jolly dame, who, not 'Sixty Years since,' kept the principal
caravansary at Greenlaw in Berwickshire, had the honour to receive
under her roof a very worthy clergyman, with three sons of the same
profession, each having a cure of souls: be it said in passing, none of
the reverend party were reckoned powerful in the pulpit. After dinner
was over, the worthy senior, in the pride of his heart, asked Mrs.
Buchan whether she ever had had such a party in her house before. 'Here
sit I,' he said, 'a placed minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and here
sit my three sons, each a placed minister of the same kirk.--confess,
Luckie Buchan, you never had such a party in your house before.' The
question was not premised by any invitation to sit down and take a glass
of wine or the like, so Mrs. B. answered dryly, 'Indeed, Sir, I cannot
just say that ever I had such a party in my house before, except once in
the forty-five, when I had a Highland piper here, with his three sons,
all Highland pipers; AND DEIL A SPRING THEY COULD PLAY AMANG THEM.'


NOTE 6.--THE CUSTOM OF KEEPING FOOLS

I am ignorant how long the ancient and established custom of keeping
fools has been disused in England. Swift writes an epitaph on the Earl
of Suffolk's fool,--

'Whose name was Dickie Pearce.'

In Scotland the custom subsisted till late in the last century. At
Glamis Castle, is preserved the dress of one of the jesters, very
handsome, and ornamented with many bells. It is not above thirty years
since such a character stood by the sideboard of a nobleman of the first
rank in Scotland, and occasionally mixed in the conversation, till he
carried the joke rather too far, in making proposals to one of the young
ladies of the family, and publishing the banns betwixt her and himself
in the public church.


NOTE 7.--PERSECUTION OF EPISCOPAL CLERGYMEN

After the Revolution of 1688, and on some occasions when the spirit of
the Presbyterians had been unusually animated against their opponents,
the Episcopal clergymen, who were chiefly non-jurors, were exposed to
be mobbed, as we should now say, or rabbled, as the phrase then went,
to expiate their political heresies. But notwithstanding that the
Presbyterians had the persecution in Charles II and his brother's time
to exasperate them, there was little mischief done beyond the kind of
petty violence mentioned in the text.


NOTE 8.--STIRRUP-CUP

I may here mention, that the fashion of compotation described in the
text, was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the author's
youth. A company, after having taken leave of their host, often went to
finish the evening at the clachan or village, in 'womb of tavern.' Their
entertainer always accompanied them to take the stirrup-cup, which often
occasioned a long and late revel.

The POCULUM POTATORIUM of the valiant Baron, his Blessed Bear, has a
prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in memorials of
ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded
into the shape of a lion, and holding about an English pint of wine. The
form alludes to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and, when
exhibited, the cup must necessarily be emptied to the Earl's health.
The author ought perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has had the
honour of swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the recollection of
the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine. In the
family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in the Forest, but the
place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long preserved a cup of the
same kind, in the form of a jack-boot. Each guest was obliged to empty
this at his departure. If the guest's name was Scott, the necessity was
doubly imperative.

When the landlord of an inn presented his guests with DEOCH AN DORUIS,
that is, the drink at the door, or the stirrup-cup, the draught was not
charged in the reckoning. On this point a learned Bailie of the town of
Forfar pronounced a very sound judgement.

A., an ale-wife in Forfar, had brewed her 'peck of malt,' and set the
liquor out of doors to cool; the cow of B., a neighbour of A. chanced
to come by, and seeing the good beverage, was allured to taste it, and
finally to drink it up. When A. came to take in her liquor, she found
the tub empty, and from the cow's staggering and staring, so as to
betray her intemperance, she easily divined the mode in which her
'brewst' had disappeared. To take vengeance on Crummie's ribs with a
stick, was her first effort. The roaring of the cow brought B., her
master, who remonstrated with his angry neighbour, and received in reply
a demand for the value of the ale which Crummie had drunk up. B. refused
payment, and was conveyed before C., the Bailie, or sitting Magistrate.
He heard the case patiently; and then demanded of the plaintiff A.,
whether the cow had sat down to her potation, or taken it standing. The
plaintiff answered she had not seen the deed committed, but she supposed
the cow drank the ale standing on her feet; adding, that had she been
near, she would have made her use them to some purpose. The Bailie,
on this admission, solemnly adjudged the cow's drink to be DEOCH
AN DORUIS--a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could be made without
violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland.


NOTE 9.--CANTING HERALDRY

Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems nevertheless
to have been adopted in the arms and mottoes of many honourable
families. Thus the motto of the Vernons, VER NON SEMPER VIRET, is a
perfect pun, and so is that of the Onslows, FESTINA LENTE. The PERIISSEM
NI PER-IISSEM of the Anstruthers is liable to a similar objection. One
of that ancient race, finding that an antagonist, with whom he had
fixed a friendly meeting, was determined to take the opportunity of
assassinating him, prevented the hazard by dashing out his brains with
a battle-axe. Two sturdy arms brandishing such a weapon, form the usual
crest of the family, with the above motto--PERIISSEM NI PER-IISSEM--I
had died, unless I had gone through with it.


NOTE 10.--THE LEVYING OF BLACKMAIL

Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen who
carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a scholar and
a well-bred gentleman. He engraved on his broadswords the well-known
lines--

Hae tibi erunt artes--pacisque imponere morem,

Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.

Indeed, the levying of blackmail was, before 1745, practised by several
chiefs of very high rank, who, in doing so, contended that they were
lending the laws the assistance of their arms and swords, and affording
a protection which could not be obtained from the magistracy in
the disturbed state of the country. The author has seen a memoir of
Mac-Pherson of Cluny, chief of that ancient clan, from which it appears
that he levied protection-money to a very large amount, which was
willingly paid even by some of his most powerful neighbours. A gentleman
of this clan hearing a clergyman hold forth to his congregation on the
crime of theft, interrupted the preacher to assure him, he might leave
the enforcement of such doctrines to Cluny Mac-Pherson, whose broadsword
would put a stop to theft sooner than all the sermons of all the
ministers of the synod.


NOTE 11.--ROB ROY

An adventure, very similar to what is here stated, actually befell
the late Mr. Abercromby of Tullibody, grandfather of the present Lord
Abercromby, and father of the celebrated Sir Ralph. When this
gentlemen, who lived to a very advanced period of life, first settled in
Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven off by the celebrated
Rob Roy, or some of his gang; and at length he was obliged, after
obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make the Cateran such a visit as
that of Waverley to Bean Lean in the text. Rob received him with much
courtesy, and made many apologies for the accident, which must have
happened, he said, through some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was regaled with
collops from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by the heels in
the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after having agreed to
pay in future a small sum of blackmail, in consideration of which Rob
Roy not only undertook to forbear his herds in future, but to replace
any that should be stolen from him by other freebooters. Mr. Abercromby
said, Rob Roy affected to consider him as a friend to the Jacobite
interest, and a sincere enemy to the Union. Neither of these
circumstances were true; but the laird thought it quite unnecessary
to undeceive his Highland host at the risk of bringing on a political
dispute in such a situation. This anecdote I received many years since
(about 1792) from the mouth of the venerable gentleman who was concerned
in it.


NOTE 12.--KIND GALLOWS OF CRIEFF

This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last generation, still
standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in Perthshire. Why
it was called the kind gallows, we are unable to inform the reader with
certainty; but it is alleged that the Highlanders used to touch their
bonnets as they passed a place which had been fatal to many of their
countrymen, with the ejaculation--'God bless her nain sell, and the Teil
tamn you!' It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort
of native or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in
fulfilment of a natural destiny.


NOTE 13.--CATERANS

The story of the bridegroom carried off by Caterans on his bridal-day
is taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of
Mac-Nab, many years since. To carry off persons from the Lowlands, and
to put them to ransom, was a common practice with the wild Highlanders,
as it is said to be at the present day with the banditti in the south of
Italy. Upon the occasion alluded to, a party of Caterans carried off
the bridegroom, and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of
Schehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before his ransom could
be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the place, or the
want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not pretend to be positive; but
so it was, that the prisoner recovered, his ransom was paid, and he was
restored to his friends and bride, but always considered the Highland
robbers as having saved his life by their treatment of his malady.


NOTE 14.--RE-PURCHASE OF FORFEITED ESTATES

This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the total
destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers could be
found who offered a fair price for the estates forfeited in 1715,
which were then brought to sale by the creditors of the York-Buildings
Company, who had purchased the whole, or greater part, from Government
at a very small price. Even so late as the period first mentioned,
the prejudices of the public in favour of the heirs of the forfeited
families threw various impediments in the way of intending purchasers of
such property.


NOTE 15.--HIGHLAND POLICY

This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality played
by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in particular, who
used that kind of finesse to the uttermost. The Laird of Mac-- was also
captain of an independent company, but valued the sweets of present pay
too well to incur the risk of losing them in the Jacobite cause. His
martial consort raised his clan, and headed it in 1745. But the chief
himself would have nothing to do with king-making, declaring himself for
that monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac-- 'half a guinea
the day, and half a guinea the morn.'


NOTE 16.--HIGHLAND DISCIPLINE

In explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle of
Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark, that the Highlanders were not
only well practised in the use of the broadsword, firelock, and most of
the manly sports and trials of strength common throughout Scotland, but
also used a peculiar sort of drill, suited to their own dress and mode
of warfare. There were, for instance, different modes of disposing
the plaid,--one when on a peaceful journey, another when danger was
apprehended; one way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting
undisturbed repose, and another which enabled them to start up with
sword and pistol in hand on the slightest alarm.

Previous to 1720, or thereabouts, the belted plaid was universally worn,
in which the portion which surrounded the middle of the wearer, and
that which was flung around his shoulders, were all of the same piece of
tartan. In a desperate onset, all was thrown away, and the clan charged
bare beneath the doublet, save for an artificial arrangement of the
shirt, which, like that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the
sporran-mollach, or goat's-skin purse.

The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the Highland
manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through by men who had
learned it in their youth.


NOTE 17.--HIGHLAND ABHORRENCE OF PORK

Pork, or swine's flesh, in any shape, was, till of late years, much
abominated by the Scotch, nor is it yet a favourite food amongst them.
King Jamie carried this prejudice to England, and is known to have
abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. Ben Jonson has recorded
this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a masque, examining the king's
hand, says,--

--'you should, by this line, Love a horse, and a hound, but no part of a
swine.'--THE GYPSIES METAMORPHOSED.

James's own proposed banquet for the devil was a loin of pork and a poll
of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion.


NOTE 18.--A HIGHLAND CHIEF'S DINNER-TABLE

In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same table,
though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland Chiefs
only retained a custom which had been formerly universally observed
throughout Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller Fynes Morrison,
in the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene being the Lowlands of
Scotland, 'was at a knight's house, who had many servants to attend him,
that brought in his meat with their heads covered with blue caps, the
table being more than half furnished with great platters of porridge
each having a little piece of sodden meat. And when the table was
served, the servants did sit down with us; but the upper mess, instead
of porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the broth.'--TRAVELS, p.
155.

Till within this last century, the farmers, even of a respectable
condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those of
high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below
the salt, or, sometimes, by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table.
Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the
appetites of his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser, who had the
slightest pretension to be a Duinhe-wassel, the full honour of the
sitting, but, at the same time, took care that his young kinsmen did not
acquire at his table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His Lordship was
always ready with some honourable apology, why foreign wines and French
brandy--delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits of his
cousins--should not circulate past an assigned point on the table.


NOTE 19.--CONAN THE JESTER

In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac-Pherson), there
occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes,
each of whom has some distinguishing attribute: upon these qualities,
and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed
which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan
is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and
daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a
blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity,
descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the
Arch-fiend; who presided there, which he instantly returned, using the
expression in the text. Sometimes the proverb is worded thus:--'Claw
for claw, and the devil take the shortest nails, as Conan said to the
devil.'


NOTE 20.--WATERFALL

The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is taken from
that of Ledeard, at the farm so called on the northern side of Lochard,
and near the head of the Lake, four or five miles from Aberfoyle. It is
upon a small scale, but otherwise one of the most exquisite cascades
it is possible to behold. The appearance of Flora with the harp, as
described, has been justly censured as too theatrical and affected for
the ladylike simplicity of her character. But something may be allowed
to her French education, in which point and striking effect always make
a considerable object.


NOTE 21.--MAC-FARLANE'S LANTERN

The clan of Mac-Farlane, occupying the fastnesses of the western side
of Loch Lomond, were great depredators on the Low Country; and as their
excursions were made usually by night, the moon was proverbially called
their lantern. Their celebrated pibroch of HOGGIL NAM BO, which is the
name of their gathering tune, intimates similar practices,--the sense
being--

We are bound to drive the bullocks,
All by hollows, hirsts, and hillocks,
Through the sleet and through the rain;
When the moon is beaming low
On frozen lake and hills of snow,
Bold and heartily we go;
And all for little gain.


NOTE 22.--CASTLE OF DOUNE

This noble ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations which have
been long and painfully broken. It holds a commanding station on the
banks of the river Teith, and has been one of the largest castles in
Scotland. Murdock, Duke of Albany, the founder of this stately pile,
was beheaded on the Castle-hill of Stirling, from which he might see the
towers of Doune, the monument of his fallen greatness.

In 1745-6, as stated in the text, a garrison on the part of the
Chevalier was put into the castle, then less ruinous than at present. It
was commanded by Mr. Stewart of Balloch, as governor for Prince Charles
he was a man of property near Callander. This castle became at that time
the actual scene of a romantic escape made by John Home, the author of
Douglas, and some other prisoners, who, having been taken at the battle
of Falkirk, were confined there by the insurgents. The poet, who had in
his own mind a large stock of that romantic and enthusiastic spirit of
adventure, which he has described as animating the youthful hero of his
drama, devised and undertook the perilous enterprise of escaping from
his prison. He inspired his companions with his sentiments and when
every attempt at open force was deemed hopeless, they resolved to twist
their bed-clothes into ropes, and thus to descend. Four persons, with
Home himself, reached the ground in safety. But the rope broke with the
fifth, who was a tall lusty man. The sixth was Thomas Barrow, a brave
young Englishman, a particular friend of Home's. Determined to take the
risk, even in such unfavourable circumstances, Barrow committed himself
to the broken rope, slid down on it as far as if could assist him, and
then let himself drop. His friends beneath succeeded in breaking his
fall. Nevertheless, he dislocated his ankle, and had several of his ribs
broken. His companions, however, were able to bear him off in safety.

The Highlanders next morning sought for their prisoners with great
activity. An old gentleman told the author he remembered seeing the
commander Stewart,

Bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste,

riding furiously through the country in quest of the fugitives.


NOTE 23.--JACOBITE SENTIMENTS

The Jacobite sentiments were general among the western counties, and in
Wales. But although the great families of the Wynnes, the Wyndhams, and
others, had come under an actual obligation to join Prince Charles if
he should land, they had done so under the express stipulation, that he
should be assisted by an auxiliary army of French, without which they
foresaw the enterprise would be desperate. Wishing well to his cause,
therefore, and watching an opportunity to join him, they did not,
nevertheless, think themselves bound in honour to do so, as he was only
supported by a body of wild mountaineers, speaking an uncouth dialect,
and wearing a singular dress. The race up to Derby struck them with more
dread than admiration. But it was difficult to say what the effect might
have been, had either the battle of Preston or Falkirk been fought and
won during the advance into England.