A Legend of Montrose

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XII.

  For close designs and crooked counsels fit, Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit, Restless, unfix'd in principle and place, In power unpleased, impatient in disgrace. --ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL.

  The village of Inverary, now a neat country town, then partook of therudeness of the seventeenth century, in the miserable appearance of thehouses, and the irregularity of the unpaved street. But a stronger andmore terrible characteristic of the period appeared in the market-place,which was a space of irregular width, half way betwixt the harbour, orpier, and the frowning castle-gate, which terminated with its gloomyarchway, portcullis, and flankers, the upper end of the vista. Midwaythis space was erected a rude gibbet, on which hung five dead bodies,two of which from their dress seemed to have been Lowlanders, and theother three corpses were muffled in their Highland plaids. Two or threewomen sate under the gallows, who seemed to be mourning, and singingthe coronach of the deceased in a low voice. But the spectacle wasapparently of too ordinary occurrence to have much interest for theinhabitants at large, who, while they thronged to look at the militaryfigure, the horse of an unusual size, and the burnished panoply ofCaptain Dalgetty, seemed to bestow no attention whatever on the piteousspectacle which their own market-place afforded.

  The envoy of Montrose was not quite so indifferent; and, hearing a wordor two of English escape from a Highlander of decent appearance, heimmediately halted Gustavus and addressed him, "The Provost-Marshal hasbeen busy here, my friend. May I crave of you what these delinquentshave been justified for?"

  He looked towards the gibbet as he spoke; and the Gael, comprehendinghis meaning rather by his action than his words, immediately replied,"Three gentlemen caterans,--God sain them," (crossing himself)--"twaSassenach bits o' bodies, that wadna do something that M'Callum Morebade them;" and turning from Dalgetty with an air of indifference, awayhe walked, staying no farther question.

  Dalgetty shrugged his shoulders and proceeded, for Sir Duncan Campbell'stenth or twelfth cousin had already shown some signs of impatience.

  At the gate of the castle another terrible spectacle of feudal powerawaited him. Within a stockade or palisade, which seemed lately to havebeen added to the defences of the gate, and which was protected by twopieces of light artillery, was a small enclosure, where stood a hugeblock, on which lay an axe. Both were smeared with recent blood, anda quantity of saw-dust strewed around, partly retained and partlyobliterated the marks of a very late execution.

  As Dalgetty looked on this new object of terror, his principal guidesuddenly twitched him by the skirt of his jerkin, and having thusattracted his attention, winked and pointed with his finger to apole fixed on the stockade, which supported a human head, being that,doubtless, of the late sufferer. There was a leer on the Highlander'sface, as he pointed to this ghastly spectacle, which seemed to hisfellow-traveller ominous of nothing good.

  Dalgetty dismounted from his horse at the gateway, and Gustavus wastaken from him without his being permitted to attend him to the stable,according to his custom.

  This gave the soldier a pang which the apparatus of death had notconveyed.--"Poor Gustavus!" said he to himself, "if anything but goodhappens to me, I had better have left him at Darnlinvarach than broughthim here among these Highland salvages, who scarce know the head ofa horse from his tail. But duty must part a man from his nearest anddearest--

  "When the cannons are roaring, lads, and the colours are flying, The lads that seek honour must never fear dying; Then, stout cavaliers, let us toil our brave trade in, And fight for the Gospel and the bold King of Sweden."

  Thus silencing his apprehensions with the but-end of a military ballad,he followed his guide into a sort of guard-room filled with armedHighlanders. It was intimated to him that he must remain here until hisarrival was communicated to the Marquis. To make this communicationthe more intelligible, the doughty Captain gave to the Dunniewassel SirDuncan Campbell's packet, desiring, as well as he could, by signs, thatit should be delivered into the Marquis's own hand. His guide nodded,and withdrew.

  The Captain was left about half an hour in this place, to endure withindifference, or return with scorn, the inquisitive, and, at the sametime, the inimical glances of the armed Gael, to whom his exterior andequipage were as much subject of curiosity, as his person and countryseemed matter of dislike. All this he bore with military nonchalance,until, at the expiration of the above period, a person dressed in blackvelvet, and wearing a gold chain like a modern magistrate of Edinburgh,but who was, in fact, steward of the household to the Marquis of Argyle,entered the apartment, and invited, with solemn gravity, the Captain tofollow him to his master's presence.

  The suite of apartments through which he passed, were filled withattendants or visitors of various descriptions, disposed, perhaps, withsome ostentation, in order to impress the envoy of Montrose with an ideaof the superior power and magnificence belonging to the rival house ofArgyle. One ante-room was filled with lacqueys, arrayed in brown andyellow, the colours of the family, who, ranged in double file, gazed insilence upon Captain Dalgetty as he passed betwixt their ranks. Anotherwas occupied by Highland gentlemen and chiefs of small branches, whowere amusing themselves with chess, backgammon, and other games, whichthey scarce intermitted to gaze with curiosity upon the stranger. Athird was filled with Lowland gentlemen and officers, who seemed alsoin attendance; and, lastly, the presence-chamber of the Marquis himselfshowed him attended by a levee which marked his high importance.

  This apartment, the folding doors of which were opened for the receptionof Captain Dalgetty, was a long gallery, decorated with tapestry andfamily portraits, and having a vaulted ceiling of open wood-work, theextreme projections of the beams being richly carved and gilded. Thegallery was lighted by long lanceolated Gothic casements, dividedby heavy shafts, and filled with painted glass, where the sunbeamsglimmered dimly through boars'-heads, and galleys, and batons, andswords, armorial bearings of the powerful house of Argyle, and emblemsof the high hereditary offices of Justiciary of Scotland, and Master ofthe Royal Household, which they long enjoyed. At the upper end of thismagnificent gallery stood the Marquis himself, the centre of a splendidcircle of Highland and Lowland gentlemen, all richly dressed, among whomwere two or three of the clergy, called in, perhaps, to be witnesses ofhis lordship's zeal for the Covenant.

  The Marquis himself was dressed in the fashion of the period, whichVandyke has so often painted, but his habit was sober and uniformin colour, and rather rich than gay. His dark complexion, furrowedforehead, and downcast look, gave him the appearance of one frequentlyengaged in the consideration of important affairs, and who has acquired,by long habit, an air of gravity and mystery, which he cannot shake offeven where there is nothing to be concealed. The cast with his eyes,which had procured him in the Highlands the nickname of GillespieGrumach (or the grim), was less perceptible when he looked downward,which perhaps was one cause of his having adopted that habit. In person,he was tall and thin, but not without that dignity of deportment andmanners, which became his high rank. Something there was cold in hisaddress, and sinister in his look, although he spoke and behaved withthe usual grace of a man of such quality. He was adored by his own clan,whose advancement he had greatly studied, although he was in proportiondisliked by the Highlanders of other septs, some of whom he had alreadystripped of their possessions, while others conceived themselves indanger from his future schemes, and all dreaded the height to which hewas elevated.

  We have already noticed, that in displaying himself amidst hiscouncillors, his officers of the household, and his train of vassals,allies, and dependents, the Marquis of Argyle probably wished to makean impression on the nervous system of Captain Dugald Dalgetty. But thatdoughty person had fought his way, in one department or another, throughthe greater part of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, a period when abrave and successful soldier was a companion for princes. The King ofSweden, and, after his example, even the haughty Princes of the Empire,h
ad found themselves fain, frequently to compound with their dignity,and silence, when they could not satisfy the pecuniary claims of theirsoldiers, by admitting them to unusual privileges and familiarity.Captain Dugald Dalgetty had it to boast, that he had sate with princesat feasts made for monarchs, and therefore was not a person to bebrow-beat even by the dignity which surrounded M'Callum More. Indeed, hewas naturally by no means the most modest man in the world, but, on thecontrary, had so good an opinion of himself, that into whatever companyhe chanced to be thrown, he was always proportionally elevated in hisown conceit; so that he felt as much at ease in the most exalted societyas among his own ordinary companions. In this high opinion of his ownrank, he was greatly fortified by his ideas of the military profession,which, in his phrase, made a valiant cavalier a camarade to an emperor.

  When introduced, therefore, into the Marquis's presence-chamber, headvanced to the upper end with an air of more confidence than grace, andwould have gone close up to Argyle's person before speaking, had notthe latter waved his hand, as a signal to him to stop short. CaptainDalgetty did so accordingly, and having made his military congee witheasy confidence, he thus accosted the Marquis: "Give you good morrow, mylord--or rather I should say, good even; BESO A USTED LOS MANOS, as theSpaniard says."

  "Who are you, sir, and what is your business?" demanded the Marquis, ina tone which was intended to interrupt the offensive familiarity of thesoldier.

  "That is a fair interrogative, my lord," answered Dalgetty, "which Ishall forthwith answer as becomes a cavalier, and that PEREMPTORIE, aswe used to say at Mareschal-College."

  "See who or what he is, Neal," said the Marquis sternly, to a gentlemanwho stood near him.

  "I will save the honourable gentleman the labour of investigation,"continued the Captain. "I am Dugald Dalgetty, of Drumthwacket, thatshould be, late Ritt-master in various services, and now Major of Iknow not what or whose regiment of Irishes; and I am come with a flag oftruce from a high and powerful lord, James Earl of Montrose, andother noble persons now in arms for his Majesty. And so, God save KingCharles!"

  "Do you know where you are, and the danger of dallying with us, sir,"again demanded the Marquis, "that you reply to me as if I were a childor a fool? The Earl of Montrose is with the English malignants; and Isuspect you are one of those Irish runagates, who are come into thiscountry to burn and slay, as they did under Sir Phelim O'Neale."

  "My lord," replied Captain Dalgetty, "I am no renegade, though a Majorof Irishes, for which I might refer your lordship to the invincibleGustavus Adolphus the Lion of the North, to Bannier, to Oxenstiern, tothe warlike Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Tilly, Wallenstein, Piccolomini, andother great captains, both dead and living; and touching the noble Earlof Montrose, I pray your lordship to peruse these my full powers fortreating with you in the name of that right honourable commander."

  The Marquis looked slightingly at the signed and sealed paper whichCaptain Dalgetty handed to him, and, throwing it with contempt upon atable, asked those around him what he deserved who came as the avowedenvoy and agent of malignant traitors, in arms against the state?

  "A high gallows and a short shrift," was the ready answer of one of thebystanders.

  "I will crave of that honourable cavalier who hath last spoken," saidDalgetty, "to be less hasty in forming his conclusions, and also of yourlordship to be cautelous in adopting the same, in respect such threatsare to be held out only to base bisognos, and not to men of spirit andaction, who are bound to peril themselves as freely in services of thisnature, as upon sieges, battles, or onslaughts of any sort. And albeit Ihave not with me a trumpet, or a white flag, in respect our army is notyet equipped with its full appointments, yet the honourable cavaliersand your lordship must concede unto me, that the sanctity of an envoywho cometh on matter of truth or parle, consisteth not in the fanfare ofa trumpet, whilk is but a sound, or in the flap of a white flag, whilkis but an old rag in itself, but in the confidence reposed by the partysending, and the party sent, in the honour of those to whom the messageis to be carried, and their full reliance that they will respect theJUS GENTIUM, as weel as the law of arms, in the person of thecommissionate."

  "You are not come hither to lecture us upon the law of arms, sir," saidthe Marquis, "which neither does nor can apply to rebels and insurgents;but to suffer the penalty of your insolence and folly for bringing atraitorous message to the Lord Justice General of Scotland, whose dutycalls upon him to punish such an offence with death."

  "Gentlemen," said the Captain, who began much to dislike the turn whichhis mission seemed about to take, "I pray you to remember, that theEarl of Montrose will hold you and your possessions liable forwhatever injury my person, or my horse, shall sustain by these unseemlyproceedings, and that he will be justified in executing retributivevengeance on your persons and possessions."

  This menace was received with a scornful laugh, while one of theCampbells replied, "It is a far cry to Lochow;" proverbial expression ofthe tribe, meaning that their ancient hereditary domains lay beyondthe reach of an invading enemy. "But, gentlemen," further urged theunfortunate Captain, who was unwilling to be condemned, without at leastthe benefit of a full hearing, "although it is not for me to say howfar it may be to Lochow, in respect I am a stranger to these parts,yet, what is more to the purpose, I trust you will admit that I havethe guarantee of an honourable gentleman of your own name, Sir DuncanCampbell of Ardenvohr, for my safety on this mission; and I pray youto observe, that in breaking the truce towards me, you will highlyprejudicate his honour and fair fame."

  This seemed to be new information to many of the gentlemen, for theyspoke aside with each other, and the Marquis's face, notwithstandinghis power of suppressing all external signs of his passions, showedimpatience and vexation.

  "Does Sir Duncan of Ardenvohr pledge his honour for this person'ssafety, my lord?" said one of the company, addressing the Marquis.

  "I do not believe it," answered the Marquis; "but I have not yet hadtime to read his letter."

  "We will pray your lordship to do so," said another of the Campbells;"our name must not suffer discredit through the means of such a fellowas this."

  "A dead fly," said a clergyman, "maketh the ointment of the apothecaryto stink."

  "Reverend sir," said Captain Dalgetty, "in respect of the use to bederived, I forgive you the unsavouriness of your comparison; and alsoremit to the gentleman in the red bonnet, the disparaging epithet ofFELLOW, which he has discourteously applied to me, who am no way tobe distinguished by the same, unless in so far as I have been calledfellow-soldier by the great Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North,and other choice commanders, both in Germany and the Low Countries. But,touching Sir Duncan Campbell's guarantee of my safety, I will gage mylife upon his making my words good thereanent, when he comes hitherto-morrow."

  "If Sir Duncan be soon expected, my Lord," said one of the intercessors,"it would be a pity to anticipate matters with this poor man."

  "Besides that," said another, "your lordship--I speak withreverence--should, at least, consult the Knight of Ardenvohr's letter,and learn the terms on which this Major Dalgetty, as he calls himself,has been sent hither by him."

  They closed around the Marquis, and conversed together in a low tone,both in Gaelic and English. The patriarchal power of the Chiefs was verygreat, and that of the Marquis of Argyle, armed with all his grants ofhereditary jurisdiction, was particularly absolute. But there interferessome check of one kind or other even in the most despotic government.That which mitigated the power of the Celtic Chiefs, was the necessitywhich they lay under of conciliating the kinsmen who, under them, ledout the lower orders to battle, and who formed a sort of council of thetribe in time of peace. The Marquis on this occasion thought himselfunder the necessity of attending to the remonstrances of this senate, ormore properly COUROULTAI, of the name of Campbell, and, slipping outof the circle, gave orders for the prisoner to be removed to a place ofsecurity.

  "Prisoner!" exclaimed Dalgetty, exerting himself w
ith such force aswellnigh to shake off two Highlanders, who for some minutes past hadwaited the signal to seize him, and kept for that purpose close at hisback. Indeed the soldier had so nearly attained his liberty, that theMarquis of Argyle changed colour, and stepped back two paces, laying,however, his hand on his sword, while several of his clan, with readydevotion, threw themselves betwixt him and the apprehended vengeance ofthe prisoner. But the Highland guards were too strong to be shaken off,and the unlucky Captain, after having had his offensive weapons takenfrom him, was dragged off and conducted through several gloomy passagesto a small side-door grated with iron, within which was another of wood.These were opened by a grim old Highlander with a long white beard, anddisplayed a very steep and narrow flight of steps leading downward. TheCaptain's guards pushed him down two or three steps, then, unloosing hisarms, left him to grope his way to the bottom as he could; a taskwhich became difficult and even dangerous, when the two doors beingsuccessively locked left the prisoner in total darkness.