by Walter Scott
CHAPTER IX
MORE OF THE MANOR-HOUSE AND ITS ENVIRONS
After having satisfied his curiosity by gazing around him for a fewminutes, Waverley applied himself to the massive knocker of thehall-door, the architrave of which bore the date 1594. But no answerwas returned, though the peal resounded through a number of apartments,and was echoed from the court-yard walls without the house, startlingthe pigeons from the venerable rotunda which they occupied, andalarming anew even the distant village curs, which had retired to sleepupon their respective dunghills. Tired of the din which he created, andthe unprofitable responses which it excited, Waverley began to thinkthat he had reached the castle of Orgoglio as entered by the victoriousPrince Arthur,--
When 'gan he loudly through the house to call, But no man cared to answer to his cry; There reign'd a solemn silence over all, Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seen in bower or hall.
Filled almost with expectation of beholding some 'old, old man, withbeard as white as snow,' whom he might question concerning thisdeserted mansion, our hero turned to a little oaken wicket-door, wellclenched with iron-nails, which opened in the court-yard wall at itsangle with the house. It was only latched, notwithstanding itsfortified appearance, and, when opened, admitted him into the garden,which presented a pleasant scene. [Footnote: Footnote: At Ravelston maybe seen such a garden, which the taste of the proprietor, the author'sfriend and kinsman, Sir Alexander Keith, Knight Mareschal, hasjudiciously preserved. That, as well as the house is, however, ofsmaller dimensions than the Baron of Bradwardine's mansion and gardenare presumed to have been.] The southern side of the house, clothedwith fruit-trees, and having many evergreens trained upon its walls,extended its irregular yet venerable front along a terrace, partlypaved, partly gravelled, partly bordered with flowers and choiceshrubs. This elevation descended by three several flights of steps,placed in its centre and at the extremities, into what might be calledthe garden proper, and was fenced along the top by a stone parapet witha heavy balustrade, ornamented from space to space with huge grotesquefigures of animals seated upon their haunches, among which thefavourite bear was repeatedly introduced. Placed in the middle of theterrace between a sashed-door opening from the house and the centralflight of steps, a huge animal of the same species supported on hishead and fore-paws a sun-dial of large circumference, inscribed withmore diagrams than Edward's mathematics enabled him to decipher.
The garden, which seemed to be kept with great accuracy, abounded infruit-trees, and exhibited a profusion of flowers and evergreens, cutinto grotesque forms. It was laid out in terraces, which descended rankby rank from the western wall to a large brook, which had a tranquiland smooth appearance, where it served as a boundary to the garden;but, near the extremity, leapt in tumult over a strong dam, orwear-head, the cause of its temporary tranquillity, and there forming acascade, was overlooked by an octangular summer-house, with a gildedbear on the top by way of vane. After this feat, the brook, assumingits natural rapid and fierce character, escaped from the eye down adeep and wooded dell, from the copse of which arose a massive, butruinous tower, the former habitation of the Barons of Bradwardine. Themargin of the brook, opposite to the garden, displayed a narrow meadow,or haugh, as it was called, which formed a small washing-green; thebank, which retired behind it, was covered by ancient trees.
The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the gardens ofAlcina; yet wanted not the 'due donzellette garrule' of that enchantedparadise, for upon the green aforesaid two bare-legged damsels, eachstanding in a spacious tub, performed with their feet the office of apatent washing-machine. These did not, however, like the maidens ofArmida, remain to greet with their harmony the approaching guest, but,alarmed at the appearance of a handsome stranger on the opposite side,dropped their garments (I should say garment, to be quite correct) overtheir limbs, which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and,with a shrill exclamation of 'Eh, sirs!' uttered with an accent betweenmodesty and coquetry, sprung off like deer in different directions.
Waverley began to despair of gaining entrance into this solitary andseemingly enchanted mansion, when a man advanced up one of the gardenalleys, where he still retained his station. Trusting this might be agardener, or some domestic belonging to the house, Edward descended thesteps in order to meet him; but as the figure approached, and longbefore he could descry its features, he was struck with the oddity ofits appearance and gestures. Sometimes this mister wight held his handsclasped over his head, like an Indian Jogue in the attitude of penance;sometimes he swung them perpendicularly, like a pendulum, on each side;and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his breast, likethe substitute used by a hackney-coachman for his usual floggingexercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand, in a clear frostyday. His gait was as singular as his gestures, for at times he hoppedwith great perseverance on the right foot, then exchanged thatsupporter to advance in the same manner on the left, and then puttinghis feet close together he hopped upon both at once. His attire alsowas antiquated and extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin,with scarlet cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; theother parts of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pairof scarlet stockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted with aturkey's feather. Edward, whom he did not seem to observe, nowperceived confirmation in his features of what the mien and gestureshad already announced. It was apparently neither idiocy nor insanitywhich gave that wild, unsettled, irregular expression to a face whichnaturally was rather handsome, but something that resembled a compoundof both, where the simplicity of the fool was mixed with theextravagance of a crazed imagination. He sung with great earnestness,and not without some taste, a fragment of an old Scottish ditty:--
False love, and hast thou play'd me this In summer among the flowers? I will repay thee back again In winter among the showers. Unless again, again, my love, Unless you turn again; As you with other maidens rove, I'll smile on other men.
[Footnote: This is a genuine ancient fragment, with some alteration inthe two last lines.]
Here lifting up his eyes, which had hitherto been fixed in observinghow his feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, and instantlydoffed his cap, with many grotesque signals of surprise, respect, andsalutation. Edward, though with little hope of receiving an answer toany constant question, requested to know whether Mr. Bradwardine wereat home, or where he could find any of the domestics. The questionedparty replied, and, like the witch of Thalaba, 'still his speech wassong,'--
The Knight's to the mountain His bugle to wind; The Lady's to greenwood Her garland to bind. The bower of Burd Ellen Has moss on the floor, That the step of Lord William Be silent and sure.
This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries,received a rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity ofthe dialect, the word 'butler' was alone intelligible. Waverley thenrequested to see the butler; upon which the fellow, with a knowing lookand nod of intelligence, made a signal to Edward to follow, and beganto dance and caper down the alley up which he had made his approaches.A strange guide this, thought Edward, and not much unlike one ofShakespeare's roynish clowns. I am not over prudent to trust to hispilotage; but wiser men have been led by fools. By this time he reachedthe bottom of the alley, where, turning short on a little parterre offlowers, shrouded from the east and north by a close yew hedge, hefound an old man at work without his coat, whose appearance hoveredbetween that of an upper servant and gardener; his red nose and ruffledshirt belonging to the former profession; his hale and sunburnt visage,with his green apron, appearing to indicate
Old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden.
The major domo, for such he was, and indisputably the second officer ofstate in the barony (nay, as chief minister of the interior, superioreven to Bailie Macwheeble in his own department of the kitchen andcellar)--the major domo laid down his spade, slipped on his coat inhaste, and with a wrathful
look at Edward's guide, probably excited byhis having introduced a stranger while he was engaged in thislaborious, and, as he might suppose it, degrading office, requested toknow the gentleman's commands. Being informed that he wished to pay hisrespects to his master, that his name was Waverley, and so forth, theold man's countenance assumed a great deal of respectful importance.'He could take it upon his conscience to say, his honour would haveexceeding pleasure in seeing him. Would not Mr. Waverley choose somerefreshment after his journey? His honour was with the folk who weregetting doon the dark hag; the twa gardener lads (an emphasis on theword twa) had been ordered to attend him; and he had been just amusinghimself in the mean time with dressing Miss Rose's flower-bed, that hemight be near to receive his honour's orders, if need were; he was veryfond of a garden, but had little time for such divertisements.'
'He canna get it wrought in abune twa days in the week at no ratewhatever,' said Edward's fantastic conductor.
A grim look from the butler chastised his interference, and hecommanded him, by the name of Davie Gellatley, in a tone which admittedno discussion, to look for his honour at the dark hag, and tell himthere was a gentleman from the south had arrived at the Ha'.
'Can this poor fellow deliver a letter?' asked Edward.
'With all fidelity, sir, to any one whom he respects. I would hardlytrust him with a long message by word of mouth--though he is more knavethan fool.'
Waverley delivered his credentials to Mr. Gellatley, who seemed toconfirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his features at him,when he was looking another way, into the resemblance of the grotesqueface on the bole of a German tobacco pipe; after which, with an oddconge to Waverley, he danced off to discharge his errand.
'He is an innocent, sir,' said the butler; 'there is one such in almostevery town in the country, but ours is brought far ben. [Footnote: SeeNote 8.] He used to work a day's turn weel enough; but he helped MissRose when she was flemit with the Laird of Killancureit's new Englishbull, and since that time we ca' him Davie Do-little; indeed we mightca' him Davie Do-naething, for since he got that gay clothing, toplease his honour and my young mistress (great folks will have theirfancies), he has done naething but dance up and down about the toun,without doing a single turn, unless trimming the laird's fishing-wandor busking his flies, or may be catching a dish of trouts at an orratime. But here comes Miss Rose, who, I take burden upon me for her,will be especial glad to see one of the house of Waverley at herfather's mansion of Tully-Veolan.'
But Rose Bradwardine deserves better of her unworthy historian than tobe introduced at the end of a chapter.
In the mean while it may be noticed, that Waverley learned two thingsfrom this colloquy: that in Scotland a single house was called a TOWN,and a natural fool an INNOCENT.
