by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXXVI
Give me a cup of sack, to make mine eyes look red. For I must speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein.
--Henry IV, part I.
Mannering, with Sampson for his companion, lost no time in his journeyto Edinburgh. They travelled in the Colonel's post-chariot, who,knowing his companion's habits of abstraction, did not choose to losehim out of his own sight, far less to trust him on horseback, where, inall probability, a knavish stable-boy might with little address havecontrived to mount him with his face to the tail. Accordingly, with theaid of his valet, who attended on horseback, he contrived to bring Mr.Sampson safe to an inn in Edinburgh--for hotels in those days therewere none--without any other accident than arose from his strayingtwice upon the road. On one occasion he was recovered by Barnes, whounderstood his humour, when, after engaging in close colloquy with theschoolmaster of Moffat respecting a disputed quantity in Horace's 7thOde, Book II, the dispute led on to another controversy concerning theexact meaning of the word malobathro in that lyric effusion. His secondescapade was made for the purpose of visiting the field of RullionGreen, which was dear to his Presbyterian predilections. Having got outof the carriage for an instant, he saw the sepulchral monument of theslain at the distance of about a mile, and was arrested by Barnes inhis progress up the Pentland Hills, having on both occasions forgot hisfriend, patron, and fellow-traveller as completely as if he had been inthe East Indies. On being reminded that Colonel Mannering was waitingfor him, he uttered his usual ejaculation of 'Prodigious! I wasoblivious,' and then strode back to his post. Barnes was surprised athis master's patience on both occasions, knowing by experience howlittle he brooked neglect or delay; but the Dominie was in everyrespect a privileged person. His patron and he were never for a momentin each other's way, and it seemed obvious that they were formed to becompanions through life. If Mannering wanted a particular book, theDominie could bring it; if he wished to have accounts summed up orchecked, his assistance was equally ready; if he desired to recall aparticular passage in the classics, he could have recourse to theDominie as to a dictionary; and all the while this walking statue wasneither presuming when noticed nor sulky when left to himself. To aproud, shy, reserved man, and such in many respects was Mannering, thissort of living catalogue and animated automaton had all the advantagesof a literary dumb-waiter.
As soon as they arrived in Edinburgh, and were established at theGeorge Inn, near Bristo Port, then kept by old Cockburn (I love to beparticular), the Colonel desired the waiter to procure him a guide toMr. Pleydell's, the advocate, for whom he had a letter of introductionfrom Mr. Mac-Morlan. He then commanded Barnes to have an eye to theDominie, and walked forth with a chairman, who was to usher him to theman of law.
The period was near the end of the American war. The desire of room, ofair, and of decent accommodation had not as yet made very much progressin the capital of Scotland. Some efforts had been made on the southside of the town towards building houses WITHIN THEMSELVES, as they areemphatically termed; and the New Town on the north, since so muchextended, was then just commenced. But the great bulk of the betterclasses, and particularly those connected with the law, still lived inflats or dungeons of the Old Town. The manners also of some of theveterans of the law had not admitted innovation. One or two eminentlawyers still saw their clients in taverns, as was the general customfifty years before; and although their habits were already consideredas old-fashioned by the younger barristers, yet the custom of mixingwine and revelry with serious business was still maintained by thosesenior counsellors who loved the old road, either because it was suchor because they had got too well used to it to travel any other. Amongthose praisers of the past time, who with ostentatious obstinacyaffected the manners of a former generation, was this same PaulusPleydell, Esq., otherwise a good scholar, an excellent lawyer, and aworthy man.
Under the guidance of his trusty attendant, Colonel Mannering, afterthreading a dark lane or two, reached the High Street, then clangingwith the voices of oyster-women and the bells of pye-men; for it had,as his guide assured him, just' chappit eight upon the Tron.' It waslong since Mannering had been in the street of a crowded metropolis,which, with its noise and clamour, its sounds of trade, of revelry, andof license, its variety of lights, and the eternally changing bustle ofits hundred groups, offers, by night especially, a spectacle which,though composed of the most vulgar materials when they are separatelyconsidered, has, when they are combined, a striking and powerful effecton the imagination. The extraordinary height of the houses was markedby lights, which, glimmering irregularly along their front, ascended sohigh among the attics that they seemed at length to twinkle in themiddle sky. This coup d'aeil, which still subsists in a certain degree,was then more imposing, owing to the uninterrupted range of buildingson each side, which, broken only at the space where the North Bridgejoins the main street, formed a superb and uniform place, extendingfrom the front of the Lucken-booths to the head of the Canongate, andcorresponding in breadth and length to the uncommon height of thebuildings on either side.
Mannering had not much time to look and to admire. His conductorhurried him across this striking scene, and suddenly dived with himinto a very steep paved lane. Turning to the right, they entered ascale staircase, as it is called, the state of which, so far as itcould be judged of by one of his senses, annoyed Mannering's delicacynot a little. When they had ascended cautiously to a considerableheight, they heard a heavy rap at a door, still two stories above them.The door opened, and immediately ensued the sharp and worrying bark ofa dog, the squalling of a woman, the screams of an assaulted cat, andthe hoarse voice of a man, who cried in a most imperative tone, 'Willye, Mustard? Will ye? down, sir, down!'
'Lord preserve us!' said the female voice, 'an he had worried our cat,Mr. Pleydell would ne'er hae forgi'en me!'
'Aweel, my doo, the cat's no a prin the waur. So he's no in, ye say?'
'Na, Mr. Pleydell's ne'er in the house on Saturday at e'en,' answeredthe female voice.
'And the morn's Sabbath too,' said the querist. 'I dinna ken what willbe done.'
By this time Mannering appeared, and found a tall, strong countryman,clad in a coat of pepper-and-salt-coloured mixture, with huge metalbuttons, a glazed hat and boots, and a large horsewhip beneath his arm,in colloquy with a slipshod damsel, who had in one hand the lock of thedoor, and in the other a pail of whiting, or camstane, as it is called,mixed with water--a circumstance which indicates Saturday night inEdinburgh.
'So Mr. Pleydell is not at home, my good girl?' said Mannering.
'Ay, sir, he's at hame, but he's no in the house; he's aye out onSaturday at e'en.'
'But, my good girl, I am a stranger, and my business express. Will youtell me where I can find him?'
'His honour,' said the chairman, 'will be at Clerihugh's about thistime. Hersell could hae tell'd ye that, but she thought ye wanted tosee his house.'
'Well, then, show me to this tavern. I suppose he will see me, as Icome on business of some consequence?'
'I dinna ken, sir,' said the girl; 'he disna like to be disturbed onSaturdays wi' business; but he's aye civil to strangers.'
'I'll gang to the tavern too,' said our friend Dinmont, 'for I am astranger also, and on business e'en sic like.'
'Na,' said the handmaiden, 'an he see the gentleman, he'll see thesimple body too; but, Lord's sake, dinna say it was me sent ye there!'
'Atweel, I am a simple body, that's true, hinny, but I am no come tosteal ony o' his skeel for naething,' said the farmer in his honestpride, and strutted away downstairs, followed by Mannering and thecadie. Mannering could not help admiring the determined stride withwhich the stranger who preceded them divided the press, shoulderingfrom him, by the mere weight and impetus of his motion, both drunk andsober passengers. 'He'll be a Teviotdale tup tat ane,' said thechairman, 'tat's for keeping ta crown o' ta causeway tat gate; he 'llno gang far or he 'll get somebody to bell ta cat wi' him.'
His s
hrewd augury, however, was not fulfilled. Those who recoiled fromthe colossal weight of Dinmont, on looking up at his size and strength,apparently judged him too heavy metal to be rashly encountered, andsuffered him to pursue his course unchallenged. Following in the wakeof this first-rate, Mannering proceeded till the farmer made a pause,and, looking back to the chairman, said, 'I'm thinking this will be theclose, friend.'
'Ay, ay,' replied Donald, 'tat's ta close.'
Dinmont descended confidently, then turned into a dark alley, then up adark stair, and then into an open door. While he was whistling shrillyfor the waiter, as if he had been one of his collie dogs, Manneringlooked round him, and could hardly conceive how a gentleman of aliberal profession and good society should choose such a scene forsocial indulgence. Besides the miserable entrance, the house itselfseemed paltry and half ruinous. The passage in which they stood had awindow to the close, which admitted a little light during the daytime,and a villainous compound of smells at all times, but more especiallytowards evening. Corresponding to this window was a borrowed light onthe other side of the passage, looking into the kitchen, which had nodirect communication with the free air, but received in the daytime, atsecond hand, such straggling and obscure light as found its way fromthe lane through the window opposite. At present the interior of thekitchen was visible by its own huge fires--a sort of Pandemonium, wheremen and women, half undressed, were busied in baking, broiling,roasting oysters, and preparing devils on the gridiron; the mistress ofthe place, with her shoes slipshod, and her hair straggling like thatof Megaera from under a round-eared cap, toiling, scolding, receivingorders, giving them, and obeying them all at once, seemed the presidingenchantress of that gloomy and fiery region.
Loud and repeated bursts of laughter from different quarters of thehouse proved that her labours were acceptable, and not unrewarded by agenerous public. With some difficulty a waiter was prevailed upon toshow Colonel Mannering and Dinmont the room where their friend learnedin the law held his hebdomadal carousals. The scene which it exhibited,and particularly the attitude of the counsellor himself, the principalfigure therein, struck his two clients with amazement.
Mr. Pleydell was a lively, sharp-looking gentleman, with a professionalshrewdness in his eye, and, generally speaking, a professionalformality in his manners. But this, like his three-tailed wig and blackcoat, he could slip off on a Saturday evening, when surrounded by aparty of jolly companions, and disposed for what he called hisaltitudes. On the present occasion the revel had lasted since fouro'clock, and at length, under the direction of a venerable compotator,who had shared the sports and festivity of three generations, thefrolicsome company had begun to practise the ancient and now forgottenpastime of HIGH JINKS. This game was played in several different ways.Most frequently the dice were thrown by the company, and those uponwhom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time acertain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number offescennine verses in a particular order. If they departed from thecharacters assigned, or if their memory proved treacherous in therepetition, they incurred forfeits, which were either compounded for byswallowing an additional bumper or by paying a small sum towards thereckoning. At this sport the jovial company were closely engaged whenMannering entered the room.
Mr. Counsellor Pleydell, such as we have described him, was enthronedas a monarch in an elbow-chair placed on the dining-table, his scratchwig on one side, his head crowned with a bottle-slider, his eye leeringwith an expression betwixt fun and the effects of wine, while his courtaround him resounded with such crambo scraps of verse as these:--
Where is Gerunto now? and what's become of him? Gerunto's drowned because he could not swim, etc., etc.
Such, O Themis, were anciently the sports of thy Scottish children!Dinmont was first in the room. He stood aghast a moment, and thenexclaimed, 'It's him, sure enough. Deil o' the like o' that ever I saw!'
At the sound of 'Mr. Dinmont and Colonel Mannering wanting to speak toyou, sir,' Pleydell turned his head, and blushed a little when he sawthe very genteel figure of the English stranger. He was, however, ofthe opinion of Falstaff, 'Out, ye villains, play out the play!' wiselyjudging it the better way to appear totally unconcerned. 'Where be ourguards?' exclaimed this second Justinian; 'see ye not a stranger knightfrom foreign parts arrived at this our court of Holyrood, with our boldyeoman Andrew Dinmont, who has succeeded to the keeping of our royalflocks within the forest of Jedwood, where, thanks to our royal care inthe administration of justice, they feed as safe as if they were withinthe bounds of Fife? Where be our heralds, our pursuivants, our Lyon,our Marchmount, our Carrick, and our Snowdown? Let the strangers beplaced at our board, and regaled as beseemeth their quality and thisour high holiday; to-morrow we will hear their tidings.'
'So please you, my liege, to-morrow's Sunday,' said one of the company.
'Sunday, is it? then we will give no offence to the assembly of thekirk; on Monday shall be their audience.'
Mannering, who had stood at first uncertain whether to advance orretreat, now resolved to enter for the moment into the whim of thescene, though internally fretting at Mac-Morlan for sending him toconsult with a crack-brained humourist. He therefore advanced withthree profound congees, and craved permission to lay his credentials atthe feet of the Scottish monarch, in order to be perused at his bestleisure. The gravity with which he accommodated himself to the humourof the moment, and the deep and humble inclination with which he atfirst declined, and then accepted, a seat presented by the master ofthe ceremonies, procured him three rounds of applause.
'Deil hae me, if they arena a' mad thegither!' said Dinmont, occupyingwith less ceremony a seat at the bottom of the table; 'or else they haetaen Yule before it comes, and are gaun a-guisarding.'
A large glass of claret was offered to Mannering, who drank it to thehealth of the reigning prince. 'You are, I presume to guess,' said themonarch, 'that celebrated Sir Miles Mannering, so renowned in theFrench wars, and may well pronounce to us if the wines of Gascony losetheir flavour in our more northern realm.'
Mannering, agreeably flattered by this allusion to the fame of hiscelebrated ancestor, replied by professing himself only a distantrelation of the preux chevalier, and added, 'that in his opinion thewine was superlatively good.'
'It's ower cauld for my stamach,' said Dinmont, setting down theglass--empty however.
'We will correct that quality,' answered King Paulus, the first of thename; 'we have not forgotten that the moist and humid air of our valleyof Liddel inclines to stronger potations. Seneschal, let our faithfulyeoman have a cup of brandy; it will be more germain to the matter.'
'And now,' said Mannering, 'since we have unwarily intruded upon yourmajesty at a moment of mirthful retirement, be pleased to say when youwill indulge a stranger with an audience on those affairs of weightwhich have brought him to your northern capital.'
The monarch opened Mac-Morlan's letter, and, running it hastily over,exclaimed with his natural voice and manner, 'Lucy Bertram ofEllangowan, poor dear lassie!'
'A forfeit! a forfeit!' exclaimed a dozen voices; 'his majesty hasforgot his kingly character.'
'Not a whit! not a whit!' replied the king; 'I'll be judged by thiscourteous knight. May not a monarch love a maid of low degree? Is notKing Cophetua and the Beggar-maid an adjudged case in point?'
'Professional! professional! another forfeit,' exclaimed the tumultuarynobility.
'Had not our royal predecessors,' continued the monarch, exalting hissovereign voice to drown these disaffected clamours,--'had they nottheir Jean Logies, their Bessie Carmichaels, their Oliphants, theirSandilands, and their Weirs, and shall it be denied to us even to namea maiden whom we delight to honour? Nay, then, sink state and perishsovereignty! for, like a second Charles V, we will abdicate, and seekin the private shades of life those pleasures which are denied to athrone.'
So saying, he flung away his crown, and sprung from his exalted stationwith more agility than could have been expect
ed from his age, orderedlights and a wash-hand basin and towel, with a cup of green tea, intoanother room, and made a sign to Mannering to accompany him. In lessthan two minutes he washed his face and hands, settled his wig in theglass, and, to Mannering's great surprise, looked quite a different manfrom the childish Bacchanal he had seen a moment before.
'There are folks,' he said, 'Mr. Mannering, before whom one should takecare how they play the fool, because they have either too much maliceor too little wit, as the poet says. The best compliment I can payColonel Mannering is to show I am not ashamed to expose myself beforehim; and truly I think it is a compliment I have not spared to-night onyour good-nature. But what's that great strong fellow wanting?'
Dinmont, who had pushed after Mannering into the room, began with ascrape with his foot and a scratch of his head in unison. 'I am DandieDinmont, sir, of the Charlie's Hope--the Liddesdale lad; ye'll mind me?It was for me ye won yon grand plea.'
'What plea, you loggerhead?' said the lawyer. 'D'ye think I canremember all the fools that come to plague me?'
'Lord, sir, it was the grand plea about the grazing o' the LangtaeHead!' said the farmer.
'Well, curse thee, never mind; give me the memorial and come to me onMonday at ten,' replied the learned counsel.
'But, sir, I haena got ony distinct memorial.'
'No memorial, man?' said Pleydell.
'Na, sir, nae memorial,' answered Dandie; 'for your honour said before,Mr. Pleydell, ye'll mind, that ye liked best to hear us hill-folk tellour ain tale by word o' mouth.'
'Beshrew my tongue, that said so!' answered the counsellor; 'it willcost my ears a dinning. Well, say in two words what you've got to say.You see the gentleman waits.'
'Ou, sir, if the gentleman likes he may play his ain spring first; it'sa' ane to Dandie.'
'Now, you looby,' said the lawyer, 'cannot you conceive that yourbusiness can be nothing to Colonel Mannering, but that he may notchoose to have these great ears of thine regaled with his matters?'
'Aweel, sir, just as you and he like, so ye see to my business,' saidDandie, not a whit disconcerted by the roughness of this reception.'We're at the auld wark o' the marches again, Jock o' Dawston Cleughand me. Ye see we march on the tap o' Touthop-rigg after we pass thePomoragrains; for the Pomoragrains, and Slackenspool, and Bloodylaws,they come in there, and they belang to the Peel; but after ye passPomoragrains at a muckle great saucer-headed cutlugged stane that theyca' Charlie's Chuckie, there Dawston Cleugh and Charlie's Hope theymarch. Now, I say the march rins on the tap o' the hill where the windand water shears; but Jock o' Dawston Cleugh again, he contravenesthat, and says that it bauds down by the auld drove-road that gaes awaby the Knot o' the Gate ower to Keeldar Ward; and that makes an uncodifference.'
'And what difference does it make, friend?' said Pleydell. 'How manysheep will it feed?'
'Ou, no mony,' said Dandie, scratching his head; 'it's lying high andexposed: it may feed a hog, or aiblins twa in a good year.'
'And for this grazing, which may be worth about five shillings a year,you are willing to throw away a hundred pound or two?'
'Na, sir, it's no for the value of the grass,' replied Dinmont; 'it'sfor justice.'
'My good friend,' said Pleydell, 'justice, like charity, should beginat home. Do you justice to your wife and family, and think no moreabout the matter.'
Dinmont still lingered, twisting his hat in his hand. 'It's no forthat, sir; but I would like ill to be bragged wi' him; he threeps he'llbring a score o' witnesses and mair, and I'm sure there's as mony willswear for me as for him, folk that lived a' their days upon theCharlie's Hope, and wadna like to see the land lose its right.'
'Zounds, man, if it be a point of honour,' said the lawyer, 'why don'tyour landlords take it up?'
'I dinna ken, sir (scratching his head again); there's been naeelection-dusts lately, and the lairds are unco neighbourly, and Jockand me canna get them to yoke thegither about it a' that we can say;but if ye thought we might keep up the rent--'
'No! no! that will never do,' said Pleydell. 'Confound you, why don'tyou take good cudgels and settle it?'
'Odd, sir,' answered the farmer, 'we tried that three times already,that's twice on the land and ance at Lockerby Fair. But I dinna ken;we're baith gey good at single-stick, and it couldna weel be judged.'
'Then take broadswords, and be d--d to you, as your fathers did beforeyou,' said the counsel learned in the law.
'Aweel, sir, if ye think it wadna be again the law, it's a' ane toDandie.'
'Hold! hold!' exclaimed Pleydell, 'we shall have another Lord Soulis'mistake. Pr'ythee, man, comprehend me; I wish you to consider how verytrifling and foolish a lawsuit you wish to engage in.'
'Ay, sir?' said Dandie, in a disappointed tone. 'So ye winna take onwi' me, I'm doubting?'
'Me! not I. Go home, go home, take a pint and agree.' Dandie looked buthalf contented, and still remained stationary. 'Anything more, myfriend?'
'Only, sir, about the succession of this leddy that's dead, auld MissMargaret Bertram o' Singleside.'
'Ay, what about her?' said the counsellor, rather surprised.
'Ou, we have nae connexion at a' wi' the Bertrams,' said Dandie; 'theywere grand folk by the like o' us; but Jean Liltup, that was auldSingleside's housekeeper, and the mother of these twa young ladies thatare gane--the last o' them's dead at a ripe age, I trow--Jean Liltupcame out o' Liddel water, and she was as near our connexion as secondcousin to my mother's half-sister. She drew up wi' Singleside, naedoubt, when she was his housekeeper, and it was a sair vex and grief toa' her kith and kin. But he acknowledged a marriage, and satisfied thekirk; and now I wad ken frae you if we hae not some claim by law?'
'Not the shadow of a claim.'
'Aweel, we're nae puirer,' said Dandie; 'but she may hae thought on usif she was minded to make a testament. Weel, sir, I've said my say;I'se e'en wish you good-night, and--' putting his hand in his pocket.
'No, no, my friend; I never take fees on Saturday nights, or without amemorial. Away with you, Dandie.' And Dandie made his reverence anddeparted accordingly.
