Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since — Volume 1

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER VI

  THE ADIEUS OF WAVERLEY

  It was upon the evening of this memorable Sunday that Sir Everardentered the library, where he narrowly missed surprising our younghero as he went through the guards of the broadsword with theancient weapon of old Sir Hildebrand, which, being preserved as anheirloom, usually hung over the chimney in the library, beneath apicture of the knight and his horse, where the features werealmost entirely hidden by the knight's profusion of curled hair,and the Bucephalus which he bestrode concealed by the voluminousrobes of the Bath with which he was decorated. Sir Everardentered, and after a glance at the picture and another at hisnephew, began a little speech, which, however, soon dropt into thenatural simplicity of his common manner, agitated upon the presentoccasion by no common feeling. 'Nephew,' he said; and then, asmending his phrase, 'My dear Edward, it is God's will, and alsothe will of your father, whom, under God, it is your duty to obey,that you should leave us to take up the profession of arms, inwhich so many of your ancestors have been distinguished. I havemade such arrangements as will enable you to take the field astheir descendant, and as the probable heir of the house ofWaverley; and, sir, in the field of battle you will remember whatname you bear. And, Edward, my dear boy, remember also that youare the last of that race, and the only hope of its revivaldepends upon you; therefore, as far as duty and honour willpermit, avoid danger--I mean unnecessary danger--and keep nocompany with rakes, gamblers, and Whigs, of whom, it is to befeared, there are but too many in the service into which you aregoing. Your colonel, as I am informed, is an excellent man--for aPresbyterian; but you will remember your duty to God, the Churchof England, and the--' (this breach ought to have been supplied,according to the rubric, with the word KING; but as,unfortunately, that word conveyed a double and embarrassing sense,one meaning de facto and the other de jure, the knight filled upthe blank otherwise)--'the Church of England, and all constitutedauthorities.' Then, not trusting himself with any further oratory,he carried his nephew to his stables to see the horses destinedfor his campaign. Two were black (the regimental colour), superbchargers both; the other three were stout active hacks, designedfor the road, or for his domestics, of whom two were to attend himfrom the Hall; an additional groom, if necessary, might be pickedup in Scotland.

  'You will depart with but a small retinue,' quoth the Baronet,'compared to Sir Hildebrand, when he mustered before the gate ofthe Hall a larger body of horse than your whole regiment consistsof. I could have wished that these twenty young fellows from myestate, who have enlisted in your troop, had been to march withyou on your journey to Scotland. It would have been something, atleast; but I am told their attendance would be thought unusual inthese days, when every new and foolish fashion is introduced tobreak the natural dependence of the people upon their landlords.'

  Sir Everard had done his best to correct this unnaturaldisposition of the times; for he had brightened the chain ofattachment between the recruits and their young captain, not onlyby a copious repast of beef and ale, by way of parting feast, butby such a pecuniary donation to each individual as tended ratherto improve the conviviality than the discipline of their march.After inspecting the cavalry, Sir Everard again conducted hisnephew to the library, where he produced a letter, carefullyfolded, surrounded by a little stripe of flox-silk, according toancient form, and sealed with an accurate impression of theWaverley coat-of-arms. It was addressed, with great formality, 'ToCosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq., of Bradwardine, at his principalmansion of Tully-Veolan, in Perthshire, North Britain. These--Bythe hands of Captain Edward Waverley, nephew of Sir EverardWaverley, of Waverley-Honour, Bart.'

  The gentleman to whom this enormous greeting was addressed, ofwhom we shall have more to say in the sequel, had been in arms forthe exiled family of Stuart in the year 1715, and was madeprisoner at Preston in Lancashire. He was of a very ancientfamily, and somewhat embarrassed fortune; a scholar, according tothe scholarship of Scotchmen, that is, his learning was morediffuse than accurate, and he was rather a reader than agrammarian. Of his zeal for the classic authors he is said to havegiven an uncommon instance. On the road between Preston andLondon, he made his escape from his guards; but being afterwardsfound loitering near the place where they had lodged the formernight, he was recognised, and again arrested. His companions, andeven his escort, were surprised at his infatuation, and could nothelp inquiring, why, being once at liberty, he had not made thebest of his way to a place of safety; to which he replied, that hehad intended to do so, but, in good faith, he had returned to seekhis Titus Livius, which he had forgot in the hurry of his escape.[Footnote: See Note 3.] The simplicity of this anecdote struck thegentleman, who, as we before observed, had managed the defence ofsome of those unfortunate persons, at the expense of Sir Everard,and perhaps some others of the party. He was, besides, himself aspecial admirer of the old Patavinian, and though probably his ownzeal might not have carried him such extravagant lengths, even torecover the edition of Sweynheim and Pannartz (supposed to be theprinceps), he did not the less estimate the devotion of the NorthBriton, and in consequence exerted himself to so much purpose toremove and soften evidence, detect legal flaws, et cetera, that heaccomplished the final discharge and deliverance of Cosmo ComyneBradwardine from certain very awkward consequences of a pleabefore our sovereign lord the king in Westminster.

  The Baron of Bradwardine, for he was generally so called inScotland (although his intimates, from his place of residence,used to denominate him Tully-Veolan, or more familiarly, Tully),no sooner stood rectus in curia than he posted down to pay hisrespects and make his acknowledgments at Waverley-Honour. Acongenial passion for field-sports, and a general coincidence inpolitical opinions, cemented his friendship with Sir Everard,notwithstanding the difference of their habits and studies inother particulars; and, having spent several weeks at Waverley-Honour, the Baron departed with many expressions of regard, warmlypressing the Baronet to return his visit, and partake of thediversion of grouse-shooting, upon his moors in Perthshire nextseason. Shortly after, Mr. Bradwardine remitted from Scotland asum in reimbursement of expenses incurred in the King's High Courtof Westminster, which, although not quite so formidable whenreduced to the English denomination, had, in its original form ofScotch pounds, shillings, and pence, such a formidable effect uponthe frame of Duncan Macwheeble, the laird's confidential factor,baron-bailie, and man of resource, that he had a fit of thecholic, which lasted for five days, occasioned, he said, solelyand utterly by becoming the unhappy instrument of conveying such aserious sum of money out of his native country into the hands ofthe false English. But patriotism, as it is the fairest, so it isoften the most suspicious mask of other feelings; and many whoknew Bailie Macwheeble concluded that his professions of regretwere not altogether disinterested, and that he would have grudgedthe moneys paid to the LOONS at Westminster much less had they notcome from Bradwardine estate, a fund which he considered as moreparticularly his own. But the Bailie protested he was absolutelydisinterested--

  'Woe, woe, for Scotland, not a whit for me!'

  The laird was only rejoiced that his worthy friend, Sir EverardWaverley of Waverley-Honour, was reimbursed of the expenditurewhich he had outlaid on account of the house of Bradwardine. Itconcerned, he said, the credit of his own family, and of thekingdom of Scotland at large, that these disbursements should berepaid forthwith, and, if delayed, it would be a matter ofnational reproach. Sir Everard, accustomed to treat much largersums with indifference, received the remittance of L294, 13S. 6D.without being aware that the payment was an international concern,and, indeed, would probably have forgot the circumstancealtogether, if Bailie Macwheeble had thought of comforting hischolic by intercepting the subsidy. A yearly intercourse tookplace, of a short letter and a hamper or a cask or two, betweenWaverley-Honour and Tully-Veolan, the English exports consistingof mighty cheeses and mightier ale, pheasants, and venison, andthe Scottish returns being vested in grouse, white hares, pickledsalmon, and usquebaugh; all which were meant, sent, a
nd receivedas pledges of constant friendship and amity between two importanthouses. It followed as a matter of course, that the heir-apparentof Waverley-Honour could not with propriety visit Scotland withoutbeing furnished with credentials to the Baron of Bradwardine.

  When this matter was explained and settled, Mr. Pembroke expressedhis wish to take a private and particular leave of his dear pupil.The good man's ex hortations to Edward to preserve an unblemishedlife and morals, to hold fast the principles of the Christianreligion, and to eschew the profane company of scoffers andlatitudinarians, too much abounding in the army, were notunmingled with his political prejudices. It had pleased Heaven, hesaid, to place Scotland (doubtless for the sins of their ancestorsin 1642) in a more deplorable state of darkness than even thisunhappy kingdom of England. Here, at least, although thecandlestick of the Church of England had been in some degreeremoved from its place, it yet afforded a glimmering light; therewas a hierarchy, though schismatical, and fallen from theprinciples maintained by those great fathers of the church,Sancroft and his brethren; there was a liturgy, though woefullyperverted in some of the principal petitions. But in Scotland itwas utter darkness; and, excepting a sorrowful, scattered, andpersecuted remnant, the pulpits were abandoned to Presbyterians,and, he feared, to sectaries of every description. It should behis duty to fortify his dear pupil to resist such unhallowed andpernicious doctrines in church and state as must necessarily beforced at times upon his unwilling ears.

  Here he produced two immense folded packets, which appeared eachto contain a whole ream of closely written manuscript. They hadbeen the labour of the worthy man's whole life; and never werelabour and zeal more absurdly wasted. He had at one time gone toLondon, with the intention of giving them to the world, by themedium of a bookseller in Little Britain, well known to deal insuch commodities, and to whom he was instructed to address himselfin a particular phrase and with a certain sign, which, it seems,passed at that time current among the initiated Jacobites. Themoment Mr. Pembroke had uttered the Shibboleth, with theappropriate gesture, the bibliopolist greeted him, notwithstandingevery disclamation, by the title of Doctor, and conveying him intohis back shop, after inspecting every possible and impossibleplace of concealment, he commenced: 'Eh, Doctor!--Well--all underthe rose--snug--I keep no holes here even for a Hanoverian rat tohide in. And, what--eh! any good news from our friends over thewater?--and how does the worthy King of France?--Or perhaps youare more lately from Rome? it must be Rome will do it at last--thechurch must light its candle at the old lamp.--Eh--what, cautious?I like you the better; but no fear.' Here Mr. Pembroke with somedifficulty stopt a torrent of interrogations, eked out with signs,nods, and winks; and, having at length convinced the booksellerthat he did him too much honour in supposing him an emissary ofexiled royalty, he explained his actual business.

  The man of books with a much more composed air proceeded toexamine the manuscripts. The title of the first was 'A Dissentfrom Dissenters, or the Comprehension confuted; showing theImpossibility of any Composition between the Church and Puritans,Presbyterians, or Sectaries of any Description; illustrated fromthe Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, and the soundestControversial Divines.' To this work the bookseller positivelydemurred. 'Well meant,' he said, 'and learned, doubtless; but thetime had gone by. Printed on small-pica it would run to eighthundred pages, and could never pay. Begged therefore to beexcused. Loved and honoured the true church from his soul, and,had it been a sermon on the martyrdom, or any twelve-penny touch--why, I would venture something for the honour of the cloth. Butcome, let's see the other. "Right Hereditary righted!"--Ah!there's some sense in this. Hum--hum--hum--pages so many, paper somuch, letter-press--Ah--I'll tell you, though, Doctor, you mustknock out some of the Latin and Greek; heavy, Doctor, damn'dheavy--(beg your pardon) and if you throw in a few grains morepepper--I am he that never preached my author. I have published forDrake and Charlwood Lawton, and poor Amhurst [Footnote: See Note4.]--Ah, Caleb! Caleb! Well, it was a shame to let poor Calebstarve, and so many fat rectors and squires among us. I gave him adinner once a week; but, Lord love you, what's once a week, when aman does not know where to go the other six days? Well, but I mustshow the manuscript to little Tom Alibi the solicitor, who managesall my law affairs--must keep on the windy side; the mob were veryuncivil the last time I mounted in Old Palace Yard--all Whigs andRoundheads every man of them, Williamites and Hanover rats.'

  The next day Mr. Pembroke again called on the publisher, but foundTom Alibi's advice had determined him against undertaking thework. 'Not but what I would go to--(what was I going to say?) tothe Plantations for the church with pleasure--but, dear Doctor, Ihave a wife and family; but, to show my zeal, I'll recommend thejob to my neighbour Trimmel--he is a bachelor, and leaving offbusiness, so a voyage in a western barge would not inconveniencehim.' But Mr. Trimmel was also obdurate, and Mr. Pembroke,fortunately perchance for himself, was compelled to return toWaverley-Honour with his treatise in vindication of the realfundamental principles of church and state safely packed in hissaddle-bags.

  As the public were thus likely to be deprived of the benefitarising from his lucubrations by the selfish cowardice of thetrade, Mr. Pembroke resolved to make two copies of thesetremendous manuscripts for the use of his pupil. He felt that hehad been indolent as a tutor, and, besides, his conscience checkedhim for complying with the request of Mr. Richard Waverley, thathe would impress no sentiments upon Edward's mind inconsistentwith the present settlement in church and state. But now, thoughthe, I may, without breach of my word, since he is no longer undermy tuition, afford the youth the means of judging for himself, andhave only to dread his reproaches for so long concealing the lightwhich the perusal will flash upon his mind. While he thus indulgedthe reveries of an author and a politician, his darling proselyte,seeing nothing very inviting in the title of the tracts, andappalled by the bulk and compact lines of the manuscript, quietlyconsigned them to a corner of his travelling trunk.

  Aunt Rachel's farewell was brief and affectionate. She onlycautioned her dear Edward, whom she probably deemed somewhatsusceptible, against the fascination of Scottish beauty. Sheallowed that the northern part of the island contained someancient families, but they were all Whigs and Presbyterians exceptthe Highlanders; and respecting them she must needs say, therecould be no great delicacy among the ladies, where the gentlemen'susual attire was, as she had been assured, to say the least, verysingular, and not at all decorous. She concluded her farewell witha kind and moving benediction, and gave the young officer, as apledge of her regard, a valuable diamond ring (often worn by themale sex at that time), and a purse of broad gold-pieces, whichalso were more common Sixty Years Since than they have been oflate.