by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIX
THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION
The ingenious licentiate Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced hishistory of 'La Picara Justina Diez,'--which, by the way, is oneof the most rare books of Spanish literature,--complained of hispen having caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with moreeloquence than common sense, an affectionate expostulation withthat useful implement, upbraiding it with being the quill of agoose,--a bird inconstant by nature, as frequenting the threeelements of water, earth, and air indifferently, and being, ofcourse, 'to one thing constant never.' Now I protest to thee,gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco de Ubeda inthis matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen, thatit can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description anddialogue to narrative and character. So that if my quill displayno other properties of its mother-goose than her mutability,truly I shall be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthyfriend, will have no occasion for discontent. From the jargon,therefore, of the Highland gillies I pass to the character oftheir Chief. It is an important examination, and therefore, likeDogberry, we must spare no wisdom.
The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, hadset up a claim to be recognised as chief of the numerous andpowerful clan to which he belonged, the name of which it isunnecessary to mention. Being defeated by an opponent who had morejustice, or at least more force, on his side, he moved southwards,with those who adhered to him, in quest of new settlements, like asecond AEneas. The state of the Perthshire Highlands favoured hispurpose. A great baron in that country had lately become traitorto the crown; Ian, which was the name of our adventurer, unitedhimself with those who were commissioned by the king to chastisehim, and did such good service that he obtained a grant of theproperty, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. Hefollowed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England,where he employed his leisure hours so actively in raisingsubsidies among the boors of Northumberland and Durham, that uponhis return he was enabled to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, somuch admired by his dependants and neighbours that he, who hadhitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or John the son of Ivor, wasthereafter distinguished, both in song and genealogy, by the hightitle of Ian nan Chaistel, or John of the Tower. The descendantsof this worthy were so proud of him that the reigning chief alwaysbore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of Johnthe Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from thatfrom which they had seceded, were denominated Sliochd nan Ivor,the race of Ivor.
The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of theTower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and wasforced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favourof the Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than otherfugitives, he obtained employment in the French service, andmarried a lady of rank in that kingdom, by whom he had twochildren, Fergus and his sister Flora. The Scottish estate hadbeen forfeited and exposed to sale, but was repurchased for asmall price in the name of the young proprietor, who inconsequence came to reside upon his native domains. [Footnote: SeeNote 18.] It was soon perceived that he possessed a character ofuncommon acuteness, fire, and ambition, which, as he becameacquainted with the state of the country, gradually assumed amixed and peculiar tone, that could only have been acquired SixtyYears Since.
Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he wouldin all probability have wanted the polished manner and knowledgeof the world which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Yearslater, his ambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuelwhich his situation now afforded. He was indeed, within his littlecircle, as perfect a politician as Castruccio Castracani himself.He applied himself with great earnestness to appease all the feudsand dissensions which often arose among other clans in hisneighbourhood, so that he became a frequent umpire in theirquarrels. His own patriarchal power he strengthened at everyexpense which his fortune would permit, and indeed stretched hismeans to the uttermost to maintain the rude and plentifulhospitality which was the most valued attribute of a chieftain.For the same reason he crowded his estate with a tenantry, hardyindeed, and fit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumberingwhat the soil was calculated to maintain. These consisted chieflyof his own clan, not one of whom he suffered to quit his lands ifhe could possibly prevent it. But he maintained, besides, manyadventurers from the mother sept, who deserted a less warlike,though more wealthy chief to do homage to Fergus Mac-Ivor. Otherindividuals, too, who had not even that apology, were neverthelessreceived into his allegiance, which indeed was refused to none whowere, like Poins, proper men of their hands, and were willing toassume the name of Mac-Ivor.
He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtainedcommand of one of the independent companies raised by governmentto preserve the peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity heacted with vigour and spirit, and preserved great order in thecountry under his charge. He caused his vassals to enter byrotation into his company, and serve for a certain space of time,which gave them all in turn a general notion of militarydiscipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it was observedthat he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discretionarypower which, while the law had no free course in the Highlands,was conceived to belong to the military parties who were called into support it. He acted, for example, with great and suspiciouslenity to those freebooters who made restitution on his summonsand offered personal submission to himself, while he rigorouslypursued, apprehended, and sacrificed to justice all suchinterlopers as dared to despise his admonitions or commands. Onthe other hand, if any officers of justice, military parties, orothers, presumed to pursue thieves or marauders through histerritories, and without applying for his consent and concurrence,nothing was more certain than that they would meet with somenotable foil or defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor wasthe first to condole with them, and after gently blaming theirrashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state of thecountry. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and matterswere so represented to government that our Chieftain was deprivedof his military command. [Footnote: See Note 19.]
Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art ofentirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in ashort time the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects fromhis disgrace. Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whosedepredations had hitherto been confined to other districts,appeared from thenceforward to have made a settlement on thisdevoted border; and their ravages were carried on with littleopposition, as the Lowland gentry were chiefly Jacobites, anddisarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants into contracts ofblack-mail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not only established himtheir protector, and gave him great weight in all theirconsultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of hisfeudal hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might haveotherwise essentially diminished.
In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further objectthan merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and rulingdespotically over a small clan. From his infancy upward he haddevoted himself to the cause of the exiled family, and hadpersuaded himself, not only that their restoration to the crown ofBritain would be speedy, but that those who assisted them would beraised to honour and rank. It was with this view that he labouredto reconcile the Highlanders among themselves, and augmented hisown force to the utmost, to be prepared for the first favourableopportunity of rising. With this purpose also he conciliated thefavour of such Lowland gentlemen in the vicinity as were friendsto the good cause; and for the same reason, having incautiouslyquarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, notwithstanding hispeculiarities, was much respected in the country, he tookadvantage of the foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder up thedispute in the manner we have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmisedthat he caused the enterprise to be suggested to Donald, onpurpose to pave the way to a reconciliation, which, supposing thatto be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two good milch cows.This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart rep
aid with aconsiderable share of their confidence, an occasional supply oflouis-d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a hugewaxen seal appended, purporting to be an earl's patent, granted byno less a person than James the Third King of England, and EighthKing of Scotland, to his right feal, trusty, and well-belovedFergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, andkingdom of Scotland.
With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergusplunged deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappyperiod; and, like all such active agents, easily reconciled hisconscience to going certain lengths in the service of his party,from which honour and pride would have deterred him had his soleobject been the direct advancement of his own personal interest.With this insight into a bold, ambitious, and ardent, yet artfuland politic character, we resume the broken thread of ournarrative.
The chief and his guest had by this time reached the house ofGlennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, ahigh rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a loftedhouse, that is, a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus'sgrandfather when he returned from that memorable expedition, wellremembered by the western shires under the name of the HighlandHost. Upon occasion of this crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs andCovenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr of the time had probably been assuccessful as his predecessor was in harrying Northumberland, andtherefore left to his posterity a rival edifice as a monument ofhis magnificence.
Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of anarrow Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention toconvenience, far less to ornament and decoration, which usuallysurrounds a gentleman's habitation. An inclosure or two, dividedby dry-stone walls, were the only part of the domain that wasfenced; as to the rest, the narrow slips of level ground which layby the side of the brook exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liableto constant depredations from the herds of wild ponies and blackcattle that grazed upon the adjacent hills. These ever and anonmade an incursion upon the arable ground, which was repelled bythe loud, uncouth, and dissonant shouts of half a dozen Highlandswains, all running as if they had been mad, and every onehallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the forage. At alittle distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of birch;the hills were high and heathy, but without any variety ofsurface; so that the whole view was wild and desolate rather thangrand and solitary. Yet, such as it was, no genuine descendant ofIan nan Chaistel would have changed the domain for Stow orBlenheim.
There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps wouldhave afforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than thefinest view in the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of hiscountry. This consisted of about a hundred Highlanders, incomplete dress and arms; at sight of whom the Chieftain apologisedto Waverley in a sort of negligent manner. 'He had forgot,' hesaid, 'that he had ordered a few of his clan out, for the purposeof seeing that they were in a fit condition to protect thecountry, and prevent such accidents as, he was sorry to learn, hadbefallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they were dismissed,perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them go through apart of their exercise.'
Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precisionsome of the ordinary military movements. They then practisedindividually at a mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in themanagement of the pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing,sitting, leaning, or lying prostrate, as they were commanded, andalways with effect upon the target. Next, they paired off for thebroadsword exercise; and, having manifested their individual skilland dexterity, united in two bodies, and exhibited a sort of mockencounter, in which the charge, the rally, the flight, thepursuit, and all the current of a heady fight, were exhibited tothe sound of the great war bagpipe.
On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Matcheswere then made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar,and other sports, in which this feudal militia displayedincredible swiftness, strength, and agility; and accomplished thepurpose which their Chieftain had at heart, by impressing onWaverley no light sense of their merit as soldiers, and of thepower of him who commanded them by his nod. [Footnote: See Note20.]
'And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness tocall you leader?' asked Waverley.
'In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the raceof Ivor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores.But you are aware, Captain Waverley, that the disarming act,passed about twenty years ago, prevents their being in thecomplete state of preparation as in former times; and I keep nomore of my clan under arms than may defend my own or my friends'property, when the country is troubled with such men as your lastnight's landlord; and government, which has removed other means ofdefence, must connive at our protecting ourselves.'
'But, with your force, you might soon destroy or put down suchgangs as that of Donald Bean Lean.'
'Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up toGeneral Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have leftus; there were little policy in that, methinks. But come, captain,the sound of the pipes informs me that dinner is prepared. Let mehave the honour to show you into my rude mansion.'
