Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Volume 01

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER III

  Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages Of strange turns in the world's affairs, Foreseen by astrologers, soothsayers, Chaldeans, learned genethliacs, And some that have writ almanacks?

  Hudibras.

  The circumstances of the landlady were pleaded to Mannering, first, asan apology for her not appearing to welcome her guest, and for thosedeficiencies in his entertainment which her attention might havesupplied, and then as an excuse for pressing an extra bottle of goodwine. 'I cannot weel sleep,' said the Laird, with the anxious feelingsof a father in such a predicament, 'till I hear she's gotten ower withit; and if you, sir, are not very sleepery, and would do me and theDominie the honour to sit up wi' us, I am sure we shall not detain youvery late. Luckie Howatson is very expeditious. There was ance a lassthat was in that way; she did not live far from hereabouts--ye neednashake your head and groan, Dominie; I am sure the kirk dues were a'weel paid, and what can man do mair?--it was laid till her ere she hada sark ower her head; and the man that she since wadded does not thinkher a pin the waur for the misfortune. They live, Mr. Mannering, by theshoreside at Annan, and a mair decent, orderly couple, with six as finebairns as ye would wish to see plash in a saltwater dub; and littlecurlie Godfrey--that's the eldest, the come o' will, as I may say--he'son board an excise yacht. I hae a cousin at the board of excise; that'sCommissioner Bertram; he got his commissionership in the great contestfor the county, that ye must have heard of, for it was appealed to theHouse of Commons. Now I should have voted there for the Laird ofBalruddery; but ye see my father was a Jacobite, and out with Kenmore,so he never took the oaths; and I ken not weel how it was, but all thatI could do and say, they keepit me off the roll, though my agent, thathad a vote upon my estate, ranked as a good vote for auld Sir ThomasKittlecourt. But, to return to what I was saying, Luckie Howatson isvery expeditious, for this lass--'

  Here the desultory and long-winded narrative of the Laird wasinterrupted by the voice of some one ascending the stairs from thekitchen story, and singing at full pitch of voice. The high notes weretoo shrill for a man, the low seemed too deep for a woman. The words,as far as Mannering could distinguish them, seemed to run thus:--

  Canny moment, lucky fit! Is the lady lighter yet? Be it lad, or be it lass, Sign wi' cross and sain wi' mass.

  'It's Meg Merrilies, the gipsy, as sure as I am a sinner,' said Mr.Bertram. The Dominie groaned deeply, uncrossed his legs, drew in thehuge splay foot which his former posture had extended, placed itperpendicularly, and stretched the other limb over it instead, puffingout between whiles huge volumes of tobacco smoke. 'What needs ye groan,Dominie? I am sure Meg's sangs do nae ill.'

  'Nor good neither,' answered Dominie Sampson, in a voice whoseuntuneable harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his figure.They were the first words which Mannering had heard him speak; and ashe had been watching with some curiosity when this eating, drinking,moving, and smoking automaton would perform the part of speaking, hewas a good deal diverted with the harsh timber tones which issued fromhim. But at this moment the door opened, and Meg Merrilies entered.

  Her appearance made Mannering start. She was full six feet high, wore aman's great-coat over the rest of her dress, had in her hand a goodlysloethorn cudgel, and in all points of equipment, except herpetticoats, seemed rather masculine than feminine. Her dark elf-locksshot out like the snakes of the gorgon between an old-fashioned bonnetcalled a bongrace, heightening the singular effect of her strong andweather-beaten features, which they partly shadowed, while her eye hada wild roll that indicated something like real or affected insanity.

  'Aweel, Ellangowan,' she said, 'wad it no hae been a bonnie thing, anthe leddy had been brought to bed, and me at the fair o' Drumshourloch,no kenning, nor dreaming a word about it? Wha was to hae keepit awa theworriecows, I trow? Ay, and the elves and gyre-carlings frae the bonniebairn, grace be wi' it? Ay, or said Saint Colme's charm for its sake,the dear?' And without waiting an answer she began to sing--

  Trefoil, vervain, John's-wort, dill, Hinders witches of their will, Weel is them, that weel may Fast upon Saint Andrew's day.

  Saint Bride and her brat, Saint Colme and his cat, Saint Michael and his spear, Keep the house frae reif and wear.

  This charm she sung to a wild tune, in a high and shrill voice, and,cutting three capers with such strength and agility as almost to touchthe roof of the room, concluded, 'And now, Laird, will ye no order me atass o' brandy?'

  'That you shall have, Meg. Sit down yont there at the door and tell uswhat news ye have heard at the fair o' Drumshourloch.'

  'Troth, Laird, and there was muckle want o' you, and the like o' you;for there was a whin bonnie lasses there, forbye mysell, and deil aneto gie them hansels.'

  'Weel, Meg, and how mony gipsies were sent to the tolbooth?'

  'Troth, but three, Laird, for there were nae mair in the fair, byemysell, as I said before, and I e'en gae them leg-bail, for there's naeease in dealing wi' quarrelsome fowk. And there's Dunbog has warned theRed Rotten and John Young aff his grunds--black be his cast! he's naegentleman, nor drap's bluid o' gentleman, wad grudge twa gangrel puirbodies the shelter o' a waste house, and the thristles by the roadsidefor a bit cuddy, and the bits o' rotten birk to boil their drapparritch wi'. Weel, there's Ane abune a'; but we'll see if the red cockcraw not in his bonnie barn-yard ae morning before day-dawing.'

  'Hush! Meg, hush! hush! that's not safe talk.'

  'What does she mean?' said Mannering to Sampson, in an undertone.

  'Fire-raising,' answered the laconic Dominie.

  'Who, or what is she, in the name of wonder?'

  'Harlot, thief, witch, and gipsy,' answered Sampson again.

  'O troth, Laird,' continued Meg, during this by-talk, 'it's but to thelike o' you ane can open their heart; ye see, they say Dunbog is naemair a gentleman than the blunker that's biggit the bonnie house downin the howm. But the like o' you, Laird, that's a real gentleman forsae mony hundred years, and never hunds puir fowk aff your grund as ifthey were mad tykes, nane o' our fowk wad stir your gear if ye had asmony capons as there's leaves on the trysting-tree. And now some o' yemaun lay down your watch, and tell me the very minute o' the hour thewean's born, an I'll spae its fortune.'

  'Ay, but, Meg, we shall not want your assistance, for here's a studentfrom Oxford that kens much better than you how to spae its fortune; hedoes it by the stars.'

  'Certainly, sir,' said Mannering, entering into the simple humour ofhis landlord, 'I will calculate his nativity according to the rule ofthe "triplicities," as recommended by Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Diocles,and Avicenna. Or I will begin ab hora questionis, as Haly, Messahala,Ganwehis, and Guido Bonatus have recommended.'

  One of Sampson's great recommendations to the favour of Mr. Bertramwas, that he never detected the most gross attempt at imposition, sothat the Laird, whose humble efforts at jocularity were chieflyconfined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominatedhoaxes and quizzes, had the fairest possible subject of wit in theunsuspecting Dominie. It is true, he never laughed, or joined in thelaugh which his own simplicity afforded--nay, it is said, he neverlaughed but once in his life, and on that memorable occasion hislandlady miscarried, partly through surprise at the event itself, andpartly from terror at the hideous grimaces which attended this unusualcachinnation. The only effect which the discovery of such impositionsproduced upon this saturnine personage was, to extort an ejaculation of'Prodigious!' or 'Very facetious!' pronounced syllabically, but withoutmoving a muscle of his own countenance.

  On the present occasion, he turned a gaunt and ghastly stare upon theyouthful astrologer, and seemed to doubt if he had rightly understoodhis answer to his patron.

  'I am afraid, sir,' said Mannering, turning towards him, 'you may beone of those unhappy persons who, their dim eyes being unable topenetrate the starry spheres, and to discern therein the decrees ofheaven at a dista
nce, have their hearts barred against conviction byprejudice and misprision.'

  'Truly,' said Sampson, 'I opine with Sir Isaac Newton, Knight, andumwhile master of his Majesty's mint, that the (pretended) science ofastrology is altogether vain, frivolous, and unsatisfactory.' And herehe reposed his oracular jaws.

  'Really,' resumed the traveller, 'I am sorry to see a gentleman of yourlearning and gravity labouring under such strange blindness anddelusion. Will you place the brief, the modern, and, as I may say, thevernacular name of Isaac Newton in opposition to the grave and sonorousauthorities of Dariot, Bonatus, Ptolemy, Haly, Eztler, Dieterick,Naibob, Harfurt, Zael, Taustettor, Agrippa, Duretus, Maginus, Origen,and Argol? Do not Christians and Heathens, and Jews and Gentiles, andpoets and philosophers, unite in allowing the starry influences?'

  'Communis error--it is a general mistake,' answered the inflexibleDominie Sampson.

  'Not so,' replied the young Englishman; 'it is a general andwell-grounded belief.'

  'It is the resource of cheaters, knaves, and cozeners,' said Sampson.

  'Abusus non tollit usum.--The abuse of anything doth not abrogate thelawful use thereof.'

  During this discussion Ellangowan was somewhat like a woodcock caughtin his own springe. He turned his face alternately from the onespokesman to the other, and began, from the gravity with whichMannering plied his adversary, and the learning which he displayed inthe controversy, to give him credit for being half serious. As for Meg,she fixed her bewildered eyes upon the astrologer, overpowered by ajargon more mysterious than her own.

  Mannering pressed his advantage, and ran over all the hard terms of artwhich a tenacious memory supplied, and which, from circumstanceshereafter to be noticed, had been familiar to him in early youth.

  Signs and planets, in aspects sextile, quartile, trine, conjoined, oropposite; houses of heaven, with their cusps, hours, and minutes;almuten, almochoden, anabibazon, catabibazon; a thousand terms of equalsound and significance, poured thick and threefold upon the unshrinkingDominie, whose stubborn incredulity bore him out against the pelting ofthis pitiless storm.

  At length the joyful annunciation that the lady had presented herhusband with a fine boy, and was (of course) as well as could beexpected, broke off this intercourse. Mr. Bertram hastened to thelady's apartment, Meg Merrilies descended to the kitchen to secure hershare of the groaning malt and the 'ken-no,' [Footnote: See Note i.]and Mannering, after looking at his watch, and noting with greatexactness the hour and minute of the birth, requested, with becominggravity, that the Dominie would conduct him to some place where hemight have a view of the heavenly bodies.

  The schoolmaster, without further answer, rose and threw open a doorhalf sashed with glass, which led to an old-fashioned terrace-walkbehind the modern house, communicating with the platform on which theruins of the ancient castle were situated. The wind had arisen, andswept before it the clouds which had formerly obscured the sky. Themoon was high, and at the full, and all the lesser satellites of heavenshone forth in cloudless effulgence. The scene which their lightpresented to Mannering was in the highest degree unexpected andstriking.

  We have observed, that in the latter part of his journey our travellerapproached the sea-shore, without being aware how nearly. He nowperceived that the ruins of Ellangowan Castle were situated upon apromontory, or projection of rock, which formed one side of a small andplacid bay on the sea-shore. The modern mansion was placed lower,though closely adjoining, and the ground behind it descended to the seaby a small swelling green bank, divided into levels by naturalterraces, on which grew some old trees, and terminating upon the whitesand. The other side of the bay, opposite to the old castle, was asloping and varied promontory, covered chiefly with copsewood, which onthat favoured coast grows almost within water-mark. A fisherman'scottage peeped from among the trees. Even at this dead hour of nightthere were lights moving upon the shore, probably occasioned by theunloading a smuggling lugger from the Isle of Man which was lying inthe bay. On the light from the sashed door of the house being observed,a halloo from the vessel of 'Ware hawk! Douse the glim!' alarmed thosewho were on shore, and the lights instantly disappeared.

  It was one hour after midnight, and the prospect around was lovely. Thegrey old towers of the ruin, partly entire, partly broken, here bearingthe rusty weather-stains of ages, and there partially mantled with ivy,stretched along the verge of the dark rock which rose on Mannering'sright hand. In his front was the quiet bay, whose little waves,crisping and sparkling to the moonbeams, rolled successively along itssurface, and dashed with a soft and murmuring ripple against thesilvery beach. To the left the woods advanced far into the ocean,waving in the moonlight along ground of an undulating and varied form,and presenting those varieties of light and shade, and that interestingcombination of glade and thicket, upon which the eye delights to rest,charmed with what it sees, yet curious to pierce still deeper into theintricacies of the woodland scenery. Above rolled the planets, each, byits own liquid orbit of light, distinguished from the inferior or moredistant stars. So strangely can imagination deceive even those by whosevolition it has been excited, that Mannering, while gazing upon thesebrilliant bodies, was half inclined to believe in the influenceascribed to them by superstition over human events. But Mannering was ayouthful lover, and might perhaps be influenced by the feelings soexquisitely expressed by a modern poet:--

  For fable is Love's world, his home, his birthplace: Delightedly dwells he 'mong fays, and talismans, And spirits, and delightedly believes Divinities, being himself divine The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty, That had their haunts in dale, or piny mountain, Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and wat'ry depths--all these have vanish'd; They live no longer in the faith of reason! But still the heart doth need a language, still Doth the old instinct bring back the old names. And to yon starry world they now are gone, Spirits or gods, that used to share this earth With man as with their friend, and to the lover Yonder they move, from yonder visible sky Shoot influence down; and even at this day 'T is Jupiter who brings whate'er is great, And Venus who brings everything that's fair.

  Such musings soon gave way to others. 'Alas!' he muttered, 'my good oldtutor, who used to enter so deep into the controversy between Heydonand Chambers on the subject of astrology, he would have looked upon thescene with other eyes, and would have seriously endeavoured to discoverfrom the respective positions of these luminaries their probableeffects on the destiny of the new-born infant, as if the courses oremanations of the stars superseded, or at least were co-ordinate with,Divine Providence. Well, rest be with him! he instilled into me enoughof knowledge for erecting a scheme of nativity, and therefore will Ipresently go about it.' So saying, and having noted the position of theprincipal planetary bodies, Guy Mannering returned to the house. TheLaird met him in the parlour, and, acquainting him with great glee thatthe boy was a fine healthy little fellow, seemed rather disposed topress further conviviality. He admitted, however, Mannering's plea ofweariness, and, conducting him to his sleeping apartment, left him torepose for the evening.