by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LXXI
This is no mine ain house, I ken by the bigging o't'. --OLD SONG.
The nuptial party travelled in great style. There was a coach and sixafter the newest pattern, which Sir Everard had presented to his nephew,that dazzled with its splendour the eyes of one half of Scotland; therewas the family coach of Mr. Rubrick;--both these were crowded withladies, and there were gentlemen on horseback, with their servants, tothe number of a round score. Nevertheless, without having the fearof famine before his eyes, Bailie Macwheeble met them in the road, toentreat that they would pass by his house at Little Veolan. The Baronstared, and said his son and he would certainly ride by Little Veolan,and pay their compliments to the Bailie, but could not think of bringingwith them the 'haill COMITATUS NUPTIALIS, or matrimonial procession.'He added, 'that, as he understood that the barony had been sold byits unworthy possessor, he was glad to see his old friend Duncan hadregained his situation under the new DOMINUS, or proprietor.' TheBailie ducked, bowed, and fidgeted, and then again insisted upon hisinvitation; until the Baron, though rather piqued at the pertinacity ofhis instances, could not nevertheless refuse to consent, without makingevident sensations which he was anxious to conceal.
He fell into a deep study as they approached the top of the avenue,and was only startled from it by observing that the battlements werereplaced, the ruins cleared sway, and (most wonderful of all) thatthe two great stone Bears, those mutilated Dagons of his idolatry, hadresumed their posts over the gateway. 'Now this new proprietor,' said heto Edward, 'has shown mair gusto, as the Italians call it, in the shorttime he has had this domain, than that hound Malcolm, though I bred himhere mysell, has acquired VITA ADHUC DURANTE.--and now I talk of hounds,is not yon Ban and Buscar, who come scouping up the avenue with DavieGallatley?'
'I vote we should go to meet them, sir,' said Waverley, 'for I believethe present master of the house is Colonel Talbot, who will expect tosee us. We hesitated to mention to you at first that he had purchasedyour ancient patrimonial property, and even yet, if you do not inclineto visit him, we can pass on to the Bailie's.'
The Baron had occasion for all his magnanimity. However, he drew a longbreath, took a long snuff, and observed, since they had brought him sofar, he could not pass the Colonel's gate, and he would be happy to seethe new master of his old tenants. He alighted accordingly, as did theother gentlemen and ladies;--he gave his arm to his daughter, and asthey descended the avenue, pointed out to her how speedily the 'DIVAPECUNIA of the Southron--their tutelary deity, he might call her--hadremoved the marks of spoliation.'
In truth, not only had the felled trees been removed, but, their stumpsbeing grubbed up, and the earth round them levelled and sown with grass,every mark of devastation, unless to an eye intimately acquaintedwith the spot, was already totally obliterated. There was a similarreformation in the outward man of Davie Gellatley, who met them, everynow and then stopping to admire the new suit which graced his person, Inthe same colours as formerly, but bedizened fine enough to have servedTouchstone himself. He danced up with his usual ungainly frolics, firstto the Baron, and then to Rose, passing his hands over his clothes,crying, 'BRA', BRA' DAVIE,' and scarce able to sing a bar to an end ofhis thousand-and-one songs, for the breathless extravagance of his joy.The dogs also acknowledged their old master with a thousand gambols.'Upon my conscience, Rose,' ejaculated the Baron, 'the gratitude o' thaedumb brutes, and of that puir innocent, brings the tears into my auldeen, while that schellum Malcolm--but I'm obliged to Colonel Talbot forputting my hounds into such good condition, and likewise for puir Davie.But, Rose, my dear, we must not permit them to be a liferent burden uponthe estate.'
As he spoke, Lady Emily, leaning upon the arm of her husband, met theparty at the lower gate, with a thousand welcomes. After the ceremonyof introduction had been gone through, much abridged by the ease andexcellent breeding of Lady Emily, she apologized for having used alittle art to wile them back to a place which might awaken some painfulreflections--'But as it was to change masters, we were very desirousthat the Baron'--
'Mr. Bradwardine, madam, if you please,' said the old gentleman.
'--Mr. Bradwardine, then, and Mr. Waverley, should see what we have donetowards restoring the mansion of your fathers to its former state.'
The Baron answered with a low bow. Indeed, when he entered the court,excepting that the heavy stables, which had been burnt down, werereplaced by buildings of a lighter and more picturesque appearance, allseemed as much as possible restored to the state in which he had leftit when he assumed arms some months before. The pigeon-house wasreplenished; the fountain played with its usual activity; and notonly the Bear who predominated over its basin, but all the other Bearswhatsoever, were replaced on their several stations, and renewed orrepaired with so much care, that they bore no tokens of the violencewhich had so lately descended upon them. While these minutiae had beenso heedfully attended to, it is scarce necessary to add, that the houseitself had been thoroughly repaired, as well as the gardens, with thestrictest attention to maintain the original character of both, andto remove, as far as possible, all appearance of the ravage they hadsustained. The Baron gazed in silent wonder; at length he addressedColonel Talbot:
'While I acknowledge my obligation to you, sir, for the restorationof the badge of our family, I cannot but marvel that you have nowhereestablished your own crest, whilk is, I believe, a mastiff, ancientlycalled a talbot; as the poet has it,
A talbot strong--a sturdy tyke.
At least such a dog is the crest of the martial and renowned Earls ofShrewsbury, to whom your family are probably blood relations.'
'I believe,' said the Colonel, smiling, 'our dogs are whelps of the samelitter: for my part, if crests were to dispute precedence, I should beapt to let them, as the proverb says, "fight dog, fight bear."'
As he made this speech, at which the Baron took another long pinch ofsnuff, they had entered the house--that is, the Baron, Rose, and LadyEmily, with young Stanley and the Bailie, for Edward and the rest of theparty remained on the terrace, to examine a new greenhouse stocked withthe finest plants. The Baron resumed his favourite topic: 'However itmay please you to derogate from the honour of your burgonet, ColonelTalbot, which is doubtless your humour, as I have seen in othergentlemen of birth and honour in your country, I must again repeat itas a most ancient and distinguished bearing, as well as that of my youngfriend Francis Stanley, which is the eagle and child.'
'The bird and bantling they call it in Derbyshire, sir,' said Stanley.
'Ye're a daft callant, sir,' said the Baron, who had a great liking tothis young man, perhaps because he sometimes teased him--'Ye're a daftcallant, and I must correct you some of these days,' shaking his greatbrown fist at him. 'But what I meant to say, Colonel Talbot, is, thatyours is an ancient PROSAPIA, or descent, and since you have lawfullyand justly acquired the estate for you and yours, which I have lost forme and mine, I wish it may remain in your name as many centuries as ithas done in that of the late proprietor's.'
'That,' answered the Colonel, 'is very handsome, Mr. Bradwardine,indeed.'
'And yet, sir, I cannot but marvel that you, Colonel, whom I noted tohave so much of the AMOR PATRIAE, when we met in Edinburgh, as even tovilipend other countries, should have chosen to establish your Lares, orhousehold gods, PROCUL A PATRIEA FINIBUS, and in a manner to expatriateyourself.'
'Why really, Baron, I do not see why, to keep the secret of thesefoolish boys, Waverley and Stanley, and of my wife, who is no wiser, oneold soldier should continue to impose upon another. You must know,then, that I have so much of that same prejudice in favour of my nativecountry, that the sum of money which I advanced to the seller of thisextensive barony has only purchased for me a box in --shire, calledBrerewood Lodge, with about two hundred and fifty acres of land,the chief merit of which is, that it is within a very few miles ofWaverley-Honour.'
'And who, then, in the name of Haven, has bought this property?'
'That,' sa
id the Colonel,' it is this gentleman's profession toexplain.'
The Bailie, whom this reference regarded, and who had all this whileshifted from one foot to another with great impatience, 'like a hen,'as he afterwards said, 'upon a het girdle'; and chuckling, he might haveadded, like the said hen in all the glory of laying an egg--now pushedforward: 'That I can, that I can, your Honour,' drawing from his pocketa budget of papers, and untying the red tape with a hand tremblingwith eagerness. 'Here is the disposition and assignation, by MalcolmBradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, regularly signed and tested in terms ofthe statute, whereby, for a certain sum of sterling money presentlycontented and paid to him, he has disponed, alienated, and conveyed thewhole estate and barony of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, withthe fortalice and manor-place--'
'For God's sake, to the point, sir--I have all that by heart,' said theColonel.
'To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq.' pursued the Bailie, 'his heirs andassignees, simply and irredeemably--to be held either A ME VEL DE ME--'
'Pray read short, sir.'
'On the conscience of an honest man, Colonel, I read as short as isconsistent with style.--Under the burden and reservation always--
'Mr. Macwheeble, this would outlast a Russian winter--give me leave. Inshort, Mr. Bradwardine, your family estate is your own once more in fullproperty, and at your absolute disposal, but only burdened with the sumadvanced to repurchase it, which I understand is utterly disproportionedto its value.
'An auld sang--an auld sang, if it please your Honours,' cried theBailie, rubbing his hands; 'look at the rental book.'
'Which sum being advanced by Mr. Edward Waverley, chiefly from the priceof his father's property which I bought from him, is secured to his ladyyour daughter, and her family by this marriage.'
'It is a catholic security,' shouted the Bailie, 'to Rose ComyneBradwardine, ALIAS Wauverley, in liferent, and the children of thesaid marriage in fee; and I made up a wee bit minute of an ante-nuptialcontract, INTUITU MATRIMONII, so it cannot be subject to reductionhereafter, as a donation INTER VIRUM ET UXOREM.'
It is difficult to say whether the worthy Baron was most delightedwith the restitution of his family property, or with the delicacy andgenerosity that left him unfettered to pursue his purpose in disposingof it after his death, and which avoided, as much as possible, eventhe appearance of laying him under pecuniary obligation. When his firstpause of joy and astonishment was over, his thoughts turned to theunworthy heir-male, who, he pronounced, 'had sold his birthright, likeEsau, for a mess o' pottage.'
'But wha cookit the parritch for him?' exclaimed the Bailie; 'I wad liketo ken that--wha but your Honour's to command, Duncan Macwheeble?His Honour, young Mr. Wauverley, put it a' into my hand frae thebeginning--frae the first calling o' the summons, as I may say. Icircumvented them--I played at bogle about the bush wi' them--I cajoledthem; and if I havena gien Inch-Grabbit and Jamie Howie a bonnie begunk,they ken themselves. Him a writer! I didna gea slapdash to them wi' ouryoung bra' bridegroom, to gar them haud up the market; na, na; I scaredthem wi' our wild tenantry, and the Mac-Ivors, that are but ill settledyet, till they durstna on ony errand whatsoever gang ower thedoorstane after gloaming, for fear John Heatherblutter, or some siccandare-the-deil, should tak a baff at them: then, on the other hand, Ibeflumm'd them wi' Colonel Talbot--wad they offer to keep up the priceagain' the Duke's friend? did they na ken wha was master? had they naseen eneugh, by the sad example of mony a puir misguided unhappy body--'
'Who went to Derby, for example, Mr. Macwheeble?' said the Colonel tohim, aside.
'Oh' whisht, Colonel, for the love o' God! let that flee stick i'the wa'. There were mony good folk at Derby; and it's ill speaking ofhalters,'--with a sly cast of his eye toward the Baron, who was in adeep reverie.
Starting out of it at once, he took Macwheeble by the button, and ledhim into one of the deep window recesses, whence only fragments of theirconversation reached the rest of the party. It certainly related tostamp-paper and parchment; for no other subject, even from the mouth ofhis patron, and he, once more an efficient one, could have arrested sodeeply the Bailie's reverent and absorbed attention.
'I understand your Honour perfectly; it can be dune as easy as takingout a decreet in absence.'
'To her and him, after my demise, and to their heirs-male,--butpreferring the second son, if God shall bless them with two, who is tocarry the name and arms of Bradwardine of that Ilk, without any othername or armorial bearings whatsoever.'
'Tut, your Honour!' whispered the Bailie, 'I'll mak a slight jotting themorn; it will cost but a charter of resignation IN FAVOREM; and I'll haeit ready for the next term in Exchequer.
Their private conversation ended, the Baron was now summoned to do thehonours of Tully-Veolan to new guests. These were, Major Melville ofCairnvreckan, and the Reverend Mr. Morton, followed by two or threeothers of the Baron's acquaintances, who had been made privy to hishaving again acquired the estate of his fathers. The shouts of thevillagers were also heard beneath in the courtyard; for SaundersSaunderson, who had kept the secret for several days with laudableprudence, had unloosed his tongue upon beholding the arrival of thecarriages.
But, while Edward received Major Melville with politeness, and theclergyman with the most affectionate and grateful kindness, hisfather-in-law looked a little awkward, as uncertain how he should answerthe necessary claims of hospitality to his guests, and forward thefestivity of his tenants. Lady Emily relieved him, by intimating, that,though she must be an indifferent representative of Mrs. Edward Waverleyin many respects, she hoped the Baron would approve of the entertainmentshe had ordered, in expectation of so many guests; and that they wouldfind such other accommodations provided, as might in some degree supportthe ancient hospitality of Tully-Veolan. It is impossible to describethe pleasure which this assurance gave the Baron, who, with an air ofgallantry half appertaining to the stiff Scottish laird, and half to theofficer in the French service, offered his arm to the fair speaker, andled the way, in something between a stride and a minuet step, into thelarge dining parlour, followed by all the rest of the good company.
By dint of Saunderson's directions and exertions, all here, as well asin the other apartments, had been disposed as much as possible accordingto the old arrangement; and where new movables had been necessary, theyhad been selected in the same character with the old furniture, Therewas one addition to this fine old apartment, however, which drewtears into the Baron's eyes. It was a large and spirited painting,representing Fergus Mac-Ivor and Waverley in their Highland dress; thescene a wild, rocky, and mountainous pass, down which the clan weredescending in the background. It was taken from a spirited sketch, drawnwhile they were in Edinburgh by a young man of high genius, and hadbeen painted on a full-length scale by an eminent London artist. Raeburnhimself (whose Highland chiefs do all but walk out of the canvas) couldnot have done more justice to the subject; and the ardent, fiery, andimpetuous character of the unfortunate Chief of Glennaquoich was finelycontrasted with the contemplative, fanciful, and enthusiastic expressionof his happier friend. Beside this painting hung the arms which Waverleyhad borne in the unfortunate civil war; The whole piece was beheld withadmiration, and deeper feelings.
Men must, however, eat, in spite both of sentiment and vertu; and theBaron, while he assumed the lower end of the table, insisted that LadyEmily should do the honours of the head, that they might, he said, set ameet example to the YOUNG FOLK. After a pause of deliberation, employedin adjusting in his own brain the precedence between the Presbyteriankirk and Episcopal church of Scotland, he requested Mr. Morton, as thestranger, would crave a blessing,--observing, that Mr. Rubrick, who wasat home, would return thanks for the distinguished mercies it had beenhis lot to experience. The dinner was excellent. Saunderson attendedin full costume, with all the former domestics, who had been collected,excepting one or two, that had not been heard of since the affair ofCulloden. The cellars were stocked with wine which was pronounced to besuperb, and it had been co
ntrived that the Bear of the Fountain, in thecourtyard, should (for that night only) play excellent brandy punch forthe benefit of the lower orders.
When the dinner was over, the Baron, about to propose a toast, cast asomewhat sorrowful look upon the sideboard,--which, however, exhibitedmuch of his plate, that had either been secreted or purchased byneighbouring gentlemen from the soldiery, and by them gladly restored tothe original owner.
'In the late times,' he said, 'those must be thankful who have savedlife and land; yet, when I am about to pronounce this toast, I cannotbut regret an old heirloom, Lady Emily--A POCULUM POTATORIUM, ColonelTalbot'--
Here the Baron's elbow was gently touched by his major-demo, and,turning round, he beheld, in the hands of Alexander ab Alexandro, thecelebrated cup of Saint Duthac, the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine! Iquestion if the recovery of his estate afforded him more rapture. 'Bymy honour,' he said, 'one might almost believe in brownies and fairies,Lady Emily, when your ladyship is in presence!'
'I am truly happy,' said Colonel Talbot, 'that by the recovery of thispiece of family antiquity, it has fallen within my power to give yousome token of my deep interest in all that concerns my young friendEdward. But that you may not suspect Lady Emily for a sorceress, or mefor a conjurer, which is no joke in Scotland, I must tell you that FrankStanley, your friend, who has been seized with a tartan fever ever sincehe heard Edward's tales of old Scottish manners, happened to describe tous at second hand this remarkable cup. My servant, Spontoon, who, likea true old soldier, observes everything and says little, gave meafterwards to understand that he thought he had seen the piece of plateMr. Stanley mentioned, in the possession of a certain Mrs. Nosebag,who, having been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker, had foundopportunity, during the late unpleasant scenes in Scotland, to tradea little in her old line, and so became the depositary of the morevaluable part of the spoil of half the army. You may believe the cup wasspeedily recovered; and it will give me very great pleasure if you allowme to suppose that its value is not diminished by having been restoredthrough my means.'
A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he proposed acup of gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and 'The Prosperity of the unitedHouses of Waverley-Honour and Bradwardine!'--
It only remains for me to say, that as no wish was ever uttered withmore affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing for thenecessary mutability of human events, have been, upon the whole, morehappily fulfilled.
