CHAPTER XVIII.

WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY.

tered or left the place without any other ceremony was, of course, liable to sudden migrations of abode. than a few words in Gaelic to the principal outlaw, Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, he and, when he fell asleep, to a tall Highlander who beheld a Highlander (Evan apparently) angling in acted as his lieutenant, and seemed to keep watch the lake, with another attending him, whom, from during his repose. Those who entered, seemed to the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for have returned from some excursion, of which they his friend with the battle-axe. reported the success, and went without farther cere- Much nearer to the mouth of the cave he heard the mony to the larder, where cutting with their dirks notes of a lively Gaelic song, guided by which, in a their rations from the carcasses which were there sunny recess, shaded by a glittering birch-tree, and suspended, they proceeded to broil and eat them at carpeted with a bank of firm white sand, he found their own pleasure and leisure. The liquor was under the damsel of the cavern, whose lay had already strict regulation, being served out either by Donald reached him, busy, to the best of her power, in arhimself, his lieutenant, or the strapping Highland girl ranging to advantage a morning repast of milk, eggs, aforesaid, who was the only female that appeared. barley-bread, fresh butter, and honey-comb. The The allowance of whisky, however, would have ap- poor girl had already made a circuit of four miles that peared prodigal to any but Highlanders, who, living morning in search of the eggs, of the meal which entirely in the open air, and in a very moist climate, baked her cakes, and of the other materials of the can consume great quantities of ardent spirits with- breakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg out the usual baneful effects either upon the brain or or borrow from distant cottagers. The followers of constitution. Donald Bean Lean used little food except the flesh At length the fluctuating groups began to swim be- of the animals which they drove away from the fore the eyes of our hero as they gradually closed; nor Lowlands; bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought did he re-open them till the morning sun was high of, because hard to be obtained, and all the domestic on the lake without, though there was but a faint and accommodations of milk, poultry, butter, &c., were glimmering twilight in the recesses of Uaimh an Ri, out of the question in this Scythian camp. Yet it or the King's Cavern, as the abode of Donald Bean must not be omitted, that although Alice had occuLean was proudly denominated. pied a part of the morning in providing those accommodations for her guest which the cavern did not afford, she had secured time also to arrange her own person in her best trim. Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, and a petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these WHEN Edward had collected his scattered recol- were clean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet lection, he was surprised to observe the cavern to- embroidered cloth, called the snood, confined her tally deserted. Having arisen and put his dress in hair, which fell over it in a profusion of rich dark some order, he looked more accurately round him; curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of her but all was still solitary. If it had not been for the dress, was laid aside, that it might not impede her decayed brands of the fire, now sunk into gray ashes, activity in attending the stranger. I should forget and the remnants of the festival, consisting of bones Alice's proudest ornament, were I to omit mentionhalf burnt and half gnawed, and an empty keg or ing a pair of gold ear-rings, and a golden rosary, two, there remained no traces of Donald and his which her father (for she was the daughter of Donald band. When Waverley sallied forth to the entrance Bean Lean) had brought from France, the plunder, of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on probably, of some battle or storm. which remained the marks of last night's beacon, Her form, though rather large for her years, was was accessible by a small path, either natural, or very well proportioned, and her demeanour had a naroughly hewn in the rock, along the little inlet of tural and rustic grace, with nothing of the sheepishwater which ran a few yards up into the cavern, ness of an ordinary peasant. The smiles, displaying where, as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him a row of teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the laughthere the night before, was still lying moored. When ing eyes, with which, in dumb show, she gave Wahe reached the small projecting platform on which verley that morning greeting which she wanted Engthe beacon had been established, he would have be-lish words to express, might have been interpreted by lieved his farther progress by land impossible, only a coxcomb, or perhaps by a young soldier, who, withthat it was scarce probable but what the inhabitants out being such, was conscious of a handsome person, of the cavern had some mode of issuing from it other- as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an wise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon ob-hostess. Nor do I take it upon me to say, that the served three or four shelving steps, or ledges of rock, little wild mountaineer would have welcomed any at the very extremity of the little platform; and, staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron of making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains their means round the projecting shoulder of the which she bestowed upon Edward's accommodation. crag on which the cavern opened, and, descending She seemed eager to place him by the meal which with some difficulty on the other side, he gained the she had so sedulously arranged, and to which she wild and precipitous shores of a highland loch, about now added a few bunches of cran-berries, gathered in four miles in length, and a mile and a half across, an adjacent morass. Having had the satisfaction of surrounded by heathy and savage mountains, on the seeing him seated at his breakfast, she placed herself crests of which the morning mist was still sleeping. demurely upon a stone at a few yards' distance, and Looking back to the place from which he came, appeared to watch with great complacency for some he could not help admiring the address which had opportunity of serving him. adopted a retreat of such seclusion and secrecy. The Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along rock, round the shoulder of which he had turned by the beach, the latter bearing a large salmon trout, the a few imperceptible notches, that barely afforded place produce of the morning's sport, together with the for the foot, seemed, in looking back upon it, a huge angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward, with an precipice, which barred all farther passage by the easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the shores of the lake in that direction. There could be spot where Waverley was so agreeably employed at no possibility, the breadth of the lake considered, of the breakfast-table. After morning greetings had descrying the entrance of the narrow and low-browed passed on both sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, cave from the other side; so that, unless the retreat had said something in Gaelic to Alice, which made had been sought for with boats, or disclosed by trea- her laugh, yet colour up to her eyes, through a comchery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its plexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evan intigarrison as long as they were supplied with provi- mated his commands that the fish should be prepared sions. Having satisfied his curiosity in these parti- for breakfast. A spark from the lock of his pistol culars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu and produced a light, and a few withered fir branches his attendant, who, he rightly judged, would be at no were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot great distance, whatever might have become of Do- embers, on which the trout was broiled in large slices. nald Bean Lean and his party, whose mode of life To crown the repast, Evan produced from the pocket

of his short jerkin, a large scallop shell, and from shall be, if he have the good fortune to be hanged) under the folds of his plaid, a ram's horn full of whis- done with the Baron's cattle?"

ky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing, he had "Oich," answered Evan, "they were all trudging already taken his morning with Donald Bean Lean, before your lad and Allan Kennedy before the sun before his departure; he offered the same cordial to blinked ower Ben-Lawers this morning; and they'll Alice and to Edward, which they both declined. With be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in their the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered the way back to the parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, with- that were unhappily slaughtered before I got last night out waiting to be asked a second time, drank it off to Uaimh an Ri."

with great gusto. Evan then prepared to move to- "And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so wards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. bold as to ask?" said Waverley.

Meanwhile, Alice had made up in a small basket "Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's what she thought worth removing, and flinging her ain house of Glennaquoich? Ye would not think to plaid around her, she advanced up to Edward, and be in his country, without ganging to see him? It with the utmost simplicity, taking hold of his hand, would be as much as a man's life's worth." offered her cheek to his salute, dropping, at the same "And are we far from Glennaquoich ?" time, her little courtesy. Evan, who was esteemed a "But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will wag among the mountain fair, advanced, as if to se- meet us." cure a similar favour; but Alice, snatching up her bas- In about half an hour they reached the upper end ket, escaped up the rocky bank as fleetly as a roe, and, of the lake, where, after landing Waverley, the two turning round and laughing, called something out to Highlanders drew the boat into a little creek among him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same tone thick flags and reeds, where it lay perfectly concealed. and language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she The oars they put in another place of concealment, resumed her road, and was soon lost among the thick- both for the use of Donald Bean Lean probably, when ets, though they continued for some time to hear her his occasions should next bring him to that place. lively carol, as she proceeded gayly on her solitary journey.

The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into the hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. When they had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley renewed his questions about their host of the cavern.

66

Does he always reside in that cave?"

"Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be found at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in the whole country, that he's not acquainted with."

They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into the boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the morning breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed the helm, directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, rather higher up the lake than towards the place of his embarkation on the preceding night. As they glided along the silver mirror, Evan opened the conversation with a panegyric upon Alice, who, he said, was both And do others beside your master shelter him ?" canny and fendy; and was, to the boot of all that, the 'My master ?-My master is in Heaven," answerbest dancer of a strathspey in the whole strath. Ed-ed Evan, haughtily; and then immediately assumward assented to her praises so far as he understood ing his usual civility of manner, "but you mean my them, yet could not help regretting that she was con- Chief;-no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, demned to such a perilous and dismal life. nor any that are like him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and water.'"

"Oich! for that," said Evan, "there is nothing in Perthshire that she need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot or too heavy."

'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer-a common thief!"

"Common thief!-No such thing: Donald Bean Lean never lifted less than a drove in his life."

"Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?" "No-he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from a cottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, is a gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmon from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, is what no Highlander need ever think shame upon."

"But what can this end in, were he taken in such an appropriation?"

"To be sure he would die for the law, as many a pretty man has done before him."

"Die for the law!"

'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very plenty."

"Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I mean the loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the laird were to look for him wi' threescore men in the wood of Kailychat yonder; and if our boats, with a score or twa mair, were to come down the loch to Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell, or ony other pretty man."

"But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country, would not your Chief defend him?"

"Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him -if they came with the law."

And what must Donald do, then?"

"He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may be, over the mount upon Letter Scriven." And if he were pursued to that place?"

"I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Ran

'Ay; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strap-noch." ped up on the kind gallows of Crieff, where his father died, and his goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die himsell, if he's not shot, or slashed, in a creagh."

"You hope such a death for your friend, Evan?" And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundle of wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?"

"But what becomes of Alice, then?" "Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would not need her help ony langer, I ken nought to hinder me to marry her mysell."

"Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?" "That," quoth Evan, "is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell you the truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow the fray a gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help of the Sidier Dhu."

"Whom do you call so?"

"The Sidier Dhu? the black soldier; that is what they call the independent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in the Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years, and I was sergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call "Gallantly resolved," said Edward;-"but, in the them Sidier Dhu, because they wear the tartans, as meanwhile, Evan, what has your father-in-law (that they call your men-King George's men,-Sidier * This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last gene- Roy, or red soldiers."

ration, still standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Perthshire. Why it was called the kind gallows, we are unable to inform the reader with certainty; but it is alleged that the Evan, you were surely King George's soldiers?"" Highlanders used to touch their bonnets as they passed a place "Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about which had been fatal to many of their countrymen, with the that; for we are for his king, and care not much ejaculation" God bless her nain sell, and the Tiel tamn you!" which o' them it is. At ony rate, nobody can say It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort of native

or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in fulfil we are King George's men now, when we have not ment of a natural destiny. seen his pay this twelvemonth."

This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did our readers. At length, after having marched over Edward attempt any; he rather chose to bring back bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though the discourse to Donald Bean Lean. "Does Donald not unacquainted with the Scottish liberality in comconfine himself to cattle, or does he lift, as you call puting distance, began to think that Evan's five miles it, any thing else that comes in his way ?" were nearly doubled. His observation on the large "Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony measure which the Scottish allowed of their land, in thing, but most readily cattle, horse, or live Chris-comparison to the computation of their money, was tians; for sheep are slow of travel, and inside plen- readily answered by Evan, with the old jest, "The ishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easy to put deil take them wha have the least pint stoup."+ away for siller in this country."

And now the report of a gun was heard, and sportsman was seen, with his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. Shough," said Dugald Mahony, "tat's ta Chief." "It is not," said Evan, imperiously. "Do you think he would come to meet a Sassenach Duinhéwassel in such a way as that?"

But does he carry off men and women?" "Out, ay. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It cost that body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough.-And ance Donald played a pretty sport. There was to be a blythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns, (she was the auld laird's widow, and no sae But as they approached a little nearer, he said, young as she had been hersell,) and young Gillie- with an appearance of mortification, “And it is even whackit, who had spent his heirship and movables, he, sure enough; and he has not his tail on after all; like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, -there is no living creature with him but Callum horse-races, and the like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, Beg." being aware that the bridegroom was in request, and In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the siller,) might have said, as truly as of any man in the Highhe cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when lands, Qu'il connoit bien ses gens," had no idea he was riding dovering hame, (wi' the malt rather of raising himself in the eyes of an English young abune the meal,) and with the help of his gillies he man of fortune, by appearing with a retinue of idle gat him into the hills with the speed of light, and the Highlanders disproportioned to the occasion. He first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh an was wel! aware that such an unnecessary attendance R. So there was old to do about ransoming the would seem to Edward rather ludicrous than respectbridegroom; for Donald would not lower a farthing able; and while few men were more attached to of a thousand punds"ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for "The devil!" that very reason, cautious of exhibiting external "Punds Scottish, ye shall understand. And the marks of dignity, unless at the time and in the manlady had not the siller if she had pawned her gown; ner when they were most likely to produce an impoand they applied to the governor o' Stirling castle, sing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to reand to the major o' the Black Watch; and the go-ceive a brother chieftain, he would probably have vernor said, it was ower far to the northward, and been attended by all that retinue which Evan deout of his district; and the major said, his men were scribed with so much unction, he judged it more regane hame to the shearing, and he would not call spectable to advance to meet Waverley with a single them out before the victual was got in for all the attendant, a very handsome Highland boy, who carCramfeezers in Christendom, let alane the Mearns, ried his master's shooting-pouch and his broadfor that it would prejudice the country. And in the sword, without which he seldom went abroad. meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was small-pox. There was not the doctor in Perth or struck with the peculiar grace and dignity of the Stirling would look near the poor lad; and I cannot Chieftain's figure. Above the middle size, and finely blame them, for Donald had been misguggled by ane proportioned, the Highland dress, which he wore in of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would its simplest mode, set off his person to great advanfling the first into the loch that he catched beyond tage. He wore the trews, or close trowsers, made the Pass. However, some cailliachs, (that is, old of tartan, chequed scarlet and white; in other partiwomen,) that were about Donald's hand, nursed Gil-culars, his dress strictly resembled Evan's, excepting liewhackit sae weel, that between the free open air that he had no we on save a dirk, very richly in the cove and the fresh whey, deil an he did not mounted with silver. His page, as we have said, recover may be as weel as if he had been closed in a carried his claymore; and the fowling-piece, which glazed chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with he held in his hand, seemed only designed for sport. red wine aud white meat. And Donald was sae He had shot in the course of his walk some young vexed about it, that when he was stout and weel, he wild-ducks, as, though close-time was then unknown, even sent him free home, and said he would be the broods of grouse were yet too young for the sportspleased with ony thing they would like to gie him for man. His countenance was decidedly Scottish, with the plague and trouble which he had about Gillie- all the peculiarities of the northern physiognomy, but whackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell yet had so little of its harshness and exaggeration, you precisely how they sorted; but they agreed sae that it would have been pronounced in any country right that Donald was invited to dance at the wed-extremely handsome. The martial air of the bonding in his Highland trews, and they said that there net, with a single eagle's feather as a distinction, was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either added much to the manly appearance of his head, before or since. And to the boot of all that, Gillie- which was besides ornamented with a far more na: whackit said, that, be the evidence what it liked, if tural and graceful cluster of close black curls than he had the luck to be on Donald's inquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless it were wilful arson, or murder under trust."

ever were exposed to sale in Bond-Street.

An air of openness and affability increased the favourable impression derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yet a skilful physiognomist would have been less satisfied with the countenance on the second than on the first view. The eye-brow and upper lip bespoke something of the habit of peremp tory command and decisive superiority. Even his courtesy, though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemed to indicate a sense of personal importance; and, upon any check or accidental excitation, a sudden, though transient lower of the eye, showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be The Scotch are liberal in computing their land and liquor;

With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on illustrating the existing state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement of Waverley than that of • The story of the bridegroom carried off by Caterans, on his bridal-day, is taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of Mac Nab, many years since. To carry off per sons from the Lowlands, and to put them to ransom, was a common practice with the wild Highlanders, as it is said to be at the present day with the banditti in the South of Italy. Upon the occasion alluded to, a party of Caterans carried off the bride groom, and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of Schiballion. The young man caught the small-pox before his ransom could be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the place, or the want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab the Scottish pint corresponds to two English quarts. As for did not pretend to be positive; but so it was, that the prisoner their coin, every one knows the couplet

recovered, his ransom was paid, and he was restored to his friends and bride, but always considered the Highland robbers as having saved his life, by their treatment of his malady,

How can the rogues pretend to sense?-
Their pound is only twenty pence.

2

dreaded because it seemed much under its owner's that the reigning chief always bore the patronymic command. In short, the countenance of the Chief- title of Vich Ian Vohr, i. e. the son of John the Great; tain resembled a smiling summer's day, in which, while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, from which they had seceded, were denominated though slight signs, that it may thunder and lighten Sliochd nan Ivor, the race of Ivor. before the close of evening. The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent It was not, however, upon their first meeting that from John of the Tower, engaged heart and hand in Edward had an opportunity of making these less fa- the insurrection of 1715, and was forced to fly to vourable remarks. The Chief received him as a France, after the attempt of that year in favour of friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the utmost the Stewarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortuexpression of kindness and obligation for the visit; nate than other fugitives, he obtained employment in upbraided him gently with choosing so rude an abode the French service, and married a lady of rank in as he had done the night before; and entered into a that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus lively conversation with him about Donald Bean's and his sister Flora. The Scottish estate had been housekeeping, but without the least hint as to his forfeited and exposed to sale, but was repurchased for predatory habits, or the immediate occasion of Wa- a small price in the name of the young proprietor, verley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did not in- who in consequence came to reside upon his native troduce it, our hero also avoided. While they walked domains. It was soon perceived that he possessed merrily on towards the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, a character of uncommon acuteness, fire, and ambiwho now fell respectfully into the rear, followed with tion, which, as he became acquainted with the state Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony. of the country, gradually assumed a mixed and pecuWe shall take the opportunity to introduce the liar tone, that could only have been acquired Sixty reader to some particulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's cha- Years since. racter and history, which were not completely known Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner to Waverley till after a connexion, which, though than he did, he would, in all probability, have wanted arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a the polished manner and knowledge of the world length of time the deepest influence upon his charac- which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty ter, actions, and prospects. But this, being an im-Years later, his ambition and love of rule would have portant subject, must form the commencement of a lacked the fuel which his situation now afforded. new chapter.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION.

He was, indeed, within his little circle, as perfect a politician as Castruccio Castrucani himself. He applied himself with great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which often arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became a frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal THE ingenious licentiate Francisco de Ubeda, when power he strengthened at every expense which his he commenced his history of La Picara Justina fortune would permit, and indeed stretched his means Diez,-which, by the way, is one of the most rare to the uttermost to maintain the rude and plentiful books of Spanish literature,-complained of his pen hospitality, which was the most valued attribute of having caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with a chieftain. For the same reason, he crowded his more eloquence than common sense, an affectionate estate with a tenantry, hardy indeed, and fit for the expostulation with that useful implement, upbraiding purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering what the it with being the quill of a goose,-a bird inconstant soil was calculated to maintain. These consisted by nature, as frequenting the three elements of water, chiefly of his own clan, not one of whom he suffered earth, and air, indifferently, and being, of course, "to to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it. But one thing constant never.' Now I protest to thee, he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco mother sept, who deserted a less warlike, though more de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful wealthy chief, to do homage to Fergus Mac-Ivor. quality of my pen, that it can speedily change from Other individuals, too, who had not even that apograve to gay, and from description and dialogue to logy, were nevertheless received into his allegiance, narrative and character. So that if my quill display which indeed was refused to none who were, like no other properties of its mother-goose than her mu- Poins, proper men of their hands, and were willing tability, truly I shall be well pleased; and I conceive to assume the name of Mac-Ivor. that you, my worthy friend, will have no occasion He was enabled to discipline these forces, from for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the having obtained command of one of the independent Highland gillies, I pass to the character of their companies, raised by government to preserve the Chief. It is an important examination, and there- peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he fore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom. acted with vigour and spirit, and preserved great orThe ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three cen-der in the country under his charge. He caused his turies before, had set up a claim to be recognised as vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and chief of the numerous and powerful clan to which he serve for a certain space of time, which gave them all belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to in turn a general notion of military discipline. In his mention. Being defeated by an opponent who had campaigns against the banditti, it was observed that more justice, or at least more force, on his side, he he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discremoved southwards, with those who adhered to him, tionary power, which, while the law had no free in quest of new settlements, like a second Æneas. course in the Highlands, was conceived to belong to The state of the Perthshire Highlands favoured his the military parties who were called in to support it. purpose. A great baron in that country had lately He acted, for example, with great and suspicious lebecome traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the nity to those freebooters who made restitution on his name of our adventurer, united himself with those summons, and offered personal submission to himwho were commissioned by the king to chastise him, self, while he rigorously pursued, apprehended, and and did such good service, that he obtained a grant sacrificed to justice, all such interlopers as dared to of the property, upon which he and his posterity despise his admonitions or commands. On the other afterwards resided. He followed the king also in war hand, if any officers of justice, military parties, or to the fertile regions of England, where he employed others, presumed to pursue thieves or marauders his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among through his territories, and without applying for his the boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependants and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or John the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song and genealogy, by the high title of lan nan Chaistel, or John of the Tower. The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him,

*This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the total destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers could be found, who offered a fair price for the es tates forfeited in 1715, which were then brought to sale by the creditors of the York Buildings Company, who had purchased the whole or greater part from government at a very small price. Even so late as the period first mentioned, the prejudices of the public in favour of the heirs of the forfeited families threw various impediments in the way of intending purchasers of such property.

consent and concurrence, nothing was more certain under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occathan that they would meet with some notable foil or sion of this crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor was Covenanters, the Vich Jan Vohr of the time had prothe first to condole with them, and, after gently bla- bably been as successful as his predecessor was in ming their rashness, never failed deeply to lament the harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his lawless state of the country. These lamentations did posterity a rival edifice, as a monument of his magnot exclude suspicion, and matters were so represent-nificence.

ed to government, that our Chieftain was deprived of Around the house, which stood on an eminence in his military command.* the midst of a narrow Highland valley, there appearWhatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, ed none of that attention to convenience, far less to he had the art of entirely suppressing every appear-ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds ance of discontent; but in a short time the neigh- a gentleman's habitation. An inclosure or two, dibouring country began to feel bad effects from his vided by dry-stone walls, were the only part of the dodisgrace. Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, main that was fenced; as to the rest, the narrow whose depredations had hitherto been confined to slips of level ground which lay by the side of the other districts, appeared from thenceforward to have brook exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to conmade a settlement on this devoted border; and their stant depredations from the herds of wild ponies and ravages were carried on with little opposition, as the black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent hills. Lowland gentry were chiefly Jacobites, and disarm- These ever and anon made an incursion upon the ed. This forced many of the inhabitants into con- arable ground, which was repelled by the loud, untracts of black mail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which couth, and dissonant shouts of half a dozen Highnot only established him their protector, and gave land swains, all running as if they had been mad, him great weight in all their consultations, but, and every one hallooing a half-starved dog to the resmoreover, supplied funds for the waste of his feudal cue of the forage. At a little distance up the glen hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay was a small and stunted wood of birch; the hills might have otherwise essentially diminished. were high and heathy, but without any variety of

In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a surface; so that the whole view was wild and desofurther object than merely being the great man of his late, rather than grand and solitary. Yet, such as neighbourhood, and ruling despotically over a small it was, no genuine descendant of Ian nan Chaistel clan. From his infancy upward, he had devoted would have changed the domain for Stow or Blenhimself to the cause of the exiled family, and had heim.

persuaded himself, not only that their restoration to

There was a sight, however, before the gate, which the crown of Britain would be speedy, but that those perhaps would have afforded the first owner of Blenwho assisted them would be raised to honour and heim more pleasure than the finest view in the dorank. It was with this view that he laboured to re- main assigned to him by the gratitude of his country. concile the Highlanders among themselves, and aug-This consisted of about a hundred Highlanders, in mented his own force to the utmost, to be prepared complete dress and arms; at sight of whom the for the first favourable opportunity of rising. With Chieftain apologized to Waverley in a sort of negli this purpose also he conciliated the favour of such gent manner. "He had forgot," he said, "that he Lowland gentlemen in the vicinity as were friends to had ordered a few of his clan out, for the purpose of the good cause; and for the same reason, having in-seeing that they were in a fit condition to protect the cautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, not- country, and prevent such accidents as, he was sorry withstanding his peculiarities, was much respected to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. in the country, he took advantage of the foray of Before they were dismissed, perhaps Captain WaverDonald Bean Lean to solder up the dispute in the ley might choose to see them go through a part of manner we have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmi- their exercise."

sed that he caused the enterprise to be suggested to Edward assented, and the men executed with agiDonald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconcilia- lity and precision some of the ordinary military tion, which, supposing that to be the case, cost the movements. They then practised individually at a Laird of Bradwardine two good milch cows. This mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaid with management of the pistol and firelock. They took a considerable share of their confidence, an occasion- aim, standing, sitting, leaning, or lying prostrate, as al supply of louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and they were commanded, and always with effect upon a parchment, with a huge waxen seal appended, pur- the target. Next, they paired off for the broadsword porting to be an earl's patent, granted by no less a exercise; and, having manifested their individual person than James the Third King of England, and skill and dexterity, united in two bodies, and exhibitEighth King of Scotland, to his right feal, trusty, and ed a sort of mock encounter, in which the charge, the well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, in rally, the flight, the pursuit, and all the current of a the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland. heady fight, were exhibited to the sound of the great war bagpipe.t

With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged deeply into the correspondence and On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was plots of that unhappy period; and, like all such ended. Matches were then made for running, wrestactive agents, easily reconciled his conscience to ling, leaping, pitching the bar, and other sports, in going certain lengths in the service of his party, from which this feudal militia displayed incredible swiftwhich honour and pride would have deterred him, ness, strength, and agility; and accomplished the had his sole object been the direct advancement of his purpose which their Chieftain had at heart, by imown personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious, and ardent, yet artful and politic characIn explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle ter, we resume the broken thread of our narrative. of Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark, that the Highlanders were not only well practised in the use of the broadsword, The Chief and his guest had by this time reached firelock, and most of the manly sports and trials of strength comthe house of Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian mon throughout Scotland, but also used a peculiar sort of drill, nan Chaistel's mansion, a high rude-looking square for instance, different modes of disposing the plaid, one when on tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is, a a peaceful journey, another when danger was apprehended; one building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting undisturbed grandfather when he returned from that memorable repose, and another which enabled them to start up with sword expedition, well remembered by the western shires, and pistol in hand on the slightest alarm. Previous to 1720, or thereabouts, the belted plaid was univer

suited to their own dress and mode of warfare. There were,

This sort of political game ascribed to Mac Ivor was in re-sally worn, in which the portion which surrounded the middle ality played by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord of the wearer, and that which was flung around his shoulders, Lovat in particular, who used that kind of finesse to the utter were all of the same piece of tartan. In a desperate onset, all most. The Laird of Mac-was also captain of an independent was thrown away, and the clan charged bare beneath the doub company, but valued the sweets of present pay too well to incur let, save for an artificial arrangement of the shirt, which, like the risk of losing them in the Jacobite cause. His martial con- that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the sporran-molsort raised his clan, and headed it, in 1745. But the chief him- lach, or goat's-skin purse. self would have nothing to do with king-making, declaring himself for that monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac—“half-a-guinea the day, and half-a-guinea the morn."

The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the Highland manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through by men who had learned it in their youth.