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O s « » ()^-， | , ، ، ، ، **º ، ، ، ، ، • » § § @ :• , , ، ، ، ، ، ، ، ، ، ، ، º fºi º № º. . ≤ p ≤ 0 & b * * * # • ſ） : æ ， * Œ œ • • • • și , ， ， ， *-º-º-º-º-º? 5. E -à #|||||||||||||||| Uğ ÇW43. #sº Rººi | LIBRARYºof the UNIVE! ºVUINNIUIUI'ſ º RSITY 9 Miſſiºn TITLºiſ. A& *. 2 ºr sº. iPºllſ. III.H.IIIſ IIIſ T.I…T.T.T.T.T.T.Trrºr. !}_1: ! º ---.--- ---- [s – = - WAVERLEY NOVELS Centenarg (ºbition VOL. VII. | º B. FR-M c. R. Leslie, R.A. MEETING OF THE SISTERS With a gentleness that had something of reverence in it, Ratcliffe partly closed the shutter, and seemed thus to throw a veil over a scene so sorrowful.- liviº. Xix. THE HEART () F MIII)-L()THIAN By SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. THE OLD Tolboot H, or HEART or MID-Lothi AN EDINBURGH ADAM & CHARLES BLACK I S 70 TALES OF MY LANDLORD COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH CLERK OF GANDERCLEUGH. SEC O N D SERIES. TJJ R H F AIRT OF MID-T, OTHIAN. .283367 Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots, Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat's, If there's a hole in a your coats, I rede ye tent it ; A chiel's amang you takin' notes, An' faith he’ll prent it !—BURNs. Ahora ödent, diſo el Cura : #raed me, semor huésped, aquesos Zīāros, gue dos 7teiero zer. Que ºne ſºlace, respondió el; y enetrazado ent sze aftosento, saco dé! wºea 77taletilla zieża cerrada come atma cademälla, y abriëndola, halló enz e/Za tºes Zºros grandes y atmos Zafteles de mazey &ztezza Zetza escritos de 77tano.-DON QUIxotE. Parte I. Capitulo 32. - ºsºs ºw- -- º nº º -- º - --~~~ -º- º,2,.. TO THE BEST OF PATRONS, A PLEASED A.W.D I.W.DULG E.W.T READER JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM WISHES HEALTH, AND INCREASE, AND CONTENTMENT. -º- CourtEOUS READER, IF ingratitude comprehendeth every vice, surely so foul a stain worst of all beseemeth him whose life has been devoted to instructing youth in virtue and in humane letters. Therefore have I chosen, in this prolegomenon, to unload my burden of thanks at thy feet, for the favour with which thou hast kindly entertained the Tales of my Landlord. Certes, if thou hast chuckled over their facetious and festivous descriptions, or hadst thy mind filled with pleasure at the strange and pleasant turns of fortune which they record, verily, I have also simpered when I beheld a second storey with attics, that has arisen on the basis of my small domicile at Gandercleugh, the walls having been aforehand pronounced by Deacon Barrow to be capable of enduring such an elevation. Nor has it been without delectation that I have endued a new coat (snuff-brown, and with metal buttons), having all mether garments corresponding thereto. We do therefore B 2 WAVERLEY NOVELS. lie, in respect of each other, under a reciprocation of benefits, whereof those received by me being the most solid (in respect that a new house and a new coat are better than a new tale and an old song), it is meet that my gratitude should be expressed with the lowder voice and more preponderating vehemence. And how should it be 80 expressed ? —Certainly not in words Only, but in act and deed. It is with this sole purpose, and disclaiming all intention of purchasing that pendicle or poffle of land called the Carlinescroft, lying adjacent to my garden, and measuring Seven acres, three roods, and four perches, that I have committed to the eyes of those who thought well of the former tomes, these four additional volumes” of the Tales of my Landlord. Not the less, if Peter Prayfort be minded to sell the said poffle, it is at his own choice to Say 80 ; and, peradventure, he may meet with a purchaser: unless (gentle reader) the pleasing pourtraictures of Peter Pattieson, now given unto thee in particular, and unto the public in general, shall have lost their favour in thine eyes, whereof I am no way distrustful. And so much confidence do I repose in thy con- tinued favour, that, should thy lawful occasions call thee to the town of Gandercleugh, a place frequented by most at one time or other in their lives, I will enrich thine eyes with a sight of those precious manuscripts whence thou hast derived so much delectation, thy nose with a Snuff from my mull, and thy palate with a dram from my bottle of strong waters, called by the learned of Gandercleugh, the Dominie's Dribble o' Drink. It is there, 0 highly esteemed and beloved reader, thou wilt be able to bear testimony, through the medium of thine Own Senses, against the children of vamity, who have 80'ught to identify thy friend and servant with I know not what inditer of vain fables; who hath cumbered the world with his devices, but shrunken from the responsi- bility thereof. Truly, this hath been well termed a generation hard of faith ; since what can a man do to assert his property in a printed tome, Saving to put his name in the title-page thereof, with his de- scription, or designation, as the lawyers term it, and place of abode 3 Of a Surety I would have Such sceptics consider how they themselves would brook to have their works ascribed to others, their names and professions imputed as forgeries, and their very existence brought into question ; even although, peradventure, it may be it is of little conse- quence to any but themselves, not only whether they are living or dead, but even whether they ever lived or no. Yet have my maligners carried their uncharitable censures still farther. . . These cavillers have not only doubted mine identity, although thus * [The Heart of Mid-Lothian was originally published in 4 vols.] INTROL)|UCTION TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 3 plainly proved, but they have impeached my veracity and the authen- ticity of my historical narratives 1 Verily, I can only say in answer, that I have been cawtelous in quoting mine authorities. It is true, 'ndeed, that if I had hearkened with only one ear, I might have re- hearsed my tale with more acceptation from those who love to hear but half the truth. It is, it may hap, not altogether to the discredit of Our kindly nation of Scotland, that we are apt to take an interest, warm, yea, partial, in the deeds and Sentiments of Our forefathers. He whom his adversaries describe as a perjured Prelatist, is desirous that his predecessors should be held moderate in their power, and just $n their execution of its privileges, when truly, the unimpassioned peruser of the ammals of those times shall deem them. Samguinary, wiolent, and tyrannical. Again, the representatives of the Suffering Nonconformists desire that their ancestors, the Cameronians, shall be Tepresented not simply as homest enthusiasts, oppressed for conscience' Sake, but persons of fine breeding, and valiant heroes. Truly, the historian cannot gratify these predilections. He must needs describe the cavaliers as proud and high-spirited, cruel, remorseless, and windictive ; the Suffering party as honourably tenacious of their opinions under persecution ; their own tempers being, however, Sullén, fierce, and rude; their opinions absurd and extravagant ; and their whole course of conduct that of persons whom hellebore would better have suited than prosecutions unto death for high-treason. Nathe- less, while Such and 80 preposterous were the opinions on either Side, there were, it cannot be doubted, men of virtue and worth on both, to entitle either party to claim merit from its martyrs. It has been demanded of me, Jedediah Cleishbotham, by what right I am entitled to constitute myself an impartial judge of their discrepancies of opinions, seeing (as it is stated) that I must necessarily have descended from one or other of the contending parties, and be, of course, wedded for better or for worse, according to the reasonable practice of Scotland, to its dogmata, or opinions, and bound, as it were, by the tie matri- nomial, or, to speak without metaphor, ex jure Sanguinis, to main- tain them in preference to all others. But, nothing denying the rationality of the rule, which calls on all now living to rule their political and religious opinions by those of their great-grandfathers, and inevitable as seems the one or the other horn of the dilemma betwixt which my adversaries conceive they have pinned me to the wall, I yet spy some means of refuge, and claim a privilege to write and speak of both parties with impartiality. For, O ye powers of logic 1 when the Prelatists and Presbyterians of old times went together by the ears in this wºlucky Country, my ancestor 4 - WAWERLEY NOWELS. (venerated be his memory !) was one of the people called Quakers, and Suffered severe handling from either side, even to the extenuation of his purse and the incarceration of his person. Craving thy pardon, gentle Reader, for these few words concerning me and mime, I rest, as above expressed, thy Sure and obligated friend,” J. C. GANDERCLEUGH, this 1st of April, 1818. * Note A. Author's connection with Quakerism. t; iii. I diº # ºff "; }; º § tº ºft º sºft |%:== lº ſiſ ºft||| º º º º # § . . . º º º ; w | § º . § º | ſ #. | ſº º º º º | º f s ! r I.W'TRO DUCTIO.W.' TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN–C1880). —º- THE author has stated, in the preface to the Chronicles of the Canongate, 1837, that he received from an anonymous correspondent an account of the incident upon which the following story is founded. He is now at liberty to say, that the information was conveyed to him by a late amiable and ingenious lady, whose wit and power of Temarking and judging of character still survive in the memory of her friends. Her maiden name was Miss Helen Law80m, of Girth- head, and she was wife of Thomas Goldie, Esq. of Craigmuie, Com- missary of Dumfries. Pſer communication was in these words:— “I had taken for Summer lodgings a cottage near the old Abbey of Lincludem. It had formerly been inhabited by a lady who had pleasure in embellishing cottages, which she found perhaps homely and even poor enough ; mine, therefore, possessed many marks of taste and elegance wrvusual in this species of habitation in Scotland, where a cottage is literally what its name declares. “From my cottage door I had a partial view of the old Abbey before mentioned; some of the highest arches were seen over, and some through, the trees scattered along a lane which led down to the ruin, and the strange fantastic shapes of almost all those old ashes accorded wonderfully well with the building they at Once Shaded and orna- mented. “The Abbey itself from my door was almost on a level with the cottage ; but on coming to the end of the lame, it was discovered to be situated on a high perpendicular bank, at the foot of which run the clear waters of the Cludem, where they hasten to join the Sweeping Nith, * Whose distant roaring swells and fa’s.’ As my kitchen and parlour were not very far distant, I One day went &m to purchase some chickens from a person I heard offering them for 6 WAWERLEY NOWELS. Sale. It was a little, rather stout-looking woman, who seemed to be between seventy and eighty years of age ; she was almost covered with a tartam plaid, and her cap had over it a black silk hood, tied under the chim, a piece of dress still much in use among elderly women of that rank of life in Scotland; her eyes were dark, and remarkably lively and intelligent; I entered into conversation with her, and began by asking how she maintained herself, etc. “She said that in winter she footed stockings, that is, knit feet to country-people's stockings, which bears about the same relation to stocking-knitting that cobbling does to shoe-making, and is of course both less profitable and less dignified; she likewise taught a few children to read, and in Summer she whiles reared a few chickens. “I said I could venture to guess from her face she had never been married. She laughed heartily at this, and said, ‘I maun hae the queerest face that ever was seen, that ye could guess that. Now, do tell me, madam, how ye cam to think sae 3’ I told her it was from her cheerful disengaged countenance. She said, “Mem, have ye ma far mair reason to be happy than me, wi' a gude husband and a fine family o' bairns, and plenty o’ everything 3 for me, I’m the puirest o' a' puir bodies, and cam hardly contrive to keep mysell alive in a’ the wee bits o' ways I hae tell't ye.” After some more conversation, during which I was more and more pleased with the old woman's sensible conversation, and the naïveté of her remarks, she rose to go away, when I asked her name. Her countenance Suddenly clouded, and she said gravely, rather colouring, “My name is Helen Walker; but your husband kens weel about me.’ “In the evening I related how much I had been pleased, and in- quired what was extraordinary in the history of the poor woman. Mr. said, there were perhaps few more remarkable people than Helen Walker. She had been left an orphan, with the charge of a Sister considerably younger than herself, and who was educated and maintained by her exertions. Attached to her by 80 many ties, there- fore, it will not be easy to conceive her feelings, when she found that this only sister must be tried by the laws of her country for child- murder, and upon being called as principal witness against her. The counsel for the prisoner told Helen, that if she could declare that her sister had made any preparations, however slight, or had given her any intimation on the Subject, that such a statement would save her sister's life, as she was the principal witness against her. Helen said, ‘It is impossible for me to Swear to a falsehood; and, whatever may be the consequence, I will give my oath according to my conscience.’ “The trial came on, and the Sister was found guilty and Com- INTRODUCTION TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 7 demned ; but in Scotland Sia weeks must elapse between the sentence and the execution, and Helen Walker availed herself of it. The very day of her Sister's condemnation she got a petition drawn, stating the peculiar circumstances of the case, and that very night set out on foot to London. “Without introduction or recommendation, with her simple (per- haps ill-expressed) petition, drawn up by Some inferior clerk of the court, she presented herself, in her tartan plaid and country attire, to the late Duke of Argyle, who immediately procured the pardon she petitioned for, and Helen returned with it on foot just in time to Save her sister. “I was so strongly interested by this narrative, that I determined immediately to prosecute my acquaintance with Helen Walker; but as I was to leave the country next day, I was obliged to defer it till my return in spring, when the first walk I took was to Helen Walker's cottage. “She had died a short time before. My regret was extreme, and I endeavoured to obtain. Some account of Helen from an old woman who inhabited the other end of her cottage. I inquired if Helen ever spoke of her past history—her journey to London, etc., ‘Na,’ the old woman said, ‘Helen was a wily body, and whene'er ony o' the neebors asked anything about it, she aye turned the conversation.’ “In short, every answer I received only tended to increase my re- gret, and raise my opinion of Helen Walker, who could unite so much prudence with so much heroic virtue.” . This narrative was inclosed in the following letter to the author, without date or signature:- “Sir, The occurrence just related happened to me twenty-sia, gears ago. Helen Walker lies buried in the churchyard of Irongray, about Six miles from Dumfries. I once proposed that a Small monu- ment should have been erected to com/memorate 80 remarkable a cha- Tacter, but I now prefer leaving it to you to perpetuate her memory $n a more durable manner.” The reader is now able to judge how far the author has improved wpon, or fallen short of, the pleasing and interesting sketch of high principle and steady affection displayed by Helen Walker, the proto- type of the fictitious Jeanie Deans. Mrs. Goldie was unfortunately dead before the author had given his name to these volumes, so he lost all opportunity of thanking that lady for her highly valuable com- munication. But her daughter, Miss Goldie, obliged him with the following additional information :- 8 WAWERLEY NOVELS. “Mrs. Goldie endeavoured to collect further particulars of Helen Walker, particularly concerning her journey to London, but found this nearly impossible; as the matural dignity of her character, and a high sense of family respectability, made her 80 indissolubly connect her sister's disgrace with her own exertions, that none of her neigh- bours durst ever question her upon the Subject. One old woman, a distant relation of Helen's, and who is still living, says she worked an harvest with her, but that she never ventured to ask her about her sister's trial, or her journey to London; ‘Helen,” she added, ‘was a lofty body, and used a high style o' language.’ The same old woman says, that every year Helen received a cheese from her Sister, who lived at Whitehaven, and that she always sent a liberal portion of it to herself, or to her father's family. This fact, though trivial in itself, strongly marks the affection subsisting between the two sisters, and the complete conviction on the mind of the criminal that her sister had acted Solely from high principle, not from any want of feeling, which another Small but characteristic trait will further illustrate. A gentleman, a relation of Mrs. Goldie's, who happened to be travel- ling in the North of England, on coming to a small inn, was shown £nto the parlour by a female Servant, who, after cautiously shutting the door, said, ‘Sir, I’m Nelly Walker's sister.” Thus practically showing that she considered her sister as better known by her high conduct than even herself by a different kind of celebrity. “Mrs. Goldie was eſctremely amºious to have a tombstone and an £nscription upon it erected in Irongray Churchyard; and if Sir Walter Scott will condescend to write the last, a little subscription could be easily raised in the immediate neighbourhood, and Mrs. Goldie's wish be thus fulfilled.” It is scarcely necessary to add that the request of Miss Goldie will be most willingly complied with, and without the necessity of any taa: on the public.” Nor is there much occasion to repeat how much the author conceives himself obliged to his unknown correspondent, who thus Supplied him with a theme affording such a pleasing view of the moral dignity of virtue, though unaided by birth, beauty, or talent. If the picture has suffered in the execution, it is from the failure of the author's powers to present in detail the same simple and striking portrait exhibited in Mrs. Goldie's letter. ABBOTSFORD, April 1, 1830. * [Note B. Tombstone to Helen Walker.] INTRODUCTION TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 9 POSTSCRIPT. ALTHOUGH it would be impossible to add much to Mrs. Goldie's picturesque and most interesting account of Helen Walker, the proto- type of the imaginary Jeanie Deans, the Editor may be pardoned for 'ntroducing two or three anecdotes respecting that excellent person, which he has collected from a volume entitled, Sketches from Nature, by John M'Diarmid, a gentleman who conducts an able provincial paper in the town of Dumfries. Helen was the daughter of a Small farmer in a place called Dal- whairm, in the parish of Irongray; where, after the death of her father, she continued, with the wrassuming piety of a Scottish pea- Sant, to support her mother by her own unremitted labour and priva- tions; a case 80 common, that even yet, I am proud to Say, few of my countrywomen would shrink from the duty. Helen Walker was held among her equals pensy, that is, proud or conceited; but the facts brought to prove this accusation. Seem. Only to evince a strength of character Superior to those around her. Thus it was remarked, that when it thundered, she went with her work and her Bible to the front of the cottage, alleging that the Almighty could Smite in the city as well as in the field. Mr. M'Diarmid mentions more particularly the misfortume of her sister, which he supposes to have taken place previous to 1736. Helen Walker, declining every proposal of Saving her relation's life at the expense of truth, borrowed a sum of money sufficient for her journey, walked the whole distance to London barefoot, and made her way to John Duke of Argyle. She was heard to say, that, by the Almighty strength, she had been enabled to meet the Duke at the most critical moment, which, if lost, would have caused the inevitable forfeiture of her sister's life. - Isabella, or Tibby Walker, Saved from the fate which impended over her, was married by the person who had wronged her (named Waugh), and lived happily for great part of a century, uniformly acknowledging the extraordinary affection to which she owed her preservation. - Helen Walker died about the end of the year 1791, and her re- mains are interred in the churchyard of her native parish of Iron- gray, in a romantic cemetery On the banks of the Cairn. That a character 80 distinguished for her undaunted love of virtue, lived and died in poverty, if not want, serves only to show us how insignifi- cant, in the Sight of Heaven, are our principal objects of ambition wpon earth. # HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. Centenary 33 bition. —3-—- A PAGE of the above Volume having unfortunately - been printed in duplicate, instead of page 53, a Cancel-leaf is sent herewith, which you will please to insert in your Volume in lieu of pages 53-54. EDINBURGH, June 29, 1870. [P.T.O. PR E Z 7./M.I.W.A R Y CHAPTE R. So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourn, glides The Derby dilly, Carrying Sia; insides. * FRERE. THE times have changed in nothing more (we follow as we were wont the manuscript of Peter Pattieson) than in the rapid convey- ance of intelligence and communication betwixt one part of Scotland and another. It is not above twenty Or thirty years, according to the evidence of many credible witnesses now alive, Since a lillle 7miserable horse-cart, performing with difficulty a journey of thirty miles per diem, carried our mails from the capital of Scotland to 7ts extremity. Nor was Scotland much more deficient in these accommodations than our rich sister had been about eighty years before. Fielding, in his Tom Jones, and Farquhar, in a little farce called the Stage-Coach, have ridiculed the slowness of these vehicles of public accommodation. According to the latter authority, the highest bribe could only induce the coachman to promise to anticipate by half-an-hour the usual time of his arrival at the ISull and Mouth. - But in both countries these ancient, slow, and Sure modes of conveyance are now alike unknown ; mail-coach races against mail- coach, and high-flyer against high-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain. And in our village alone, three post-coaches, and four coaches with men armed, and in Scarlet cassocks, thunder through the streets each day, and rival in brilliancy and noise the invention of the celebrated tyrant — Demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen, Aïre et COrnipedum pulsu, Simularat, equorum. Now and then, to complete the resemblance, and to correct the presumption of the venturous charioteers, it does happen that the career of these dashing rivals of Salmoneus meets with as undesirable and violent a termination as that of their prototype. It is on Such [NOTE.-This Preliminary Chapter originally formed the first of the Novel, but has now been printed in italics on account of its introductory character.] 12 . WAWERLEY NOWELS. occasions that the Insides and Outsides, to w86 the appropriate wehicular phrases, have reason to rue the exchange of the slow and safe motion of the ancient Fly-coaches, which, compared with the chariots of Mr. Palmer, so ill deserve the name. The ancient wehicle used to Settle quietly down, like a ship scuttled and left to sink by the gradual influa, of the waters, while the modern is Smashed to pieces with the velocity of the same vessel hurled against breakers, or rather with the fury of a bomb bursting at the conclusion of its career, through the air. The late ingenious Mr. Pennant, whose humour it was to set his face in Stern opposition to these speedy conveyances, had collected, I have heard, a formidable list of such casualties, which, joined to the imposition of immleepers, whose charges the passengers had no time to dispute, the Sauciness of the coachman, and the wrºcontrolled and despotic authority of the tyrant called the guard, held forth a picture of horror, to which murder, theft, fraud, and peculation, lent all their dark colouring. But that which gratifies the impatience of the human disposition will be practised in the teeth of danger, and in defiance of admonition ; and, $n despite of the Cambrian antiquary, mail-coaches not only roll their thunders round the base of Penman-Mawr and Cader-Idris, but Frighted Skiddaw hears afar The rattling of the unscythed car. And perhaps the echoes of Ben Nevis may 800m be awakened by the bugle, not of a warlike chieftain, but of the guard of a mail-coach. It was a fime Summer day, and Our little School had obtained a half-holiday, by the intercession of a good-humoured visitor.” I eaſpected by the coach a new number of an interesting periodical publication, and walked forward on the highway to meet it, with the impatience which Cowper has described as actuating the resident in the country when longing for intelligence from the mart of news:– The grand debate, The popular hºrangue, the tart reply,– . . The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit, And the loud laugh, I long to know them all ;- I burn to set the imprisoned wranglers free, And give them voice and utterance again. It was with Such feelings that I eyed the approach of the new coach, lately established on our road, and known by the name of the Somerset, which, to say truth, possesses 80me interest for me, even when it conveys no such important information. The distant * His honour Gilbert Goslinn of Gandercleugh ; for I love to be precise in matters of importance.—J. C. THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 13 tremulous Sound of its wheels was heard just as I gained the Summit of the gentle ascent, called the Goslin-brae, from which you command an extensive view down the valley of the river Gander. The public Toad, which comes up the side of that stream, and crosses it at a bridge about a quarter of a mile from the place where I was stamding, Tºwns partly through enclosures and plantations, and partly through open pasture land. It is a childish amusement perhaps, but my life has been spent with children, and why should not my pleasures be like theirs 3–childish as it is them, I must own. I have had great pleasure in watching the approach of the carriage, where the openings of the road permit it to be seen. The gay glancing of the equipage, 7ts diminished and toy-like appearance at a distance, contrasted with the rapidity of its motion, its appearance and disappearance at Žntervals, and the progressively increasing Sounds that announce its nearer approach, have all to the idle and listless spectator, who has nothing more important to attend to, Something of awakening interest. The ridicule may attach to me, which is flung upon many an homest citizen, who watches from the window of his villa, the passage of the Stage-coach ; but it is a very matural SOM’rce of amusement notwith- standing, and many of those who join in the laugh are perhaps not Qºrvused to resort to it ºn Secret. - On the present occasion, however, fate had decreed that I should not enjoy the consummation of the amusement by Seeing the coach Tattle past me as I sat on the turf, and hearing the hoarse grating woice of the guard as he skimmed forth for my grasp the expected packet, without the carriage checking its course for an instant. I had seen the vehicle thunder down the hill that leads to the bridge with more than its usual impetuosity, glittering all the while by jlashes from a cloudy tabernacle of the dust which it had raised, and leaving a train behind it on the road resembling a wreath of Summer mist. But it did not appear on the top of the nearer bank within the usual space of three minutes, which frequent observation had enabled me to ascertain was the medium time for crossing the bridge and mounting the ascent. When double that space had elapsed, I became alarmed, and walked hastily forward. As I came in Sight of the bridge, the cause of delay was too manifest, for the Somerset had made a Summerset in good earnest, and overturned 80 completely, that it was literally resting upon the ground, with the roof under- most, and the four wheels in the air. The “exertions of the guard and coachman,” both of whom were gratefully commemorated in the newspapers, having Succeeded in disentangling the horses by cutting the harness, were now proceeding to extricate the insides by a sort of 14 WAWERLEY NOWELS. Summary and Caesarean process of delivery, forcing the hinges from One of the doors which they could not open otherwise. In this manner were two disconsolate damsels set at liberty from the womb of the leathern conveniency. As they immediately began to settle their clothes, which were a little deranged, as may be presumed, I concluded they had received no injury, and did not venture to obtrude my services at their toilette, for which, I understand, I have since been reflected wpon by the fair sufferers. The outsides, who must have been dis- charged from their elevated Situation by a shock resembling the Springing of a mine, escaped, nevertheless, with the w8wal allowance of Scratches and bruises, excepting three, who, having been pitched into the river Gander, were dimly seen contending with the tide like the relics of Æneas's shipwreck,- , Rari apparent namţes in gurgite vasto. I applied my poor exertions where they seemed to be most needed, and with the assistance of one or two of the company who had escaped wnhurt, easily succeeded in fishing out two of the wrfortunate passengers, who were stout active young fellows; and, but for the preposterous length of their greatcoats, and the equally fashionable latitude and longitude of their Wellington, trousers, would have re- quired little assistance from any one. The third was sickly and elderly, and might have perished but for the efforts used to preserve him. When the two greatcoated gentlemen had extricated themselves from the river, and Shaken their ears like huge water-dogs, a violent alter- cation ensued betwixt them, and the coachmam and guard, concerning the cause of their overthrow. . In the course of the squabble, I observed that both my new acquaintances belonged to the law, and that their professional sharpness was likely to prove an overmatch for the Surly and official tone of the guardians of the vehicle. The dispute ended £n the gward assuring the passengers that they should have seats in a heavy coach, which would pass that spot in less than half-an-hour, provided it were not full. Chance seemed to favour this arrangement, for when the expected vehicle arrived, there were only two places occupied in a carriage which professed to carry Sia. The two ladies who had been disinterred out of the fallen vehicle were readily ad- mitted, but positive objections were stated by those previously in possession to the admittance of the two lawyers, whose wetted garments being much of the nature of well-800ked Sponges, there was every Teason to believe they would refund a considerable part of the water they had collected, to the inconvenience of their fellow-passengers. On THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 15 the other hand, the lawyers rejected a seat on the roof, alleging that they had only taken that station for pleasure for One stage, but were entitled in all respects to free egress and regress from the interior, to which their contract positively referred. After 80me altercation, in which something was said upon the edict Nautae Caupones stabularii, the coach went off, leaving the learned gentlemen to abide by their action of damages. & They immediately applied to me to guide them to the next village and the best inn; and from the account I gave them of the Wallace Head, declared they were much better pleased to stop there than to go forward upon the terms of that impudent scoundrel the guard of the Somerset. All that they now wanted was a lad to carry their travelling bags, who was easily procured from an adjoining cottage; and they prepared to walk forward, when they found there was another passenger in the same deserted situation with themselves. This was the elderly and Sickly-looking person, who had been preci- pitated into the river along with the two young lawyers. He, it seems, had been too modest to push his own plea against the coach- 'man when he saw that of his betters rejected, and now remained behind with a look of timid anºiety, plainly intimating that he was deficient in those means of recommendation which are necessary pass- ports to the hospitality of an inn. I ventured to call the attention of the two dashing young blades, for such they seemed, to the desolate condition of their fellow-traveller. They took the hint with ready good-nature. “O, true, Mr. Dunover,” said one of the youngsters, “ you must not remain on the pavé here; you must go and have some dinner with us—Halkit and I must have a post-chaise to go on, at all events, and we will set you down wherever Suits you best.” The poor man, for such his dress, as well as his diffidence, bespoke him, made the sort of acknowledging bow by which says a Scotsman, “It’s too much honour for the like of me;” and followed humbly behind his gay patrons, all three besprinkling the dusty road as they walked along with the moisture of their drenched garments, and 62- hibiting the singular and 80mewhat ridiculous appearance of three persons suffering from the opposite extreme of humidity, while the summer sun was at its height, and everything else around them had the expression of heat and drought. The ridicule did not escape the gowng gentlemen themselves, and they had made what might be Teceived as one or two tolerable jests on the Swbject before they had advanced far on their peregrination. “We cannot complain, like Cowley,” said one of them, “that 16 WAVERIEY NOWELS. Gideon's fleece remains dry, while all around is moist ; this is the reverse of the miracle.” “We ought to be received with gratitude in this good town; we bring a Supply of what they seem to need most,” said Halkit. “And distribute it with unparalleled generosity,” replied his com- panion ; “performing the part of three water-carts for the benefit of their dusty roads.” “We come before them, too,” said Halkit, “in full professional force—counsel and agent”— “And client,” said the young advocate, looking behind him ; and then added, lowering his voice, “that looks as if he had kept such dangerous company too long.” It was, indeed, too true, that the humble follower of the gay young men had the threadbare appearance of a worn-out litigant, and I could not but Smile at the conceit, though ama;ious to conceal my mirth from the object of it. When we arrived at the Wallace Inn, the elder of the Edinburgh gentlemen, and whom I wºnderstood to be a barrister, insisted that I should remain and take part of their dinner; and their inquiries and demands speedily put my landlord and his whole family in motion to produce the best cheer which the larder and cellar afforded, and proceed to cook it to the best advantage, a science in which our entertainers seemed to be admirably skilled. In other respects they were lively young men, in the hey-day of youth and good spirits, playing the part which is common to the higher classes of the law at Edinburgh, and which nearly resembles that of the young Templars in the days of Steele and Addison. An air of giddy gaiety mingled with the good sense, taste, and information which their conversation exhibited ; and it seemed to be their object to unite the character of men of fashion and lovers of the polite arts. A fine gentleman, bred wp in the thorough idleness and inamity of pursuit, which I wºnder- stand is absolutely necessary to the character in perfection, might in all probability have traced a tinge of professional pedantry which marked the barrister in spite of his efforts, and something of active bustle in his companion, and would certainly have detected more than & fashionable mixture of informivation wild wrimated invierest in the language of both. But to me, who had no pretensions to be 80 critical, my companions seemed to form a very happy mixture of good-breeding and liberal information, with a disposition to lively Tattle, pun, and jest, amºusing to a grave man, because it is what he himself can least easily command. The thin pale-faced man, whom their good-nature had brought into THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. - 17 their Society, looked out of place as well as Out of Spirits; sate on the edge of his seat, and kept the chair at two feet distance from the table ; thus incommoding himself considerably in conveying the victuals to his mouth, as if by way of penance for partaking of them in the company of his Superiors. A short time after dinner, declining all entreaty to partake of the wine, which circulated freely round, he informed himself of the hour when the chaise had been ordered to attend; and Saying he would be in readiness, modestly withdrew from the apartment. “Jack,” said the barrister to his companion, “I remember that poor fellow's face; you spoke more truly than you were aware of; he Teally is one of my clients, poor man.” “Poor man l’” echoed Halkit—“I Suppose you mean he is your one and only client 3” “That's not my fault, Jack,” replied the other, whose name I dis- covered was Hardie. “You are to give me all your business, you know ; and if you have mome, the learned gentleman here knows nothing can come of nothing.” “You seem to have brought something to nothing though, in the case of that honest man. He looks as if he were just about to honour with his residence the HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN.” “You are mistaken—he is just delivered from it.—Our friend here looks for an explanation. Pray, Mr. Pattieson, have you been in Edinburgh, 3’’ I answered in the affirmative. “Then you must have passed, occasionally at least, though probably not so faithfully as I am doomed to do, through a narrow intricate passage, leading out of the north-west corner of the Parliament Square, and passing by a high and antique building with turrets and iron grates, - Making good the saying odd, “Near the church and far from God”— . Mr. Halkit broke in upon his learned counsel, to contribute his moiety to the riddle—“Having at the door the sign of the Red Man,” “And being on the whole,” resumed the counsellor, interrupting his friend in his turn, “a sort of place where misfortune is happily confounded with guilt, where all who are in wish to get out ’’ “And where none who have the good luck to be out, wish to get in,” added his companion. “I conceive you, gentlemen,” replied I; “you mean the prison.” "VOL. VII. - C 18 WAWERLEY NOWELS. “The prison,” added the young lawyer—“You have hit it—the very reverend Tolbooth itself; and let me tell you, you are obliged to w8 for describing it with 80 much modesty and brevity ; for with whatever amplifications we might have chosen to decorate the Subject, gou lay entirely at our mercy, since the Fathers Conscript of our city have decreed that the venerable edifice itself shall not remain in existence to confirm or to confute w8.” “Then the Tolbooth of Edinburgh is called the Heart of Mid- Lothian 3” said I. “So termed and reputed, I assure you.” “I think,” said I, with the bashful diffidence with which a man lets slip & pun in presence of his Superiors, “the metropolitan county may, in that case, be said to have a sad heart.” “Right as my glove, Mr. Pattieson,” added Mr. Hardie ; “ and a close heart, and a hard heart—Keep it up, Jack.” “And a wicked heart, and a poor heart,” answered Halkit, doing his best. “And yet it may be called in Some sort a strong heart, and a high heart,” rejoined the advocate. “You see I can put you both out of heart.” “I have played all my hearts,” said the younger gentleman. “Then, we'll have another lead,” answered his companion.—“And as to the old and condemned Tolbooth, what pity the same honour cannot be done to it as has been done to many of its immates. Why should not the Tolbooth have its ‘Last Speech, Confession, and Dying Words 3’ The old stones would be just as conscious of the honour as many a poor devil who has dangled like a tassel at the west end of it, while the hawkers were shouting a confession the culprit had never heard of.” “I am afraid,” said I, “if I might presume to give my opinion, it would be a tale of unvaried sorrow and guilt.” “Not entirely, my friend,” said Hardie ; “a prison is a world within itself, and has its own business, griefs, and joys, peculiar to Žts circle. Its inmates are sometimes short-lived, but so are Soldiers on Service; they are poor relatively to the world without, but there are degrees of wealth and poverty among them, and 80 some are relatively rich also. They cannot stir abroad, but neither cam, the garrison of a besieged fort, or the crew of a ship at Sea ; and they are not under a dispensation quite 80 desperate as either, for they may have as much food as they have money to buy, and are not obliged to work, whether they have food or not.” THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 19 “But what variety of incident,” said I (not without a secret view to my present task), “could possibly be derived from Such a work as gow are pleased to talk of ?” “Infinite,” replied the young advocate. “Whatever of guilt, crime, imposture, folly, unheard-of misfortunes, and unlooked for change of fortune, can be found to chequer life, my Last Speech of the Tolbooth should illustrate with examples Sufficient to gorge even the public's all-devouring appetite for the wonderful and horrible. , The inventor of fictitious narratives has to rack his brains for means to diversify his tale, and after all can hardly hit upon characters or incidents which have not been used again and again, until they are familiar to the eye of the reader, so that the development, enlèvement, the desperate wound of which the hero never dies, the burning fever from which the heroine is sure to recover, become a mere matter of course. I join with my honest friend Crabbe, and have an unlucky propensity to hope, when hope is lost, and to rely upon the cork jacket, which carries the heroes of romance safe through all the billows of affliction.” He then declaimed the following passage, rather with too nvuch than too little emphasis:– Much have I feared, but am no more afraid, When some chaste beauty by Some wretch betrayed, Is drawn away with Such distracted Speed, That she anticipates a dreadful deed. Not so do I–Let Solid walls impound The captive fair, and dig a moat around ; Let there be brazen locks and bars of Steel, And keepers cruel, Such as never feel ; With not a single mote the purse Supply, And when she begs, let men and maids deny, Be windows there from which she dare not fall, And help so distant, 'tis in vain to call ; Still means of freedom will some Power devise, And from the baffled ruffian Snatch his prize. “The end of uncertainty,” he concluded, “is the death of interest : and hence it happens that no one now reads novels.” “Hear him, ye gods !” returned his companion. “I assure you, i Mr. Pattieson, you will hardly visit this learned gentleman, but you are likely to find the new novel most in repute lying on his table, { snugly intrenched, however, beneath Stair's Institutes, or an open volume of Morrison's Decisions.” l “Do I deny it 3" said the hopeful jurisconsult, “ or wherefore should I, since it is well known these Delilahs seduce my wisers and 20 WAWERLEY NOWELS, my betters ? May, they not be found lurking amidst the multiplied memorials of our most distinguished counsel, and even peeping from wnder the cushion of a judge's arm-chair 3 Our Seniors at the bar, within the bar, and even on the bench, read novels; and, if not belied, some of them have written novels into the bargain. I Only say, that I read from habit and from indolence, not from real interest ; that, like ancient Pistol devouring his leek, I read and Swear till I get to the end of the narrative. But not so in the real records of human vagaries—not so in the State Trials, or in the Books of Adjournal, where every now and then you read new pages of the human heart, and turns of fortune far beyond what the boldest novelist ever at- tempted to produce from the coinage of his brain.” “And for such marratives,” I asked, “you suppose the History of the Prison of Edinburgh might afford appropriate materials 3’’ m a degree unusually ample, my dear Sir,” said Hardie— “Fill your glass, however, in the meanwhile. Was it not for many Ayears the place in which the Scottish parliament met 3 Was it not James's place of refuge, when the mob, inflamed by a seditious preacher, broke forth on him with the cries of ‘The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon—bring forth the wicked Haman 3” Since that time how many hearts have throbbed within these walls, as the tolling of the neighbouring bell announced to them, how fast the Sands of their life were ebbing; how many must have sunk at the Sound—how many were supported by Stubborn pride and dogged resolution—how many by the consolations of religion ? Have there not been some, who, looking back on the motives of their crimes, were scarce able to under- stand how they showld have had such temptation as to Seduce them, from virtue; and have there not, perhaps, been others, who, Sensible of their innocence, were divided between indigmation at the undeserved doom which they were to undergo, consciousness that they had not deserved it, and racking amºiety to discover 80me way in which they might yet vindicate themselves 3 Do you, Suppose any of these deep, powerful, and agitating feelings, can be recorded and perused without eſcCiting a corresponding depth of deep, powerful, and agitating £nterest ?—Oh I do but wait till I publish the Causes Célèbres of Caledonia, and you will find no want of a novel or a tragedy for some time to come. The true thing will triumph over the brightest inventions of the most ardent imagination. Magna est veritas, et praevalebit.” • “I have understood,” said I, encouraged by the affability of my Tattling entertainer, “that less of this interest must attach to Scottish THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. - 21 jurisprudence than to that of any other country. The general morality of our people, their sober and prudent habits” “Secure them,” said the barrister, “ against any great increase of professional thieves and depredators, but not against wild and way- ward Starts of fancy and passion, producing Crimes of an eſctra- ordinary description, which are precisely those to the detail of which we listem with thrilling interest. England has been much longer a highly civilised country; her subjects have been very strictly amenable to laws administered without fear or favour, a complete division of labour has taken place among her subjects, and the very thieves and robbers form a distinct class in society, Subdivided among themselves according to the subject of the depredations, and the mode in which they carry them. On, acting upon regular habits and principles, which can be calculated and anticipated at Bow Street, Hatton Garden, or the Old Bailey. Our Sister kingdom is like a cultivated field,—the farmer expects that, in spite of all his care, a certain mumber of weeds will rise with the corm, and cam tell you beforehamd their names and appearance. But Scotland is like one of her own High- land glens, and the moralist who reads the records of her criminal jurisprudence, will find as many curious anomalous facts in the history of mind, as the botanist will detect rare specimens among her dingles and cliffs.” “Amd that's all the good you have obtained from three perusals of the Commentaries on Scottish Criminal Jurisprudence 3’ said his companion. “I suppose the learned author very little thinks that the facts which his erudition and acuteness have accumulated for the illustration of legal doctrines, might be so arranged as to form a sort of appendia, to the half-bound and slip-shod volumes of the circulating library.” “I’ll bet you a pint of claret,” said the elder lawyer, “ that he will not feel Sore at the comparison. But as we say at the bar, “I beg I may not be interrupted;’ I have much m0re to Say, upon my Scottish collection of Causes Célèbres. You will please recollect the scope and motive given for the contrivance and execution of many extraordinary and daring crimes, by the long civil dissensions of Scotland—by the hereditary jurisdictions, which, until 1748, rested the investigation of crimes in judges, ignorant, partial, or interested —by the habits of the gentry, shut up in their distant and Solitary mansion-houses, nursing their revengeful passions just to keep their blood from stagmating—not to mention that amiable national quali- fication, called the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum, which our 22 WAWERLEY NOWELS. lawyers join in alleging as a reason for the severity of some of our enactments. When I come to treat of matters so mysterious, deep, and dangerous, as these circumstances have given rise to, the blood of each reader shall be curdled, and his epidermis crisped into goose skin.—But, hist l—here comes the landlord, with tidings, I suppose, that the chaise is ready.” It was no Such thing—the tidings bore, that no chaise could be had that evening, for Sir Peter Plyem had carried forward my land- lord's two pairs of horses that morning to the ancient royal borough of Bubbleburgh, to look after his interest there. But as Bubbleburgh, is only one of a set of five boroughs which club their shares for a member of parliament, Sir Peter's adversary had judiciously watched his departure, in order to commence a canvass in the no less royal borough of Bitem, which, as all the world knows, lies at the very termination of Sir Peter's avenue, and has been held in leading- Strings by him and his ancestors for time immemorial. Now Sir Peter was thus placed in the situation of an ambitious monarch, who, after having commenced a daring inroad into his enemy's territories, $8 Suddenly recalled by an invasion of his own hereditary dominions. He was obliged in consequence to return from the half-won borough of Bubbleburgh, to look after the half-lost borough of Bitem, and the two pairs of horses which had carried him that morning to Bubble- burgh were now forcibly detained to transport him, his agent, his valet, his jester, and his hard-drinker, across the country to Bitem. The cause of this detention, which to me was of as little consequence as it may be to the reader, was important enough to my companions to reconcile them to the delay. Like eagles, they Smelled the battle afar off, ordered a magnum of claret and beds at the Wallace, and entered at full career into the Bubbleburgh, and Bitem politics, with all the probable “petitions and complaints” to which they were likely to give rise. - In the midst of an anºivus, whimated, and, to me, most unin- telligible discussion, concerning provosts, bailies, deacons, sets of boroughs, leets, town-clerks, burgesses resident and non-resident, all of a sudden the lawyer recollected himself. “Poor Dumover, we must not forget him ;” and the landlord was despatched in quest of the pauvre honteux, with an earnestly civil invitation to him for the rest of the evening. I could not help asking the young gentlemen ºf they knew the history of this poor man; and the counsellor applied himself to his pocket to recover the memorial or brief from which he had Stated his cause. * THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 23 “He has been a candidate for our remedium miserabile,” said Mr. Hardie, “ commonly called a cessio bonorum. As there are divines who have doubted the etermity of future punishments, so the Scotch lawyers seem to have thought that the crime of poverty might be atomed for by 80mething short of perpetual imprisonment. After a month's confinement, you must know, a prisoner for debt is entitled, On a Sufficient statement to Our Supreme Court, Setting forth the amount of his funds, and the nature of his misfortunes, and Sur- Tendering all his effects to his creditors, to claim to be discharged from prison.” “I had heard,” I replied, “ of such a humane regulation.” “Yes,” said Halkit, “ and the beauty of it is, as the foreign fellow Said, you may get the cessio, when the bonorums are all spent— But what, are you puzzling in your pockets to seek your only memorial among old play-bills, letters requesting a meeting of the Faculty, rules of the Speculative Society,” syllabus' of lectures—all the miscellaneous contents of a young advocate's pocket, which contains everything but briefs and bank-notes ? Can you not state a case of cessio without your memorial 3 Why, it is dome every Saturday. The events follow each other as regularly as clock-work, and one form of condescendence might Suit every one of them.” “This is very unlike the variety of distress which this gentleman Stated to fall under the consideration of your judges,” said I. “True,” replied Halkit; “but Hardie spoke of criminal juris- prudence, and this business is purely civil. I could plead a cessio myself without the inspiring honours of a gown and three-tailed periwig–Listen.—My client was bred a journeyman weaver—made some little money—took a farm—(for conducting a farm, like driving a gig, comes by nature)—late Severe times—induced to sign bills with a friend, for which he received no value—landlord Sequestrates— Creditors accept a composition—pursuer Sets up a public-house—fails a second time—is incarcerated for a debt of ten pownds seven shillings and Sæpence—his debts amount to blamk—his losses to blank—his funds to blank—leaving a balance of blank in his favour. There is Two opposition ; your lordships will please grant commission to take his oath.” Hardie now renounced this ineffectual search, in which there was perhaps a little affectation, and told us the tale of poor Dumover's distresses, with a tone in which a degree of feeling, which he seemed ashamed of as wnprofessional, mingled with his attempts at wit, and % [A well-known debating club in Edinburgh.] 24 WAWERLEY NOVELS. did him more honour. It was one of those tales which seem to argue a sort of ill-luck or fatality attached to the hero. A well-informed, $ndustrious, and blameless, but p00r and bashful man, had in vain essayed all the usual means by which others acquire independence, get had never Succeeded beyond the attainment of bare subsistence. During a brief gleam of hope, rather than of actual prosperity, he had added a wife and family to his cares, but the dawn was speedily overcast. Everything retrograded with him towards the verge of the miry Slough of Despond, which yawns for insolvent debtors; and after catching at each twig, and experiencing the protracted agony of feeling them one by one elude his grasp, he actually sunk into the miry pit whence he had been eſctricated by the professional exertions of Hardie. “And, I suppose, now you have dragged this poor devil ashore, gou will leave him half naked on the beach to provide for himself?” said Halkit. “Hark ye,”—and he whispered something in his ear, of which the penetrating and insinuating words, “Interest with my Lord,” alone reached mine. “It is pessimi exempli,” said Hardie, laughing, “to provide for a ruined client ; but I was thinking of what you mention, provided Čt can be managed—But hush l here he comes.” The recent relation of the poor man's misfortunes had given him, I was pleased to observe, a claim to the attention and respect of the goung men, who treated him with great civility, and gradually en- gaged him in a conversation, which, much to my Satisfaction, again turned upon the Causes Célèbres of Scotland. Imboldened by the lcindness with which he was treated, Mr. Dunover began to contribute his share to the amusement of the evening. Jails, like other places, have their ancient traditions, known only to the inhabitants, and handed down from one set of the melancholy lodgers to the next who occupy their cells. Some of these, which Dumover mentioned, were interesting, and served to illustrate the narratives of remarkable trials, which Hardie had at his finger-ends, and which his companion was also well skilled in. This sort of conversation passed away the evening till the early hour when Mr. Dunover chose to retire to rest, and I also retreated to take down memorandums of what I had learned, in order to add another narrative to those which it had been my chief amusement to collect, and to write out in detail. The two goung men ordered a broiled bone, Madeira négus, and a pack of cards, and commenced a game at picquet. Next morning the travellers left Gandercleugh. I afterwards THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 25 learned from the papers that both have been Since engaged in the great political cause of Bubbleburgh, and Bitem, a summary case, and entitled to particular despatch, ; but which, it is thought, nevertheless, may outlast the duration of the parliament to which the contest refers. Mr. Halkit, as the newspapers informed me, acts as agent or Solicitor; and Mr. Hardie opened for Sir Peter Plyem with singular ability, and to Such good purpose, that I understand he has Since had fewer play-bills and more briefs in his pocket. And both the young gentle- men deserve their good fortune; for I learned from Dumover, who called on me some weeks afterwards, and communicated the intelli- gence with tears in his eyes, that their interest had availed to obtain him a Small office for the decent maintenance of his family; and that, after a train of constant and wninterrupted misfortune, he could trace a dawn of prosperity to his having the good fortune to be flung from the top of a mail-coach into the river Gander, in company with an advocate and a writer to the Sigmet. The reader will not perhaps deem himself equally obliged to the accident, Since it brings wpon him the following narrative, founded upon the conversation of the evening. ...] */ e . * * , , } } # * * - | | | { i ; L. gzzº * I a # j ...;º i ºi, Y. , , , , º, *; - > -- ; :) it'; ºft," #| || | #4. ti { *- |M| || D) = |l, (C) iſ H| || A N a ——-4– Whoe'er's been at Paris must needs know the Grève, The fatal retreat of the unfortunate brave, Where honour and justice most oddly contribute, To ease heroes' pains by an halter and gibbet. There death breaks the shackles which force had put on, And the hangman completes what the judge but began ; There the squire of the poet, and knight of the post, Find their pains no more baulked, and their hopes no more crossed. PRIOR. IN former times, England had her Tyburn, to which the devoted victims of justice were conducted in solemn procession up what is now called Oxford Street. In Edinburgh, a large open street, or rather oblong Square, Surrounded by high houses, called the Grassmarket, was used for the same melancholy purpose. It was not ill chosen for such a scene, being of considerable extent, and therefore fit to accommodate a great number of spectators, Such as are usually assembled by this melancholy spectacle. On the other hand, few of the houses which surround it were, even in early times, inhabited by persons of fashion; so that those likely to be offended or over deeply affected by such unpleasant exhibitions were not in the way of having their quiet disturbed by them. The houses in the Grassmarket are, generally speak- 28 WAWERLEY NOWELS. ing, of a mean description ; yet the place is not without some features of grandeur, being overhung by the southern side of the huge rock on which the Castle stands, and by the moss-grown battlements and turreted walls of that ancient fortress. It was the custom, until within these thirty years or there- abouts, to use this esplanade for the scene of public executions. The fatal day was announced to the public by the appearance * of a huge black gallows-tree towards the eastern end of the Grass- market. This ill-omened apparition was of great height, with a scaffold Surrounding it, and a double ladder placed against it, for the ascent of the unhappy criminal and executioner. As this apparatus was always arranged before dawn, it seemed as if the gallows had grown out of the earth in the course of one night, like the production of some foul demon ; and I well remember the fright with which the schoolboys, when I was One of their number, used to regard these Ominous signs of deadly preparation. On the night after the execution the gallows again disappeared, and was conveyed in silence and darkness to the place where it was usually deposited, which was One of the vaults under the Parliament House, or courts of justice. This mode of execution is now exchanged for one similar to that in front of Newgate, with what beneficial effect is uncertain. The mental sufferings of the convict are indeed shortened. He no longer stalks between the attendant clergymen, dressed in his grave-clothes, through a considerable part of the city, looking like a moving and walking corpse, while yet an inhabitant of this world; but, as the ultimate purpose of punishment has in view the prevention of crimes, it may at least be doubted, whether, in abridging the melancholy ceremony, we have not in part diminished that appalling effect upon the spectators which is the useful end of all such inflictions, and in consideration of which alone, unless in very particular cases, capital sentences can be altogether justified. On the 7th day of September 1736, these Ominous prepara- tions for execution were descried in the place we have described, and at an early hour the space around began to be occupied by Several groups, who gazed on the scaffold and gibbet with a stern and vindictive show of satisfaction very seldom testified by the populace, whose good nature, in most cases, forgets the Crime of the condemned person, and dwells only on his misery. But the act of which the expected culprit had been convicted was of a description calculated nearly and closely to awaken and irritate THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 29 the resentful feelings of the multitude. The tale is well known; yet it is necessary to recapitulate its leading circumstances, for the better understanding what is to follow ; and the narrative may prove long, but I trust not uninteresting even to those who have heard its general issue. At any rate, some detail is necessary, in order to render intelligible the subsequent events of our narrative. Contraband trade, though it strikes at the root of legitimate government, by encroaching on its revenues, though it injures the fair trader, and debauches the mind of those engaged in it, —is not usually looked upon, either by the vulgar or by their betters, in a very heinous point of view. On the contrary, in those countries where it prevails, the cleverest, boldest, and most intelligent of the peasantry, are uniformly engaged in illicit transactions, and very often with the sanction of the farmers and inferior gentry. Smuggling was almost universal in Scot- land in the reigns of George I. and II. ; for the people, un- accustomed to imposts, and regarding them as an unjust aggression upon their ancient liberties, made no scruple to elude them whenever it was possible to do so. The county of Fife, bounded by two firths on the south and north, and by the sea on the east, and having a number of small Seaports, was long famed for maintaining successfully a contra- band trade; and, as there were many seafaring men residing there, who had been pirates and buccaneers in their youth, there were not wanting a sufficient number of daring men to carry it on. Among these, a fellow called Andrew Wilson, Originally a baker in the village of Pathhead, was particularly obnoxious to the revenue officers. He was possessed of great personal strength, courage, and cunning, was perfectly ac- quainted with the coast, and capable of conducting the most desperate enterprises. On several occasions he succeeded in baffling the pursuit and researches of the king's officers; but he became so much the object of their suspicions and watchful attention, that at length he was totally ruined by repeated seizures. The man became desperate. He considered himself as robbed and plundered; and took it into his head that he had a right to make reprisals, as he could find opportunity. Where the heart is prepared for evil, opportunity is seldom long want- ing. This Wilson learned that the Collector of the Customs at Kirkcaldy had come to Pittenweem, in the course of his official round of duty, with a considerable sum of public money in his 30 WAWERLEY NOWELS. custody. As the amount was greatly within the value of the goods which had been seized from him, Wilson felt no scruple of conscience in resolving to reimburse himself for his losses, at the expense of the Collector and the revenue. He associated with himself one Robertson, and two other idle young men, whom, having been concerned in the same illicit trade, he per- Suaded to view the transaction in the same justifiable light in which he himself considered it. They watched the motions of the Collector; they broke forcibly into the house where he lodged, Wilson, with two of his associates, entering the Collector's apartment, while Robertson, the fourth, kept watch at the door with a drawn cutlass in his hand. The officer of the customs, conceiving his life in danger, escaped Out of his bedroom window, and fled in his shirt, so that the plunderers, with much ease, possessed themselves of about two hundred pounds of public money. The robbery was committed in a very audacious manner, for several persons were passing in the street at the time. But Robertson, representing the noise they heard as a dispute or fray betwixt the Collector and the people of the house, the worthy citizens of Pittenweem felt themselves no way called on to interfere in behalf of the obnoxious revenue officer; So, Satisfying themselves with this very superficial account of the matter, like the Levite in the parable, they passed on the opposite side of the way. An alarm was at length given, military were called in, the depredators were pursued, the booty recovered, and Wilson and Robertson tried and condemned to death, chiefly on the evidence of an accomplice. Many thought that, in consideration of the men's erroneous opinion of the nature of the action they had committed, justice might have been satisfied with a less forfeiture than that of two lives. On the other hand, from the audacity of the fact, a Severe example was judged necessary; and such was the opinion of the Government. When it became apparent that the Serileuce of death was to be executed, files, and other implements necessary for their escape, were transmitted secretly to the culprits by a friend from without. By these means they sawed a bar out of one of the prison-windows, and might have made their escape, but for the obstinacy of Wilson, who, as he was daringly resolute, was doggedly pertinacious of his opinion. His comrade, Robertson, a young and slender man, proposed to make the experiment of passing the foremost through the gap they had made, and en- larging it from the outside, if necessary, to allow Wilson free THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. 31 passage. Wilson, however, insisted on making the first experi- ment, and being a robust and lusty man, he not Only found it impossible to get through betwixt the bars, but, by his struggles, he jammed himself so fast, that he was unable to draw his body back again. In these circumstances discovery became unavoid- able, and Sufficient precautions were taken by the jailor to pre- vent any repetition of the same attempt. Robertson uttered not a word of reflection on his companion for the consequences of his obstinacy; but it appeared from the sequel, that Wilson's mind was deeply impressed with the recollection, that, but for him, his comrade, over whose mind he exercised considerable in- fluence, would not have engaged in the criminal enterprise which had terminated thus fatally ; and that now he had become his destroyer a second time, since, but for his obstinacy, Robertson might have effected his escape. Minds like Wilson's, even when exercised in evil practices, sometimes retain the power of think- ing and resolving with enthusiastic generosity. His whole thoughts were now bent on the possibility of Saving Robertson's life, without the least respect to his own. The resolution which he adopted, and the manner in which he carried it into effect, were striking and unusual. Adjacent to the tolbooth or city jail of Edinburgh, is one of three churches into which the cathedral of St. Giles is now divided, called, from its vicinity, the Tolbooth Church. It was the custom that criminals under sentence of death were brought to this church, with a sufficient guard, to hear and join in pub- lic worship on the Sabbath before execution. It was supposed that the hearts of these unfortunate persons, however hardened before against feelings of devotion, could not but be accessible to them upon uniting their thoughts and voices, for the last time, along with their fellow-mortals, in addressing their Creator. And to the rest of the congregation, it was thought it could not but be impressive and affecting, to find their devotions mingling with those, who, sent by the doom of an earthly tribunal to ap- pear where the whole earth is judged, might be considered as beings trembling on the verge of eternity. The practice, how- ever edifying, has been discontinued, in consequence of the incident we are about to detail. - The clergyman, whose duty it was to officiate in the Tolbooth Church, had concluded an affecting discourse, part of which was particularly directed to the unfortunate men, Wilson and Robert- son, who were in the pew set apart for the persons in their un- 32 - WAVERLEY NOVELS. happy situation, each secured betwixt two soldiers of the city guard. The clergyman had reminded them, that the next con- gregation they must join would be that of the just, or of the unjust ; that the psalms they now heard must be exchanged, in the space of two brief days, for eternal hallelujahs, or eternal lamentations; and that this fearful alternative must depend upon the state to which they might be able to bring their minds before the moment of awful preparation: that they should not despair on account of the Suddenness of the summons, but rather to feel this comfort in their misery, that, though all who now lifted the voice, or bent the knee in conjunction with them, lay under the same sentence of certain death, they only had the ad- vantage of knowing the precise moment at which it should be executed upon them. “Therefore,” urged the good man, his voice trembling with emotion, “redeem the time, my unhappy brethren, which is yet left; and remember, that, with the grace of Him to whom space and time are but as nothing, Salvation may yet be assured, even in the pittance of delay which the laws of your country afford you.” A. Robertson was observed to weep at these words; but Wilson seemed as one whose brain had not entirely received their meaning, or whose thoughts were deeply impressed with some different subject ;-an expression so natural to a person in his situation, that it excited neither suspicion nor surprise. The benediction was pronounced as usual, and the congrega- tion was dismissed, many lingering to indulge their curiosity with a more fixed look at the two criminals, who now, as well as their guards, rose up, as if to depart when the crowd should permit them. A murmur of compassion was heard to pervade the spectators, the more general, perhaps, on account of the alleviating circumstances of the case ; when all at once, Wilson, who, as we have already noticed, was a very strong man, seized two of the soldiers, one with each hand, and calling at the same time to his companion, “Run, Geordie, run " threw himself on a third, and fastened his teeth on the collar of his coat. Robertson stood for a second as if thunderstruck, and unable to avail himself of the opportunity of escape; but the cry of “Run, run l’ being echoed from many around, whose feelings surprised them into a very natural interest in his behalf, he shook off the grasp of the remaining soldier, threw himself over the pew, mixed with the dispersing congregation, none of whom felt in- - - • [. - *…*.*.*…*… ( .. 2 - ) * . . . . . Cl-,-,-º-º-º-º-º-º..."--, / v.--~~~. . . ... *''.