-::: -:iii:i ii::i:ii::::i::-m::_:j: !::iciiiiliiiiilillliiililli;c;i iiiiiiiiiiiiiii,:::''ib:iiiiijgg: ii i: iii:i:::;a:;:::::::::::::::::':::'::. ~~,.j ~x rS::::::;::::,:::,:::::8:::-:;::i: I: i:::::-::-: WAVERLEY NOVELS. HOUSEHPOLD EDITION. GUY MANNERING. I. BO ST ON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. X DCCC LVII. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. GUY MANNERING; OR) THE ASTROLOGER.'Tis said that words and signs have power O'er sprites in planetary hour; But scarce I praise their venturous part, Who tamper with such dangerous art. LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. GUY MANNERING; OR, THE ASTROLOGER.'Tis said that words and signs have power, O'er sprites in planetary hour; But scarce I praise their venturous part, Who tamper with such dangerous art. LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. INTRODUCTION-(1829.) THE Novel or Romance of WAVERLEY made its way to the public slowly, of course, at first, but afterwards with such accumulating popularity as to.encourage the Author to a second attempt. He looked about for a name and a subject; and the manner in which the novelswere composed cannot be better illustrated than by reciting the simple narrative on which Guy Mannering was originally founded; but to which, in the progress of the work, the production ceased to bear any, even the most distant resemblance. The tale was originally told me by an old servant of my father's, an.excellent old Highlander, without a fault, unless a preference to mountain 6 WAVERLEY NOVELS. dew over less potent liquors be accounted one. He believed as firmly in the story, as in any part of his creed. A grave and elderly person, according to old John MacKinlay's account, while travelling in the wilder parts of Galloway, was benighted. With difficulty he found his way to a country-seat, where, with the hospitality of the time and country, he was readily admitted. The owner of the house, a gentleman of good fortune, was much struck by the reverend appearance of his guest, and apologized to him for a certain degree of confusion which must unavoidably attend his reception, and could not escape his eye. The lady of the house was, he said, confined to her apartment, and on the point of making her husband a father for the first time, though they had been ten years married. At such an emergency, the Laird said, he feared his guest might meet with some apparent neglect. "Not so, sir," said the stranger, "my wants are few, and easily supplied, and I trust the present circumstances may even afford an opportunity of showing my gratitude for your hospitality. Let me only request that I may be informed of the exact minute of the birth; and I hope to be able to put you in possession of some particulars, which may influence, in an important manner, the future prospects of the child now about to come into this busy and changeful world. I will not conceal from you that I am skilful in understanding and interpreting the movements of those planetary bodies which exert their influences on the destiny of mortals. It is a science which I do not practise, like others, who call themselves astrologers, for hire or reward; for I have a competent estate, and only use the knowledge I possess for the ben GUY MIANNERING. 7 efit of those in whom I feel an interest." The Laird bowed in respect and gratitude, and the stranger was accommodated with an apartment which commanded an ample view of the astral regions. The guest spent a part of the night in ascertaining the position of the heavenly bodies, and calculating their probable influence; until at length the result of his observations induced him to send for the father, and conjure him, in the most solemn manner, to cause the assistants to retard the birth, if practicable, were it but for five minutes. The answer declared this to be impossible; and almost in the instant that the message was returned, the father and his guest were made acquainted with the birth of a boy. The Astrologer on the morrow met the party who gathered around the breakfast table with looks so grave and ominous, as to alarm the fears of the father, who had hitherto exulted in the prospects held out by the birth of an heir to his ancient property, failing which event it must have passed to a distant branch of the family. He hastened to draw the stranger into a private room. "I fear from your looks," said the father, A" that you have bad tidings to tell me of my young stranger: perhaps God will resume the blessing he has bestowed ere he attains the age of manhood! or perhaps he is destined to be unworthy of the affection which we are naturally disposed to devote to our offspring?" "Neither the one nor the other," answered the stranger: " unless my judgment greatly err, the infant will survive the years of minority, and in temper and disposition will prove all that his parents can wish. But with much in his horoscope which promises many blessings, there is one evil influence strongly predominant, which threatens 8 WAVERLEY NOVELS. to subject him to an unhallowed and unhappy temptation about the time when he shall attain the age of twenty-one, which period, the constellations intimate, will be the crisis of his fate. In what shape, or with what peculiar urgency, this temptation may beset him, my art cannot discover." "Your knowledge, then, can afford us no defence," said the anxious father, "against the threatened evil? " "Pardon me," answered the stranger, "it can. The influence of the constellations is powerful; but He, who made the heavens, is more powerful than all, if his aid be invoked in sincerity and truth. You ought to dedicate this boy to the immediate service of his Maker, with as much sincerity as Samuel was devoted to the worship in the Temple by his parents. You must regard him as a being separated from the rest of the world. In childhood, in boyhood, you must surround him with the pious and virtuous, and protect him, to the utmost of your power, from the sight or hearing of any crime, in word or action. He must be educated in religious and moral principles of the strictest description. Let him not enter the world, lest he learn to partake of its follies, or perhaps of its vices. In short, preserve him as far as possible from all sin, save that of which too great a portion belongs to all the fallen race of Adam. With the approach of his twenty-first birth-day comes the crisis of his fate. If he survive it, he will be happy and prosperous on earth, and a chosen vessel among those elected for heaven. But if it be otherwise "-The Astrologer stopped, and sighed deeply. " Sir," replied the parent, still more alarmed than before, "your words are so kind, your advice so serious, that I will pay the deepest attention to your behests. GUY MANNERING. 9 But can you not aid me farther in this most important concern? Believe me, I will not be ungrateful." "I require and deserve no gratitude for doing a good action," said the stranger, " in especial for contributing all that lies in my power to save from an abhorred fate the harmless infant to whom, under a singular conjunction of planets, last night gave life. There is my address; you may write to me from time to time concerning the progress of the boy in religious knowledge. If he be bred up as I advise, I think it will be best that he come to my house at the time when the fatal and decisive period approaches, that is, before he has attained his twenty-first year complete. If you send him such as I desire, I humbly trust that God will protect his own, through whatever strong temptation his fate may subject him to." He then gave his host his address, which was a country-seat near a post-town in the south of England, and bid him an affectionate farewell. The mysterious stranger departed, but his words remained impressed upon the mind of the anxious parent. He lost his lady while his boy was still in infancy. This calamity, I think, had been predicted by the Astrologer; and thus his confidence, which, like most people of the period, he had freely given to the science, was riveted and confirmed. The utmost care, therefore, was taken to carry into effect the severe and almost ascetic plan of education which the sage had enjoined. A tutor of the strictest principles was employed to superintend the youth's education; he was surrounded by domestics of the most established character, and closely watched and looked after by the anxious father himself. The years of infancy, childhood, and boyhood, passed as the father could have wished. A young Nazarene 10 WAVERLEY NOVELS. could not have been bred up with more rigour. All that was evil was withheld from his observation;-he only heard what was pure in precept-he only witnessed what was worthy in practice. But when the boy began to be lost in the youth, the attentive father saw cause for alarm. Shades of sadness, which gradually assumed a darker character, began to overcloud the young man's temper. Tears, which seemed involuntary, broken sleep, moonlight wanderings, and a melancholy for which he could assign no reason, seemed to threaten at once his bodily health, and the stability of his mind. The Astrologer was consulted by letter, and returned for answer, that this fitful state of mind was but the commencement of his trial, and that the poor youth must undergo more and more desperate struggles with the evil that assailed him. There was no hope of remedy, save that he showed steadiness of mind in the study of the Scriptures. "He suffers," continued the letter of the sage, "from the awakening of those harpies, the passions, which have slept with him as with others, till the period of life which he has now attained. Better, far better that they torment him by ungrateful cravings, than that he should have to repent having satiated them by criminal indulgence." The dispositions of the young man were so excellent, that he combated, by reason and religion, the fits of gloom which at times overcast his mind, and it was not till he attained the commencement of his twenty-first year, that they assumed a character which made his father tremble for the consequences. It seemed as if the gloomiest and most hideous of mental maladies was taking the form of religious despair. Still the youth was gentle, courteous, affectionate, and submissive to his father's will, and re GUY IANNERING. 11 sisted with all his power the dark suggestions which were breathed into his mind, as it seemed, by some emanation of the Evil Principle, exhorting him, like the wicked wife of Job, to curse God and die. The time at length arrived when he was to perform what was then thought a long and somewhat perilous journey, to the mansion of the early friend who had calculated his nativity. His road lay through several places of interest, and he enjoyed the amusement of travelling more than he himself thought would have been possible. Thus he did not reach the place of his destination till noon, on the day preceding his birth-day. It seemed as if he had been carried away with an unwonted tide of pleasurable sensation, so as to forget in some degree, what his father had communicated concerning the purpose of his journey. He halted at length before a respectable but solitary old mansion, to which he was directed as the abode of his father's friend. The servants who came to take his horse, told him he had been expected for two days. He was led into a study, where the stranger, now a venerable old man, who had been his father's guest, met him with a shade of displeasure, as well as gravity, on his brow. " Young man," he said, "wherefore so slow on a journey of such importance? "-"I thought," replied the guest, blushing and looking downward, "that there was no harm in travelling slowly, and satisfying my curiosity, providing I could reach your residence by this day; for such was my father's charge."-" You were to blame," replied the sage, "in lingering, considering that the avenger of blood was pressing on your footsteps. But you are come at last, and we will hope for the best, though the conflict in which you are to be engaged will be found more dreadful, the 12 WAVERLEY NOVELS. longer it is postponed. But first accept of such refreshments as nature requires to satisfy, but not to pamper the appetite." The old man led the way into a summer-parlour, where a frugal meal was placed on the table. As they sat down to the board, they were joined by a young lady about eighteen years of age, and so lovely, that the sight of her carried off the feelings of the young stranger from the peculiarity and mystery of his own lot, and riveted his attention to every thing she did or said. She spoke little, and it was on the most serious subjects. She played on the harpsichord at her father's command, but it was hymns with which she accompanied the instrument. At length, on a sign from the sage, she left the room, turning on the young stranger, as she departed, a look of inexpressible anxiety and interest. The old man then conducted the youth to his study, and conversed with him upon the most important points of religion, to satisfy himself that he could render a reason for the faith that was in him. During the examination, the youth, in spite of himself, felt his mind occasionally wander, and his recollections go in quest of the beautiful vision who had shared their meal at noon. On such occasions the Astrologer looked grave, and shook his head at this relaxation of attention; yet, on the whole, he was pleased with the youth's replies. At sunset the young man was made to take the bath; and, having done so, he was directed to attire himself in a robe, somewhat like that worn by Armenians, having his long hair combed down on his shoulders, and his neck, hands, and feet bare. In this guise he was conducted into a remote chamber totally devoid of furniture, excepting a lamp, a chair, and a table, on which lay a Bible. GUY MANNERING. 13 " iere," said the Astrologer, " I must leave you alone, to pass the most critical period of your life. If you can, by recollection of the great truths of which we have spoken, repel the attacks which will be made on your courage and your principles, you have nothing to apprehend. But the trial will be severe and arduous." His features then assumed a pathetic solemnity, the tears stood in his eyes, and his voice faltered with emotion as he said, "Dear child, at whose coming into the world I foresaw this fatal trial, may God give thee grace to support it with firmness! " The young man was left alone; and hardly did he find himself so, when, like a swarm of demons, the recollection of all his sins of omission and commission, rendered even more terrible by the scrupulousness with which he had been educated, rushed on his mind, and, like furies armed with fiery scourges, seemed determined to drive him to despair. As he combated these horrible recollections with distracted feelings, but with a resolved mind, he became aware that his arguments were answered by the sophistry of another, and that the dispute was no longer confined to his own thoughts. The Author of Evil was present in the room with him in bodily shape, and, potent with spirits of a melancholy cast, was impressing upon him the desperation of his state, and urging suicide as the readiest mode to put an end to his sinful career. Amid his errors, the pleasure he had taken in prolonging his journey unnecessarily, and the attention which he had bestowed on the beauty of the fair female, when his thoughts ought to have been dedicated to the religious discourse of her father, were set before him in the darkest colours; and he was treated as one who, having sinned against light, was therefore deservedly left a prey to the Prince of Darkness. 14 WAVERLEY NOVELS. As the fated and influential hour rolled on, the terrors of the hateful Presence grew more confounding to the mortal senses of the victim, and the knot of the accursed sophistry became more inextricable in appearance, at least to the prey whom its meshes surrounded. He had not power to explain the assurance of pardon which he continued to assert, or to name the victorious name in which he trusted. But his faith did not abandon him, though he lacked for a time the power of expressing it. "6 Say what you will," was his answer to the Tempter" I know there is as much betwixt the two boards of this Book as can insure me forgiveness for my transgressions, and safety for my soul." As he spoke, the clock, which announced the lapse of the fatal hour, was heard to strike. The speech and intellectual powers of the youth were instantly and fully restored; he burst forth into prayer, and expressed, in the most glowing terms, his reliance on the truth, and on the Author of the gospel. The demon retired, yelling and discomfited, and the old man, entering the apartment, with tears congratulated his guest on his victory in the fated struggle. The young man was afterwards married to the beautiful maiden, the first sight of whom had made such an impression on him, and they were consigned over at the close of the story to domestic happiness.-So ended John MacKinlay's legend. The author of Waverley had imagined a possibility of framing an interesting, and perhaps not an unedifying tale, out of the incidents of the life of a doomed individual, whose efforts at good and virtuous conduct were to be forever disappointed by the intervention, as it were, of some malevolent being, and who was at last to come off victorious from the fearful struggle. In short, some GUY MIANNERING. 15 thing was meditated upon a plan resembling the imaginative tale of Sintram and his Companions, by Mons Le Baron de la Motte Fouque,-although, if it then existed, the author had not seen it. The scheme projected may be traced in the three or four first chapters of the work, but farther consideration induced the author to lay his purpose aside. It appeared, on mature consideration, that Astrology, though its influence was once received and admitted by Bacon himself, does not now retain influence over the general mind sufficient even to constitute the mainspring of a romance. Besides, it occurred, that to do justice to such a subject would have required not only more talent than the author could be conscious of possessing, but also involved doctrines and discussions of a nature too serious for his purpose, and for the character of the narrative. In changing his plan, however, which was done in the course of printing, the early sheets retained the vestiges of the original tenor of the story, although they now hang upon it as an unnecessary and unnatural encumbrance. The cause of such vestiges occurring is now explained, and apologized for. It is here worthy of observation, that while the astrologic-al doctrines have fallen into general contempt, and been supplanted by superstitions of a more gross and far less beautiful character, they have, even in modern days, retained some votaries. One of the most remarkable believers in that forgotten and despised science, was a late eminent professor of the art of legerdemain. One would have thought that a person of this description ought, from his knowledge of the thousand ways in which human eyes could be deceived, to have been less than others subject to the 16 WAVERLEY NOVELS. fantasies of superstition. Perhaps the habitual use of those abstruse calculations, by which, in a manner surprising to the artist himself, many tricks upon cards, &c., are performed, induced this gentleman to study the combination of the stars and planets, with the expectation of obtaining prophetic communications. He constructed a scheme of his own nativity, calculated according to such rules of art as he could collect from the best astrological authors. The result of the past he found agreeable to what had hitherto befallen him, but in the important prospect of the future a singular difficulty occurred. There were two years, during the course of which, he could by no means obtain any exact knowledge whether the subject of the scheme would be dead or alive. Anxious concerning so remarkable a circumstance, he gave the scheme to a brother Astrologer, who was also baffled in the same manner. At one period he found the native, or subject, was certainly alive-at another, that he was unquestionably dead; but a space of two years extended between these two terms, during which he could find no certainty as to his death or existence. The Astrologer marked the remarkable circumstance in his Diary, and continued his exhibitions in various parts of the empire, until the period was about to expire, during which his existence had been warranted as actually ascertained. At last, while he was exhibiting to a numerous audience his usual tricks of legerdemain, the hands, whose activity had so often baffled the closest observer, suddenly lost their power, the cards dropped from them, and he sunk down a disabled paralytic. In this state the artist languished for two years, when he was at length removed by death. It is said that the Diary of this modern Astrologer will soon be given to the public. GUY 3IANNERING. 17 The fact, if truly reported, is one of those singular coincidences which occasionally appear, differing so widely from ordinary calculation, yet without which irregularities, human life would not present to mortals looking into futurity, the abyss of impenetrable darkness which it is the pleasure of the Creator it should offer to them. Were every thing to happen in the ordinary train of events, the future would be subject to the rules of arithmetic, like the chances of galming. But extraordinary events, and wonderful runs of luck, defy the calculations of mankind, and throw impenetrable darkness on future contingencies. To the above anecdote, another, still more recent, may be here added. The author was lately honoured with a letter from a gentleman deeply skilled in these mysteries, who kindly undertook to calculate the nativity of the writer of Guy Alannering, who might be supposed to be friendly to the divine art which he professed. But it was impossible to supply data for the construction of a horoscope, had the native been otherwise desirous of it, since all those who could supply the minutix of day, hour, and minute, have been long removed ftom the mortal sphere. Having thus given some account of the first idea or' rude sketch, of the story, which was soon departed fiom, the author, in following out the plan of the present edition, hlas to mention the prototypes of the principal characters in Guy Mannering. Some circumstances of local situation gave the author, in his youth, an opportunity of seeing a little, and hearing a great deal, about that degraded class who are called pi;es; who are in most cases a mixed race, between the ancient Egyptians who arrived in Europe about the VOL. 1II. 2 18 WAVERLEY NOVELS. beginning of the fifteenth century, and vagrants of Eu. ropean descent. The individual gipsy upon whom the character of -gleg Merrilies was founded, was well known about the middle of the last century, by the name of Jean Gordon, an inhabitant of the village of Kirk Yetholm, in the Cheviot hills, adjoining to the English Border. The author gave the public some account of this remarkable person, in one of' the early Numbers of Blackwood's Magazine, to the following purpose:"My father remembered old Jean Gordon of Yetholm, who had great sway among her tribe. She was quite a Meg Merrilies, and possessed the savage virtue of fidelity in the same perfection. Having been often hospitably received at the farm-house of Lochside, near Yetholm, she had carefully abstained from committing any depredations on the farmer's property. But her sons (nine in'number) had not, it seems, the same delicacy, and stole a brood-sow from their kind entertainer. Jean was mortified at this ungrateful conduct, and so much ashamed of it, that she absented herself from Lochside for several years.;" It happened, in course of time, that in consequence of some temporary pecuniary necessity, the Goodman of Lochside was obliged to go to Newcastle to raise some money to pay his rent. He succeeded in his purpose, but returning through the mountains of Cheviot, he was benighted and lost his way. "A light glimmering through the window of a large waste barn, which had survived the farm-house to which it had once belonged, guided him to a place of shelter; and when he knocked at the door, it was opened by Jean Gordon. Her very remarkable figure, for she was nearly GUY MANNERING. 19 six feet high, and her equally remarkable features and dress, rendered it impossible to mistake her for a moment, though he had not seen her for years; and to meet with such a character in so solitary a place, and probably at no great distance from her clan, was a grievous surprise to the poor man, whose rent (to lose which would have been ruin) was about his person. " Jean set up a loud shout of joyful recognition-' Eh, sirs! the winsome Gudeman of Lochside! Light down, light down; for ye mauna gang farther the night, and a friend's house sae near.' The farmer was obliged to dismount, and accept of the gipsy's offer of supper and a bed. There was plenty of meat in the barn, however it might be come by, and preparations were going on for a plentiful repast, which the farmer, to the great increase of his anxiety, observed was calculated for ten or twelve guests, of the same description, probably, with his landlady. "Jean left him in no doubt on the subject. She brought to his recollection the story of the stolen sow, and mentioned how much pain and vexation it had given her. Like other philosophers, she remarked that the world grew worse daily; and, like other parents, that the bairns got out of her guiding, and neglected the old gipsy regulations, which commanded them to respect, in their depredations, the property of their benefactors. The end of all this was, an inquiry what money the farmer had about him, and an urgent request, or command, that he would mnake her his purse-keeper, since the bairns, as she called her sons, would be soon home. The poor farmer made a virtue of necessity, told his' story, and surrendered his gold to Jean's custody. She made him put a few shillings in his pocket, observing it 20 WAVERLEY NOVELS. would excite suspicion should he be found travelling altogether penniless. " This arrangement being made, the farmer lay down on a sort of shake-down, as the Scotch call it, or bedclothes disposed upon some straw, but, as will easily be believed, slept not. "About midnight the gang returned, with various articles of plunder, and talked over their exploits in language which made the farmer tremble. They were not long in discovering they had a guest, and demanded of Jean whom she had got there. "' E'en the winsome Gudeman of Lochside, poor body,' replied Jean;'he's been at Newcastle seeking siller to pay his rent, honest man, but deil-be-lickit he's been able to gather in, and sae he's gaun e'en hame wi' a toom purse and a sair heart.' "'That may be, Jean,' replied one of the banditti,'but we maun ripe his pouches a bit, and see if the tale be true or no.' Jean set up her throat in exclamations against this breach of hospitality, but without producing any change in their determination. The farmer soon heard their stifled whispers and light steps by his bedside, and understood they were rummaging his clothes. When they found the money which the providence of Jean Gordon had made him retain, they held a consultation if they should take it or no; but the smallness of the booty, and the vehemence of Jean's remonstrances, determined them in the negative. They caroused and went to rest. As soon as day dawned, Jean roused her guest, produced his horse, which she had accommodated behind the hallan, and guided him for some miles, till he was on the highroad to Lochside. She then restored his whole property, nor could his earnest entreaties prevail on her to accept so much as a single guinea. GUY IANNERING. 21 "I have heard the old people at Jedburgh say, that all Jeman's sons were condemned to die there on the same day. It is said the jury were equally divided, but that a friend to justice, who had slept during the whole discussion, waked suddenly, and gave his vote for condemnation, in the emphatic words,' Ictg them a'!' Unanimity is not required in a Scottish jury, so the verdict of guilty was returned. Jean was present, and only said,'The Lord help the innocent in a day like this!' Her own death was accompanied with circumstances of brutal outrage, of which poor Jean was in many respects wholly undeserving. She had, among other demerits, or merits, as the reader may choose to rank it, that of being a staunch Jacobite. She chanced to be at Carlisle upon a fair or market-day, soon after the year 1746, where she gave vent to her political partiality, to the great offence of the rabble of that city. Being zealous in their loyalty, when there was no danger, in proportion to the tameness with which they had surrendered to the Highlanders in 1745, the mob inflicted upon poor Jean Gordon no slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in the Eden. It was an operation of some time, for Jean was a stout woman, and, struggling with her murderers, often got her head above water; and, while she had voice left, continued to exclaim at such intervals,' Charlie yet! Charlie yet!' When a child, and among the scenes which she frequented, I have often heard these stories, and cried piteously for poor Jean Gordon. "Before quitting the Border gipsies, I may mention5 that my grandfather, while riding over Charterhouse moor, then a very extensive common, fell suddenly among a large band of them, who were carousing in a hollow of the moor, surrounded by bushes. They in 22 W:AVERLEY NOVELS. stantly seized on his horse's bridle with many shouts of welcome, exclaiming, (for he was well known to most of them,) that they had often dined at his expense, and he must now stay and share their good cheer. My ancestor was a little alarmed, for, like the Goodman of Lochside, he had more money about his person than he cared to risk in such society. However, being naturally a bold livelyspirited man, he entered into the humour of the thing, and sat down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties of game, poultry, pigs, and so forth, that could be collected by a wide and indiscriminate system of plunder. The dinner was a very merry one; but my relative got a hint from some of the older gipsies to retire just whenThe mirth and fun grew fast and furious; and mounting his horse, accordingly, he took a French leave of his entertainers, but without experiencing the least breach of hospitality. I believe Jean Gordon was at this festival."-(Blackwood's 2FMagazine, vol. i. p. 54.) Notwithstanding the failure of Jean's issue, for which, Weary fa' the waefu' wuddie, a grand-daughter survived her whom I remember to have seen. That is, as Dr. Johnson had a shadowy recollection of Queen Anne, as a stately lady in black, adorned with diamonds, so my memory is haunted by a solemn remembrance of a woman of more than female height, dressed in a long red cloak, who commenced acquaintance by giving me an apple, but whom, nevertheless, I looked on with as much awe, as the future Doctor, High Church and Tory as he was doomed to be, could look upon the Queen. I conceive this woman to have been _3/adge Gordon, of whom an impressive account is given in the GUY TIANNERING. 23 same article in which her mother Jean is mentioned, but not by the present writer:"The late Madge Gordon was at this time accounted the Queen of the Yetholm clans. She was, we believe, a grand-daughter of the celebrated Jean Gordon, and was said to have much resembled her in appearance. The following account of her is extracted from the letter of a'friend, who for many years enjoyed frequent and favourable opportunities of observing the characteristic peculiarities of the Yetholm tribes:-' Madge Gordon was descended from the Faas by the mother's side, and was married to a Young. She was a remarkable personage -of a very commanding presence, and high stature, being nearly six feet high. She had a large aquiline nose,-penetrating eyes, even in her old age,-bushy hair, that hung around her shoulders from beneath a gipsy bonnet of straw,-a short cloak of a peculiar fashion, and a long staff nearly as tall as herself. I remember her well; —every week she paid my father a visit for her awmouts, when I was a little boy, and I looked upon Madge with no common degree of awe and terror. When she spoke vehemently, (for she made loud complaints,) she used to strike her staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which it was impossible to regard with indifference. She used to say that she could bring, from the remotest parts of the island, friends to revenge her quarrel, while she sat motionless in her cottage; and she frequently boasted that there was a time when she was of still more considerable importance, for there were at her wedding fifty saddled asses, and unsaddled lasses without number. If Jean Gordon was the prototype of the clhracter of Meg uMerrilies, I imagine Madge must have sat to the unknown author as the representative of her person.' "-(Blackwood's lciagazine, vol. i. p. 56.) 24 WAVERLEY NOVELS. How far Blackwood's ingenious correspondent was right, how far mistaken, in his conjecture, the reader has been informed. To pass to a character of a very different description,'Dominie Sampson, the reader may easily suppose that a poor, modest, humble scholar, who has won his way through the classics, yet has fallen to leeward in the voyage of life, is no uncommon personage in a country where a certain portion of learning is easily attained by those who are willing to suffer hunger and thirst in exchange for acquiring Greek and Latin. But there is a.far more exact prototype of the worthy Domlinie, upon which is founded the part which he performs in the romance, and which, for certain particular reasons, must be expressed very generally. Such a preceptor as iMr. Sampson is supposed to have been, was actually tutor in the family of a gentleman of considerable property. The young lads, his pupils, grew up and went out in the world; but the tutor continued to reside in the family, no uncommon circumstance in Scotland (in former days), where food and shelter were readily afforded to humble friends and dependents. The Laird's predecessors had been imprudent; he himself was passive and unfortunate. Death swept away his sons, whose success in life might have balanced his own bad luck and incapacity. Debts increased and funds diminished, until ruin came. The estate was sold; and the old man was about to remove from the house of his fathers, to go he knew not whither, when, like an old piece of furniture, which, left alone in its wonted corner, may hold together for a long while, but breaks to pieces on an attempt to move it, he fell down on his own threshold under a paralytic affection. GUY 1ANNERING. 25 The tutor awakened as from a dream. He saw his patron dead, and that his patron's only remaining child, an elderly woman, now neither graceful nor beautiful, if she had ever been either the one or the other, had by this calamity become a homeless and penniless orphan. He addressed her nearly in the words which Dominie Sampson uses to Miss Bertram, and professed his determination not to leave her. Accordingly, roused to the exercise of talents which had long slumbered, he opened a little school, and supported his patron's child for the rest of her life, treating her with the same humble observance and devoted attention which he had used towards her in the days of her prosperity. Such is the outline of Dominie Sampson's real story, in which there is neither romantic incident nor sentimental passion; but which, perhaps, from the rectitude and simplicity of character which it displays, may interest the heart and fill the eye of the reader as irresistibly, as if it respected distresses of a more dignified or refined character. These preliminary notices concerning the tale of Guy Miannering, and some of the characters introduced, may save the author and reader, in the present instance, the trouble of writing and perusing a long string of detached notes. I may add, that the motto of this Novel was taken from the Lay of the Last Minstrel, to evade the conclusions of those who began to think that, as the author, of Waverley never quoted the. works of Sir Walter Scott, he must have reason for doing so, and that the circumstances might argue an identity between them. ABBOTSFORD, August 1, 1829. 26 VWAVERLEY NOVELS. ADDITIONAL NOTE. GAL WEGIAN LOCALITIES AND PERSONAG ES VWHIICH HAVE BEEN SUPPOSED TO BE ALLUDED TO IN TIlE NOVEL. AN old English proverb says, that more know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows; and the influence of the adage seems to extend to works composed under the influence of an idle or foolish planet. Many corresponding circumstances are detected by readers, of which the author did not suspect the existence. He must, however, regard it as a great compliment, that, in detailing incidents purely imaginary, he has been so fortunate in approximating reality, as to remind his readers of actual occurrences. It is therefore with pleasure he notices some pieces of local history and tradition, which have been supposed to coincide with the fictitious persons, incidents, and scenery of Guy Mannering. The prototype of Dirk Hatteraick is, considered as having been a Dutch skipper called Yawkins. This man was well known on the coast of Galloway and Dumfriesshire, as sole proprietor and master of a Btuckar, or smuggling lugger, called The Black Prince. Being distinguished by his nautical skill and intrepidity, his vessel was frequently freighted, and his own services employed, by French, Dutch, Manx, and Scottish smuggling companies. GUY MRANNERING. 27 A person well known by the name of Buckkar-Tea, from having been a noted smuggler of that article, and also by that of Bogle-Bush, the place of his residence, assured my kind informant, Mr. Train, that he had fiequently seen upwards of two hundred Lingtowmcn assemble at one time, and go off into the interior of the country, fully laden with contraband goods. In those halcyon days of the free trade, the fixed price for carrying a box of tea, or bale of tobacco, fiom the coast of, Galloway to Edinburgh, was fifteen shillings, and a man with two horses carried four such packages. The trade was entirely destroyed by 3Mr. Pitt's celebrated commutation law, which, by reducing the duties upon excisable articles, enabled the lawful dealer to compete with the smuggler. The statute was called in Galloway and Dumfries-shire, by those who had thriven upon the contraband trade, " the burning and starving act." Sure of such active assistance on shore, Yawkins demeaned himself so boldly, that his mere name was a terror to the officers of the revenue. He availed himself of the fears which his presence inspired on one particular night, when, happening to be ashore with a considerable quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party of excisemen came down on him. Far from shunning the attack, Yawkins sprung forward, shouting, " Come on, my lads! Yawkins is before you." The revenue officers were intimidated, and relinquished their prize, though defended only by the courage and address of a single man. On his proper element, Yawkins was equally successful. On one occasion, he was landing his cargo at the Manxman's Lake, near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue cutters (the Pigmy and the Dwarf) hove in sight at once on different tacks, the one coming round by 28 WAVERLEY NOVELS. the Isles of Fleet, the other between the Point of IRueberry and the Muckle Ron. The dauntless free-trader instantly weighed anchor, and bore down right between the luggers, so close that he tossed his hat on the deck of the one, and his wig on that of the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his occupation, and bore away under an extraordinary pressure of canvass, without receiving injury. To account for these and other hairbreadth escapes, popular superstition alleged that Yawkins insured his celebrated buckkar by compounding with the devil for one tenth of his crew every voyage. How they arranged the separation of the stock and tithes, is left to our conjecture. The buckkar was perhaps called The Black Prince in honour of the formidable insurer. The Black Prince used to discharge her cargo at Luce, Balcarry, and elsewhere on the coast; but her owner's favourite landing-places were at the entrance of the Dee and the Cree, near the old castle of RIueberry, about six miles below Kirkcudbright. There is a cave of large dimensions in the vicinity of Rueberry, which, from its being frequently used by Yawkins, and his supposed connexion with the smugglers on the shore, is now called Dirk Hatteraick's cave. Strangers who visit this place, the scenery of which is highly romantic, are also shown,'under the name of the Gauger's Loup, a tremendous precipice, being the same, it is asserted, from which Kennedy was precipitated. Meg Merrilies is in Galloway considered as having had her origin in the traditions concerning the celebrated Flora ncMarshal, one of the royal consorts of Willie Ml'arshal, more commonly called the Caird of Barullion, King of the Gipsies of the Western Lowlands. That potentate was himself deserving of notice, from the fol GUY MANNERING. 29 lowing peculiarities. iHe was born in the parish of Kirkmichael, about the year 1671; and as he died at Kirkcudbright 23d November, 1792, he must then have been in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age. It cannot be said that this unusually long lease of existence was noted by any peculiar excellence of conduct or habits of life. Willie had been pressed or enlisted seven times, and had deserted as often; besides three times running away from the naval service. He had been seventeen times lawfully married; and besides such a reasonably large share of matrimonial comforts, was, after his hundredth year, the avowed father of four children, by less legitimate affections. He subsisted, in his extreme old age, by a pension from the present Earl of Selkirk's grandfather. Will Marshal is buried in Kirkcudbright church, where his monument is still shown, decorated with a scutcheon suitably blazoned with two tups' horns and two curtty spoons. In his youth he occasionally took an evening walk on the highway, with the purpose of assisting travellers by relieving them of the weight of their purses. On one occasion, the Caird of Barullion robbed the Laird of Bargally, at a place between Carsphairn and Dalmellington. His purpose was not achieved.without a severe struggle, in which the Gipsy lost his bonnet, and was obliged to escape, leaving it on the road. A respectable farmer happened to be the next passenger, and seeing the bonnet, alighted, took it up, and rather imprudently put it on his own head. At this instant, Bargally came up with some assistants, and recognising the bonnet, charged the farmer of Bantoberick with having robbed him, and took him into custody. There being some likeness between the parties, Bargally persisted in his charge, and 30 WAVERLEY NOVELS. though the respectability of tile farmer's character was proved or admitted, his trial before the Circuit Court came on accordingly. The fatal bonnet lay on the table of the Court; Bargally swore that it was the identical article worn by the man who robbed him; and he and others likewise deponed that they had found the accused on the spot where the crime was committed, with the bonnet on his head. The case looked gloomily for the prisoner, and the opinion of the judge seemed unfavourable. But there was a person in Court who knew well both who did, and who did not, commit the crime. This was the Caird of Barullion, who, thrusting himself up to the bar, near the place where Bargally was standing, suddenly seized on the bonnet, put it on his head, and looking the Laird full in the face, asked him, with a voice which attracted the attention of the Court and crowded audience,-" Look at me, sir, and tell me, by the oath you have sworn-Am not I the man who robbed you between Carsphairn and Dalmellington?" Bargally replied, in great astonishment, " By Heaven! you are the very man." —" You see what sort of memory this gentleman has," said the volunteer pleader: " he swears to the bonnet, whatever features are under it. If you yourself, my Lord, will put it on your head, he will be willing to swear that your Lordship was the party who robbed him between Carsphairn and Dalmellington." The tenant of Bantoberick was unanimously acquitted, and thus Willie Marshal ingeniously contrived to save an innocent man from danger, without incurring any himself, since Bargally's evidence must have seemed to every one too fluctuatinfg to be relied upon. While the King of the Gipsies was thus laudably occupied, his royal consort, Flora, contrived, it is said, to GUY MIANNERING. 31 steal the hood from the Judge's gown; for which offence, combined with her presumptive guilt as a gipsy, she was banished to New England, whence she never returned. Now, I cannot grant that the idea of Meg Merrilies was, in the first concoction of the character, derived from Flora Marshal, seeing I have already said she was identified with Jean Gordon, and as I have not the Laird of Bargally's apology for charging the same fact on two several individuals. Yet I am quite content that 3Ieg should be considered as a representative of her sect and class in general-Flora, as well as others. The other instances in which my Gallovidian readers have obliged me, by assigning to airy nothings A local habitation and a name, shall also be sanctioned so far as the Author may be entitled to do so. I think the facetious Joe Miller, records a case pretty much in point; where the keeper of a Museum, while showing, as he said, the very sword with which Balaam was about to kill his ass, was interrupted by'one of the visitors, who reminded him that Balaam was not possessed of a sword, but only wished for one. "True,. sir," replied the ready-witted Cicerone; "but this is the very sword he wished for." The Author, in application of this story, has only to add, that, though ignorant of the coincidence between the fictions of the tale and some real circumstances, he is contented to believe he must unconsciously have thought or dreamed of the last, while engaged in the composition of Guy Mannering. 32 WAVERLEY NOVELS. GROUNDWORK OF GUY MANNERING. 1842. SINCE the death of Sir Walter Scott, the public have received many additional details concerning the communications that passed, while the Waverley Novels were in progress, between their Author and his devoted friend, Mr. Joseph Train, Supervisor of Excise at Castle Douglas in Galloway. Not the least curious of these particulars connects itself with the origin of Guy AMannering. Shortly after the publication of Waverley, as stated in the Life of Scott, Mr. Train forwarded to Abbotsford a BIS. collection of anecdotes relating to the Galloway gipsies, together with (in Mr. Train's own words) " a local story of an astrologer, who, calling at a farm-house at the minute when the good-wife was in travail, had, it was said, predicted the future fortunes of the child almost in the words placed in the mouth of John MIacKinlay in the Introduction to Guy Mannering." At a subsequent period Mr. Train found that an ancient lady, Mrs. Young of Castle Douglas, had been in the habit of repeating once every year to her family, in order the better to preserve it in her own memory, a ballad called The ZDurham Garland; from which, or some Scotch modification of it, he was inclined to con GUY MANNERING. 33 elude that both his own " local story," and that told to Scott by MacKinlay must have been derived. This Garland, as taken down from Mrs. Young's recitation by Train, shall now be appended; but it appears very prob4 able that the ballad itself, and the stories both of Train and MacKinlay, all sprung from one and the same! authentic source-namely, the romantic history of James Annesley, claimant in 1743 of the Irish peerage of Anglesey; of which history Smollett gave a very striking sketch in his Peregrine Pickle. An abstract of the Annesley case was published in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1840; and that paper also is subjoined. THE DURHAM GARLAND. IN THREE PARTS. PART I. 1. A worthy lord of birth and state, Who did in Durham live of lateBut I will not declare his name, By reason of his birth and fame2. This Lord he did a hunting go; If you the truth of all would know, He had indeed a noble train, Of Lords and Knights and Gentlemen. 3. This noble Lord he left the train Of Lords and Knights and Gentlemen; And hearing not the horn to blow, He could not tell which way to go. VOL. III. 3 34 WYAVE~RLEY NOVELS. 4. But he did wander to and fro, Being weary, likewise full of woe: At last Dame Fortune was so kind That he the Keeper's house did find. 5. He went and knocked at the door, He thought it was so late an hour. The Forester did let him in, And kindly entertained him. 6. About the middle of the night, When as the stars did shine most bright, The Lord was in a sad surprise, Being wakened by a fearful noise. 7. Then he did rise and call with speed, To know the reason then indeed Of all that shrieking and those cries Which did disturb his weary eyes. 8. "I'm solrry, Sir," the Keeper said, "That you should be so much afraid; But I do hope all will be well, For my wife she is in travail." 9. The noble Lord was learned and wise To know the Planets in the skies; -He saw one evil Planet reign: He called the Forester again. 10. He gave him then to understand, He'd have the Midwife hold her hand; But he was answered by the maid, "My mistress is delivered." GUY MANNERING. 35 11. At one o'clock that very morn, A lovely infant there was born; It was indeed a charming boy, Which brought the man and wife much joy. 12. The Lord was generous, kind, and free, And proffered Godfather to be; The Goodman thanked him heartily For his goodwill and courtesy. 13. A parson wvas sent for with speed, For to baptize the child indeed; And after that, as I heard say, In mirth and joy they spent the day. 14. This Lord did noble presents give, Which all the servants did receive. They prayed God to enrich his store, For they never had so much before. 15. And likewise to the child he gave A present noble, rich, and brave; It was a charming cabinet, That was with pearls and jewels set. 16. And within it was a chain of gold, Would dazzle eyes for to behold; A richer gift, as I may say, Was not beheld this many a day. 17. He charged his father faithfully, That he himself would keep the key, Until the child could write and read; And then to give him it indeed: 3:6 ~WAVERLEY NOVELS. 18. "Pray do not open it at all, Whatever should on you befall; For it may do my Godson good, If it be rightly understood." 19. This Lord did not declare his name, Nor yet the place from whence he came, But secretly he did depart, And left them grieved to the heart. PART II. 1. The second part I now unfold, As true a story as e'er was told, Concerning of a lovely child, Who was obedient, sweet, and mild. 2. This child did take his learning so, If you the truth of all would know, At eleven years of age indeed Both Greek and Latin he could read. 3. Then thinking of his cabinet, That was with pearls and jewels set, He asked his father for the key, Which he gave him right speedily; 4. And when he did the same unlock, He was with great amazement struck When he the riches did behold, And likewise saw the chain of gold. 5. But searching farther he did find A paper which disturbed his mind, That was within the cabinet: In Greek and Latin it was writ. GUY MANNERING. 37 6. My child, serve God that is on high, And pray to his incessantly; Obey your parents, love your king, That nothing nnay your conscience sting. At seven years hence your fate will be, You must be hanged apon a tree; Then pray to God both night and day, To let that hour pass away. 8. When he these woeful lines did read, He with a sigh did say indeed, "If hanging be my destiny, My parents shall not see me die; 9. For I will wander to and fro, I'll go where I no one do know; But first I'll ask my parents' leave, In hopes their blessing to receive." 10. Then locking up his cabinet, He went from his own chamber straight Unto his only parents dear, Beseeching them with many a tear 11. That they would grant what he would have:" But first your blessing I do crave, And beg you'll let me go away;'Twill do me good another day." 12. "And if I live I will return, When seven years are past and gone." 3WAVERLEY NOVELS. 13. Both man and wife did then reply, 6" I fear, my son, that we shall die; If we should yield to let you go, Our aged hearts would break with woe." 14. But he entreated eagerly, While they were forced to comply, And give consent to let him go, But where, alas! they did not know. 15. In the third part you soon shall find, That fortune was to him most kind, And after many dangers past, sHe came to Durham at the last. PART III. 1. He went by chance as I heard say, To that same house that very day, In which his Godfather did dwell; But mind what luck to him befell;2. This child did crave a service there, On which came out his Godfather, And seeing him a pretty youth, He took him for his page in truth. 3. Then in this place he pleased so well, That'bove the rest he bore the bell; This child so well the Lord did please, He raised him higher by degrees. 4. He made him Butler sure indeed, And then his Steward with all speed, Which made the other servants spite And him both day and night. GUY MANNERING. 39 5. He was never false unto his trust, But proved ever true and just; And to the Lord did hourly pray To guide him still both night and day. 6. In this place plainly it appears, He lived the space of seven years; His parents then he thought upon, And of his promise to return. 7. Then humbly of his Lord did crave, That he his free consent might have To go and see his parents dear, He had not seen for many a year. 8. Then having leave, away he went, Not dreaming of the false intent That was contrived against him then, By wicked, false, deceitful men. 9. They had in his portmanteau put This noble Lord's fine golden cup; That when the Lord at dinner was, The cup was missed as come to pass. 10. "Where can it be? " this Lord did say; "We had it here but yesterday." The Butler then replied with speed, "If you will hear the truth indeed, 11. "Your darling Steward which is gone, With feathered nest away is flown; I'll warrant you he has that, and more That doth belong unto your store." 40 WAVElLEY NOVELS. 12. "No," says the Lord, " that cannot be, For I have tried his honesty;" "Then," said the Cook, "my Lord, I die Upon a tree full ten feet high." 13. Then hearing what these men did say He sent a messenger that day, To take him with a hue and cry, And bring him back immediately. 14. They searched his portmanteau with speedy In which they found the cup indeed; Then was he struck with sad surprise, He could not well believe his eyes. 15. The assizes then were drawing nigh, And he was tried and doomed to die; And his injured innocence Could nothing say in his defence. 16. But going to the gallows tree, On which he thought to hanged be, He clapped his hands upon his breast, And thus in tears these words exprest. 17. "Blind Fortune will be Fortune still, I see, let man do what he will; For though this day I needs must die, I am not guilty-no, not I." 18. This noble Lord was in amaze, He stood and did with wonder gaze; Then he spoke out with words so mild,"What mean you by that saying, child?" GUY MANNERING. 41 19. "Will that your Lordship," then said he, "Grant one day's full reprieve for me, A dismal story I'll relate, Concerning of my wretched fate." 20. "Speak up, my child," this Lord did say, "I say you shall not die this day; And if I find you innocent, I'll crown your days with sweet content." 21. He told him all his dangers past, He had gone through from first to last; He fetched the chain and cabinet, Likewise the paper that was writ. 22. When that this Noble Lord did see, He ran to him most eagerly, And in his arms did him embrace, Repeating of those words in haste:23. " My child, my child, how blest am I! Thou art innocent, and shalt not die; For I'm indeed thy Godfather,'