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 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/talesofmylandlor31scot
 
 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 CfjitD Series.
 
 Ahora bien, dixo el Cura, traedme, senor huesped, aquesos 
 libros, que los quiero ver. Que me place, respoudio el, y en- 
 trando, en su aposento, saco del una maletilla vieja cerrada 
 con una cadenilla, y abrie'ndola, hallo en ella tres libros grandes 
 y tows papeles de muy buena letra escritos de mano. — Don" 
 Quixote, Farte I. Capitulo 32. 
 
 It is mighty well, said the priest ; pray, landlord, bring me 
 those books, for I have a mind to see them. With all my 
 heart, answered the host; and, going to his chamber, he 
 brought out a little old cloke-bag, with a padlock and chain to 
 it. and opening it, he took out three large volumes, and some 
 manuscript papers written in a fine character. — Jarvis's 
 Translation. 
 
 Printed by James Ballantyne and Co.
 
 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 Ctjxtti ^tiita, 
 
 COLLECTED AND ARRANGED 
 BY 
 
 JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, 
 
 SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH-CLERK OP GANDERCLEUGH. 
 
 Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots, 
 Frae Maidenkirk to Jonny Groats', 
 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. 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED FOB ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH 
 
 LONGMAN, HURST, IlEES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERN06TEB-R0W ; 
 AND HURST, 'ROBINSON, AND CO. 90, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. 
 
 1819.
 
 ©as 
 
 •Sen 5 
 
 THE 
 
 BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 THE 
 
 BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 By cauk and keel to win your bread, 
 Wi' whigmaleeries for them wha need, 
 Whilk is a gentle trade indeed 
 
 To carry the gaberlunzie on. 
 
 Old Song: 
 
 Few have been in my secret while I was 
 compiling these narratives, nor is it proba- 
 ble that they will ever become public du- 
 ring the life of their author. Even were 
 that event to happen, I am not ambitious 
 of the honoured distinction, monstrari di- 
 gito. I confess, that, were it safe to che- 
 rish such dreams at all, I should more enjoy 
 the thought of remaining behind the cur-
 
 4t TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tain unseen, like the ingenious manager of 
 Punch and his wife Joan, and enjoying the 
 astonishment and conjectures of my audi- 
 ence. Then might I, perchance, hear the 
 productions of the obscure Peter Pattieson 
 praised by the judicious, and admired by 
 the feeling, engrossing the young, and at- 
 tracting even the old ; while the critic 
 traced their name up to some name of lite- 
 rary celebrity, and the question when, and 
 by whom, these tales were written, filled up 
 the pause of conversation in a hundred 
 circles and coteries. This I may never en- 
 joy during my lifetime ; but farther than 
 this, I am certain, my vanity should never 
 induce me to aspire. 
 
 I am too stubborn in habits, and too lit- 
 tle polished in manners, to envy or aspire 
 to the honours assigned to my literary 
 contemporaries. I could not think a whit 
 more highly of myself, were I even found 
 worthy to " come in place as a lion," for 
 a winter in the great metropolis. I could 
 not rise, turn round, and shew all my ho-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 5 
 
 nours, from the shaggy mane to the tuft- 
 ed tail, roar ye as it were any nightin- 
 gale, and so lie down again like a well-be- 
 haved beast of show, and all at the cheap 
 and easy rate of a cup of coffee, and a slice 
 of bread and batter as thin as a wafer. 
 And I could ill stomach the fulsome flat- 
 tery with which the lady of the evening in- 
 dulges her show-monsters on such occa- 
 sions, as she crams her parrots with sugar- 
 plumbs, in order to make them talk before 
 company. I cannot be tempted to " come 
 aloft," for these marks of distinction, and, 
 like imprisoned Sampson, I would rather 
 remain — if such must be the alternative — 
 all my life in the mill-house, grinding for 
 my very bread, than be brought forth to 
 make sport for the Philistine lords and la- 
 dies. This proceeds from no dislike, real 
 or affected, to the aristocracy of these 
 realms. But they have their place, and I 
 have mine ; and, like the iron and earthen 
 vessels in the old fable, we can scarce come 
 into collision without my being the sufferer
 
 6 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 in every sense. It may be otherwise with 
 the sheets which I am now writing. These 
 may be opened and laid aside at pleasure ; 
 by amusing themselves with the perusal, 
 the great will excite no false hopes ; by 
 neglecting or condemning them, they will 
 inflict no pain ; and how seldom can they 
 converse with those whose minds have toil- 
 ed for their delight, without doing either 
 the one or the other. 
 
 In the better and wiser tone of feeling, 
 which Ovid only expresses in one line to 
 retract in that which follows, I can address 
 these quires— 
 
 Parve, nee invideo, sine me, liber, ibis in urbe. 
 
 Nor do I join the regret of the illustri- 
 ous exile, that he himself could not in per- 
 son accompany the volume, which he sent 
 forth to the mart of literature, pleasure, and 
 luxury. Were there not a hundred similar 
 instances on record, the fate of my poor 
 friend and school-fellow, Dick Tinto, would
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 7 
 
 be sufficient to warn me against seeking 
 happiness, in the celebrity which attaches 
 itself to a successful cultivator of the fine 
 arts. 
 
 Dick Tinto, when he wrote himself art- 
 ist, was wont to derive his origin from the 
 ancient family of Tinto, of that ilk, in La- 
 narkshire, and occasionally hinted that he 
 had somewhat derogated from his gentle 
 blood, in using the pencil for his principal 
 means of support. But if Dick's pedigree 
 was correct, some of his ancestors must 
 have suffered a more heavy declension, 
 since the good man his father executed the 
 necessary, and, I trust, the honest, but cer- 
 tainly not very distinguished employment, 
 of tailor in ordinary to the village of Lang- 
 dirdum in the west. Under his humble 
 roof was Richard born, and to his father's 
 humble trade was Richard, greatly contrary 
 to his inclination, early indentured. Old 
 Mr Tinto had, however, no reason to con- 
 gratulate himself upon having compelled the 
 youthful genius of his son to forsake its na-
 
 8 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tural bent He fared like the school-boy, 
 who attempts to stop with his finger the 
 spout of a water cistern, while the stream, 
 exasperated at this compression, escapes by 
 a thousand uncalculated spirts, and wets 
 him all over for his pains. Even so fared 
 the senior Tinto, when his hopeful appren- 
 tice not only exhausted all the chalk in 
 making sketches upon the shopboard, but 
 even executed several caricatures of his fa- 
 ther's best customers, who began loudly to 
 murmur, that it was too hard to have their 
 persons deformed by the vestments of the 
 father, and to be at the same time turned 
 into ridicule by the pencil of the son. This 
 led to discredit and loss of practice, until 
 the old tailor, yielding to destiny, and to 
 the entreaties of his son, permitted him to 
 attempt his fortune in a line for which he 
 was better qualified. 
 
 There was about this time, in the village 
 
 of Langdirdum, a peripatetic brother of the 
 
 brush, who exercised his vocation sub Jove 
 
 frigido, the object of admiration to all the
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMO0R. 9 
 
 boys of the village, but especially to Dick 
 Tinto. The age had not yet adopted, 
 amongst other unworthy retrenchments, 
 that illiberal measure of economy, which, 
 supplying by written characters the lack of 
 symbolical representation, closes one open 
 and easily accessible avenue of instruction 
 and emolument against the students of the 
 fine arts. It was not yet permitted to write 
 upon the plaistered door-way of an ale- 
 house, or the suspended sign of an inn, 
 " The Old Magpie," or " The Saracen's 
 Head," substituting that cold description 
 for the lively effigies of the plumed chatter- 
 er, or the turban'd frown of the terrific 
 soldan. That early and more simple age 
 considered alike the necessities of all ranks, 
 and depicted the symbols of good cheer 
 so as to be obvious to all capacities ; well 
 judging, that a man, who could not read a 
 syllable, might nevertheless love a pot of 
 good ale as well as his better educated 
 neighbours, or even as the parson himself. 
 Acting upon this liberal principle, publicans 
 a 2
 
 10 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 as yet hung forth the painted emblems of 
 their calling, and sign-painters, if they sel- 
 dom feasted, did not at least absolutely 
 starve. 
 
 To a worthy of this decayed profes- 
 sion, as we have already intimated, Dick 
 Tinto became an assistant $ and thus, as is 
 not unusual among heaven-born geniuses 
 in this department of the fine arts, began to 
 paint before he had any notion of drawing. 
 
 His natural talent for observing nature 
 soon induced him to rectify the errors, and 
 soar above the instructions, of his teacher. 
 He particularly shone in painting horses, 
 that being a favourite sign in the Scottish 
 villages ; and, in tracing his progress, it is 
 beautiful to observe, how by degrees he 
 learned to shorten the backs, and prolong 
 the legs, of these noble animals, until they 
 came to look less like crocodiles, and more 
 like nags. Detraction, which always pur- 
 sues merit with strides proportioned to its 
 advancement, has indeed alleged, that Dick 
 once upon a time painted a horse with five
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 11 
 
 legs, instead of four. I might have rested 
 his defence upon the licence allowed to that 
 branch of the profession, which, as it per- 
 mits all sorts of singular and irregular com- 
 binations, may be allowed to extend itself 
 so far as to bestow a limb supernumerary 
 on a favourite subject. But the cause 
 of a deceased friend is sacred $ and I 
 disdain to bottom it so superficially. I 
 have visited the sign in question, which 
 yet swings exalted in the village of Lang- 
 dirdum, and I am ready to depone upon 
 oath, that what has been idly mistaken or 
 misrepresented as being the fifth leg of the 
 horse, is, in fact, the tail of that quadruped, 
 and, considered with reference to the pos- 
 ture in which he is represented, forms a 
 circumstance, introduced and managed with 
 great and successful, though daring art. 
 The nag being represented in a rampant 
 or rearing posture, the tail, which is pro- 
 longed till it touches the ground, appears 
 to form a point d'appui, and gives the firm- 
 ness of a tnpod to the figure, without which
 
 12 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 it would be difficult to conceive, placed as 
 the feet are, how the courser could main- 
 tain his ground without tumbling back- 
 wards. This bold conception has fortu- 
 nately fallen into the custody of one by 
 whom it is duly valued ; for, when Dick, 
 in his more advanced state of proficiency, 
 became dubious of the propriety of so da- 
 ring a deviation from the established rules 
 of art, and was desirous to execute a pic- 
 ture of the publican himself in exchange 
 for this juvenile production, the courteous 
 offer was declined by his judicious em- 
 ployer, who had observed, it seems, that 
 when his ale failed to do its duty in conci- 
 liating his guests, one glance at his sign 
 was sure to put them in good humour. 
 
 It would be foreign to my present pur- 
 pose to trace the steps by which Dick 
 Tinto improved his touch, and corrected, 
 by the rules of art, the luxuriance of a fer- 
 vid imagination. The scales fell from his 
 eyes on viewing the sketches of a contem- 
 porary, the Scottish Teniers, as Wilkie has
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 13 
 
 been deservedly styled. He threw down 
 the brush, took up the crayons, and, amid 
 hunger and toil, and suspense and uncer- 
 tainty, pursued the path of his profession 
 under better auspices than those of his ori- 
 ginal master. Still the first rude emana- 
 tions of his genius (like the nursery rhymes 
 of Pope, could these be recovered,) will be 
 dear to the companions of Dick Tinto's 
 youth. There is a tankard and gridiron 
 painted over the door of an obscure change- 
 house in the Back-wynd of Ganderscleugh 
 — But I feel I must tear myself from the 
 subject, or dwell on it too long. 
 
 Amid his wants and struggles, Dick 
 Tinto had recourse, like his brethren, to 
 levying that tax upon the vanity of man- 
 kind which he could not extract from their 
 taste and liberality — in a word, he painted 
 portraits. It was in this more advanced 
 stage of proficiency, when Dick had soared 
 above his original line of business, and high- 
 ly disdained any allusion to it, that, after 
 having been estranged for several years,
 
 14 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 we again met in the village of Ganders- 
 cleugh, I holding my present situation, and 
 Dick painting copies of the human face di- 
 vine at a guinea per head. This was a small 
 premium, yet, in the first burst of business, 
 it more than sufficed for all Dick's mode- 
 rate wants ; so that he occupied an apart- 
 ment at the Wallace Inn, cracked his jest 
 with impunity even upon mine host him- 
 self, and lived in respect and observance 
 with the chambermaid, hostler, and waiter. 
 
 Those halcyon days were too serene to 
 last long. When his honour the Laird of 
 Ganderscleugh, with his wife and three 
 daughters, the minister, the gauger, mine 
 esteemed patron Mr Jedediah Cleishbo- 
 tham, and some round dozen of the feuars 
 and farmers, had been consigned to immor- 
 tality by Tinto's brush, custom began to 
 slacken, and it was impossible to wring 
 more than crowns and half-crowns from 
 the hard hands of the peasants, whose am- 
 bition led them to Dick's painting-room. 
 
 Still, though the horizon was overcloud- 
 9
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOft. 15 
 
 ed, no storm for some time ensued. Mine 
 host had Christian faith with a lodger, who 
 had been a good paymaster as long as he 
 had the means. And from a portrait of 
 our landlord himself, grouped with his wife 
 and daughters, in the style of Rubens, 
 which suddenly appeared in the best par- 
 lour, it was evident that Dick had found 
 some mode of bartering art for the neces- 
 saries of life. 
 
 Nothing, however, is more precarious 
 than resources of this nature. It was ob- 
 served, that Dick became in his turn the 
 whetstone of mine host's wit, without ven- 
 turing either at defence or retaliation ; that 
 his easel was transferred to a garret-room, 
 in which there was scarce space for it to 
 stand upright ; and that he no longer ven- 
 tured to join the weekly club, of which he 
 had been once the life and soul. In short, 
 Dick Tinto's friends feared that he had 
 acted like the animal called the sloth, 
 which, having eaten up the last greet) leaf 
 upon the tree where it has established it-
 
 16 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 self, ends by tumbling down from the top, 
 and dying of inanition. I ventured to 
 hint this to Dick, recommended his trans- 
 ferring the exercise of his inestimable ta- 
 lent to some other sphere, and forsaking 
 the common which he might be said to 
 have eaten bare. 
 
 " There is an obstacle to my change of 
 residence," said my friend, grasping my 
 hand with a look of solemnity. 
 
 " A bill due to my landlord, i* am 
 afraid," replied I, with heartfelt sympa- 
 thy ; " if any part of my slender means 
 can assist in this emergence" 
 
 " No, by the soul of Sir Joshua," an- 
 swered the generous youth, " I will never 
 involve a friend in the consequences of 
 my own misfortune. There is a mode by 
 which I can regain my liberty ; and to 
 creep even through a common sewer, is 
 better than to remain in prison." 
 
 I did not perfectly understand what my 
 friend meant. The muse of painting ap- 
 peared to have failed him, and what other
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM60B. 17 
 
 goddess he could invoke in his distress, 
 was a mystery to me. We parted, how- 
 ever, without further explanation, and I 
 did not again see him until three days 
 after, when he summoned me to partake of 
 the Joy with which his landlord proposed 
 to regale him ere his departure for Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 I found Dick in high spirits, whistling 
 while he buckled the small knapsack, which 
 contained his colours, brushes, pallets, and 
 clean shirt. That he parted on the best 
 terms with mine host, was obvious from 
 the cold beef set forth in the low parlour, 
 flanked by two mugs of admirable brown 
 stout, and I own my curiosity was excited 
 concerning the means through which the 
 face of my friend's affairs had been so sud- 
 denly improved. I did not suspect Dick 
 of dealing with the devil, and by what 
 earthly means he had extricated himself 
 thus happily, I was at a total loss to con- 
 jecture. 
 
 He perceived my curiosity, and took
 
 18 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 me by the hand, " My friend," he said, 
 " fain would I conceal, even from you, the 
 degradation to which it has been necessary 
 to submit, in order to accomplish an ho- 
 nourable retreat from Ganderscleuch. But 
 what avails attempting to conceal that, 
 which must needs betray itself even by its 
 superior excellence? All the village — all 
 the parish — all the world — will soon disco- 
 ver to what poverty has reduced Richard 
 Tinto." 
 
 A sudden thought here struck me — I 
 had observed that our landlord wore, on 
 that memorable morning, a pair of bran 
 new velveteens, instead of his ancient thick- 
 sets. 
 
 " What," said I, drawing my right hand, 
 with the forefinger and thumb pressed to- 
 gether, nimbly from my right haunch to 
 my left shoulder, u you have condescend- 
 ed to resume the paternal arts to which 
 you were first bred — long stitches, ha, 
 Dick ?" 
 
 He repelled this unlucky conjecture
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 19 
 
 with a frown and a pshaw, indicative of 
 indignant contempt, and leading me into 
 another room, shewed me, resting against 
 the wall, the majestic head of Sir William 
 Wallace, grim as when severed from the 
 trunk by the orders of the felon Edward. 
 
 The painting was executed on boards of 
 a substantial thickness, and the top deco- 
 rated with irons, for suspending the ho- 
 noured effigy upon a sign-post. 
 
 " There," he said, " my friend, stands 
 the honour of Scotland, and my shame- 
 yet not so — rather the shame of those, 
 who, instead of encouraging art in its pro- 
 per sphere, reduce it to these unbecoming 
 and unworthy extremities." 
 
 I endeavoured to smooth the ruffled feel- 
 ings of my misused and indignant friend. 
 I reminded him, that he ought not, like 
 the stag in the fable, to despise the quality 
 which had extricated him from difficulties, 
 in which his talents, as a portrait or land- 
 scape painter, had been found unavailing. 
 Above all, I praised the execution, as well
 
 20 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 as conception, of his painting, and remind- 
 ed him, that far from feeling dishonoured 
 by so superb a specimen of his talents be- 
 ing exposed to the general view of the 
 public, he ought rather to congratulate 
 himself upon the augmentation of his cele- 
 brity, to which its public exhibition must 
 necessarily give rise. 
 
 " You are right, my friend — you are 
 right," replied poor Dick, his eye kind- 
 ling with enthusiasm ; " why should I 
 shun the name of an — an — (he hesitated 
 for a phrase) — an out-ot-doors artist ? Ho- 
 garth has introduced himself in that cha- 
 racter in one of his best engravings — Do- 
 menichino, or some body else, in ancient 
 times — Moreland in our own, have exer- 
 cised their talents in this manner. And 
 wherefore limit to the rich and higher 
 classes alone the delight which the exhibi- 
 tion of works of art is calculated to inspire 
 into all classes ? Statues are placed in the 
 open air, why should Painting be more 
 niggardly in displaying her master-piece?
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 21 
 
 than her sister Sculpture ? And yet, my 
 friend, we must part suddenly ; the men 
 are coming in an hour to put up the — the 
 emblem ; — and truly, with all my philoso- 
 phy, and your consolatory encouragement 
 to boot, I would rather wish to leave 
 Ganderscleugh before that operation com- 
 mences." 
 
 We partook of our genial host's parting 
 banquet, and I escorted Dick on his walk 
 to Edinburgh. We parted about a mile 
 from the village, just as we heard the dis- 
 tant cheer of the boys which accompanied 
 the mounting of the new symbol of the 
 Wallace- Head. Dick Tinto mended his 
 pace to get out of hearing, — so little had 
 either early practice or recent philosophy 
 reconciled him to the character of a sign- 
 painter. 
 
 In Edinburgh, Dick's talents were disco- 
 vered and appreciated, and he received 
 dinners and hints from several distinguish- 
 ed judges of the fine arts. But these gen- 
 tlemen dispensed their criticism more will- 
 ingly than their cash, and Dick thought
 
 22 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 he needed cash more than criticism. He 
 therefore sought London, the universal 
 mart of talent, and where, as is usual in 
 general marts of most descriptions, much 
 more of the commodity is exposed to sale 
 than can ever find purchasers. 
 
 Dick, who, in serious earnest, was suppo- 
 sed to have considerable natural talents for 
 his profession, and whose vain and sanguine 
 disposition never permitted him to doubt for 
 a moment of ultimate success, threw himself 
 headlong into the crowd which jostled and 
 struggled for notice and preferment. He 
 elbowed others, and was elbowed himself; 
 and finally, by dint of intrepidity, fought 
 his way into some notice, painted for the 
 prize at the Institution, had pictures at the 
 exhibition at Somerset-house, and damned 
 the hanging committee. But poor Dick 
 was doomed to lose the field he fought so 
 gallantly. In the fine arts, there is scarce 
 an alternative betwixt distinguished suc- 
 cess and absolute failure ; and as Dick's 
 zeal and industry were unable to ensure
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 23 
 
 the first, he fell into the distresses which, 
 in his condition, were the natural con- 
 sequences of the latter alternative. He 
 was for a time patronized by one or two 
 of those judicious persons who make a 
 virtue of being singular, and of pitching 
 their own opinions against those of the 
 world in matters of taste and criticism. 
 But they soon tired of poor Tinto, and 
 laid him down as a load, upon the princi- 
 ple on which a spoilt child throws away 
 its plaything. Misery, I fear, took him up, 
 and accompanied him to a premature grave, 
 to which he was carried from an obscure 
 lodging in Swallow- street, where he had 
 been dunned by his landlady within doors, 
 and watched by bailiffs without, until death 
 came to his relief. A corner of the Morn- 
 ing Post noticed his death, generously add- 
 ing, that his manner displayed consider- 
 able genius, though his style was rather 
 sketchy ; and referred to an advertisement, 
 which announced that Mr Varnish, the 
 well-known print-seller, had still on hand a
 
 24 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 very few drawings and paintings by Rich- 
 ard Tinto, Esquire, which those of the no- 
 bility and gentry, who might wish to com- 
 plete their collections of modern art, were 
 invited to visit without delay. So ended 
 Dick Tinto, a lamentable proof of the great 
 truth, that in the fine arts mediocrity is not 
 permitted, and that he who cannot ascend 
 to the very top of the ladder will do well 
 not to put his foot upon it at all. 
 
 The memory of Tinto is dear to me, 
 from the recollection of the many conver- 
 sations which we have had together, most 
 of them turning upon my present task. 
 He was delighted with my progress, and 
 talked of an ornamented and illustrated 
 edition, with heads, vignettes, and culs de 
 lampe> all to be designed by his own patri- 
 otic and friendly pencil. He prevailed up- 
 on an old Serjeant of invalids to sit to him 
 in the character of Both well, the life-guard's- 
 man of Charles the Second, and the bell- 
 man of Ganderscleugh in that of David 
 Deans. But while he thus proposed to 
 
 6
 
 THJS iiiilDE OF LAMMEIiMOOK. 25 
 
 ftsite 1113 own powers with mine for the il- 
 lustration of these narratives, he mixed 
 many a close of salutary criticism with the 
 panegyrics which my composition was at 
 times so fortunate as to call forth. " Your 
 characters," he said, " my dear Pattieson, 
 make too much use of the gob box ; they 
 patter too much — (an elegant phraseology, 
 which Dick had learned while painting the 
 scenes of an itinerant company of players) 
 — there is nothing in whole pages but mere 
 chat and dialogue." 
 
 u The ancient philosopher," said I in re- 
 ply, " was wont to say, < Speak, that I may 
 know thee ;' and how is it possible for an 
 author to introduce his persona dramatis 
 to his readers in a more interesting and ef- 
 fectual manner, than by the dialogue in 
 which each is represented as supporting 
 his own appropriate character ?" 
 
 " It is a false conclusion," said Tinto ; 
 " I hate it, Peter, as I hate an unfilled cann. 
 I will grant you, indeed, that speech is a fa. 
 
 vol. r. B
 
 26 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 culty of some value in the intercourse of 
 human affairs, and I will not even insist on 
 the doctrine of that Pythagorean toper, 
 who was of opinion, that over a bottle 
 speaking spoiled conversation. But I will 
 not allow that a professor of the fine arts 
 has occasion to embody the idea of his scene 
 in language, in order to impress upon the 
 reader its reality and its effect. On the 
 contrary, I will be judged by most of your 
 readers, Peter, should these tales ever be- 
 come public, whether you have not given 
 us a page of talk for every single idea which 
 two words might have communicated, while 
 the posture, and manner, and incident, ac- 
 curately drawn, and brought out by appro- 
 priate colouring, would have preserved all 
 that was worthy of preservation, and saved 
 these everlasting said he's and said she's, 
 with which it has been your pleasure to 
 encumber your pages." 
 
 I replied, " that he confounded the ope- 
 rations of the pencil and the pen j that the
 
 THE BRIDE OF LA31MERMOOR. 27 
 
 serene and silent art, as painting has been 
 called by one of our first living poets, ne- 
 cessarily appealed to the eye, because it 
 had not the organs for addressing the ear ; 
 whereas poetry, or that species of composi- 
 tion which approached to it, lay under the 
 necessity of doing absolutely the reverse, 
 and addressed itself to the ear, for the pur- 
 pose of exciting that interest which it could 
 not attain through the medium of the eye.'' 
 Dick was not a whit staggered by my ar- 
 gument, which he contended was founded 
 on misrepresentation. " Description," he 
 said, " was to the author of a romance ex- 
 actly what drawing and tinting were to a 
 painter ; words were his colours, and, if 
 properly employed, they could not fail to 
 place the scene, which he wished to conjure 
 up, as effectually before the mind's eye, as 
 the tablet or canvas presents it to the bo- 
 dily organ. The same rules," he contend- 
 ed, " applied to both, and an exuberance 
 of dialogue, in the former case, was a ver- 
 bose and laborious mode of composition,
 
 B8 TALES OF 1\IY LANDLORD* 
 
 which went to confound the proper art ot 
 fictitious narrative with that of the drama, a 
 widely different species of composition, of 
 which dialogue was the very essence ; be- 
 cause all, excepting the language to be 
 made use of, was presented to the eye by 
 the dresses, and persons, and actions of the 
 performers upon the stage. But as no- 
 thing," said Dick, " can be more dull than 
 a long narrative written upon the plan of a 
 drama, so where you have approached most 
 near to that species of composition, by in- 
 dulging in prolonged scenes of mere con- 
 versation, the course of your story has be- 
 come chill and constrained, and you have 
 lost the power of arresting the attention 
 and exciting the imagination, in which up- 
 on other occasions you may be considered 
 as having succeeded tolerably weH. w 
 
 I made my bow in requital of the compli- 
 ment, which was probably thrown in by way 
 of placebo, and expressed myself willing at 
 Jeast to make one trial of a more straight 
 forward style of composition, in which my
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 20 
 
 actors should do more, and say less, than in 
 my former attempts of this kind. Dick 
 gave me a patronizing and approving nod, 
 and observed, that, rinding me so docile, 
 he would communicate, for the benefit of 
 my muse, a subject which he had studied 
 with a view to his own art. 
 
 61 The story, " he said, " was, by tradi- 
 tion, affirmed to be truth, although, as up- 
 wards of a hundred years had passed away 
 since the events took place, some doubts 
 upon all the accuracy of the particulars 
 might be reasonably entertained." 
 
 "When Dick Tinto had thus spoken, he 
 rummaged his portfolio for the sketch from 
 which he proposed one day to execute a 
 picture of fourteen feet by eight. The 
 sketch, which was cleverly executed, to use 
 the appropriate phrase, presented an an- 
 cient hall, fitted up and furnished in what 
 we now call the taste of Queen Elizabeth's 
 age. The light, admitted from the upper 
 part of a high casement, fell upon a female 
 figure of exquisite beauty, who, in an atti-
 
 30 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tilde of speechless terror, appeared to watch 
 the issue of a debate betwixt two other per- 
 sons. The one was a young man, in the 
 Vandyke dress common to the time of 
 Charles I., who, with an air of indignant 
 pride, testified by the manner in which he 
 raised his head and extended his arm, 
 seemed to be urging a claim of right, rather 
 than of favour, to a lady, whose age, and 
 some resemblance in their features, pointed 
 her out as the mother of the younger fe- 
 male, and who appeared to listen with a 
 mixture of displeasure and impatience. 
 
 Tinto produced his sketch with an air of 
 mysterious triumph, and gazed on it as a 
 fond parent looks upon a hopeful child, 
 while he anticipates the future figure he is 
 to make in the world, and the height to 
 which he will raise the honour of his family. 
 Re held it at arms' length from me, — he 
 held it closer, — he placed it upon the top of 
 a chest of drawers, closed the lower shut- 
 ters of the casement, to adjust a downward
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAM ME R MO OR. 31 
 
 and favourable light, — fell back to the due 
 distance, dragging me after him, — shaded 
 his face with his hand, as if to exclude all 
 but the favourite object, — and ended by 
 spoiling a child's copy-book, which he roll- 
 ed up so as to serve for the darkened tube 
 of an amateur. I fancy my expressions of 
 enthusiasm had not been in proportion to 
 his own, for he presently exclaimed with 
 vehemence, * Mr Pattieson, I used to think 
 you had an eye in your head." 
 
 I vindicated my claim to the usual allow- 
 ance of visual organs. 
 
 " Yet, on my honour," said Dick, " I 
 would swear you had been born blind, since 
 you have failed at the first glance to disco- 
 ver the subject and meaning of that sketch. 
 I do not mean to praise my own perform- 
 ance, I leave these arts to others ; I am 
 sensible of my deficiencies, conscious that 
 my drawing and colouring may be impro- 
 ved by the time I intend to dedicate to the 
 art. But the conception — the expression —
 
 32 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the positions — these tell the story to every 
 one who looks at the sketch ; and if I can 
 finish the picture without diminution of the 
 original conception, the name of Tinto 
 shall no more be smothered by the mists 
 of envy and intrigue/* 
 
 I replied, " That I admired the sketch 
 exceedingly ; but that to understand its 
 lull merit, I felt it absolutely necessary to 
 be informed of the subject." 
 
 fl That is the very thing I complain of," 
 answered Tinto ; u you have accustomed 
 yourself so much to these creeping twilight 
 details of yours, that you are become inca- 
 pable of receiving that instant and vivid 
 flash of conviction, which darts on the 
 mind from seeing the happy and expres- 
 sive combinations of a single scene, and 
 which gathers from the position, attitude, 
 and countenance of the moment, not only 
 the history of the past lives of the person- 
 ages represented, and the nature of the bu- 
 siness on which they are immediately en-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEUMOOR. S3 
 
 gaged, but lifts even the veil of futurity, 
 and affords a shrewd guess at their future 
 fortunes." 
 
 "In that case," replied I, c< Painting ex- 
 cels the Ape of the renowned Gines de Pas- 
 samont, which only meddled with the past 
 and the present ; nay, she excels that very 
 Nature who anords her subjects ; for I pro- 
 test to you, Dick, that were I permitted to 
 peep into that Elizabeth- chamber, and see 
 the persons you have sketched conversing 
 in flesh and blood, I should not be a jot 
 nearer guessing the nature of their busi- 
 ness, than I am at this moment while look- 
 ing at your sketch. Only generally, from 
 the languishing look of the young lady, 
 and the care you have taken to present a 
 very handsome leg on the part of the gen- 
 tleman, I presume there is some reference 
 to a love affair between them." 
 
 " Do you really presume to form such a 
 bold conjecture ?" said Tinto. " And the 
 indignant earnestness with which you see the
 
 34 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 man urge his suit — the unresisting and pas^ 
 sive despair of the younger female — the 
 stern air of inflexible determination in the 
 elder woman, whose looks express at once 
 consciousness that she is acting wrong, and 
 a firm determination to persist in the course 
 she has adopted" — — 
 
 " If her looks express all this, my dear 
 Tin to, M replied I, interrupting him, " your 
 pencil rivals the dramatic art of Mr Puff in 
 the Critic, who crammed a whole compli- 
 cated sentence into the expressive shake of 
 Lord Burleigh's head.'* 
 
 « My good friend Peter," replied Tinto ? 
 * I observe you are perfectly incorrigible j 
 however, I have compassion on your dul- 
 ness, and am unwilling you should be de- 
 prived of the pleasure of understanding my 
 picture, and of gaining, at the same time* 
 a subject for your own pen. You must 
 know then, last summer, while I was taking 
 sketches on the coast of East Lothian and 
 Berwickshire, I was seduced into the moun- 
 tains of Lammermoor by the account I re-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMfiRMOOR. Se 
 
 ceived of some remains of antiquity in that 
 district. Those with which I was most 
 struck, were the ruins of an ancient castle 
 in which that Elizabeth- chamber, as you 
 call it, once existed. I resided for two or 
 three days at a farm-house in the neigh- 
 bourhood, where the aged good wife was 
 well acquainted with the history of the 
 castle, and the events which had taken 
 place in it. One of these was of a nature 
 so interesting and singular, that my atten- 
 tion was divided between my wish to draw 
 the old ruins in landscape, and to represent 
 in a history-piece the singular events which 
 have taken place in it. Here are my notes 
 of the tale," said poor Dick, handing a par- 
 cel of loose scraps, partly scratched over 
 with his pencil, partly with his pen, where 
 outlines of caricatures, sketches of turrets, 
 mills, old gables, and dove-cotes, disputed 
 the ground with his written memoranda. 
 
 I proceeded, however, to decypher the 
 substance of the manuscript as well as I 
 could, and wove it into the following Tale,
 
 36 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 in which, following in part, though not en- 
 tirely, my friend Tinto's advice, I endea- 
 voured to render my narrative rather de- 
 scriptive than dramatic. My favourite pro* 
 pensity, however, has at times overcome 
 me, and my persons, like many others in 
 this talking world, speak now and then a 
 great deal more than they act.
 
 THE Bm>E OF LAMMERMOOR, 3? 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Well, lords, we have not got that which we have ,-- 
 'Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, 
 Being opposites of such repairing nature. 
 
 Second Part of Henry VI. 
 
 In the gorge of a pass or mountain glen, 
 ascending from the fertile plains of East 
 Lothian, there stood in former times an ex- 
 tensive castle, of which only the ruins are 
 now visible. Its ancient proprietors were a 
 race of powerful and warlike barons, who 
 bore the same name with the castle itself, 
 which was Ravenswood. Their line ex- 
 tended to a remote period of antiquity, 
 and they had intermarried with the Doug- 
 lasses, Humes, Swintons, Hays, and other fa- 
 milies of power and distinction in the same 
 country. Their history was frequently in- 
 volved in that of Scotland itself, in whose 
 annals their feats are recorded. The Castle of 
 5
 
 58 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Ravenswood, occupying, and in some mea- 
 sure commanding, a pass betwixt Berwick- 
 shire or the Merse, as the south-eastern 
 province of Scotland is termed, and the Lo- 
 thians, was of importance both in times of 
 foreign war and domestic discord. It was 
 frequently besieged with ardour and defend- 
 ed with obstinacy, and of course, its own- 
 ers played a conspicuous part in story. But 
 their house had its revolutions, like all 
 sublunary things ; became greatly declined 
 from its splendour about the middle of the 
 17th century; and towards the period of 
 the Revolution, the last proprietor of Ra- 
 venswood Castle saw himself compelled to 
 part with the ancient family seat, and to 
 remove himself to a lonely and sea-beaten 
 tower, which, situated on the bleak shores 
 between Saint Abb's Head and the village 
 of Eyemouth, looked out on the lonely 
 and boisterous German Ocean. A black 
 domain of wild pasture -land surrounded 
 their new residence, and formed the re- 
 mains of their property.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOil. 39 
 
 Lord Ravenswood, the heir of this ruined 
 family, was far from bending his mind to 
 his new condition of life. In the civil war 
 of 1689, he had espoused the sinking side, 
 and although he had escaped without the 
 forfeiture of life or land, his blood had been 
 attainted, and his title abolished. He was 
 now called tord Ravenswood only in cour- 
 tesy. 
 
 This forfeited nobleman inherited the 
 pride and turbulence, though not the for- 
 tune of his family, and, as he imputed the 
 final declension of his family to a particular 
 individual, he honoured that person with his 
 full portion of hatred. This was the very 
 man who had now become, by purchase, pro 
 prietor of Ravenswood, and the domains of 
 which the heir of the house now stood dis- 
 possessed. He was descended of a family 
 much less ancient than that of Lord Ravens- 
 wood, and which had only risen to wealth 
 and political importance during the great 
 civil wars. He himself had been bred to the 
 bar, and had held high offices in the state,
 
 40 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 maintaining through life the character of 
 a skilful fisher in the troubled waters of a 
 state divided by factions, and governed by- 
 delegated authority ; and of one who con- 
 trived to amass considerable sums of money 
 in a country where there was but little to 
 be gathered, and who equally knew the 
 value of wealth, and the various means of 
 augmenting it, and using it as an engine of 
 increasing his power and influence. 
 
 Thus qualified and gifted, he was a 
 dangerous antagonist to the fierce and im- 
 prudent Ravens\vood. Whether he had gi- 
 ven him good cause for the enmity with 
 which the Baron regarded him, was a point 
 on which men spoke differently. Some 
 said the quarrel arose merely from the vin- 
 dictive spirit and envy of Lord Ravens wood, 
 who could not patiently behold another, 
 though by just and fair purchase, become 
 the proprietor of the estate and castle of 
 his forefathers. But the greater part of 
 the public, prone to slander the wealthy 
 in their absence, as to flatter them in their
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 42 
 
 presence, held a less charitable opinion. 
 They said, that the Lord Keeper, (for to 
 this height Sir William Ashton had as- 
 cended,) had, previous to the final pur- 
 chase of the estate of Ravens wood, been 
 concerned in extensive pecuniary transac- 
 tions with the former proprietor ; and, ra- 
 ther intimating what was probable, than af- 
 firming any thing positively, they asked 
 which party was likely to have the advan- 
 tage in stating and enforcing the claims 
 arising out of these complicated affairs, 
 and more than hinted the advantages 
 which the cool lawyer and able politician 
 must necessarily possess over the hot, fiery, 
 and imprudent character, whom he had in- 
 volved in legal toils and pecuniary snares. 
 The character of the times aggravated 
 these suspicions. " In those days there 
 was no king in Israel." Since the depar- 
 ture of James VI. to assume the richer and 
 more powerful crown of England, there had 
 existed in Scotland contending parties, 
 formed among the aristocracy, by whom, 
 as their intrigues at the court of St James's
 
 42 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 chanced to prevail, the delegated powers 
 of sovereignty were alternately swayed. 
 The evils attending upon this system of 
 government, resembled those which af- 
 flict the tenants of an Irish estate owned 
 by an absentee. There was no supreme 
 power, claiming and possessing a general 
 interest with the community at large, to 
 whom the oppressed might appeal from 
 subordinate tyranny, either for justice or 
 for mercy. Let a monarch be as indo- 
 lent, as selfish, as much disposed to arbi- 
 trary power as he will, still, in a free coun- 
 try, his own interests are so clearly con- 
 nected with those of the public at large ; 
 and the evil consequences to his own au- 
 thority are so obvious and imminent when 
 a different course is pursued, that common 
 policy, as well as common feeling, point to 
 the equal distribution of justice, and to the 
 establishment of the throne in righteous, 
 ness. Thus, even sovereigns, remarkable 
 for usurpation and tyranny, have been 
 found rigorous in the administration of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 43 
 
 justice among their subjects, in cases where 
 their own power and passions were not com- 
 promised. 
 
 It is very different when the powers of 
 sovereignty are delegated to the head of 
 an aristocratic faction, rivalled and pressed 
 closely in the race of ambition by an ad- 
 verse leader. His brief and precarious en- 
 joyment of power must be employed in 
 rewarding his partizans, in extending his 
 influence, in oppressing and crushing his 
 adversaries. Even Abon Hassan, the most 
 disinterested of all viceroys, forgot not, 
 during his caliphate of one day, to send a, 
 douceur of one thousand pieces of gold to 
 his own household ; and the Scottish vice- 
 gerents, raised to power by the strength of 
 their faction, failed not to embrace the 
 same means of rewarding them. 
 
 The administration of justice, in particu- 
 lar, was infected by the most gross partiality. 
 Scarce a case of importance could occur, in 
 which there was not some ground for bias 
 or partiality on the part of the judges, wbi 
 
 8
 
 44> TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 were so little able to withstand the tempta- 
 tion, that the adage, " Show me the man, 
 and I will show you the law," became as 
 prevalent as it was scandalous. One cor- 
 ruption led the way to others still more 
 gross and profligate. The judge who lent 
 his sacred authority in one case to support 
 a friend, and in order to crush an enemy, 
 and whose decisions were founded on fami- 
 ly connections, or political relations, could 
 not be supposed inaccessible to direct per- 
 sonal motives, and the purse of the wealthy 
 was too often believed to be thrown into 
 the scale to wei"h down the cause of the 
 poorer litigant. The subordinate officers of 
 the law affected little scruple concerning 
 bribery. Pieces of plate, and bags of mo- 
 ney, were sent in presents to the king's 
 counsel, to influence their conduct, and 
 poured forth, says a contemporary writer, 
 like billets of wood upon their floors, with- 
 out even the decency of concealment. 
 
 In such times, it was not over uncharita- 
 ble to suppose, that the statesman, practi-
 
 THE BUIDE 01 LAMMERMOOfi. 45 
 
 sed in courts of law, and a powerful mem- 
 ber of a triumphant cabal, might find and 
 use means of advantage over his less skil- 
 ful and less favoured adversary ; and if it 
 had been supposed that Sir William Ash- 
 ton's conscience had been too delicate to 
 profit by these advantages, it was believed 
 that his ambition and desire of extending his 
 wealth and consequence, found as strong 
 a stimulus in the exhortations of his lady, 
 as the daring aim of Macbeth in the days 
 of yore. 
 
 Lady Ash ton was of a family more dis- 
 tinguished than that of her lord, an ad- 
 vantage which she did not fail to use to 
 the uttermost, in maintaining and extend, 
 ing her husband's influence over others, 
 and, unless she was greatly belied, her 
 own over him. She had been beautiful, 
 and was still stately and majestic in her 
 appearance. Endowed by nature with 
 strong powers and violent passions, expe- 
 rience had taught her to employ the one, 
 and to conceal, if not to moderate, the
 
 46 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 other. She was a severe and strict obser- 
 ver of the external forms, at least, of devo- 
 tion ; her hospitality was splendid, even 
 to ostentation ; her address and manners, 
 agreeable to the pattern most valued in 
 Scotland at the period, were grave, digni- 
 fied, and severely regulated by the rules of 
 etiquette. Her character had always been 
 beyond the breath of slander. And yet, 
 with all these qualities to excite respect, 
 Lady Ash ton was seldom mentioned in 
 the terms of love or affection. Interest, — 
 the interest of her family, if not her own, — 
 seemed too obviously the motive of her 
 actions ; and where this is the case, the 
 sharp-judging and malignant public are not 
 easily imposed upon by outward show. It 
 was seen and ascertained, that, in her most 
 graceful courtesies and compliments, Lady 
 Ashton no more lost sight of her object 
 than the falcon in his airy wheel turns 
 his quick eyes from his destined quarry; 
 and hence, something of doubt and suspi- 
 cion qualified the feelings with which her
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 47 
 
 equals received her attentions. With her 
 inferiors these feelings were mingled with 
 fear, an impression useful to her purposes, 
 so far as it enforced ready compliance with 
 her requests, and implicit obedience to her 
 commands, but detrimental, because it can- 
 not exist with affection or regard. 
 
 Even her husband, it is said, upon whose 
 fortunes her talents and address had pro- 
 duced such emphatic influence, regarded 
 her with* respectful awe rather than confi- 
 ding attachment 5 and report said, there 
 were times when he considered his gran- 
 deur as dearly purchased at the expence 
 of domestic thraldom. Of this, however 
 much might be suspected, but little could 
 be accurately known 5 Lady Ashton re- 
 garded the honour of her husband as her 
 own, and was well aware how much that 
 would suffer in the public eye should he 
 appear a vassal to his wife. In all her ar- 
 guments, his opinion was quoted as infalli- 
 ble •, his taste was appealed to, and his senti- 
 ments received with the air of deference.
 
 48 TALES OF M¥ LANDLORD, 
 
 which a dutiful wife might seem to owe to 
 a husband of Sir William Ashton's rank 
 and character. But there was something 
 under all this which rung false and hollow ; 
 and to those who watched this couple with 
 close, and perhaps malicious scrutiny, it 
 seemed evident, that, in the haughtiness of 
 a former character, higher birth, and more 
 decided views of aggrandizement, the lady 
 looked with some contempt on her hus- 
 band, and that he regarded her with jea- 
 lous fear rather than with love or admira- 
 tion. 
 
 Still, however, the leading and favourite 
 interests of Sir William Ashton and his 
 lady were the same, and they failed not to 
 work in concert, although without cordial- 
 ity, and to testify, in all exterior circum- 
 stances, that respect for each other which 
 they were aware was necessary to secure 
 that of the public. 
 
 Their union was crowned with several 
 children, of whom three survived. One, 
 the eldest son, w T as absent on his travels ;
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM0OA. 49 
 
 the second, a girl of seventeen, and the 
 third, a boy about three years younger, re- 
 sided with their parents in Edinburgh, du- 
 ring the sessions of the Scottish Parliament 
 and Privy-council, at other times in the 
 old Gothic castle of Ravenswood, to which 
 the Lord Keeper had made large additions 
 in the style of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Allan Lord Ravenswood, the late pro- 
 prietor of that ancient mansion and the 
 large estate annexed to it, continued for 
 some time to wage ineffectual war with 
 his successor concerning various points to 
 which their former transactions had given 
 rise, and which were successively deter- 
 mined in favour of the wealthy and power- 
 ful competitor, until death closed the liti- 
 gation, by summoning Ravenswood to a 
 higher bar. The thread of life, which had 
 been long wasting, gave way during a fit 
 of violent and impotent fury, with which 
 he was assailed on receiving the news of 
 the loss of a cause, founded, perhaps, ra- 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 00 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ther in equity than in law, the last which 
 he had maintained against his powerful an- 
 tagonist. His son witnessed his dying ago- 
 nies, and heard the curses which he breath- 
 ed against his adversary, as if they had con- 
 veyed to him a legacy of vengeance. Other 
 circumstances happened to exasperate a 
 passion, which was, and had long been, a 
 prevalent vice in the Scottish disposition. 
 
 It was a November morning, and the cliffs 
 which overlooked the ocean were hung 
 with thick and heavy mist, when the port- 
 als of the ancient and half-ruinous tower, 
 in which Lord Ravenswood had spent the 
 last and troubled years of his life, opened, 
 that his mortal remains might pass forward 
 to an abode yet more dreary and lonely. 
 The pomp of attendance, to which the de- 
 ceased had, in his latter years, been a 
 stranger, was revived as he was about to be 
 consigned to the realms of forge tfuln ess. 
 
 Banner after banner, with the various 
 devices and coats of this ancient family
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 51 
 
 and its connections, followed each other 
 in mournful procession from under the low- 
 browed archway of the court- yard. The 
 principal gentry of the country attended 
 in the deepest mourning, and tempered 
 the pace of their long train of horses to 
 the solemn march befitting the occasion. 
 Trumpets, with banners of crape attach- 
 ed to them, sent forth their long and me- 
 lancholy notes to regulate the movements 
 of the procession. An immense train of 
 inferior mourners and menials closed the 
 rear, which had not yet issued from the 
 castle-gate, when the van had reached the 
 chapel where the body was to be depo- 
 sited. 
 
 Contrary to the custom, and even to the 
 law of the time, the body was met by a 
 priest of the English communion, arrayed 
 in his surplice, and prepared to read over 
 the coffin of the deceased the funeral ser- 
 vice of the church. Such had been the de- 
 sire of Lord Ravenswood in his last illness, 
 and it was readily complied with by the tory 
 
 MmsfTY or 
 
 ILLINOIS Library
 
 52 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 gentlemen, or cavaliers, as they affected to 
 style themselves, in which faction most of 
 his kinsmen were enrolled. The presbyte- 
 rian church-judicatory of the bounds, con- 
 sidering the ceremony as a bravading insult 
 upon their authority, had applied to the 
 Lord Keeper, as the nearest privy counsel- 
 lor, for a warrant to prevent its being car- 
 ried into effect ; so that, when the clergy- 
 man had opened his prayer-book, an officer 
 of the law, supported by some armed men, 
 commanded him to be silent. An insult, 
 which fired the whole assembly with indig- 
 nation, was particularly and instantly re- 
 sented by the only son of the deceased, 
 Edgar, popularly called the Master of Ra- 
 venswood, a youth of about twenty years 
 of age. He clapped his hand on his sword, 
 and, bidding the official person to de- 
 sist at his peril from further interruption, 
 commanded the clergyman to proceed. 
 The man attempted to enforce his commis- 
 sion, but as an hundred swords at once 
 glittered in the air, he contented himself
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 53 
 
 with protesting against the violence which 
 had been offered to him in the execution 
 of his duty, and stood aloof, a sullen and 
 moody spectator of the ceremonial, mut- 
 tering as one who should say, " You'll rue 
 the day that clogs me with this answer." 
 
 The scene was worthy of an artist's pen- 
 cil. Under the very arch of the house of 
 death, the clergyman, affrighted at the 
 scene, and trembling for his own safety, 
 hastily and unwillingly rehearsed the so- 
 lemn service of the church, and spoke dust 
 to dust, and ashes to ashes, over ruined 
 pride and decayed posterity. Around stood 
 the relations of the deceased, their counte- 
 nances more in anger than in sorrow, and 
 the drawn swords which they brandished 
 forming a violent contrast with their deep 
 mourning habits. In the countenance of 
 the young man alone, resentment seemed 
 for the moment overpowered by the deep 
 agony with which he beheld his nearest, 
 and almost his only friend, consigned to
 
 54 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the tomb of his ancestry. A relative ob- 
 served him turn deadly pale, when, all rites 
 being now duly observed, it became the 
 duty of the chief mourner to lower down 
 into the charnel vault, where mouldering 
 coffins shewed their tattered velvet and 
 decayed plating, the head of the corpse 
 which was to be their partner in corrup- 
 tion. He stept to the youth and offered 
 his assistance, which, by a mute motion, 
 Edgar Ravenswood rejected. Firmly, and 
 without a tear, he performed that last du 
 ty. The stone was laid on the sepulchiv 
 the door of the aisle was locked, and the 
 youth took possession of its massive key. 
 
 As the crowd left the chapel, he pause' 1 
 on the steps which led to its Gothi 
 chancel. " Gentlemen and friends," he 
 said, " you have this day done no com- 
 mon duty to the body of your deceased 
 kinsman. The rites of due observance, 
 which, in other countries, are allowed as 
 the due of the meanest Christian, wouh
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 55 
 
 this day have been denied to the body 
 of your relative — not certainly sprung 
 of the meanest house in Scotland — had it 
 not been assured to him by your courage. 
 Others bury their dead in sorrow and tears, 
 in silence and in reverence ; our funeral 
 rites are marred by the intrusion of bailiffs 
 and ruffians, and our grief — the grief due 
 to our departed friend — is chased from our 
 cheeks by the glow of just indignation. 
 But it is well that I know from what quiver 
 this arrow has come forth. It was only he 
 ••ftat dug the grave who could have the mean 
 cruelty to disturb the obsequies ; and Hea- 
 ven do as much to me and more, if I re- 
 quite not to this man and his house the ruin 
 and disgrace he has brought on me and 
 mine." 
 
 A numerous part of the assembly ap- 
 plauded this speech, as the spirited expres- 
 sion of just resentment ; but the more 
 cool and judicious regretted that it had 
 been uttered. The fortunes of the heir of
 
 56 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Ravenswood were too low to brave the 
 farther hostility which they imagined these 
 open expressions of resentment must neces- 
 sarily provoke. Their apprehensions, how- 
 ever, proved groundless, at least in the im- 
 mediate consequences of this affair. 
 
 The mourners returned to the tower, 
 there, according to a custom but recently 
 abolished in Scotland, to carouse deep 
 healths to the memory of the deceased, to 
 make the house of sorrow ring with sounds 
 of jovialty and debauch, and to diminish, 
 by the expense of a large and profuse en- 
 tertainment, the limited revenues of the 
 heir of him whose funeral they thus strange- 
 ly honoured. It was the custom, however, 
 and on the present occasion it was fully ob- 
 served. The tables swam in wine, the po- 
 pulace feasted in the court-yard, the yeo- 
 men in the kitchen and buttery, and two 
 years' rent of Ravenswood's remaining pro- 
 perty hardly defrayed the charge of the fu- 
 neral revel. The wine did its office on all
 
 THE BRIDE OF LA1I3UEIIM00R. 65 
 
 and party, depended on using the present 
 advantage to the uttermost against young 
 Ravenswood, the Lord Keeper sate down 
 to his desk, and proceeded to draw up, for 
 the information of the Privy- council, an ac- 
 count of the disorderly proceedings which, 
 in contempt of his warrant, had taken place 
 at the funeral of Lord Ravenswood. The 
 names of most of the parties concerned, as 
 well as the fact itself would, he was well 
 aware, sound odiously in the ears of his 
 colleagues in administration, and most like- 
 ly instigate them to make an example of 
 young Ravenswood at least, in terrorem. 
 
 It was a point of delicacy, however, to se- 
 lect such expressions as might infer his cul- 
 pability, without seeming directly to urge 
 it, which, on the part of Sir William Ash- 
 ton, his fathers ancient antagonist, could 
 not but appear odious and invidious. While 
 he was in the act of composition, labouring 
 to find words which might indicate Edgar 
 Ravenswood to be the cause of the uproar, 
 without directly urging the charge, Sir Wil-
 
 66 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 liam, in a pause of his task, chanced, in 
 looking upward, to see the crest of the fa- 
 mily (for whose heir he was whetting the 
 arrows, and disposing the toils of the law,) 
 carved upon one of the corbeilles from 
 which the vaulted roof of the apartment 
 sprung. It was a black bull's head, with 
 the legend, " I bide my time ;" and the oc- 
 casion upon which it was adopted mingled 
 itself singularly and impressively with the 
 subject of his present reflections. 
 
 It was said by a constant tradition, that 
 a Malisius de Raven swood had, in the thir- 
 teenth century, been deprived of his castle 
 and lands by a powerful usurper, who had 
 for a while enjoyed his, spoils in quiet. 
 At length, on the eve of a costly banquet, 
 Ravenswood, who had watched his oppor- 
 tunity, introduced himself into the castle 
 with a small band of faithful retainers. The 
 serving of the expected feast was impatient- 
 ly looked for by the guests, and clamorous- 
 ly demanded by the temporary master of 
 the castle. Ravenswood, who had assumed
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 57 
 
 but the Master of Ravenswood, a title which 
 he still retained, though forfeiture had at- 
 tached to that of his father. He, while 
 passing around the cup which he himself 
 did not taste, soon listened to a thousand 
 exclamations against the Lord Keeper, and 
 passionate protestations of attachment to 
 himself, and to the honour of his house. 
 He listened with dark and sullen brow to 
 ebullitions which he considered justly as 
 equally evanescent with the crimson bub- 
 bles on the brink of the goblet, or at least 
 with the vapours which its contents excited 
 in the brains of the revellers around him. 
 
 When the last flask was emptied, they 
 took their leave, with deep protestations — 
 to be forgotten on the morrow, if, indeed, 
 those who made them should not think it 
 necessary for their safety to make a more 
 solemn retractation. 
 
 Accepting their adieus with an air of 
 contempt which he could scarce conceal, 
 Ravenswood at length beheld his ruinous 
 c 2
 
 58 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 habitation cleared of this confluence of riot- 
 ous guests, and returned to the deserted 
 hall, which now appeared doubly lonely 
 from the cessation of that clamour to which 
 it had so lately echoed. But its space was 
 peopled by phantoms, which the imagina- 
 tion of the young heir conjured up before 
 him — the tarnished honour and degraded 
 fortunes of his house, the destruction of 
 his own hopes, and the triumph of that fa- 
 mily by whom they had been ruined. To 
 a mind naturally of a gloomy cast, here was 
 ample room for meditation, and the mu- 
 sings of young Ravenswood were deep and 
 unwitnessed. 
 
 The peasant, who shows the ruins of the 
 tower, which still crown the beetling cliff 
 and behold the war of the waves, though no 
 more tenanted save by the sea-mew and 
 cormorant, even yet affirms, that on this fa- 
 tal night the Master of Ravenswood, by the 
 bitter exclamations of his despair, evoked 
 some evil fiend, under whose malignant
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 59 
 
 influence the future tissue of incidents 
 was woven. Alas ! what fiend can suggest 
 more desperate counsels, than those adopt- 
 ed under the guidance of our own violent 
 and unresisted passions ?
 
 60 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Over Gods forebode, then, said the King, 
 That thou shouldst shoot at me. 
 
 William Bell dim o the Clevgli, Sec. 
 
 On the morning after the funeral, the 
 legal officer, whose authority had been 
 found insufficient to effect an interruption 
 of the funeral solemnities of the late Lord 
 Ravenswood, hastened to state before the 
 Keeper the interruption which he had re- 
 ceived in the execution of his office. 
 
 The statesman was seated in a spacious 
 library, once a banquetting-room in the old 
 Castle of Ravenswood, as was evident from 
 the armorial insignia still displayed on the 
 carved roof, which was vaulted with Spa-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 61 
 
 nish chesnut, and on the stained glass of 
 the casement, through which gleamed a 
 dim yet rich light, on the long rows of 
 shelves, bending under the weight of le- 
 gal commentators and monkish historians, 
 whose ponderous volumes formed the chief 
 and most valued contents of a Scottish his- 
 torian of the period. On the massive oaken 
 table and reading-desk, lay a confused mass 
 of letters, petitions, and parchments ; to 
 toil amongst which was the pleasure at 
 once and the plague of Sir William Ash- 
 ton's life. His appearance was grave and 
 even noble, well becoming one who held an 
 high office in the state ; and it was not, 
 save after long and intimate conversation 
 with him upon topics of pressing and per- 
 sonal interest, that a stranger could have 
 discovered something vacillating and un- 
 certain in his resolutions ; an infirmity of 
 purpose, arising from a cautious and timid 
 disposition, which, as he was conscious of 
 its internal influence on his mind, he was,
 
 62 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 from pride as well as policy, most anxious 
 to conceal from others. 
 
 He listened with great apparent compo- 
 sure to an exaggerated account of the tu- 
 mult which had taken place at the funeral, 
 of the contempt thrown on his own autho- 
 rity, and that of the church and state ; nor 
 did lie seem moved even by the faithful 
 report of the insulting and threatening lan- 
 guage which had been uttered by young 
 Ravenswood and others, and obviously di- 
 rected against himself He heard, also, 
 what the man had been able to collect, in 
 a very distorted and aggravated shape, of 
 the toasts which had been drunk, and the 
 menaces uttered at the subsequent enter- 
 tainment. In fine, he made careful notes of 
 all these particulars, and of the names of 
 the persons by whom, in case of need, an 
 accusation, founded upon these violent pro- 
 ceedings, could be witnessed and made 
 good, and dismissed his informer, secure 
 that he was now master of the remaining
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 6 3 
 
 fortune, and even of the personal liberty, 
 of young Ravenswood. 
 
 When the door had closed upon the of- 
 ficer of the law, the Lord Keeper remain- 
 ed for a moment in deep meditation ; then, 
 starting from his seat, paced the apartment 
 as one about to take a sudden and energe- 
 tic resolution. " Young Ravenswood," he 
 
 muttered, " is now mine — he is my own 
 
 he has placed himself in my hand, and he 
 shall bend or break. I have not forgot the 
 determined and dogged obstinacy with 
 which his father fought every point to the 
 last, resisted every effort at compromise, 
 embroiled me in law-suits, and attempted 
 to assail my character when he could not 
 otherwise impugn my rights. This boy he 
 has left behind him — this Edgar — this hot- 
 headed, hare-brained fool, has wrecked his 
 vessel before she has cleared the harbour. I 
 must see that he gains no advantage of some 
 turning tide which may again float him off. 
 These memoranda, properly stated to the 
 Privy, council, cannot but be construed in- 
 
 9
 
 64 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to an aggravated riot, in which the digni- 
 ty both of the civil and ecclesiastical au- 
 thorities stand committed. A heavy fine 
 might be imposed ; an order for commit- 
 ting him to Edinburgh or Blackness Cas- 
 tle seems not improper ; even a charge of 
 treason might be laid on many of these 
 words and expressions, though God forbid 
 I should prosecute the matter to that ex- 
 tent. No, I will not \ — I will not touch his 
 life, even if it should be in my power ; — 
 and yet, if he lives till a change of times, 
 what follows? — Restitution — perhaps re- 
 venge. I know Athole promised his in- 
 terest to old Ravenswood, and here is his 
 son already bandying and making a fac- 
 tion by his own contemptible influence. 
 What a ready tool he would be for the use 
 of those who are watching the downfall of 
 our administration ?" 
 
 While these thoughts were agitating the 
 mind of the wily statesman, and while he 
 was persuading himself that his own inte- 
 rest and safety, as well as those of his friends
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOIl. 6? 
 
 the disguise of a sewer upon the occasion, 
 answered, in a stern voice, " I bide my 
 time f and at the same moment a bull's 
 head, the ancient symbol of death, was 
 placed upon the table. The explosion of 
 the conspiracy took place upon the signal, 
 and the usurper and his followers were put 
 to death. Perhaps there was something in 
 this still known and often repeated story, 
 which came immediately home to the breast 
 and conscience of the Lord Keeper ; for, 
 putting from him the paper on which he 
 had begun his report, and carefully locking 
 the memoranda which he had prepared, in- 
 to a cabinet which stood beside him, he 
 proceeded to walk abroad, as if for the pur- 
 pose of collecting his ideas, and reflecting 
 farther on the consequences of the step 
 which he was about to take, ere yet they 
 became unavoidable. 
 
 In passing through a large Gothic anti- 
 room, Sir William Ashton heard the sound 
 of his daughter's lute. Music, when the 
 performers are concealed, affects us with a
 
 68 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 pleasure mingled with surprise, and reminds 
 us of the natural concert of birds among the 
 leafy bowers. The statesman, though lit- 
 tle accustomed to give way to emotions of 
 this natural and simple class, was still a man 
 and a father. He stopped, therefore, and 
 listened, while the silver tones of Lucy 
 Ashton's voice mingled with the accompa- 
 niment in an ancient air, to which some one 
 .had adapted the following words : — 
 
 " Look not thou on beauty's charming,—- 
 Sit thou still when kings are arming, — 
 Taste not when the wine-cup glistens,— 
 Speak not when the people listens, — 
 Stop thine ear against the singer, — 
 From the red gold keep thy finger,-— 
 Vacant heart, and hand, and eye, — « 
 Easy live and quiet die. 
 
 The sounds ceased, and the Keeper en- 
 tered his daughter's apartment. 
 
 The words she had chosen seemed parti- 
 cularly adapted to her character ; for Lucy 
 Ashton's exquisitely beautiful, yet some-
 
 THE BftlDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 6$ 
 
 what girlish features, were formed to ex- 
 press peace of mind, serenity, and indiffer- 
 ence to the tinsel of worldly pleasure. Her 
 locks, which were of shadowy gold, divided 
 on a brow of exquisite whiteness, like a 
 gleam of broken and pallid sunshine upon 
 a hill of snow. The expression of the coun- 
 tenance was in the last degree gentle, soft, 
 timid, and feminine, and seemed rather to 
 shrink from the most casual look of a stran- 
 ger, than to court his admiration. Some- 
 thing there was of a Madonna cast, perhaps 
 the result of delicate health, and of resi- 
 dence in a family, where the dispositions of 
 the inmates were fiercer, more active, and 
 energetic than her own. 
 
 Yet her passiveness of disposition was by 
 no means owing to an indifferent or unfeel- 
 ing mind. Left to the impulse of her own 
 taste and feelings, Lucy Ashton was pecu- 
 liarly accessible to those of a romantic 
 cast. Her secret delight was in the old le- 
 gendary tales of ardent devotion and un- 
 6
 
 70 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 alterable affection, chequered as they so 
 often are with strange adventures and su- 
 pernatural horrors. This was her favour- 
 ed fairy realm, and here she erected her 
 aerial palaces. But it was only in secret that 
 she laboured at this delusive, but delight- 
 ful architecture. In her retired chamber, 
 or in the woodland bower which she had 
 chosen for her own, and called after her 
 name, she was in fancy distributing the 
 prizes at the tournament, or raining down 
 influence from her eyes on the valiant 
 combatants, or she was wandering in the 
 wilderness with Una, or she was identify- 
 ing herself with the simple, yet noble- 
 minded Miranda, in the isle of wonder and 
 enchantment. 
 
 But in her exterior relations to things 
 of this world, Lucy willingly received the 
 ruling impulse from those around her. The 
 alternative was, in general, too indifferent 
 to her to render resistance desirable, and 
 she willingly found a motive for decision 
 in the opinion of her friends, which per-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 71 
 
 haps she might have sought for in vain in 
 her own choice. Every reader must have 
 observed in some family of his acquaint- 
 ance, some individual of a temper soft and 
 yielding, who, mixed with stronger and 
 more ardent minds, is borne along by the 
 will of others, with as little power of oppo- 
 sition as the flower which is flung into a 
 running stream. It usually happens that 
 such a compliant and easy disposition, 
 which resigns itself without murmur to 
 the guidance of others, becomes the dar- 
 ling of those to whose inclinations its own 
 seem to be offered, in ungrudging and ready 
 sacrifice. 
 
 This was eminently the case with Lucy 
 Ashton. Her politic, wary, and worldly 
 father, felt for her an affection, the strength 
 of which sometimes surprised him into an 
 unusual emotion. Her elder brother, who 
 trode the path of ambition with a haughtier 
 step than his father, had also more of hu- 
 man affection. A soldier, and in a disso-
 
 72 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 lute age, he preferred his sister Lucy even 
 to pleasure, and to military preferment and 
 distinction. Her younger brother, at an 
 age when trifles chiefly occupied his mind, 
 made her the confidante of all his pleasures 
 and anxieties, — his success in field-sports, 
 and his quarrels with his tutor and in- 
 structors. To these details, however trivial, 
 Lucy lent patient and not indifferent at- 
 tention. They moved and interested Hen- 
 ry, and that was enough to secure her ear. 
 Her mother alone did not feel that dis- 
 tinguished and predominating affection, 
 with which the rest of the family cherish- 
 ed Lucy. She regarded what she termed 
 her daughter's want of spirit, as a decided 
 mark, that the more plebeian blood of her 
 father predominated in Lucy's veins, and 
 used to call her in derision her Lammer- 
 moor Shepherdess. To dislike so gentle 
 and inoffensive a being was impossible ; 
 but Lady Ashton preferred her eldest son, 
 on whom had descended a large portion of
 
 The bride of lammermoor. 73 
 
 her own ambitious and undaunted disposi- 
 tion, to a daughter whose softness of tem- 
 per seemed allied to feebleness of mind. 
 Her eldest son was the more partially be- 
 loved by his mother, because, contrary to 
 the usual custom in Scottish families of 
 distinction, he had been named after the 
 head of the house. 
 
 " My Sholto," she said, " will support 
 the untarnished honour of his maternal 
 house, and elevate and support that of his 
 father. Poor Lucy is unfit for courts, or 
 crowded halls. Some country laird must 
 be her husband, rich enough to supply her 
 with every comfort, without an effort on 
 her own part, so that she may have no- 
 thing to shed a tear for but the tender ap- 
 prehension lest he may break his neck in 
 a fox-chase. It was not so, however, that 
 our house was raised, nor is it so that it 
 can be fortified and augmented. The Lord 
 Keeper's dignity is yet new ; it must be 
 borne as if we were used to its weight, 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 74 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 worthy of it, and prompt to assert and 
 maintain it. Before ancient authorities, 
 men bend, from customary and hereditary 
 deference; in our presence, they will stand 
 erect, unless they are compelled to pro- 
 strate themselves. A daughter fit for the 
 sheep-fold, or the cloister, is ill qualified to 
 exact respect where it is yielded with re- 
 luctance; and since Heaven refused us a 
 third boy, Lucy should have held a cha- 
 racter fit to supply his place. The hour 
 will be a happy one which disposes her 
 hand in marriage to some one whose ener- 
 gy is greater than her own, or whose ambi- 
 tion is of as low an order." 
 
 So meditated a mother, to whom the 
 qualities of her childrens' hearts, as well as 
 the prospect of their domestic happiness, 
 seemed light in comparion to their rank 
 and temporal greatness. But, like many a 
 parent of hot and impatient character, she 
 was mistaken in estimating the feelings of 
 her daughter, who, under a semblance of 
 extreme indifference, nourished the germ
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 75 
 
 of those passions which sometimes spring 
 up in one night, like the gourd of the pro- 
 phet, and astonish the observer by their 
 unexpected ardour and intensity. In fact, 
 Lucy's sentiments seemed chill, because 
 nothing had occurred to interest or awa- 
 ken them. Her life had hitherto flowed on 
 in an uniform and gentle tenor, and happy 
 for her had not its present smoothness of 
 current resembled that of the stream as it 
 glides downwards to the waterfall ! 
 
 " So Lucy," said her father, entering as 
 her song was ended, " does your musical 
 philosopher teach you to contemn the 
 world before you know it ? — that is surely 
 something premature. — Or did you but 
 speak according to the fashion of fair 
 maidens, who are always to hold the plea- 
 sures of life in contempt till they are press- 
 ed upon them by the address of some gen- 
 tle knight ?" 
 
 Lucy blushed, disclaimed any inference 
 respecting her own choice being inferred 
 from her selection of a song, and readily
 
 76 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 laid aside her instrument at her father's 
 request that she would attend him in his 
 walk. 
 
 A large and well wooded park, or ra- 
 ther chase, stretched along the hill be- 
 hind the castle, which occupying, as we 
 have noticed, a pass ascending from the 
 plain, seemed built in its very gorge to 
 defend the forest ground which arose be- 
 hind it in shaggy majesty. Into this ro- 
 mantic region the father and daughter pro- 
 ceeded, arm in arm, by a noble avenue 
 overarched by embowering elms, beneath 
 which groups of the fallow-deer were seen to 
 stray in distant perspective. As they paced 
 slowly on, admiring the different points of 
 view, for which Sir William Ashton, not- 
 withstanding the nature of his usual avoca- 
 tions, had considerable taste and feeling, 
 they were overtaken by the forester, or 
 park-keeper, who, intent on sylvan sport, 
 was proceeding with his cross-bow over his 
 arm, and a hound led in leash by his boy^ 
 into the interior of the wood.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 77 
 
 11 Going to shoot us a piece of venison, 
 Norman ?" said his master, as he returned 
 the woodman's salutation. 
 
 " Saul, your honour, and that I am. 
 Will it please you to see the sport ?" 
 
 " O no," said his lordship, after looking 
 at his daughter, whose colour fled at the 
 idea of ^eeing the deer shot, although, had 
 her father expressed his wish that they 
 should accompany Norman, it was proba- 
 ble she would not even have hinted her re- 
 luctance. 
 
 The forester shrugged his shoulders. " It 
 w T as a disheartening thing," he said, " when 
 none of the gentles came down to see the 
 sport. He hoped Mr Sholto would be soon 
 hame, or he might shut up his shop entire- 
 ly ; for Mr Harry was kept sae close wi' his 
 Latin nonsense, that, though his will was 
 very gucle to be in the wood from morning 
 till night, there would be a hopeful lad lost, 
 and no making a man of him. It was not 
 so, he had heard, in Lord Ravenswood's 
 time — when a buck was to be killed, man
 
 *S TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 and mother's son ran to see ; and when the 
 deer fell, the knife was always presented to 
 the knight, and he never gave less than a 
 dollar for the compliment. And there was 
 Edgar Ravenswood — Master of Ravens- 
 wood that is now — when he goes up to the 
 wood — there hasna been a better hunter 
 since Tristrem's time — when Sir Edgar 
 hauds out, down goes the deer, faith. But 
 we hae lost a' sense of wood- craft on this 
 side of the hill." 
 
 There was much in this harangue highly 
 displeasing to the Lord Keeper's feelings ; 
 he could not help observing that his menial 
 despised him almost avowedly for not pos- 
 sessing that taste for sport, which in these 
 times was deemed the natural and indis- 
 pensible attribute of a real gentleman. But 
 the master of the game is, in all country 
 houses, a man of great importance, and en- 
 titled to use considerable freedom of speech. 
 Sir William, therefore, only smiled and re- 
 plied, he had something else to think upon 
 to-day than killing deer ; meantime, taking
 
 THE BRIDK OF LAMMERMOOR. 79 
 
 out his purse, he gave the ranger a dollar 
 for his encouragement. The fellow recei- 
 ved it as the waiter of a fashionable hotel 
 receives double his proper fee from the 
 hands of a country gentleman, — that is, 
 with a smile, in which pleasure at the gift 
 is mingled with contempt for the ignorance 
 of the donor. " Your honour is the bad 
 paymaster," he said, M who pays before it 
 is done. What would you do were I to 
 miss the buck after you have paid me my 
 wood-fee I" 
 
 " I suppose," said the Keeper, smiling, 
 cc you would hardly guess what I mean 
 were I to tell you of a condictio hulebiti V 
 
 " Not I, on my saul — I guess it is some 
 law phrase — but sue a beggar, and — your 
 
 honour knows what follows Well, but I 
 
 will be just with you, and if bow and brach 
 fail not, you shall have a piece of game two 
 fingers fat on the brisket." 
 
 As he was about to go off, his master 
 again called him, and asked, as if by acci-
 
 SO TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 dent, whether the Master of Ravenswood 
 was actually so brave a man and so good 
 a shooter as the world spoke him ? 
 
 " Brave ! — brave enough, I warrant you/ 5 
 answered Norman ; " I was in the wood 
 at Tyninghame, when there was a sort of 
 gallants hunting with my lord ; on my saul, 
 there was a buck turned to bay made us 
 all stand back ; a stout old Trojan of the 
 first-head, ten-tyned branches, and a brow 
 as broad as e'er a bullock's. Egad, he dash- 
 ed at the old lord, and there would have 
 been inlake among the peerage, if the 
 Master had not whipt roundly in, and 
 hamstrung him with his cutlace. He was 
 but sixteen then, bless his heart V 9 
 
 " And is he as ready with the gun as 
 with the couteau ?" said Sir William. 
 
 " He'll strike this silver dollar out from 
 "between my finger and thumb at fourscore 
 yards, and I'll hold it out for a gold merk ; 
 what more would ye have of eye, hand, 
 lead, and gunpowder ?" 
 
 " O no more to be wished, certain-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 81 
 
 ly," said the Lord Keeper ; " but we keep 
 you from your sport, Norman. Good mor- 
 row, good Norman." 
 
 And humming his rustic roundelay, the 
 yeoman went on his road, the sound of his 
 rough voice gradually dying away as the 
 distance betwixt them increased. 
 
 The monk must arise when the matins ring, 
 The abbot may sleep to their chime ; 
 
 But the yeoman must start when the bugles sing, 
 'Tis time, my hearts, 'tis time. 
 
 There's bucks and raes on Bilhope braes, 
 There's a herd in Shortwood Shaw ; 
 
 But a lily white doe in the garden goes, 
 She's fairly worth them a'. 
 
 " Has this fellow," said the Lord Keep- 
 er, when the yeoman's song had died on 
 the wind, " ever served the Ravenswood 
 people, that he seems so much interested 
 in them ? I suppose you know, Lucy, for 
 you make it a point of conscience to record 
 d2
 
 82 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the special history of every boor about the 
 castle." 
 
 " I am not quite so faithful a chronicler, 
 my dear father ; but I believe that Norman 
 once served here while a boy, and before 
 he went to Ledington, whence you hired 
 him. But if you want to know any thing 
 of the former family, Old Alice is the best 
 authority." 
 
 m And what should I have to do with 
 them, pray, Lucy," said her father, " or 
 with their history or accomplishments ?" 
 
 " Nay, I do not know, sir ; only that 
 you were asking questions at Norman about 
 young Ravenswood." 
 
 " Pshaw, child !" — replied her father, yet 
 immediately added, " And who is old 
 Alice ? I think you know all the old wo- 
 men in the country/' 
 
 M To be sure I do, or how could I help 
 the old creatures when they are in hard 
 times? And as to old Alice, she is the 
 very empress of old women, and queen of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEKMOOR. 83 
 
 gossips, so far as legendary lore is concern- 
 ed. She is blind, poor old soul, but when 
 she speaks to you, you would think she has 
 some way of looking into your very heart. 
 I am sure I often cover my face, or turn it 
 away, for it seems as if she saw one change 
 colour, though she has been blind these 
 twenty years. She is worth visiting, were it 
 but to say you have seen a blind and para- 
 lytic old woman have so much acuteness of 
 perception, and dignity of manners. I as- 
 sure you, she might be a countess from her 
 language and behaviour. — Come, you must 
 go to Alice ; we are not a quarter of a 
 mile from her cottage." 
 
 " All this, my dear," said the Lord Keep- 
 er, " is no answer to my question, who this 
 woman is, and what is her connection with 
 the former proprietor's family ?" 
 
 " O, it was something of a nourice-ship, 
 I believe j and she remained here, because 
 her two grandsons were engaged in your 
 service. But it was against her will, I
 
 84 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 fancy ; for the poor old creature is always 
 regretting the change of times and of pro- 
 perty." 
 
 " I am much obliged to her," answered 
 the Lord Keeper. " She and her folks eat 
 my bread and drink my cup, and are la- 
 menting all the while that they are not still 
 under a family which never could do good, 
 either to themselves or any one else." 
 
 u Indeed," replied Lucy, " I am cer- 
 tain you do old Alice injustice. She has 
 nothing mercenary about her, and would 
 not accept a penny in charity, if it were to 
 save her from being starved. She is only 
 talkative, like all old folks* when you put 
 them upon stories of their youth ; and she 
 speaks about the Raven swood people, be- 
 cause she lived under them so many years. 
 But I am sure she is grateful to you, sir, for 
 your protection, and that she would rather 
 speak to you, than to any other person in 
 the whole world beside. Do, sir, come and 
 see old Alice;'
 
 THE BRIDE OF LA-MMERMOOR. 85 
 
 And with the freedom of an indulged 
 daughter, she dragged the Lord Keeper 
 in the direction she desired.
 
 86 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Through tops of the high trees she did descry 
 A little smoke, whose vapour, thin and light, 
 Reeking aloft, uprolled to the sky, 
 Which cheerful sign did send unto her sight, 
 That in the same did wonne some living wight. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 Lucy acted as her father's guide, for he 
 was too much engrossed with his political 
 labours, or with society, to be perfectly ac- 
 quainted with his own extensive domains, 
 and, moreover, was generally an inhabitant 
 of the city of Edinburgh ; and she, on the 
 other hand, had, with her mother, resided 
 the whole summer in Ravenswood, and, 
 partly from taste, partly from want of any 
 other amusement, had, by her frequent ram-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 87 
 
 bles, learned to know each lane, alley, din- 
 gle, or bushy dell, 
 
 " And every bosky bourne from side to side." 
 
 We have said, that the Lord Keeper was 
 not indifferent to the beauties of nature, 
 and we must add, in justice to him, that he 
 felt them doubly, when pointed out by the 
 beautiful, simple, and interesting girl, who, 
 hanging on his arm with filial kindness, now 
 called him to admire the size of some an- 
 cient oak, and now the unexpected turn, 
 where the path developing its maze from 
 glen or dingle, suddenly reached an emi- 
 nence commanding an extensive view of 
 the plains beneath them, and then gradual- 
 ly glided away from the prospect to lose it- 
 self among rocks and thickets, and guide 
 to scenes of deeper seclusion. 
 
 It was when pausing on one of those 
 points of extensive and commanding view, 
 that Lucy told her father they were close
 
 8$ TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 by the cottage of her blind protegee ; and 
 on turning from the little hill, a path which 
 led around it, worn by the daily steps of 
 the infirm inmate, brought them in sight 
 of the hut, which, embosomed in a deep 
 and obscure dell, seemed to have been so 
 situated purposely to bear a correspondence 
 with the darkened state of its inhabitant. 
 
 The cottage was situated immediately 
 under a tall rock, which in some measure 
 beetled over it, as if threatening to drop 
 some detached fragment from its brow on 
 the frail tenement beneath. The hut itself 
 was constructed of turf and stones, and 
 rudely roofed over with thatch, much of 
 which was in a dilapidated condition. The 
 thin blue smoke rose from it in a light co- 
 lumn, and curled upward along the white 
 face of the incumbent rock, giving the scene 
 a tint of exquisite softness. In a small and 
 rude garden, surrounded by straggling el- 
 der bushes, which formed a sort of imper- 
 fect hedge, sat near to the bee-hives, by the
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 89 
 
 produce of which she lived, that " woman 
 old," whom Lucy had brought her father 
 hither to visit. 
 
 Whatever there had been which was dis- 
 astrous in her fortune — whatever there was 
 miserable in her dwelling, it was easy to 
 judge, by the first glance, that neither 
 years, poverty, misfortune, nor infirmity, 
 had broken the spirit of this remarkable 
 woman. 
 
 She occupied a turf-seat, placed under 
 a weeping birch of unusual magnitude and 
 age, as Judah is represented sitting under 
 her palm-tree, with an air at once of majesty 
 and of dejection. Her figure was tall, com- 
 manding, and but little bent by the infirmi- 
 ties of old age. Her dress, though that of a 
 peasant, was remarkably clean, forming in 
 that particular a strong contrast to those of 
 her rank, and was disposed with an attention 
 to neatness, and even to taste, equally unu- 
 sual. But it was her expression of counte- 
 nance which chiefly struck the spectator, and 
 induced most persons to address her with a
 
 90 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 degree of deference and civility very incon- 
 sistent with the miserable state of her dwel- 
 ling ; and which, nevertheless, she received 
 with that easy composure which showed she 
 felt it to be her due. She had once been 
 beautiful, but her beauty had been of a bold 
 and masculine cast, such as does not sur- 
 vive the bloom of youth ; yet her features 
 continued to express strong sense, deep 
 reflection, and a character of sober pride, 
 which, as we have already said of her dress, 
 appeared to argue a conscious superiority to 
 those of her own rank. It scarce seemed 
 possible that a face, deprived of the advan- 
 tage of sight, could have expressed character 
 so strongly -, but her eyes, which were almost 
 totally closed, did not, by the display of their 
 sightless orbs, mar the countenance to which 
 they could add nothing. She seemed in a 
 ruminating posture, soothed, perhaps,by the 
 murmurs of the busy tribe around her, to 
 abstraction, though not to slumber. 
 
 Lucy undid the latch of the little garden
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 91 
 
 gate, and solicited the old woman's atten- 
 tion. M My father, Alice, is come to see 
 you." 
 
 " He is welcome, Miss Ashton, and so 
 are you," said the old woman, turning and 
 inclining her head towards her visitors. 
 
 " This is a fine morning for your bee- 
 hives, mother," said the Lord Keeper, who, 
 struck with the outward appearance of 
 Alice, was somewhat curious to know if 
 her conversation would correspond with it. 
 
 11 I believe so, my lord," she replied ; 
 " I feel the air breathe milder than of 
 late." 
 
 " You do not," resumed the statesman, 
 " take charge of these bees yourself, mo- 
 ther ? — How do you manage them ?" 
 
 " By delegates, as kings do their sub- 
 jects," resumed Alice, " and I am fortunate 
 in a prime minister — Here, Babie." 
 
 She whistled on a small silver call which 
 hung around her neck, and which at that 
 time was sometimes used to summon do- 
 mestics, and Babie, a girl of fifteen, made
 
 92 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 her appearance from the hut, not altogether 
 so cleanly arrayed as she would probably 
 have been had Alice had the use of her 
 eyes, but with a greater air of neatness than 
 was upon the whole to have been expected. 
 " Babie," said her mistress, " offer some 
 bread and honey to the Lord Keeper and 
 Miss Ashton — they will excuse your awk- 
 wardness, if you use cleanliness and de- 
 spatch." 
 
 Babie performed her mistress's com- 
 mand with the grace which was naturally 
 to have been expected, moving to and 
 again in a lobster- like gesture, her feet and 
 legs tending one way, while her head, turn- 
 ed in a different direction, was fixed in 
 wonder upon i :he laird, who was more fre- 
 quently heard of than seen by his tenants 
 and dependents. The bread and honey, 
 however, deposited on a plantain leaf, was 
 offered and accepted in all due courtesy. 
 The Lord Keeper, still keeping the place 
 which he had occupied on the decayed 
 trunk of a fallen tree, looked as if he wish-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMObll. 93 
 
 cd to prolong the interview, but was at a 
 loss how to introduce a suitable subject. 
 
 " You have been long a resident on this 
 property ?" he said, after a pause. 
 
 u It is now nearly sixty years since I 
 first knew Ravenswood," answered the old 
 dame, whose conversation, though perfect- 
 ly civil and respectful, seemed cautiously 
 limited to the unavoidable and necessary 
 task of replying to Sir William. 
 
 " You are not, I should judge by your 
 accent, of this country originally ?" said Sir 
 William in continuation. 
 
 " No ; I am by birth an Englishwoman." 
 
 " Yet you seem attached to this country 
 as if it were your own," 
 
 " It is here," replied the blind woman, 
 w that I have drank the cup of joy and of 
 sorrow which Heaven destined for me — 1 
 was here the wife of an upright and affec- 
 tionate husband for more than twenty years 
 — I was here the mother of six promising 
 children — it was here that God deprived
 
 94 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 me of all these blessings — it was here they 
 died, and yonder, by yon ruined chape), 
 they lie all buried — I had no country but 
 theirs while they lived — I have none but 
 theirs now they are no more." 
 
 Ci But your house," said the Lord Keep- 
 er, looking at it, " is miserably ruinous ?' 
 
 " Do, my dear father," said Lucy, eager- 
 ly, yet bashfully, catching at the hint, 
 " give orders to make it better, — that is, if 
 you think it proper." 
 
 " It will last my time, my dear Miss 
 Lucy," said the blind woman ; " I would 
 not have my lord give himself the least 
 trouble about it." 
 
 " But," said Lucy, " you once had a 
 much better house, and were rich, and now 
 in your old age to live in this hovel !" 
 
 " It is as good as 1 deserve, Miss Lucy ; 
 if my heart has not broke with what I have 
 suffered, and seen others suffer, it must 
 have been strong enough, and the rest of 
 this old frame has no right to call itself 
 weaker." 
 
 6
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMER.MOOR. 95 
 
 " You have probably witnessed many 
 changes," said the Lord Keeper ; * but 
 your experience must have taught you to 
 expect them." 
 
 " It has taught me to endure them, my 
 lord," was the reply. 
 
 " Yet you knew that they must needs 
 arrive in the course of years ?" said the 
 statesman. 
 
 " Ay ; as I know that the stump, on or 
 beside which you sit, once a tall and lofty 
 tree, must needs one day fall by decay, or 
 by the axe ; yet I hoped my eyes might not 
 witness the downfall of the tree which over- 
 shadowed my dwelling." 
 
 " Do not suppose," said the Lord Keep- 
 er, " that you will lose any interest with 
 me, for looking back with regret to the 
 days when another family possessed my 
 , estates. You had reason, doubtless, to love 
 them, and I respect your gratitude. I wiH 
 order some repairs in your cottage, and I 
 hope we shall live to be friends when we 
 know each other better."
 
 96 TALES OF MY LANDLORD 
 
 " Those of my age," returned the dame, 
 " make no new friends. I thank you for 
 your bounty— it is well intended undoubt- 
 edly ; but I have all I want, and I cannot 
 accept more at your lordship's hands." 
 
 " Well then," continued the Lord Keep- 
 er, " at least allow me to say, that I look 
 upon you as a woman of sense and educa- 
 tion beyond your appearance, and that I 
 hope you will continue to reside on this 
 property of mine rent-free for vour life." 
 
 " I hope I shall," said the old dame, 
 composedly ; " 1 believe that was made an 
 article in the sale of Ravenswood to your 
 lordship, though such a trifling circum- 
 stance may have escaped your recollec- 
 tion." 
 
 " I remember^-I recollect," said his 
 lordship, somewhat confused. " J per- 
 ceive you are too much attached to your 
 old friends to accept any benefit from their 
 successor." 
 
 "" Far from it, my lord > I am grateful
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 97 
 
 for the benefits which I decline, and I wish 
 I could pay you for offering them better 
 than what I am now about to say." The 
 Lord Keeper looked at her in some sur- 
 prise, but said not a word. " My lord," 
 she continued, in an impressive and so- 
 lemn tone, " take care what you do ; you 
 are on the brink of a precipice." 
 
 " Indeed?" said the Lord Keeper, his 
 mind reverting to the political circumstan- 
 ces of the country ; " Has any thing come 
 to your knowledge — any plot or conspi- 
 racy ?" 
 
 " No, my lord \ those who traffic in 
 such commodities do not call into their 
 councils the old, blind, and infirm. My 
 warning is of another kind. You have dri- 
 ven matters hard with the house of Ra- 
 venswood. Believe a true tale — they are a 
 fierce house, and there is danger in dealing 
 with men when they become desperate." 
 
 u Tush," answered the Keeper ; " what 
 has been between us has been the work of 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 98 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the law, not my doing ; and to the law they 
 must look, if they would impugn my pro- 
 ceedings." 
 
 " Ay, but they may think otherwise, and 
 take the law into their own hand, when they 
 fail of other means of redress." 
 
 " What mean you ?" said the Lord 
 Keeper. " Young Ravenswood would not 
 have recourse to personal violence ?" 
 
 " God forbid I should say so ; I know 
 nothing of the youth but what is honour- 
 able and open — honourable and open, said 
 I ? — I should have added, free, generous, 
 noble. But he is still a Ravenswood, and 
 may bide his time. Remember the fate of 
 Sir George Lockhart."* 
 
 * President of the Court of Session. He was pistol- 
 led in the High Street of Edinburgh, by John Chiesley, 
 of Dairy, in the year J 689. The revenge of this des- 
 perate man was stimulated by an opinion that he had 
 sustained injustice in a decreet-arbitral pronounced by 
 the President, assigning an alimentary provision of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 99 
 
 The Lord Keeper started as she called 
 to his recollection a tragedy so deep and 
 
 about 951. in favour of his wife and children. He is 
 said at first to have designed to shoot the judge while 
 attending upon divine worship, but was diverted by 
 some feeling concerning the sanctity of the place. Af- 
 ter the congregation was dismissed, he dogged his vic- 
 tim as far as the head of the close on the south side of 
 the Lawnmarket, in which the President's house was si- 
 tuated, and shot him dead as he was about to enter it. 
 This act was done in the presence of numerous specta- 
 tors. The assassin made no attempt to fly, but boasted 
 of the deed, saying, " I have taught the President how 
 to do justice." He had at least given him fair warning, 
 as Jack Cade says on a similar occasion. The mur- 
 derer, after undergoing the torture, by a special act of 
 the Estates of Parliament, was tried before the Lord 
 Provost of Edinburgh, as high sheriff, and condemned 
 to be dragged on a hurdle to the place of execution, to 
 have his right hand struck off while he yet lived, and 
 finally, to be hung on the gallows with the pistol where- 
 with he shot the President tied round his neck. This ex- 
 ecution took place on the 3d April, 1689; and the inci- 
 dent was long remembered as a dreadful instance of 
 what the law books call the perfervidum genium Scoio* 
 rum.
 
 100 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 so recent. The old woman proceeded, 
 <c Chiesley, who did the deed, was a rela- 
 tive of Lord Ravenswood. In the hall 
 of Ravenswood, in my presence, and in 
 that of others, he avowed publicly his 
 determination to do the cruelty which he 
 afterwards committed. I could not keep 
 silence, though to speak it ill became my 
 station. ■ You are devising a dreadful 
 crime,' I said, * for which you must reckon 
 before the judgment-seat.^ Never shall I for- 
 get his look, as he replied, « I must reckon 
 then for many things, and will reckon for 
 this also.' Therefore I may well say beware 
 of pressing a desperate man with the hand 
 of authority. There is blood of Chiesley in 
 the veins of Ravenswood, arid one drop of 
 it were enough to fire him in the circum- 
 stances in which he is placed — I say be- 
 ware of him." 
 
 The old dame had, either intentionally 
 or by accident, harped aright the fear of 
 the Lord Keeper, The desperate and dark
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR* 101 
 
 resource of private assassination, so fami- 
 liar to a Scottish baron in former times, 
 had even in the present age been too fre- 
 quently resorted to under the pressure of 
 unusual temptation, or where the mind of 
 the actor was prepared for such a crime. 
 Sir William Ash ton was aware of this ; 
 as also that young Ravenswood had re- 
 ceived injuries sufficient to prompt him 
 to that sort of revenge, which becomes a 
 frequent though fearful consequence of 
 the partial administration of justice. He 
 endeavoured to disguise from Alice the 
 nature of the apprehensions which he en- 
 tertained, but so ineffectually, that a per 
 son even of less penetration than nature 
 had endowed her with must necessarily 
 have been aware that the subject lay near 
 his bosom. His voice was changed in its 
 accent as he replied to her, that the Master 
 of Ravenswood was a man of honour; and, 
 were it otherwise, that the fate of Chiesley 
 of Dairy was a sufficient warning to any 
 one who should dare to assume the office
 
 102 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 of avenger of his own imaginary wrongs. 
 And having hastily uttered those expres- 
 sions, he rose and left the place without 
 waiting for a reply*
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOit. 103 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Is she a Capulet ? 
 
 O dear account ! my life is my foe's debt. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 The Lord Keeper walked for nearly a 
 quart€r of a mile in profound silence. His 
 daughter, naturally timid and bred up in 
 those ideas of filial awe and implicit obe- 
 dience which were inculcated upon the 
 youth of that period, did not venture to 
 interrupt his meditations. 
 
 " Why do you look so pale, Lucy ?" 
 said her father, turning suddenly round 
 and breaking silence. 
 
 According to the ideas of the time, which 
 did not permit a young woman to offer her 
 sentiments on any subject of importance 
 unless especially required to do so, Lucy
 
 104 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 was bound to appear ignorant of the mean* 
 ing of all that had passed betwixt Alice 
 and her father, and imputed the emotion 
 he had observed to the fear of the wild 
 cattle which grazed in that part of the ex- 
 tensive chase through which they were 
 now walking. 
 
 Of these animals, the descendants of the 
 savage herds which anciently roamed free 
 in the Caledonian forests, it was formerly 
 a point of state to preserve a few in the 
 parks of the Scottish nobility. Specimens 
 continued within the memory of man to 
 be kept at least at three houses of dis- 
 tinction, Hamilton namely, Drumlanrick, 
 and Cumbernauld. They had degenerated 
 from the ancient race in size and strength, 
 if we are to judge from the accounts of 
 old chronicles, and from the formidable 
 remains frequently discovered in bogs and 
 morasses when drained and laid open. The 
 bull had lost the shaggy honours of his 
 mane, and the race was small and light-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 105 
 
 made, in colour a dingy white, or rather a 
 pale yellow, with black horns and hoofs. 
 They retained, however, in some measure, 
 the ferocity of their ancestry, could not be 
 domesticated on account of their antipathy 
 to the human race, and were often danger- 
 ous if approached unguardedly, or wanton- 
 ly disturbed. It was this last reason which 
 has occasioned their being extirpated at 
 the places we have mentioned, where pro- 
 bably they would otherwise have been re- 
 tained as appropriate inhabitants of a Scot- 
 tish woodland, and fit tenants for a baronial 
 forest A few, if I mistake not, are still 
 preserved at Chillingham Castle, in North- 
 umberland, the seat of the Earl of Tanker- 
 ville. 
 
 It was to her finding herself in the vici- 
 nity of a group of three or four of these 
 animals, that Lucy thought proper to im- 
 pute those signs of fear, which had arisen 
 in her countenance for a different reason. 
 For she had been familiarized with the ap- 
 e 2
 
 106 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 pearance of the wild cattle, during her 
 walks in the chace ; and it was not then, 
 as now, a necessary part of a young lady's 
 education, to indulge in causeless tremors 
 of the nerves. On the present occasion, 
 however, she speedily found cause for real 
 terror. 
 
 Lucy had scarcely replied to her father 
 in the words we have mentioned, and he 
 was just about to rebuke her supposed ti- 
 midity, when a bull, stimulated either by 
 the scarlet colour of Miss Ashton's man- 
 tle, or by one of those fits of capricious 
 ferocity to which their dispositions are 
 liable, detached himself suddenly from the 
 group which was feeding at the upper ex- 
 tremity of a grassy glade, that seemed to 
 lose itself among the crossing and entan- 
 gled boughs. The animal approached the 
 intruders on his pasture ground, at first 
 slowly, pawing the ground with his hoof, 
 bellowing from time to time, and tearing 
 up the sand with his horns, as if to lash 
 himself up to rage and violence.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM0OR. 107 
 
 The Lord Keeper, who observed the ani- 
 mal's demeanour, was aware that he was 
 about to become mischievous, and, draw- 
 ing his daughter's arm under his own, be- 
 gan to walk fast along the avenue, in hopes 
 to get out of his sight and his reach. This 
 was the most injudicious course he could 
 have adopted, for, encouraged by the ap- 
 pearance of flight, the bull began to pursue 
 them at full speed. Assailed by a danger 
 so imminent, firmer courage than that of 
 the Lord Keeper might have given way. 
 But paternal tenderness, " love strong as 
 death," supported him. He continued to 
 support and drag onward his daughter, un- 
 til, her fears altogether depriving her of the 
 power of flight, she sunk down by his side ; 
 and when he could no longer assist her to 
 escape, he turned round and placed him- 
 self betwixt her and the raging animal, 
 which advancing in full career, its brutal 
 fury enhanced by the rapidity of the pur- 
 suit, was now within a few yards of them. 
 The Lord Keeper had no weapons $ his
 
 108 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 age and gravity dispensed even with the 
 usual appendage of a walking sword,— 
 could such appendage have availed him 
 any thing. 
 
 It seemed inevitable that the father or 
 daughter, or both, should have fallen vic- 
 tims to the impending danger, when a shot 
 from the neighbouring thicket arrested 
 the progress of the animal. He was so 
 truly struck between the junction of the 
 spine with the skull, that the wound, which 
 in any other part of his body might scarce 
 have impeded his career, proved instantly 
 fatal. Stumbling forward with a hideous 
 bellow, the progressive force of his previous 
 motion, rather than any operation of his 
 limbs, carried him up to within three yards 
 of the astonished Lord Keeper, where he 
 rolled on the ground, his limbs darkened 
 with the black death-sweat, and quivering 
 with the last convulsions of muscular mo- 
 tion. 
 
 Lucy lay senseless on the ground, insen- 
 sible of the wonderful deliverance which
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM00R. 109 
 
 she had experienced. Her father was al- 
 most equally stupified, so rapid and so un- 
 expected had been the transition from 
 the horrid death which seemed inevitable, 
 to perfect security. He gazed on the ani- 
 mal, terrible even in death, with a species 
 of mute and confused astonishment, which 
 did not permit him distinctly to under- 
 stand what had taken place ; and so inac- 
 curate was his consciousness of what had 
 passed, that he might have supposed the 
 bull had been arrested in its career by a 
 thunderbolt, had he not observed among 
 the branches of the thicket the figure of a 
 man, with a short gun or musquetoon in 
 his hand. 
 
 This instantly recalled him to a sense of' 
 their situation — a glance at his daughter 
 reminded him of the necessity of procu- 
 ring her assistance. He called to the man, 
 whom he concluded to be one of his fo- 
 resters, to give immediate attention to Miss 
 Ashton, while he himself hastened to call 
 assistance. The huntsman approached
 
 110 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 them accordingly, and the Lord Keeper 
 saw he was a stranger, but was too much 
 agitated to make any farther remarks. In a 
 few hurried words, he directed the shooter, 
 as stronger and more active than himself, 
 to carry the young lady to a neighbouring 
 fountain, while he went back to Alice's hut 
 to procure more aid. 
 
 The man to whose timely interference 
 they had been so much indebted, did not 
 seem inclined to leave his good work half 
 finished. He raised Lucy from the ground 
 in his arms, and conveying her through 
 the glades of the forest by paths with 
 which he seemed well acquainted, stopped 
 not until he laid her in safety by the side 
 of a plentiful and pellucid fountain, which 
 had been once covered in, screened and 
 decorated with architectural ornaments of 
 a Gothic character. But now the vault 
 which had covered it being broken down 
 and riven, and the Gothic front ruined and 
 demolished, the stream burst forth from the 
 recess of the earth in open day, and wind-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. Ill 
 
 ed its way among the broken sculpture 
 and moss-grown stones which lay in confu- 
 sion around its source. 
 
 Tradition, always busy, at least in Scot- 
 land, to grace with a legendary tale a spot 
 in itself interesting, had ascribed a cause 
 of peculiar veneration to this fountain. A 
 beautiful young lady met one of the Lords 
 of Ravenswood while hunting near this spot, 
 and, like a second Egeria, had captivated the 
 affections of the feudal Numa. They met 
 frequently afterwards, and always at sun- 
 set, the charms of the nymph's mind com- 
 pleting the conquest which her beauty had 
 begun, and the mystery of the intrigue 
 adding zest to both. She always appeared 
 and disappeared close by the fountain, with 
 which, therefore, her lover judged she had 
 some inexplicable connection. She placed 
 certain restrictions on their intercourse, 
 which also savoured of mystery. They met 
 only once a week, Friday was the appointed 
 day, and she explained to the Lord of Ra- 
 venswood, that they were under the neces-
 
 112 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 sity of separating so soon as the bell of a 
 chapel, belonging to a hermitage in the 
 adjoining wood, now long ruinous, tolled 
 the hour of vespers. In the course of his 
 confession, the Baron of Ravenswood en- 
 trusted the hermit with the secret of this 
 singular amour, and Father Zachary drew 
 the necessary and obvious consequence, 
 that his patron was enveloped in the toils 
 of Satan, and in danger of destruction 
 both to body and soul. He urged these 
 perils to the Baron with all the force of 
 monkish rhetoric, and described, in the 
 most frightful colours, the real character 
 and person of the apparently lovely Naiad, 
 whom he hesitated not to denounce as a 
 limb of the kingdom of darkness. The 
 lover listened with obstinate incredulity ; 
 and it was not until worn out by the ob- 
 stinacy of the anchoret, that he consented 
 to put the state and condition of his mis- 
 tress to a certain trial, and for that pur- 
 pose acquiesced in Zacbary's proposal, 
 that on their next interview the vespeTS
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 113 
 
 bell should be rung half an hour later 
 than usual. The hermit maintained and 
 bucklered his opinion, by quotations from 
 Malleus Malefic arum, Sprengerus, Remi* 
 gius, and other learned daemon ologists, 
 that the Evil One, thus seduced to remain 
 behind the appointed hour, would assume 
 her true shape, and having appeared to 
 her terrified lover as a fiend of hell, would 
 vanish from him in a flash of sulphureous 
 lightning. Raymond of Ravenswood ac- 
 quiesced in the experiment, not incurious 
 concerning the issue, though confident it 
 would disappoint the expectations of the 
 hermit. 
 
 On the appointed hour the lovers met, 
 and their interview was protracted beyond 
 that at which they usually parted, by the 
 delay of the priest to ring his usual curfew, 
 No change took place upon the nymph's 
 outward form ; but as soon as the lengthen- 
 ing shadows made her aware that the usual 
 hour of the vesper chime was passed, she 
 tore herself from her lover's arms with a
 
 114 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 shriek of despair, bid him adieu for ever, 
 and plunging into the fountain, disappear- 
 ed from his eyes. The bubbles occasioned 
 by her descent were crimsoned with blood 
 as they arose, leading the distracted Baron 
 to infer, that his ill-judged curiosity had 
 occasioned the death of this interesting 
 and mysterious being. The remorse which 
 he felt, as well as the recollection of her 
 charms, proved the penance of his future 
 life, which he lost in the battle of Flodden 
 not many months after. But, in memory 
 of his Naiad, he had previously ornament- 
 ed the fountain in which she appeared to 
 reside, and secured its waters from profa- 
 nation or pollution, by the small vaulted 
 building of which the fragments still re- 
 mained scattered around it. From this 
 period the house of Ravenswood was sup- 
 posed to have dated its decay. 
 
 Such was the generally received legend, 
 which some, who would seem wiser than the 
 vulgar, explained, as obscurely intimating 
 the fate of a beautiful maid of plebeian rank,
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMER2IOOR. 115 
 
 the mistress of this Raymond, whom he 
 slew in a fit of jealousy, and whose blood was 
 mingled with the waters of the locked foun- 
 tain, as it was commonly called. Others 
 imagined that the tale had a more remote 
 origin in the ancient heathen mythology. 
 All however agreed, that the spot was fa- 
 tal to the Ravenswood family ; and that to 
 drink of the waters of the well, or even 
 approach its brink, was as ominous to a 
 descendant of that house, as for a Grahame 
 to wear green, a Bruce to kill a spider, or 
 a St Clair to cross the Ord on a Monday. 
 
 It was on this ominous spot that Lucy 
 Ashton first drew breath after her long and 
 almost deadly swoon. Beautiful and pale 
 as the fabulous Naiad in the last agony of 
 separation from her lover, she was seated 
 so as to rest with her back against a part 
 of the ruined wall, while her mantle, drip- 
 ping with the water which her protector 
 had used profusely to recal her senses, 
 clung to her slender and beautifully pro- 
 portioned form.
 
 116 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 The first moment of recollection brought 
 to her mind the danger which had over- 
 powered her senses — the next called to re- 
 membrance that of her father. She looked 
 around — he was no where to be seen — 
 " My father — my father !" was all that she 
 could ejaculate. 
 
 " Sir William is safe," answered the voice 
 of a stranger-^" perfectly safe, and will be 
 with you instantly." 
 
 " Are you sure of that?" exclaimed 
 Lucy — " the bull was close by us — do not 
 stop me — I must go to seek my father." 
 
 And she arose with that purpose ; but 
 her strength was so much exhausted, that, 
 far from possessing the power to execute 
 her purpose, she must have fallen against 
 the stone on which she had leant, probably 
 not without sustaining serious injury. 
 
 The stranger was so near to her, that, 
 without actually suffering her to fall, he 
 could not avoid catching her in his arms, 
 which, however, he did with a momentary 
 reluctance, very unusual when youth inter.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 117 
 
 poses to prevent beauty from danger. It 
 seemed as if her weight, slight as it was, 
 proved too heavy for her young and athle- 
 tic assistant, for, without feeling the temp- 
 tation of detaining her in his arms even for 
 a single instant, he again placed her on the 
 stone from which she had risen, and retreat- 
 ing a few steps, repeated hastily, " Sir Wil- 
 liam Ashton is perfectly safe, and will be 
 here instantly. Do not make yourself anxi- 
 ous on his account — Fate has singularly pre- 
 served him — You, madam, are exhausted, 
 and must not think of rising until you have 
 some assistance more suitable than mine." 
 Lucy, whose senses were by this time 
 more effectually collected, was naturally 
 led to look at the stranger with attention. 
 There was nothing in his appearance which 
 should have rendered him unwilling to offer 
 his arm to a young lady who required sup- 
 port, or which could have induced her to re- 
 fuse his assistance ; and she could not help 
 thinking, even in that moment, that he 
 
 seemed cold and reluctant to offer it. A 
 8
 
 118 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 shooting- dress of dark cloth, intimated the 
 rank of the wearer, though concealed in 
 part by a large and loose cloak of a dark 
 brown colour. A Montero cap, and a 
 black feather drooped over the wearer's 
 brow, and partly concealed his features, 
 which, so far as seen, were dark, regular, 
 and full of majestic, though somewhat sul- 
 len, expression. Some secret sorrow, or the 
 brooding spirit of some moody passion, had 
 quenched the light and ingenuous viva- 
 city of youth in a countenance singularly 
 fitted to display both, and it was not easy 
 to gaze on the stranger without a secret 
 impression either of pity or awe, or at least 
 of doubt and curiosity allied to both. 
 
 The impression which we have necessa- 
 rily been long in describing, Lucy felt in 
 the glance of a moment, and had no sooner 
 encountered the keen black eyes of the 
 stranger, than her own were bent on the 
 ground with a mixture of bashful embar- 
 rassment and fear. Yet there was a neces- 
 sity to speak, or at least she thought so, and 
 l
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 119 
 
 in a fluttered accent she began to mention 
 her wonderful escape, in which she was 
 sure that the stranger must, under Heaven, 
 have been her father's protector, and her 
 own. 
 
 He seemed to shrink from her expres- 
 sions of gratitude, while he replied abrupt- 
 ly, <c I leave you, madam ;" the deep me- 
 lody of his voice rendered powerful, but 
 not harsh, by something like a severity of 
 tone — " I leave you to the protection of 
 those to whom it is possible you may have 
 been this day a guardian angel." 
 
 Lucy was surprised at the ambiguity of 
 his language, and, with a feeling of artless 
 and unaffected gratitude, began to depre- 
 cate the idea of having intended to give her 
 deliverer any offence, as if such a thing had 
 been possible. " I have been unfortunate," 
 she said, " in endeavouring to express my 
 thanks — I am sure it must be so, though I 
 cannot recollect what I said — but would 
 you but stay till my father — till the Lord 
 Keeper comes — would you only permit him
 
 120 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to pay you his thanks, and to enquire your 
 name ?" 
 
 " My name is unnecessary," answered 
 the stranger ; M your father — I would ra- 
 ther say Sir William Ashton — will learn it 
 soon enough, for all the pleasure it is like- 
 ly to afford him." 
 
 " You mistake him," said Lucy earnest- 
 ly - 9 " he will be grateful for my sake and 
 for his own. You do not know my father, 
 or you are deceiving me with a story of his 
 safety, when he has already fallen a victim 
 to the fury of that animal." 
 
 When she had caught this idea, she start- 
 ed from the ground, and endeavoured to 
 press towards the avenue in which the ac- 
 cident had taken place, while the stranger, 
 though he seemed to hesitate between the 
 desire to assist and the wish to leave her, 
 was obliged, in common humanity, to op- 
 pose her both by entreaty and action. 
 
 " On the word of a gentleman, madam, 
 I tell you the truth j your father is in per- 
 fect safety j you will expose yourself to in
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERIIOOR. 121 
 
 jury if you venture back where the herd of 
 wild cattle grazed — If you will go" — for, 
 having once adopted the idea that her fa- 
 ther was still in danger, she pressed for- 
 ward in spite of him — M if you will go, ac- 
 cept my arm, though I am not perhaps the 
 person who can with most propriety offer 
 you support." 
 
 But, without heeding this intimation, 
 Lucy took him at his word. " O if you be 
 a man," she said, — " if you be a gentleman, 
 assist me to find my father — You shall not 
 leave me — you must go with me — he is dy- 
 ing perhaps while we are talking here." 
 
 Then, without listening to excuse or 
 apology, and holding fast by the stranger's 
 arm, though unconscious of any thing save 
 the support which it gave, and without 
 which she could not have moved, mixed 
 with a vague feeling of preventing his 
 escape from her, she was urging, and al- 
 most dragging him forward, when Sir Wil- 
 liam Ashton came up, followed by the 
 
 VOL, I. F
 
 122 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 female attendant of blind Alice, and by 
 two wood cutters, whom he had summon- 
 ed from their occupation to his assistance. 
 His joy at seeing his daughter safe, over- 
 came the surprise with which he would at 
 another time have beheld her hanging as 
 familiarly on the arm of a stranger, as she 
 might have done upon his own. 
 
 '• Lucy, my dear Lucy, are you safe ? — 
 are you well ?" were the only words that 
 broke from him as he embraced her in ec- 
 stacy. 
 
 ** I am well, sir, thank God, and still 
 more that I see you so ; — but this gentle- 
 man," she said, quitting his arm, and shrink- 
 ing from him, <c what must he think of 
 me ?" and her eloquent blood, flushing over 
 neck and brow, spoke how much she was 
 ashamed of the freedom with which she 
 had craved, and even compelled his assist- 
 ance, 
 
 " This gentleman," said Sir William Ash- 
 ton, " will, I trust, not regret the trouble
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 123 
 
 we have given him, when I assure him of 
 the gratitude of the Lord Keeper for the 
 greatest service which one man ever ren- 
 dered to another — for the life of my child 
 — for my own life, which he has saved by 
 his bravery and presence of mind. He 
 will, I am sure, permit us to request — " 
 
 " Request nothing of me, my lord," 
 said the stranger, in a stern and peremp- 
 tory tone ; "lam the Master of Ravens* 
 wood." 
 
 There was a dead pause of surprise, not 
 unmixed with less pleasing feelings. The 
 Master wrapt himself in his cloak, made a 
 haughty inclination towards Lucy, mutter- 
 ing a few words of courtesy, as indistinctly 
 heard as they seemed to be reluctantly ut- 
 tered, and turning from them was immedi- 
 ately lost in the thicket. 
 
 u The Master of Ravenswood !" said the 
 Lord Keeper, when he had recovered his 
 momentary astonishment. " Hasten after 
 him — stop him — beg him to speak to me 
 for a single moment."
 
 124 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 The two foresters accordingly set off in 
 pursuit of the stranger. They speedily re- 
 turned, and, in an embarrassed and awk- 
 ward manner, said the gentleman would 
 not return. The Lord Keeper took one 
 of the fellows aside, and questioned him 
 more closely what the Master of Ravens- 
 wood had said. 
 
 " He just said he wadna come back," 
 said the man, with the caution of a prudent 
 Scotchman, who cared not to be the bearer 
 of an unpleasant errand. 
 
 " He said something more, sir," said the 
 Lord Keeper, " and I insist on knowing 
 what it was." 
 
 " Why, then, my lord," said the man, 
 looking down, " he said — but it wad be 
 nae pleasure to your lordship to hear 
 it, for I dare say the Master meant nae 
 ill." 
 
 " That's none of your concern, sir ; I 
 desire to hear the very words." 
 
 * Weel then," replied the man, " he 
 said, tell Sir William Ashton, that the next
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMER?,IOOR. 125 
 
 time he and I forgather, he will not be half 
 sae blythe of our meeting as of our parting." 
 
 " Very well, sir," said the Lord Keeper, 
 " I believe he alludes to a wager we have 
 on our hawks — it is a matter of no conse- 
 quence." 
 
 He turned to his daughter, who was by 
 this time so much recovered as to be able 
 to walk home. But the effect which the 
 various recollections, connected with a 
 scene so terrific, made upon a mind which 
 was susceptible in an extreme degree, was 
 more permanent than the injury which her 
 nerves had sustained. Visions of terror, 
 both in sleep and in waking, reveries, re- 
 called to her the form of the furious animal, 
 and the dreadful bellow with which he ac- 
 companied his career; and it was always 
 the image of the Master of Ravenswood, 
 with his native nobleness of countenance 
 and form, that seemed to interpose be- 
 twixt her and assured death. It is, per- 
 haps, at all times dangerous for a young
 
 126 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 person to suffer recollection to dwell repeat- 
 edly, and with too much complacence, on 
 the same individual ; but in Lucy's situa- 
 tion it was almost unavoidable. She had 
 never happened to see a young man of 
 mien and features so romantic and so stri- 
 king as young Ravenswood ; but had she 
 seen an hundred his equals or his superiors 
 in those particulars, no one else could have 
 been linked to her heart by the strong as- 
 sociations of remembered danger and es- 
 cape, of gratitude, wonder, and curiosity. 
 I say curiosity, for it is likely that the sin- 
 gularly restrained and unaccommodating 
 manners of the Master of Ravenswood, so 
 much at variance with the natural expres- 
 sion of his features and grace of his deport- 
 ment, as they excited wonder by the con- 
 trast, had their effect in rivetting her at- 
 tention to the recollection. She knew lit- 
 tle of Ravenswood, or the disputes which 
 had existed betwixt her father and his, and 
 perhaps could in her gentleness of mind 
 hardly have comprehended the angry and
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 127 
 
 bitter passions which they had engendered. 
 But she knew that he was come of noble 
 stem ; was poor, though descended from the 
 noble and the wealthy ; and she felt that she 
 could sympathize with the feelings of a 
 proud mind, which urged him to recoil 
 from the proffered gratitude of the new 
 proprietors of his father's house and do- 
 mains. Would he have equally shunned 
 their acknowledgments and avoided their 
 intimacy, had her father's request been 
 urged more mildly, less abruptly, and 
 softened with the grace which women so 
 well know how to throw into their man- 
 ner, when they mean to mediate betwixt 
 the headlong passions of the ruder sex ? 
 This was a perilous question to ask her 
 own mind — perilous both in the idea and 
 in its consequences. 
 
 Lucy Ash ton, in short, was involved in 
 those mazes of the imagination which are 
 most dangerous to the young and the sen- 
 sitive. Time, it is true, absence, change 
 of place and of face, might probably have
 
 128 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 destroyed the illusion in her instance as it 
 has done in many others ; but her residence 
 remained solitary, and her mind without 
 those means of dissipating her pleasing vi- 
 sions, This solitude was chiefly owing to 
 the absence of Lady Ashton, who was at 
 this time in Edinburgh, watching the pro- 
 gress of some state-intrigue ; the Lord 
 Keeper only received society out of policy 
 or ostentation, and was by nature rather re- 
 served and unsociable ; and thus no cavalier 
 appeared to rival or to obscure the ideal pic- 
 ture of chivalrous excellence which Lucy 
 had pictured to herself in the Master of 
 Ravenswood. 
 
 While Lucy indulged in these dreams, 
 she made frequent visits to old blind Alice, 
 hoping it would be easy to lead her to talk 
 on the subject, which at present she had 
 imprudently admitted to occupy so large 
 a portion of her thoughts. But Alice did 
 not in this particular gratify her w r ishes 
 and expectations. She spoke readily, and 
 with pathetic feeling, concerning the fa-
 
 THE BIUDE OF LAM.AIERMOOR. 199 
 
 mily in general, but seemed to observe 
 an especial and cautious silence on the 
 subject of the present representative. The 
 little she said of him was not altogether 
 so favourable as Lucy had anticipated. She 
 hinted that he was of a stern and unforgi- 
 ving character, more ready to resent than 
 to pardon injuries ; and Lucy combined 
 with great alarm the hints which she now 
 dropped of these dangerous qualities, with 
 Alice's advice to her father, so emphatical* 
 ly given, " to beware of Ravenswood." 
 
 But that very Ravenswood, of whom such 
 unjust suspicions had been entertained, 
 had, almost immediately after they had 
 been uttered, confuted them by saving at 
 once her father's life and her ov/n. Had 
 he nourished such black revenge as Alice's 
 dark hints seemed to indicate, no deed of 
 active guilt was necessary to the full grati- 
 fication of that evil passion. He needed 
 but to have withheld for an instant his in- 
 dispensable and effective assistance, and the 
 object of his resentment must have perish-
 
 130 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ed, without any direct aggression on his 
 part, by a death equally fearful and cer- 
 tain. She conceived, therefote, that some 
 secret prejudice, or the suspicions incident 
 to age and misfortune, had led Alice to form 
 conclusions injurious to the character, and 
 irreconcileable both with the generous con- 
 duct and noble features of the Master of 
 Raven swood. And in this belief Lucy 
 reposed her hope, and went on weaving 
 her enchanted web of fairy tissue,- as beau- 
 tiful and transient as the film of the gossa- 
 mer, when it is pearled with the morn- 
 ing dew, and glimmering to the morning 
 sun. 
 
 Her father, in the meanwhile, as well as 
 the Master of Ravenswood, were making 
 reflections, as frequent, though more solid 
 than those of Lucy, upon the singular event 
 which had taken place. His first task, when 
 he returned home, was to ascertain by me- 
 dical assistance that his daughter had sus- 
 tained no injury from the dangerous and 
 alarming situation in which she had been
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 131 
 
 placed. Satisfied on this topic, he proceed- 
 ed to revise the memoranda which he had 
 taken down from the mouth of the person 
 employed to interrupt the funeral service 
 of the late Lord Ravenswood. Bred to ca- 
 suistry, and well accustomed to practise the 
 ambi- dexter ingenuity of the bar, it cost him 
 little trouble to soften the features of the tu- 
 mult which he had been at first so anxious to 
 exaggerate. He preached to his colleagues 
 of the privy council the necessity of using 
 conciliating measures with young men whose 
 blood and temper were hot, and their expe- 
 rience of life limited. He did not hesitate 
 to attribute some censure to the conduct of 
 the officer, as having been unnecessarily ir- 
 ritating. 
 
 These were the contents of his public 
 dispatches. The letters which he wrote to 
 those private friends into whose manage- 
 ment the matter was like to fall, were of a 
 yet more favourable tenor. He represent- 
 ed that lenity in this case would be equally 
 politic and popular, whereas, considering 
 3
 
 132 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the high respect with which the rites of in- 
 terment are regarded in Scotland, any se- 
 verity exercised against the Master of Ra- 
 venswood for protecting those of his father 
 from interruption, would be on all sides 
 most unfavourably construed. And, final- 
 ly, assuming the language of a generous 
 and high-spirited man, he made it his par- 
 ticular request that this affair should be 
 passed over without severe notice. He al- 
 luded with delicacy to the predicament in 
 which he himself stood with young Ravens- 
 wood, as having succeeded in the long train 
 of litigation by which the fortunes of that 
 noble house had been so much reduced, 
 and confessed it would be most peculiarly 
 acceptable to his own feelings, could he 
 find means in some sort to counterbalance 
 the disadvantages which he had occasioned 
 the family, though only in the prosecution 
 of his just and lawful rights. He therefore 
 made it his particular and personal request 
 that the matter should have no further con- 
 sequences, and insinuated a desire that he
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 133 
 
 himself should have the merit of having put 
 a stop to it by his favourable report and in- 
 tercession. It was particularly remarkable, 
 that, contrary to his uniform practice, he 
 made no special communication to Lady 
 Ashton upon the subject of the tumult ; 
 and although he mentioned the alarm which 
 Lucy had received from one of the wild 
 cattle, yet he gave no detailed account of 
 an incident so interesting and terrible. 
 
 There was much surprise among Sir Wil- 
 liam Ashton's political friends and colleagues 
 on receiving letters of a tenor so unexpect- 
 ed. On comparing notes together, one 
 smiled, one put up his eye-brows, a third 
 nodded acquiescence in the general won- 
 der, and a fourth asked, if they were sure 
 these were all the letters the Lord Keeper 
 had written on the subject. M It runs 
 strangely in my mind, my lords, that none 
 of these advices contain the root of the 
 matter." 
 
 But no secret letters of a contrary nature 
 had been received, although the question
 
 134 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 seemed to imply the possibility of their ex- 
 istence. 
 
 " Well," said an old grey-headed states- 
 man, who had contrived, by shifting and 
 trimming, to maintain his post at the steer- 
 age through all the changes of course which 
 the vessel had held for thirty years, " I 
 thought Sir William would hae verified the 
 auld Scottish saying, * as soon comes the 
 lamb's skin to market as the auld tup's.'" 
 
 * We must please him after his own fa- 
 shion," said another, " though it be an un- 
 looked-for one." 
 
 * A wilful man maun hae his way," an- 
 swered the old counsellor. 
 
 " The Keeper will rue this before year 
 and day are out," said a third $ " the Mas- 
 ter of Ravenswood is the lad to wind him a 
 pirn." 
 
 " Why, what would you do, my lords, 
 with the poor young fellow ?" said a noble 
 Marquis present ; " the Lord Keeper has 
 got all his estates — he has not a cross to 
 bless himself with."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 135 
 
 On which the ancient Lord Turntippet 
 replied, 
 
 " If he hasna gear to fine, 
 He has shins to pine — 
 
 And that was our way before the Revolu- 
 tion — Luitur cum persona, qui luere non 
 potest cum crumena — Hegb, my lords, that's 
 gude law Latin." 
 
 " I can see no motive," replied the Mar- 
 quis, " that any noble lord can have for 
 urging this matter farther ; let the Lord 
 Keeper have the power to deal in it as he 
 pleases." 
 
 " Agree, agree — remit to the Lord Keep- 
 er, with any other person for fashion's sake 
 — Lord Hirplehooly, who is bed- ridden- 
 one to be a quorum — Make your entry in 
 the minutes, Mr Clerk. — And now, my 
 lords, there is that young scattergood, the 
 Laird of Bucklaw's fine to be disponed 
 upon — I suppose it goes to my Lord Trea-
 
 133 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 " Shame be in my meal-poke then," ex- 
 claimed Lord Turntippet, " and your hand 
 aye in the nook of it. I had set that down 
 for a bye bit between meals for mysel." 
 
 "To use one of your favourite saws, my 
 lord," replied the Marquis, " you are like 
 the miller's dog, that licks his lips before 
 the bag is untied — the man is not fined 
 yet." 
 
 41 But that costs but twa skarts of a pen," 
 said Lord Turntippet ; " and surely there 
 is nae noble lord that will presume to say, 
 that I, wha hae complied wi' a' compli- 
 ances, tane all manner of tests, abjured all 
 that was to be abjured, and sworn a' that 
 was to be sworn, for these thirty years by- 
 past, sticking fast by my duty to the state 
 through good report and bad report, should- 
 na hae something now and then to synde 
 my mouth wi' after sic drouthy wark." 
 
 " It would be very unreasonable in- 
 deed, my lord," replied the Marquis, " had 
 we either thought that your lordship's
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOIt. 137 
 
 drought was quenchable, or observed any 
 thing stick in your throat that required 
 washing down." 
 
 And so we close the scene on the Privy- 
 council of that period.
 
 138 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 For this are all these warriors come, 
 
 To hear an idle tale ; 
 And o'er our death-accustomed arms 
 
 Shall silly tears prevail ? 
 
 On the evening of the day when the 
 Lord Keeper and his daughter were saved 
 from such imminent peril, two strangers 
 were seated in the most private apartment 
 of a smalt obscure inn, or rather alehouse, 
 called the Tod's Den, about three or four 
 miles from the Castle of Ravenswood, and 
 as far from the ruinous tower of Wolf's Crag, 
 betwixt which two places it was situated. 
 
 One of these strangers was about forty 
 years of age, tall, and thin in the flanks, 
 with an aquiline nose, dark penetrating
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 139 
 
 eyes, and a shrewd but sinister cast of 
 countenance. The other was about fifteen 
 years younger, short, stout, ruddy-faced, 
 and red-haired, with an open, resolute, and 
 cheerful eye, to which careless and fearless 
 freedom, and inward daring, gave fire 
 and expression, notwithstanding its light 
 grey colour. A stoup of wine, for in those 
 days it was served out from the cask in 
 pewter flaggons, was placed on the table, 
 and each had his quaigh or bicker* before 
 him. But there was little appearance of 
 conviviality. With folded arms, and looks 
 of anxious expectation, they eyed each 
 other in silence, each wrapt in his own 
 thoughts, and holding no communication 
 with his neighbour. 
 
 At length the younger broke silence by 
 
 * Drinking cups, of different sizes, made out of staves 
 hooped together. The quaigh was used chiefly for 
 drinking wine or brandy ; it might hold about a gill, 
 and was often composed of rare wood, and curiously 
 ornamented with silver.
 
 140 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 exclaiming, " What the foul fiend can de- 
 tain the Master so long? he must have 
 miscarried in his enterprize. — Why did you 
 dissuade me from going with him ?" 
 
 " One man is enough to right his own 
 wrong," said the taller and older person- 
 age ; <c we venture our lives for him in 
 coming thus far on such an errand." 
 
 " You are but a craven after all, Craig- 
 engelt," answered the younger, " and that's 
 what many folks have thought you before 
 now." 
 
 " But what none has dared to tell me," 
 said Craigengelt, laying his hand on the 
 hilt of his sword ; " and, but that I hold a 
 hasty man no better than a fool, I would" — 
 he paused for his companion's answer. 
 
 " Would you ?" said the other coolly ; 
 " and why do you not then ?" 
 
 Craigengelt drew his cutlass an inch or 
 two, and then returned it with violence in- 
 to the scabbard — " Because there is a deep- 
 er stake than the lives of twenty hair-brain- 
 ed gowks like you."
 
 THE BRIDE OV LAMMERMOOR. 141 
 
 " You are right there," said his compa- 
 nion, "for if it were not that these forfeit- 
 ures, and that last fine that the old drivel- 
 ler Turntippit is gaping for, and which, I 
 dare say, is laid on by this time, have fairly 
 driven me out of house, and I were a cox- 
 comb and a cuckoo to boot, to trust your 
 fair promises of getting me a commission 
 in the Irish brigade, — what have I to do 
 with the Irish brigade ? I am a plain Scotch- 
 man, as my father was before me ; and my 
 grand aunt, Lady Girnington, cannot live 
 for ever." 
 
 " Ay, Bucklaw," observed Craigengelt, 
 "but she may live for many a long day ; and 
 for your father, he had land and living, kept 
 himself close from wadsetters and money- 
 lenders, paid each man his due, and lived 
 on his own." 
 
 " And whose fault is it that I have not 
 so too ?" said Bucklaw — " whose but the 
 devil's and your's, and such like as you, 
 that have led me to the far end of a fair 
 estate j and now I shall be obliged, I sup«
 
 142 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 pose, to shelter and shift about like your- 
 self — live one week upon a line of secret 
 intelligence from Saint Germains — another 
 upon a report of a rising in the Highlands 
 — get my breakfast and morning draught 
 of sack from old Jacobite ladies, and give 
 them locks of my old wig for the Cheva- 
 lier's hair — second my friend in his quarrel 
 till he comes to the field, and then flinch 
 from him lest so important a political 
 agent should perish from the way. All 
 this I must do for bread, besides calling 
 myself a captain !" 
 
 " You think you are making a fine 
 speech now," said Craigengelt, " and shew- 
 ing much wit at my expence. Is starving 
 or hanging better than the life I am obli- 
 ged to lead, because the present fortunes 
 of the king cannot sufficiently support his 
 envoys ?" 
 
 " Starving is honester, Craigengelt, and 
 hanging is like to be the end on't — But 
 what you mean to make of this poor fellow
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 143 
 
 Ravenswood, I know not — he has no mo- 
 ney left, any more than I — his lands are all 
 pawned and pledged, and the interest eats 
 up the rents, and is not satisfied, and what 
 do you hope to make by meddling in his 
 affairs ?" 
 
 " Content yourself, Bucklaw ; I know 
 my business," replied Craigengelt. c< Be- 
 sides that his name, and his father's ser- 
 vices in 1689, will make such an acquisi- 
 tion sound well both at Versailles and 
 Saint Germains — you will also please be 
 informed, that the Master of Ravenswood 
 is a very different kind of a young fellow 
 from you. He has parts and address, as 
 well as courage and talents, and will pre- 
 sent himself abroad like a young man of 
 head as well as heart, who knows some- 
 thing more than the speed of a horse or 
 the flight of a hawk. I have lost credit of 
 late, by bringing over no one that had sense 
 to know more than how to unharbour a 
 stag, or take and reclaim an eyess. The
 
 H4 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Master has education, sense, and pene- 
 tration." 
 
 " And yet is not wise enough to escape 
 the tricks of a kidnapper, Craigengelt ? — 
 But don't be angry; you know you will 
 not fight, and so it is as well to leave your 
 hilt in peace and quiet, and tell me in sober 
 guise how you drew the Master into your 
 confidence ?" 
 
 " By flattering his love of vengeance, 
 Bucklaw. He has always distrusted me, 
 but I watched my time, and struck while 
 his temper was red- hot with the sense of 
 insult and of wrong. He goes now to 
 expostulate, as he says, and perhaps thinks, 
 with Sir William Ashton. — I say, that if 
 they meet, and the lawyer puts him to his 
 defence, the Master will kill him ; for he 
 had that sparkle in his eye which never 
 deceives you when you would read a 
 man's purpose. At any rate, he will give 
 him such a bullying as will be construed 
 Into an assault on a privy-counsellor ; so
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 145 
 
 there will be a total breach betwixt him 
 and government ; Scotland will be too hot 
 for him, France will gain him, and we will 
 all set sail together in the French brig 
 L'Espoir, which is hovering for us off Eye- 
 mouth. 
 
 " Content am X," said Bucklaw ; " Scot- 
 land has little left that 1 care about ; and 
 if carrying the Master with us will get us a 
 better reception in France, why, so be it, 
 a God's name. I doubt our own merits 
 will procure us slender preferment $ and 
 I trust he will send a ball through the 
 Keeper's head before he joins us. One or 
 two of these scoundrel statesmen should 
 be shot once a»year, just to keep the others 
 on their good behaviour." 
 
 " That is very true," replied Craigen- 
 gelt ; " and it reminds me that I must go 
 and see that our horses have been fed, 
 and are in readiness ; for, should such 
 deed be done, it will be no time for grass 
 to grow beneath their heels." He pro- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 146 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ceeded as far as the door, then turned 
 back with a look of earnestness, and said 
 to Bucklaw, " Whatever should come of 
 this business, I am sure you will do me the 
 justice to remember, that I said nothing to 
 the Master which could imply my accession 
 to any act of violence which he may take it 
 into his head to commit." 
 
 " No, no, not a single word like acces- 
 sion," replied Bucklaw ; " you know too 
 well the risk belonging to these two terri- 
 ble words, art and part." Then, as if to 
 himself, he recited the following lines : 
 
 M The dial spoke not, but it made shrewd signs, 
 And pointed full upon the stroke of murder." 
 
 " What is that you are talking to your- 
 self?" said Craigengelt, turning back with 
 some anxiety. 
 
 " Nothing— only two lines I have heard 
 upon the stage," replied his companion. 
 
 " Bucklaw," said Craigengelt, " I some- 
 times think you should have been a stage-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 147 
 
 player yourself; all is fancy and frolic with 
 you." 
 
 * I have often thought so myself," said 
 Bucklaw. " I believe it would be safer 
 than acting with you in The Fatal Conspira- 
 cy. — But away, play your own part, and 
 look after the horses like a groom as you 
 are. — A play-actor! a stage player ! that 
 would have deserved a stab, but that Craig- 
 engelt's a coward — And yet I should like 
 the profession well enough — Stay— let me 
 see — ay — I would come out in Alexander — . 
 
 ( Thus from the grave I rise to save my love, 
 Draw all your swords, and quick as lightning move ; 
 When I rush on, sure none will dare to stay, 
 'Tis love commands, and glory leads the way.' " 
 
 As with a voice of thunder, and his hand 
 upon his sword, Bucklaw repeated the 
 ranting couplets of poor Lee, Craigengelt 
 re-entered with a face of alarm. 
 
 " We are undone, Bucklaw ! the Mas- 
 ter's led horse has cast himself over his hal- 
 ter in the stable, and is dead lame — his
 
 I 48 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 hackney will be set up with the day's wo-fk, 
 and now he has no fresh horse $ he will 
 never get off." 
 
 li Egad there will be no moving with 
 the speed of lightning this bout," said 
 Bucklaw, drily. " But stay, you can give 
 him yours." 
 
 " What, and be taken myself? I thank 
 you for the proposal," said Craigengelt. 
 
 <c Why, if the Lord Keeper should have 
 met with a mischance, which for my part 
 I cannot suppose, for the Master is not the 
 lad to shoot an old and unarmed man- 
 but if there should have been a fray at the 
 Castle, you are neither art nor part in it 
 you know, so have nothing to fear." 
 
 " True, true," answered the other, with 
 embarrassment •, " but consider my com- 
 mission from Saint Germains." 
 
 " Which many men think is a commis- 
 sion of your own making, noble captain. 
 Well, if you will not give him your horse, 
 why, d — n it, he must have mine." 
 " Yours?" said Craigengelt.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 149 
 
 " Ay, mine," repeated Bucklaw; "it shall 
 never be said that I agreed to back a gen- 
 tleman in a little affair of honour, and nei- 
 ther helped him on with it nor off from it." 
 
 " You will give him your horse ? and 
 have you considered the loss ?"' 
 
 "Loss! why Grey Gilbert cost me twenty 
 Jacobuses, that's true ; but then his hackney 
 is worth something, and his Black Moor is 
 worth twice as much were he sound, and 
 I know how to handle him. — Take a fat 
 sucking mastiff whelp, rlay and bowel him, 
 stuff the body full of black and grey snails, 
 roast a reasonable time, and baste with oil 
 of spikenard, saffron, cinnamon and honey, 
 anoint with the dripping, working it in'' — 
 
 " Yes, Bucklaw, but in the meanwhile, 
 before the sprain is cured, nay before the 
 whelp is roasted, you will be caught and 
 hung. Depend on it, the chase will be hard 
 after Ravenswood. I wish we had made our 
 place of rendezvous nearer to the coast." 
 
 " On my faith then," said Bucklaw, « I 
 had best go off just now. and leave my horse
 
 150 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 for him — Stay, stay, he comes, I hear a 
 horse's feet." 
 
 " *Are you sure there is only one ?" said 
 Craigengelt ; " I fear there is a chase ; I 
 think I hear three or four galloping to- 
 gether 5 I am sure I hear more horses than 
 one." 
 
 " Pooh, pooh, it is the wench of the 
 house that is clattering to the well in her 
 pattens ; by my faith, captain, you should 
 give up both your captainship and your 
 secret service, for you are as easily scared as- 
 a wild goose. But here comes the Master 
 alone, and looking as gloomy as a night in 
 November." 
 
 The Master of Ravenswood entered the 
 room accordingly, his cloak muffled around 
 him, his arms folded, his looks stern, and 
 at the same time dejected. He flung his 
 cloak from him as he entered, threw him- 
 self upon a chair, and appeared sunk in a 
 profound reverie. 
 
 " What has happened I What have you
 
 THE BRIDE OP LAMMERMOOR. 151 
 
 done ?" was hastily demanded by Craigen- 
 gelt and Bucklaw in the same moment. 
 
 " Nothing," was the short and sullen an- 
 swer. 
 
 " Nothing? and left us, determined to 
 call the old villain to account for all the in- 
 juries that you, we, and the country have 
 received at his hand ? Have you seen him ?" 
 
 " I have," replied the Master of Ravens- 
 wood. 
 
 " Seen him? and come away without set- 
 tling scores which have been so long due ?" 
 said Bucklaw ; tc I would not have expect- 
 ed that at the hand of the Master of Ra- 
 venswood." 
 
 u No matter what you expected," repli- 
 ed Ravens wood ; c « it is not to you, sir, 
 that I shall be disposed to render any rea- 
 son for my conduct." 
 
 " Patience, Bucklaw," said Craigengelt, 
 interrupting his companion, who seemed 
 about to make an angry reply. " The Mas- 
 ter has been interrupted in his purpose by 
 some accident, but he must excuse the
 
 152 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 anxious curiosity of friends, who are devo- 
 ted to his cause like you and me." 
 
 " Friends, Captain Craigengelt !" retort- 
 ed Ravens wood haughtily, " I am igno- 
 rant what familiarity has passed betwixt us 
 to entitle you to use that expression. I 
 think our friendship amounts to this, that 
 we agreed to leave Scotland together so 
 soon as I should have visited the alienated 
 mansion of my fathers, and had an inter- 
 view with its present possessor, I will not 
 call him proprietor." 
 
 " Very true, Master," answered Buck- 
 law ; "and as we thought you had a mind 
 to do something to put your neck in jeo- 
 pardy, Craig and I very courteously agreed 
 lo tarry for you, although ours might run 
 some risk in consequence. As to Craig, 
 indeed, it does not very much signify, he 
 had gallows written on his brow in the hour 
 of his birth ; but I should not like to discre- 
 dit my parentage by coming to such an end 
 in another man's cause."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMttEKMOOR, 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the Master of lla- 
 venswood, w I am sorry if I have occasion- 
 ed you any inconvenience, but I must claim 
 the right of judging what is best for my 
 own affairs, without rendering any explana- 
 tions to any one. I have altered my mind, 
 and do not design to leave the country this 
 season." 
 
 " Not to leave the country, Master !" 
 exclaimed Craigengelt. " Not to go over, 
 after all the trouble and expence I have in- 
 curred — after all the risk of discovery, and 
 the expence of freight and demurrage i" 
 
 * Sir," replied the Master of Ravens wood, 
 " when I designed to leave this country in 
 this haste, I made use of your obliging of- 
 fer to procure me means of conveyance ; 
 but I do not recollect that I pledged my- 
 self to go off, if I found occasion to alter 
 my mind. For your trouble on my account, 
 I am sorry, and I thank you ; your ex- 
 pence," he added, putting his hand into hi.s 
 pocket, " admits a more solid compensa- 
 tion — freight and demurrage are matters 
 c 2
 
 154 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 with which I am unacquainted, Captain 
 Craigengelt, but take my purse and pay 
 yourself according to your own conscience." 
 And accordingly he tendered a purse with 
 some gold in it to the soi-disant captain. 
 
 But here Bucklaw interposed in his turn. 
 " Your fingers, Craigie, seem to itch for 
 that same piece of green net- work," said he j 
 " but I make my vow to God, that if they 
 offer to close upon it, I will chop them off 
 with my whinger. Since the Master has 
 changed his mind, I suppose we need stay 
 here no longer ; but in the first place I beg 
 leave to tell him " 
 
 " Tell him any thing you will," said 
 Craigengelt, ff if you will first allow me to 
 state the inconveniencies to which he will 
 expose himself by quitting our society, to 
 remind him of the obstacles to his remain- 
 ing here, and of the difficulties attending 
 his proper introduction at Versailles and 
 Saint Germains, without the countenance 
 of those who have established useful con- 
 nections,"
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 155 
 
 "Besides forfeiting the friendship," said 
 Bucklaw, " of at least one man of spirit 
 and honour." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Ravenswood, " per- 
 mit me once more to assure you, that ycu 
 have been pleased to attach to our tempo- 
 rary connection more importance than I 
 ever meant that it should have. When I 
 repair to foreign courts, I shall not need 
 the introduction of an intriguing adventu- 
 rer, nor is it necessary for me to set value 
 on the friendship of an hot-headed bully." 
 With these words, and without waiting for 
 an answer, he left the apartment, remount- 
 ed his horse, and was heard to ride off, 
 
 " Mortbleu !" said Captain Craigengelt, 
 " my recruit is lost." 
 
 " Ay, captain," said Bucklaw, c< the sal- 
 mon is off with hook and all. But I will af- 
 ter him, for I have had more of his insolence 
 than I can well digest." 
 
 Craigengelt offered to accompany him, 
 but Bucklaw replied, " No, no, captain, 
 keep you the cheek of the chimney-nook
 
 156 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 till I come back; its good sleeping in a 
 hale skin. 
 
 * Little kens the auld wife that sits by the fire, 
 How cauld the wind blaws in hurle-burle swire.' " 
 
 And singing as he went, he left the apart- 
 ment
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEfyVtOOK. 157 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Now, Billy Bewick, keep good heart, 
 
 And of thy talking let me be ; 
 But if thou art a man, as I am sure thou art, 
 
 Come over the dike and fight with me. 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
 The Master of Ravenswood had mount- 
 ed the ambling hackney which he before 
 rode on, finding the accident which had 
 happened to his led horse, and, for the ani- 
 mal's ease, was proceeding at a slow pace 
 from the Tod's Den towards his old tower 
 of Wolf's Crag, when he heard the gallop- 
 ping of a horse behind him, and, looking 
 back, perceived that he was pursued by 
 young Bucklaw, who had been delayed a 
 few minutes in the pursuit by the irresist- 
 ible temptation of giving the hostler at the
 
 158 TAL£3 OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Tod ? s Den some receipt for treating the 
 lame horse. This brief delay he had made 
 up by hard gallopping, and now overtook 
 the Master where the road traversed a waste 
 moor. " Halt, sir," cried Bucklaw ; " I am 
 no political agent — no Captain Craigengelt* 
 whose life is too important to be hazarded 
 in defence of his honour. I am Frank 
 Hayston of Bucklaw, and no man injures 
 me by word, deed, sign, or look, but he 
 must render me an account of it." 
 
 " This is all very well, Mr Hayston of 
 Bucklaw," replied the Master of Ravens- 
 wood, in a tone the most calm and indif- 
 ferent ; " but I have no quarrel with you, 
 and desire to have none. Our roads home- 
 ward, as well as our roads through life, lie 
 in different directions ; there is no occa- 
 sion for us crossing each other." 
 
 u Is there not ?" said Bucklaw, impetu- 
 ously. " By Heaven ! but I say that there 
 is though — you called us intriguing adven- 
 turers" 
 
 " Be correct in your recollection, Mr
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOft. 159 
 
 Hayston ; it was to your companion only I 
 applied that epithet, and you know him to 
 be no better." 
 
 " And what then ? He was my compa- 
 nion for the time, and no man shall insult 
 my companion, right or wrong, while he is 
 in my company." 
 
 " Then, Mr Hayston," replied Ravens- 
 wood, with the same composure, " you 
 should chuse your society better, or you 
 are like to have much work in your capa- 
 city of their champion. Go home, sir, 
 sleep, and have more reason in your wrath 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Not so, Master, you have mistaken 
 your man ; high airs and wise saws shall 
 not carry it off thus. Besides, you termed 
 me bully, and you shall retract the word 
 before we part." 
 
 " Faith, scarcely," said Raven swood, 
 " unless you shew me better reason for 
 thinking myself mistaken than you are now 
 producing."
 
 160 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Then, Master," said Bucklaw, " though 
 I should be sorry to offer it to a man of 
 your quality, if you will not justify your 
 incivility, or retract it, or name a place of 
 meeting, you must here undergo the hard 
 word and the hard blow." 
 
 " Neither will be necessary," said Ra* 
 venswood ; "I am satisfied with what I 
 have done to avoid an affair with you. If 
 you are serious, this place will serve as well 
 as another." 
 
 " Dismount then, and draw," said Buck- 
 law, setting him the example. " I always 
 thought and said you were a pretty man ; 
 I should be sorry to report you otherwise.' 
 " You shall have no reason, sir," said 
 Ravenswood, alighting, and putting him- 
 self into a posture of defence. 
 
 Their swords crossed, and the combat 
 commenced with great spirit on the part of 
 Bucklaw, who was well accustomed to af- 
 fairs of the kind, and distinguished by ad- 
 dress and dexterity at his weapon. In the
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. lGl 
 
 present case, however, he did not use his ski! I 
 to advantage ; for having lost temper at the 
 cool and contemptuous manner in which 
 the Master of Ravens wood had long refused, 
 and at length granted him satisfaction, and 
 urged by his impatience, he adopted the 
 part of an assailant with inconsiderate 
 eagerness. The Master, with equal skill, 
 and much greater composure, remained 
 chiefly on the defensive, and even declined 
 to avail himself of one or two advantages 
 afforded him by the eagerness of his adver- 
 sary. At length, in a desperate lounge, 
 which he followed with an attempt to close, 
 Bucklaw's foot slipped, and he fell on the 
 short grassy turf on which they were right- 
 ing. <( Take your life, sir," said the Mas- 
 ter of Ravenswood, " and mend it, if you 
 can. 5 ' 
 
 " It would be but a cobbled piece of 
 work, I fear," said Bucklaw, rising slowly 
 and gathering up his sword, much less dis- 
 concerted with the issue of the combat than
 
 162 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 could have been expected from the impe- 
 tuosity of his temper. " I thank you for 
 my life, Master," he pursued. " There is 
 my hand, I bear no ill will to you either for 
 my bad luck, or your better swordman- 
 ship." 
 
 The Master looked steadily at him for an 
 instant, then extended his hand to him. — 
 " Bucklaw," he said, " you are a generous 
 fellow, and I have done you wrong. I hear- 
 tily ask your pardon for the expression 
 which offended you ; it was hastily and in- 
 cautiously uttered, and I am convinced it 
 is totally misapplied." 
 
 " Are you indeed, Master?" said Buck- 
 law, his face resuming at once its natural 
 expression of light-hearted carelessness and 
 audacity ; " that is more than I expected 
 of you, for, Master, men say, you are not 
 too ready to retract your opinions and your 
 language." 
 
 " Not when I have well considered 
 them," said the Master*
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 163 
 
 " Then you are a little wiser than I am ; 
 for I always give my friend satisfaction 
 first, and explanation afterwards. If one 
 of us falls, all accounts are settled ; if not, 
 men are never so ready for peace as after 
 war. But what does that bawling brat of 
 a boy want ?" said Bucklaw. " I wish to 
 Heaven he had come a few minutes sooner, 
 and yet it must have been ended some time, 
 and perhaps this way is as well as any 
 other." 
 
 As he spoke, the boy he mentioned came 
 up, cudgelling an ass, on which he was 
 mounted, to the top of its speed, and send- 
 ing, like one of Ossian's heroes, his voice 
 before him, — " Gentlemen, — gentlemen, 
 save yourselves, for the gudewife bade us 
 tell ye there were folk in her house had 
 ta'en Captain Craigengelt, and were seek- 
 ing for Bucklaw, and that ye behoved to 
 ride for it." 
 
 " By my faith, and that's very true, my 
 man," said Bucklaw ; 4C and there's a silver 
 sixpence for your news, and I would give
 
 164 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 any man twice as much would tell me 
 which way I should ride." 
 
 " That will I, Bucklaw," said Ravens- 
 wood ; " ride home to Wolf's Crag with 
 me 5 there are places in the old tower where 
 you might lie hid, were a thousand men to 
 seek you." 
 
 " But that will bring you into trouble 
 yourself", Master ; and unless you be in the 
 Jacobite scrape already, it is needless for 
 me to drag you in." 
 
 " Not a whit ; I have nothing to fear." 
 
 " Then I will ride with you blithely, for, 
 to say the truth, I do not know the rendez- 
 vous that Craigie was to guide us to this 
 night ; and I am sure that, if he is taken, he 
 will tell all the truth on me, and twenty 
 lies on you, in order to save himself from 
 the withie." 
 
 They mounted, and rode off in company 
 accordingly, striking off' the ordinary road, 
 and holding their way by wild moorish un- 
 frequented paths, with which the gentle- 
 men were well acquainted from the exer
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEBMOOR. lt)5 
 
 cise of the chace, but through which others 
 would have had much difficulty in tracing 
 their course. They rode for some time in 
 silence, making such haste as the condition 
 of Ravenswood's horse permitted, until 
 night having gradually closed around them, 
 they discontinued their speed, both from 
 the difficulty of discovering their path, and 
 from the hope that they were beyond the 
 reach of pursuit or observation. 
 
 " And now that we have drawn bridle 
 abit," said Bucklaw, " I would fain ask you 
 a question, Master." 
 
 " Ask, and welcome," said Ravenswood, 
 " but forgive me not answering it, unless I 
 think proper." 
 
 " Well, it is simply this," answered his 
 late antagonist, " What, in the name of old 
 Sathan, could make you, who stand so 
 highly on your reputation, think for a mo- 
 ment of drawing up with such a rogue as 
 Craigengelt, and such a scapegrace as folks 
 call Bucklaw?"
 
 166 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 " Simply, because I was desperate, and 
 sought desperate associates." 
 
 cc And what made you break off from us 
 at the nearest ?" again demanded Bucklaw. 
 
 " Because I had changed my mind," said 
 the Master, " and renounced my enter- 
 prize, at least for the present. And now 
 that I have answered your questions fairly 
 and frankly, tell me what makes you asso- 
 ciate withCraigengelt, so much beneath you 
 both in birth and in spirit ?" 
 
 " In plain terms," answered Bucklaw, 
 " because I am a fool, who have gambled 
 away my land in these times. My grand- 
 aunt, Lad) Girnington, has ta'en a new tack 
 of life, I think, and I could onlv hope to 
 get something by a change of government, 
 Craigie was a sort of gambling acquaint- 
 ance ; he saw my condition, and, as the devil 
 is always at one's elbow, told me fifty lies 
 about his credentials from Versailles, and his 
 interest at Saint Germains, promised me a 
 captain's commission at Paris, and I have 
 been ass enough to put my thumb under 
 
 9
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 167 
 
 his belt. I dare say, by this time, he has 
 told a dozen pretty stories or me to the go- 
 vernment. And this is what I have got by 
 wine, women, and dice, cocks, dogs, and 
 horses." 
 
 " Yes, Bucklaw," said the Master, " you 
 have indeed nourished in your bosom the 
 snakes that are now stinging you." 
 
 " That's home as well as true, Master," 
 replied his companion ; " but, by your 
 leave, you have nursed in your bosom one 
 great goodly snake that has swallowed all 
 the rest, and is as sure to devour you as my 
 half dozen are to make a meal on all that's 
 left of Bucklaw, which is but what lies be- 
 tween bonnet and boot-heel." 
 
 " I must not," answered the Master of 
 Ravenswood, " challenge the freedom of 
 speech in which I have set example. What, 
 to speak without a metaphor, do you call 
 this monstrous passion which you charge 
 me with fostering ?" 
 
 11 Revenge, my good sir, revenge, which, 
 if it be as gentleman-like a sin as wine and
 
 168 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 wassail, with all their et coeteras, is equally 
 unchristian, and not so bloodless. It is 
 better breaking a park-pale to watch a doe 
 or damsel, than to shoot an old man." 
 
 " I deny the purpose," said the Master 
 of Ravenswood. * c On my soul, I had no 
 such intention \ I meant but to confront 
 the oppressor ere I left my native land, and 
 upbraid him with his tyranny and its con- 
 sequences. I would have stated my wrongs 
 so that they would have shaken his soul 
 within him," 
 
 " Yes," answered Bucklaw, u and he 
 would have collared you, and cried help, 
 and then you would have shaken the soul 
 out of him, I suppose. Your very look and 
 manner would have frightened the old man 
 to death." 
 
 " Consider the provocation," answered 
 Ravenswood, — ** consider the ruin and 
 death procured and caused by his hard- 
 hearted cruelty — an ancient house destroy- 
 ed, an affectionate father murdered. Why, 
 in our old Scottish days, he that sat quiet 
 
 •1
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 169 
 
 under such wrongs, would have been held 
 neither fit to back a friend or face a foe." 
 
 " Well, Master, I am glad to see that 
 the devil deals as cunningly with other 
 folk as he does with me ; for whenever I 
 am about to commit any folly, he persuades 
 me it is the most necessary, gallant, gentle- 
 manlike thing on earth, and I am up to 
 saddlegirths in the bog before I see that 
 the ground is soft. And you. Master, might 
 
 have turned out a murd a homicide, 
 
 just out of pure respect for your father's 
 memory." 
 
 " There is more sense in your language, 
 Bucklaw," replied the Master, " than might 
 have been expected from your conduct. It 
 is too true, our vices steal upon us in forms 
 outwardly as fair as those of the demons 
 whom the superstitious represent as in- 
 triguing with the human race, and are not 
 discovered in their native hideousness un- 
 til we have clasped them in our arms."' 
 
 " But we may throw them from us 
 though," said Bucklaw, < c and that is what 
 
 vol. r. ii
 
 170 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 I shall think of doing one of these days, 
 that is when old Lady Girnington dies." 
 
 " Did you ever hear the expression of 
 the English divine ?" said Ravenswood — 
 
 u Hell is paved with good intentions." 
 
 " As much as to say, they are more often 
 formed than executed." 
 
 " Well," replied Bucklaw, " but I will 
 begin this blessed night, and have deter- 
 mined not to drink above one quart of 
 wine, unless your claret be of extraordinary 
 quality." 
 
 11 You will find little to tempt you at 
 Wolf's Crag," said the Master. " I know 
 not that I can promise you more than the 
 shelter of my roof ; all, and more than all 
 our stock of wine and provisions was ex- 
 hausted at the late occasion." 
 
 " Long may it be ere provision is needed 
 for the like purpose," answered Bucklaw ; 
 " but you should not drink up the last 
 flask at a dirge ; there is ill luck in that." 
 
 " There is ill luck, I think, in whatever
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 171 
 
 belongs to me," said Ravens wood. " But 
 yonder is Wolf's Crag, and whatever it still 
 contains is at your service." 
 
 The rv-arof the sea had long announced 
 their approach to the cliffs, on the summit 
 of which, like the nest of some sea-eagle, 
 the founder of the fbrtalice had perched his 
 eyry. The pale moon, which had hitherto 
 been contending with fliiting clouds, now 
 shone out, and gave them a view of the so- 
 litary and naked tower, situated on a pro- 
 jecting cliff that beetled on the German 
 ocean. On three sides the rock was pieci- 
 pitous ; on the fourth, which was that to- 
 ward the land, it had been originally fenced 
 by an artificial ditch and draw-bridge, but 
 the latter was broken down and ruinous, 
 and the former had been in part filled up, 
 so as to allow passage for a horseman into 
 the narrow court-yard, encircled on two 
 sides with low offices and stables, partly 
 ruinous, and closed on the landward front 
 by a low embattled wall, while the remain- 
 ing side of the quadrangle was occupied by
 
 Vti TALES OF MY LANDLORD, s 
 
 the tower itself, which, tall and narrow, and 
 built of a greyish stone, stood glimmering 
 in the moonlight, like the sheeted spectre 
 of some huge giant. A wilder ? or more 
 disconsolate dwelling, it was perhaps diffi- 
 cult to conceive. The sombrous and heavy 
 sound of the billows, successively dashing 
 against the rocky beach at a profound dis- 
 tance beneath, was to the ear what the 
 landscape was to the eye — a symbol of un- 
 varied and monotonous melancholy, not 
 unmingled with horror. 
 
 Although the night was not far advan- 
 ced, there was no sign of living inhabitant 
 about this forlorn abode, excepting that 
 one, and only one, of the narrow and staun- 
 chelled windows which appeared at irregu- 
 lar heights and distances in the walls of the 
 building, showed a small glimmer of light. 
 
 " There," said Ravenswood, "sitsthe only 
 male domestic that remains to the house of 
 Ravenswood ; and it is well that he does re- 
 main there, since otherwise, we had little 
 hope to find either light or fire. But follow
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 17- 
 
 me cautiously ; the road is narrow, and ad 
 ixiits only one horse in front." 
 
 In effect, the path led along a kind of 
 isthmus, at the peninsular extremity of 
 which the tower was situated, with that ex- 
 clusive attention to strength and security, 
 in preference to every circumstance of con- 
 venience, which dictated to the Scottish ba- 
 rons the choice of their situations, as well 
 as their style of building. 
 
 By adopting the cautious mode of ap 
 proach recommended by the proprietor of 
 this wild hold, they entered the court- yard 
 in safety. But it was long ere the efforts 
 of Ravenswood, though loudly exerted by 
 knocking at the low-browed entrance, and 
 repeated shouts to Caleb to open the gate 
 and admit them, received any answer. 
 M The old man must be departed," he be- 
 gan to say, " or fallen into some fit ; for the 
 noise I have made would have waked the 
 seven sleepers." *$ 
 
 At length a timid and hesitating voice 
 replied, — " Master — Master of Ravens 
 wood, is it you ?"
 
 174 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Yes, it is I, Caleb ; open the door 
 
 quickly " 
 
 " But is it you in very blood and body ? 
 For I would sooner face fifty devils as my 
 master's ghaist, or even his wraith, — where- 
 fore aroint ye, if ye were ten times my mas- 
 ter, unless ye come in bodily shape, lith 
 and limb ." 
 
 " It is I, you old fool," answered Ravens- 
 wood, " in bodily shape, and alive, save 
 that I am half dead with cold." 
 
 The light at the upper window disappear- 
 ed, and glancing from loop-hole to loop- 
 hole in slow succession, gave intimation 
 that the bearer was in the act of descend- 
 ing, with great deliberation, a winding 
 stair- case occupying one of the turrets 
 which graced the angles of the old tower. 
 The tardiness of his descent extracted some 
 exclamations of impatience from Ravens- 
 wood, and several oaths from his less pa- 
 tient and more mercurial companion. Ca- 
 leb again paused ere he unbolted the door, 
 and once more asked, if they were men of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM00R. 175 
 
 mould that demanded entrance at this time 
 of night? 
 
 " Were I near you, you old fool," said 
 Bucklaw, " I would give you sufficient 
 proofs of my bodily condition." 
 
 " Open the gate, Caleb," said his mas- 
 ter, in a more soothing tone, partly from 
 his regard to the ancient and faithful sene- 
 schal, partly perhaps because he thought 
 that angry words would be thrown away, so 
 long as Caleb had a stout iron-clenched 
 oaken door betwixt his person and the 
 speakers. 
 
 At length Caleb, with a trembling hand, 
 undid the bars, opened the heavy door, and 
 stood before them, exhibiting his thin grey 
 hairs, bald forehead, and sharp high fea- 
 tures, illuminated by a quivering lamp 
 which he held in one hand, while he sha- 
 ded and protected its flame with the 
 other. The timorous courteous glance 
 which he threw around him — the effect of 
 the partial light upon his white hair and il- 
 lumined features, might have made a good
 
 176 TALES OF MY LANDL6RD. 
 
 painting ; but our travellers were too impa- 
 tient for security against the rising storm, 
 to permit them to indulge themselves in 
 studying the picturesque. u Is it you, my 
 dear master ? is it yourself indeed ?" ex- 
 claimed the old domestic. " I am wae ye 
 siUd hae stude waiting at your ain gate, but 
 wha wad hae thought o' seeing ye sae sune, 
 and a strange gentleman with a — (here he 
 exclaimed apart as it were, and to some in- 
 mate of the tower, in a voice not meant to 
 be heard by those in the court) — Mysie — 
 Mysie, woman, stir for dear life and get the 
 fire mended ; take the auld three-legged 
 stool, or ony thing that's readiest that will 
 make a lo we. — I doubt we are but puirly pro- 
 vided, no expecting ye this some months, 
 when doubtless ye w r ad hae been received 
 conform till your rank, as gude right is ; 
 
 but natheless" 
 
 " Natheless, Caleb/' said the Master, 
 ** we must have our horses put up, and 
 ourselves too, the best way we can. I hope 
 you are not sorry to see me sooner than 
 you expected ?"
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 177 
 
 » Sorry, my lord ! — I am sure ye sail aye 
 be my lord \vi' honest folk, as your noble 
 ancestorafrhae been these three hundred 
 years, and never asked a whig's leave. — 
 Sorry to see the Lord of Ravenswood at 
 ane o* his ain castles ! — (Then again apart 
 to his unseen associate behind the screen) 
 — Mysie, kill the brood-hen without think- 
 ing twice on it ; let them care that come 
 ahint. — No to say its our best dwelling/' 
 he added, turning to Bucklaw, "but just a 
 strength for the Lord of Ravenswood to 
 flee until, — that is, no tojlee, but to retreat 
 until in troublous times, like the present, 
 when it was ill convenient for him to live 
 farther in the country in ony of his better 
 and mair principal manors ; but, for its an- 
 tiquity, maist folks think that the outside 
 of Wolf's Crag is worthy of a large perusal/ 
 
 " And you are determined we shall have 
 time to make it,'" said Kavenswood, some- 
 what amused with the shifts the old man 
 used to detain them without doors, uctil 
 
 H 2
 
 178 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 his confederate Mysie had made her pre- 
 parations within. 
 
 " O, never mind the outside o%he house* 
 my good friend," said Bucklaw ; M let's see 
 the inside, and let our horses see the stable, 
 that's all." 
 
 " O yes, sir — ay, sir — unquestionably, 
 sir, — my lord and ony of his honourable 
 com panions" 
 
 " But our horses, my old friend — our 
 horses; they will be dead-foundered by 
 standing here in the cold after riding hard, 
 and mine is too good to be spoiled ; there- 
 fore, once more, our horses," exclaimed 
 Bucklaw. 
 
 " True — ay — your horses — yes — I will 
 call the grooms ;" and sturdily did Caleb 
 roar till the old tower rung again, — " John 
 — William — Saunders ! — The lads are gane 
 out, or sleeping," he observed, after pau- 
 sing for an answer, which he knew that he 
 ha 1 no human chance of receiving " A' 
 gaes wrang when the Master's out bye \ but 
 I'll take care o' your cattle mysell." 
 1
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 179 
 
 " I think you had better," said Ravens- 
 wood, " otherwise I see little chance of 
 their being attended to at all." 
 
 " Whisht, my lord, — whisht, for God's 
 sake," said CaJeb, in an imploring tone, and 
 apart to his master ; " if ye dinna regard 
 your ain credit, think on mine ; we'll hae 
 hard eneugh wark to make a decent night 
 o't, wi' a' the lies I can tell." 
 
 " Well, well, never mind," said his mas- 
 ter ; " go to the stable. There is hay and 
 corn, 1 trust?" 
 
 " Ou ay, plenty of hay and corn ;" this 
 was uttered boldly and aloud, and, in a 
 lower tone, " there was some half fous o' 
 aits, and some taits o' meadow- hay, left af- 
 ter the burial." 
 
 " Very well," said Ravenswood, taking 
 the lamp irom his domestic's unwilling 
 hand, " I will shew the stranger up stairs 
 myself" 
 
 " I canna think o' that, my lord ; — if ye 
 
 but have rive minutes or ten minutes, 
 
 or, at maist, a quarter of an hour's patience,
 
 180 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 and look at the fine moonlight prospect of 
 the Bass and North-Berwick Law till I 
 sort the horses, I would marshal ye up, as 
 reason is ye suld be marshalled, your lord- 
 ship and your honourable visitor. And I 
 hae lockit up the siller candlesticks, and 
 the lamp is not fit". 
 
 " It will do very well in the meantime," 
 said Ravenswood, " and you will have no 
 difficulty for want of light in the stable, for, 
 if I recollect, half the roof is off." 
 
 " Very true, my lord," replied the trusty 
 adherent, and with ready wit instantly add- 
 ed, " and the lazy sclater loons have never 
 come to put it on a' this while, your lord- 
 ship." 
 
 " If I were disposed to jest at the cala- 
 mities of my house," said Ravenswood, as 
 he led the way up stairs, * poor old Caleb 
 would furnish me with ample means. His 
 passion consists in representing things 
 about our miserable menage, not as they 
 are, but as, in his opinion, they ought to 
 be \ and, to say the truth, I have been of-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 181 
 
 ten diverted with the poor wretch's expe- 
 dients to supply what he thought was es- 
 sential for the credit of the family, and his 
 still more generous apologies for the want 
 of those articles for which his ingenuity 
 could discover no substitute. But though 
 the tower is none of the largest, I shall 
 have some trouble without him to find the 
 apartment in which there is a fire." 
 
 As he spoke thus, he opened the door 
 of the hall. " Here, at least," he said, 
 " there is neither hearth nor harbour." 
 
 It was indeed a scene of desolation. A 
 large vaulted room, the beams of which, 
 combined like those of Westminster-Hall, 
 were rudely carved at the extremities, re- 
 mained nearly in the situation in which it 
 had been left after the entertainment at 
 Allan Lord Ravenswood's funeral. Over- 
 turned pitchers, and blackjacks, and pew 
 ter stoups, and flagons, still cumbered the 
 large oaken table ; glasses, those more pe- 
 rishable implements of conviviality, many 
 of which had been voluntarily sacrificed by 
 4 

 
 182 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the guests in their enthusiastic pledges to 
 favourite toasts, strewed the stone floor with 
 their fragments. As for the articles of plate, 
 lent for the purpose by friends and kins- 
 folks, those had been carefully withdrawn 
 so soon as the ostentatious display of festi- 
 vity, equally unnecessary and strangely 
 timed, had been made and ended. No- 
 thing, in short, remained that indicated 
 wealth ; all the signs were those of recent 
 wastefulness and present desolation. The 
 black cloth hangings, which, on the late 
 mournful occasion, replaced the tattered 
 moth-eaten tapestries, had been partly pull- 
 ed Mown, and, dangling from the wall 
 in irregular festoons, disclosed, the rough 
 stoue-vvork of the building, unsmoothed 
 either by plaster or hewn stone. The seats 
 thrown down, or left in disorder, intimated 
 the careless confusion which had concluded 
 the mournful revel. " This room," said 
 Ravenswood, holding up the lamp — « this 
 room, Mr Hayston, was riotous when it 
 should have been sad \ it is a just retribu-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 183 
 
 tion that it should now be sad when it 
 ought to be cheerful/' 
 
 They left this disconsolate apartment, 
 and went up stairs, where, after opening 
 one or two doors in vain, Ravenswood led 
 the way into a little matted anti-room, in 
 which, to their great joy, they found a to 
 lerably good tire, which Mysie, by some 
 such expedient as Caleb had suggested, 
 had supplied with a reasonable quantity of 
 fuel. Glad at the heart to see more of 
 comfort than the castle had yet seemed to 
 offer, Bucklaw rubbed his hands heartily 
 over the fire, and now listened with more 
 complacence to the apologies which the 
 Master of Ravenswood offered. " Com- 
 fort," he says, " I cannot provide for you, 
 foj I have it not for myself; it is long since 
 these walls have known it, if, indeed, they 
 were ever acquainted with it. Shelter and 
 safety, I think, I can promise you. 5 ' 
 
 41 Excellent matters, Master," replied 
 Bucklaw, " and, with a mouthful of food 
 and wine, positively all I can require to- 
 night."
 
 184* TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 €t I fear," said the Master, « your supper 
 will be a poor one ; I hear the matter in 
 discussion betwixt Caleb and Mysie. Poor 
 Balderston is something deaf, amongst his 
 other accomplishments, so that much of 
 what he means should be spoken aside is 
 overheard by the whole audience, and es- 
 pecially by those from whom he is most 
 anxious to conceal his private manoeuvres 
 —Hark !" 
 
 They listened, and heard the old domes- 
 tic's voice in conversation with Mysie to 
 the following effect. u Just mak the best 
 o't, mak the best o't, woman ; it's easy to 
 put a fair face on ony thing." 
 
 u But the auld brood-hen ? — she'll be as 
 teugh as bow-strings and bend-leather." 
 
 " Say ye made a mistake — say ye made 
 a mistake, Mysie," replied the faithful se- 
 neschal, in a soothing and undertoned 
 voice ; " tak it a' on yoursel ; never let 
 the credit o' the house suffer." 
 
 " But the brood-hen," remonstrated 
 Mysie, — -"ou, she's sitting some gate aneath
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 185 
 
 the dais in the hall, and I am feared to gae 
 in in the dark for the bogle ; and if I did- 
 na see the bogle, I could as ill see the hen, 
 for it's pit mirk, and there's no another 
 light in the house, save that very blessed 
 lamp whilk the Master has in his ain hand. 
 And if I had the hen, she's to pu', and to 
 draw, and to dress ; how can I do that, and 
 them sitting by the only fire we have ?" 
 
 " Weel, weel, Mysie," said the butler, 
 " bide ye there a wee, and I'll try to get 
 the lamp wiled away frae them," 
 
 Accordingly, Caleb Balderston entered 
 the apartment, little aware that so much 
 of his bye- play had been audible there, 
 (f Well, Caleb, my old friend, is there 
 any chance of supper?" said the Master 
 of Ravenswood. 
 
 " Chance of supper, your lordship f 1 
 said Caleb, with an emphasis of strong 
 scorn at the implied doubt, — " How should 
 there be ony question of that, and we in 
 your lordship's house ?— Chance of supper,
 
 186 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 indeed ! — But yeUI no be for butcher-meat ? 
 There's walth o' fat poultry, ready either 
 for spit or brander — The fat capon, My sie," 
 he added, calling out as boldly as if such a 
 thing had been in existence. 
 
 " Quite unnecessary," said Bucklaw, who 
 deemed himself bound in courtesy to re- 
 lieve some part of the anxious Butler's per- 
 plexity, " if you have any thing cold, or 
 a morsel of bread." 
 
 " The hest of bannocks !" exclaimed Ca- 
 leb, much relieved ; " and, tor cauld meat, 
 a* that we hae is cauld aneugh, — howbeit 
 maist of the cauld meat and pastry was 
 gi'en to the poor folk after the ceremony 
 of interment, as gude reason was; never- 
 theless" 
 
 « 4 Come, Caleb," said the Master of Ra- 
 venswood, " I must cut this matter short. 
 Tins is the young laird ot Bucklaw ; he is un- 
 der hiding, and therefore you know" 
 
 " ffe'll be nae nicer than your I©] p's 
 hor our, Tse warrant," answered Caleb, 
 chearfully, with a nod of intelligence \ " I
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 187 
 
 am sorry that the gentleman is under dis- 
 tress, but I am blyth that he canna say 
 muckle again our house-keeping, for 1 be- 
 lieve his ain pinches may match ours, — 
 no that we are pinched, thank God," he 
 added, retracting the admission which he 
 had made in his first burst of joy, « but 
 nae doubt we are waur aft' than we hae been, 
 or suld be. And for eating, — what sig- 
 nifies telling a lie ? there's just the hinder 
 end of the mutton-ham that has been but 
 three times on the table, and the nearer the 
 bane the sweeter, as your honours weel 
 ken ; and — there's the heel of the ewe-milk 
 kebbuck, wi' a bit of nice butter, and — 
 and— and that's a' that's to trust to," And 
 with great alacrity he produced his Slender 
 stock of provisions, and placed them with 
 much formality upon a small round table 
 b' twixt the two gentlemen, who were not 
 deterred either by the homely quality or 
 limited quantity of the repast from doing it 
 fuil justice. Caleb in the mean- while wait- 
 ed on them with grave ofiiciousness, as if
 
 188 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 anxious to make up, by his own respectful as- 
 siduity, for the want of all other attendance. 
 
 But alas ! how little on such occasions 
 can form, however anxiously and scrupu- 
 lously observed, supply the lack of substan- 
 tial fare ! Bucklaw, who had eagerly eat a 
 considerable portion of the thrice sacked 
 mutton-ham, now began to demand ale. 
 
 iC I wadna just presume to recommend 
 our ale/' said Caleb; " the maut was ill 
 made, and there was awfu' thunner last 
 week ; but siccan water as the Tower well 
 has, ye'll seldom see, Bucklaw, and that 
 1'se engage for. 5 ' 
 
 " But if your ale is bad you can let us 
 have some wine," said Bucklaw, making a 
 grimace at the mention of the pure element 
 which Caleb so earnestly recommended. 
 
 " Wine?" answered Caleb undauntedly, 
 " eneugh of wine \ it was but twa days 
 syne — waes me for the cause— there was 
 as much wine drunk in this house as would 
 have floated a pinnace. There never was 
 lack of wine at Wolf's Crag."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 189 
 
 c< Do fetch us some then," said his mas- 
 ter, " instead of talking about it." And Ca- 
 leb boldly departed. 
 
 Every expended butt in the old cellar 
 did he set atilt and shake with the despe- 
 rate expectation of collecting enough of 
 the grounds of claret to fill the large pewter 
 measure which he carried in his hand. Alas ! 
 each had been too devoutly drained j and, 
 with all the squeezing and manoeuvring 
 which his craft as a butler suggested, he 
 could only collect about half a quart that 
 seemed presentable. Still, however, Caleb 
 was too good a general to renounce the field 
 without a stratagem to cover his retreat. 
 He undauntedly threw down an empty fla- 
 gon, as if he had stumbled at the entrance 
 of the apartment ; called upon Mysie to 
 wipe up the wine that had never been spilt, 
 and placing the other vessel on the table, 
 hoped there was still enough left for their 
 honours. There was indeed ; for even 
 Bucklaw, a sworn friend to the grape, found 
 no encouragement to renew his first attack
 
 190 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 upon the vintage of Wolf's Crag, but con- 
 tented himself, however reluctantly, with a 
 draught of fair water. Arrangements were 
 now made for his repose ; and as the secret 
 chamber was assigned tor this purpose, it 
 furnished Caleb with a first-rate and most 
 plausible apology for all deficiencies of fur- 
 niture, bedding, &c. 
 
 " For wha," said he, " would have 
 thought of the secret chaumer being need- 
 ed ? it has not been used since the time of 
 the Gowrie Conspiracy, and I durst never 
 let a woman ken of the entrance to it, or 
 your honour will allow that it wad not hae 
 been a secret chaumer lang."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOORt 191 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The hearth in h II was blick and dead, 
 
 No board was dight n bower within, 
 Nor merry bowl nor welcome bed ; 
 
 " Here's sorry cheer," quoth the Heir of Lfnne. 
 
 Old Ballad, 
 
 The feelings of the prodigal Heir of 
 Lirme, as expressed in that excellent old 
 song, when, alter dissipating his whole for- 
 tune, he found himself Mie deserted inhabi- 
 tant of " the lonely lodge," might perhaps 
 have some resemblance to those of the 
 ^Master of Ravenssvood in his deserted 
 mansion of Wolf's Crag. The Mister, how- 
 ever, had this advantage over the spend- 
 thrift in the legend, that if he was in simi- 
 lar distress, he could a >t impute it ro his 
 own impiudence. His misery had been 
 bequeathed to him by his father, and, join-
 
 192 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 ed to his high blood, and to a title which 
 the courteous might give, or the churlish 
 withhold at their pleasure, it was the whole 
 inheritance he had derived from his ances- 
 try, 
 
 Perhaps this melancholy, yet consolatory 
 reflection, crossed the mind of this unfor- 
 tunate young nobleman with a breathing of 
 comfort. Favourable to calm reflection, as 
 well as to the Muses, the morning, while it 
 dispelled the shades of night, had a com- 
 posing and sedative effect upon the stormy 
 passions by which the Master of Ravens- 
 wood had been agitated on the preceding 
 day. He now felt himself able to analyze 
 the different feelings by which he was agi- 
 tated, and much resolved to combat and 
 to subdue them. The morning, which had 
 arisen calm and bright, gave a pleasant 
 effect even to the waste moorland view 
 which was seen from the castle on looking 
 to the landward $ and the glorious ocean, 
 crisped with a thousand rippling waves of 
 silver, extended on the other side in awful
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 103 
 
 yet complacent majesty to the verge of the 
 horizon. With such scenes of calm subli- 
 mity the human heart sympathizes even in 
 its most disturbed moods, and deeds of ho- 
 nour and virtue are inspired by their ma- 
 jestic influence. 
 
 To seek out Bucklaw in the retreat 
 which he had afforded him was the first oc- 
 cupation of the Master, after he had per- 
 formed, with a scrutiny unusually severe, 
 the important task of self examination. 
 " How now, Bucklaw ?" was his morning's 
 salutation — " how like you the couch i^ 
 which the exiled Earl of Angus once slept 
 in security, when he was pursued by the 
 full energy of a king's resentment?" 
 
 " Umph !" returned the sleeper awaken- 
 ed ; "I have little to complain of where so 
 great a man was quartered before me, only 
 the mattress was of the hardest, the vault 
 somewhat damp, the rats rather more muti- 
 nous than T would have expected from the 
 state of Caleb's larder ; and if there were 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 194 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 shutters to that grated window, or a curtain 
 to the bed, I should think it, upon the 
 whole, an improvement in your accommo- 
 dations." 
 
 " It is, to be sure, forlorn enough," said 
 the Master, looking around the small vault j 
 " but if you will rise and leave it, Caleb 
 will endeavour to find you a better break- 
 fast than your supper of last night." 
 
 " Pray, let it be no better," said Buck- 
 law, getting up and endeavouring to dress 
 himself as well as the obscurity of the place 
 would permit, — " let it, I say, be no bet- 
 ter, if you mean me to persevere in my 
 proposed reformation. The very recollec- 
 tion of Caleb's beverage has done more to 
 suppress my longing to open the day with 
 a morning -draught than twenty sermons 
 would have done. And you, Master ? — have 
 you been able to give battle valiantly to 
 your bosom- snake ? You see I am in the 
 wa> >f s mothering my vipers one by one." 
 
 " I have commenced the battle, at least, 
 Bucklaw, and I have had a fair vision of an
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR, 195 
 
 angel who descended to my assistance," 
 replied the Master. 
 
 " Woes me !" said his guest, " no vision 
 can I expect, unless my aunt, Lady Girn- 
 ington, should betake herself to the tomb; 
 and then it would be the substance of her 
 heritage rather than the appearance of her 
 phantom that I should consider as the sup. 
 port of my good resolutions. — But this 
 same breakfast, Master, — does the deer that 
 is to make the pasty run yet on foot, as the 
 ballad has it ?" 
 
 " I will enquire into that matter," said his 
 entertainer ; and, leaving the apartment, he 
 went in search of Caleb, whom, after some 
 difficulty, he found in an obscure sort of 
 dungeon, which had been in former times 
 the buttery of the castle. Here the old 
 man was employed busily in the doubtful 
 task of burnishing a pewter flagon until it 
 should take the hue and semblance of sil- 
 ver-plate. " I think it may do — I think it 
 might pass, if they w r inna bring it ower 
 muckle in the light o' the window j' ? were the
 
 196 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 ejaculations which he muttered from time 
 to time as if to encourage himself in his 
 undertaking, when he was interrupted by 
 the voice of his master. " Take this," said 
 the Master of Ravens wood, " and get what 
 is necessary for the family." And with these 
 words he gave to the old butler the purse 
 which had on the preceding evening so 
 narrowly escaped the fangs of Craigengelt. 
 The old man shook his silvery and thin 
 locks, and looked with an expression of the 
 most heartfelt anguish at his master as he 
 weighed in his hand the slender treasure, 
 and said in a sorrowful voice, " And is this 
 a' that's left ?" 
 
 " All that is left at present," said the 
 Master, affecting more cheerfulness than 
 perhaps he really felt, " is just the green 
 purse and the wee pickle gowd, as the old 
 song says -> but we shall do better one day, 
 Caleb." 
 
 " Before that day comes," said Caleb, 
 " I doubt there will be an end of an auld 
 sang, and an auld serving- man to boot.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 197 
 
 But it disna become me to speak that gate 
 to your honour, and you looking sae pale. 
 Tak back the purse, and keep it to be ma- 
 king a shew before company ; for if your 
 honour would just tak a bidding, and be 
 whiles taking it out afore folk and putting 
 it up again, there's naebody would refuse 
 us trust, for a' that's come and gane yet." 
 
 * But, Caleb," said the Master, " I still 
 intend to leave this country very soon, and 
 desire to do so with the reputation of an 
 honest man, leaving no debt behind me, at 
 least of my own contracting." 
 
 " And gude right ye suld gang away as 
 a true man, and so ye shall ; for auld Caleb 
 can tak the wyte of whatever is ta'en on for 
 the house, and then it will be a' just ae man's 
 burden ; and I will live just as weel in the 
 tolbooth as out of it, and the credit of the 
 family will be a' safe and sound." 
 
 The Master endeavoured, in vain, to 
 make Caleb comprehend, that the butler's 
 incurring the responsibility of debts in his 
 ewn person would rather add to than re-
 
 198 TALES OF MY LANDLORD^ 
 
 move the objections which he had to their 
 being contracted. He spoke to a premier, 
 too busy in devising ways and means to 
 puzzle himself with refuting the arguments 
 offered against their justice or expediency. 
 
 u There's Eppie Smatrash will trust us 
 for ale," said Caleb to himself; " she has 
 lived a' her life under the family — and 
 maybe wi' a soup brandy — I canna say for 
 wine— ^she is but a lone woman, and gets 
 her claret by a runlet at a time — but I'll 
 w r ork a wee drap out o' her by fair means 
 or foul. For doos, there's the doo-cot — 
 there will be poultry amang the tenants, 
 though Luckie Chirnside says she has paid 
 the kain twice ower — We'll mak shift, an 
 it like your honour — we'll mak shift — keep 
 your heart abune, for the house sail haud 
 its credit as lang as auld Caleb is to the 
 fore." 
 
 The entertainment which Caleb's exer- 
 tions of various kinds enabled him to pre- 
 sent to the young gentlemen for three or 
 four days was certainly of no splendid de-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 199 
 
 scription, but it may readily be believed it 
 was set before no critical guests ; and even 
 the distresses, excuses, evasions, and shifts 
 of Caleb, afforded amusement to the young 
 men, and added a sort of interest to the 
 scrambling and irregular style of their 
 table. They had indeed occasion to seize 
 on every circumstance that might serve to 
 diversify or enliven time, which otherwise 
 past away so heavily. 
 
 Bucklaw, shut out from his usual field- 
 sports and joyous carouses by the neces- 
 sity of remaining concealed within the 
 walls of the castle, became a joyless and 
 uninteresting companion. When the Mas- 
 ter of Ravenswood would no longer fence 
 or play at shovel-board — when he him- 
 self had polished to the extremity the 
 coat of his palfrey with brush, curry comb, 
 and hair-cloth — when he had seen him eat 
 his provender, and gently lie down in his 
 stall, he could hardly help envying the ani- 
 mal's apparent acquiescence in a life so 
 inonotonous. " The stupid brute," he
 
 200 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 said, " thinks neither of the race-ground 
 or the hunting-field, or his green paddock 
 at Bucklaw, but enjoys himself as comfort- 
 ably when haltered to the rack in this ruin- 
 ous vault, as if he had been foaled in it ; 
 and I, who have the freedom of a prisoner 
 at large, to range through the dungeons of 
 this wretched old tower, can hardly, be- 
 twixt whistling and sleeping, contrive to 
 pass away the hour till dinner-time." 
 
 And with this disconsolate reflection 
 he wended his way to the bartizan or bat- 
 tlements of the tower, to watch what ob- 
 jects might appear on the distant moor, or 
 to pelt, with pebbles and pieces of lime, 
 the sea-mews and cormorants which esta- 
 blished themselves incautiously within the 
 reach of an idle young man. 
 
 Ravenswood, with a mind incalculably 
 deeper and more powerful than that of his 
 companion, had his own anxious subjects 
 of reflection, whicH wrought for him the 
 same unhappiness that sheer ennui and 
 want of occupation inflicted on his compa-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 201 
 
 mon. The first sight of Lucy Ashton had 
 been less impressive than her image proved 
 to be upon reflection. As the depth and 
 violence of that revengeful passion, by 
 which he had been actuated in seeking an 
 interview with the father, began to abate 
 by degrees, he looked back on his conduct 
 towards the daughter as harsh and unwor- 
 thy towards a female of rank and beauty. 
 Her looks of grateful acknowledgment — 
 her words of affectionate courtesy, had 
 been repelled with something which ap- 
 proached to disdain ; and if the Master of 
 Ravenswood had sustained wrongs at the 
 hand of Sir William Ashton, his conscience 
 told him they had been unhandsomely re- 
 sented towards his daughter. When his 
 thoughts took this turn of self-reproach, 
 the recollection of Lucy Ashton's beauti- 
 ful features, rendered yet more interesting 
 by the circumstances in which their meet- 
 ing had taken place, made an impression 
 upon his mind at once soothing and pain- 
 i 2
 
 202 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 fill. The sweetness of her voice, the deli- 
 cacy of her expressions, the vivid glow of 
 her filial affection, embittered his regret at 
 havng repulsed her gratitude with rude- 
 ness, while, at the same time, they placed 
 before his imagination a picture of the 
 most seducing sweetness. 
 
 Even young Ravenswood's strength of 
 moral feeling and rectitude of purpose at 
 once increased the danger of cherishing 
 the^e recollections, and the propensity to 
 entertain them. Firmly resolved as he was 
 to subdue, if possible, the predominating 
 vice in his character, he admitted with 
 willingness — nay, he summoned up in his 
 imagination, the ideas by which it could 
 be most powerfully counteracted ; and, 
 while he did so, a sense of his own harsh 
 conduct towards her naturally induced 
 him, as if by way of recompense, to invest 
 her with more of grace and beauty than 
 perhaps she could actually claim. 
 
 Had any one at this period told the 
 
 Master of Ravenswood that he had so late- 
 8
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 203 
 
 ly vowed vengeance against the whole li- 
 neage of him whom he considered, not un- 
 justly, as author of his father's ruin and 
 death, he might at first have repelled the 
 charge as a foul calumny ; yet, upon se- 
 rious self-examination, he would have been 
 compelled to admit, that it had, at one pe- 
 riod, some foundation in truth, though, 
 according to the present tone of his senti- 
 ments, it was difficult to believe that this 
 had really been the case. 
 
 There already existed in his bosom two 
 contradictory passions, — a desire to revenge 
 the death of his father, strangely qualified 
 by admiration of his enemy's daughter. 
 Against the former feeling he had strug- 
 gled, until it seemed to him upon the 
 wane ; against the latter he used no means 
 of resistance, for he did not suspect its ex- 
 istence. That this was actually the case, 
 was chiefly evinced by his resuming his re- 
 solution to leave Scotland. Yet, though 
 such was his purpose, he remained day af-
 
 204 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ter day at Wolf's Crag, without taking 
 measures for carrying it into execution. 
 It is true, that he had written to one or 
 two kinsmen, who resided in a distant 
 quarter of Scotland, and particularly to 
 the Marquis of A , intimating his pur- 
 pose ; and w 7 hen pressed upon the subject 
 by Bucklaw, he was wont to allege the ne- 
 cessity of waiting for their reply, especially 
 that of the Marquis, before taking so deci- 
 sive a measure. 
 
 The Marquis was rich and powerful ; 
 and although he was suspected to enter- 
 tain sentiments unfavourable to the go- 
 vernment established at the Revolution, he 
 had nevertheless address enough to head a 
 party in the Scottish Privy Council, con- 
 nected with the high church faction in 
 England, and powerful enough to menace 
 those to whom the Lord Keeper adhered, 
 with a probable subversion of their power. 
 The consulting with a personage of such 
 importance was a plausible excuse, which
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM00R. 205 
 
 Ravenswood used to Bucklaw, and proba- 
 bly to himself, for continuing his residence 
 at Wolfs Crag ; and it was rendered yet 
 more so by a general report which began 
 to be current, of a probable change of mi- 
 nisters and measures in the Scottish admi- 
 nistration. These rumours, strongly as- 
 serted by some, and as resolutely denied by 
 others, as their wishes or interest dictated, 
 found their way even into the ruinous tower 
 of Wolf's Crag, chiefly through the me- 
 dium of Caleb the butler, who, among his 
 other excellencies, was an ardent politi- 
 cian, and seldom made an excursion from 
 the old fortress to the neighbouring village 
 of Wolf'shope, without bringing back what 
 tidings were current in the vicinity. 
 
 But if Bucklaw could not offer any sa- 
 tisfactory objections to the delay of the 
 Master in leaving Scotland, he did not the 
 less suffer with impatience the state of in- 
 action to which it confined him, and it was 
 only the ascendancy which his new compa- 
 nion had acquired over him, that induced
 
 206 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 him to submit to a course of life so alien 
 to his habits and inclinations. 
 
 " You were wont to be thought a stir- 
 ring active young fellow. Master," was his 
 frequent remonstrance ; t( yet here you 
 seem determined to live on and on like a 
 rat in a hole, with this trifling difference, 
 that the wiser vermin chuses a hermitage 
 where he can find food at least 3 but as for 
 us, Caleb's excuses become longer as his 
 diet turns more spare, and I fear we shall 
 realize the stories they tell of the sloth, — - 
 we have almost eat up the last green leaf 
 on the plant, and have nothing left for it 
 but to drop from the tree and break our 
 necks/' 
 
 " Do not fear it," said Ravenswood j 
 ** there is a fate watches for us, and we too 
 have a stake in the revolution that is now 
 impending, and which already has alarmed 
 many a bosom." 
 
 " What fate — what revolution ?" answer- 
 ed his companion " We have had one 
 revolution too much already, I think."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 207 
 
 Ravenswood interrupted him by putting 
 into his hands a letter, 
 
 " O," answered Bucklaw, " my dream's 
 out— I thought I heard Caleb this morn- 
 ing pressing some unfortunate fellow to a 
 drink of cold water, and assuring him it 
 was better for his stomach in the morning 
 than ale or brandy." 
 
 " It was my Lord of A— m»s courier," 
 said Ravenswood, " who was doomed to 
 experience his ostentatious hospitality, 
 which I believe ended in sour beer and 
 herrings^-Read, and you will see the news 
 he has brought us." 
 
 <c I will as fast as I can," said Bucklaw ; 
 " but I am no great clerk, nor does his 
 lordship seem to be the first of scribes." 
 
 The reader will peruse, in a few se- 
 conds, by the aid of our friend Ballantyne's 
 types, what took Bucklaw a good half hour 
 in perusal, though assisted by the Master 
 of Ravenswood. The tenor was as fol- 
 lows : —
 
 208 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Right Honourable our Cousin, 
 " Our hearty commendations premised, 
 these come to assure you of the interest 
 which we take in your welfare, and in 
 your purposes towards its augmentation. 
 If we have been less active in shewing forth 
 our effective good will towards you than, as 
 a loving kinsman and blood-relative, we 
 would willingly have desired, we request 
 that you will impute it to lack of opportu- 
 nity to shew our good liking, not to any 
 coldness of our will. Touching your reso- 
 lution to travel in foreign parts, as at this 
 time we hold the same little advisable, in 
 respect that your ill-willers may, according 
 to the custom of such persons, impute mo- 
 tives for your journey, whereof, although 
 we know and believe you to be as clear as 
 ourselves, yet natheless their words may 
 find credence in places where the belief in 
 them may much prejudice you, and which 
 we should see with more unwillingness and 
 displeasure than with means of remedy.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 209 
 
 " Having thus, as becometh our kin- 
 dred, given you our poor mind on the 
 subject of your journeying forth of Scot- 
 land, we would willingly add reasons of 
 weight, which may materially advantage 
 you and your father's house, thereby to 
 determine you to abide at Wolf's Crag, 
 until this harvest season shall be pass- 
 ed over. But what sayeth the proverb, 
 verbum sapienti, — a word is more to him 
 that hath wisdom than a sermon to a fooU 
 And albeit we have written this poor scroll 
 with our own hand, and are well assured 
 of the fidelity of our messenger, as him that 
 is many ways bounden to us, yet so it is, 
 that sliddery ways crave wary walking, and 
 that we may not peril upon paper matters 
 which we would gladly impart to you by 
 word of mouth. Wherefore, it was our 
 purpose to have prayed you heartily to 
 come to this our barren highland country 
 to kill a stagg ( and to treat of the matters 
 which we are now more painfully inditing 
 to you anent. But commodity does not
 
 210 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 serve at present for such our meeting, 
 which, therefore, shall be deferred until 
 sic time as we mav in all mirth rehearse 
 those things whereof we now keep silence. 
 Meantime, we pray you to think that we 
 are, and will still be your good kinsman 
 and well wisher, waiting but for times of 
 whiik we do, as it were, entertain a twi- 
 light prospect, and appear and hope to be 
 al*o our effectual well-doer. And in which 
 hope we heartily write ourself, 
 Right honourable, 
 
 Your loving cousin, 
 
 A (,« 
 
 Given from our poor 
 house of B , &c. 
 
 Superscribed — " For the right honour- 
 abiCj and our honoured kinsman, the Mas- 
 ter of Raven sw,od — These, with haste, 
 haste, post- haste — ride and run until these 
 be delivered."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOIt. 211 
 
 " What think you of this epistle, Buck- 
 law V said the Master, when his compa- 
 nion had hammered out all the sense, and 
 almost all the words of which it consisted. 
 
 " Truly that the Marquis's meaning is as 
 great a riddle as his manuscript. He is 
 really in much need of Wit's Interpreter, 
 or the Complete Letter- Writer, and were 
 I you I would send him a copy by the 
 bearer. He writes you very kindly to re- 
 main wasting your time and your money 
 in this vile, stupid, oppressed country, 
 without so much as offering you the coun- 
 tenance and shelter of his house. In my 
 opinion, he has some scheme in view in 
 which he supposes you can be useful, and 
 he wishes to keep you at hand, to make 
 use of you when it ripens, reserving the 
 power of turning you adrift, should his plot 
 fail in the concoction." 
 
 " His plot ? — then you suppose it is a 
 treasonable business," answered Ravens- 
 wood. 
 
 " What else can it be ?" replied Bucklaw j
 
 212 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " the Marquis has been long suspected to 
 have an eye to Saint Germains." 
 
 " He should not engage me rashly in 
 such an adventure," said Ravenswood ; 
 * when I recollect the times of the first 
 and second Charles, and of the last James, 
 truly, I see little reason, that, as a man or 
 patriot, I should draw my sword for their 
 descendants." 
 
 " Humph !" replied Bucklaw ; " so you 
 are set yourself down to mourn over the 
 crop-eared dogs, whom honest Claverse 
 treated as they deserved." 
 
 " They first gave the dogs an ill name, 
 and then hanged them," replied Ravens- 
 wood. " I hope to see the day when justice 
 shall be open to Whig and Tory, and when 
 these nick-names shall only be used among 
 coffee- house politicians, as slut and jade are 
 among apple- women, as cant terms of idle 
 spite and rancour." 
 
 " That will not be in our days, Master— 
 the iron has entered too deeply into our 
 sides and our souls."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 213 
 
 " It will be, however, one day," replied 
 the Master ; « men will not always start at 
 these nick-names as at a trumpet-sound. 
 As social life is better protected, its com- 
 forts will become too dear to be hazarded 
 without some better reason than specula, 
 tive politics." 
 
 " It is fine talking," answered Bucklaw j 
 <c but my heart is with the old song, — 
 
 *' To see good corn upon the rigs, 
 
 And a gallows built to hang the Whigs, 
 
 And the right restored where the right should be, 
 
 O that is the thing that would wanton me." 
 
 " You may sing as loudly as you will, 
 cantabit vacuus," — answered the Master ; 
 « 6 but I believe the Marquis is too wise — 
 at least too wary, to join you in such a 
 burthen. I suspect he alludes to a revolu- 
 tion in the Scottish Privy-council, rather 
 than in the British kingdoms." 
 
 u O, confusion to your state- tricks," ex- 
 claimed Bucklaw, " your cold calcula- 
 ting manoeuvres, which old gentlemen in
 
 214 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 wrought night-caps and furred gowns exe- 
 cute like so many games at chess, and 
 displace a treasurer or lord commissioner 
 as they would take a rook or a pawn. 
 Tennis for my sport, and battle for my 
 earnest. My racket and my sword for my 
 play- thing and bread-winner. And you, 
 Master, so deep and considerate as you 
 would seem, you have that within you makes 
 the blood boil faster than suits your present 
 humour of moralizing on political truths. 
 You are one of those wise men who see 
 every thing with great composure till their 
 blood is up, and then — woe to any one who 
 should put them in mind oi their own pru- 
 dential maxims." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Ravenswood, " you read 
 me more rightly than I can myself. But 
 to think justly will certainly go some length 
 in helping me to act so. But hark ! I hear 
 Caleb tolling the dinner-bell." 
 
 " Which he always does with the more 
 sonorous grace, in proportion to the mea- 
 greness of the cheer which he has provi-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 215 
 
 ded," said Bucklaw, " as if that infernal 
 clang and jangle, which will one day bring 
 the old belfry down the cliff, could con- 
 vert a starved hen into a fat capon, and a 
 blade-bone of mutton into a haunch of 
 venison." 
 
 " I wish we may be so well off as your 
 w r orst conjectures surmize, Bucklaw, from 
 the extreme solemnity and ceremony with 
 which Caleb seems to place on the table 
 that solitary covered dish*" 
 
 " Uncover, Caleb ! uncover, for Heaven's 
 sake !" said Bucklaw j " let us have what 
 you can give us without preface — why it 
 stands well enough, man," he continued, 
 addressing impatiently the ancient butler, 
 who, without reply, kept shifting the dish, 
 until he had at length placed it with mathe- 
 matical precision in the very midst of the 
 table. 
 
 " What have we got here, Caleb ?" en- 
 quired the Master in his turn. 
 
 " Ahem ! sir, ye suld have known before ; 
 but his honour the Laird of Bucklaw is so
 
 
 216 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 impatient," answered Caleb, still holding 
 the dish with one hand, and the cover with 
 the other, with evident reluctance to dis- 
 close the contents. 
 
 ct But what is it, a God's name — not a 
 pair of clean spurs, I hope, in the Border 
 fashion of old times ?" 
 
 "Ahem ! ahem 1" reiterated Caleb, "your 
 honour is pleased to be facetious — nathe- 
 less I might presume to say it was a conve- 
 nient fashion, and used, as I have heard, in 
 an honourable and thriving family. But 
 touching your present dinner, I judged that 
 this being Saint Magdalen's Eve, who was a 
 worthy queen of Scotland in her day, your 
 honours might judge it decorous, if not al- 
 together to fast, yet only to sustain nature 
 with some slight reflection, as ane saulted 
 herring or the like." And uncovering the 
 dish, he displayed four of the savoury fishes 
 which he mentioned, adding, in a subdued 
 tone, <c that they w T ere no just common 
 herring neither, being every ane melters, 
 and sauted with uncommon care by the
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEEIMOOR. 217 
 
 housekeeper (poor Mysie) for his honour's 
 especial use." 
 
 " Out upon all apologies," said the Mas- 
 ter, " let us eat the herrings since there is 
 nothing better to be had — but I begin to 
 think with you, Bucklaw, that we are con- 
 suming the last green leaf, and that, in 
 spite of the Marquis's political machina- 
 tions, we must positively shift camp for 
 want of forage, without waiting the issue 
 of them." 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 218 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Aye, and when huntsmen wind the merry horn, 
 
 And from its covert starts the fearful prey, 
 
 Who, warm'd with youth's blood in his swelling veins, 
 
 Would like a lifeless clod outstretched lie, 
 
 Shut out from all the fair creation offers ? 
 
 Ethwald, Act J. Scene L 
 
 Light meals procure light slumbers ; and 
 therefore it is not surprising, that, consi- 
 dering the fare which Caleb's conscience, or 
 his necessity, assuming, as will sometimes 
 Happen, that disguise, had assigned to the 
 guests of Wolf's Crag, their slumbers should 
 have been short. 
 
 In the morning Bucklaw rushed into his 
 host's apartment with a loud halloo, which 
 might have awaked the dead. 
 
 f 1 Up ! up ! in the name of Heaven—
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 219 
 
 the hunters are out, the only piece of sport 
 I have seen this month ; and you lie here, 
 Master, on a bed that has little to recom- 
 mend it, except that it may be something 
 softer than the stone floor of your ances- 
 tors' vault." 
 
 " I wish," said Ravenswood, raising his 
 head peevishly, " you had forborne so ear- 
 ly a jest, Mr Hayston — it is really no plea- 
 sure to lose the very short repose which I 
 had just begun to enjoy, after a night spent 
 in thoughts upon fortune far harder than 
 my couch, Bucklaw." 
 
 * Pshaw ! pshaw !" replied his guest, 
 " get up — get up — the hounds are abroad 
 —I have saddled the horses myself, for old 
 Caleb was calling for grooms and lacqueys, 
 and would never have proceeded without 
 two hour's apology, for the absence of men 
 that were a hundred miles off— get up, 
 Master — I say the hounds are out — get up, 
 I say — the hunt is up." And off ran Buck- 
 law. 
 
 " And I say," said the Master, rising
 
 220 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 slowly, " that nothing can concern me 
 less — Whose hounds come so near us ?" 
 
 " The Honourable Lord Bittlebrain's," 
 answered Caleb, who had followed the im- 
 patient Laird of Bucklaw into his master's 
 bed-room, " and truly I ken nae title they 
 have to be yowling and howling within the 
 freedoms and immunities of your lordship's 
 right of free-forestry." 
 
 " Nor I, Caleb," replied Ravenswood, 
 11 excepting that they have bought both 
 the lands and the right of forestry, and 
 may think themselves entitled to exercise 
 the rights they have paid their money for." 
 
 " It may be sae, my lord," replied Ca- 
 leb ; " but its no gentleman's deed of them 
 to come here and exercise such like right, 
 and your lordship living at your ain cas- 
 tle of Wolf 's Crag. Lord Bittlebrain would 
 do weel to remember what his folks have 
 been." 
 
 " And we what we now are," said the 
 Master, with suppressed bitterness of feel- 
 ing, m But reach me my cloak, Caleb, and
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEKMOOR. 221 
 
 I will indulge Bucklaw with a sight of this 
 chase. It is selfish to sacrifice my guest's 
 pleasure to my own." 
 
 c< Sacrifice ?" echoed Caleb, in a tone 
 which seemed to imply the total absurdity 
 of his master making the least concession 
 in deference to any one — c< Sacrifice in- 
 deed ? — but I crave your honour's pardon — 
 and whilk doublet is it your pleasure to 
 wear ?" 
 
 <4 Any one you will, Caleb — my ward- 
 robe, I suppose, is not very extensive." 
 
 u Not extensive ?" echoed his assistant ; 
 
 II when there is the grey and silver that 
 your lordship bestowed on Hew Hilde- 
 brand, your out rider — and the French vel- 
 vet that went with my lord your father 
 (be gracious to him) — my lord your father's 
 auld wardrope to the puir friends of the fa- 
 mily, and the drap-de-berry" — 
 
 " Which I gave to you, Caleb, and which, 
 I suppose, is the only dress we have any 
 chance to come at, except that I wore yes-
 
 222 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 terday — pray, hand me that, and say no 
 more about it." 
 
 «* If your honour has a fancy," replied 
 Caleb, " and doubtless it's a sad-coloured 
 suit, and you are in mourning — neverthe- 
 less I have never try'd on the drap de- 
 berry — ill wad it become me— and your 
 honour having no change of claiths at this 
 present — and it's weel brushed, and as there 
 are leddies down yonder" — 
 
 " Ladies ?" said Ravenswood ; « and 
 what ladies ?" 
 
 " What do I ken, your lordship?— looking 
 down at them from the Warden's Tower, 
 I could but see them glent by wi* their 
 bridles ringing, and their feathers flutter- 
 ing, like the court of Elfland." 
 
 " Well, well, Caleb," replied the Master, 
 M help me on with my cloak, and hand me 
 my sword-belt. — What clatter is that in the 
 court-yard ?" 
 
 " Just Bucklaw bringing out the horses/ 
 said Caleb, after a glance through the win- 
 dow, " as if there werena men aneugh in 
 
 3
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 223 
 
 the castle, or as if I couldna serve the turn 
 of ony o' them that are out o' the gate." 
 
 " Alas ! Caleb, we should want little, if 
 your ability were equal to your will," re- 
 plied his master, 
 
 " And I hope your lordship disna want 
 that muckle," said Caleb ; " for considering 
 a' things, I trust we support the credit Gf 
 the fair.ily as weel as things will permit of. 
 Only Bucklaw is aye sae frank and sae for- 
 ward, and there he has brought out your 
 lordship's palfrey without the saddle, being 
 decored -;' the brcide*fd sumpter-clcth, 
 and I could have brushed it in a minute." 
 
 " It is all very well," said his master, esca- 
 ping from him, and descending the narrow 
 and steep winding stair-case, which led to 
 the court-yard. 
 
 '< It may be a* very weel," said Caleb, 
 somewhat peevishly ; " but if your lordship 
 wad tarry a bit, 1 will tell you what will 
 not be very weel." 
 
 " And what is that ?" said Ravenswood 
 impatiently, but stopping at the same time.
 
 224t TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Why, just that ye suld speer ony gen- 
 tleman hame to dinner ; for I canna mak 
 anither fast on a feast day, as when I cam 
 ower Bucklaw wi' Queen Margaret — and, 
 to speak truth, if your lordship wad but 
 please to cast yoursell in the way of dining 
 wi' Lord Bittlebrains, I'se warrand I wad 
 £2St about brawly for the morn ; or if, stead 
 o' that, ye wad but dine wr them at the 
 Change- house, ye might mak your shift for 
 the lawing ; ye might say ye had forgot 
 your purse — or that the carline awed you 
 rent, and that ye wad allow it in the settle- 
 ment." 
 
 u Or any other lie that came upper- 
 most, I suppose," said his master. " Good 
 bye, Caleb ; I commend your care for the 
 honour of the family." And, throwing 
 himself on his horse, he followed Bucklaw, 
 who, at the manifest risk of his neck, had 
 begun to gallop down the steep path which 
 led to the Tower, as soon as he saw Ra- 
 venswood have his foot in the stirrup. 
 
 Caleb Balderstone looked anxiously after
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEUMOOR. 225 
 
 them, and shook his thin grey locks — " And 
 I trust they will come to no evil — but they 
 have reached the plain, and folks cannot 
 say but that the horse are hearty and in 
 spirits." 
 
 Animated by the natural impetuosity 
 and fire of his temper, young Bucklaw 
 rushed on with the careless speed of a 
 whirlwind. Ravenswood was scarce more 
 moderate in his pace, for his was a mind 
 unwillingly roused from contemplative in- 
 activity, but which, when once put into 
 motion, acquired a spirit of forcible and 
 violent progression. Neither was his ea- 
 gerness proportioned in all cases to the 
 motive of impulse, but might be compared 
 to the speed of a stone, which rushes with 
 like fury down the hill, whether it was first 
 put in motion by the arm of a giant or 
 the hand of a boy. He felt, therefore, in 
 no ordinary degree, the headlong impulse 
 of the chase, a pastime so natural to 
 youth of all ranks, that it seems rather to 
 be an inherent passion in our animal na- 
 K2
 
 226 TALES OP MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ture, which levels all differences of rank 
 and education, than an acquired habit of 
 rapid exercise. 
 
 The repeated bursts of the French horn, 
 which were then always used for the encou- 
 ragement and direction of the hounds — the 
 deep, though distant baying of the pack — 
 the half-heard cries of the huntsmen — the 
 half-seen forms which were discovered now 
 emerging from glens which crossed the 
 moor, now sweeping over its surface, now 
 picking their way where it was impeded 
 by morasses, and, above all, the feeling of 
 his own rapid motion, animated the Master 
 of Ravenswood, at least for the moment, 
 above the recollections of a more painful 
 nature by which he was surrounded. The 
 first thing which recalled him to those un- 
 pleasing circumstances was feeling that his 
 horse, notwithstanding all the advantages 
 which he received from his rider's know- 
 ledge of the country, was unable to keep 
 sp with the chace. As he drew his bridle
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM00R. 227 
 
 up with the bitter feeling that his poverty 
 excluded him from the favourite recreation 
 of his forefathers, and indeed their sole em- 
 ployment when not engaged in military 
 pursuits, he was accosted by a well- mount- 
 ed stranger, who, unobserved, had kept 
 near him during the earlier part of his ca- 
 reer. 
 
 " Your horse is blown," said the man, 
 with a complaisance seldom used in a 
 hunting- field ; " Might I crave your ho- 
 nour to make use of mine ?" 
 
 <c Sir," said Ravenswood, more surprised 
 than pleased at such a proposal, M I really 
 do not know how I have merited such a 
 favour at a stranger's hands." 
 
 " Never ask a question about it, Master," 
 said Bucklaw, who, with great unwilling- 
 ness, had hitherto reined in his own gallant 
 steed, not to outride his host and enter- 
 tainer. ** Take the goods the gods pro- 
 vide you, as the great John Dryden says— 
 or stay — here, my friend, lend me that 
 horse ; I see you have been puzzled to rein
 
 228 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 him up this half hour. I'll take the devil 
 out of him for you. — Now, Master, do you 
 ride mine, which will carry you like an 
 eagle." 
 
 And throwing the rein of his own horse 
 to the Master of Ravenswood, he sprung 
 upon that which the stranger resigned to 
 him, and continued his career at full 
 speed. 
 
 " Was ever so thoughtless a being," 
 said the Master ; " and you, my friend, 
 how could you trust him with your horse ?" 
 " The horse," said the man, " belongs to 
 a person who will make your honour, or 
 any of your honourable friends, most wel- 
 come to him, flesh and fell." 
 
 " And the owner's name is ?" asked 
 
 Ravenswood. 
 
 " Your honour must excuse me, you 
 will learn that from himself— if you please 
 to take your friend's horse, and leave me 
 your galloway, I will meet you after the 
 fall of the stag, for I hear they are blowing 
 him at bay."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 229 
 
 " I believe, my friend, it will be the best 
 way to recover your good horse for you," 
 answered Ravenswood ; and mounting the 
 nag of his friend Bucklaw, he made all 
 the haste in his power to the spot where the 
 blast of the horn announced that the stag's 
 career was nearly terminated. 
 
 These jovial shouts were intermixed with 
 the huntsmen's shouts of" Hyke a Talbot ! 
 Hyke a Teviot ! now, boys, now !" and si- 
 milar cheering halloos of the olden hunt- 
 ing field, to which the impatient yelling of 
 the hounds, now close on the object of 
 their pursuit, gave a lively and unremitting 
 chorus. The straggling riders began now 
 to rally towards the scene of action, col- 
 lecting from different points as to a com- 
 mon centre. 
 
 Bucklaw kept the start which he had 
 gotten, and arrived first at the spot, where 
 the stag, incapable of sustaining a more 
 prolonged flight, had turned upon the 
 hounds, and, in the hunters phrase, was at
 
 230 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 bay. With his stately head bent down, 
 his sides white with foam, his eyes strained 
 betwixt rage and terror, the hunted animal 
 had now in his turn become an object of 
 intimidation to his pursuers. The hunters 
 came up one by one, and watched an op- 
 portunity to assail him with some advan- 
 tage, which, in such circumstances, can 
 only be done with caution. The dogs 
 stood aloof and bayed loudly, intimating at 
 once eagerness and fear, and each of the 
 sportsmen seemed to expect that his com- 
 rade would take upon him the perilous task 
 of assaulting and disabling the animal. The 
 ground, which was a hollow in the common 
 or moor, afforded little advantage for ap- 
 proaching the stag unobserved, and gene- 
 ral was the shout of triumph when Buck- 
 law, with the dexterity proper to an ac- 
 complished cavalier of the day, sprang from 
 his horse, and dashing suddenly and swiftly 
 at the stag, brought him to the ground by 
 a cut on the hind leg, with his short hunt-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 231 
 
 ing sword. The pack rushing in upon 
 their disabled enemy, soon ended his pain- 
 ful struggles, and solemnized his fall with 
 their clamour — the hunters with their horns 
 and voices whooping and blowing a inorl, 
 or death-note, which resounded far over 
 the billows of the adjacent ocean. 
 
 The huntsman then withdrew the hounds 
 from the throttled stag, and on his knee 
 presented his knife to a fair female form, 
 on a white palfrey, whose terror, or perhaps 
 her compassion, had till then kept her at 
 some distance. She wore a black silk ri- 
 ding mask, which was then a common 
 fashion, as well for preserving the com- 
 plexion from sun and rain, as from an idea 
 of decorum, which did not permit a lady to 
 appear bare-faced while engaged in a bois- 
 terous sport, and attended by a promiscu- 
 ous company. The richness of her dress, 
 however, as well as the mettle and form of 
 her palfrey, together with the sylvan com- 
 pliment paid to her by the huntsman, 
 pointed her out to Bucklaw as the princi-
 
 232 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 pal person in the field. It was not without 
 a feeling of pity, approaching even to con- 
 tempt, that this enthusiastic hunter obser- 
 ved her refuse the huntsman's knife, pre- 
 sented to her for the purpose of making 
 the first incision in the stag's breast, and 
 thereby discovering the quality of the ve- 
 nison. He felt more than half inclined to 
 pay his compliments to her; but it had been 
 Bucklaw's misfortune, that his habits of life 
 had not rendered him familiarly acquainted 
 with the higher and better classes of fe- 
 male society, so that, with all his natural 
 audacity, he felt sheepish and bashful when 
 it became necessary to address a lady of 
 distinction. 
 
 Taking unto himself heart of grace (to 
 use his own phrase,) he did at length sum- 
 mon up resolution enough to give the fair 
 huntress good time of the day, and trust 
 that her sport had answered her expecta- 
 tion. Her answer was very courteously 
 and modestly expressed, and testified some 
 gratitude to the gallant cavalier, whose ex-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 233 
 
 ploit had terminated the chase so adroitly, 
 when the hounds and huntsmen seemed 
 somewhat at a stand. 
 
 " Uds daggers and scabbard, madam,*' 
 said Bucklaw, whom this observation 
 brought at once upon his own ground, 
 " there is no difficulty or merit in that 
 matter at all, so that a fellow is not too 
 much afraid of having a pair of antlers ia 
 his guts. I have hunted at force five hun- 
 dred times, madam ; and I never yet saw 
 the stag at bay, by land or water, but I 
 durst have gone roundly in on him. It is 
 all use and wont, madam ; and I'll tell you, 
 madam, for all that, it must be done with 
 good heed and caution ; and you will do 
 well, madam, to have your hunting-sword 
 both right sharp and double-edged, that 
 you may strike either fore-handed or back- 
 handed, as you see reason, for a hurt with 
 a buck's horn is a perilous and somewhat 
 venomous matter.' 5 
 
 U I am afraid, sir," said the young lady 3
 
 S34 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 and her smile was scarce concealed by her 
 vizard, " I shall have little use for such 
 careful preparation." 
 
 " But the gentleman says very right for 
 all that, my lady," said an old huntsman, 
 who had listened to Bucklaw's harangue 
 with no small edification ; «' and I have 
 heard my father say, who was a forester at 
 the Cabrach, that a wild-boar's gaunch is 
 more easily healed than a hurt from the 
 deer's-horn, for so says the old woods- 
 man's rhyme, 
 
 " If thou be hurt with horn of hart, it brings thee to 
 
 thy bier ; 
 But tusk of boar shall leeches heal — thereof have 
 
 lesser fear.'' 
 
 " An I might advise," continued Buck- 
 law, who was now in his element, and de- 
 sirous of assuming the whole management, 
 " as the hounds are surbated and weary, 
 the head of the stag should be cabaged in 
 order to reward them j and if I may pre-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 235 
 
 sume to speak, the huntsman, who is to 
 break up the stag, ought to drink to your 
 good ladyship's health a good lusty bicker 
 of ale, or a tass of brandy ; for if he breaks 
 him up without drinking, the venison will 
 not keep well." 
 
 This very agreeable prescription recei- 
 ved, as will be readily believed, all accep- 
 tation from the huntsman, ?who in requital 
 offered to Bucklaw the compliment of his 
 knife, which the young lady had declined. 
 This polite proffer was seconded by his 
 mistress. 
 
 " I believe, sir," said she, withdrawing 
 herself from the circle, " that my father, 
 for whose amusement Lord Bittlebrain's 
 hounds have been out to-day, will readily 
 surrender all care of these matters to a 
 gentleman of your experience." 
 
 Then, bending gracefully from her horsre, 
 she wished him good morning; and attend- 
 ed by one or two domestics, who seemed 
 immediately attached to her service, retired 
 from the scene of action, to which Bucklaw 9
 
 336 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 too much delighted with an opportunity of 
 displaying his wood-craft to care about man 
 or woman either, paid little attention ; but 
 was soon stript to his doublet, with tucked- 
 up sleeves, and naked arms up to the elbows 
 in blood and grease, slashing, cutting, hack- 
 ing, and hewing, with the precision of Sir 
 Tristrem himself, and wrangling and dis- 
 puting with all around him concerning 
 nombles, briskets, flankards, and raven- 
 bones, then usual terms of the art of hunt- 
 ing, or of butchery 5 whichever the reader 
 chuses to call it, which are now probably 
 antiquated. 
 
 When Ravenswood, who followed a short 
 space behind his friend, saw that the stag 
 had fallen, his temporary ardour for the 
 chace gave way to that feeling of reluc- 
 tance which he felt, at encountering in his 
 fallen fortunes the gaze whether of equals 
 or inferiors. He reined up his horse on 
 the top of a gentle eminence, from which 
 he observed the busy and gay scene be- 
 neath him, and heard the whoops of the 
 6
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 237 
 
 huntsmen gaily mingled with the cry of 
 the dogs, and the neighing and trampling 
 of the horses. But these jovial sounds fell 
 sadly on the ear of the ruined nobleman. 
 The chace, with all its train of excitations, 
 has ever since feudal times been accounted 
 the almost exclusive privilege of the aristo- 
 cracy, and was anciently their chief em- 
 ployment in times of peace. The sense 
 that he was excluded by his situation from 
 enjoying the sylvan sport, which his rank 
 assigned to him as a special prerogative, 
 and the feeling that new men were now 
 exercising it over the downs, which had 
 been jealously reserved by his ancestors for 
 their own amusement, while he, the heir of 
 the domain, was fain to hold himself at a 
 distance from their party, awakened reflec- 
 tions calculated to depress deeply a mind 
 like Ravenswood's, which was naturally con- 
 templative and melancholy. His pride, 
 however, soon shook off this feeling of de* 
 jection, and it gave way to impatience up- 
 on finding that his volatile friend Bucklaw
 
 238 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 seemed in no hurry to return with his bor- 
 rowed steed, which Ravenswood, before 
 leaving the field, wished to see restored to 
 the obliging owner. As he was about to 
 move towards the groupe of assembled 
 huntsmen, he was joined by a horseman, 
 who like himself had kept aloof during the 
 fall of the deer. 
 
 This personage seemed stricken in years. 
 He wore a scarlet cloak, buttoning high 
 upon his face, and his hat was unlooped 
 and slouched, probably by way of defence 
 against the weather. His horse, a strong 
 and steady palfrey, was calculated for a 
 rider who proposed to witness the sport of 
 the day, rather than to share it. An at- 
 tendant waited at some distance, and the 
 whole equipment was that of an elderly 
 gentleman of rank and fashion. He ac- 
 costed Ravenswood very politely, but not 
 without some embarrassment. "You seem 
 a gallant young gentleman, sir," he said, 
 « and yet appear as indifferent to this brave
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 239 
 
 sport as if you had my load of years on your 
 shoulders." 
 
 a I have followed the sport with more 
 spirit on other occasions," replied the Mas- 
 ter ; " at present late events in my family 
 must be my apology — and besides," he 
 added, " I was but indifferently mounted 
 at the beginning of the sport." 
 
 " I think," said the stranger, " one of 
 my attendants had the sense to accommo- 
 date your friend with a horse." 
 
 " I was much indebted to his politeness 
 and yours," replied Ravens wood. * My 
 friend is Mr Hayston of Bucklaw, whom I 
 dare say you will be sure to find in the 
 thick of the keenest sportsmen. He will 
 return your servant's horse, and take my 
 poney in exchange — and will add," he con- 
 cluded, turning his horse's head from the 
 stranger, " his best acknowledgments to 
 mine for the accommodation." 
 
 The Master of Ravenswood having thus 
 expressed himself, began to move home-
 
 240 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ward, with the manner of one who has ta- 
 ken leave of his company. But the stran- 
 ger was not so to be shaken off. He turned 
 his horse at the same time, and rode in the 
 same direction so near to the Master, that, 
 without out- riding him, which the formal 
 civility of the time, and the respect due to 
 the stranger's age and recent civility, would 
 have rendered improper, he could not easi- 
 ly escape from his company. 
 
 The stranger did not long remain silent. 
 16 This then," he said, " is the ancient Cas- 
 tle of Wolf's Crag, often mentioned in the 
 Scottish records," looking to the old tower 
 then darkening under the influence of a 
 stormy cloud, that formed its back ground ; 
 for at the distance of a short mile, the chace 
 having been circuitous had brought the 
 hunters back nearly to the point which 
 they had attained when Ravenswood and 
 Bucklaw set forth to join them. 
 
 Ravenswood answered this observation 
 with a cold and distant assent.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 24<1 
 
 " It was, as I have heard," continued the 
 stranger, unabashed by his coldness, " one 
 of the most early possessions of the honour- 
 able family of Ravenswood." 
 
 " Their earliest possession," answered 
 the Master, " and probably their latest." 
 
 « I — I — I should hope not, sir," answer- 
 ed the stranger, clearing his voice with 
 more than one cough, and making an effort 
 to overcome a certain degree of hesitation, 
 — " Scotland knows what she owes to this 
 ancient family, and remembers their fre- 
 quent and honourable achievements. I 
 have little doubt, that, were it properly re- 
 presented to her majesty that so ancient and 
 noble a family were subjected to dilapida- 
 tion — I mean to decay — means might be 
 found, ad re-cediflcandam antiquum do- 
 mum" 
 
 " I will save you the trouble, sir, of dis 
 cussing this point farther," said the Master 
 haughtily. " I am the heir of that unfor- 
 tunate House — I am the Master of Ravens- 
 
 vol. I. L 

 
 24.2 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 wood — and you, sir, who seem to be a gen- 
 tleman of fashion and education, must be 
 sensible, that the next mortification after 
 being unhappy, is the being loaded with 
 nndesired commiseration." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir," said the elder 
 liorseman — " I did not know — I am sen- 
 sible I ought not to have mentioned — no- 
 thing could be farther from my thoughts 
 than to suppose" 
 
 " There are no apologies necessary, sir," 
 answered Ravenswood, "for here, I suppose, 
 our roads separate, and I assure you that 
 we part in perfect equanimity on my side." 
 
 As speaking these words, he directed 
 his horse's head towards a narrow cause- 
 way, the ancient approach to Wolf's Crag, 
 of which it might be truly said, in the 
 words of the Bard of Hope, that 
 
 " Frequented by few was the grass-cover'd road. 
 
 Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trode, 
 To his hills that encircle the sea." 
 
 But ere he could disengage himself from
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 243 
 
 his companion, the young lady we have al- 
 ready mentioned came up to join the stran- 
 ger, followed by her servants. 
 
 " Daughter," said the stranger to the 
 masked damsel, " this is the Master of Ra- 
 venswood." 
 
 It would have been natural that the gen- 
 tleman should have replied to this intro- 
 duction ; but there was something in the 
 graceful form and retiring modesty of the 
 female to whom he was thus presented, 
 which not only prevented him from enqui- 
 ring to whom, and by whom, the annuncia- 
 tion had been made, but which even for 
 the time struck him absolutely mute. At 
 this moment the cloud which had long 
 lowered above the height on which Wolfs 
 Crag is situated, and which now, as it ad- 
 vanced, spread itself in darker and denser 
 folds both over land and sea, hiding the 
 distant objects and obscuring those which 
 were nearer, turning the sea to a leaden 
 complexion, and the heath to a darker
 
 £44 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 brown, began now, by one or two distant 
 peals, to announce the thunders with which 
 it was fraught ; while two flashes of light- 
 ning, following each other very closely, 
 shewed in the distance the grey turrets of 
 Wolf's Crag, and, more nearly, the rolling 
 billows of the sea, crested suddenly with 
 red and dazzling light. 
 
 The horse of the fair huntress shewed 
 symptoms of impatience and restiveness, and 
 it became impossible for Ravenswood, as 
 a man or a gentleman, to leave her abruptly 
 to the care of an aged father or her menial 
 attendants. He was, or believed himself, ob- 
 liged in courtesy to take hold of her bridle, 
 and assist her in managing the unruly ani- 
 mal. While he was thus engaged, the old 
 gentleman observed that the storm seemed 
 to increase — that they were far from Lord 
 Bittlebrain's, whose guests they were for 
 the present — and that he would be obliged 
 to the Master of Ravenswood to point him 
 the way to the nearest place of refuge
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 245 
 
 from the storm. At the same time he cast 
 a wistful and embarrassed look towards the 
 Tower of Wolf's Crag, which seemed to 
 render it almost impossible for the owner 
 to avoid offering an old man and a lady, 
 in such an emergency, the temporary use 
 of his house. Indeed, the condition of the 
 young huntress rendered this courtesy in- 
 dispensable ; for, in the course of the ser- 
 vices which he rendered, he could not but 
 perceive that she trembled much, and was 
 extremely agitated, from her apprehen- 
 sions, doubtless, of the coming storm. 
 
 I know not if the Master of Ravens- 
 wood shared her terrors, but he was not 
 entirely free from something like a similar 
 disorder of nerves, as he observed, " The 
 Tower of Wolf's Crag has nothing to 
 ofier beyond the shelter of its roof, but if 
 that can be acceptable at such a moment" — 
 he paused, as if the rest of the invitation 
 stuck in his throat. But the old gentle- 
 man, his self-constituted companion, did 
 not allow him to recede from the invita-
 
 246 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tion, which he had rather suffered to be 
 implied than directly expressed, 
 
 " The storm," said the stranger, " must 
 be an apology for waiving ceremony — his 
 daughter's health was weak — she had suf- 
 fered much from a recent alarm — he trust- 
 ed their intrusion on the Master of Ravens- 
 wood's hospitality would not be altogether 
 unpardonable in the circumstances of the 
 case — his child's safety must be dearer to 
 him than ceremony." 
 
 There was no room to retreat. The 
 Master of Ravenswood led the way, con- 
 tinuing to keep hold of the lady's bridle to 
 prevent her horse from starting at some 
 unexpected explosion of thunder. He was 
 not so bewildered in his own hurried re- 
 flections, but what he remarked, that the 
 deadly paleness which had occupied her 
 neck and temples, and such of her fea- 
 tures as the riding-mask left exposed, gave 
 place to a deep and rosy suffusion ; and 
 he felt with embarrassment that a flush 
 was by tacit sympathy excited in his own
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 247 
 
 cheeks. The stranger, with watchfulness 
 which he disguised under apprehensions 
 for the safety of his daughter, continued 
 to observe the expression of the Master's 
 countenance as they ascended the hill to 
 Wolfs Crag. When they stood in front of 
 that ancient fortress, Ravenswood's emo- 
 tions were of a very complicated descrip- 
 tion ; and as he led the way into the rude 
 court-yard, and hallooxl to Caleb to give 
 attendance, there was a tone of sternness, 
 almost of fierceness, which seemed some- 
 what alien from the courtesies of one who 
 is receiving honoured guests. 
 
 Caleb came, and not the paleness of the 
 fair stranger at the first approach of the 
 thunder, nor the paleness of any other 
 person, in any other circumstances what- 
 soever, equalled that which overcame the 
 thin cheeks of the disconsolate seneschal, 
 when he beheld this accession of guests to 
 the castle, and reflected that the dinner 
 hour was fast approaching. " Is he daft ?" 
 he muttered to himself, — M is he clean daft
 
 248 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 a'thegither, to bring lords and leddies, and 
 a host of folks behint them, and twal-o^- 
 clock chappit?" Then approaching the 
 Master, he craved pardon for having per- 
 mitted the rest of his people to go out to 
 see the hunt, observing, that " they wad 
 never think of his lordship coming back 
 till mirk night, and that he dreaded they 
 might play the truant/' 
 
 " Silence, Balderstone !" said Ravens- 
 wood sternly ; " your folly is unseasonable. 
 — Sir and madam," he said, turning to his 
 guests, M this old man, and a yet older 
 and more imbecile female domestic, form 
 my whole retinue. Our means of refresh- 
 ing you are more scanty than even so mi- 
 serable a retinue, and a dwelling so dilapi- 
 dated, might seem to promise you ; but, 
 such as they may chance to be, you may 
 command them." 
 
 The elder stranger, struck with the ruin- 
 ed and even savage appearance of the tow- 
 er, rendered still more disconsolate by the 
 lowering and gloomy sky, and perhaps not 
 altogether unmoved by the grave and de-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEPMOOR. 249 
 
 termined voice in which their host address- 
 ed them, looked round him anxiously, as 
 if he half repented the readiness with which 
 he had accepted the offered hospitality. 
 But there was now no opportunity of re- 
 ceding from the situation in which he had 
 placed himself. 
 
 As for Caleb, he was so utterly stunned 
 by his master's public and unqualified ac- 
 knowledgment of the nakedness of ihe land, 
 that for two minutes he could only mutter 
 within his hebdomadal beard, which had 
 not felt the razor for six days, " He's 
 daft — clean daft — red wud, and awa' wl't ! 
 But de'il hae Caleb Balderstone," said he, 
 collecting his powers of invention and re- 
 source, u if the family shall lose credit, if 
 he were as mad as the seven wise masters." 
 He then boldly advanced, and in spite rf 
 his master's frowns and impatience, gravely 
 asked, " if he should not serve up some 
 slight refection for the young leddy, and a 
 glass of tokay, or old sack — or'' — 
 
 " Truce to this ill-timed foolery," said 
 
 L 2
 
 250 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the Master, sternly — " put the horses into 
 the stable, and interrupt us no more with 
 your absurdities." 
 
 " Your honour's pleasure is to be obeyed 
 aboon a' things," said Caleb ; * neverthe- 
 less, as for the sack and tokay which it is 
 not your noble guest's pleasure to accept" — 
 
 But here the voice of Bucklaw, heard 
 even above the clattering of hoofs and 
 braying of horns with which it mingled, 
 announced that he was scaling the path- 
 way to the tower at the head of the greater 
 part of the gallant hunting train. 
 
 " The dVil be in me," said Caleb, taking 
 heart in spite of this new invasion of Phi- 
 listines, " if they shall beat me yet. The 
 heliicat ne'er-do-weel ! — to bring such a 
 crew here, that will expect to find brandy 
 as plenty as ditch-water, and he kenning 
 sae absolutely the case in whilk we stand 
 for the present. But I trow, could I get 
 rid of these gaping gowks of flunkies that 
 hae won into the court-yard at the back of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOCR, 251 
 
 their betters, as mony st man gets prefer- 
 ment, I could make a' right yet." 
 
 The measures which he took to execute 
 this dauntless resolution, the reader shall 
 learn in the next chapter,
 
 252 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 With throat unslaked, with black lips baked, 
 
 Agape they heard him call ; 
 Gramercy they for joy did grin, 
 And all at once their breath drew in 
 
 As they had been drinking all. 
 
 Coleridge's " Rime of the Ancient Mariner." 
 
 Hayston of Bucklavv was one of the 
 thoughtless class who never hesitate between 
 their friend and their jest. When it was 
 announced that the principal persons of the 
 chace had taken their route towards Wolf's 
 Crag, the huntsmen, as a point of civility, 
 offered to transfer the venison to that man- 
 sion, a profTer which was readily accepted 
 by Bucklaw, who thought much of the as- 
 tonishment which their arrival in full body 
 would occasion poor old Caleb Balderstone, 
 and very little of the dilemma to which he
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEIUIOOR. 253 
 
 was about to expose his friend the Master, 
 so ill circumstanced to receive such a par- 
 ty. But in old Caleb he had to do with a 
 crafty and alert antagonist, prompt at sup- 
 plying, upon all emergencies, evasions and 
 excuses suitable, as he thought, to the dig- 
 nity of the family. 
 
 " Praise be blessed !" said Caleb to him- 
 self, " ae leaf of the muckle gate has been 
 swung to wi' yestreen's wind, and I think I 
 can manage to shut the ither." 
 
 But he was desirous, like a prudent go- 
 vernor, at the same time to get rid, if pos- 
 sible, of the internal enemy, in which light 
 he considered almost every one who eat 
 and drank, ere he took measures to exclude 
 those whom their jocund noise now pro- 
 nounced to be near at hand. He waited, 
 therefore, with impatience until his master 
 had shewn his two principal guests into the 
 tower, and then commenced his operations. 
 
 * c I think," said he to the stranger menials, 
 " that, as they are bringing the stag's head 
 to the castle in all honour, we, who are
 
 254s TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 in-dwellers, should receive them at the 
 gate." 
 
 The unwary grooms had no sooner hur- 
 ried out, in compliance with this insidious 
 hint, than one folding door of the ancient 
 gate being already closed by the wind, as 
 has been already intimated, honest Caleb 
 lost no time in shutting the other with a 
 clang, which resounded from donjon-vault 
 to battlement. Having thus secured the 
 pass, he forthwith indulged the excluded 
 huntsmen in brief parley, from a small pro- 
 jecting window, or shot-hole,through which, 
 in former days, the warders were wont to 
 reconnoitre those who presented themselves 
 before the gates. He gave them to under- 
 stand, in a short and pithy speech, that the 
 gate of the Castle was never on any ac- 
 count opened during meal- times— that his 
 honour, the Master of Ravenswood, and 
 some guests of quality, had just sat down 
 to dinner — that there was excellent brandy 
 at the hostler- wife's at Wolf's-hope down be- 
 low — and he held out some obscure hope
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 255 
 
 that the reckoning would be discharged by 
 the Master ; but this was uttered in a very 
 dubious and oracular strain, for, like Louis 
 XIV., Caleb Balderstone hesitated to carry 
 finesse so far as direct falsehood, and was 
 content to deceive, if possible, without di- 
 rectly lying. 
 
 This annunciation was received with sur- 
 prise by some, with laughter by others, and 
 with dismay by the expelled lacqueys, who 
 endeavoured to demonstrate that their right 
 of re-admission, for the purpose of waiting 
 upon their master and mistress, was at least 
 indisputable. But Caleb was not in a hu- 
 mour to understand or admit any distinc- 
 tions. He stuck to his original proposition 
 with that dogged, but convenient pertina- 
 city, which is armed against all conviction 
 and deaf to all reasoning. Bucklaw now 
 came from the rear of the party, and de- 
 manded admittance in a very angry tone. 
 But the resolution of Caleb was immo- 
 vable. 
 
 " If the king on the throne were at the 
 gate," he declared, " that his ten fingers
 
 256 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 should never open it contrail* to the esta- 
 blished use and wont of the family of Ra- 
 vens wood, and his duty as their head- ser- 
 vant." 
 
 Bucklaw was now extremely incensed, 
 and with more oaths and curses than we 
 care to repeat, declared himself most un- 
 worthily treated, and demanded perempto- 
 rily to speak with the Master of Ravens- 
 wood himself. But to this also Caleb turn- 
 ed a deaf ear. 
 
 " He's as soon a-bleeze as a tap of tow 
 the lad Bucklaw," he said, " but the de'il 
 of ony master's face he shall see till he has 
 sleepit and waken'd on't. Hell ken him- 
 sel better the morn's morning. It sets the 
 like of him, to be bringing a crew of 
 drunken hunters here, when he kens there 
 is but little preparation to sloken his ain 
 drought." And he disappeared from the 
 window, leaving them all to digest their ex- 
 clusion as they best might. 
 
 But another person, of whose presence, 
 Caleb, in the animation of the debate, was
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 257 
 
 not aware, had listened in silence to its pro- 
 gress. This was the principal domestic of 
 the stranger — a man of trust and conse- 
 quence — the same, who, in the hunting- 
 field, had accommodated Bucklaw with the 
 use of his horse. He was in the stable 
 when Caleb had contrived the expulsion 
 of his fellow- servants, and thus avoided 
 sharing the same fate from which his per- 
 sonal importance would certainly not have 
 otherwise saved him. 
 
 This personage perceived the manoeuvre 
 of Caleb, easily appreciated the motive of 
 his conduct, and knowing his master's in- 
 tentions towards the family of Ravens wood, 
 had no difficulty as to the line of conduct 
 he ought to adopt. He took the place of 
 Caleb (unperceived by the latter,) at the 
 post of audience which he had just left, 
 and announced to the assembled domestics, 
 u that it was his master's pleasure that 
 Lord Bittlebrain's retinue and his own 
 should go down to the adjacent change- 
 house, and call for what refreshments they
 
 25$ TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 might have occasion for, and he should 
 take care to discharge the iawing." 
 
 The jolly troop of huntsmen retired from 
 the inhospitable gate of Wolf's Crag, exe- 
 crating, as they descended the steep path- 
 way, the niggard and unworthy disposition 
 of the proprietor, and damning, with more 
 than sylvan licence, both the castle and its 
 inhabitants. Bucklaw, with many qualities 
 which would have made him a man of worth 
 and judgment in more favourable circum- 
 stances, had been so utterly neglected in 
 point of education, that he was apt to 
 think and feel according to the ideas of 
 the companions of his pleasures. The 
 praises which had recently been heaped 
 upon himself he contrasted with the gene- 
 ral abuse now levelled against Ravenswood 
 —he recalled to his mind the dull and mo- 
 notonous days he had spent in the tower 
 of Wolf's Crag, compared with the jovial- 
 ity of his usual life— he felt, with great 
 indignation, his exclusion from the castle, 
 which he considered as a gross affront, and 
 
 3
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 259 
 
 every mingled feeling led him to break off 
 the union which he had formed with the 
 Master of Ravenswood. 
 
 On arriving at the Change-house of the 
 village of Wolf'shope, he unexpectedly 
 met with an old acquaintance just alight- 
 ing from his horse. This was no other 
 than the very respectable Captain Craig- 
 engelt, who immediately came up to him, 
 and, without appearing to retain any re- 
 collection of the indifferent terms on which 
 they had parted, shook him by the hand 
 in the warmest manner possible. A warm 
 grasp of the hand was what Bucklaw 
 could never help returning with cordi- 
 ality, and no sooner had Craigengelt felt 
 the pressure of his fingers than he knew 
 the terms on which he stood with him. 
 
 " Long life to you, Bucklaw/ 5 he ex- 
 claimed ; " there's life for honest folks in 
 this bad world yet 1" 
 
 The Jacobites at this period, with what 
 propriety I know not, used, it must be no- 
 ticed, the term of honest men as peculiarly 
 descriptive of their own party.
 
 260 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Ay, and for others besides, it seems," 
 answered Bucklaw ; " otherways how came 
 you to venture hither, noble Captain ?" 
 
 " Who — I ? — I am as free as the wind at 
 Martinmas, that pays neither land-rent nor 
 annual ; all is explained — all settled with 
 the honest old drivellers yonder of Auld 
 Reekie — Pooh ! pooh ! they dared not 
 keep me a w-eek of days in durance. A 
 certain person has better friends among 
 them than you wot of, and can serve a 
 friend when it is least likely." 
 
 f* Pshaw !" answered Hayston, who per- 
 fectly knew and thoroughly despised the 
 character of this man, " none of your cog- 
 ging gibberish — tell me truly, are you at 
 liberty and in safety ?" 
 
 M Free and safe as a whig baillie on the 
 causeway of his own borough, or a canting 
 presbyterian minister in his own pulpit — 
 and I came to tell you that you need not 
 remain in hiding any longer." 
 
 " Then I suppose you call yourself my 
 friend, Captain Craigengelt ?? said Bucklaw. 
 
 " Friend I" replied Craigengelt, M my
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 26 1 
 
 cock of the pit? why, I am thy very Achates, 
 man, as 1 have heard scholars say — hand 
 and glove — bark and tree — thine to life and 
 death." 
 
 " I'll try that in a moment," said Buck- 
 law. " Thou art never without money, 
 however thou comest by it. — Lend me 
 two pieces to wash the dust out of these 
 honest fellows' throats, in the first place, 
 and then" 
 
 " Two pieces ?" — twenty are at thy ser- 
 vice, my lad — and twenty to back them." 
 
 " Aye — say you so?" said Bncklaw, pau- 
 sing, for his natural penetration led him to 
 suspect some extraordinary motive lay 
 couched under such an excess of genero- 
 sity. " Craigengelt, you are either an ho- 
 nest fellow in right good earnest, and I 
 scarce know how to believe that — or you 
 are cleverer than I took you for, and I 
 scarce know how to believe that either." 
 
 " L?u?i riempeche pas V autre" said Craig- 
 engelt, 6t touch and try — the gold is good 
 as ever was weighed."
 
 £>6& TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 He put a quantity of gold pieces into 
 Bucklaw's hand, which he thrust into his 
 pocket without either counting or looking 
 at them, only observing, " that he was so 
 circumstanced that he must enlist, though 
 the devil offered the press-money ;" and 
 then turning to the huntsmen, he called 
 out, <c Come along, my lads— all is at my 
 cost." 
 
 " Long life to Bucklaw !" shouted the 
 men of the chase. 
 
 " And d it to him that takes his share 
 
 of the sport, and leaves the hunters as dry 
 as a drum-head," added another, by way 
 of corollary. 
 
 < k The house of Ravenswood was ance a 
 gudeand an honourable house in this land," 
 said an old man, " but it's lost its credit 
 this day, and the Master has shewn himself 
 no better than a greedy cullion." 
 
 And with this conclusion, which was un- 
 animously agreed to by all who heard it, 
 they rushed tumultuously into the house of
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEftMOOK. 263 
 
 entertainment, where they revelled till a 
 late hour. The jovial temper of Bucklaw 
 seldom permitted him to be nice in the 
 choice of his associates ; and on the pre- 
 sent occasion, when his joyous debauch re- 
 ceived additional zest from the interven- 
 tion of an unusual space of sobriety, and 
 almost abstinence, he was as happy in lead- 
 ing the revels, as if his comrades had been 
 sons of princes. Craigengelt had his own 
 purposes, in fooling him up to the top of 
 his bent j and having some low humour, 
 much impudence, and the power of sing- 
 ing a good song, understanding besides 
 thoroughly the disposition of his regained 
 associate, he readily succeeded in invol- 
 ving him bumper-deep in the festivity of 
 the meeting. 
 
 A very different scene was in the mean- 
 time passing in the tower of Wolf's Crag. 
 When the Master of Ravenswood left the 
 court-yard, too much busied with his own 
 perplexed reflections to pay attention to
 
 264 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 the manoeuvre of Caleb, he ushered his 
 go est s imo the great hall of the castle. 
 
 The indefatigable Baiderstone, who, from 
 choice or habit, worked on from morning 
 to night, had, by degrees, cleared this de- 
 solate apartment of the confused reliques 
 of the funeral banquet, and restored it to 
 some order. But not all his skill and la- 
 bour, in disposing to advantage the little 
 furniture which remained, could remove 
 the dark and disconsolate appearance of 
 those ancient and disfurnished walls. The 
 narrow windows, flanked by deep inden- 
 tures into the wall, seemed formed rather 
 to exclude than to admit the cheerful light ; 
 and the heavy and gloomy appearance of 
 the thunder. sky added still further to the 
 obscurity. 
 
 As Ravenswood, with the grace of a 
 gallant of that period, but not without a 
 certain stiffness and embarrassment of man- 
 ners, handed the young lady to the upper 
 end of the apartment, her father remained
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERAIOOK. %65 
 
 standing more near to the door, as if about 
 to disengage himself from his hat and cloak. 
 At this moment the clang of the portal was 
 heard, a sound at which the stranger start- 
 ed, stepped hastily to the window, and 
 looked with an air of alarm at Ravens- 
 wood, when he saw that the gate of the 
 court was shut, and his domestics ex- 
 cluded. 
 
 " You have nothing to fear, sir,'" said 
 Ravens wood, gravely ; " this roof retains 
 the means of giving protection, though not 
 welcome. Methinks," he added, " it is time 
 that I should know who they are that have 
 thus highly honoured my ruined dwelling f M 
 
 The young lady remained silent and mo- 
 tionless, and the father, to whom the ques- 
 tion was more directly addressed, seemed 
 in the situation of a performer who has 
 ventured to take upon himself a part which 
 he finds himself unable to perform, and 
 who comes to a pause when it is most to 
 be expected that he should speak. While 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 %66 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 he endeavoured to cover his embarrass- 
 ment with the exterior ceremonials of a 
 well-bred demeanour, it was obvious, that 
 in making his bow, one foot shuffled for* 
 ward, as if to advance — the other backward, 
 as if with the purpose of escape — and as 
 he undid the cape of his coat, and raised 
 his beaver from his face, his fingers fum- 
 bled as if the one had been linked with 
 rusted iron, or the other had weighed equal 
 with a stone of lead. The darkness of the 
 sky seemed to increase, as if to supply the 
 want of those mufflings which he laid aside 
 with such evident reluctance. The impa- 
 tience of Ravenswood increased also in 
 proportion to the delay of the stranger, 
 and he appeared to labour under agita- 
 tion, though probably from a very different 
 cause. He laboured to restrain his desire 
 to speak, while the stranger, to all appear- 
 ance, was at a loss for words to express 
 what he felt it necessary to say. At length 
 Ravenswood's impatience broke the bounds 
 he had imposed upon it
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMCOa. 267 
 
 " I perceive," he said, " that Sir Wil- 
 liam Ashton is unwilling to announce him- 
 self in the Castle of Wolf *s Crag." 
 
 a I had hoped it was unnecessary," said 
 the Lord Keeper, relieved from his silence, 
 as a spectre by the voice of the exorcist ; 
 " and I am obliged to you, Master of Ra- 
 venswood, for breaking the ice at once, 
 where circumstances — unhappy circum- 
 stances let me call them — rendered self- 
 introduction peculiarly awkward." 
 
 " And I am not then," said the Master 
 of Ravenswood, gravely, u to consider the 
 honour of this visit as purely accidental." 
 
 " Let us distinguish a little," — said the 
 Keeper, assuming an appearance of ease 
 which perhaps his heart was a stranger to ; 
 " this is an honour which I have eagerly 
 desired for some time, but which I might 
 never have obtained, save for the accident 
 of the storm. My daughter and I are alike 
 grateful for this opportunity of thanking 
 the brave man, to whom she owes her life 
 and I mine. v
 
 268 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 The hatred which divided the great fa- 
 milies in the feudal times had lost little of 
 its bitterness, though it no longer express- 
 ed itself in deeds of open violence. Not 
 the feelings which Ravenswood had begun 
 to entertain towards Lucy Ashton, not the 
 hospitality due to his guests, were able en- 
 tirely to subdue, though they warmly com- 
 batted, the deep passions which arose with- 
 in him, at beholding his father's foe standing 
 in the hall of the family of which he had in 
 a great measure accelerated the ruin. His 
 looks glanced from the father to the daugh- 
 ter with an irresolution, of which Sir Wil- 
 liam Ashton did not think it proper to 
 await the conclusion. He had now disem- 
 barrassed himself of his riding-dress, and 
 walking up to his daughter, he undid the 
 fastening of her mask. 
 
 " Lucy, my love," he said, raising her, 
 ajid leading her towards Ravenswood, 
 " lay aside your mask, and let us express 
 our gratitude to the Master openly and 
 barefaced."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 269 
 
 " If he will condescend to accept it," 
 was all that Lucy uttered, but in a tone so 
 sweetly modulated, and which seemed to 
 imply at once a feeling and a forgiving of the 
 cold reception to which they were exposed, 
 that, coming from a creature so innocent 
 and so beautiful, her words cut Ravens- 
 wood to the very heart for his harshness. He 
 muttered something of surprise, something 
 of confusion, and, ending with a warm and 
 eager expression of bis happiness at being 
 able to afford her shelter under his roofi he 
 saluted her, as the ceremonial of the time 
 enjoined upon such occasions. Their cheeks 
 had touched and were withdrawn from each 
 other — iiavenbwood had not quitted the 
 hand which he had taken in kiixhy cour- 
 tesy — a blush which attached more conse- 
 quence by tar than was usual to such cere- 
 mony still mantled on Lucy Ashton's beau- 
 tiful cheek, when the apartment was sud- 
 denly illuminated by a flash of lightning, 
 which seemed absolutely to swallow the 
 darkness of the hall. Every object might
 
 279 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 have been for an instant seen distinctly. 
 The slight and half-sinking form of Lucy 
 Ashton, the well-proportioned and stately 
 figure of Ravenswood, his dark features, 
 and the fiery, yet irresolute expression of 
 his eyes, — the old arms and scutcheons 
 which hung on the walls of the apartment, 
 were for an instant distinctly visible to the 
 Keeper by a strong red brilliant glare of 
 light. Its disappearance was almost in- 
 stantly followed by a burst of thunder, for 
 the storm-cloud was very near the castle ; 
 and the peal was so sudden and dreadful, 
 that the old tower rocked to its founda- 
 tion, and every inmate concluded it was 
 falling upon them. The soot, which had 
 not been disturbed for centuries, showered 
 down the huge tunnelled chimnies — lime 
 and dust flew in clouds from the wall ; and 
 whether the lightning had actually struck 
 the castle, or whether through the violent 
 concussion of the air, several heavy stones 
 were hurled from the mouldering battle- 
 ments into the roaring sea beneath. It
 
 THE hiilDE OF LAMMERM00R. &71 
 
 might seem as if the ancient founder of the 
 castle were bestriding the thunder-storm, 
 and proclaiming his displeasure at the re- 
 conciliation of his descendant with fche ene- 
 my of his house. 
 
 The consternation was general, and it re- 
 quired the efforts of both the Lord Keeper 
 and Ravenswood to keep Lucy from faint- 
 ing. Thus was the Master a second time 
 engaged in the most delicate and danger- 
 ous of all tasks, that of affording support 
 and assistance to a beautiful and helpless 
 being, whose idea, as seen before in a simi- 
 lar situation, had already become a favour- 
 ite of his imagination, both when awake 
 and when slumbering. If the Genius of 
 the House really condemned a union be- 
 twixt the Master and his fair guest, the 
 means by which he expressed his senti- 
 ments were as unhappily chosen as if he 
 had been a mere mortal. The train of lit- 
 tle attentions, absolutely necessary to sooth 
 the young lady's mind, and aid her in com- 
 posing her spirits, necessarily threw the Mas-
 
 272 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 ter of Ravenswood into such an intercourse 
 with her father,aswas calculated, for the mo- 
 ment at 1 east, to break down the barrier of feu- 
 dal enmity which divided them. To express 
 himself churlishly, or even coldly, towards 
 an old man, whose daughter (and such a 
 daughter) lay before them, overpowered 
 with natural terror — and all this under his 
 own roof — the thing was impossible ; and 
 by the time that Lucy, extending a hand 
 to each, was able to thank them for their 
 kindness, the Master felt that his senti- 
 ments of hostility towards the Lord Keep- 
 er were by no means those most predomi- 
 nant in his bosom. 
 
 The weather, her state of health, the 
 absence of her attendants, all prevent- 
 ed the possibility of Lucy Ashton renew- 
 ing her journey to Bittlebrains- House, 
 which was full five miles distant ; and the 
 Master of Ravenswood could not but, in 
 common courtesy, offer the shelter of his 
 roof for the rest of the day and for the 
 night. But a flush of less soft expression^
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEllMOOR. 273 
 
 a look much more habitual to his features, 
 resumed predominance when he mentioned 
 how meanly he was provided for the enter- 
 tainment of his guests. 
 
 " Do not mention deficiencies," said the 
 Lord Keeper, eager to interrupt him and 
 prevent his resuming an alarming topic -> 
 " you are designed for the continent, and 
 your house is probably for the present un- 
 furnished. All this we understand ; but if 
 you mention inconvenience, you will ob- 
 lige us to seek accommodations in the ham- 
 let." 
 
 As the Master of Ravenswood was about 
 to reply, the door of the hall opened, and 
 Caleb Balderstone rushed in. 
 
 M
 
 274 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Let them have meat enough, woman— half a hen ; 
 There be old rotten pilchards — put them off too ; 
 Tis but a little new anointing of them, 
 And a strong onion, that confounds the savour. 
 Loves Pilgrimage* 
 
 The thunder-bolt, which had stunned all 
 who were within hearing of it, had only 
 served to awaken the bold and inventive 
 genius of the flower of Majors- Domo. Al- 
 most before the clatter had ceased, and 
 while there was yet scarce an assurance 
 whether the castle was standing or falling, 
 Caleb exclaimed, " Heavens be praised ! — 
 this comes to hand like the boul of a pint- 
 stoup." He' then barred the kitchen door 
 in the face of the Lord Keeper's servant, 
 whom he perceived returning from the par- 
 ty at the gate, and muttering, " how the 
 de'il came he in ? — but de'il may care —
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOIt. 275 
 
 Mysie, what are ye sitting shaking and 
 greeting in the chimneynuik for ? Come 
 here — or stay where ye are, and skirl as 
 loud as ye can — it's a' ye're guid for — I say, 
 ye auld deevil, skirl — skirl — louder — louder 
 — woman ! — gar the gentles hear ye in the 
 ha' — I have heard ye as far off as the Bass 
 for a less matter. And stay — down w T i* 
 that crockery" — 
 
 And with a sweeping blow, he threw 
 down from a shelf some articles of pewter 
 and earthen ware. He exalted his voice 
 amid the clatter, shouting and roaring in a 
 manner which changed Mysie's hysterical 
 apprehensions of the thunder into fears that 
 her old fellow servant was gone distracted. 
 " He has dung down a' the bits o' pigs 
 too — the only thing we had left to haud a 
 soup milk — and he has spilt the hatted 
 kitt that was for the Master's dinner. Mer- 
 cy save us, the auld man's ga'en wud wi' 
 the thunner !" 
 
 " Haud your tongue, ye b ," said 
 
 Caleb, in the impetuous and overbearing
 
 2?6 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 triumph of successful invention, " a's pro- 
 vided now — dinner and a' thing — the thun- 
 ner's done a' in a clap of a hand !" — 
 
 " Puir man, he's muckle astray," said 
 Mvsie, looking at him with a mixture of 
 pity and alarm ; M I wish he may ever come 
 hame to himsell again." 
 
 " Here, ye auld doited deevil," said Ca- 
 leb, still exulting in his extrication from a 
 dilemma which seemed insurmountable ; 
 " keep the strange man out of the kitchen 
 — swear the thunner came down the chim- 
 ley, and spoiled the best dinner ye ever 
 d ressed — beef — bacon — kid — lark — leveret 
 — wild- fowl — venison, and what not. Lay 
 it on thick, and never mind expences. 
 I'll awa' up to the ha' — make a' the confu- 
 sion ye can — but be sure ye keep out the 
 strange servant" 
 
 With these charges to his ally, Caleb 
 posted up to the hall, but stopping to re- 
 connoitre through an aperture, which time, 
 for the convenience of many a domestic in 
 succession, had made in the door, and per-
 
 THE BftlDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 2/ t 
 
 ceiving the situation of Miss Ashton, he 
 had prudence enough to make a pause, 
 both to avoid adding to her alarm, and in 
 order to secure attention to his account of 
 the disastrous effects of the thunder. 
 
 But when he perceived that the lady 
 was recovered, and heard the conversation 
 turn upon the accommodation and refresh- 
 ment which the castle afforded, he thought 
 it time to burst into the room in the man- 
 ner announced in the last chapter. 
 
 " Wull a wins ! — wull a wins ! — such a 
 misfortune to befa' the House of Ravens- 
 wood, and I to live to see it 1" 
 
 " What is the matter, Caleb ?" said his 
 master, somewhat alarmed in his turn j 
 " has any part of the castle fallen ?•" 
 
 " Castle fa'an ? — na, but the sute's fa'an, 
 and the thunner's come right down the 
 kitchen-lumm, and the things are a' lying 
 here awa', there awa,' like the Lairl o' 
 Hotchpotch's lands — and wi' brave gttesld 
 of honour and quality to enter; am,"— a 
 low bow here to Sir William Ashtun and 
 
 4
 
 278 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 his daughter, — " and naething left in the 
 house fit to present for dinner — or for sup- 
 per either, for aught that I can see." 
 
 " I verily believe you, Caleb," said Ra- 
 venswood drily. 
 
 Balderstone here turned to his master 
 a half-upbraiding, half imploring counte- 
 nance, and edged towards him as he re- 
 peated, " It was nae great matter of pre- 
 paration ; but just something added to 
 your honour's ordinary course of fare — 
 petty cover > as they say at the Louvre — > 
 three courses and the fruit." 
 
 " Keep your intolerable nonsense to 
 yourself, you old fool," said Ravenswood, 
 mortified at his officiousness, yet not know- 
 ing how to contradict him, without the 
 risk of giving rise to scenes yet more ridi- 
 culous. 
 
 Caleb saw his advantage, and resolved to 
 improve it. But first, observing that the 
 Lord Keeper's servant entered the apart- 
 met, and spoke apart with his master, he 
 took the same opportunity to whisper a few
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM00R* 279 
 
 words into Ravenswood's ear — M Haud 
 your tongue for Heaven's sake, sir — if it's 
 my pleasure to hazard my soul in telling 
 lies for the honour of the family, it's nae 
 business of yours — and if ye let me gang 
 on quietly, I'se be moderate in my ban- 
 quet; but if ye contradict me, de'il but I 
 dress ye a dinner fit for a duke. 5 ' 
 
 Ravenswood, in fact, thought it would 
 be best to let his officious butler run on, 
 who proceeded to enumerate upon his fin- 
 gers, — M No muckle provision — might hae 
 served four persons of honour, — first course, 
 capons in white broth — roast kid — bacon 
 with reverence — second course, roasted 
 leverit — butter crabs — a veal florentine — 
 third course, black-cock — it's black eneugh 
 now wi' the sute — plumdamas — a tart— 
 a flam — and some nonsense sweet things, 
 and comfits — and that's a," he said, seeing 
 the impatience of his master ; «' that's just 
 a' was o't — for bye the apples and pears." 
 
 Miss Ashton had by degrees gathered 
 her spirits, so far as to pay some attention
 
 280 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to what was going on ; and observing the 
 restrained impatience of Ravenswood, con- 
 trasted with the peculiar determinationof 
 manner with which Caleb detailed his ima- 
 ginary banquet, the whole struck her as 
 so ridiculous, that,, despite every effort to 
 the contrary, she burst into a fit of incon- 
 trolable laughter, in which she was joined 
 by her father, though with more modera- 
 tion, and finally by the Master of Ravens- 
 wood himself; though conscious that the 
 jest was at his own expence. Their mirth 
 — for a scene which we read with little 
 emotion often appears extremely ludicrous 
 to the spectators — made the old vault ring 
 again. They ceased — they renewed — they 
 ceased — they renewed again their shouts 
 of laughter ! Caleb in the meantime stood 
 his ground with a grave, angry, and scorn- 
 ful dignity, which greatly enhanced the 
 ridicule of the scene, and the mirth of the 
 spectators. 
 
 At length, when the voices, and nearly 
 the strength of the laughers, were exhausted,
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 281 
 
 he exclaimed, with very little ceremony, 
 " The de'il's in the gentles ! they break, 
 fast sae lordly, that the loss of the best 
 dinner ever cook pat fingers to, makes them 
 as merry as if it were the best jeest in a' 
 George Buchanan. If there was as little 
 in your honours' wames, as there is in Caleb 
 Balderstone's, less cackling wad serve ye on 
 sic a gravaminous subject." 
 
 Calebs blunt expression of resentment 
 again awakened the mirth of the company, 
 which, by the way, he regarded not only as 
 an aggression upon the dignity of the fa- 
 mily, but a special contempt of the elo- 
 quence with which he himself had summed 
 up the extent of their supposed losses ; — 
 " a description of a dinner," as he said 
 afterwards to Mysie, * that wad hae made 
 a fu' man hungry, and them to sit there 
 laughing at it." 
 
 " But," said Miss Ashton, composing her 
 countenance as well as she could, " are all 
 these delicacies so totally destroyed, that 
 no scrap can be collected ?"
 
 288 TALES OF MY LAxNDLOIlD. 
 
 " Collected, my leddy ! what wad ye col- 
 lect out of the sute and the ass ? Ye may 
 gang down yoursell, and look into our kit- 
 chen — the cook maid in the trembling exies 
 — the gude vivers lying a' about — beef — ca- 
 pons, and white broth — florentine and flams 
 ■ — bacon wi' reverence, and a' the sweet con- 
 fections and whim- whams ; ye'll see them 
 a', my leddy — that is," said he correcting 
 himself, " ye'll no see ony of them now, 
 for the cook has sweeped them up, as was 
 weel her part ; but ye'll see the white 
 broth where it was spilt. I pat my fingers 
 in it, and it tastes as like sour-milk as ony 
 thing else ; if that isna the effect of thun- 
 ner, I kenna what is. — This gentleman 
 here couldna but hear the clash of our 
 haill dishes, china and silver thegither." 
 
 The Lord Keeper's domestic, though a 
 statesman's attendant, and of course train- 
 ed to command his countenance upon all 
 occasions, was somewhat discomposed by 
 this appeal, to which he only answered by 
 a bow,
 
 THE hlUDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 283 
 
 " I think, Mr Butler," said the Lord 
 Keeper, who began to be afraid lest the 
 prolongation of this scene should at length 
 displease Ravenswood, — " 1 think, that 
 were you to retire with my servant Lock- 
 hard — he has travelled, and is quite accus- 
 tomed to accidents and contingencies,] of 
 every kind, and I .hope betwixt you, you 
 may find out some mode of supply at this 
 emergency." 
 
 " His honour kens," said Caleb, who, 
 however hopeless of himself of accomplish- 
 ing what was desirable, would, like the 
 high-spirited elephant, rather have died in 
 the effort, than brooked the aid of a bro- 
 ther in commission ; " his honour kens 
 weei I need nae counsellor, when the ho- 
 nour of the house is concerned." 
 
 " I should be unjust if I denied it, 
 Caleb," said his master ; c< but your art lies 
 chiefly in making apologies, upon winch 
 w 7 e can no more dine, than upon the bill 
 of fare of our thunder-blasted dinner. Now, 
 possibly, Mr Lockhard's talent may con-
 
 284 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 sist in finding some substitute for that, 
 which certainly is not, and has in all pro- 
 bability never been." 
 
 " Your honour is pleased to be facetious," 
 said Caleb, " but I am sure, that for the 
 warst, for a walk as far as Wolf's-hope, I 
 could dine forty men, — no that the folk 
 there deserve your honour's custom. They 
 hae been ill advised in the matter of the 
 duty-eggs and butter, I winna deny that." 
 
 " Do go consult together," said the Mas- 
 ter," go down to the village, and do the 
 best you can. We must not let our guests 
 remain without refreshment, to save the 
 honour of a ruined family. And here, Ca- 
 leb — take my purse ; I believe that will 
 prove your best ally." 
 
 " Purse ? purse, indeed ?" quoth Caleb, 
 indignantly flinging out of the room,— 
 U what suld I do wi' your honour's purse, 
 on your ain grund ? I trust we are no to 
 pay for our ain ?" 
 
 The servants left the hall ; and the door 
 was no sooner shut, than the Lord Keeper
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 285 
 
 began to apologize for the rudeness of his 
 mirth ; and Lucy to hope she had given 
 no pain or offence to the kind-hearted 
 faithful old man. 
 
 " Caleb and I must both learn, madam, to 
 undergo with good humour, or at least 
 with patience, the ridicule which every 
 where attaches itself to poverty." 
 
 M You do yourself injustice, Master of 
 Ravenswood, on my word of honour," an- 
 swered his elder guest. •■ I believe I know 
 more of your affairs than you do yourself, 
 and I hope to shew you, that I am interest- 
 ed in them ; and that — in short, that your 
 prospects are better than you apprehend. 
 In the meantime, I can conceive nothing 
 so respectable, as the spirit which rises 
 above misfortune, and prefers honourable 
 privations to debt or dependence." 
 
 Whether from fear of offending the de- 
 licacy, or awakening the pride of the Mas- 
 ter, the Lord Keeper made these allusions 
 with an appearance of fearful and hesi- 
 tating reserve, and seemed to be afraid
 
 286 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 that he was intruding too far, in venturing 
 to touch, however lightly, upon such a to- 
 pic, even when the Master had led to it, 
 In short, he appeared at once pushed on 
 by his desire of appearing friendly, and 
 held back by the fear of intrusion. It was 
 no wonder that the Master of Ravens wood, 
 little acquainted as he then was with life, 
 should have given this consummate courtier 
 credit for more sincerity than was proba- 
 bly to be found in a score of his cast. 
 He answered, however, with reserve, that 
 he was indebted to all who might think 
 well of him ; and, apologizing to his guests, 
 he left the hall, in order to make such ar- 
 rangements for their entertainment as cir- 
 cumstances admitted. 
 
 Upon consulting with old Mysie, the ac- 
 commodations for the night were easily 
 completed, as indeed they admitted of little 
 choice. The Master surrendered his apart- 
 ment for the use of Miss Ashton, and My- 
 sie, (once a person of consequence) dressed 
 in a black sattin gown which had belonged 
 5
 
 THE BiilDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 287 
 
 of yore to the Master *s grandmother, and 
 had figured in the court-balls ot Henrietta 
 Maria, went to attend her as lady's-maid. 
 He next enquired after Bucklaw, and under- 
 standing he was at the Change-house with 
 the huntsmen and some companions, he 
 desired Caleb to call there and acquaint 
 him how he was circumstanced at Wolf's- 
 Crag — to intimate to him it would be most 
 convenient if he could find a bed in the 
 hamlet, as the elder guest must necessarily 
 be quartered in the secret chamber, the 
 only spare bed-room which could be made 
 fit to receive him. The Master saw no 
 hardship in passing the night by the hall 
 fire, wrapt in his campaign-cloak ; and to 
 Scottish domestics of the day, even of the 
 highest rank, nay, to young men of family 
 or fashion, on any pinch, clean straw, or a 
 dry hay-loft, was always held good night- 
 quarters. 
 
 For the rest, Lockhard had his master's 
 orders to bring some venison from the inn, 
 and Caleb was to trust to his wits for the
 
 288 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 honour of the family. The Master, indeed, 
 & second time held out his purse ; but, as 
 it was in sight of the strange servant, the 
 Butler thought himself obliged to decline 
 what his ringers itched to clutch. " Could- 
 na he hae slippit it gently into my hand ?" 
 said Caleb — " but his honour will never 
 learn how to bear himsel in siccan cases." 
 
 Mysie, in the meantime, according to a 
 uniform custom in remote places in Scot- 
 land, offered the strangers the produce of 
 her little dairy, u while better meat was 
 getting ready." And according to another 
 custom, not yet wholly in desuetude, as the 
 storm was now drifting off to leeward, the 
 Master carried the keeper to the top of his 
 highest tower to admire a wide and waste 
 extent of view, and to " weary for his din- 
 ner.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 289 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " Now dame," quoth he, " Je vous dis sans doute, 
 
 Had I nought of a capon but the liver, 
 
 And of your white bread nought but a shiver, 
 
 And after that a roasted pigge's head, 
 
 (But I ne wold for me no beast were dead) 
 
 Then had I with you homely sufferaunce." 
 
 Chaucer, Sumner's Tale. 
 
 It was not without some secret misgi- 
 vings that Caleb set out upon his explora- 
 tory expedition. In fact, it was attended 
 with a treble difficulty. He dared not tell 
 his master the offence which he had that 
 morning given to Bucklaw, (just for the 
 honour of the family,) — he dared not ac- 
 knowledge he had been too hasty in refu- 
 sing the purse — and, thirdly, he was some- 
 what apprehensive of unpleasant conse- 
 quences upon his meeting Hayston under 
 the impression of an affront, and proba- 
 bly by this time under the influence also 
 of no small quantity of brandy, 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 290 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Caleb, to do him justice, was as bold as 
 any lion where the honour of the family of 
 Ravenswood was concerned, but his was 
 that considerate valour which does not de- 
 light in unnecessary risks. This, however, 
 was a secondary consideration ; the main 
 point was to veil the indigence of the house- 
 keeping at the Castle, and to make good his 
 vaunt of the cheer which his resources could 
 procure, without Lockhard's assistance, and 
 without supplies from his master. This was 
 as prime a point of honour with him, as 
 with the generous elephant with whom 
 we have already compared him, who, be- 
 ing over-tasked, broke his skull through the 
 desperate exertions which he made to dis- 
 charge his duty, when he perceived they 
 were bringing up another to his assistance. 
 
 The village which they now approached 
 had frequently afforded the distressed But- 
 ler resources upon similar emergencies ; but 
 his relations with it had been of late much 
 altered. 
 
 It was a little hamlet which straggled 
 along the side of a creek formed by the dis-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 291 
 
 charge of a small brook into the sea, and 
 was hidden from the castle, to which it had 
 been in former times an appendage, by the 
 intervention of the shoulder of a hill form- 
 ing a projecting headland. It was called 
 Wolf's-hope, (i. e. Wolf's Haven) and the 
 few inhabitants gained a precarious sub- 
 sistence by manning two or three fishing 
 boats in the herring season, and smuggling 
 gin and brandy during the winter months. 
 They paid a kind of hereditary respect to 
 the lords of Ravenswood ; but, in the diffi- 
 culties of the family, most of the inhabi- 
 tants of Wolf's- hope had contrived to get 
 feu-rights to their little possessions, their 
 huts, kail-yards, and rights of commonly, 
 so that they were emancipated from the 
 chains of feudal dependence. 3 free from 
 the various exactions with which; under 
 every possible pretext, bi it pre- 
 
 text at all, the Scottish landlords of the 
 period, themselves in great poverty, were 
 wont to harass their still poorer tenants 
 at will. They might be, on the vvhole, 
 termed independent, a circumstance pe-
 
 292 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 culiarly galling to Caleb, who had been 
 wont to exercise over them the same 
 sweeping authority in levying contributions 
 which was exercised in former times in 
 England, when " the royal purveyors, sal- 
 lying forth from under the Gothic portcul- 
 lis to purchase provisions with power and 
 prerogative, instead of money, brought 
 home the plunder of an hundred markets, 
 and all that could be seized from a flying 
 and hiding country, and deposited their 
 spoil in an hundred caverns."* 
 
 Caleb loved the memory and resented the 
 downfall of that authority, which mimicked, 
 on a petty scale, the grand contributions 
 exacted by the feudal sovereigns. And as he 
 fondly flattered himself that the awful rule 
 and right supremacy which assigned to the 
 Barons of Ravenswood the first and most 
 effective interest in all productions of nature 
 within five miles of their castle, only slum- 
 bered and was not departed for ever, he 
 
 * Burke's Speech on Economical Reform. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 250.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 293 
 
 used every now and then to give the re- 
 collection of the inhabitants a little jog by 
 some petty exaction. These were at first 
 submitted to, with more or less readiness, by 
 the inhabitants of the hamlet ; for they had 
 been so long used to consider the wants of 
 the Baron and his family as having a title 
 to be preferred to their own, that their ac- 
 tual independence did not convey to them 
 an immediate sense of freedom. They re- 
 sembled a man that has been long fettered, 
 who, even at liberty, feels, in imagination, 
 the grasp of the hand-cuffs still binding 
 his wrists. But the exercise of freedom -is 
 quickly followed with the natural conscious- 
 ness of its immunities, as the enlarged pri- 
 soner, by the free use of his limbs, soon 
 dispels the cramped feeling they had ac- 
 quired when bound. 
 
 The inhabitants of Wolf's-hope began 
 to grumble, to resist, and at length posi- 
 tively to refuse compliance with the exac- 
 tions of Caleb Balderstone. It was in vain 
 he reminded them, that when the eleventh 
 Lord Ravenswood, called the Skipper, from
 
 2JH TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 his delight in naval matters, had encoura- 
 ged the trade of their port by building the 
 pier, (a bulwark of stones rudely piled to- 
 gether), which protected the fishing-boats 
 from the weather, it had been matter of 
 understanding, that he was to have the 
 first stone of butter after the calving of 
 every cow within the barony, and the first 
 egg, thence called the Monday's egg, laid 
 by every hen on every Monday in the year. 
 
 The feuars heard and scratched their 
 heads, coughed, sneezed, and being pressed 
 for answer, rejoined with one voice, " they 
 could not say;" — the universal refuge of a 
 Scottish peasant, when pressed to admit a 
 claim which his conscience owns, and his 
 interest inclines him to deny. 
 
 Caleb, however, furnished the notables of 
 Wolf's-hope with a note of the requisition 
 of butter and eggs, which he claimed as 
 arrears of the aforesaid subsidy, or kindly 
 aid, payable as above mentioned ; and ha- 
 ving intimated that he would not be averse 
 to compound the same for goods or money, 
 if it was inconvenient to them to pay in
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 295 
 
 kind, left them, as he hoped, to debate 
 the mode of assessing themselves for that 
 purpose. On the contrary, they met with 
 a determined purpose of resisting the exac- 
 tion, and were only undecided as to the mode 
 of grounding their opposition, when the 
 cooper, a very important person on a fish- 
 ing station, and one of the Conscript Fa- 
 thers of the village, observed, " That their 
 hens had cackled mony a day for the Lords 
 of Ravenswood, and it was time they suld 
 cackle for those that gave them roosts and 
 barley." An unanimous grin intimated the 
 assent of the assembly. " And," continued 
 the orator, " if it's your wull, I'll just tak 
 a step as far as Dunse for Davie Dingwall 
 the writer, that's come frae the North to 
 settle amang us, and he'll pit this job to 
 rights, I'se warrant him." 
 
 A day was accordingly fixed for holding 
 a grand palaver at Wolf's-hope on the 
 subject of Caleb's requisitions, and he was 
 invited to attend at the hamlet for that 
 purpose. 
 
 He went with open hands and empty
 
 296 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 stomach, trusting to fill the one on his 
 master's account, and the other on his own 
 score, at the expence of the feuars of Wolf's- 
 hope. But, death to his hopes ! as he entered 
 the eastern end of the straggling village, the 
 awful form of Davie Dingwall, a sly, dry, 
 hard-fisted, shrewd country attorney, who 
 had already acted against the family of Ra- 
 venswood, and was a principal agent of Sir 
 William Ashton, trotted in at the western 
 extremity, bestriding a leathern portmanteau 
 stuffed with the feu- charters of the hamlet, 
 and hoping he had not kept Mr Balderstone 
 waiting, " as he was instructed and fully 
 empowered to pay or receive, compound 
 or compensate, and, in fine, to agt as ac- 
 cords, respecting all mutual and unsettled 
 claims whatsoever, belonging or competent 
 to the Honourable Norman Ravenswood, 
 commonly called the Master of Ravens- 
 wood" 
 
 " The Right Honourable Norman Lord 
 Ravenswood" said Caleb with great empha- 
 sis ; for, though conscious he had little 
 chance of advantage in the conflict to en-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMElttlOOR. 297 
 
 sue, he was resolved not to sacrifice one jot 
 of honour. 
 
 " Lord Ravenswood then," said the man 
 of business ; " we shall not quarrel with 
 you about titles of courtesy — commonly 
 called Lord Ravenswood, or Master of Ra- 
 venswood, heritable proprietor of the lands 
 and barony of Wolf's Crag, on the one 
 part, and to John Whitefish and others, feu- 
 ars in the town of Wolf's-hope, within the 
 barony aforesaid, on the other part." 
 
 Caleb was conscious from sad experience, 
 that he would wage a very different strife 
 with this mercenary champion, than with 
 the individual feuars themselves, upon 
 whose old recollections, predilections, and 
 habits of thinking, he might have wrought 
 by an hundred indirect arguments, to 
 which their deputy-representative was to- 
 tally insensible. The issue of the debate 
 proved the reality of his apprehensions. 
 It was in vain he strained his eloquence 
 and ingenuity, and collected into one mass 
 all arguments arising from antique custom 
 2 n
 
 298 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 and hereditary respect, from the good deeds 
 done by the Lords of Ravenswood to the 
 community of Wolf's-hope in former days, 
 and from what might be expected from them 
 in future. The Writer stuck to the con- 
 tents of his feu-charters — he could not see 
 it — 'twas not in the bond. And when Ca- 
 leb, determined to try what a little spirit 
 would do, deprecated the consequences of 
 Lord Ravenswood withdrawing his protec- 
 tion from the burgh, and even hinted at 
 his using active measures of resentment, 
 the man of law sneered in his face. 
 
 iC His clients," he said, " had determined 
 to do the best they could for their own 
 town, and he thought Lord Ravenswood, 
 since he was a lord, might have enough to 
 do to look after his own castle. As to any 
 threats of stouthrief oppression by rule of 
 thumb, or viafacti, as the law termed it, 
 he would have Mr Balderstone recollect, 
 that new times were not as old times — 
 that they lived on the south of the Forth, 
 and far from the Hi elands— that his clients
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 299 
 
 thought they were able to protect them- 
 selves ; but should they find themselves 
 mistaken, they would apply to the govern- 
 ment for the protection of a corporal and 
 four red- coats, who," said Mr Dingwall, 
 " would be perfectly able to secure them 
 against Lord Ravenswood, and all that 
 he or his followers could do by the strong 
 band." 
 
 If Caleb could have concentrated all the 
 lightnings of aristocracy in his eye, to have 
 struck dead this contemner of allegiance and 
 privilege, he would have launched them at 
 his head, without respect to the conse- 
 quences. As it was, he was compelled to 
 turn his course backward to the castle ; and 
 there he remained for full half a day invi- 
 sible and inaccessible even to Mysie, se- 
 questered in his own peculiar dungeon, 
 where he sat burnishing a single pewter- 
 plate, and whistling Maggy Lauder six 
 hours without intermission. 
 
 The issue of this unfortunate requisition 
 had shut against Caleb all resources which
 
 300 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 could be derived from Wolf's-hope and 
 its purlieus, the El Dorado, or Peru, from 
 which, in all former cases of exigence, he 
 had been able to extract some assistance. 
 He had, indeed, in a manner vowed that 
 the de'il should have him, if ever he put 
 the print of his ifoot within its causeway 
 again. He had hitherto kept his word ; 
 and, strange to tell, this secession had, as 
 he intended, in some degree the effect of 
 a punishment upon the refractory feuars. 
 Mr Balderstone had been a person in their 
 eyes connected with a superior order of be- 
 ings, whose presence used to grace their 
 little festivities, whose advice they found 
 useful on many occasions, and whose com- 
 munications gave a sort of credit to their 
 village. The place, they acknowledged, 
 " didna look as it used to do, and should 
 do, since Mr Caleb keepit the castle s*e 
 closely — but doubtless, touching the eggs 
 and butter, it was a most unreasonable de- 
 mand, as Mr Dingwall had justly made 
 manifest."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 301 
 
 Thus stood matters betwixt the parties, 
 when the old Butler, though it was gall and 
 wormwood to him, found himself obliged 
 either to acknowledge before a strange man 
 of quality, and, what was much worse, be- 
 fore that stranger's servant, the total ina- 
 bility of Wolf's Crag to produce a dinner, 
 or he must trust to the compassion of the 
 feuars of Wolf's-hope. It was a dreadful 
 degradation, but necessity was equally im- 
 perious and lawless. With these feelings 
 he entered the street of the village. 
 
 Willing to shake himself from his com- 
 panion as soon as possible, he directed Mr 
 Lockhard to Luckie Sma'trash's change- 
 house, where a din, proceeding from the 
 revels of Bucklaw, Craigengelt, and their 
 party, sounded half-way down the street, 
 while the red glare from the window over- 
 powered the grey twilight which was now 
 settling down, and glimmered against a par- 
 cel of old tubs, kegs, and barrels, piled up 
 in the cooper's yard, on the other side of 
 the way.
 
 302 TALES OF MY LANDLORDr 
 
 " If you, Mr Lockhard," said the old 
 Butler to his companion, M will be pleased 
 to step to the change house where that 
 light comes from, and where, as I judge, 
 they are now singing, c Cauld Kail in 
 Aberdeen,' ye may do your master's errand 
 about the venison, and I will do mine about 
 Bucklaw's bed, as I return frae getting the 
 rest of the vivers. — It's no that the venison 
 is actually needfu'," he added, detaining 
 his colleague by the button, " to make up 
 the dinner ; but, as a compliment to the 
 hunters, ye ken — and, Mr Lockhard — if 
 they offer ye a drink o' yill, or a cup o' 
 wine, or a glass o' brandy, ye'll be a wise 
 man to tak it, in case the thunner should 
 hae soured ours at the castle, — whilk is 
 ower muckle to be dreaded." 
 
 He then permitted Lockhard to depart ; 
 and with foot heavy as lead, and yet far 
 lighter than his heart, stepped on through 
 the unequal street of the straggling vil- 
 lage, meditating on whom he ought to 
 make his first attack. It was necessary he
 
 THE BRIDE OF LA MM ER MOOR. 303 
 
 should find some one, with whom old ac- 
 knowledged greatness should weigh more 
 than recent independence, and to whom 
 his application might appear an act of high 
 dignity, relenting at once and soothing. 
 But he could not recollect an inhabitant 
 of a mind so constructed. " Our kail is like 
 to be cauld eneugh too," he reflected, as 
 the chorus of Cauld Kail in Aberdeen 
 again reached his ears. The minister 
 — he had got his presentation from the 
 late lord, but they had quarrelled about 
 tiends — the brewster's wife — she had trust- 
 ed long — and the bill was aye scored up 
 — and unless the dignity of the family 
 should actually require it, it would be a sin 
 to distress a widow woman. None was so 
 able — but, on the other hand, none was 
 likely to be less willing to stand his friend 
 upon the present occasion, than Gibbie Gir- 
 der, the man o( tubs and barrels already 
 mentioned, who had headed the insurrec- 
 tion in the matter of the egg and butter 
 subsidy, — " But a' comes o' taking folk on 
 7
 
 304 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the right side, I trow," quoth Caleb to him- 
 self; " and I had ance the ill hap to say 
 he was but a Johnie Newcome in our town, 
 and the carle bore the family an ill-will 
 ever since. But he married a bonnie 
 young quean, Jean Lightbody, auld Light- 
 body's daughter, him that was in the stead- 
 ing of Loup-the- Dyke,— that was married 
 himsel to Marion, that was about my lady 
 in the family forty years syne— I hae had 
 mony a day's daffing wi' Jean's mither, and 
 they say she bides on wi' them— the carle 
 has Jacobuses and Georgiuses baith, an' ane 
 could get at them— and sure I am, it's doing 
 him an honour him or his never deserved 
 at our hand, the ungracious sumph ; and 
 if he loses by us a' thegither, he is e'en 
 cheap o't, he can spare it brawly." 
 
 Shaking off irresolution, therefore, and 
 turning at once upon his heel, Caleb walked 
 hastily back to the cooper's house, lifted the 
 latch without ceremony, and, in a moment, 
 found himself behind thekallan,ov partition, 
 from which position he could, himself un-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 305 
 
 seen, reconnoitre the interior of the but, 
 or kitchen apartment, of the mansion. 
 
 Reverse of the sad menage at the Castle 
 of Wolf's Crag, a bickering fire roared up 
 the cooper's chimney. His wife on the one 
 side, in her pearlings and pudding sleeves, 
 put the last finishing touch to her holiday's 
 apparel, while she contemplated a very 
 handsome and good-humoured face in a 
 broken mirror, raised upon the bink (the 
 shelves on which the plates are disposed,) 
 for her special accommodation. Her mo- 
 ther, old Luckie Loup-the-Dyke, " a canty 
 carline" as was within twenty miles of her, 
 according to the unanimous report of the 
 cummers, or gossips, sat by the fire in the 
 full glory of a grogram gown, lammer 
 beads, and a clean cockernony, whiffing a 
 snug pipe of tobacco, and superintending 
 the affairs of the kitchen. For — sight 
 more interesting to the anxious heart and 
 craving entrails of the desponding Senes- 
 chal, than either buxom dame or canny 
 cummer, — there bubbled on the aforesaid
 
 306 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 bickering fire, a huge pot, or rather caul- 
 dron, steaming with beef and brewis ; 
 while before it revolved two spits, turn- 
 ed each by one of the cooper's appren- 
 tices, seated in the opposite corners of 
 the chimney ; the one loaded with a quar- 
 ter of mutton, while the other was gra- 
 ced with a fat goose and a brace of wild 
 ducks. The sight and scent of such a land 
 of plenty almost wholly overcame the 
 drooping spirits of Caleb. He turned, for 
 a moment's space, to reconnoitre the ben, 
 or parlour end of the house, and there saw 
 a sight scarce less affecting to his feelings ; 
 — a large round table, covered for ten or 
 twelve persons, decored (according to his 
 own favourite term,) with napery as white as 
 snow ; grand flagons of pewter, intermixed 
 with one or two silver cups, containing, as 
 was probable, something worthy the brilli- 
 ancy of their outward appearance ; clean 
 trenchers, cutty spoons, knives and forks, 
 sharp, burnished, and prompt for action, 
 which lay all displayed as for an especial 
 festival.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 307 
 
 " The deil's in the pedling tub-cooper- 
 ing carle," thought Caleb, in all the envy 
 of astonishment ; " it's a shame to see the 
 like o' them gusting their gabs at sic a rate. 
 But if some o' that good cheer does not 
 find it's way to Wolf's Crag this night, my 
 name is not Caleb Balderstone." 
 
 So resolving, he entered the apartment, 
 and, in all courteous greeting, saluted both 
 the mother and the daughter. Wolf's Crag 
 was the court of the barony, Caleb prime 
 minister at Wolf's Crag ; and it has ever 
 been remarked, that though the masculine 
 subject who pays the taxes, sometimes 
 growls at the courtiers by whom they are 
 imposed, the said courtiers continue, never- 
 theless, welcome to the fair sex, to whom 
 they furnish the newest small-talk and the 
 earliest fashions. Both the dames were, 
 therefore, at once about old Caleb's neck, 
 setting up their throats together by way of 
 welcome. 
 
 " Aye, sirs t Mr Balderstone, and is this 
 you ? — A sight of you is gude for sair een.
 
 3Q8 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 — sit down — sit down — the gudeman will 
 be blythe to see you— ye nar saw him sae 
 cadgy in your life ; but we are to christen 
 our bit wean the night, as ye will hae 
 heard, and doubtless ye will stay and see 
 the ordinance — We hae killed a wether, and 
 ane o' our lads has been out wi' his gun at 
 the moss— ye used to like wild-fowl." 
 
 « Na— na— gudewife," said Caleb, " I 
 just keekit in to wish ye joy, and I wad be 
 glad to hae spoken wi' the gudeman, 
 but " moving, as if to go away. 
 
 " The ne'er a fit ye's gang," said the el- 
 der dame, laughing and holding him fast, 
 with a freedom which belonged to their old 
 acquaintance ; " wha kens what ill it may 
 bring to the bairn, if ye overlook it in 
 that gate ?" 
 
 * But I'm in a preceese hurry, gude- 
 wife," said the Butler, suffering himself to 
 be dragged to a seat without much resist- 
 ance ; " and as to eating" — for he observed 
 the mistress of the dwelling bustling about to
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 309 
 
 place a trencher for him — " as for eating — 
 lack-aday, we are just killed up yonder 
 wi- eating frae morning to night — it's 
 shamefu' epicurism ; but that's what we hae 
 gotten frae the English pock-puddings." 
 
 " Hout — never mind the English pock- 
 puddings,*' said Luckie Lightbody ; " try 
 our puddings, Mr Balderstone — there is 
 black pudding and white-hass — try whilk 
 ye like best." 
 
 u Baith gude — baith excellent — canna 
 be better ; but the very smell is eneugh for 
 me that hae dined sae lately (the faithful 
 wretch had fasted since day-break.) But I 
 wadna affront your house wifeskep, gude- 
 wife ; and, wi' your permission, I'se e'en pit 
 them in my napkin, and eat them to my 
 supper at e'en, for I am wearied of Mysie's 
 pastry and nonsense — ye ken landward 
 dainties aye pleased me best, "Marion — 
 and landward lasses too — (looking at the 
 cooper's wife) — Ne'er a bit but she looks 
 far better than when she married Gilbert, 
 and then she was the bonniest lass in our
 
 310 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 parochine and the neest till't. — But gawsie 
 cow, goodly calf." 
 
 The women smiled at the compliment 
 each to herself, and they smiled again to 
 each other as Caleb wrapt up the puddings 
 in a towel which he had brought with him, 
 as a dragoon carries his foraging bag to re- 
 ceive what may fall in his way. 
 
 * And what news at the Castle ?" quo' 
 the gudewife. 
 
 " News ? — the bravest news ye ever heard 
 — the Lord Keeper's up yonder wi' his fair 
 daughter, just ready to fling her at my 
 lord's head, if he winna tak her out o' his 
 arms ; and I'se warrant he'll stitch our 
 auld lands of Ravenswood to her petticoat 
 tail." 
 
 " Eh ! sirs — aye ! — and will he hae her ? 
 — and is she weel-favoured ? — and what's 
 the colour o' her hair ? — and does she wear 
 a habit or a railly ?" were the questions 
 which the females showered upon the But- 
 ler. 
 
 <c Hout tout ! — it wad tak a man a day
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 311 
 
 to answer a' your questions, and I hae hard- 
 ly a minute. Whare's the gude-man ?" 
 
 " Awa' to fetch the minister," said Mrs 
 Girder, ** precious Mr Peter Bide-the-bent 
 f'rae the Mosshead — the honest man has the 
 rheumatism wi' lying in the hills in the per- 
 secution." 
 
 u Aye ! — a whig and a mountain-man — 
 nae less," said Caleb, with a peevishness 
 he could not suppress ; M I hae seen the 
 day, Luckie, when worthy Mr Cuffcushion 
 and the service-book would hae served 
 your turn (to the elder dame,) or ony ho- 
 nest woman in like circumstances." 
 
 " And that's true too," said Mrs Light - 
 body, " but what can a body do? — Jean 
 maun baith sing her psalms and busk her 
 cockernony the gate the gudeman likes, 
 and nae ither gate, for he's maister and mair 
 at hame, I can tell ye, Mr Balderstone." 
 
 " Aye, and does he guide the gear too ?" 
 said Caleb, to whose projects masculine 
 rule boded little good. 
 
 " Ilka penny on't — but he'll dress her as
 
 512 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 dink as a daisy, as ye see — sae she has lit- 
 tle reason to complain — where there's ane 
 better aff there's ten waur." 
 
 " Aweel, gude wife," said Caleb, crest- 
 fallen, but not beaten off, " that wasna 
 the way ye guided your gudeman ; but 
 ilka land has it's ain lauch. I maun be 
 ganging — I just wanted to round in the 
 gudeman's lug, that I heard them say up 
 bye yonder, that Peter Puncheon that was 
 cooper to the Queen's stores at the Tim- 
 mer Burse at Leith, is dead — sae I thought 
 that maybe a word frae my lord to the 
 Lord Keeper might hae served Gilbert ; 
 but since he's frae hame" 
 
 * O but ye maun stay his hame-coming, 5 " 
 said the dame — " I aye telled the gudeman 
 ye meant weel to him j but he taks the tout 
 at every bit lippening word." 
 
 " Aweel, I'll stay the last minute I 
 can." 
 
 " And so," said the handsome young 
 spouse of Mr Girder, u ye think this Miss 
 
 8
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 313 
 
 Ashton is weel-favoured — troth, and sae 
 should she, to set up for our young lord, 
 with a face, and a hand, and a seat on his 
 horse, that might become a king's son — 
 d'ye ken that he aye glowers up at my 
 window, Mr Balderstone, when he chaunces 
 to ride thro' the town, sae I hae a right to 
 ken what like he is, as weel as ony body." 
 
 ** I ken that brawly," said Caleb, " for I 
 l>ave heard his lordship say the cooper's 
 wife had the blackest e'e in the barony ; 
 and I said, Weel may that be, my lord, for 
 it was her mither's afore her, as I ken to 
 my cost — Eh, Marion ? Ha, ha, ha! — Ah! 
 these were merry days !" 
 
 " Hout awa, auld carle," said the old 
 dame, " to speak sic daffing to young folk. 
 — But, Jean — fie, woman, dinna ye hear 
 the bairn greet ? 1'se warrant it's that dreary 
 weid has come ower't again.'* 
 
 Up got mother and grandmother, and 
 scoured away, jostling each other as they 
 ran, into some remote corner of the tene- 
 ment, where the young hero of the evea- 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 514 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 ing was deposited. When Caleb saw the 
 coast fairly clear, he took an invigorating 
 pinch of snuff, to sharpen and confirm his 
 resolution. 
 
 " Cauld be my cast," thought he, " if 
 either Bide-the-bent or Girder taste that 
 broche of wild-fowl this evening ;" and 
 then addressing the eldest turnspit, a boy 
 of about eleven years old, and putting a 
 penny into his hand, he said, " Here is 
 twal pennies,* my man; carry that ower 
 to Mrs Sm a' trash, and bid her fill my mill 
 wi' snishing, and I'll turn the broche for 
 ye in the meantime — and she will gi'e ye a 
 ginge-bread snap for your pains." 
 
 No sooner was the elder boy departed on 
 this mission, than Caleb, looking the re- 
 maining turnspit gravely and steadily in 
 the face, removed from the fire the spit 
 bearing the wild-fowl of which he had un- 
 dertaken the charge, clapped his hat on his 
 
 * Monetae Scoticae scilicet.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERM OOR. 315 
 
 head, and fairly marched off with it. lie 
 stopped at the door of the Change- house 
 only to say, in a few brief words, that Mr 
 Hayston of Bucklaw was not to expect a 
 bed that evening in the castle. 
 
 If this message was too briefly delivered 
 by Caleb, it became absolute rudeness when 
 conveyed through the medium of a suburb 
 landlady ; and Bucklaw was, as a more calm 
 and temperate man might have been, high- 
 ly incensed. Captain Craigengelt propo- 
 sed, with the unanimous applause of all 
 present, that they should course the oid 
 fox (meaning Caleb) ere he got to cover, 
 and toss him in a blanket. But Lockhard 
 intimated to his master's servants, and those 
 of Lord Bittlebrain, in a tone of authority, 
 that the slightest impertinence to the Mas- 
 ter of Ravenswood's domestic would give 
 Sir Wdliam Ashton the highest offence. 
 And having so said, in a manner sufficient 
 to prevent any aggression on their part, he 
 left the public-house, taking along with 
 I
 
 316 TALES OF MI LANDLORD. 
 
 him two servants loaded with such provi- 
 sions as he had been able to procure, and 
 overtook Caleb just when he had cleared 
 the village.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 317 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Should I take aught of you ? — 'tis true I begged now ; 
 And what is worse than that, I stole a kindness ; 
 And, what is worst of all, I lost my way in't. 
 
 Wit without Money. 
 
 The face of the little boy, sole witness 
 of Caleb's infringement upon the laws at 
 once of property and hospitality, would 
 have made a good picture. He sate mo- 
 tionless, as if he had witnessed some of the 
 spectral appearances which he had heard 
 told of in a winter's evening ; and as he 
 forgot his own duty, and allowed his spit to 
 stand still, he added to the misfortunes of 
 the evening, by suffering the mutton to burn 
 as black as a coal. He was first recalled from 
 his trance of astonishment by a hearty cuff, 
 administered by Dame Lightbody, who (ia
 
 31b TALES OF M-Y LANDLORD. 
 
 whatever other respects she might conform 
 to her name) was a woman strong of per- 
 son, and expert in the use of her hands, as 
 some say her deceased husband had known 
 to his cost. 
 
 " What gar'd ye let the roast burn, ye 
 ill-cleckit gude-for-nought ?" 
 
 " 1 dinna ken," said the boy. 
 
 " And where's that ill-deedy gett, Giles?" 
 
 Ci I dinna ken," blubbered the astonished 
 declarant. 
 
 " And where's Mr Balderstone ? — and 
 abune a', and in the name of council and 
 kirk-session, that I suld say sae, where is 
 the broche wi' the wild-fowl ?" 
 
 As Mrs Girder here entered, and joined 
 her mother's exclamations, screaming into 
 one ear while the old lady deafened the 
 other, they succeeded in so utterly con- 
 founding the unhappy urchin, that he could 
 not for some time tell his story at all, and 
 it w'as only when the elder boy returned 
 that the truth began to dawn on their 
 minds.
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEUMOOR. 319 
 
 M Weel, sirs 1" said Mrs Lightbody, " wha 
 wad hae thought o' Caleb Balderstone play- 
 ing an auld acquaintance sic a pliskie !" 
 
 " O, weary on him !" said the spouse of 
 Mr Girder ; " and what am I to say to the 
 gudeman ? — he'll brain me, if there wasna 
 anither woman in a' Wolf's-hope." 
 
 " Hout tout, silly quean," said the mo- 
 ther ; " na, na — it's come to muckle, but 
 it's no come to that neither ; for an he brain 
 you he maun brain me, and I have gar'd 
 his betters stand back — hands aft* is fair 
 play— we maunna heed a bit fly ting." 
 
 The tramp of horses now announced the 
 arrival of the cooper, with the minister. 
 They had no sooner dismounted than they 
 made for the kitchen fire, for the evening 
 was cool after the thunder-storm, and the 
 woods wet and dirty. The young gude- 
 wife, strong in the charms of her Sunday 
 gown and biggonets, threw herself in the 
 way of receiving the first attack, while her 
 mother, like the veteran division of the Ro-
 
 32® TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 man legion, remained in the rear, ready to 
 support her in case of necessity. Both 
 hoped to protract the discovery of what 
 had happened — the mother by interposing 
 her bustling person betwixt Mr Girder 
 and the fire, and the daughter by the ex- 
 treme cordiality with which she received the 
 minister and her husband, and the anxious 
 fears which she expressed lest they should 
 have " gotten cauld." 
 
 " Cauld ?" quoth the husband surlily, for 
 he was not of that class of lords and mas- 
 ters whose wives are viceroys over them — 
 " well be cauld aneugh, I think, if ye din- 
 na let us in to the fire." 
 
 And so saying, he burst his way through 
 both lines of defence ; and, as he had a 
 careful eye over his property of every kind, 
 he perceived at one glance the absence of 
 the spit with its savoury burthen. " What 
 the de'il, woman" 
 
 " Fye for shame !" exclaimed both the 
 women j " and before Mr Bide-the-bent !"
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 321 
 
 " I stand reproved," said the cooper, 
 « but" 
 
 " The taking in our mouths the name 
 of the great enemy of our souls," said Mr 
 Bide- the bent 
 
 " I stand reproved," said the cooper. 
 
 " Is an exposing ourselves to his tempta- 
 tions, and an inviting, or, in some sort, a 
 compelling, of him to lay aside his other 
 trafficking with unhappy persons, and wait 
 upon those in whose speech his name is 
 frequent." 
 
 " Weel, weel, Mr Bide-the-bent, can 
 a man do mair than stand reproved ?" said 
 the cooper ; " but just let me ask the wo- 
 men what for they hae dished the wild- fowl 
 before we came.'' 
 
 * They arena dished, Gilbert," said his 
 wife ; " but — but an accident" 
 
 " What accident ?" said Girder, with 
 flushing eyes — " Nae ill come ower them, 
 I trust? Uh?" 
 
 His wife, who stood much in awe of him, 
 
 o 2
 
 522 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 durst not reply, but her mother bustled up 
 to her support. — M I gied them to an ac- 
 quaintance of mine, Gibbie Girder - f and 
 what about it now ?" 
 
 Her excess of assurance struck Girder 
 mute for an instant. — " And ye gied the 
 wild-fowl, the best end of our christening 
 dinner, to a friend of yours, ye auld rudas ! 
 And what was his name, I prav ye ?*' 
 
 ** Worthy Mr Caleb Balderstone, frae 
 Wolf's Crag," answered Marion, quite pre- 
 pared for battle. 
 
 Girder's wrath foamed overall restraint. If 
 there was a circumstance which could have 
 added to the resentment he felt, it was that 
 this extravagant donation had been made 
 in favour of our friend Caleb, towards 
 whom, for reasons to which the reader is 
 no stranger, he nourished a decided resent- 
 ment. He raised his riding wand against 
 the elder matron, but she stood firm, col- 
 lected in herself, and undauntedly brandish* 
 ed the iron ladle with which she had just
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 323 
 
 been flambing (anglke, basting) the roast 
 of mutton. Her weapon was certainly the 
 better, and her arm not the weakest of the 
 two ; so that Gilbert thought it safest to 
 turn short off upon his wife, who had by 
 this time hatched a sort of hysterical whine, 
 which greatly moved the minister, who was 
 in fact as simple and kind-hearted a crea- 
 ture as ever breathed. — " And you, ye 
 thowless jadd, to sit still and see my sub- 
 stance disponed upon to an idle, drucken, 
 reprobate, worm-eaten serving-man, just be- 
 cause he kittles the lugs o' a silly auld wife 
 wi' useless clavers, and every twa words a 
 lie ? — I'll gar you as gude" 
 
 Here the minister interposed, both by 
 voice and action, while Dame Light bo :!y 
 threw herself in front of her daughter, and 
 flourished her ladle. 
 
 "Am I no to chastise my ain wife ?" 
 said the cooper, very indignantly. 
 
 * c Ye may chastise your ain wife if ye 
 like," answered Dame Lightbody; " but
 
 324 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 ye shall never lay finger on my daughter, 
 and that ye may found upon." 
 
 " For shame, Mr Girder," said the clergy- 
 man ; " this is what I little expected to 
 have seen of you, that ye suld give rein to 
 your sinful passions against your nearest 
 and your dearest ; and this night too, when 
 ye are called to the most solemn duty of a 
 Christian parent — and a' for what? for a 
 redundancy of creature comfort, as worth- 
 less as they are unneedful." 
 
 " Worthless !" exclaimed the cooper — 
 " a better guse never walkit on stubble ; 
 twa finer dentier wild-ducks never wat a 
 feather." 
 
 " Be it sae, neighbour," rejoined the* 
 minister ; " but see what superfluities are 
 yet revolving before your fire. I have seen 
 the day when ten of the bannocks that 
 stand upon that board would have been an 
 acceptable dainty to as many men, that 
 were starving on hills and bogs, and caves 
 of the earth, for the Gospel's sake."
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMEmiOOIi. 325 
 
 " And that's what vexes me maist of 
 a'," said the cooper, anxious to get some 
 one to sympathise with his not altogether 
 causeless anger ; " an the quean had gi'en 
 it to ony suffering sant, or to ony body ava 
 but that reaving, lying, oppressing tory vil- 
 lain, that rade in the wicked troop of militia 
 when it was commanded out against Argyle 
 by the auld tyrant Allan Ravenswood, that 
 is gane to his place, I wad the less hae 
 minded it. But to gie the principal part o' 
 the feast to the like o' him !" — 
 
 " Aweel, Gilbert/' said the minister, 
 " and dinna ye see a high judgment in this ? 
 — The seed of the righteous are not seen 
 begging their bread — think of the son of a 
 powerful oppressor being brought to the 
 pass of supporting his household from your 
 fullness." 
 
 «' And besides," said the wife, " it wasna 
 for Lord Ravenswood neither, an he wad 
 hear but a body speak — it was to help to 
 entertain the Lord Keeper, as they ca' him, 
 that's up yonder at AVolf's Crag." 
 
 5
 
 326 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 « Sir William Ashton at Wolf's Crag !" 
 ejaculated the astonished man of hoops 
 and staves. 
 
 " And hand and glove wi' Lord Ravens- 
 wood," added Dame Lightbody. 
 
 t: Doited idiot ! — that auld clavering 
 sneck drawer wad gar ye trow the moon is 
 made of green cheese. — The Lord Keeper 
 and Ravenswood ! they are cat and dog, 
 hare and hound." 
 
 " I tell ye they are man and wife, and 
 gree better than some others," retorted the 
 mother-in-law ; " forbye, Peter Puncheon, 
 that's cooper to the Queen's stores, is dead, 
 and the place is to fill, and" — 
 
 u Od guide us, wull ye haud your skirl- 
 ing tongues," said Girder — for we are to re- 
 mark, that this explanation was given like 
 a catch for two voices, the younger dame 
 taking up, and repeating, in a higher tone, 
 the words as fast as they were uttered by 
 her mother. 
 
 " The gudewife says naething but what's 
 true, maister," said Girder's foreman, who
 
 THE BiilDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 327 
 
 had come in during the fray. " I saw the 
 Lord Keeper's servants drinking and dri- 
 ving ower at Luckie Sma'trash's, ower by 
 yonder." 
 
 " And is their maister up at Wolf's Crag?" 
 said Girder. 
 
 " Ay, troth is he," replied his man of 
 confidence. 
 
 " An friends wi* Ravenswood ?" 
 
 M It's like sae," answered the foreman, 
 *i since he is putting up wi' him." 
 
 " And Peter Puncheon's dead ?" 
 
 " Ay, ay — he has leaked out at last, the 
 auld carle," said the foreman ; H mony a 
 dribble o' brandy has gaen through him in 
 his day. — But as for the broche and the 
 wild-fowl, the saddle's no aff your mare 
 yet, maister, and I could follow and bring 
 it back, for Mr Baiderstone's no far aff the 
 town yet." 
 
 " Do sae, Will — and come here — I'll tell 
 ye what to do when ye owertake him." 
 
 He relieved the females of his presence, 
 and gave Will his private instructions,
 
 52$ TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " A bonnie-like thing," said the mother- 
 in-law, n to send the innocent lad after an 
 armed man, when ye ken Mr Balderstone 
 aye wears a rapier." 
 
 " I trust," said the minuter, M ye have 
 reflected weel on what ye have done, lest 
 you should minister cau^e of strife, of 
 which it is my duty to say, he who afford- 
 ed! matter is in no manner g liltless." 
 
 <; Never fash \our beard, Mr B> le-the- 
 bent — ane canna get their breath out here 
 between wives and ministers — I ken best 
 how to turn my ain cake. — Jean, serve up 
 the dinner, and nae mair about it." 
 
 Nor did he again allude to the deficiency 
 in the course of the evening. 
 
 Meantime, the foreman, mounted on his 
 master's steed, and charged with his spe- 
 cial orders, pricked swiftly tbrth in pursuit 
 of the marauder Caleb. That personage, it 
 may be imagined, did not linger by the 
 way. He intermitted even his dearly-be- 
 loved chatter, for the purpose of making 
 more haste — only assuring Mr Lockhard
 
 THE BiilDE OF JUAMMEIIMOOB. 329 
 
 that he had made the purveyors wife give 
 the wild-fowl a few turns before the fire, 
 in case that Mysie, who had been so much 
 alarmed by the thunder, should not have 
 her kitchen-grate in full splendour. Mean- 
 while, alleging the necessity of being at 
 Wolf's Crag as soon as possible, he pushed 
 on so fast that his companions could scarce 
 keep up with him. He began already to 
 think he was safe from pursuit, having 
 gained the summit of the swelling emi- 
 nence which divides Wolf's Crag from 
 the village, when he heard the distant tread 
 of a horse, and a voice which shouted at 
 intervals, " Mr Caleb— Mr Balderstone — 
 Mr Caleb Balderstone — hollo — bide a 
 wee !" 
 
 Caleb, it may be well believed, was in 
 no hurry to acknowledge the summons. 
 First, he would not hear it, and faced his 
 companions down, that it was the echo of 
 the wind ; then he said it was not worth 
 stopping for y and, at length, halting re-
 
 330 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 luctantly, as the figure of the horseman 
 appeared through the shades of the even- 
 ing, he bent up his whole soul to the task 
 of defending his prey, threw himself into 
 an attitude of dignity, advanced the spit, 
 which in his grasp M might seem both 
 spear and shield," and firmly resolved to 
 die rather than surrender it. 
 
 What was his astonishment, when the 
 cooper's foreman, riding up and addressing 
 him with respect, told him, " his master was 
 sorry he was absent when he came to his 
 dwelling, and grieved that he could not tar- 
 ry the christening dinner, and that he had 
 ta'en the freedom to send a sma' rundlet 
 of sack, and ane anker of brandy, as he un- 
 derstood there were guests at the castle, 
 and that they were short of preparation." 
 
 I have heard somewhere a story of an 
 elderly gentleman, who was pursued by a 
 bear that had gotten loose from its muz- 
 zle, until completely exhausted. In a 
 fit of desperation, he faced round upon
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 331 
 
 Bruin and lifted his cane ; at the sight of 
 which the instinct of discipline prevailed, 
 and the animal, instead of tearing him to 
 pieces, rose up upon his hind-legs, and in- 
 stall tly began to shuffle a saraband. Not 
 less than the joyful surprise of the senior, 
 who had supposed himself in the extremity 
 of peril from which he was thus unexpect- 
 edly relieved, was that of our excellent 
 friend Caleb, when he found the pursuer in- 
 tended to add to his prize, instead of berea- 
 ving him of it. He recovered his latitude, 
 however, instantly, so soon as the foreman, 
 stooping from his nag, where he sate perch- 
 ed betwixt the two barrels, whispered in 
 his ear, — " If ony thing about Peter Pun- 
 cheon's place could be airted their way, 
 John Girder wad mak it better to the Mas- 
 ter of Ravenswood than a pair of new 
 gloves ; and that he wad be bly the to speak 
 wi' Master Balderstone on that head, and 
 he wad find him as pliant as a hoop- willow 
 in a' thai he could wish of him."
 
 332 , TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Caleb heard all this without rendering 
 any answer, except that of all great men 
 from Louis XIV* downwards, namely, M we 
 will see about it f and then added aloud, 
 for the edification of Mr Lockhard, — 
 " Your master has acted with becoming ci- 
 vility and attention in forwarding the li- 
 quors, and I will not fail to represent it 
 properly to my Lord Ravenswood. And, 
 my lad," he said, " you may ride on to the 
 castle, and if none of the servants are re- 
 turned, whilk is to be dreaded, a3 they make 
 day and night of it when they are out of 
 sight, ye may put them into the porter's 
 lodge, whilk is on the right hand of the 
 great entry — the porter has got leave to go 
 to see his friends, sae ye will meet no ane to 
 steer ye," 
 
 The foreman, having received his orders, 
 rode on ; and having deposited the casks 
 in the deserted and ruinous porter's lodge, 
 he returned unquestioned by any one. 
 Having thus executed his master's commis-
 
 THE BRIDE OF LAMMER&IOOR. 333 
 
 sion, and doffed his bonnet to Caleb and his 
 company as he repassed them in his way to 
 the village, he returned to have his share 
 of the christening festivity. 
 
 END OF VOLUME FIRST. 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 Printed by James Baikntyiie and Co.


 
 
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