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 http://www.archive.org/details/talesofmylandlor01scott
 
 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 COLLECTED AND ARRANGED 
 
 BY 
 
 JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, 
 
 SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH-CLERK Of GANDEECLEUGH. 
 
 Hear, Land o* Cakes and brither Scots, 
 Frae Maidenkirk to Jenny Groats', 
 If there's a hole iu 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. 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, PRINCE's STREET 
 AND JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON. 
 
 1816.
 
 Edinburgh^ Printed hy James Ballantyne and Co,
 
 HIS LOVING COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 WHETHER THEY ARE DENOMINATED 
 
 MEN OF THE SOUTH, 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE NORTH, 
 
 PEOPLE OF THE WEST, 
 OR 
 
 FOLK OF fife; 
 
 THESE TALES, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF ANCIENT SCOTTISH MANNERS, 
 AND 
 
 OP THE TRADITIONS ()F THEIR RESPECTIVE DISTRICTS, 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY THEIR FRIEND AND LIEGE FELLOW-SUBJECT, 
 
 JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM.
 
 TALES OF MY LANDLORD; 
 
 COLLECTED AND REPORTED BY 
 
 JEDIDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, 
 
 PARISH-CLERK AND SCHOOLMASTER OF GANDERCLEUGH, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As I may, without vanity, presume 
 that the name and official description 
 prefixed to this Proem will secure it, 
 from the sedate and reflecting part of 
 mankind, to whom only I would be 
 understood to^^ddress myself, such at- 
 tention as is due to the sedulous in- 
 6
 
 4 INTRODUCTTOX. 
 
 structor of youth, and the careful per- 
 former of my Sabbath duties, I will 
 forbear to hold up a candle to the day- 
 light, or to point out to the judicious 
 those recommendations of my labours 
 which they must necessarily anticipate 
 from the perusal of the title-page. Ne- 
 vertheless, I am not unaware, that, as 
 Envy always dogs Merit at the heels, 
 there may be those who will whisper, 
 that albeit my learning and good prin- 
 ciples cannot (lauded be the Heavens) 
 be denied by any one, yet that my si- 
 tuation at Gandercleugh hath been 
 more favourable to my acquisitions in 
 learning than to the enlargement of 
 my views of the w^ays and works of the 
 present generation. To the which ob- 
 jection, if, peradventure, any such shall
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 be started, mj answer shall be three- 
 fold : 
 
 Fh'st, Gandercleugh is, as it were, 
 the central part, — the navel {si fas sit 
 diceri) of this our native realm of Scot- 
 land ; so that men, from every corner 
 thereof, when travelling on their con- 
 cernments of business, either towards 
 our metropolis of law, by which I 
 mean Edinburgh, or towards our metro* 
 polls and mart of gain, whereby I in- 
 sinuate Glasgow, are frequently led 
 to make Gandercleugh their abiding 
 stage and place of rest for the night. 
 And it must be acknowledged by the 
 most sceptical, that I, who have sat in 
 the leathern arm-chair, on- the left- 
 hand side of the fire, in the common 
 room of the Wallace Inn, winter and
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 summer, for every evening in my life, 
 during forty years by-past, (the Chris- 
 tian Sabbaths only excepted) must 
 have seen more of the manners and 
 customs of various tribes and people 
 than if I had sought them out by my 
 own pai nful travel and bodily labour. 
 Even so doth the tollman at the well- 
 frequented turnpike on the Wellbrae- 
 head, sitting at his ease in his own 
 dwelling, gather more receipt of cus- 
 tom than if, moving forth upon the 
 road, he were to require a contribution 
 from each person whom he chanced to 
 meet in his journey, when, according 
 to the vulgar adage, he might possibly 
 be greeted with more kicks than half- 
 pence. 
 
 But, secondly, supposing it again
 
 INTRODUCTIOlSr. 7 
 
 urged that Ithacus, the most wise of 
 the Greeks, acquired his renown, as 
 the Roman poet hath assured us, by 
 visiting states and men, I reply to the 
 Zoilus who shall adhere to this objec- 
 tion, that, de factOy I have seen states 
 and men also ; for I have visited the 
 famous cities of Edinburgh and Glas- 
 gow, the former twice, and the latter 
 three times, in the course of my earth- 
 ly pilgrimage. And, moreover, I had 
 the honour to sit in the General As- 
 sembly, (meaning, as an auditor in the 
 galleries thereof) and have heard as 
 much goodly speaking on the law of 
 patronage, as, with the fructification 
 thereof in mine own understanding, 
 hath made me be considered as an ora- 
 cle upon that doctrine ever since my
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 safe and happy return to Gander- 
 cleugh* 
 
 Again — and, thirdly, If it be never- 
 theless pretended that my information 
 and knowledge of mankind, however 
 extensive, and however painfully ac- 
 quired, by constant domestic enquiry,, 
 and by foreign travel, is, natheless, in- 
 competent to the task of recording the 
 pleasant narratives of my Landlord, I 
 will let these critics know, to their 
 own eternal shame and confusion, as 
 well as to the aba&hment and discom- 
 fiture of all who shall rashly take up a 
 song against me, that I am not the 
 writer, redacter, or compiler of the 
 Tales of my Landlord; nor am 1, in. 
 one single iota, answerable for their 
 contents, more or less. And now., ye;
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 generation of critics, who raise your- 
 selves up as if it were brazen serpents, 
 to hiss with your tongues, and to smite 
 with your stings, bow yourselves down 
 to your native dust, and acknowledge 
 that yours have been the thoughts of 
 ignorance, and the words of vain 
 foolishness. Lo ! ye are caught in 
 your own snare, and your own pit hath 
 yawned for you. Turn, then, aside 
 from the task that is too heavy for you ; 
 destroy not your teeth by gnawing a 
 file ; waste not your strength by spurn- 
 ing against a castle-wall ; nor spend 
 your breath in contending in swiftness 
 Mdth a fleet steed j and let those weigli 
 the Tales of my Landlord who shall 
 bring with them the scales of candour 
 cleansed from the rust of prejudice by
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the hands of intelligent modesty. For 
 these alone they were compiled, as 
 will appear from a brief narrative 
 which my zeal for truth compelled me 
 to make supplementary to the present 
 Proem. 
 
 It is well known that my Landlord 
 was a pleasing and a facetious man, 
 acceptable unto all the parish of Gan- 
 dercleugh, excepting only the Laird, 
 the Exciseman, and those forwhom he 
 refused to draw liquor upon trust. Their 
 causes of dislike I will touch separate- 
 ly, adding my own refutation thereof. 
 
 His honour, the Laird, accused our 
 Landlord, deceased, of having encou- 
 raged, in various times and places, the 
 destruction of hares, rabbits, fowls, 
 black and grey partridges, moor-pouts^
 
 INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 and other birds, and quadrupeds, in 
 unlawful seasons, and contrary to the 
 laws of this realm, which have secured, 
 in their wisdom, the slaughter of such 
 animals for the great of the earth, 
 whom I have remarked to take an un- 
 common (though, to me, an unintelli- 
 gible) pleasure therein. Now, in hum- 
 ble deference to his honour, and in de- 
 fence of my friend deceased, I reply 
 to this charge, that howsoever the form 
 of such animals might appear to be si- 
 milar to those so protected by the law, 
 yet it was a mere deceptio visus ; for 
 what resembled hares were, in fact, 
 hill-kids, and those partaking of the 
 appearance of moor-fowl, were truly 
 wood-pigeons, and consumed and eateu 
 eo nomine, and not otherwise.
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Again, the Exciseman pretended, 
 that my deceased Landlord did encou- 
 rage that species of manufacture call- 
 ed distillation, without having an es- 
 pecial permission from the Great, tech- 
 nically called a licence, for doing so. 
 Now I stand up to confront this false- 
 hood; and, in defiance of him, his 
 gauging-stick, and pen and inkhorn,^ I 
 tell him, that I never saw, or tasted, 
 a glass of unlawful aqua vitae in the 
 house of my Landlord; nay, that, on 
 the contrary, we needed not such de- 
 vices in respect of a pleasing and some- 
 what seductive liquor, which was vend- 
 ed and consumed at the Wallace Inn, 
 under the name of mountain dew. If 
 there is a penalty against manufac- 
 turing such a liquor, let him show me
 
 INTRODUCTION. ' 13 
 
 liie statute ; and, when he does, Til' 
 tell him if I will obey it or no. 
 
 Concerning those who came to my 
 Landlord for liquor, and went thirsty 
 away, for lack of present coin, or fu- 
 ture credit, I cannot but say it has 
 grieved my bowels as if the case had 
 been mine own. • Nevertheless^ my 
 Landlord considered the necessities of 
 a thirsty soul, and would permit them 
 in extreme need, and when their soul 
 was impoverished for lack of moisture, 
 to drink to the full value of their 
 watches and wearing apparel, exclu- 
 sively of their inferior habiliments, 
 which he was uniformly inexorable in 
 obliging them to retain for the credit 
 of the house. As to mine own part, 
 I may well say, that he never refused
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 me that modicum of refreshment with 
 which I am wont to recruit nature af- 
 ter the fatigues of my school. It is 
 true, I taught his five sons English 
 and Latin, writing, book-keeping, with 
 a tincture of mathematics, and that I 
 instructed his daughter in psalmody. 
 Nor do I remember me of any fee or 
 honorarium received from him on ac- 
 count of these my labours, except the 
 compotations aforesaid. Nevertheless, 
 this compensation suited my humour 
 well, since it is a hard sentence to bid 
 a dry throat wait till quarter-day. 
 
 But, truly, were I to speak my sim- 
 ple conceit and belief, I think my 
 Landlord was chiefly moved to waive 
 in my behalf the usual requisition of 
 a symbol, or reckoning, by the plea-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 sure he was wont to take in my con- 
 versation, which, though soHd and edi- 
 fying on the main, was like a well- 
 fcuilt palace, decorated with facetious 
 narratives and devices, tending much 
 to the enhancement antf ornament 
 thereof. And so pleased was my Land- 
 lord of the Wallace in his replies du- 
 ring such colloquies, that there was no 
 district in Scotland, yea, and no pecu- 
 liar, and, as it were, distinctive cus- 
 tom therein practised, but what was 
 discussed betwixt us, insomuch, that 
 those who stood by were wont to say, 
 it was worth a bottle of ale to hear us 
 communicate with each other. And 
 not a few travellers, from distant parts, 
 as well as from the remote districts of 
 our kingdom, were wont to mingle in
 
 16 INTRODUGTION* 
 
 the conversation, and to tell news that 
 had been gathered in foreign lands, or 
 preserved from oblivion in this our 
 own. 
 
 Now I chanced to have contracted 
 for teaching the lower classes, with a 
 young person called Peter, or Patrick, 
 Pattieson, who had been educated in 
 our Holy Kirk, yea, had, by the licence 
 of presbytery, his voice opened there- 
 in as a preacher, who delighted in the 
 collection of olden tales and legends, 
 and in garnishing them with the flowers 
 of poesy, whereof he was a vain and 
 frivolous professor. For he followed 
 not the example of those strong poets 
 whom I proposed to him as a pattern, 
 but formed versification of a flimsv 
 and modern texture, to the compound-
 
 INTKODUCTION. 17 
 
 iiig whereof was necessary small pains, 
 and less thought. And hence I have 
 chid him as being one of those who 
 bring forward the fatal revolution pro- 
 phesied by Mr Robert Carey, in his 
 Vaticination on the Death of the Ce- 
 lestial Dr John Donne : 
 
 Now thou art gone, and thy strict laws will be 
 Too hard for libertines in poetry ; 
 Till verse (by thee refined) in this last age 
 Turn ballad rhime. 
 
 I had also disputations with him touch- 
 ing his indulging rather a flowing and 
 redundant than a concise and stately 
 diction in his prose exercitations. But 
 notwithstanding these symptoms of 
 inferior taste, and a humour of con- 
 tradicting his betters upon passagesr 
 of dubious construction in Latin au-
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 thors, I did grievously lament when 
 Peter Pattieson was removed from me 
 by death, even as if he had been 
 the offspring of my own loins. And 
 in respect his papers had been left 
 in my care, (to answer funeral and 
 death-bed expences,) I conceived my- 
 self entitled to dispose of one parcel 
 thereof, entitled, " Tales of my Land- 
 lord," to one cunning in the trade (as 
 it is called) of bookselling. He was a 
 mirthful man of small stature, cunning 
 in counterfeiting of voices, and in ma- 
 king facetious tales and responses, and 
 whom I have to laud for the truth of 
 his dealings towards me. 
 
 Now, therefore, the world may see 
 the injustice that charges me with in- 
 capacity to write these narratives, see-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 ing, that though I have proved that I 
 could have written them if I Avould, 
 yet, not having done so, the censure 
 will deservedly fall, if at all due, upon 
 the memory of Mr Peter Pattieson ; 
 whereas I must be justly entitled to 
 the praise, when any is due, seeing 
 that, as the Dean of St Patrick's wit- 
 tily and logically expresseth it, 
 
 That without which a thing is not, 
 Is Causa sine qua non. 
 
 The work, therefore, is unto me as 
 a child is to a parent ; the which child, 
 if it proveth worthy, the parent hath 
 honour and praise ; but, if otherwise, 
 the disgrace will deservedly attach to 
 itself alone. 
 
 I have only further to intimate, that
 
 20 INTRODUCTION^ 
 
 Mr Peter Pattieson, in arranging these 
 Tales for the press, hath more consult- 
 ed his own fancy than the accuracy of 
 the narrative ; nay, that he hath some- 
 times blended two or three together 
 for the mere grace of his plots. Of 
 which infidelity, although I disapprove 
 and enter my testimony against it, 
 yet I have not taken it upon me to 
 correct the same, in respect it was the 
 will of the deceased, that his manu- 
 script should be submitted to the press 
 wdtliout diminution or alteration. A 
 fanciful nicety it was on the part of my 
 deceased friend, who, if thinking wise- 
 ly, ought rather to have conjured me, 
 by all the tender ties of our friendship 
 and common pursuits, to have care- 
 fully revised, altered, andaui^mented^
 
 INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 at my judgment and discretion. But 
 the will of the dead must be scrupu- 
 lously obeyed, even when we weep 
 over their pertinacity and self-delu* 
 sion. So, gentle reader, I bid you 
 farewell, recommending you to such 
 fare as the mountains of your own 
 country produce ; and I will only far- 
 ther premise, that each Tale is pre* 
 ceded by a short introduction, men- 
 tioning the persons by whom, and the 
 circumstances under which, the ma- 
 terials thereof were collected, 
 
 Jedidiah Cleishbqtham.
 
 THE ♦ 
 
 BLACK DWARF.
 
 TALE I. 
 
 THE 
 
 BLACK DWARR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Prelimnary, 
 
 Hast any philosophy in thee, Shepherd ? 
 
 As You Like it. 
 
 It was a fine April morning (excepting 
 that it had snowed hard the night be- 
 fore, and the ground remained covered 
 with a dazzling mantle of six inches in 
 depth) when two horsemen rode up to the 
 Wallace Inn. The first was a strong, tall, 
 powerful man, in a grey riding-coat, ha- 
 yoL I. B
 
 26 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ving a hat covered with wax-cloth, a huge 
 silver-mounted horsewhip, hoots, and 
 dreadnought overalls. He was mounted on 
 a large strong brown mare, rough in coat, 
 but well in condition, with a saddle of the 
 yeomanry cut, and a double-bitted milita- 
 ry bridle, somewhat rusted. The man who 
 accompanied him was apparently his ser- 
 vant; he rode a shaggy little grey poney, 
 had a blue bonnet on his head, and a large 
 check napkin folded about his neck, wore a 
 pair of long blue hose instead of boots, had 
 his gloveless hands much stained with tar, 
 and observed an air of deference and respect 
 towards his companion, but without any of 
 those indications of precedence and punc- 
 tilio which are preserved between the gen- 
 try and their domestics. On the contrary, 
 the two travellers entered the court-yard 
 abreast, and the concluding sentence of 
 the conversation which had been carrying 
 on betwixt them was a joint ejaculation, 
 *^ Lord guide us, an' this weather last,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 27 
 
 what will come o' the lambs 1" The hint 
 was sufficient to my Landlord, who, advan- 
 cing to take the horse of the principal 
 person, and holding him by the r^ins as he 
 dismounted, while hrs ostler rendered the 
 same service to the attendant, welcomed 
 the stranger to Gandercleugh, and, in the 
 same breath, enquired, what news from the 
 south hic-lands ? — " News r" said the farm- 
 er, " bad eneugh news, I think ; — an' we 
 can carry through the ewes it will be a' we 
 can do ; we maun e'en leave the lambs to 
 the Black Dwarf's care." 
 
 *' Aye, aye/* subjoined the old shep- 
 herd, (for such he was) shaking his head, 
 " he'll be unco busy amang the morts this 
 season.'* 
 
 ''The Black Dwarf?" said my learned 
 friend and patron^^ Mr Jedidiah Cleishbo- 
 
 * We have in this, and other instances, printed in 
 italics some few words which the worthy editor, Mr Je-
 
 28 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 tham, " and what sort of a personage may 
 he be r 
 
 *' Hoiit awa, man, ye'U hae heard o' 
 canny Elshie the Black Dwarf, or I am 
 muckle mistaken— A' the warld tells tales 
 about him, but it's but daft nonsense after 
 a' — I dinna believe a word o't frae begin- 
 ning to end." 
 
 " Your father believed it unco stievely, 
 though," said the old man, to whom the 
 scepticism of his master gave obvious dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Aye, very true, Bauldie, but that was 
 in the time o' the blackfaces — they belie- 
 ved a hantle queer things in thae days, that 
 naebody heeds since the lang sheep cam 
 in." 
 
 didiah Cleishbotham, seems to have interpolated upon 
 the text of his deceased friend, Mr Pattieson. We 
 must observe, once for all, that such liberties seem only 
 to have been taken 4)y the learned gentleman where his 
 own character and conduct are concerned ; and surely 
 he must be the best judge of the style in which his own 
 character and conduct should be treated of.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 29 
 
 ^' The mair's the pity, the mair's the 
 pity," said the old man. " Your father, 
 and sae I have aften tell'd you, maister, wad 
 hae been sair vexed to hae seen the auld 
 peel house wa's pu'd down to make park 
 dykes, and the bonny broomy knowe, 
 where he liked sae weel to sit at e'en, wi* 
 his plaid about him, and look at the kye as 
 they came down the loaning, — ^ill wad he 
 hae liked to hae seen that braw sunny 
 knowe a* riven out wi' the pleugh in the 
 fashion it is at this day." 
 
 " Hout, Bauldie," replied the principal, 
 " take ye that dram the landlord's offering 
 ye, and never fash your head about the 
 changes o' the warld, sae lang as ye're 
 blythe and bien yoursel." 
 
 *' Wussing your health, sirs," said the 
 shepherd ; and, having taken off his glass, 
 and observed the whiskey was the right 
 thing, he continued, " It's no for the like 
 o' us to be judging, to be sure; but it was 
 a bonny knowe that broomy knowe, and
 
 tiO TAIES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 an unco braw shelter for the lambs in a se- 
 vere mornin^g like this." 
 
 " Aye, but ye ken we maun hae turnips 
 for the lang sheep, billie, and muckle hard 
 work to get them, baith wi' the pleugh 
 and the howe ; and that wad sort ill wi' 
 sitting on the broomy knowe and cracking 
 about Black Dwarfs, and siccan clavers, as 
 was the gate lang syne, when the short 
 sheep were in the fashion." 
 
 ** Aweel, aweel, maister/ said the at- 
 tendant, ** short sheep had short rents, I 
 am thinking," 
 
 Here my worthy and learned p^itron again 
 interposed, and observed, " that he could 
 never perceive any material difference, in 
 point of longitude, between one sheep and 
 another." 
 
 This occasioned a loud hoarse laugh on 
 the part of the farmer, and an astonished 
 stare on the part of the shepherd. /' It*s 
 the woo', man, — it's the woo', and no the 
 beasts themsels, that makes them be ca*d 
 bng or short. I believe, if ye were to
 
 THE BLACK DWAUF. 31 
 
 measure their backs, the short sheep wad 
 be rather the langer-bodied o' the twa ; but 
 it's the woo* that pays the rent in thae 
 days, and it had muckle need." 
 
 " Odd, Bauldie says very true,— short 
 sheep did make short rents — my father 
 paid for our steeding just threescore 
 pounds, and it stands me in three hundred, 
 plack and bawbee. — And that's very true— 
 I hae nae time to be standing here clavering 
 — Landlord, get us our breakfast, and see 
 an* get the yauds fed— I am for down to 
 Christy Wilson's, to see if him and me can 
 gree about the luckpenny I am to gie him 
 for his year-aulds. We had drank six 
 mutchkins to the making the bargain at 
 St Boswell's fair, and some gate we canna 
 gree upon the particulars preceesely, for as 
 muckle time as we took about it— I doubt 
 we draw to a plea. — But hear ye, neigh- 
 bour,*' addressing my xeorthy and learned 
 yatron^ '' if ye want to hear ony thing 
 about lang or short sheep, I will be back 
 here to my kail against ane o'clock \ or, if
 
 32 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ye want ony auld-warld stories about the 
 Black Dwarf, and sic like, if ye'll ware a 
 half mutcbkin upon Bauldie there, he'll 
 crack t'ye like a pen-gun. And Tse gie 
 a mutchkin mysel, man, if I can settle 
 weel wi' Christy Wilson." 
 
 The farmer returned at the hour ap- 
 pointed, and with him came Christy Wil- 
 son, their difference having been fortu- 
 nately settled without an appeal to the 
 gentlemen of the long robe. My learned 
 and worthy patron failed not to attend, 
 both on account of the refreshment pro- 
 mised to the mind and to the body, al^ 
 though he is known to partake of the latter in 
 a "cery moderate degree ; and the party with 
 which my Landlord was associated conti- 
 nued to sit till late in the evening, season- 
 ing their liquor with many choice tales 
 and songs. The last incident which I re- 
 collect, was my learned and worthy patron 
 falling from his chair, just as he concluded 
 a long lecture upon temperance, by reci- 
 ting, from the Gentle Shepherd, a couplet,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. S3 
 
 which he 7'ight happily transferred from 
 the vice of avarice to that of ebriety : — 
 
 He that has just eneugh may soundly sleep, 
 The owercome only fashes folk to keep. 
 
 In the course of the evening the Black 
 Dwarf had not been forgotten, and the old 
 shepherd, Bauldie, told so many stories of 
 him, that they excited a good deal of inte- 
 rest. It also appeared, though not till the 
 third punch-bowl was emptied, that much 
 of the farmer's scepticism on the subject 
 was affected, as evincing a liberality of 
 thinking, and a freedom from ancient pre- 
 judices, becoming a man who paid three 
 hundred pounds a-year of rent, while, in 
 fact, he had a lurking belief in the tradi- 
 tions of his forefathers. After my usual 
 manner, I made farther enquiries of other 
 persons connected with the wild and pas- 
 toral district in which the scene of the fol- 
 lowing narrative is placed, and I was fortu- 
 nate enough to recover many links of the 
 story, not generally known, and which ac- 
 B 3
 
 S4 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 count, at least in some degree, for the 
 circumstances of exaggerated marvel with 
 which superstition has attired it in the 
 more vulgar traditions.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 3S 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 Will none but Hearne th'e Hunter serve your turn ? 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, 
 
 In one of the most remote districts of 
 the south of Scotland, where an ideal 
 line, drawn along the tops of lofty and 
 bleak mountains, separates that land from 
 her sister kingdom, a young man, called 
 Halbert, or Hobbie Elliot, a substantial 
 farmer, who boasted his descent from old 
 Martin Elliot of the Preakin-tower, noted 
 in Border story and song, was on his re- 
 turn from deer-stalking. The deer, once 
 so numerous among these solitary wastes, 
 were now reduced to a very few herds, 
 which, sheltering themselves in the most 
 remote and inaccessible recesses, rendered 
 the task of pursuing them equally toil-
 
 56 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 some and precarious. But, however, there 
 were found many youth of the country 
 ardently attached to this sport, with all its 
 dangers and fatigues. The sword had 
 been sheathed upon the Borders for more 
 than a hundred years, by the peaceful 
 union of the crowns in the reign of James 
 the First of Great Britain. Still the coun- 
 try retained traces of what it had been in 
 former days ; the inhabitants, their more 
 peaceful avocations having been repeated- 
 ly interrupted by the civil wars of the 
 preceding century, were scarce yet broken 
 in to the habits of regular industry, sheep- 
 farming had not been introduced upon 
 any considerable scale, and the feeding of 
 black cattle was the chief purpose to 
 vv^hich the hills and vaUies ^were applied. 
 Near to the farmer's house he usually 
 contrived to raise such a crop of oats, or 
 barley, as afforded meal for his family ; 
 and the whole of this slovenly and imper- 
 fect mode of cultivation left much time 
 upon his own hands, and those of his do-
 
 ^ THE BLACK DWARF. 37 
 
 mestics. This was usually employed by 
 the young men in hunting and fishing; 
 and the spirit of adventure, which former- 
 ly led to raids and forays in the same dis- 
 tricts, was still to be discovered in the 
 eagerness with which they pursued those 
 rural sports. 
 
 The more high-spirited among the youth 
 were, about the time that our narrative 
 begins, expecting, rather with hope than 
 apprehension, an opportunity of emula- 
 ting their fathers in their military achieve- 
 ments, the recital of which formed the 
 chief part of their amusement within 
 doors. The passing of the Scottish act of 
 security had given the alarm to England, 
 as it seemed to point at a separation of 
 the two British kingdoms, after the de- 
 cease of Queen Anne, the reigning mo- 
 narch. Godolphin, then at the head of 
 the English administration, foresaw that 
 there was no other mode of avoiding the 
 probable extremity of a civil war, but by 
 carrying through an incorporating union.
 
 38 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 How that treaty was managed, and how 
 little it seemed for some time to promise 
 the beneficial results which have since 
 taken place to such extent, may be learn- 
 ed from the history of the period. It is 
 enough for our purpose to say, that all 
 Scotland was indignant at the terms on 
 which their legislature had surrendered 
 their national independence. The general 
 resentment led to the strangest leagues 
 and to the wildest plans. The Camero- 
 nians were about to take arms for the re- 
 storation of the house of Stuarl, whom 
 they regarded, with justice, as their op- 
 pressors ; and the intrigues of the period 
 presented the strange picture of papists, 
 prelatists, and presbyterians, caballing 
 themselves against the English govern- 
 ment, out of a common feeling that their 
 country had been treated with injustice. 
 The fermentation was general ; and, as the 
 population of Scotland had been generally 
 trained to arms, under the act of security, 
 they were not indifferently prepared for 
 
 10
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 39 
 
 war, and waited but the declaration of 
 some of th€ nobility to break out into 
 open liostility. It was at this period of 
 public confusion that our story opens. 
 
 The cleugh, or wild ravine, into which 
 Hobbie Elliot had followed the game, was 
 already far behind him, and he was consi- 
 derably advanced on his return home- 
 ward, when the night began to close upon 
 him. This would have been a circum- 
 stance of great indifference to the expe- 
 rienced sportsman, who could have walked 
 blindfold over every inch of his native 
 heaths, had it not happened near a spot, 
 which, according to the traditions of the 
 country, was in extremely bad fame as 
 haunted by supernatural appearances. To 
 tales of this kind Hobbie had, from his 
 childhood, lent an attentive ear; and as no 
 part of the country afforded such a variety 
 of legends, so no man was more deeply 
 read in their fearful lore than Hobbie of 
 the Heugh-foot, for so our gallant was 
 called, to distinguish him from a round
 
 40 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 dozen of Elliots who bore the s^me chris- 
 tian name. It cost him no efforts, there- 
 fore, to call to memory the terrific incidents 
 connected with the extensive waste upon 
 which he was now entering. In fact, they 
 presented themselves with a readiness 
 which he felt to be somewhat dismaying. 
 This dreary common was called Meikle- 
 stane-Moor,from a huge column of unhewn 
 granite, which raised its massy head on a 
 knoll near the centre of the heath, per- 
 haps to tell of the mighty dead who slept 
 beneath, or to preserve the memory of 
 some bloody skirmish. The real cause of 
 its existence had, however, passed away ; 
 and tradition, who is as frequently an in- 
 ventor of fiction as a preserver of truth, 
 had supplied its place with a supplemen- 
 tary legend of her own, which now came 
 full upon Hobble's memory. The ground 
 about the pillar was strewed, or rather en- 
 cumbered, with many large fragments of 
 stone of the same consistence with the 
 column, which, from their appearance as
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 41 
 
 they lay scattered on the waste, were po- 
 pularly called the Grey Geese of Meikle- 
 stane-Moor. The legend accounted for 
 this name and appearance by the catas- 
 trophe of a noted and most formidable 
 witch who frequented these hills in former 
 days, causing the ewes to keb^ and the 
 kine to cast their calves, and performing 
 all the feats of mischief ascribed to these 
 evil beings. On this moor she used to 
 hold her revels with her sister hags ; and 
 rings were still pointed out on which no 
 grass nor heath ever grew, the turf being, 
 as it were, calcined by the scorching hoofs 
 of their diabolical partners. 
 
 Once upon a time this old hag is said to 
 have crossed the moor, driving before her 
 a flock of geese, which she proposed to sell 
 to advantage at a neighbouring fair ;— for it 
 is well known that the fiend, however 
 liberal in imparting his powers of doing 
 mischief, ungenerously leaves his allies un- 
 der the necessity of performing the mean- 
 est rustic labours for subsistence. The
 
 4^ TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 day was far advanced, and her chance of 
 obtaining a good price depended on her 
 being first at the market. Bat the geese, 
 which had hitherto preceded her in a 
 pretty orderly manner, when they came 
 to this wide common, interspersed with 
 marshes and pools of water, scattered in 
 every direction, to plunge into the ele- 
 ment in which they delighted. Incensed 
 at the obstinacy with which they defied 
 all her efforts to collect them, and not re- 
 memberhig the terms of the contract by 
 which the fiend was bound to obey her 
 commands for a certain space, the sorce* 
 ress exclaimed, " Deevil, that neither I nor 
 they ever stir from this spot more !" The 
 words were hardly uttered, when, by a 
 metamorphosis as sudden as any in Ovid, 
 the hag and her refractory flock were con- 
 verted into stone, the angel whom she 
 served grasping eagerly at an opportunity 
 of completing the ruin of her body and 
 soul by a literal obedience to her orders. 
 It is said, that when she perceived and
 
 THE BLACK D^VARF. 43 
 
 felt the trausformation which was about 
 to take place, she exclaimed to the 
 treacherous fiend, " Ah ! thou false thief, 
 Jang hast thou promised me a grey gown, 
 and now I am getting ane that will last 
 for ever." The dimensions of the pillar, 
 and of the stones, were often appealed to, 
 as a proof of the superior stature and si;se 
 of old women and geese in the days of 
 other years, by those praisers of the past 
 who held the comfortable opinion of the 
 gradual degeneracy of mankind^ 
 
 All particulars of this legend Hobbie 
 called to mind as he paced along the moor. 
 He also remembered, that, since the catas- 
 trophe had taken place, the scene of it had 
 been avoided, at least after night-fall, by 
 all human beings, as being the ordinary 
 resort of kelpies, spunkies, and other de- 
 mons, once the companions of the witches' 
 diabolical revels, and now continuing to 
 rendezvous upon the same spot, as if still 
 in attendance on their transformed mis- 
 tress. Hobble's natural hardihood, how-
 
 41 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ever, manfully combatted with those intru- 
 sive sensations of awe. He summoned to 
 his side the brace of large greyhounds, who 
 were the companions of his sports, and 
 who were wont, in his own phrase, to fear 
 neither dog nor devil ', he looked at the 
 priming of his piece, and, like the clown 
 in Hallowe'en, whistled up the warlike 
 ditty of Jock of the Side, as a general cau- 
 ses his drums be beat to inspirit the doubt- 
 ful courage of his soldiers. 
 
 In this state of mind, he was very glad 
 to hear a friendly voice shout in his rear, 
 and propose to him a partner on the road. 
 He slackened his pace, and was quickly 
 joined by a youth well known to him, a 
 gentleman of some fortune in that remote 
 country, and who had been abroad upon 
 the same errand with himself. Young 
 EarnsclifF, " of that ilk," had lately come 
 of age, and succeeded to a moderate for- 
 tune, a good deal dilapidated, from the 
 share his family had taken in the disturb- 
 anccs of the period. They were much
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 45 
 
 and generally respected in the country, a 
 reputation which this young gentleman 
 seemed likely to sustain, as he was well 
 educated, and of excellent dispositions. — 
 " Now, Earnscliff,'* exclaimed Hobbie, " I 
 am glad to meet your honour ony gait, 
 and company's blithe on a bare moor like 
 this — it's an unco bogilly bit — Where hae 
 ye been sporting ?" 
 
 "Up the Carla Cleugh, Hobbie," an- 
 swered EarnsclifF, returning his greeting. 
 " But will our dogs keep the peace^ think 
 you?" 
 
 '* De'il a fear o' mine," said Hobbie, 
 " they have scarce a leg to stand on. — 
 Odd ! the deer's fled the country, I think ! 
 I have been as far as Inger-f ell-foot, and 
 dp'il a horn has Hobbie seen, excepting 
 three red-wud raes, that never let me 
 within shot of them, though I gaed a mile 
 round to get up the wind to them, an' a'* — 
 De'il o' me wad care mickle, only I want- 
 ed some venison to our auld gude-dame. — 
 The carline, she sits in the neuk yonder,
 
 46 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 upbye, and cracks about the grand shoot- 
 ers and hunters lang syne — Odd, I think 
 they hae killed a' the deer in the country, 
 for my part." 
 
 " Well, Hobbie, I have shot a fat buck, 
 and sent him to Earnscliff this morning — 
 you shall have half of him for your grand- 
 mother." 
 
 *' Mony thanks to ye, Mr Patrick, ye're 
 kend to a' the country for a kind heart. It 
 will do the auld wife's heart gude — mair by 
 token, when she kens it comes frae you-- 
 and maist of a*, gin yc'll come up and take 
 your share, for I reckon you are lonesome 
 now in the auld tower, and a' your folk at 
 that weary Edinburgh. I wonder what 
 they can find to do amang a wheen ranks o' 
 stane-houses, wi' slate on the tap o' them, 
 that might live on their ain bonny green 
 hills.'* 
 
 " My education and my sisters' has 
 kept my mother much in Edinburgh for 
 several years," said EarnsclifF, ** but I pro- 
 mise you I propose to make up for lost 
 time."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 47 
 
 " And ye'll rig out the auld tower a bit,'* 
 said Hobbie, " and live hearty and neigh- 
 bour-like wi* the auld family friends, as 
 the Laird o' EarnsclifF should? I can tell 
 ye, my mother — my grandmother I mean 
 — but, since we lost our ain mother, we 
 ca' her sometimes the tane, and sometimes 
 the tother — but, ony gate, she thinks her- 
 sel no that distant connected wi' you." 
 
 " Very true, Hobbie, and I will come to 
 the Heugh-foot to dinner to-morrow with 
 all my heart." 
 
 ** Weel, that's kindly said ! We are auld 
 neighbours, an' we were na kin — and my 
 gude dame's fain to see you — she clavers 
 about your father that was killed lang 
 syne." 
 
 " Hush, hush, Hobbie — not a word about 
 that — it's a story better forgotten." 
 
 " I dinna ken — if it had chanced amang 
 our folk, we wad hae keepit it in mind 
 mony a day till we got some mends for it 
 — but ye ken your ain ways best, you lairds 
 — I have heard say that EUieslaw's friend
 
 48 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 stickit your sire after the laird himsel had 
 mastered his sword." 
 
 ** Fie, fie, Hobbie ; it was a foolish 
 brawl, occasioned by wine and politics- 
 many swords were drawn — it is impossible 
 to say who struck the blow." 
 
 " At ony rate, auld Ellieslaw was aid- 
 ing and abetting, and I am sure if ye were 
 sae disposed as to take amends on him, 
 naebody could say it was wrang, for your 
 father's blood is beneath his nails— and 
 besides there's naebody else left that was 
 concerned to take amends upon, and he's 
 a prelatist and a Jacobite into the bargain 
 —I can tell ye the country folk looks for 
 something atween ye.'* 
 
 '* O for shame, Hobbie ! you that pro- 
 fess religion to stir your friend up to break 
 the law, and take vengeance at his own 
 hand, and in such a bogilly bit too, where 
 we know not what beings may be listen- 
 ing to us !" 
 
 " Hush, hush !" said Hobbie, drawing 
 nearer to his companion, *' I was nae 
 thinking o' the like o' them— But I can
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 49 
 
 guess a wee bit what keeps your hand up, 
 Mr Patrick ; we a' ken it's no lack o* cou- 
 rage, but the twa grey een of a bonnie 
 lass, Miss Isbel Vere, that keeps you sae 
 sober." 
 
 " I assure you, Hobbie," said his com- 
 panion, rather angrily, " I assure you 
 you are mistaken ; and it is extremely 
 wrong in you, either to think of, or to ut- 
 ter, such an idea ; I have no idea of. per- 
 mitting freedoms to be carried so far as to 
 connect my name with that of any young 
 lady." 
 
 " Why, there now—there now !" retort- 
 ed Elliot; " did not I say it was nae want 
 o* spunk that made ye sae mim ?— Weel, 
 weel, I meant nae offence— but there's just 
 ae thing ye may notice frae,a friend. The 
 auld Laird of Ellieslaw has the auld ri- 
 ding blood far better at his heart than ye 
 hae— -troth, he kens naething about thae 
 new-fangled notions o' peace and quiet- 
 ness — he*s a* for the auld-warld doings of 
 lifting and laying on, and he has a wheen 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 50 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 stout lads at his back too, and keeps them 
 weel up in heart, and as fu* o' mischief as 
 young colts. Where he gets the gear to 
 do't nane can say — he lives high, and far 
 abune his rents here — however, he pays 
 his way — Sae, if there's ony outbreak in 
 the country, he's likely to break out wi' 
 the first — and weel does he mind the auld 
 quarrels between ye. I'm surmizing he'll 
 be for a touch at the auld tower at Earns- 
 cliff." 
 
 /* Well, Hobbie, if he should be so ill 
 advised, I shall try to make the old tower 
 good against him, as it has been made 
 good by my betters against his betters 
 many a day ago." 
 
 " Very right — very right — that's speak- 
 ing like a man now — and, if sae should be 
 that this be sae, if }e'll just gar your ser- 
 vant jow out the great bell in the tower, 
 there's me, and my twa brothers, and lit- 
 tle Davie of the Stenhouse, will be wi'you, 
 wi' a' the power we can make, in the snap- 
 ping of a flint."
 
 THIS BLACK DWARF. 51 
 
 ** Many thanks, Hbbbie ; but I hope 
 we shall have no war of so unnatural and 
 unchristian a kind in our time.*' 
 
 *' Hout, sir, bout ; it wad be but a wee 
 bit neighbour war, and Heaven and earth 
 would make allowances for it in this un- 
 cultivated place— it's just the nature o' 
 the folk and the land — we canna live quiet 
 like Loudon folk — we hae na sae muckle to 
 do." 
 
 " Well, Hobbie, for one who believes 
 so deeply as you do in supernatural ap- 
 pearances, I must own you take Heaven 
 in your own hand rather audaciously, con^ 
 sidering where we are walking." 
 
 " What needs I care for the Mickle- 
 stane-Moor ony mair than ye do yoursel, 
 Earnscliff ? to be sure they say there's a 
 sort o' worricows and lang-nebbed things 
 about the land, but what need I care for 
 them ? I hae a good conscience, unless 
 it be about a rant amang the lasses, or a 
 splore at a fair, and that's no muckle to 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ^c iilMf^
 
 51 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 speak of. Though I sae it mysel, I am as 
 
 quiet a lad and as peaceable" 
 
 ** And Dick TurnbuU's head that you 
 broke, and Willie of Winton whom you 
 shot at ?" 
 
 " Hout, EarnsclifF, ye keep a record of a' 
 men's misdoings — Dick's head's healed 
 again, and we're to fight out the quarrel 
 at Jeddart, on the Rood-day, so that's like 
 a thing settled in a peaceable way ; and 
 then I am friends wi' Willie again, poor 
 chield — it was but twa or three hail- 
 draps after a'.— I wad let ony body do the 
 like o't to me for a pint o* brandy. But 
 Willie's lowland bred, poor fallow, and 
 soon frighted for himseU — And, for the 
 worricows, were we to meet ane on this 
 very bit" 
 
 ** As is not unlikely," said young Earns- 
 clifF, " for there stands your old witch, 
 Hobbie." 
 
 " I say," continued Elliot, as if indig- 
 nant at this hint — " I say, if the auld car-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 
 
 line hersel was to get up out of the 
 grund just before us here, I would think 
 iiae mair— but, gude preserve us, Earns- 
 cliff, what can yon be !"
 
 54i TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Brown dwarf, that o'er the moorland strays, 
 
 Thy name to Keeldar tell ! 
 " The Brown Man of the moor, that stays 
 
 Beneath the heather-bell." 
 
 John Leyden. 
 
 The object which alarmed the young 
 farmer in the middle of his valorous pro- 
 testations, startled for a moment even his 
 less-prejudiced companion. The moon, 
 which had arisen during their conversa- 
 tion, was, in the phrase of that country, 
 wading or struggling with clouds, and shed 
 only a doubtful and occasional light. By 
 one of her beams, which streamed upon 
 the great granite column, to which they 
 now approached, they discovered a form, 
 apparently human, but of a size much less 
 than ordinary^ which moved slowly among
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. SS 
 
 the large grey stones, not like a person in- 
 tending to journey onward, but with the 
 slow,, irregular, flitting movement of a 
 being who hovers around some spot of me- 
 lancholy recollection, uttering also, from 
 time to time, a sort of indistinct mutter- 
 ing sound. This so much resembled his 
 idea of the motions of an apparition, that 
 Hobble Elliot, making a dead pause, while 
 his hair erected itself upon his scalp, whis- 
 pered to his companion—^^ It's auld Ailie, 
 hersel I Shall I gi e her a shot, in the name 
 of God?'' 
 
 *' For Heaven's sake, no," said his com- 
 panion, holding down the weapon which 
 he was about to raise to the aim — " for 
 Heaven's sake, no; it's some poor distract- 
 ed creature." 
 
 " You're distracted yoursel, for think- 
 ing of going so near to her," said Elliot, 
 holding his companion, in his turn, as he 
 prepared to advance. ** We'll aye hae 
 time to pit ovver a bit prayer (an* I could 
 but mind ane) afore she comes this length
 
 56 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 —God ! she's in nae hurry," continued he, 
 growing bolder from his companion's con- 
 fidence, and the little notice the apparition 
 seemed to take of them. *' She hirples 
 like a hen on a het girdle — I redd ye, 
 Earnscliif/' [this he added in a gentle whis- 
 per,] *' let us take a cast about, as if to 
 draw the wind on a buck — the bog is no 
 abune knee-deep, and better a saft road as 
 bad company.'* 
 
 EarnsclifF, however, in spite of his com- 
 panion's resistance and remonstrances, 
 continued to advance on the path they 
 had originally pursued, and soon confront- 
 ed the object of their investigation. 
 
 The height of the object, which seemed 
 even to decrease as they approached it, 
 seemed to be under four feet, and its form, 
 so far as the imperfect light afforded them 
 the means of discerning, was very nearly 
 as broad as long, or rather of a spherical 
 shape, which could only be occasioned by 
 some strange personal deformity. The 
 young sportsman hailed this extraordinary
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 57 
 
 appearance twice, without receiving any 
 answer, or attending to the pinches by 
 which his companion endeavoured to inti- 
 mate that their best course was to walk 
 on, without giving farther disturbance to 
 a being of such singular and preterna- 
 tural exterior. To the third repeated de- 
 mand of ** Who are you ? What do you 
 here at this hour of night ?"— a voice re- 
 plied, whose shrill, uncouth, and disso- 
 nant tones made Elliot step two paces 
 back, and startled even his companion, 
 " Pass on your way, and ask nought at 
 them that ask nought at you.'* 
 
 *' What do you do here so far from shel- 
 ter? Are you benighted on your journey ? 
 Will you follow us home, (* God forbid,' 
 ejaculated Hobbie Elliot, involuntarily) 
 and I will give you a lodging." 
 
 " I would sooner lodge by mysel in the 
 deepest of the Tarras-flow," again whisper- 
 ed Hobbie. 
 
 *^ Pass on your way,'* rejoined the figure, 
 the harsh tones of his voice still more ex- 
 c 2
 
 5S TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 alted by passion. *^ I want not your gui- 
 dance — I want not your lodging — it is five 
 years since my head was under a human 
 roof, and I trust it was for the last time.*' 
 
 " He is mad/' said Earnscliff — ** He has 
 a look of auld Humphrey Ettercap, the 
 tinkler, that perished ia this very moss 
 about five years syne," answered his super- 
 stitious companion ; " but Humphrey was. 
 na that awfu big in the bouk." 
 
 *' Pass on your way/' reiterated the ob- 
 ject of their curiosity, " the breath of your 
 human bodies poisons the air around me — 
 the sound of your human voices goes 
 through my ears like sharp bodkins/' 
 
 ** Lord safe us !" said Hobbie, '' that the 
 dead should bear sic fearfu ill-will to the 
 living !— his saul maun be in a puir way, 
 Vm jealous." 
 
 "C ome, my friend/' said Earnscliff, 
 '' you seem to suffer under some strong af- 
 fliction ; common humanity will not allow 
 us to leave you here/' 
 
 *' Common humanity !" exclaimed the
 
 THE BLACK DWAIiF. 5§ 
 
 being, with a scornful laugh that sounded 
 like a shriek, *' where got ye that catch- 
 word — that noose for woodcocks — that 
 common disguise for man-traps — that bait 
 which the wretched idiot who swallows, 
 will soon find covers a hook with barbs ten 
 times sharper than those you lay for the 
 animals which you murder for your luxu- 
 ry 1" 
 
 *^ I tell you, my friend," again replied 
 EarnscliiF, " you are incapable to judge of 
 your own situation — you will perish in this 
 wilderness, and we must, in compassion, 
 force you along with us.*' 
 
 "Til hae neither hand nor foot in t," said 
 Hobbie; " let the ghaist take his ain way, 
 for God's sake." 
 
 *'My blood be on my own head, if I pe- 
 rish here," said the figure ; and, observing 
 EarnscliiF meditating to lay hold on him, 
 he added, " and your blood be upon yours, 
 if you touch but the skirt of my garments 
 to infect me with the taint of mortality !" 
 
 The moon shone more brightly as he
 
 60 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 spoke thus, and Earnscliff observed that 
 he held out his right hand armed with 
 some weapon of offence, which glittered 
 in the cold ray like the blade of a long 
 knife, or the barrel of a pistol. It would 
 have been madness to persevere in his at- 
 tempt upon a being thus armed, and hold- 
 ing such desperate language, especially as 
 it was plain he would have little aid from 
 his companion, who had fairly left him to 
 settle matters with the apparition as he 
 could, and had proceeded a few paces on 
 his way homeward. Earnscliff, therefore, 
 turned and followed Hobbie, after looking 
 back towards the supposed maniac, who, 
 as if raised to frenzy by the interview, 
 roamed wildly around the great stone, ex- 
 hausting his voice in shrieks and impreca- 
 tions that thrilled wildly along the waste 
 heath. 
 
 The two sportsmen moved on some time 
 in silence, until they were out of hearing 
 of these uncouth sounds, which was not 
 ere they had gained a considerable dis-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 61 
 
 tance from the pillar which gave name to 
 the moor. Each made his private com- 
 ments on the scene they had witnessed, 
 until Hobbie Elliot suddenly exclaimed, 
 *' Weel^ rU uphaud that yon ghaist, if it be 
 a ghaist, has baith done and suffered 
 muckle evil in the flesh, that gars him ram- 
 pauge in that way after he is dead and 
 gane.*' 
 
 " It seems to me the very madness of 
 misanthropy," said Earnscliff, following 
 his own current of thought. 
 
 *' And ye didna think it was a spiritual 
 creature, then ?" asked Hobbie at his com- 
 panion. 
 
 •^ Who, I ?-No, surely." 
 
 ** Weel, I am partly of the mind mysel 
 that it may be a live thing— and yet I din- 
 na ken, I wadna wish to see ony thing look 
 liker a bogle." 
 
 " At any rate," said Earnscliff, " I will 
 ride over to-morrow, and see what has be- 
 come of that unhappy being.** 
 
 *'In fair day-light?" queried the yeo- 
 U
 
 62 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 man, *' then, grace o' God, Tse be wi' ye. 
 But here we are nearer to Heugh-foot than 
 to your house by twa miles, — hadna ye 
 better e'en gae hame wi' me, and we'll send 
 the callant on the poney to tell them that 
 you are wi* us, though I believe there's 
 naebody at hame to wait for you but the 
 servants and the cat." 
 
 " And as I would not willingly have ei- 
 ther the servants be anxious, or puss forfeit 
 h€r supper, in my absence, TU be obliged 
 to you to send the boy as you propose/' 
 
 *^ Aweel, that is kind, I must say. And 
 you'll gae hame to Heugh-foot ? They'll be 
 right blithe to see you, that will they." 
 
 This affair settled, they walked briskly 
 on a little farther, when, coming to the 
 ridge of a pretty steep hill, Hobbie Elliot 
 exclaimed, ** Now, Earnscliff, I am aye 
 glad when I come to this very bit — Ye see 
 the light below, that's in the ha' window, 
 where grannie, the gash auld carline, is 
 sitting birling at her wheel — and ye see 
 yon other light that's gaun whidding back
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 65 
 
 and forward through amang the whidows ? 
 that's my cousin, Grace Armstrong^— she's 
 twice as clever about the house as my 
 sisters, and sae they say themsels, for 
 they're good-natured lasses as ever trod 
 on heather; but they confess themsels, 
 and sae does grannie, that she has far maist 
 action, and is the best goer about the toun, 
 now that grannie is off the foot hersel—- My 
 brothers, ane o' them's awa to wait upon 
 the chamberlain, and ane's at Mosspha- 
 draig, that's our led farm — he can see af- 
 ter the stock as weel as I can do." 
 
 *' You are lucky, my good friend, in 
 having so many valuable relations." 
 
 *' Troth am I — Grace make me thank- 
 ful, I'se never deny it.— But will ye tell 
 me now, Earnscliff, you that has been at 
 college, and the high-school of Edinburgh, 
 and got a' sort o' lair where it was to be 
 best gotten— will you tell me— -no that it!s 
 ony concern of mine in particular, but I 
 heard the priest of St John's, and our mi- 
 nister, bargaining about it at the Winter
 
 64 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 fair, and troth they baith spak very weel 
 — Now, the priest says it's unlawful to 
 marry ane's cousin ; but I canna say I 
 thought he brought out the Gospel autho- 
 rities half sae weel as our minister — our 
 minister is thought the. best divine and 
 the best preacher atween this and Edin- 
 burgh— Dinna ye think he was likely to 
 be right ?** 
 
 " Certainly marriage, by all protestant 
 Christians, is held to be as free as God 
 made it by the Levitical law ; so, Hobbie, 
 there can be no bar, legal or religious, be- 
 twixt you and Miss Armstrong." 
 
 ** Hout, awa wi' your joking, EarnsclifF 
 — ye are sae angry yoursel if ane touches 
 you a bit, man, on the sooth side of the 
 jest— No that I was asking the question 
 about Grace, for ye maun ken she's no 
 my cousin-germain out and out, but the 
 daughter of my uncle's wife by her first 
 marriage, so she's nae kith nor kin to me 
 —only a connection like* — But now we're 
 at the Sheeling-hill— ril fire off my gun, to
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 65 
 
 let them ken I'm coming, that's aye my 
 way ; and if I hae a deer I gie them twa 
 shots, ane for the deer and ane for mysel." 
 
 He fired off his piece accordingly, and 
 the number of lights were seen to traverse 
 the house, and even to gleam before it. 
 Hobbie Elliot pointed out one of these to 
 EarnschfF, which seemed to glide from 
 the house towards some of the out-houses 
 — ** That's Grace, hersel," said Hobbie. 
 ** She'll no meet me at the door, I'se war- 
 rant her— but she'll be awa', for a' that, to 
 see if my hounds' supper be ready, poor 
 beasts." 
 
 " Love me, love my dog," answered 
 EarnsclifF. " Ah, Hobbie, you are a lucky 
 young fellow." 
 
 This observation was uttered with some- 
 thing like a sigh, which apparently did not 
 escape the ear of his companion. 
 
 ** Hout, other folk may be as lucky as I 
 am — O how I have seen Miss Isbel Vere's 
 head turn after somebody when they 
 passed ane another at the Carlisle races I
 
 66 TALES OF Mr LANDLORD. 
 
 Wha kens how things may come round in 
 this world ?'* 
 
 EarnsclifF muttered something like an 
 answer; but whether in assent of the pro- 
 position, or rebuking the application of it, 
 could not easily be discovered ; and it 
 seems probable that the speaker himself 
 was willing his meaning should be in 
 doubt and obscurity. They had now de* 
 scended the broad steep loaning, which, 
 winding round the foot of the steep bank, 
 or heugh, brought them in front of the 
 thatched, but comfortable, farm-house, 
 which was the dwelling of Hobbie Elliot 
 and his family. 
 
 The door-way was thronged with joyful 
 faces ; but the appearance of a stranger 
 blunted many a jibe which had been pre- 
 pared on Hobbie's lack of success in the 
 deer-stalking. There was a little bustle 
 among three handsome young women, 
 each endeavouring to devolve upon ano- 
 ther the task of ushering the stranger 
 into the apartment; while probably all
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 67 
 
 were anxious to escape to, make some little 
 personal arrangements before presenting 
 themselves to a young gentleman in a dis- 
 habille only intended for their brother. 
 Hobbie, in the meanwhile, bestowing some 
 hearty and general abuse upon them all, 
 (for Grace was not of the party,) snatched 
 the candle from the hand of one of the 
 rustic coquettes, as she stood playing 
 pretty with it in her hand, and ushered his 
 guest into the family parlour, or rather 
 hall ; for the place having been a house of 
 defence in former times, the sitting apart- 
 ment was a vaulted and paved room, damp 
 and dismal enough compared with the 
 lodgings of the yeomanry of our days, but 
 which, when well lighted up with a large 
 sparkling fire of turf and bog-wood, seemed 
 to Earnscliff a most comfortable exchange 
 for the darkness and bleak blast of the hill. 
 Kindly and repeatedly was he welcomed 
 by the venerable old dame, the mistress 
 of the family, who, dressed in her coif and 
 pinners^ her close and decent gown of
 
 68 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 home-spun wool, but with a large gold 
 necklace and ear-rings, looked, what she 
 really was, the lady as well as the farm- 
 er's-wife, while, seated in her chair of wick- 
 er, by the corner of the great chimnej^, 
 she directed the evening occupations of 
 the young women, and of two or three 
 stout serving wenches, who sate plying 
 their distaffs behind the backs of their 
 young mistresses. 
 
 As soon as EarnsclifT had been duly wel- 
 comed, and hasty orders issued for some 
 addition to the evening meal, his grand- 
 dame and sisters opened their battery up- 
 on Hobbie Elliot for his lack of success 
 against the deer. 
 
 " Jenny needna have kept up her kit- 
 chen fire for a' that Hobbie has brought 
 hame," said one sister. 
 
 " Troth no, lass," said another ; " the 
 gathering peat, if it was weel blawn, wad 
 dress a* our Hobble's venison." 
 
 " Aye, or the low of the candle if the 
 wind wad let it bide steady," said a third;
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 69 
 
 " if I were him I would bring hame a 
 black craw, rather than come back three 
 times without a buck's horn to blaw on." 
 
 Hobbie turned from the one to the 
 other, regarding them alternately with a 
 frown on his brow, the augury of which 
 was confuted by the good-humoured laugh 
 on the lower part of his countenance. He 
 then strove to propitiate them, by men- 
 tioning the intended present of his com- 
 panion. 
 
 " In my young days," said the old lady, 
 *' a man wad hae been ashamed to come 
 back frae the hill without a buck hang- 
 ing on each side o' his horse, like a cadger 
 carrying calves." 
 
 ** I wish they had left some for us then, 
 grannie," retorted Hobbie ; " they've clear- 
 ed the country o* them, thae auld friends 
 o' yours, I'm thinking." 
 
 " Ye see other folk can find game, 
 though you cannot, Hobbie," said the el- 
 dest sister, glancing a look at young 
 EarnsclifF.
 
 70 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Weel, weel, woman, hasna every dog 
 his day, begging EarnsclifF's pardon for 
 the auld saying — Mayna 1 hae his luck, 
 and he mine, another time ? — It's a braw 
 thing for a man to be out a' day, and 
 frightened— na, I winna say that neither 
 —but mistrysted wi' bogles in the hame 
 coming, and then to hae to flyte wi* a 
 wheen women that hae been doing nae. 
 thing a' the live-lang day but whirling a 
 bit stick, wi* a thread trailing at it, or bo- 
 ring at a clout." 
 
 " Frightened wi* bogles !'* exclaimed 
 the females, one and all, for great was the 
 regard then paid, and perhaps still paid, 
 in these glens to all such fantasies. 
 
 ** I did not say frightened, now — I only 
 said mis-set wi' the things And there was 
 but ae bogle, neither — Earnscliif, you saw 
 it as weel as I did r" 
 
 And he proceeded, without very much 
 exaggeration, to detail, in his own way, 
 the meeting they had with the mysterious 
 being at Micklestane-Moor, concluding,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 7l 
 
 he could not conjecture what on earth it 
 could be, unless it was either the Enemy 
 himsel, or some of the auld Peghts that 
 held the country lang syne. 
 
 " Auld Peght !" exclaimed the gran- 
 dame ; " na, na— bless thee frae scathe, my 
 bairn, it's been nae Peght that — it's been 
 the Brown Man of the Moors ! O weary fa' 
 thae evil days !— -what can evil beings be 
 coming for to distract a poor country, 
 now it's peacefully settled, and living in 
 love and law ?— O weary on him ! he ne'er 
 brought gude to these lands or the in- 
 dwellers. My father often tauld me he 
 was seen in the year o' the bloody fight at 
 Marston-Moor, and then again in Mon- 
 trose's troubles, and again before the rout 
 o' Dunbar, and, in my ain time, he was 
 seen about the time o' Bothwel-Brigg, and 
 they said the second-sighted Laird of Be- 
 narbuck had a communing wi' him some 
 time afore Argyle's landing, but that I can- 
 not speak to sae preceesely — it was far in 
 the west.— O, bairns, he's never permitted 
 
 9
 
 72 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 but in an ill time, sae mind ilka ane o* ye 
 to draw to Him that can help in the day 
 of trouble." 
 
 EarnsclifF now interposed, and express- 
 ed his firm conviction that the person 
 they had seen was some poor maniac, 
 and had no commission from the invisible 
 world to announce either war or evil. But 
 his opinion found a very cold audience, 
 and all joined to deprecate his purpose of 
 returning to the spot the next day. 
 
 " O, my bonnie bairn," said the old 
 dame, (for, in the kindness of her heart, 
 she extended her parental style to all in 
 whom she was interested) — " You should 
 beware mair than other folk— there's been 
 a heavy breach made in your house wi* 
 your father's bloodshed, and wi' law pleas, 
 and losses sinsyne ; — and you are the 
 flower of the flock, and the lad that will 
 build up the auld bigging again (if it be 
 His will) to be an honour to the country, 
 and a safeguard to those that dwell in it — 
 you, before others, are called upon to put
 
 THE BLACK DWAUF. 73 
 
 yoursel in no rash adventures — for your's 
 was aye ower venturesome a race, and 
 muckle harm they got by it." 
 
 ** But I am sure, my good friend, you 
 would not have me be afraid of going to 
 an open moor in broad day-light ?" 
 
 *' I dinna ken — I wad never bid son or 
 frientl o' mine had their liand back in a 
 gude cause, whether it were a friend's or 
 their ain— that should be by nae bidding 
 of mine, or of ony body that's come of a 
 gentle kindred— But it winna gang out of 
 a grey head like mine, that to gang to seek 
 for evil that's no fashing wi' you, is clean 
 against law and Scripture." 
 
 Earnscliff resigned an argdment which 
 he saw no prospect of maintaining with 
 good effect, and the entrance of supper 
 broke off the conversation. Miss Grace 
 had by this time made her appearance, 
 and Hobbie, not without a conscious glance 
 at Earnscliff, placed himself by her side. 
 Mirth and lively conversation, in which 
 the old lady of the house took the good- 
 
 VOL. I. »
 
 74 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 humoured share which so well becomes 
 old age, restored to the cheeks of the 
 damsels the roses which their brother's 
 tale of the apparition had chaced away, 
 and they danced and sung for an hour 
 after supper as if there were no such things 
 as goblins in the world.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 75 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind ; 
 For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog, 
 That I might love thee something. 
 
 Timon of Athens, 
 
 On the morning, after breakfast, Earns- 
 clifF took leave of his hospitable friends, 
 promising to return in time to partake of 
 the venison, which had arrived from his 
 house. Hobbie, who apparently took leave 
 of him at the door of his habitation, slunk 
 out, however, and joined him at the top of 
 the hill. 
 
 ** Ye'U be gaun yonder, Mr Patrick ; 
 feind o* me will mistryst you for a* my 
 mother says. I thought it best to slip out 
 quietly though, in case she should mislip- 
 pen something of what we're gaun to do 
 —we manna vex her at nae rate-nt was
 
 76 TALES OP MY LANDLORD. 
 
 amaist the last word my father said to me 
 on his death-bed." 
 
 " Bv no means, Hobbie," said Earns- 
 cliiF; " she well merits all your atten- 
 tion.'' 
 
 " Troth, for that matter, she would be 
 as sair vexed amaist for you as for me 
 — but d'ye really think there's nae pre- 
 sumption in venturing back yonder? — 
 We hae nae special commission, ye ken." 
 
 " If I thought as you do, Hobbie, I 
 would not perhaps enquire farther into 
 this business ; but as I am of opinion that 
 preternatural visitations are either ceased 
 altogether, or become very rare in our days, 
 lam unwiUing to leave a matter uninvesti- 
 gated which may concern the life of a 
 poor distracted being." 
 
 ** Aweel, aweel, if ye really think that," 
 answered Hobbie doubtfully — " And it*s 
 for certain the very fairies— I mean the 
 very good neighbours themsells (for they 
 say folk suldna ca' them fairies) that used 
 to be seen on every green knowe at e'en,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 77 
 
 are no half sae often visible in our days. 
 I canna depone to having ever seen ane 
 mysel, but I ance heard ane whistle ahint 
 me in the moss, as like a whaup as ae 
 thing could be like anither. And mony 
 ane my father saw when he used to come 
 hame frae the fairs at e'en, wi' a drap drink 
 in his head, honest man." 
 
 EarnsclifF was somewhat entertained 
 with the gradual declension of supersti- 
 tion from one generation to another, which 
 was inferred in this last observation ; and 
 they continued to reason on such sub- 
 jects, until they came in sight of the up- 
 right stone which gave name to the moor. 
 
 ** As I shall answer," says Hobbie, 
 ** yonder's the creature creeping about yet ! 
 — But it's day-light, and you have your 
 gun, and I brought out my bit whinger 
 — I think we may venture upon him." 
 
 " By all manner of means," said Earns- 
 clifF; " but, in the name of wonder, what 
 can he be doing there ?"
 
 7S TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Biggin a dry-Stan e dyke, I think, wi' 
 the grey geese, as they ca* thae great 
 loose stanes — Odd, that passes a' thing I 
 e'er heard tell of." 
 
 As they approached nearer, EarnsclifF 
 Gould not help agreeing with his com- 
 panion. The figure they had seen the 
 night before seemed slowly and toilsome- 
 ly labouring to pile the large stones one 
 upon another, as if to form a small inclo- 
 sure. Materials lay around him in great 
 plenty, but the labour of carrying on the 
 work was immense, from the size of most 
 of the stones; and it seemed astonishing 
 that he should have succeeded in moving 
 several which he had already arranged for 
 the foundation of his edifice. He was strug- 
 gling to move a fragment of great size, 
 when the two young men came up, and 
 was so intent upon executing his purpose, 
 that he did not perceive them till they 
 were close upon him. In straining and 
 heaving at the stone, in order to place it 
 according to his wish, he displayed a degree
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 79 
 
 of strength which seemed utterly inconsist- 
 ent with his size and apparent deformity. 
 Indeed, to judge from the difficulties he 
 had already surmounted, he must have 
 been of Herculean powers ; for some of 
 the stones he had succeeded in raising 
 must apparently have required two men's 
 strength to move them. Robbie's sus- 
 picions began to revive, on seeing the pre- 
 ternatural strength he exerted. 
 
 " I am amaist persuaded it's the ghaist 
 of a stane-mason~see siccan band-stanes 
 as he's laid — An' il be a man, after a', I 
 wonder what he wad take by the rood to 
 build a march-dyke. There's ane sair 
 wanted between Cringlehope and the 
 Shaws.— ^Honest man, (raising his voice,) 
 ye make good firm wark there." 
 
 The being whom he addressed raised 
 his eyes with a ghastly stare, and getting 
 up from his stooping posture, stood be- 
 fore themjn all his native deformity. His. 
 head was of uncommon size, covered with 
 a fell of shaggy hair> partly grizzled with
 
 80 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 age ; his eye-brows, shaggy and promj- 
 nent, overhung a pair of small, dark, pier- 
 cing eyes, set far back in their sockets> 
 that rolled with a portentous wiidness^ in- 
 dicative of a partial insanity. The rest of 
 his features were of the coarse, rough- 
 hewn stamp with which a painter would 
 equip a giant in a romance, to which was 
 added, the wild, irregular, and peculiar 
 expression so often seen in the counte- 
 nances of those whose persons are deform- 
 ed. His body, thick and square, like that 
 of a man of middle size, was mounted 
 upon two large feet; but nature seemed 
 to have forgotten the legs and the thighs, 
 or they were so very short as to be hidden 
 by the dress which he wore. His arms 
 were long and brawny, furnished with 
 two muscular hands, and where uncover- 
 ed in the eagerness of his labour, were 
 shagged with coarse black hair. It seemed 
 as if nature had originally intended the 
 separate parts of his body to be the mem- 
 bers of a giant, but bad afterwards capri-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 81 
 
 ctously assigned them to the person o^ a 
 dwarf, so ill did the length of his arms and 
 the iron strength of his frame correspond 
 with the shortness of his stature. Hiscloath- 
 ing was a sort of coarse brown tunic, like 
 a monk's frock, girt round him with a belt 
 of seal-skin. On his head he had a cap made 
 of badger's skin, or some other rough fur, 
 which added considerably to the grotesque 
 effect of his whole appearance, and over- 
 shadowed features, whose habitual expres- 
 sion seemed that of sullen malignant mis- 
 anthropy. This remarkable Dwarf gazed 
 on the two youths in silence, with a dogged 
 and irritated look, until Earnscliff, willing 
 to sooth him into better temper, obser- 
 ved — ** You are hard tasked, my friend ; al- 
 low us to assist you." 
 
 Elliot and he accordingly placed the 
 stone, by their joint efforts, upon the ri- 
 sing wall. The Dwarf watched them with 
 the eye of a taskmaster, and testified, by 
 peevish gestures, his impatience at the time 
 which they took in adjusting the stone. 
 
 T>2
 
 8i2 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 He pointed to another— they raised it also 
 — ■ — to a third, to a fourth— they conti- 
 nued to humour him, though with some 
 trouble, for he assigned them, as if inten- 
 tionally, the heaviest fragments which lay 
 near. " And now, friend,'' said Elliot, as 
 the unreasonable Dwarf indicated another 
 stone larger than any they had moved, 
 ** EarnsclifF may do as he likes ; but be ye 
 man, or be ye waur, de'il be in my fin- 
 gers if I break my back wi' heaving these 
 stanes ony langer like a barrow-man, with- 
 out getting sae muckle as thanks for my 
 pains." 
 
 " Thanks !" exclaimed the Dwarf, with 
 a motion expressive of the utmost con- 
 tempt — " There — take them, and fatten 
 upon them I Take them, and may they 
 thrive with you as they have done with 
 me — as they have done with every mortal 
 worm that ever heard the word spoken by 
 his fellow reptile ! — Hence— either labour 
 or begone.'* 
 
 *' This is a. fine reward we haye, Earns-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 8S 
 
 elifF, for building a tabernacle for the de- 
 vil, and prejudicing our ain souls into the 
 bargain, for what we ken." 
 
 " Our presence," answered EarnsclifF, 
 '^ seems only to irritate his frenzy; we 
 had better leave him, and send some one 
 to provide him with food and necessaries.'* 
 
 They did so. The servant dispatched for 
 this purpose found the Dwarf still labour- 
 ing at his wall, but could not extract a 
 word from him. The lad, infected with 
 the superstitions of the country, did not 
 long persist in an attempt to intrude ques- 
 tions or advice on so singular a figure, but 
 having placed the articles which he had 
 brought for his use on a stone at some dis- 
 tance, he left them at the misanthrope's 
 disposal. 
 
 The Dwarf proceedied in his labours,, 
 day after day, with an assiduity so incre- 
 dible as to appear almost supernatural. In 
 one day he often seemed to have done the 
 work of two men, and his building soon 
 assumed the appearance of the walls of a
 
 84 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 hut, which, though very small, and con- 
 structed only of stones and turf, without 
 any mortar, assumed, from the unusual size 
 of the stones employed, an appearance of 
 solidity very uncommon for a cottage of 
 such narrow dimensions and rude con- 
 struction. Earnscliff, attentive to his mo- 
 tions, no sooner perceived to what they 
 tended, than he sent down a number of 
 spars of wood suitable for forming the 
 roof, which he caused to be left in the 
 neighbourhood of the spot, resolving next 
 day to send workmen to put them up. 
 But his purpose was anticipated, for in the 
 evening, during the night, and early in 
 the morning, the Dwarf had laboured so 
 hard, and with such ingenuity, that he had 
 nearly completed the adjustment of the 
 rafters. His next labour was to cut rush- 
 es and thatch his dwelling, a task which he 
 performed with singular dexterity. 
 
 As he seemed averse to receive any 
 aid beyond the occasional assistance of 
 a passenger, materials suitable to his pur-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 85 
 
 pose, and tools, were supplied to him, in 
 the use of which he proved to be skilful. 
 He constructed the door and window of his 
 cot, he adjusted a rude bedstead, and a few 
 shelves, and appeared to become some- 
 what soothed in his temper as his accom- 
 modations increased. 
 
 His next task was to form a strong in- 
 closure, and to labour the land within it 
 to the best of his power, until, by trans- 
 porting mould and w^orking up what was 
 upon the spot, he formed a patch of gar- 
 den-ground. It must be naturally suppo- 
 sed, that, as above hinted, this solitary 
 being received assistance occasionally 
 from such travellers as crossed the moor 
 by chance, as well as from several who 
 went from curiosity to visit his works. It 
 was, indeed, impossible to see a human 
 being, so unfitted, at first sight, for hard la- 
 bour, toiling with such unremitting assi- 
 duity, without stopping a few minutes to 
 aid him in his task; 'and, as no one of 
 his occasional assistants was acquainted 
 with the degree of help which the Dwarf
 
 86 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 had received from others, the celerity of 
 his progress lost none of its marvels in 
 their eyes* The strong and compact ap- 
 pearance of the cottage, formed in so very 
 short a space, and by such a being, and 
 the superior skill which he displayed in 
 mechanics, and in other arts, gave suspi- 
 cion to the surrounding neighbours. They 
 insisted, that, if he was not a phantom^ 
 — an opinion which was now abandoned^ 
 eince he had plainly appeared a being of 
 blood and bone with themselves, — yet he 
 must be in close league with the invisible 
 world, and have chosen that sequestered 
 spot to carry on his communication with 
 them undisturbed. They insisted, though, 
 in a different sense from the philoso* 
 pher's application of the phrase, that he 
 was never less alone than when alone; 
 and that from the heights which com- 
 manded the moor at a distance, passcn-. 
 gers often discovered a person at work 
 along with this dweller of the desert, 
 who regularly disappeared as soon as they, 
 approached closer to the cottage. Sach a
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 87 
 
 figure was aljso occasionally seen sitting 
 beside him. at the door, walking with him 
 in the moor, or assisting him in fetching 
 water from his fountain. Earnscliff ex- 
 plained this pbaenomenon by supposing 
 it to be the Dwarfs shadow. — " De'il a 
 shadow has he," replied Hobbie Elliot, 
 who was a strenuous defender of the gene* 
 ral opinion ; *^ he & ower far in wi' the 
 Auld Ane to have a shadow. Besides,'* he 
 argued more logically, " whaever heard of 
 a shadow that cam between a body and 
 the sun ? and this thing, be it what it will, 
 i& bigger and taller than the body himsel, 
 and has been seen to come between him 
 and the sun mair than anes or twice ei'=' 
 ther." 
 
 These suspicions, which, in any other 
 part of the country, might have been at- 
 tended with investigations a little incon- 
 venient to the supposed wizard, were 
 here only productive of respect and awe. 
 The recluse being seemed somewhat gra- 
 tified by the marks of timid veneration
 
 88 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 with which an occasional passenger ap^ 
 proached his dwelling, the look of startled 
 surprise with which he surveyed his person 
 and his premises, and the hurried step with 
 which he pressed his retreat as he passed 
 the awful spot. The boldest only stopped 
 to gratify their curiosity by a hasty glance 
 at the walls of his cottage and garden, 
 and to apologize for it by a courteous sa- 
 lutation, which the inmate sometimes 
 deigned to return by a word or a nod. 
 EarnsclifF often passed that way, and sel- 
 dom without enquiring after the solitary 
 inmate, who seemed now to have arranged 
 his establishment for life. 
 
 It was impossible to engage him in any 
 conversation on his own personal affairs j 
 nor was he communicative or accessible in 
 talking on any other subject whatever, al- 
 though he seemed to have considerably 
 relented in the extreme ferocity of his mis- 
 anthropy, or rather to be less frequently 
 visited with the fits of derangement of 
 which this was a symptom* No argu- 
 10
 
 THE BLACK DWAR7. 89 
 
 ment could prevail upon him to accept any 
 thing beyond the simplest necessaries, al- 
 though much more was oifered, by Earns- 
 cliiF out of charity, and by his more super- 
 stitious neighbours, from other motives. 
 The benefits of these last he repaid by 
 advice, when consulted (as at length he 
 slowly was) on their diseases, or those of 
 their cattle. He often furnished them 
 with medicines also, and seemed possess- 
 ed, not only of such as were the pro- 
 duce of the country, but of foreign drugs. 
 He gave these persons to understand that 
 his name was Elshender the Recluse ; but 
 his popular epithet soon came to be Can- 
 ny Elshie, or the Wise Wight of Muckle- 
 stane-Moor, Some extended their queries 
 beyond their bodily complaints, and re- 
 quested advice upon other matters, which 
 he delivered with an oracular shrewdness 
 that greatly confirmed the opinion of his 
 possessing preternatural skill. The que* 
 rists usually left some oftering upon a 
 stone, at a distance from his dwelling; if 
 it was money, or any article which did not
 
 so TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 suit him to accept, he either threw it away, 
 or suffered it to remain where it was left 
 without making use of it. On all these 
 occasions his manners were rude and un- 
 social ; and his words, in number, just 
 sufficient to express, his meaning as brief- 
 ly as possible, and he shunned all commu- 
 nication that went a word beyond the 
 matter in hand. When winter had passed 
 away, and his garden began to afford him 
 herbs and vegetables, he confined himself 
 almost entirely to those articles of food» 
 He accepted, notwithstanding, a pair of 
 she goats from Earnscliff, which fed on 
 the moor, and supplied him with milk. 
 
 When Earnscliff found his gift had been 
 received, he soon afterwards paid the 
 hermit a visit. The old man was seated 
 on a broad flat stone near his garden- 
 door, which was the seat of science he 
 usually occupied when disposed to receive 
 his patients or clients. The inside of his 
 hut, and that of his garden, he kept as 
 sacred from human intrusion as the na-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 91 
 
 tives of Oliaheite do their Morai ; — appa- 
 rently he would have deemed it polluted 
 by the $tep of any human being. When 
 he shut himself up in his habitation, no 
 entreaty could prevail upon him to make 
 himself visible, or to give audience to any 
 one whomsoever. 
 
 EarnsclifF had been fishing in a small 
 river at some distance. He had his rod in 
 his hand, and his basket, with his trouts, 
 at his shoulder. He sate down upon a stone 
 nearly opposite to the Dwarf, who, fami- 
 liarized with his presence, took no farther 
 notice of him than by elevating his huge 
 mis-shapen head for the purpose of staring 
 at him, and then again sinking it upon 
 his bosom, as if in profound meditation. 
 Earnscliff looked around him, and ob- 
 served that the hermit had increased his 
 accommodations by the construction of a 
 shed for the reception of his goats, 
 
 *' You labour hard, Elshie,'* said he, 
 willing to lead this singular toeing into 
 conversation.
 
 92 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 " Labour/' re-echoed the Dwarf, '* is 
 the mildest evil of a lot so miserable as 
 that of mankind ; better to labour like me, 
 than sport like you.'* 
 
 ** I cannot defend the humanity of our 
 ordinary rural sports, Elshie, and yet" 
 
 **Andyet/' interrupted the Dwarf, "they 
 are better than your ordinary business; 
 better to exercise idle and wanton cru* 
 elty on mute fishes than on your fellow* 
 creatures. Yet why should I say so ? 
 Why should not the whole human herd 
 butt, gore, and gorge upon each other, till 
 all arc extirpated but one huge and over- 
 fed Behemoth, and he, when he had throt- 
 tled and gnawed the bones of all his fel- 
 lows — he, when his prey failed him, to be 
 roaring whole days for lack of food, and, 
 finally, to die inch by inch of famine — it 
 were a consummation worthy of the race !*' 
 
 " Your deeds are better, Elshie, thaa 
 your words," answered Earnscliff; '* you 
 labour to preserve the race whom your mis- 
 anthropy slanders,"
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 93 
 
 *^ I do ; but why ?— Hearken. You are 
 one on whom I look with the least loath- 
 ing, and I care not, if, contrary to my 
 wont, I waste a few words in compassion 
 to your infatuated blindness. If I cannot 
 send disease into families, and murrain 
 among the herds, can I attain the same 
 end so well as by prolonging the lives of 
 those who can serve the purpose of de- 
 struction as effectually ? — If Alice of Bow- 
 er had died in winter, would young Ruth- 
 win have been slain for her love the last 
 spring ? — Who thought of penning their 
 cattle beneath the tower when the Red 
 Riever of Westburnflat was deemed to be 
 on his death-bed ? — My draughts, my skill 
 recovered him. And, now, who dare leave 
 his herd upon the lea without a watch, or 
 go to bed without unchaining the sleuth- 
 hound r" 
 
 " I own," answered EarnsclifF, '* you did 
 little good to society by the last of these 
 cures. But, to balance the evil, there is 
 my friend Hobbie, honest Hobbie of the 
 Heughfoot, your skill relieved him last
 
 g4i TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 winter in a fever that might have cost him 
 his life." 
 
 " Thus think the children of clay in 
 their ignorance," said the Dwarf, smiling 
 maliciously, **and thus they speak in their 
 folly. Have you marked the young cub 
 of a wild-cat that has been domesticated, 
 how sportive, how gamesome, how gentle, 
 — but trust bim with your game, your 
 lambs, your poultry, his inbred ferocity 
 breaks forth ; he gripes, tears, ravages, 
 and devours." 
 
 " Such is the animal's instinct," an- 
 swered EarnsclifF; " but what has that to 
 do with Hobbie ?" 
 
 " It is his emblem — it is his picture," 
 rejoined the Recluse. ** He is at present 
 tame, quiet, and domesticated, for lack of 
 opportunity to exercise his inborn propen- 
 sities ; but let the trumpet of war sound 
 — let the young blood-hound snuff blood, 
 he will be as ferocious as the wildest of his 
 Border ancestors that ever fired a help- 
 less peasant's abode. Can you deny, that
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 95 
 
 even at present he often urges you to take 
 bloody revenge for an injury received 
 when you were a boy ?" — EarnschfF start- 
 ed ; the Recluse appeared not to observe 
 his surprise, and proceeded, — "The trum- 
 pet will blow, the young blood-hound 
 will lap blood, and I will laugh and say, 
 For this I have preserved thee !" He pau- 
 sed, and continued,—*' Such are my cures ; — 
 their object — their purpose, perpetuating 
 the mass of misery, and playing even in 
 this desert my part in the general tragedy. 
 Were i/ou on your sick-bed, I might, in 
 compassion, send you a cup of poison." 
 
 ** I am much obliged to you, Elshie, and 
 certainly shall not fail to consult you with 
 so comfortable a hope from your assist- 
 ance." 
 
 " Do not flatter yourself too far," re- 
 phed the Hermit, " with the hope that I 
 will positively yield to the frailty of pity. 
 Why should I snatch a dupe, so well fitted 
 to endure the miseries of life as you are, 
 from the wretchedness which his own vi-
 
 96 TALES OF Mr LANDLORD. 
 
 sioRS, and the villainy of the world, are 
 preparing for him ?— Why should I play 
 the compassionate Indian, and, knocking 
 out the brains of the captive with my to- 
 mahawk, at once spoil the three days' 
 amusement of my kindred tribe, at the 
 very moment when the brands were light- 
 ed, the pincers heated, the cauldrons boil- 
 ing, the knives sharpened, to tear, scorch, 
 seethe, and scarify the intended victim ?" 
 
 " A dreadful picture you present to me 
 of life, Elshie, but I am not daunted by 
 it," returned Earnscliff. *' We are sent 
 here in one sense to bear and to suffer, but 
 in another to do and to enjoy. The active 
 day has its evening of repose ; even pa- 
 tient sufferance has its alleviations where 
 there is a consolatory sense of duty dis- 
 charged." 
 
 '* I spurn at the slavish and bestial doc- 
 trine," said the Dwarf, his eyes kindling 
 with insane fury, — *' I spurn at it as wor- 
 thy only of the beasts that perish ; but 
 I will waste no more words with you/'
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 97 
 
 He rose hastily ; but, ere he withdrew 
 into the hut, he added, with great vehe- 
 mence, " Yet, lest you still think my appa- 
 rent benefits to mankind flow from the 
 stupid and servile source, called love of 
 our fellow-creatures, know, that, were 
 there a man who had annihilated my 
 soul's dearest hope — who had torn my 
 heart to mammocks, and seared my brain 
 till it glowed like a volcano, and were 
 that man's fortune and life in my power 
 as completely as this frail pot-sherd," (he 
 snatched up an earthen cup which stood 
 beside him,) " I would not dash him into 
 atoms thus — " (he flung the vessel with 
 fury against the wall.) " No f (he spoke 
 more composed, but with the utmost bit- 
 terness,) ** I would pamper him with wealth 
 and power to influence his evil passions, 
 and to fulfil his evil designs ; he should 
 lack no means of vice and villainy; he 
 should be the centre of a whirlpool that 
 itself should know neither rest nor peace, 
 but boil with unceasing fury, while it 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 93 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 wrecked every goodly sliip that approach- 
 ed its limits ! he should be an earthquake 
 capable of shaking the very land in which 
 he dwelt, and rendering all its inhabitants 
 friendless, outcast, and miserable, as I 
 ami" 
 
 The wretched being rushed into his hut 
 as he uttered these last words, shutting 
 the door with furious violence, and rapid- 
 ly drawing two bolts, one after another, 
 as if to exclude the intrusion of any one 
 of that hated race, wjio had thus lashed 
 his soul to frenzy. EarnsclifF left the 
 moor with a mingling sensation of pity 
 and horror, pondering what strange and 
 melancholy cause could have reduced to 
 so miserable a state of mind, a man 
 whose language argued him to be of rank 
 and education much superior to the vul- 
 gar. He was also surprised to see how 
 much particular information a person who 
 had lived in that country so short a time, 
 and in so recluse a manner, had been able
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 99 
 
 to collect respecting the dispositions and 
 private affairs of the inhabitants. 
 
 " It is no wonder," he said to himself, 
 " that with such extent of information, 
 such a mode of life, so uncouth a figure, 
 and sentiments so virulently misanthropic, 
 this unfortunate should be regarded by 
 the vulgar as in league with the enemy of 
 mankind,"
 
 iOO TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 CHArXER V. 
 
 The bleakest rock upon the loneliest heath 
 
 Feels, in its barrenness, some touch of spring ; 
 
 And, in the April dew, or beam of May, 
 
 Its moss and lichen freshen and revive ; 
 
 And thus the heart, most seared to human pleasure, 
 
 Melts at the tear, joys in the smile of woman. 
 
 Beaumont. 
 
 As the season advanced, the weather 
 became more genial, and the Recluse was 
 more frequently found occupying the 
 broad flat stone in the front of his man- 
 sion. As he sate there one day, about the 
 hour of noon, a party of gentlemen and 
 ladies, well mounted, and numerously at- 
 tended, swept across the heath at some 
 distance from his dwelling. Dogs, hawks, 
 and led-horses, swelled the retinue, and 
 the air resounded at intervals with the 
 cheer of the hunters, and the sound of
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 101 
 
 horns blown by the attendants. The Re- 
 cluse was about to retire into his man- 
 sion at the sight of a train so joyous, 
 when three young ladies, with their at- 
 tendants, who had made a circuit, and de- 
 tached themselves from their party, in 
 order to gratify their curiosity by a sight 
 of the Wise Wight of Mucklestane-Moor, 
 came suddenly up ere he could effect his 
 purpose. The first shrieked, and put her 
 hands before her eyes, at sight of an ob- 
 ject so unusually deformed. The second, 
 v/ith a hysterical giggle, which she in- 
 tended should disguise her terrors, asked 
 the Recluse, whether he could tell their 
 fortune. The third, who was best mount- 
 ed, best dressed, and incomparably the 
 best-looking of the three, advanced, as if 
 to cover the incivility of her companions. 
 " We have lost the right path that leads 
 through these morasses, and our party 
 have gone forward without us," said the 
 young lady. ** Seeing you, father, at the
 
 102 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 door of your house, we have turned this 
 way to" 
 
 *' Hush !" interrupted the Dwarf; '' so 
 young and already so artful ? You came — 
 you know you came, to exult in the con- 
 sciousness of your own youth, wealth, and 
 beauty, by contrasting them with age, po- 
 verty, and deformity. It is a fit employ- 
 ment for the daughter of your father, but 
 O how unlike the child of your mother !" 
 
 " Did you, then, know my parents, and 
 do you know me ?" 
 
 ** Yes ; this is the first time you have 
 crossed my waking eyes, but I have seen 
 you in my dreams/' 
 
 '' Your dreams ?" 
 
 " Aye, Isabel Vere. What hast thou, or 
 thine, to do with my waking thoughts ?" 
 
 " Your waking thoughts, sir," said the 
 second of Miss Vere's companions, with a 
 sort of mock gravity, " are fixed, doubt- 
 less, upon wisdom ; folly can only intrude 
 on your sleeping moments."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 103 
 
 " Over thine," retorted the Dwarf, more 
 splenetically than became a philosopher, 
 or hermit, ** folly exercises an unlimited 
 empire, asleep or awake." 
 
 " Lord bless us 1" said the lady, " he's 
 a prophet, sure enough." 
 
 *^ As surely,'* continued the Recluse, ^' as 
 thou art a woman— a woman I— I should 
 have said a lady — a fine lady. You asked 
 me to tell your fortune — it is a simple one ; 
 an endless chase through life after follies 
 not worth catching, and, when caught, 
 successively thrown away — a chase, pur- 
 sued from the days of tottering infancy 
 to those of old age upon his crutches. 
 Toys and merry-makings in childhood- 
 love and its absurdities in youth—spadille 
 and basto in age, shall succeed each other 
 as objects of pursuit — flowers and butter- 
 flies in spring — butterflies and thistle- 
 down in summer — withered leaves in au- 
 tumn and winter — all pursued, all caught, 
 all .flung aside. — Stand apart; your for- 
 tune is said." 
 
 '^ All caugJity however,'* retorted the
 
 lOi TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 laughing fair one, who was a cousin of Miss 
 Vere's ; " that's something, Nanny," she 
 continued, turning to the timid damsel 
 who had first approached the Dwarf; 
 *" will you ask your fortune ?" 
 
 ** Not for worlds," said she, drawing 
 hack, ** I have heard enough of yours." 
 
 *' Well, then," said Miss llderton, of- 
 fering money to the Dwarf, '' Til pay for 
 mine, as if it were spoken by an oracle 
 to a princess." 
 
 " Truth," said the Soothsayer, *' can 
 neither be bought nor sold," and he push- 
 ed back her proffered offering with mo- 
 rose disdain. 
 
 " Well, then," said the lady, " 141 
 keep my money, Mr Elshender, to assist 
 me in the chase I am to pursue." 
 
 " You will need it," replied the cynic; 
 *' without it, few pursue succv.^ssfully, and 
 fewer are themselves pursued. —Stop !" he 
 said to Miss Vere, as her companions 
 moved off, *' with you I have more to say. 
 You have what your companions would 
 wish to have, or to be thought to have,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 105 
 
 — beauty, wealth, station, accdmplisli- 
 nients." 
 
 " Forgive my following my compa- 
 nions, father ; I am proof both to flattery 
 and fortune-telling." 
 
 " Stay,'* continued the Dwarf, with 
 his hand on her horse's rein, ** I am no 
 common soothsayer, and I am no flatterer. 
 All the advantages 1 have detailed, all 
 and each of them have their correspond- 
 ing evils — unsuccessful love, crossed affec- 
 tions, the gloom of a convent, or an odi- 
 ous alliance. I, who wish ill to all man- 
 kind, cannot wish more evil to you, so 
 much is your course of life already crossed 
 by it.'* 
 
 " And if it be, father, let me enjoy the 
 readiest solace of adversity while prospe- 
 rity is in my power. You are old ; you 
 are poor ; your habitation is far from hu- 
 man aid, were you ill or in want ; your 
 situation, in many respects, exposes you 
 to the suspicions of the vulgar, which are 
 too apt to break out into actions of bru- 
 e2
 
 106 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tality. Let me think I have mended the 
 lot of one human being ; accept of such 
 assistance as 1 have power to offer ; do 
 this for my sake, if not for your own, 
 that, when these evils arise, which you 
 prophesy perhaps too truly, I may not 
 have to reflect, that the hours of my hap- 
 pier time have been passed altogether in 
 vain." 
 
 The old man answered with a broken 
 voice, and almost without addressing him- 
 self to the young lady. 
 
 " Yes, 'tis thus thou should'st think — 
 'tis thus thou should'st speak, if ever hu- 
 man speech and thought kept touch with 
 each other! They do not— they do not— - 
 Alas ! they cannot. And yet— wait here 
 an instant — stir not till my return." He 
 w^ent to his little garden, and returned 
 with a half-blown rose. " Thou hast 
 made me shed a tear, the first which has 
 wet my eye-lids for many a year ; for 
 that good deed receive this token of gra- 
 titude. It is but a common rose ; pre-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 10? 
 
 serve it, however, and do not part with it. 
 Come to me in your hour of adversity. 
 Show me that rose, or but one leaf of it, 
 were it withered as my heart is — if it should 
 be in my fiercest and wildest movements of 
 rage against a hateful world, still it will re- 
 cal gentler thoughts to my bosom, and per- 
 haps afford happier prospects to thine. 
 But no message,'* be exclaimed, rising 
 into his usual mood of misanthropy, — 
 " no message—no go-between I Come thy- 
 self ; and the heart and the doors that are 
 shut against every other earthly being, 
 shall open to thee and to thy sorrows. 
 And now pass on." 
 
 He let go the bridle-rein, and the young 
 lady rode on, after expressing her thanks 
 to this singular being, as well as her sur- 
 prise at the extraordinary nature of his 
 address would permit, often turning back 
 to look at the Dwarf, who still remained 
 at the door of his habitation, and watched 
 her progress over the moor towards her
 
 108 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 father's castle of Ellieslaw, until the brow 
 of the hill hid them from his sight. 
 
 The ladies, mean time, jested with Miss 
 Vere on the strange interview they had 
 just had with the far-famed Wizard of 
 the Moor. " Isabella has all the luck at 
 home and abroad ; her hawk strikes down 
 the black-cock ; her eyes wound the gal- 
 lant; no chance for her poor companions 
 and kinswomen ; even the conjurer cannot 
 escape the force of her charms. You 
 should, in compassion, cease to be such an 
 engrosser, my dear Isabel, or at least set up 
 shop and sell off all the goods you do not 
 mean to keep for your own use." 
 
 " You shall have them all," replied Miss 
 Yere, " and the conjurer to boot, at a very 
 easy rate." 
 
 ** No ! Nancy shall have the conjurer/' 
 said Missllderton, '* to supply deficien- 
 cies ; she's not quite a witch herself, you 
 know.'' 
 
 " Lord, sister," answered the younger 
 Miss Uderton, " what could I do with so
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 109 
 
 frightful a monster? I kept my eyes shut 
 after once glancing at him ; and, I protest, 
 I thought I saw him still, though I wink- 
 ed as close as ever I could." 
 
 *'ThatVa pity," said her sister; *' ever 
 while you live, Nanny, chuse an admirer 
 whose faults can be hid by winkmg at 
 them. — Well, then, I must take him my- 
 self, I suppose, and put him into mamma's 
 Japan cabinet, in order to shew that Scot- 
 land can produce a specimen of mortal 
 clay, moulded into a form ten thousand 
 times uglier than the imaginations of 
 Canton and Pekin, fertile as they are in 
 monsters, have immortalized in porce- 
 lain." 
 
 " There is something," said Miss Vere, 
 ^'^so melancholy in the situation of this poor 
 man, that I cannot enter into your mirth, 
 Lucy, so readily as usual. If he has no re- 
 sources, how is he to exist in this waste 
 country, living, as he does, at such a dis- 
 tance from mankind ? and, if he has the
 
 1 10 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 means of securing occasional assistance, 
 will not the very suspicion that he is pos- 
 sessed of them, expose him to plunder and 
 assassination by some of our unsettled 
 neighbours ?'' 
 
 " But you forget that they say he is a 
 warlock," said Nancy Ilderton. 
 
 *^ And, if his magic diabolical should 
 fail him," rejoined her sister, *' I would 
 have him trust to his magic natural, and 
 thrust his enormous head, and most preter- 
 natural visage, out at his door or window, 
 full in view of the assailants. The boldest 
 robber that ever rode would hardly bide a 
 second glance of him. Well, I wish I had 
 the use of that Gorgon head of his only 
 one half hour." 
 
 ** For what purpose, Lucy ?" said Miss 
 Vere. 
 
 ** 1 I would frighten out of the 
 castle that dark, stiff, and stately Sir Fre- 
 derick Langley, that is so great a favourite 
 with vour father, and so little a favourite 
 
 10 
 
 I
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 1 1 1 
 
 of your*s. I protest I shall be obliged to 
 the Wizard as long as I live, if it were 
 only for the half hour's relief from that 
 man's company which we have gained by 
 deviating from the party to visit Elshie." 
 
 *' What would you say, then," said Miss 
 Verc, in a low tone, so as not to be heard 
 by the younger sister, who rode before 
 them, the narrow path not admitting of 
 their moving all three abreast; " what 
 would you say, my dearest Lucy, if it 
 were proposed to you to endure his com- 
 pany for life ?" 
 
 '* Say ? I would say No^ no, noy three 
 times, each louder than another, till they 
 should hear me at Carlisle." 
 
 *' And Sir Frederick would say then, 
 nineteen nay-says are half a grant." 
 
 " That," replied Miss Lucy, *' depends 
 entirely on the manner in which the nay- 
 says are said. Mine should have no one 
 grain of concession in them, I promise 
 you."
 
 112 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 *^ But if your father," said Miss Vere, 
 " were to say, — Thus do, or' 
 
 " I would stand to the consequences of 
 Lis oVy were he the most cruel father that 
 ever was recorded in romance, to fill up 
 the alternative." 
 
 *' And what if he threatened you with a 
 catholic aunt, an abbess, and a cloister?" 
 
 " Then," said Miss llderton, *' I would 
 threaten him with a protestant son-in-law, 
 and be glad of an opportunity to disobey 
 him for conscience sake. And now that 
 Nanny is out of hearing, let me really say, 
 I think you would be excuseable before 
 God and man for resisting this preposterous 
 match by every means in your power. A 
 proud, dark, ambitious man ; a caballer 
 against the state ; infamous for his avarice 
 and severity ; a bad son, a bad brother, 
 unkind and ungenerous to all his relatives 
 — Isabel, I would die rather than have him," 
 
 "Don't let my father hear you give me 
 such advice,'* said Miss Vere, *' or adieu 
 to EUieslaw-Castle."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. US 
 
 ^' And adieu to Ellieslaw-Castle, with 
 all my heart," said Lucy, *' if I once saw 
 you fairly out of it, and settled under 
 some kinder protector than he whom na- 
 ture has given you. O, if my poor father 
 had been in his former health, how gladly 
 would he have received and sheltered you, 
 till this ridiculous and cruel persecution 
 were blown over !'' 
 
 ** Would to God it had been so, my 
 dear Lucy," answered her friend 5 ** but I 
 fear, that, in your father's weak state of 
 health, he would be altogether unable to 
 protect me against the means which would 
 be immediately used for reclaiming the 
 poor fugitive." 
 
 ** I fear so, indeed," replied Miss Ilder- 
 ton, *' but we will consider and devise 
 something. Now that your father and his 
 guests seem so deeply engaged in some 
 mysterious plot, to judge from the pass- 
 ing and returning of messages, from the 
 strange faces which appear and disappear
 
 114 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 without being announced by their names, 
 from the collecting and cleaning of arms, 
 and the anxious gloom and bustle which 
 seem to agitate every male in the castle, 
 it may not be impossible for us (always 
 in case matters be driven to extremity) to 
 shape out some little supplemental con- 
 spiracy of our own. I hope the gentlemen 
 have not kept all the policy to them. 
 selves ; and there is one associate that I 
 would gladly admit to our counsel,'* 
 
 ^^ Not Nanny?" 
 
 *^ O, no !" said Miss Ilderton ; " Nancy, 
 though an excellent good girl, and fondly 
 attached to you, would make a dull con- 
 spiratoi — as dull as Renault and all the 
 other subordinate plotters in Venice Pre- 
 served. No ; this is a Jaffier, or Pierre, if 
 you Hke the character better; and yet, 
 though I know I shall please you, I am 
 afraid to mention his name to you lest I 
 vex you at the same time. Can you not 
 guess ? Something about an eagle and a
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 115 
 
 rock; it does not begin with eagle in 
 English, but something very like it in 
 Scotch." 
 
 " You cannot mean young Earnscliff, 
 Lucy?" said Miss Vere, blushing deeply. 
 
 *' And whom else should I mean r" said 
 Lucy. *' Jaffiers and Pierres are very 
 scarce in this country, I take it, though 
 one could find Renaults and Bedamars 
 enow." 
 
 " How can you talk so wildly, Lucy ? 
 Your plays and romances have positively 
 turned your brain. You know, that, in- 
 dependent of my father's consent, with- 
 out which 1 never will marry any one, 
 and which, in the case you point at, would 
 never be granted; independent, too, of 
 our knowing nothing of young EarnsclifF*s 
 inclinations, but by your own wild conjec- 
 tures and fancies — besides all this, there 
 is the fatal brawl !'* 
 
 '' When his father was killed?" said 
 Lucy. " But that was very long ago ; 
 and I hope we have outlived the time of
 
 116 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 bloody feud, when a quarrel was carried 
 down between two families from father to 
 son, like a Spanish game at chess, and a 
 murder or two committed in every gene- 
 ration just to keep the matter from going 
 to sleep. We do with our quarrels now- 
 a-days as with our clothes ; cut them out 
 for ourselves, and wear them out in our 
 own day, and should no more think of re- 
 senting our fathers* feuds, than of wearing 
 their slashed doublets and trunk-hose." 
 
 *•' You treat this far too lightly, Lucy/* 
 answered Miss Vere. 
 
 '* Not a bit, my dear Isabella," said 
 Lucy. " Consider, your father, though 
 present in the unhappy affray, is never 
 supposed to have struck the fatal blow ; 
 besides, in former times, in case of mutual 
 slaughter between clans, subsequent al- 
 liances were so far from being excluded, 
 that the hand of a daughter, or a sister, 
 was the most frequent gage of reconcilia- 
 tion. You laugh at my skill in romance ; 
 but, I assure you, should your history be
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 117 
 
 written, like that of many a less distressed 
 and less deserving heroine, the well-judg- 
 ing reader would set you down for the 
 lady and the love of Earnscliff, from the 
 very obstacle which you suppose so in- 
 surmountable." 
 
 '* But these are not the days of ro- 
 mance, but of sad reality, for there stands 
 the castle of EUieslaw." 
 
 ** And there stands Sir Frederick Lang- 
 ley at the gate, waiting to assist the ladies 
 from their palfreys. I would as lief touch 
 a toad ; I will disappoint him, and take 
 old Horsington the groom for my master 
 of the horse." 
 
 So saying, the lively young lady switch- 
 ed her palfrey forward, and, passing Sir 
 Frederick with a familiar nod as he stood 
 ready to take her horse's rein, she canter- 
 ed forward and jumped into the arms of 
 the old groom. Fain would Isabella have 
 done the same had she dared ; but her 
 father stood near, displeasure already
 
 118 TALES OF MY LANDLOIiD. 
 
 darkening on a countenance peculiarly 
 qualified to express the harsher passions, 
 and she was compelled to receive the 
 unwelcome assiduities of her detested 
 suitor.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. II9 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Let not us that are squires of the night's body be called 
 thieves of the day's beauty : let us be Diana's foresters, 
 gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon. 
 
 Henry the Fourth, Part /. 
 
 The Solitary had consumed the remain- 
 der of that day in which he had the inter- 
 view with the young ladies, within the 
 precincts of his garden. Evening again 
 found him seated on his favourite stone. 
 The sun setting red, and among seas of 
 rolling clouds, threw a gloomy lustre over 
 the moor, and gave a deeper purple to 
 the broad outhne of heathy mountains 
 which surrounded this desolate spot. The 
 Dwarf sate watching the clouds as they 
 lowered above each other in masses of 
 conglomerated vapours, and, as a strong
 
 120 TAtES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 lurid beam of the sinking luminary darted 
 full on his solitary and uncouth figure, he 
 might well have seemed the demon of 
 the storm which was gathering, or some 
 gnome summoned forth from the recesses 
 of the earth by the subterranean signals 
 of its approach. As he sate thus, with his 
 dark eye turned toward the scowling and 
 blackening heaven, a horseman rode rapid- 
 ly towards him, and stopping, as if to let 
 his horse breathe for an instant, made a 
 sort of obeisance to the anchoret, with an 
 air betwixt effrontery and embarrassment. 
 The figure of the rider was thin, tall, and 
 slender, but remarkably athletic, bony, and 
 sinewy ; like one who had all his life follow- 
 ed those violent exercises which prevent 
 the human form from increasing in bulk, 
 while they harden and confirm by habit 
 its muscular powers. His face, thin, sun- 
 burnt, and freckled, had a sinister ex- 
 pression of violence, impudence, and cun- 
 ning, each of which seemed alternately to 
 predominate over the others. Sandy-co-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 121 
 
 loured hair, and reddish eyebrows, from 
 under which looked forth his sharp grey 
 eyes, completed the inauspicious outline 
 of the horseman's physiognomy. He had 
 pistols in his holsters, and another pair 
 peeped from his belt, though he had taken 
 some pains to conceal them by buttoning 
 his doublet. He wore a rusted steel head- 
 piece, a buiF jacket of rather an antique 
 cast, gloves, of which that for the right 
 hand was covered with small scales of iron, 
 like an ancient gauntlet ; and a long broad- 
 sword completed his equipage. 
 
 " So," said the Dwarf, ^* rapine and 
 murder once more on horseback." 
 
 " On horseback?'' said the bandit; 
 *« aye, aye, Elshie, your leech-craft has set 
 me on the bonny bay again." 
 
 " And all tliose promises of amendment 
 which you made during your illness, for- 
 gotten?" continued Elshender. 
 
 ** All clear away with the water-saps 
 and panada," returned the unabashed con- 
 valescent. '* Ye ken, Elshie, for they 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 122 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 say ye are weel acquent with the gentle- 
 man, 
 
 * When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be, 
 When the devil was well, the devil a monk was he.' " 
 
 "Thou say'st true," said the SoHtary ; 
 ** as well divide a wolf from his appetite 
 for carnage, or a raven from her scent of 
 slaughter, as thee from thy accursed pro- 
 pensities." 
 
 "Why, what would you have me to dor — 
 It's born with me — lies in my very blude 
 and bane. Why, man, the lads of West- 
 burnflat, for ten lang descents, have been 
 reivers and lifters. They have all drunk 
 hard, lived high, taken deep revenge for 
 light offence, and never wanted gear for 
 the winning." 
 
 " Right; and thou art as thorough bred 
 a wolf," said the Dwarf, *' as ever leaped a 
 lamb-fold at night. On what hell's er- 
 rand art thou bound now ?*' 
 
 " Can your skill not guess ?" 
 
 " Thus far I know," said the Dwarf,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 123 
 
 *' that tliy purpose is bad, thy deed will be 
 worse, and the issue worst of all." 
 
 *' And you like me the better for it, eh r" 
 said Westburnflat ; " you always said you 
 did." 
 
 ** I have cause to like all," said the So- 
 litary, *' that are scourges to their fel- 
 low-creatures, and thou art a bloody one." 
 
 ** No — I say not guilty to that— never 
 bluidy unless there's resistance, and that 
 sets a man's bluid up, ye ken. — And this 
 is nae great matter, after a' ; just to cut the 
 comb of a young cock that has been craw* 
 ing a little ower crousely." 
 
 " Not young EarnsclifF?" said the Soli- 
 tary, with some emotion. 
 
 " No ; not young EarnsclifF— not young 
 Earnscliff j/e^; but his time may come, if 
 he will not take warning, and get him back 
 to the burrow town that he's fit for, and 
 no keep skelping about here, destroying 
 the few deer that are left in the country, 
 and pretending to act as a magistrate, and 
 writing letters to the great folks at Auld 
 7
 
 124 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 Reekie about the disturbed state of the 
 land. Let him take care o* himsel !*' 
 
 ** Then it must be Hobbie of the Heugh- 
 foot. What harm has the lad done you ?" 
 
 " Harm ! nae great harm ; but I hear he 
 says I staid away from the Ba*-spiel on 
 Fastern's E'en, for fear of him ; and it was 
 only for fear of the Country Keeper, for 
 there was a warrant against me. 1*11 stand 
 Hobbie's feud, and a' his clangs. But it's 
 no so much for that, as to gi'e him a les- 
 json no to let his tongue gallop ower freely 
 about his betters. I trow he will hae lost 
 the best pen-feather o' his wing before to- 
 morrow morning Farewell, Elshie ; there's 
 
 some canny boys waiting for me down 
 amang the shaws, owerbye ; I will see you 
 as I come back, and bring ye a blythe tale 
 in return for your leech-craft." 
 
 Ere the Dwarf could collect himself to 
 reply, the Reiver of Westburnflat set 
 spurs to his horse. The animal, starting 
 at one of the stones which lay scattered 
 about, flew from the path. The rider ex-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 125 
 
 ercised his spurs without moderation or 
 mercy. The horse became furious, reared, 
 kicked, plunged and bolted like a deer, 
 with all his four feet off the ground at 
 once. It was in vain ; the unrelenting ri- 
 der sate as if he had been a part of the 
 horse which he bestrode; and, after a 
 short but furious contest, compelled the 
 subdued animal to proceed upon the path 
 at a rate which soon carried him out of 
 sight of the Solitary. 
 
 "That villain,*' exclaimed the Dwarf,— ^ 
 ^* that cool-blooded, hardened, unrelenting 
 ruffian, — that wretch, whose every thought 
 is infected with crimes,— has thewes and 
 sinews, limbs, strength, and acti vity enough 
 to compel a nobler animal than himself to 
 carry him to the place where he is to perpe- 
 trate his wickedness; while I, had I the 
 w^eakness to wish to put his wretched vic- 
 tim on his guard, and to save the helpless 
 family, would see my good intentions frus- 
 trated by the decrepitude which chains me 
 to the spot.-* Why should I wish it were
 
 126 TALES OF Mt LANDLORD. 
 
 otherwise ? What has my screech-owl 
 voice, my hideous form, and my mis-shapen 
 features, to do with the fairer workman- 
 ship of nature ? Do not men receive even 
 my benefits with shrinking horror and ill- 
 suppressed disgust? And why should I inte- 
 rest myself in a race which account me a 
 prodigy and an outcast, and who have treat- 
 ed me as such? No; by all the ingrati- 
 tude which I have repaid — by all the 
 wrongs which I have sustained— by my 
 imprisonment, my stripes, my chains, I 
 will wrestle down my feelings of rebelli- 
 ous humanity — I will not be the fool I 
 have been, to swerve from my principles 
 whenever there was an appeal, forsooth, 
 to my feelings, as if I, towards whom none 
 show sympathy, ought to have sympathy 
 with any one. Let Destiny drive forth 
 her scytlied car through the overwhelmed 
 and trembling niass of humanity ! Shall I 
 be the idiot to throw this decrepid form, 
 this mis-shapen lump of mortality, under 
 her wheels, that the Dwarf, the Wizard,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 127 
 
 the Hunch-back, may save from destruc 
 tion some fair form or some active frame, 
 and all the world clap their hands at the 
 exchange ? No, never !— And yet this El- 
 liot — this Hobbie, so young and gallant, 
 so frank, so— I will think of it no longer. 
 I cannot aid him if I would, and I am re- 
 solved — firmly resolved, that I would not 
 aid him, if a wish were the pledge of his 
 safety !'* 
 
 Having thus ended his soliloquy, he re- 
 treated into his hut for shelter from the 
 storm which was fast approaching, and 
 now began to burst in large and heavy 
 drops of rain. The last rays of the sun 
 now disappeared entirely, and two or three 
 claps of distant thunder followed each 
 other at brief intervals, echoing and re- 
 echoing among the range of heathy fells 
 like the sound of a distant engagement.
 
 128 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Proud bird of the mountain, thy plume shall be torn !— 
 
 Return to thy dwelling ; all lonely, return ; 
 
 Por the blackness of ashes shall mark where it stood. 
 
 And a wild mother scream o'er her famishing brood. 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 The night continued to be sullen and 
 stormy ; but morning rose as if refreshed 
 by the rains. Even the Mucklestane-Moor, 
 with its broad bleak swells of barren 
 grounds, interspersed with marshy pools of 
 water, seemed to smile under the serene in- 
 fluence of the sky, just as good-humour can 
 spread a certain inexpressible charm over 
 the plainest human countenance. The 
 heath was in its thickest and deepest bloom. 
 The bees, which the Solitary had added to 
 his rural establishment, were abroad and 
 on the wing, and filled the air with the 
 murmurs of their industry. As the old 
 
 I
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 1 £9 
 
 man crept out of his little hut, his two she- 
 goats came to meet him, and licked his 
 hands in gratitude for the vegetables with 
 which he supplied them from his garden. 
 *' You, at least," he said — " you, at least, 
 see no diiferences in form which can alter 
 your feelings to a benefactor — to you, the 
 finest shape that ever statuary moulded 
 would be an object of indifference or of 
 alarm, should it present itself instead of 
 the mutilated trunk to whose services you 
 are accustomed. While I was in the world, 
 did I ever meet with such a return of gra- 
 titude ? — No — the domestic whom I had 
 bred from infancy made mouths at me as 
 he stood behind my chair; the friend 
 v/hom I had supported with my fortune, 
 
 and for whose sake I had even stained 
 
 (he stopped with a strong convulsive shud- 
 der) even he thought me more fit for the 
 society of lunatics— for their disgraceful 
 restraint — for their cruel privations, than 
 for communication with the rest of huma- 
 nity. — Hubert alone— and Hubert too will
 
 130 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 one day abandon nie—all are of a piece, 
 one mass of wickedness, selfishness, and 
 ingratitude— wretches, who sin even in 
 their devotions ; and of such hardness of 
 heart, that they do not, without hypocrisy, 
 even thank the Deity himself for his warm 
 sun and pure air/' 
 
 As he was plunged in these gloomy so- 
 liloquies, he heard the tramp of a horse on 
 the other side of his inclosure, and a strong 
 clear bass voice singing with the liveliness 
 inspired by a light heart. 
 
 Canny Hobbie Elliot, canny Hobble now. 
 Canny Hobbie Elliot, l*se gang along wi' you. 
 
 At the same moment, a large deer grey- 
 hound sprung over the Hermit's fence. It 
 is well known to the sportsmen in these 
 wilds, that the appearance and scent of the 
 goat so much resembles that of their usual 
 objects of chase, that the best broke grey- 
 hounds will sometimes fly upon them. 
 The dog in question instantly pulled down 
 ai>d throttled one of the Hermit's she-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 131 
 
 goats, while Hobbie Elliot, who came up, 
 and jumped from his horse for the pur- 
 pose, was unable to extricate the harmless 
 animal from the fangs of his attendant 
 until it was expiring. The Dwarf eyed, 
 for a few moments, the convulsive starts 
 of his dying favourite, until the poor goat 
 stretched out her limbs with the twitches 
 and shivering fit of the last agony. He 
 then started into an access of frenzy, and, 
 unsheathing a long sharp knife, or dagger, 
 which he wore under his coat, he was 
 about to launch it at the dog, when Hob- 
 bie, perceiving his purpose, interposed, 
 and caught hold of his hand, exclaiming, 
 ** Let a be the hound, man — let a be the 
 hound — na; na, Killbuck manna be guided 
 that gate, neither." 
 
 The Dwarf turned his rage on the 
 young farmer; and, by a sudden effort, 
 far more powerful than Hobbie expected 
 from such a person, freed his wrist from 
 his grasp, and offered the dagger at his 
 heart. All this was done in the twinkling 
 
 \
 
 132 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 of an eye, and the incensed Recluse might 
 have completed his vengeance by plun- 
 ging the weapon in Elliot's bosom, had he 
 not been checked by an internal impulse 
 which made him hurl the knife to a dis- 
 tance. 
 
 " No," he exclaimed, as he thus volun- 
 tarily deprived himself of the means of 
 gratifying his rage; ** not again — not 
 again !" 
 
 Hobbie retreated a step or two in great 
 surprise, discomposure, and disdain, at ha- 
 ving been placed in such danger by an 
 object apparently so contemptible. 
 
 ** The de'il's in the body for strength 
 and bitterness !" were the first words that 
 escaped him, which he followed up with 
 an apology for the accident that had 
 given rise to their disagreement. *• I 
 am no justifying Killbuck a'thegether nei- 
 ther, and I am sure it is as vexing to 
 me as to you, Elshie, that the mischance 
 should hae happened ; but I'll send you 
 twa goats and twa fat gimmers, man, to
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. IS3 
 
 make a' straight again. A wise man like 
 you shouldna bear malice against a poor 
 dumb thing; ye see that a goat's like 
 first cousin to a deer, sae he acted but 
 according to his nature after a*. Had it 
 been a pet-lamb, there wad hae been mair 
 to be said. Ye suld keep sheep, El- 
 shie, and no goats, where there's sae mony 
 deer-hounds about — ■ but Fll send ye 
 baith." 
 
 " Wretch !" said the Hermit, ** vour 
 cruelty has destroyed one of the only 
 creatures in existence that would look on 
 me with kindness.'' 
 
 ** Dear, Elshie, I'm wae you suld hae 
 cause to say sae ; I'm sure it was na wi' 
 my will. — And yet, it's true, I should hae 
 minded your goats, and coupled up the 
 dogs. Vm sure I would rather they had 
 worried the primest wether in my faulds. 
 —Come, man, forget and forgi'e. Tm e'en 
 as vexed as ye can be — But I am a bride- 
 groom, ye see, and that puts a' things out
 
 I 5 J; TALES OF MY LANDLOUD. 
 
 o' my lieadi I think. There's the marriage 
 dinner, or gude part o% that my twa bri- 
 thers are bringing on a sled round by the 
 Riders* Slack, three goodly bucks as ever 
 ran on Dallom-lea, as the sang says ; they 
 couldna come the straight road for the 
 saft grund. I wad send ye a bit venison, 
 but ye wadna take it weel maybe, for 
 Killbuck catched it." 
 
 During this long speech, in which the 
 good-natured Borderer endeavoured to 
 propitiate the offended Dwarf by every 
 argument he could think of, he heard 
 him with his eyes bent on the ground, as 
 if in the deepest meditation, and at length 
 broke forth — " Nature ? — yes ! it is in- 
 deed in the usual beaten path of Nature. 
 The strong gripe and throttle the weak ; 
 the rich depress and despoil the needy; 
 the happy (those who are idiots enough to 
 think themselves happy) insult the misery 
 and diminish the consolation of the wretch- 
 ed.— Go hence, thou who hast contrived
 
 THE ELACK DvVAilF. 1^5 
 
 to give an additional pang to the most mi- 
 serable of human beings — thou who hast 
 deprived me of what I half considered as 
 a source of comfort. Go hence, and en« 
 joy the happiness prepared for thee at 
 home !" 
 
 *' Never stir," said Hobbie, *' if I wadna 
 take you wi' me, man, if ye wad but say 
 it wad divert ye to be at the bridal on 
 Monday. There will be a hundred strap- 
 ping Elliots to ride the bronze — the like's 
 no been seen sin the days of auld Martin 
 of the Preakin-tower — I wad send the 
 sled for ye wi' a canny powny/* 
 
 *' Is it to me you propose once more 
 to mix in the society of the common 
 herd?" 
 
 " Commons !" retorted Hobbie, '* nae 
 siccan commons neither ; the Elliots hae 
 been lang kenn'd a gentle race." 
 
 ** Hence ! begone ]'* reiterated the 
 Dwarf; ** may the same evil luck attend 
 thee that thou hast left behind with me!
 
 136 TALES OF WY LANDLORD. 
 
 If I go not with you myself, see if you 
 can escape what my attendants, Wrath 
 and Misery, have brought to tliy threshold 
 before thee." 
 
 ** I wish ye wadna speak that gate," 
 said Hobbie. *' Ye ken yoursel, Elshie, 
 naebody judges you to be ower canny; 
 now I'll tell ye just ae word for a' — ye 
 hae spoken as muckle as wussing ill to me 
 and mine ; now, if ony mischance happen 
 to Grace, w^hich God forbid, or to mysel, 
 or to the poor dumb tyke ; or if I be 
 skaithed and injured in body, gudes, or 
 gear, I'll no forget wha it is that it's ow- 
 ing to." 
 
 "Out, hind!" exclaimed the Dwarf; 
 " home ! home to your dwelling, and think 
 on me when you find what has befallen 
 there." 
 
 " Aweel, aweel," said Hobbie, mounting 
 his horse, ** it serves naething to strive 
 wi' cripples, they are aye cankered ; but 
 ril just tell ye ae thing, neighbour, that, 
 if things be otherwise than weel wi' Grace
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. '^ 137 
 
 Armstrong, I'se gi'e you a scouther if there 
 be a tar-barrel in the five parishes." 
 
 So saying, he rode off; and Elshie, af- 
 ter looking at him with a scornful and 
 indignant laugh, took spade and mattock, 
 and occupied himself in digging a grave 
 for his deceased favourite. 
 
 A low whistle, and the words, " Hist, 
 Elshie, hist f disturbed him in this me- 
 lancholy occupation. He looked up, and 
 the Red Reiver of Westburnflat was be- 
 fore him. Like Banquo's murderer, there 
 was blood on his face, as well as upon the 
 rowels of his spurs and the sides of his 
 over-ridden horse, 
 
 '* How now, ruffian r" demanded the 
 Dwarf, *' is thy job chared?'* 
 
 " Aye, aye, doubt not that, Elshie," an- 
 swered the freebooter ; " when I ride, my 
 foes may moan. They have had mair light 
 than comfort at the Heugh-foot this morn- 
 ing; there's a toom byre and a wide, and 
 a wail and a cry for the bonny bride." 
 
 '' The bride ?"
 
 138 TALES OP MY LANDLORB. 
 
 ** Aye; Charlie Cheat-tbe-Woodie, as 
 we ca him, that's Charlie Foster of Tin- 
 ning Beck, has promised to keep her in 
 Cumberland till the blast blaw bye. She 
 saw me, and kenn'd me in the splore, for 
 the mask fell frae my face for a blink. 
 I am thinking it wad concern my safety 
 if she were to come back here, for there's 
 mony o' tlie Elliots, and they band weel 
 thegither for right or wrang. Now, what 
 I chiefly come to ask your rede in, is, how 
 to make her sure ?" 
 
 ** Would'st thou murder her, then ?'* 
 ** Umph ! no, no ; that I would not do, 
 if I could help it. But they say they can 
 whiles get folk cannily away to the plan- 
 tations from some of the out ports, and 
 something to boot for them that brings a 
 bonny wench. They're wanted beyond 
 seas thae female cattle, and they're no 
 that scarce here. But I think o* doing- 
 better for this lassie. There's a lady, that, 
 unless she be a' the better bairn, is to be 
 sent to foreign parts whether she will or
 
 THE BLACK DWAKF. 139 
 
 no ; now, I think of sending Grace to 
 wait on her— she's a bonny lassie. Hobble 
 will hae a merry morning when he comes 
 hame, and misses baith bride and gear.'* 
 *' Aye ; and do you not pity him ?'* 
 " Wad he pity me were I gaeing up the 
 Castle-hill at Jeddarlr* And yet I rue 
 something for the bit lassie ; but he'll get 
 anither, and little skaith dune — ane is as 
 gude as anither. And now, you that like 
 to hear o* splores, heard ye ever o* a bet-* 
 ter ane than I hae had this morning ?" 
 
 *' Air, ocean, and fire," said the Dwarf, 
 speaking to himself, *^ the earthquake, 
 the tempest, the volcano, are all mild and 
 moderate, compared to the wrath of man. 
 And what is this fellow, but one more 
 skilled than others in executing the end 
 of his existence? — Hear me, felon, go again 
 where I before sent thee." 
 
 * The place of execution at that ancient burgh, 
 where many of Westburnflat's profession have made 
 their final exit.
 
 140 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " To the steward ?" 
 
 ** Aye; and tell him, Elshender the Re* 
 cluse commands him to give thee gold. 
 But, hear me, let the maiden be dis- 
 charged free and uninjured ; return her 
 to her friends, and let her swear not to 
 discover thy villainy." 
 
 " Swear ?" said Westburnflat, ^' but 
 what if she break her aith? Women are 
 not famous for keeping their plight. A 
 wise man like you should ken that. — And 
 uninjured — wha kens what may happen 
 were she to be left lang at Tinning-Beck ? 
 Charlie Cheat-the-Woodie is a rough cus- 
 tomer. But if the gold could be made up 
 to twenty pieces, I think I could insure 
 her being wi' her friends within the twen- 
 ty-four hours." 
 
 The Dwarf took his tablets from his 
 pocket, marked a line in them, and tore 
 out the leaf. ** There," he said, giving 
 the robber the leaf — '* But, mark me; thou 
 knowest I am not to be fooled by thy 
 treachery ; if thou darest to disobey my
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 141 
 
 directions, thy wretched life, be sure, shall 
 answer it/* 
 
 *' I know," said the fellow, looking 
 down, " that you have power on earth, 
 however you came by it ; you can do what 
 nae other man can do, baith by physic and 
 foresight; and the gold is shelled down 
 when ye commaiut, as fast as I have seen 
 the ash-keys fall in a frosty morning in 
 October. 1 will not disobey you." 
 
 " Begone, then, and relieve me of thy 
 hateful presence." 
 
 The robber set spurs to his horse, and 
 rode on without reply. 
 
 Hobbie Elliot had, in the meanwhile, pur* 
 sued his journey rapidly, harassed by those 
 oppressive and indistinct fears that all 
 was not right, which men usually term 
 a presentiment of misfortune. Ere he 
 reached the top of the bank from which 
 he could look down on his own habitation, 
 he was met by his nurse, a person, then, of 
 great consequence in all families in Scot- 
 land, whether of the higher or middling 
 8
 
 142 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 classes. The connection between them 
 and their foster-children was considered a 
 tie far too dearly intimate to be broken ; 
 and it usually happened, in the course of 
 years, that the nurse became a resident in 
 the family of her foster son, assisting in 
 the domestic duties, and receiving all 
 marks of attention and regard from the 
 heads of the family. So soon as Hobbie 
 recognized the figure of Annaple, in her 
 red cloak and black hood, he could not 
 help exclaiming to himself, " What ill 
 luck can hae brought the auld nurse sae 
 far frae hame, her that never stirs a gun- 
 shot frae the door-stane for ordinar?— 
 Hout, it will just be to get crane-berries, 
 or whortle-berries, or some such stuff, out 
 of the moss, to make the pyes and tarts for 
 the feast on Monday. — I cannot get the 
 words of that cankered, auld, cripple de'il's- 
 buckie out o' my head — the least thing 
 makes me dread some ill news. — O, Kill- 
 buck, man ! were there nae deer and goats 
 in the country besides, but ye behoved
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 143 
 
 to gang and worry his creature, bye a' 
 other folks'?" 
 
 By this time Annaple, with a brow like 
 a tragic volume, had hobbled towards him, 
 and caught his horse by the bridle. The 
 despair in her look was so evident as to de- 
 prive him even of the power of asking the 
 cause. ** O my bairn I" she cried, " gang 
 na forward — gang na forward — it's a sight 
 to kill ony body, let alane thee." 
 
 " In God's name, what's the matter ?'* 
 said the astonished horseman, endeavour- 
 ing to extricate his bridle from the grasp 
 of the old woman 3 *' for Heaven's sake, 
 let me go and see what's the matter." 
 
 *' Ohon ! that I should have lived to 
 see the day ! — The steading's 2! in a low, 
 and the bonny stack-yard lying in the red 
 ashes, and the gear a' driven away. But 
 gang na forward ; it Mad break your 
 young heart, hinny, to see what my auld 
 e'en has seen this morning." 
 
 ** And who has dared to do this ? let go 
 my bridle, Annaple— where is my grand-
 
 144 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 mother— my sisters ?— Where is Grace Arm- 
 strong ? — God ! — the words of the war- 
 lock are knelling in my ears !" 
 
 He sprung from his horse to rid himself 
 of Annaple's interruption, and, ascending 
 the hill with great speed, soon came in 
 view of the spectacle with which she had 
 threatened him. It was indeed a heart- 
 breaking sight. The habitation which he 
 had left in its seclusion, beside the moun- 
 tain stream, surrounded with every evi- 
 dence of rustic plenty, was now a was- 
 ted and blackened ruin. From amongst 
 the shattered and sable walls the smoke 
 continued to rise. The turfstack, the 
 barn-yard, the offices, stocked with cattle, 
 all the wealth of an upland cultivator of 
 the period, of which poor Elliot possessed 
 no common share, had been laid waste or 
 carried off in a single night. He stood a 
 moment motionless, and then exclaimed, 
 " I am ruined — ruined to the ground !-— But 
 curse on the warld*s gear — Had it not been 
 the week before my bridal — But I am nae 
 
 i
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 145 
 
 babe, to sit down and greet about it If I 
 can but find Grace, and my grandmother, 
 and my sisters weel, I can go to the wars in 
 Flanders, as my gude-sire did wi' auld 
 Buccleuch — At ony rate, I will keep up a 
 heart, or they will lose theirs a'thegether." 
 
 Manfully strode Hobble down the hill, 
 resolved to suppress his own despair, and 
 administer consolation which he did not 
 feel. The neighbouring inhabitants of the 
 dell, particularly those of his own name, 
 had already assembled. The younger part 
 were in arms and clamorous for revenge, 
 although they knew not upon whom ; the 
 elder were taking measures for the relief 
 of the distressed family. Annaple's cot- 
 tage, which was situated down the brook, 
 at some distance from the scene of mischief, 
 had been hastily adapted for the temporary 
 accommodation of the old lady and her 
 daughters, with such articles as had been 
 contributed by the neighbours, for very 
 little was saved from the wreck. 
 
 " Are we to stand here a' day, sirs," ex- 
 
 VOL I. G
 
 14^ TALES OF MY LANDLOIiD. 
 
 claimed one tall young man, •' and look at 
 the burnt wa's of our kinsman's house ? — 
 Every wreath of the reek is a blast of 
 shame upon us ! Let us to horse, and take 
 the chase, — Wha has the nearest blood- 
 hound ?" 
 
 " It's young Earnscliff,'* answered an- 
 other; ** and he's been on and away wi* 
 six horse lang syne, to see if he can track 
 them.'* 
 
 " Let us follow him then, and raise the 
 country, and make mair help as we ride, 
 and then have at the Cumberland reivers 
 — Take, burn, and slay— they that^lie near- 
 est us shall smart first.'' 
 
 *^ Whisht ! baud your tongues, daft cal- 
 lants," said an old man, '^ ye dinna ken 
 what ye speak about. What ! wad ye 
 raise war atween tvva pacificated coun- 
 tries ?" 
 
 " And what signifies deaving us wi' 
 tales about our fathers," retorted the 
 young man, " if we're to sit and see our 
 friends' houses burned ower their heads.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 147 
 
 and no put out a band to revenge them ? 
 Our fathers didna do that, I trow." 
 
 " I am no saying ony thing against re- 
 venging Hobbie's wrang, puir chield ; but 
 we maun take the law wi' us in thae days, 
 Simon," answered the more prudent elder. 
 
 " And, besides," said another old man, 
 ** I dinna believe there's ane now living 
 that kens the lawful mode of following a 
 fray across the Border. Tam o' Whittrani 
 kenn'd a about it, but he died in the hard 
 winter." 
 
 " Ay," said a third, '' he was at the great 
 gathering when they chased as far as 
 Thirlwall — it v/as the year after the fight 
 at Philiphaugh." 
 
 ** Hout !" exclaimed another of these 
 discording counsellors, " there's nae great 
 skill needed ; just put a lighted peat on 
 the end of a spear, or hay.foik, or some- 
 thing, and blaw a horn, and cry the gather- 
 ing-word, and then it''s lawful to follow 
 gear into England, and recover it by the 
 strong hand, or to take gear frae some 
 other Englishman, providing ye lift nae
 
 148 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 mair than's been lifted frae you, — that's 
 the auld Border law, made at Drundennan, 
 in the days of the Black Douglas. De*il 
 ana need doubt it." 
 
 " Come away, then, lads," cried Simon, 
 ** get to your geldings, and we'll take auld 
 Cuddy the muckle tasker wi' us ; he kens 
 the value o' the stock and plenishing that's 
 been lost. Hobbie's stalls and stakes shall 
 be fou again or night; and if we canna 
 big up the auld house sae soon, we'se lay 
 an English ane as low as Heughfoot is — 
 and that's fair play, a' the warld ower." 
 
 This animating proposal was received 
 with great applause by the younger part 
 of the assemblage, when a whisper ran 
 among them, ** There's Hobbie himsel, 
 puir fallow ; we'll be guided by him.*' 
 
 The principal sufferer, having now 
 reached the bottom of the hill, pushed on 
 through the crowd, unable, from the tu- 
 multuous state of his feelings, to do more 
 than receive and return the grasps of the 
 friendly hands by which his neighbours 
 and kinsmen mutely expressed their sym-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 149 
 
 pathy in his misfortune. While he press- 
 ed Simon of Hackburn's hand, his anxiety 
 at length found words. " Thank ye, Si- 
 mon — thank ye, neighbours — I ken what 
 ye wad a' say— But where are they ?— 
 
 Where are" He stopped, as if afraid 
 
 even to name the objects of his enquiry ; 
 and, with a similar feeling, his kinsmen,' 
 without reply, pointed to the hut, into 
 which Hobbie precipitated himself with 
 the desperate air of one who is resolved 
 to know the worst at once. A general ex- 
 pression of sympathy accompanied him.-^ 
 ** Ah, puir fallow — puir Hobbie !'* 
 
 " He'll learn the warst o't, now T 
 
 " But 1 trust Earnscliff will get some 
 speerings of the puir lassie.'* 
 
 Such were the exclamations of the 
 group, which, having no acknowledged 
 leader to direct their motions, passively 
 awaited the return of the sufferer, and de- 
 termined to be guided by his directions. 
 
 The meeting between Hobbie and his 
 
 family was in the highest degree afFect- 
 
 . ing. His sisters threw themselves upon
 
 150 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 him, and almost stifled him with their ca- 
 resses, as if to prevent his looking round 
 to distinguish the absence of one yet more 
 beloved. 
 
 *' God help thee, my son! He can help^ 
 when worldly trust is a broken reed." — 
 Such was the welcome of the matron to her 
 ' unfortunate grandson. He looked eagerly 
 round, holding two of his sisters by the 
 hand, while the third hung about his neck 
 — ** I see you — I count you — My grandmo- 
 ther, Lilias, Jean, and Annot ; but where 
 
 is " he hesitated, and then continued, 
 
 as if with an effort, — ** Where is Grace? 
 Surely this is not a time to hide hersel frae 
 me — there's nae time for daf!ing now." 
 
 " O brother !" and ** Our poor Grace 1'^ 
 was the only answer his questions could 
 procure, till his grandmother rose up, and 
 gently disengaging him from the weeping 
 girls, led him to a seat, and, with the af- 
 fecting serenity which sincere pity, like oil 
 sprinkled on the waves, can throw over the 
 most acute feelings, she said, ** My bairn, 
 when thy grandfather was killed in the
 
 THE BLACK DWAUF. 151 
 
 wars, and left me with six orphans around 
 me, with scarce bread to eat, or a roof to 
 cover us, I had strength,— not of mine 
 own — but I had strength given me to say, 
 The Lord's will be done ! My son, our 
 peaceful house was last night broken into 
 by moss-troopers, armed and masked ; they 
 have taken and destroyed all, and carried 
 off our deaf Grace ; — pray for strength to 
 say, His will be done/' 
 
 •* Mother ! mother ! urge me not — I 
 cannot — not now^-I am a sinful man, and 
 of a hardened race. — rMasked — armed — 
 Grace carried off! Gi'e me my sword, and 
 my father's knapsack— I will have ven- 
 geance, if I should go to the pit of darkness 
 to seek it !" 
 
 " O my bairn, my bairn ! be patient under 
 the rod. Who knows when he may lift his 
 hand off from us ? Young EarnsclifF, Hea- 
 ven bless him, has ta'en the chase, with 
 Davie of Stenhouse, and the first comers. 
 I cried to let house and plenishing burn, 
 and follow the reivers to recover Grace, 
 and Earnscliff and his men were ower the
 
 152 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Fell within three hours after the deed. 
 God bless him ; he's a real EarnsclifF— he's 
 his father's true son— a leal friend." 
 
 ** A true friend, indeed ; God bless 
 him !" exclaimed Hobbie ; ** let's on and 
 away, and take the chase after him." 
 
 '* O, my child, before you run on danger, 
 let me hear you but say, His will be 
 pou9 I,, 
 
 " Urge me not, mother— not now." He 
 was rushing out, when, looking back, he 
 observed his grandmother make a mute 
 attitude of affliction. He returned hastily, 
 threw himself into her arms, and said, 
 ** Yes, mother, I can say, His will be done, 
 since it will comfort you." 
 
 " May He go forth— may He go forth 
 with you, my dear bairn ; and O, may He 
 give you cause to say on your return, His 
 name be praised !" 
 
 " Farewell, mother ! — farewell, my dear 
 sisters !" exclaimed Elliot, and 'rushed out 
 of the house.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 153 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Now horse and hattock, cried the laird,— 
 
 Now horse and hattock, speedilie ; 
 They that winna ride for Tellfer's kye. 
 
 Let them never look in the face o' me. 
 
 Border Ballad. 
 
 '* Horse ! horse ! and spear !" exclaim- 
 ed Hobbie to his kinsmen. — Many a ready 
 foot was in the stirrup ; and, while Elliot 
 hastily collected arms and accoutrements, 
 no easy matter in such a confusion, the 
 glen resounded with the approbation of 
 his younger friends. 
 
 ** Ay, ay 1" exclaimed Simon of Hack- 
 burn, " that's the gate to take it, Hobbie. 
 Let women sit and greet at hame, men 
 must do as they have been done by ; its 
 the Scripture says't." 
 
 " Hand your tongue, sir," said one of the 
 G 2
 
 154 TALES OF MY LANDLORBv 
 
 seniors, sternly ; ** diniia abuse the Word 
 that gate, ye dinna ken what ye speak 
 about." 
 
 ** Hae ye ony tidings ? — Hae ye ony 
 speerings, Hobbie ? — O, callants, dinna be 
 ower hasty," said old Di^k of the Dingle. 
 
 '' What signifies preaching to us e'enow," 
 said Simon; *^ if ye canna make help 
 yoursel, dinna keep them back that can." 
 
 " Whisht, sir ; wad ye take vengeance 
 or ye ken wha has wrang'd ye ?'* 
 
 " Dye think we dinna ken the road to 
 England as weel as our fathers before us? 
 —All evil conies out o' tliereaway — it's 
 an auld saying and a true ; and we'll e'en 
 away there, as if the devil was blawing us 
 south." 
 
 " We*ll follow the track o' Earnscliff 's 
 horses ower the waste," cried one Elliot. 
 
 " I'll prick them out through the blind- 
 est moor in the Border an' there had been 
 a fair held there the day before," said 
 Hugh, the blacksmith of Rini>leburn, *'for 
 I aye shoe his horse wi* my ain hand."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. I«5*> 
 
 '^ Lay on the deer-hounds," cried ano- 
 ther ; '^ where are they r" 
 
 " Hout, man, the sun's been lang up, 
 and the dew is afF the grund — the scent 
 will never lie." 
 
 Hobbie instantly whistled on his hounds, 
 which were roving about the ruins of 
 their old habitation, and filling the air 
 with their doleful howls. 
 
 ** Now, Killbuck," said Hobbie, " try 
 thy skill this day" — and then, as if a light 
 had suddenly broke on him,— *^ that ill 
 fa*ard goblin spak something o* this. He 
 may ken mair o't, either by villains on 
 earth, or devils below — Til hae it frae 
 him, if I should cut it out o' his mis- 
 shapen bouk wi' my whinger.'* He then 
 hastily gave directions to his comrades, 
 *' Four o' ye, wi* Simon, baud right for- 
 ward to Gr£emes'-gap. If they're Eng* 
 lish, they'll be for being back that way. 
 The rest disperse by twasome and three- 
 »some through the waste, and meet me at
 
 156 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the Trysting-pool. Tell my brothers, when 
 they come up, to follow and meet us 
 there— Poor lads, they will hae hearts weel 
 nigh as sair as mine — little think they 
 what a sorrowful house they are bringing 
 their venison to—rU ride ower Muckle- 
 stane-Moor mysel." 
 
 ** And if I were you," said Dick of the 
 Dingle, " I would speak to canny Elshie. 
 He can tell ye whatever betides in this 
 land, if he's sae minded." 
 
 ** He shall tell me," said Hobbie, who 
 was busy putting his arms in order, " what 
 he kens o' this night's job, or I shall right 
 weel ken wherefore he does not." 
 
 " Ay, but speak him fair, my bonny 
 man— speak him fair, Hobbie ; the like o' 
 him will no bear thrawing. They con- 
 verse sae muckle wi' thae fractious ghaists 
 and evil spirits, that it clean spoils their 
 temper." 
 
 " Let me alane to guide him," answer- 
 ed Hobbie ; *^ there's that in my breast
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 15/ 
 
 this day, that would ower-maister a' the 
 warlocks on earth, and a' the devils in 
 hell." 
 
 And being now fully equipped, he threw 
 himself on his horse, and spurred him at a 
 rapid trot against the steep ascent 
 
 Elliot speedily surmounted the hill, rode 
 down the other side at the same rate, 
 crossed a wood, and traversed a long glen, 
 ere he at length regained Mucklestane- 
 Moor. As he was obliged, in the course 
 of his journey, to relax his speed in con- 
 sideration of the labour which his horse 
 might still have to undergo, he had time 
 to consider maturely in what manner he 
 should address the Dwarf, in order to ex- 
 tract from him the knowledge which he 
 supposed him to be in possession of con- 
 cerning the authors of his misfortunes. 
 Hobbie, though blunt, plain of speech, 
 and hot of disposition, like most of his 
 countrymen, was by no means deficient in 
 the shrewdness which is also their cha-
 
 }5S TALES OF MY LANDLOR0, 
 
 racteristic. He reflected, that from what 
 he had observed on the memorable night 
 when the Dwarf was first seen, and from 
 the conduct of that mysterious being ever 
 since, he was hkely to be rendered even 
 more obstinate in his sullenness by threats 
 and violence. 
 
 " ril speak him fair," he said, *' as auld 
 Dickon advised me. Though folk say he 
 has a league vvi' Satan, he canna be sic an 
 incarnate devil as no to take some pity in 
 a case like mine ; and folk threep he'll 
 whiles do good, charitable sort o' things. 
 I'll keep my heart down as weel as I can, 
 and stroke him wi' the hair; and if the 
 warst come to the warst, it's but wringing 
 the head o' him about at last." 
 
 In this disposition of accommodation he 
 approached the hut of the Solitary. 
 
 The old man was not upon his seat of 
 audience, nor could Hobbie perceive him 
 in his garden, or enclosures. 
 
 " He's gotten into his very Keep," said 
 Hobbie, " maybe to be out o' the gate.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. !59 
 
 but Pse pu' it down about his lugs, if I 
 canna win at him otherwise." 
 
 Having thus communed with himself, 
 he raised his voice, and invoked Elshie in 
 a tone as suppHcating as his conflicting 
 feelings would permit. " Elshie, my gude 
 friend." No reply. " Elshie, canny Fa- 
 ther Elshie." The Dwarf remained mute* 
 *' Sorrow be in the crooked cascase of 
 thee," said the Borderer between his teeth^ 
 and then again attempting a soothing 
 tone ; *^' good Father Elshie, a most mi- 
 serable creature desires some counsel of 
 your wisdom.*' 
 
 ^* The better !" answered the shrill and 
 discordant voice of the Dwarf through a 
 very small window, resembling an arrow- 
 slit, which he had constructed near the 
 door of his dwelling, and through which he 
 could see any one who approached it, 
 without the possibility of their looking in 
 upon him. 
 
 " The better ! ' said Hobbie impatient- 
 ly; " what is the better, Elshie ? Do you 
 10
 
 360 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 not hear me tell you I am the most mi- 
 serable wretch living ?" 
 
 " And do you not hear me tell you it is 
 so much the better? and did I not tell 
 you this morning, when you thought 
 yourself so happy, what an evening was 
 coming upon you ?" 
 
 ** That ye did e'en," replied Hobbie, 
 " and that gars me come to you for ad- 
 vice now ; they that foresaw the trouble 
 maun ken the cure." 
 
 " I know no cure for earthly trouble," 
 returned the Dwarf; ** or, if I did, why 
 should I help others, when none hath aid- 
 ed me ? Have I not lost wealth, that would 
 have bought all thy barren hills a hundred 
 times over? rank, to which thine is as 
 that of a peasant? society, where there 
 was an interchange of all that was amia- 
 ble^of all that was intellectual ? Have I 
 not lost all this ? Am I not residing here, 
 the veriest outcast on the face of Nature, 
 in the most hideous and most solitary of
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 161 
 
 her retreats, myself more hideous than all 
 that is around me? And why should other 
 worms complain to me when they are 
 trodden on, since I am myself lying crush- 
 ed and writhing under the chariot-wheel ?" 
 
 *' Ye may have lost all this," answer- 
 ed Hobbie, in the bitterness of emotion ; 
 ** land and friends, goods and gear ; ye 
 may hae lost them a',— but ye ne*er can 
 hae sae sair a heart as mine, for ye ne'er 
 lost nae Grace Armstrong. And now my 
 last hopes are gane, and I shall ne'er see 
 her mair." 
 
 This he said in the tone of deepest 
 emotion— and there followed a deep pause, 
 for the mention of his bride's name had 
 overcome the more angry and irritable 
 feelings of poor Hobbie. Ere he had 
 again addressed the Solitary, the bony 
 hand and long fingers of the latter, hold- 
 ing a large leathern bag, was thrust forth 
 at the small window, and as it unclutch- 
 ed the burden, and let it drop with a 
 clang upon the ground, his harsh voice 
 again addressed EUiot.
 
 l62 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 '* There — there lies a salve for every 
 human ill ; so, at least, each human wretch 
 readily thinks. — Begone ; return twice as 
 wealthy as thou wert before yesterday, 
 and torment me no more with questions, 
 complaints, or thanks ; they are alike odi- 
 ous to me," 
 
 "It is a' gowd, by Heavens !" said El- 
 liot, having glanced at the contents ^ 
 and then again addressing the Hermit, 
 ** Muckle obliged for your good-will ; and 
 I wad blythely gi'e you a bond for some 
 o' the siller, or a wadset ower the lands o* 
 Widopen. But I dinna ken, Elshie; to be 
 free wi' you, I dinna like to use siller un- 
 less I kenn'd it was decently come by ; 
 and maybe it might turn into sclate-stanes, 
 and cheat some poor man." 
 
 '* Ignorant idiot!'* retorted the Dwarf, 
 " the trash is as genuine poison as ever 
 was dug out of the bowels of the earth. 
 Take it— use it, and may it thrive with 
 you as it hath done with me !" 
 
 " But I tell you," said Elliot, " it was
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. l6S 
 
 iia about the gear thaj I was consulting 
 you, — it was a braw barn-yard, doubtless, 
 and thirty head of finer cattle there were 
 na on this side of the Cat-rail ; but let 
 the gear gang, — if ye could but gi'e me 
 speerings o' puir Grace, I would be con- 
 tent to be your slave for life, in ony thing 
 that didna touch my salvation. O Elshie, 
 speak, man, speak !" 
 
 *' Well, then," answered the Dwarf , as 
 if worn out by his importunity, " since 
 thou hast not enough of woes of thine 
 own, but must needs seek to burden thy- 
 self with those of a partner, seek her 
 whom thou hast lost in the fVestJ" 
 
 '' In the West ? That's a wide word." 
 
 " It is the last," said the Dwarf, *' which 
 I design to utter j" and he drew the shut- 
 ters of his window, leaving Hobbie to 
 make the most of the hint he had given. 
 
 The west 1 the west ! — thought El- 
 liot ; the country is pretty quiet down 
 that way, unless it were Jock o' the Tod- 
 holes : and he's ower auld now for the like
 
 164 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 o' thae jobs. — West ! — By my life, it must 
 be Westburnflat. *' Elshie, just tell me one 
 word. Am I right ? Is it Westburnflat ? 
 If I am wrang, say sae. I wadna like to 
 wyte an innocent neighbour wi* violence- 
 No answer r-^It must be the Red Reiver — 
 I didna think he wad hae ventured on me, 
 neither, and sae mony kin as there's of us 
 — I am thinking he'll hae some better 
 backing than his Cumberland friends. — 
 Fareweel to you, Elshie, and mony thanks 
 — I dounna be fashed wi' the siller e'en 
 now, for I maun awa' to meet my friends 
 at the Trysting-place — Sae, if ye carena 
 to open the window, ye can fetch it in af- 
 ter I am awaV 
 
 Still there was no reply. 
 
 ** He's deaf, or he's daft, or he's baitb; 
 but I hae nae time to stay to claver wi' 
 him." 
 
 And off rode Hobbie Elliot towards the 
 place of rendezvous which he had named 
 to his friends.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 165 
 
 Four or five riders were already gather- 
 ed at the Trysting-pool. They stood in 
 close consultation together, while their 
 horses were permitted to graze among the 
 poplars which overhung the broad still 
 pool. A more numerous party were seen 
 coming from the southward. It proved to 
 be EarnsclifF and his party, who had fol- 
 lowed the track of the cattle as far as the 
 English border, but had halted on the in- 
 formation that a considerable force was 
 drawn together under some of thejacobite 
 gentlemen in that district, and there were 
 tidings of insurrection in different parts of 
 Scotland. This took away from the act 
 which had been perpetrated, the appear- 
 ance of private animosity, or love of plun* 
 der ; and Earnscliff was now disposed to 
 regard it as a symptom of civil war. The 
 young gentleman greeted Hobbie with the 
 most sincere sympathy, and informed him 
 of the news he had received. ** Then, 
 may I never stir frae the bit," said Elliot, 
 ** if auld Ellieslaw is not at the bottom o'
 
 l66 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tbe'hale villainy ! Ye see he's leagued wi' 
 the Cumberland Catholics ; and that 
 asfrees weel wi' what Elshie hinted about 
 Westburnflat, for ElUeslaw aye protected 
 him, and he will want to harry and disarm 
 the country about his ain hand before he 
 breaks out." 
 
 Some now remembered that the party 
 of ruffians had been heard to say they 
 were acting for James VIII., and were 
 charged to disarm all rebels. Others had 
 heard Westburnflat boast that EUieslaw 
 would soon be in arms for the jacobite 
 cause, and that he himself was to hold a 
 command under him, and that they would 
 be bad neighbours for young Earnscliff, 
 and all that stood out for the established 
 government. The result was a strong be- 
 lief that Westburnflat had headed the 
 party under Ellieslaw's orders, and they 
 resolved to proceed instantly to the house 
 of the former, and, if possible, to secure 
 his person. They were by this time join- 
 ed by so many of their dispersed friends,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 16/ 
 
 that their number amounted to upwards 
 of twenty horsemen, well mounted, and 
 tolerably, though variously, armed. 
 
 A brook, which issued from a narrow 
 glen among the hills, entered, at West- 
 burnflat, upon the open marshy level, 
 which, expanded about half a mile in 
 every direction, gfves name to the spot. 
 In this place the character of the stream 
 becomes changed, and, from being a live- 
 ly brisk-running mountain-torrent, it stag- 
 nates, like a blue swollen snake, in dull 
 deep windings through the swampy level. 
 On the side of the stream, and nearly 
 about the centre of the plain, arose the 
 Tower of Westburnflat, one of the few re- 
 maining strong-holds formerly so nume- 
 rous upon the Borders. The ground upon 
 ^vhich it stood was gently elevated above 
 the marsh for the space of about a hundred 
 yards, affording an esplanade of dry turf, 
 which extended itself in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the tower; but, beyond 
 which, the surface presented to strangers
 
 l68 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 was that of an impassable and dangerous 
 bog. The owner of the tower and his in- 
 mates alone knew the winding and intricate 
 paths; which, leading over ground which 
 was comparatively sound, admitted visitors 
 to his residence. But among the party 
 which were assembled under EarnscHff' s 
 directions,^there was more than one person 
 qualified to act as a guide. For although 
 the owner's character and habits of life 
 were generally known, yet the laxity of 
 feeling with respect to property, prevent- 
 ed his being looked on with the abhor- 
 rence with which he must have been re- 
 garded in a more civilized country. He 
 was considered, among his more peaceable 
 neighbours, pretty much as a gambler, 
 cock-fighter, or horse-jockey, would be re- 
 garded at the present day ; a person, of 
 course, whose habits were to be condemn- 
 ed, and his society, in general, avoided, 
 yet who could not be considered as mark- 
 ed with the indelible infamy attached to 
 his profession, where laws have been ha-
 
 ' THE BLACIC DWARF. 169 
 
 bitually observed. And their indignation 
 was awakened against him upon this occa- 
 sion, not so much on account of the gene- 
 ral nature of the transaction, which was 
 just such as was to be expected from this 
 marauder, as that the violence had been 
 perpetrated upon a neighbour against 
 whom he had no cause of quarrel, against 
 a friend of their own, — above all, against 
 one of the name of Elliot, to which clan 
 most of them belonged. It was not, there- 
 fore, wonderful that there should be seve- 
 ral in the band pretty well acquainted with 
 the locality of his habitation, and capable 
 of giving such directions and guidance as 
 soon placed the whole party on the open 
 space of firm ground in front of the Tower 
 of Westburnflat. 
 
 roL. I.
 
 170 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 , So spak the knicht ; the geaunt sed, 
 
 Lead forth with the, the sely maid, 
 
 And mak me quite of the and sche ; 
 For glaunsing ee, or brow so brent, 
 Or cheek with rose and lilye blent, 
 Me lists not ficht with the. 
 
 Romaunce of the Falcon. 
 
 The tower, before which the party now 
 stood, was a small square building, of the 
 most gloomy aspect. The walls were of 
 great thickness, and the windows, or slits 
 which served the purpose of windows, 
 seemed rather calculated to afford the de- 
 fenders the means of employing missile 
 weapons than for admitting air or light to 
 the apartments within. A small battlement 
 projected over the walls on every side, and 
 afforded farther advantage of defence by 
 its niched parapet, within which arose a 
 steep roof, flagged with grey stones. A
 
 THE BLACK DWARF*. I?! 
 
 single turret at one angle, defended by a 
 door studded with huge iron nails, rose 
 above the battlement, and gave access to 
 the roof from within, by the spiral stair- 
 case which it enclosed. It seemed to the 
 party that their motions were watched by 
 some one concealed within this turret ; and 
 they were confirmed in their belief, when, 
 through a narrow loop-hole, a female hand 
 was seen to wave a handkerchief, as if by 
 way of signal to them. Hobbie was al- 
 most out of his senses with joy and eager- 
 ness. "It was Grace's hand and arm,*' 
 he said ; ** I can swear to it amang a thou- 
 sand. There is not the like of it on this 
 side of the Lowdens — We'll have her out, 
 lads, if we should carry off the Tower of 
 Westburnflat stane by stane.'* 
 
 Earnscliff, though he doubted the possi- 
 bility of recognizing a fair maiden's hand 
 at such a distance from the eye of the lo- 
 ver, would say nothing to damp his friend's 
 animated hopes, and it was re3olved to 
 summon the garrison.
 
 ]7"2 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 The shouts of the party, and the wind- 
 ing of one or two horns, at length brought 
 to a loop-hole, which flanked the entrance, 
 the haggard face of an old woman. — 
 ** That's the Reiver's mother," said one of 
 the Elliots ; *' she*s ten times waur than 
 himsel, and is wyted for muckle of the iU 
 he does about the country.'* 
 
 ** Wha are ye ? What d'ye want here ?" 
 were the queries of the respectable pro- 
 genitor. 
 
 ** We are seeking William Graeme of 
 Westburnflat," said Earnscliff. 
 
 *' He is no at hame," returned the old 
 dame. 
 
 ^* When did he leave home?** pursued 
 EarnsclifF. 
 
 " I canna tell," said the portress. 
 
 " When will he return ?" said Hobbie 
 Elliot. 
 
 " I dinna ken naething about it," re- 
 plied the inexorable guardian of the Keep. 
 
 " Is there any body within the lower 
 with you r" again demanded Earnscliff.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 175 
 
 " Naebody but mysel and baudrons,'* 
 said the old woman. 
 
 ** Then open the gate and admit us/' 
 said Earnscliff ; ** I am a justice of peace, 
 and in search of the evidence of a felony." 
 
 " De'il be in their fingers that draws a 
 bolt for ye/' retorted the portress ; *' for 
 mine shall never do it. Think na ye shame 
 o' yoursels, to come here siccan a band o' 
 ye, wi' your swords and spears, and steel- 
 caps, to frighten a lone widow woman ?*' 
 
 " Our information," said Earnscliff, " is 
 positive; we are seeking goods which 
 have been forcibly carried off, to a great 
 amount.** 
 
 *' And a young woman, that's been cruel- 
 ly made prisoner, that's worth mair than 
 a* the gear, twice told,*' said Hobble. 
 
 " And I warn you," continued Earns- 
 cliff, ** that your only w^ay to prove your 
 son's innocence is to give us quiet admit- 
 tance to search the house." 
 
 " And what will ye do, if I carena to 
 thraw the keys, or draw the bolts, or open
 
 174 TALES Of MY LANDLORD. 
 
 the grate to sic a clanjamfrie ?" said the 
 old dame, scoffiiigly. 
 
 ** Force our way wi' the king's keys, 
 and break the neck of every living soul 
 we find in the house, if ye dinna give it 
 ower forthwith P menaced Hobble. 
 
 " Threatened folks live lang," said the 
 Iiag, in the same tone of irony ; " there's 
 the iron grate, — try your skill on t; lads- 
 it has kept out as gude men as you or 
 now." 
 
 So saying, she laughed, and withdrew 
 from the aperture through which she had 
 held the parley. 
 
 The besiegers now held a serious consult- 
 ation. The immense thickness of the 
 walls, and the small size of the windows, 
 might, for a time, have even resisted can- 
 non-shot. The entrance was secured, first, 
 by a strong grated door, composed entire- 
 ly of hammered iron, of such ponderous 
 strength as seemed calculated to resist any 
 force that could be brought against it. 
 "Pinches or forehammers will never pick
 
 THE BLACK DWAUF. 175 
 
 upon't," said Hugh, the blacksmith of 
 Ringleburn ; *' ye might as vveel batter at 
 it wi* pipe-stapples/' 
 
 Within the door-way, and at the distance 
 of nine feet, which was the solid thick- 
 ness of the wall, there was a second door 
 of oak, crossed, both brea th and length- 
 ways, with clenched bars of iron, and 
 studded full of broad-headed nails. Be- 
 sides all these defences, they were by no 
 means confident in the truth of the old 
 dame's assertion, that she alone composed 
 the garrison. The more knowing of the 
 party had observed hoof-marks in the track 
 by which they approached the tower, which 
 seemed to indicate that several persons 
 had very lately passed in that direction. 
 
 To ail these difficulties were added their 
 want of means for attacking the place. 
 There was no hope of procuring ladders 
 long enough to reach the battlements, and 
 the windows, besides being very narrow, 
 were secured with iron bars. Scaling was 
 therefore out of the question ; mining w^s
 
 176 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 still more so, for want of tools and of gun- 
 powder ; neither were the besiegers provi- 
 ded with food, means of shelter, or other 
 conveniences, which might have enabled 
 them to convert the siege into a blockade ; 
 and there would, at any rate, have been a 
 risk of relief from some of the marauder's 
 comrades. Hobbie grinded and gnashed his 
 teeth, as, walking round the fastness, he 
 could devise no means of making a forcible 
 entry. At length he suddenly exclaimed, 
 '* And what for no do as our fathers did 
 lang syne? — Put hand to the wark, lads. 
 Let us cut up bushes and briars, pile them 
 before the door and set fire to them, and 
 smoke that auld devil's dam as if she were 
 to be reested for bacon." 
 
 All immediately closed with this propo- 
 sal, and some went to work with swords 
 and knives to cut down the alder and haw- 
 thorn bushes which grew by the side of 
 the sluggish stream, many of which were 
 sufficiently decayed and drieS for their pur- 
 pose, while others began to collect them
 
 THE BLACK DWAKI'. 1/7 
 
 in a large stack properly disposed for burn^ 
 ing as close to the iron grate as they could 
 be piled. Fire was speedily obtained from 
 one of their guns, and Hobbie was already 
 advancing to the pile with a kindled brand, 
 when the surly face of the robber, and the 
 muzzle of a musquetoon, were partially 
 shewn at a shot-hole which flanked the 
 entrance. *' Mony thanks to ye," he said 
 scoffingly, " for collecting sae muckle win- 
 ter eilding for us ; but if ye step a foot 
 nearer it wi' that lunt, it's be the dearest 
 step ye ever made in your days." 
 
 ** We'll sune see that," said Hobbie, ad- 
 vancing fearlessly with the torch. 
 
 The marauder snapped his piece at him, 
 -which, fortunately for our honest friend, 
 did not go off; while Earnscliff, firing at 
 the same moment at the narrow aperture 
 and slight mark afforded by the robber's 
 face, grazed the side of his head with a 
 bullet. He had apparently calculated 
 upon his post affording him more security, 
 for he no sooner felt the wound, though a 
 H 2
 
 178 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 very slight one, than he requested a par- 
 ley, and demanded to know what they 
 meant by attacking in this fashion a peace- 
 able and honest man, and shedding his 
 blood in that lawless manner ? 
 
 *' We want your prisoner," said Earns- 
 clifF, *' to be delivered up to us in safety." 
 
 ** And what concern have you with her ?" 
 icplied the marauder. 
 
 '* That,** retorted Earnscliff, " you, who 
 are detaining her by force, have no right 
 to enquire.*^ 
 
 *' Aw eel, I think I can gi'e a guess," 
 said the robber. *' Weel, sirs, I am laith to 
 enter into deadly feud with you by spilling 
 ony of yourbluid, though Earnscliff hasna 
 stopped to shed mine— and ye can hit a 
 mark to a groat's breadth—so, to prevent 
 mair skaith, I am willing to deliver up the 
 prisoner, since nae less will please you." 
 
 *' And Hobbie's gear ?'* cried Simon of 
 Hackburn. '* D ye think youVe to be free 
 to plunder our faulds and byres, as if it 
 were an auld wife's hen-cavey ?** 
 
 " As I live by bread," replied Willi* of
 
 THE BLACK DWAKF. l79 
 
 Westburnflat, '* as I live by bread, I have 
 not a single cloot of them ; they're a' 
 ower the march lang syne ; there's no a 
 horn o' them about the tower. But Til 
 see what o* them can be gotten back, and 
 ril take this day twa days to meet Hob- 
 ble at the Castleton wi' twa friends on 
 ilka side, and see to make an agreement 
 about a' the wrang he can wyte me wi'." 
 
 ** Ay, ay," said Elliot, " that will do 
 weel aneugh." — And then aside to his 
 kinsman, *' Murrain on the gear! Lord* 
 sake, man ! say nought about them. Let 
 us but get poor Grace out o* that auld 
 Helllcat's clutches." 
 
 '* Will ye gie me your word, EarnsclifF,'^ 
 said the marauder, who still liDgered at 
 the shot-hole, *^ your faith and troth, 
 with hand and glove, that I am free to 
 come and free to gae, with five minutes 
 to open the grate, and five minutes to 
 steek it and to draw the bolts? less winna 
 do, for they want creishing sairly. Will 
 ye do this ?" 
 
 '' You shall have full tim^" said Earns-
 
 180 TALES OF MV LANDLOHD. 
 
 cliff, '^ I plight my faith and troth, my 
 hand and my glove." 
 
 ** Wait there a moment, then/* said 
 Westburnflat ; ** or, hear ye, I wad rather 
 ye wad fa' back a pistol-shot from the 
 door. It's no that I mistrust your word, 
 Earnscliif, but it's best to be sure." 
 
 ** O, friend," thought Hobbie to him- 
 self, as he drew back, '* an' I had you but 
 on Turner*s-holm, and naebody bye but 
 twa honest lads to see fair play, I wad make 
 ye wish ye had broken your leg ere ye had 
 touched beast or body that belanged to 
 me." 
 
 ** He has a white feather in his wing 
 this same Westburnflat after aV* said Si- 
 mon of Hackburn, somewhat scandalized 
 by his ready surrender. " He'll ne'er fill 
 his father's boots." 
 
 In the meanwhile, the inner door of 
 the tower was opened, and the mother of 
 the freebooter appeared in the space be- 
 twixt that and the outer grate. Willie 
 himself was next seen leading forth a fe- 
 male, and the old woman, carefully bolt-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 181 
 
 ing the grate behind them, remained on 
 the post as a sort of centinel. 
 
 " Ony ane or twa o' ye come forward," 
 said the outlaw, *' and take her frae my 
 hand hale and sound." 
 
 Hobbie advanced eagerly to meet his 
 betrothed bride. EarnsclifF followed more 
 slowly to guard against treachery. Sud- 
 denly Hobbie slackened his pace in the 
 deepest mortification, while that of Earns- 
 clifF was hastened by impatient surprise. 
 It was not Grace Armstrong, but Miss 
 Isabella Vere, whose liberation had been 
 effected by their appearance before the 
 tower. 
 
 ** Where is Grace ? Where is Grace 
 Armstrong?" exclaimed Hobbie, in the 
 extremity of wrath and indignation. 
 
 " Not in my hands," answered West- 
 burnflat ; " ye may search the tower, if 
 ye misdoubt mc." 
 
 ** You fause villain, you shall account 
 for her, or die on the spot," said Elliot, 
 presenting his gun.
 
 182 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 But his companions, who now came 
 up, instantly disarmed him of his weapon, 
 exclaiming, all at once, ** Hand and glove ! 
 faith and troth ! Haud a' care, Hobbie, we 
 maun keep our faith with Westburnflat, 
 were he the greatest rogue ever rode." 
 
 Thus protected, the outlaw recovered 
 his audacity, which had been somewhat 
 daunted by the menacing gesture of EU 
 liot. 
 
 " I have kept my word, sirs !'' he said, 
 ** and I look to have nae wrang amang 
 ye. — If this is no the prisoner }e sought," 
 he said, addressing Earnscliff, '* ye'll ren- 
 der her back to me again. I am answera- 
 ble for her to those that aught her." 
 
 *' For God's sake, Mr Earnscliff, protect 
 me 1** said Miss Vere, clinging to her de- 
 liverer ; " do not you abandon one whom 
 the whole world seems to have abandon* 
 
 " Fear nothing,*' whispered Earnscliff, 
 " I will protect you with my life." Then 
 turning to Westburnflat, '* Villain !" he
 
 THE BLACK DWAHF. 18^ 
 
 said, '^ how dared you to insult this 
 lady?'' 
 
 " For that matter, Earnscliff,'* answered 
 the freebooter, ** I can answer to them 
 that has better right to ask me than you 
 have; but if you come with an armed 
 force, and take her awa' from them that 
 her friends lodged her wi', how will you 
 answer that ?— But it's your ain affair — 
 Nae single man can keep a tower against 
 twenty — A' the men o' the Mearns downa 
 do mair than they dow/' 
 
 " He lies most falsely,'' whispered Isa- 
 bella ; *^ he carried me off by violence 
 from my father." 
 
 ** Maybe he only wanted ye to think 
 sae, hinny ; but it's nae business o' mine, 
 let it be as it may. — So ye winna resign 
 her back to me r" 
 
 ** Back to you, fellow ? Surely no," an- 
 swered Earnscliff; " I will protect Miss 
 Vere, and escort her safely wherever she is 
 pleased to be conveyed." 
 
 4
 
 184 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ** Ay, ay, maybe you and her liae set- 
 tled that already." 
 
 " And Grace ?" interrupted Hobble, 
 shaking himself loose from the friends who 
 had been preaching to him the sanctity 
 of the safe conduct, upon the faith of 
 which the freebooter had ventured from 
 his tower. " Where's Grace?" and he 
 rushed on the marauder, sword in hand. 
 Westburnflat thus pressed, after calling 
 out, *' God sake, Hobbie, hear mc a gliffl" 
 fairly turned his back and fled. His mo- 
 ther stood ready to open and shut the 
 grate; but Hobbie struck at the free* 
 hooter as he entered with so much force, 
 that the sword made a considerable cleft 
 in the lintel of the vaulted door, which is 
 still shewn as a memorial of the superior 
 strength of those who lived in the days of 
 yore. Ere Hobbie could repeat the blow, 
 the door was shut and secured, and he 
 was compelled to retreat to his compa- 
 nions, who were now preparing to break 
 up the siege of Westburnflat. They in-
 
 THE BLACK DWARI^. 185 
 
 sisted upon his accompanying them in 
 their return. 
 
 " Ye hae broken truce already/* said old 
 Dick of the Dingle ; ** an' we take na the 
 better care, ye'll play mair gowk's tricks, 
 and make yoursel the laughing stock o' 
 the hale country, besides having your 
 friends charged with slaughter under 
 trust. Bide till the meeting at Castleton, 
 as ye hae greed ; and if he doesna make 
 ye amends, then well hae it out o' his 
 heart's blood. But let us gang reasonably 
 to wark and keep our tryst, ahd^r>.e war- 
 rant we get back Grace, and the kyc 
 
 an* a\" 
 
 This cold-blooded reasoning went ill 
 down with the unfortunate lover; but, as 
 he could only obtain the assistance of his 
 neighbours and kinsmen on their own 
 terms, he was compelled to acquiesce in 
 their notions of good faith and regular 
 procedure. 
 
 Earnscliff now requested the assistance 
 of a few of the party to convey Miss Vere
 
 186 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to her father's castle of Ellieslaw, to which 
 she was peremptory in desiring to be con- 
 veyed. This was readily granted ; and 
 five or six young men agreed to attend 
 him as an escort. Hobbie was not of the 
 number. Almost heart-broken by the 
 events of the day, and his final disappoint- 
 ment, he returned moodily home to take 
 such measures as he could for the suste- 
 nance and protection of his family, and to 
 arrange with his neighbours the farther 
 steps which should be taken for the reco- 
 very 6f Grace Armstrong. The rest of 
 the party dispersed in different directions, 
 as soon as they had crossed the morass. 
 The outlaw and his mother watched them 
 from the tower until they entirely disap- 
 peared.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 187 
 
 » 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1 left ray ladye*B bower last night — *"" 
 
 It was clad in wreaths of snaw, — 
 
 I sought it when the sun \vas bright, 
 And sweet the roses blaw. 
 
 Oid Play. 
 
 Incensed at what he deemed the cold- 
 ness of his friends, in a cause which inte- 
 rested him so nearly, Hobbie had sliaken 
 himself free of their company, and was 
 now upon his solitary road homeward. 
 ** The fiend founder thee !' he said, as he 
 spurred impatiently his over-fatigued and 
 stumbling horse ; '* thou art like a' the 
 rest of them. Hae I nt)t fed thee, and 
 bred thee, and dressed thee wi' mine own 
 hand, and wouldst thou snapper now and 
 break my neck at my utmost need? But 
 thouVt e'en like the laive — the fartht-stoiF 
 o* them a' is my cousin ten times removed ;
 
 3S8 TALES OF MY LAKDLOIiD. 
 
 and day or night I wad hae served them 
 wi' my best blood ; and now, I think they 
 shew mair regard to the common thief of 
 Westburnflat than to their own kinsman. 
 But I should see the lights now in Heugh- 
 foot — Waes me !'* he continued, recollect- 
 ing himself, " there will neither coal nor 
 candle-light shine in the Heughfoot ony 
 mair ! An it were na for my mother and 
 sisters, and poor Grace, I could find in my 
 heart to put spurs to the beast, and loup, | 
 ower the scaur into the water to make an 
 end o't aV — In this disconsolate mood, he 
 turned his horse's bridle toward the cot- 
 tage in which his family had found refuge. 
 
 As he approached the door, he heard 
 whispering and tittering aniongst his sis- 
 ters. *' The devil's in the women," said 
 poor Hobbie ; " they would nicker, and 
 laugh, and giggle, if their best friend was 
 lying a corp— and yet 1 am glad they can 
 keep up their hearts sae weel, poor silly 
 things ; but the dirdum fa's on me, to be 
 sure, and no on them." 
 
 While he thus meditated, he was enga-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 189 
 
 ged in fastening up his horse in a shecl» 
 *' Thou maun do without horse-sheet and 
 surcingle now, lad," he said, addressing 
 the animal ; *' you and me hae had a down- 
 come alike — we had better hae fa*en in 
 the deepest pool o* Tarras,'* 
 
 He was interrupted by the youngest of his 
 sisters, who came running out, and speak- 
 ins: in a constrained voice, as if to stifle 
 some emotion, called out to him, " What 
 are ye doing there, Hobbie, fiddling about 
 the naig, and there's ane frae Cumberland 
 been waiting here for ye this hour and 
 mair ? Haste ye in, man ; Til take off the 
 saddle." 
 
 ** Ane frae Cumberland !" exclaimed 
 Elliot ; and putting the bridle of his horse 
 into the hand of his sister, he rushed into 
 the cottage. " Where is he ? where is he ?" 
 he exclaimed, glancing eagerly round, and 
 seeing only females ; " Did he bring news 
 of Grace?** 
 
 " He dought na bide an instant langer," 
 said the elder sister, still with a suppressed 
 laugh.
 
 ISO TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Hout fie, bairns !" said the old lady, 
 with something of a good-humoured re- 
 proof, "ye should na vex your billy Hob- 
 bie that way. Look round, my bairn, and 
 see if there is na ane here mair than you 
 left this morning." 
 
 Hobbie looked eagerly round. *' There's 
 you, and the three titties." 
 
 *' There's four of us now, Hobbie, lad," 
 said the youngest, who at this moment 
 entered. 
 
 In an instant Hobbie had in his arms 
 Grace Armstrong, who, with one of his 
 sister's plaids around her, had passed un- 
 noticed at his first entrance. ** How dared 
 you do this ?" said Hobbie. 
 
 ** It wasna my fault," said Grace, en- 
 deavouring to cover her face with her 
 hands, to hide at once her blushes and 
 escape the storm of hearty kisses with 
 which her bridegroom punished her simple 
 stratagem, — ** It wasna my fault, Hobbie ; 
 ye should kiss Jeanie and the rest o* them, 
 for they hae the wyte o't.** 
 
 ** And so I will/' said Hobbie, and em-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 191 
 
 braced and kissed his sisters and grand- 
 mother a hundred times, while the whole 
 party half-laughed, half-cried, in the ex- 
 tremity of their joy. " I am the happiest 
 man," said Hobbic, throwing himself down 
 on a seat, almost exhausted, — " I am the 
 happiest man in the world." 
 
 "Then, O my dear bairn," said the good 
 old dame, who lost no opportunity of 
 teaching her lesson of religion at those 
 moments when the heart was best opened 
 to receive it, — " Then, O my son, give 
 praise to Him that brings smiles out o' 
 tears and joy out o' grief, as he brought 
 light out o* darkness and the world out o* 
 nacthing. Was it not my word, that, if 
 ye could say His will be done, ye might 
 hae cause to say His name be praised ?" 
 
 ^* It was— it was your word, grannie ; 
 and I do praise Him for his mercy, and for 
 leaving me a good parent when my ain 
 were gane," said honest Hobbie, takiag her 
 hand, " that puts me in mind to think of 
 Him, baith in happiness and distress," 
 
 There was a solemn pause of one or two
 
 192 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 minutes, employed in the exercise of men- 
 tal devotion, which expressed, in purity 
 and sincerity, the gratitude of the affec- 
 tionate family to that Providence who had 
 unexpectedly restored to their embraces 
 the friend whom they had lost. 
 
 Hobble's first enquiries were concerning 
 the adventures which Grace had under- 
 gone. They were told at length, but 
 amounted in substance to this : — That she 
 was awaked by the noise which the ruf- 
 fians made in breaking into the house, and 
 by the resistance made by one or two of 
 the servants, which was soon overpower- 
 ed; that, dressing herself hastily, she ran 
 down stairs, and having seen, in the scuffle, 
 Westburnflat's vizard drop off, imprudent- 
 ly named him by his name, and besought 
 him for mercy ; that the rul][ian instantly- 
 stopped her mouth, dragged her from the 
 house, and placed her on horseback, be- 
 hind one of his associates. 
 
 ** ni break the accursed neck of him,*' 
 said Hobbie, " if there were na another 
 Graeme in the land but himsel !"
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 193 
 
 She proceeded to say, that she was car- 
 ried southward along with the party, and 
 the spoil which they drove before them, 
 until they had crossed the Border. Sud- 
 denly a person, known to her as a kinsman 
 of Westburnflat, came riding very fast af- 
 ter the marauders, and told their leader, 
 that his cousin had learnt from a sure hand 
 that no luck would come of it, unless the 
 lass was restored to her friends. After 
 some discussion, tlie chief of the party 
 seemed to acquiesce. Grace was placed 
 behind her new guardian, who pursued in 
 silence, and with great speed, the least- 
 frequented path to the Heughfoot, and ere 
 evening closed set down the fatigued and 
 terrified damsel within a quarter of a mile 
 of the dwelling of her friends. Many and 
 sincere were the congratulations which 
 |)assed on all sides. 
 
 As these emotions subsided, less plea- 
 sing considerations began to intrude them- 
 sehes. 
 
 VOL, I. I
 
 194 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 '^ This is a miserable place for ye a\'* 
 said Hobbie, looking around him ; " I 
 can sleep weel aneugh mysjel out-bye be- 
 side the naig, as 1 hae done mony a lang 
 night on the hills, but how ye are to put 
 yoursels up, I canna see I And, what's 
 waur, 1 canna mend it ; and, what's waur 
 than a', the morrow may come, and the 
 day after that, without your being a bit 
 better off.'' 
 
 ** It was a cowardly, cruel thing," said 
 one of the sisters, looking round, ** to 
 harry a poor family to the bare wa's this 
 gate." 
 
 " And leave us neither stirk nor stot,'* 
 said the youngest brother, who now en- 
 tered, " nor sheep nor lamb, nor aught 
 that eats grass and corn.'* 
 
 " If they had ony quarrel wi* us," said 
 Harry, the second brother, '* were we na 
 ready to have fought it out? And that we 
 shoul-d have been a' trae hame, too, — ane 
 and a' upon the hill — Odd, an' we had
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 195 
 
 been at hame, Will Gramme's stomach 
 shouldna hae wanted it's morning ; but 
 it's biding him, is it na, Hobbie ?" 
 
 '* Our neighbours hae ta'en a day at the 
 Castleton to gree wi' him at the sight o' 
 men," said Hobbie mournfully ; ** they 
 behoved to have it a* their ain gate, or 
 there was nae help to be got at their 
 hand." 
 
 *' To gree wi' him !" exclaimed both his 
 brothers at once, ** after siccan an act of 
 stouthrife as hasna been heard o' in the 
 country since the auld riding days !" 
 
 " Very true, billies, and my blood was 
 
 e'en boiling at it ; but the sight o' 
 
 Grace Armstrong has settled it brawly." 
 
 " But the stocking, Hobbie ?'' said John 
 Elliot ; ** we're utterly ruined. Harry and 
 I hae been to gather what was on the out- 
 byc land, and there's scarce a cloot left. 
 I kenna how we're to carry on — We maun 
 a' gang to the wars, 1 think Westburnflat 
 hasna the means, e'en if he had the will, 
 to make up our loss ; there's nae mends to
 
 196 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 be got out o' him, but what ye take out o' 
 his banes. He hasna a four-footed creature 
 but the vicious blood thing he rides on, 
 and that's sair trash'd wi' his night-wark. 
 We are ruined stoop and roop." 
 
 Hobbie cast a mournful glance on Grace 
 Armstrong, who returned it with a down- 
 cast look and a gentle sigh. 
 
 *' Dinna be cast down, bairns,'* said the 
 grandmother, " we hae gude friends that 
 winna forsake us in adversity. There's Sir 
 Thomas Kittleloof is my third cousin by 
 the mother's side, and he has come by a 
 hantle siller, and been made a knight ba- 
 ronet into the bargain, for being ane o' the 
 commissioners at the Union." 
 
 " He wadna gi'e a boddle to save us 
 frae famishing,'* said Hobbie ; ** and, if 
 he did, the bread that I bought wi't would 
 stick in my throat when I thought it was 
 part of the price of puir auld Scotland's 
 crown and independence." 
 
 ** There's the Laird of Dunder, ane of 
 the auldest families in Tiviotdale." 
 
 01
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 197 
 
 " He*s in the tolbooth, mother— he's in 
 the heart of Mid-Lowden for a thousand 
 merk he borrowed from Saunders VVylie- 
 coat the writer/' 
 
 " Poor man !" exclaimed Mrs Elliot, 
 *' can we no send him something, Hob- 
 bie ?" 
 
 "Ye forget, grannie, ye forget we want 
 help oursels," said Hobbie, somewhat pee- 
 vishly. 
 
 " Troth did I, hinny,*' replied the good- 
 natured lady, " just at the instant ; it's 
 sae natural to think o* ane's blude rela- 
 tions before themsels. But there's young 
 Earnscliff." 
 
 " He has ower little o' his ain ; and 
 siccan a name to keep up, it wad be a 
 shame," said Hobbie, " to burden him wi* 
 our distress. And I'll tell ye, grannie, it's 
 needless to sit rhyming ower the stile of 
 a your kith, kin, and allies, as if there 
 was a charm in their braw names to do us 
 good ; the grandees hae forgotten us, and 
 those of our ain degree hae just little
 
 158 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 aneugli to gang on wi' themsels ^ ne'er a 
 friend hae we that can, or will, help us to 
 stock the farm again." 
 
 " Then, Hobbie, we maun trust in Him 
 that can raise up friends and fortune out o' 
 the bare moor, as they say." 
 
 Hobbie sprung upon his feet. '* Ye are 
 right, grannie !" he exclaimed ; " ye are 
 right. I do ken a friend on the bare 
 moor, that baith can, and will, help us — 
 The turns o' this day hae dung my head 
 clean hirdie girdie. I left as much gowd 
 lying on Mucklestane-Moor this morning 
 as would plenish the bouse and stock the 
 Heughfoot twice ower, and 1 am sure 
 Elshie wadna grudge us the use of it." 
 
 " Elshie 1" said his grandmother in asto- 
 nishment ; *^ what Elshie do you mean ?" 
 
 ** What Elshie should I mean, but can- 
 ny Elshie, the Wise Wight o* Muckle- 
 stane," replied Hobbie. 
 
 ** God forefend, my bairn, you should 
 gang to fetch water out o' broken cisterns, 
 or seek for relief frae them that deal wi'
 
 THE BLACK DWAR*. . 199 
 
 the Evil One ! There was never luck in 
 their gifts, nor grace in their paths. And 
 the hale country kens that body Elshie's 
 an unco man. O, if there was the law, 
 and the douce quiet administration of 
 justice, that makes a kingdom flourish in 
 righteousness, the like o* them suldna be 
 suffered to live ! The wizard and the 
 witch are the abomination and the evil 
 thing in the land,** 
 
 ** Troth, mother," answered Hobble, 
 " ye may say what yc like, but I am in 
 the mind that witches and warlocks havena 
 half the power they had lang syne; at 
 least, sure am I, that ae ill-deviser, like 
 auld EUieslaw, or ae ill-doer, like that 
 d — d villain, Westburnflat, is a greater 
 plague and abomination in a country-side 
 than a hale curnie o' the warst witches 
 that ever capered on a broomstick, or 
 played cantrips on Fastren's E'en. It wad 
 hae been lang or Elshie had burnt down 
 my house and barns, and I am determined
 
 wo TALESf Oi' MV LANDLORD. 
 
 to try if he will do aught to build them 
 up again. He's weel kenn*d a skilfu* man 
 ower a' the country, as far as Brough under 
 Stanmore.**^ 
 
 ** Bide a wee, my bairn ; mind his be- 
 nefits havena thriven wi' a' body. Jock 
 Howden died of the very same disorder 
 Elshie pretended to cure him of, about the 
 fa' o' the leaf; and though he helped Lamb- 
 side*s cow wcel out of the moor-ill, yet the 
 louping-ilTs been sairer amang hrs sheep 
 than ony season before. And then I have 
 heard he uses sic words abusing human 
 nature, that's like a flying in the face of 
 Providence ; and ye mind ye said your- 
 sel, the first time ye ever saw him, that 
 he was mair like a bogle than a living 
 thing." 
 
 '' Hout, mother," said Hobbie, " Elshie's 
 no that bad a ehield ; he's a grewsome 
 spectacle for a crooked disciple, to be 
 sure, and a rough talker, but his bark is 
 waur than hts bite ; sae, if I had anes
 
 [the black dwarf. 201 
 
 something to eat, for I havena had a mor- 
 sel down my tliroat this day, I wad streek 
 mysel down for twa three hours aside the 
 beast, and be on and awa' to Mucklestanc 
 wi' the first skreigh o' morning." 
 
 " And what for no the night, Hobbie ?" 
 said Harry, " and I'll ride wi' ye." 
 
 '' My nag is tired," said Hobbie. 
 
 *^ Ye may take mine, then," said John. 
 
 " But I am a wee thing wearied my- 
 sel." 
 
 " You wearied ?" said Harry, '* shame 
 on you ! I have kenn'd ye keep the saddle 
 four-and-twenty hours thegither, and ne'er 
 Sfic a word as weariness in your wame." 
 
 " The night's very dark," said Hobbie, 
 rising and looking through the casement 
 of the cottage ; " and, to speak truth, and 
 shame the de'il, though Elshie's a real ho- 
 nest fallow, yet somegate I would rather 
 take day-light wi' me when I gang to visit 
 him." 
 
 This frank avowal put a stop to farther 
 argument ; and Hobbie, having thus com- 
 J 2
 
 202 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 promised matters between the rashness of 
 his brother's counsel, and the timid cautions 
 which he received from his grandmother, 
 refreshed himself with such food as the 
 cottage afforded ; and, after a cordial sa- 
 lutation all round, retired to the shed, 
 and stretched himself beside his trusty 
 palfrey. His brothers shared between 
 them some trusses of clean straw, disposed 
 in the stall usually occupied by old An- 
 naple's cow; and the females arranged 
 themselves for repose as well as the ac- 
 commodations of the cottage would per- 
 mit. 
 
 With the first dawn of morning, Hob- 
 ble arose ; and, having rubbed down and 
 saddled bis horse, he set forth to Muckle- 
 stane-Moor. He avoided the company of 
 cither of his brothers, from an idea, that 
 the Dwarf was most propitious to those 
 who visited him alone. 
 
 " The creature," said he to himself, as 
 he went along, " is no neighbourly ; ae 
 body at a time is fully mair than he weel 
 
 6
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 205 
 
 ean abide. I wonder if he's looked out o' 
 the crib o' him to gather up the bag 
 o' siller. If he hasna done that, it will 
 hae been a braw windfa\ for somebody, 
 and ril be finely flung. — Come, Tarras," 
 said he to his horse, striking him at the 
 same time with the spur, " make mair fit, 
 man; we maun be first on the field if we 
 can.'* 
 
 He was now on the heath, which began 
 to be illuminated by the beams of the ri- 
 sing sun ; the gentle declivity which he 
 was descending presented him a distinct, 
 though distant, view of the Dwarfs dwell- 
 ing. The door opened, and Hobbie wit- 
 nessed with his own eyes that phasnomenon 
 which he had frequently heard mentioned. 
 Two human figures (if that of the Dwarf 
 could be termed such) issued from the so- 
 litary abode of the Recluse, and stood as 
 if in converse together in the open air* 
 The taller form then stooped, as if taking 
 something up which lay beside the door 
 of the hut, then both moved forward a 
 little way, and again halted, as in dee.p
 
 204 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 conference. All Hobble's superstitious ter- 
 rors revived on witnessing this spectacle. 
 That the Dwarf would open his dwelling 
 to a mortal guest, was as improbable as 
 that any one would choose voluntarily to 
 be his nocturnal visitor ; and, under full 
 conviction that he beheld a wizard hold^ 
 ing intercourse with his familiar spirit, 
 Hobbie pulled in at once his breath and 
 his bridle, resolved not to incur the indig- 
 nation of either by a hasty intrusion on 
 their conference. They were probably 
 ' aware of his approach, for he had not halt- 
 ed for a moment before the Dwarf return- 
 ed to his cottage; and the taller figure 
 who had accompanied him, glided round 
 the inclosure of the garden, and seemed to 
 disappear from the eyes of the admiring 
 Hobbie. 
 
 " Saw ever mortal the like o* that !" said 
 Elliot ; " but my case is desperate, sae, if 
 he were Belzebub himsel, Tse venture 
 down the brae on him." 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding his assumed cou- 
 rage, be slackened his pace when, nearly
 
 THE BLACK DWAUF. 205 
 
 upon the very spot where he had last seen 
 the tall figure, he discerned, as if lurking 
 among the long heather, a small black 
 rough-looking object, like a terrier dog. 
 " He has nae dog that ever I heard of," 
 said Hobble, " but mony a de'il about his 
 hand—Lord forgi'e m^ for saying sic a 
 word I — It keeps its grund, be what it 
 like — I'm judging it's a badger ; but whae 
 kens what shapes thae bogles will take to 
 fright a body— it will maybe start up like 
 a lion or a crocodile when I come nearer — 
 I'se e'en drive a stane at it, for if it change 
 it's s^hape when I'm ower near, Tarras will 
 never stand it, and it will be ower muckle 
 to hae him and the de'il to fight wi* baith 
 at ance." 
 
 He therefore cautiously threw a stone 
 at the object, which continued motionless, 
 '' It's nae living thing, after a','* said Hob- 
 bie, " but the very bag o' siller he flung 
 out o' the window yesterday ! and that 
 other queer lang creature has just brought
 
 206 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 it sae muckle farther on the way to me/* 
 He then advanced and lifted the heavy 
 fur pouch, which was quite full of gold. 
 " Mercy on us !'' said Hobbie, whose heart 
 fluttered between glee at the revival of 
 his hopes and prospects in life, and suspi- 
 cion of the purpose for which this assist- 
 ance was afforded him — " Mercy on us ! 
 it's an awfu' thing to touch what has been 
 sae lately in the claws of something no can- 
 ny. I canna shake mysel loose o* the be- 
 lief that there has been some jookery-pau- 
 kery of Satan's in a' this ; but I am deter- 
 mined to conduct mysel like an honest 
 man and a good Christian, come o't what 
 will." 
 
 He advanced accordingly to the cottage 
 door, and having knocked repeatedly with- 
 out receiving any answer, he at length ele- 
 vated his voice and addressed the inmate 
 of the hut. *' Elshie ! Father Elshie 1 I 
 ken ye're within doors, and wauking, for 
 I saw ye at the door-cheek as I cam o'er
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 20? 
 
 the bent ; will ye come out and speak just 
 a glifF to ane that has mony thanks to gi'e 
 ye ? — It was a' true ye tell'd me about 
 Westburnflat; buthe'ssent back Grace safe 
 and skaithless, sae there's nae ill happen- 
 ed yet but what may be suffered or sus- 
 tained. — Wad ye but come out a gliff, man, 
 or but say ye're listening ? — Aweel, since 
 ye winna answer, Tse e'en proceed wi* my 
 tale. Ye see I hae been thinking it wad 
 be a sair thing on twa young folk, like 
 Grace and me, to put aff our marriage for 
 mony years till I was abroad and came 
 back again wi* some gear ; and they say 
 folk manna take booty in the wars as they 
 did lang syne, and the pay's a sma' matter 5 
 there's nae gathering gear on that — and 
 then my gude-dame's auld— and my sisters 
 wad sit pinging at the ingle-side for want 
 o' me to ding them about — and Earnscliff, 
 or the neighbourhood, or maybe your ain 
 sell, Elshie, might want some good turn 
 that Hob Elliot could do ye— and it's a 
 pity that the auld house o' the Heughfoot
 
 9,08 TALES OF MY LANDIORD. 
 
 should be wrecked a! thegither — Sae I was 
 thinking — But de'il hae me, that I should 
 say sae," continued he, checking himself, 
 " if I can bring mysel to ask a favour of 
 ane that winna sae muckle as ware a word 
 on me, to tell me if he hears me speaking 
 till him." 
 
 " Say what thou wilt — do what thou 
 wilt," answered the Dwarf from his cabin, 
 " but begone, and leave me at peace." 
 
 " Weel, weel," replied Elliot, " since ye 
 are content to hear me, Tse make my tale 
 short.— Since ye are sae kind as to say 
 ye are content to lend me as muckle sil- 
 ler as will stock and plenish the Heugh- 
 foot, I am content, on my part, to accept 
 the courtesy wi^ mony kind thanks ; and 
 troth, I think it will be as safe in my hands 
 as yours, if ye leave it flung about in that 
 gate for the first loon body to lift, forbye 
 the risk o* bad neighbours that can win 
 through steekit doors and lock-fast places, 
 as I can tell to my cost. I say, since ye 
 hae sae muckle consideration for me, I'se
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 209 
 
 be bly the to accept your kindness ; and my 
 mother and me (she's a lite-renter, and I 
 am fiar o' the lauds of Wideopen) would 
 grant you a wadset, or an heritable bond, 
 for the siller, and to pay the annual rent 
 half yearly ; and Saunders Wyliecoat to 
 draw the bond, and you to be at nae charge 
 wi* the writings*" 
 
 " Cut short thy jargon, and begone,'* 
 said the Dwarf; *^ thy loquacious bull- 
 beaded honesty makes thee a more into- 
 lerable plague than the light-fingered 
 courtier who would take a man's all with- 
 out troubling him with either thanks, ex- 
 planation, or apology. Hence, I say ! thou 
 art one of those tame slaves whose word 
 is as good as their bond. Keep the money, 
 principal and interest, until I demand.it of 
 thee/' 
 
 " But," continued the pertinacious Bor- 
 derer, '* we are a life-like and death-like, 
 Elshie, and there really should be some 
 black and white on this transaction. Sae
 
 210 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 just make me a minute, or missive, in ony 
 form ye like, and I'se write it fair ovver, 
 and subscribe it before famous witnesses* 
 Only, Elshie, I wad wuss ye to put naething 
 in t that may be prejudicial to my salva- 
 tion ; for rU hae the minister to read it 
 ower, and it wad only be exposing yoursel 
 to nae purpose. And now I'm ganging 
 awa', for ye'il be wearied o' my cracks, 
 and I am wearied wi' cracking without an 
 answer — and Tse bring ye a bit o' bride's- 
 cake ane o' thae days, and maybe bring 
 Grace to see you. Ye wad like to see 
 Grace, man, for as dour as ye are — Eh, 
 Lord ! I wish he may be weel, that was a 
 sair grane ! or, maybe, he thought I was 
 speaking of heavenly grace, and no of 
 Grace Armstrong. Poor man, I am very 
 doubtfu' o' his condition; but I am sure 
 he is as kind to me as if I were his son, 
 and a queer-looking father I wad hac had, 
 if that had been e'en sae.'* 
 
 Hobbie now relieved his benefactor of
 
 THE BLACK DW^ARF. 211 
 
 his presence, and rode blythely home to 
 display his treasure, and consult upon the 
 means of repairing the damage which his 
 fortune had sustained through the aggres- 
 sion of the Red Reiver of Westburnflat.
 
 SIS TALES OF MY LANDLOIi©. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Three ruffians seized me yester mom^ 
 
 Alas ! a maiden most forlorn ; 
 
 They choked my cries with wicked might, 
 
 And bound me on a palfrey white ; 
 
 As sure as Heaven shall pity me, 
 
 I cannot tell what men they be. 
 
 Christabelle, 
 
 The course of our story must here rc-^ 
 vert a little, to detail the circumstances 
 which had placed Miss Vere in the unplea-- 
 sant situation from which she was unex- 
 pectedly, and indeed unintentionally, libe- 
 rated, by the appearance of EarnsclifF and 
 Elliot, with their friends and followers, be- 
 fore the Tower of Westburnflat. 
 
 On the morning preceding the night in 
 which Hobble's house was plundered and
 
 THE BLACK PWARF. 213 
 
 burnt, Miss Vere was requested by ber fa- 
 ther to accompany him in a walk through 
 a distant part of the romantic grounds 
 which lay around his Castle of EUieslaw. 
 ^^ To hear was to obey," in the true style of 
 oriental despotism ; but Isabella trembled 
 in silence while she followed her father 
 through rough paths, now winding by the 
 side of the river, now ascending the cliffs 
 which serve for its banks, A single ser- 
 vant, selected perhaps for his stupidity, 
 " was the only person who attended them. 
 From her father's silence, Isabella little 
 doubted that he had chosen this distant 
 and sequestered scene to resume the argu- 
 ment which they had so frequently main- 
 tained upon the subject of Sir Frederick's 
 addresses, and that he was meditating in 
 what manner he should most effectually 
 impress upon her the necessity of receiving 
 him as her suitor. But her fears seemed 
 for some tinie to be unfounded. The only 
 sentences which her father from time to
 
 214 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 time addressed to her, respected the beau- 
 ties of the romantic landscape through 
 which they strolled, and which varied its 
 features at every step. To these observa- 
 tions, although they seemed to come from 
 a heart occupied by more gloomy as well 
 as more important cares, Isabella endea- 
 voured to answer in a manner as free and 
 unconstrained as it was possible for her to 
 assume, amid the involuntary apprehen- 
 sions which crowded upon her imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 Sustaining, with mutual difficulty, a de- 
 sultory conversation, they at length gain- 
 ed the centre of a small wood, composed of 
 large old oaks, intermingled with birches, 
 mountain-ashes, hazel, holly, and a variety 
 of underwood. 7 he boughs of the tall 
 trees n)et closely above, and the under- 
 wood filled up each interval between their 
 trunks below. The bpot on which they 
 stood was rather njore open ; still, how- 
 ever, embowered under the natural arcade
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 215 
 
 of tall trees, and darkened on the sides 
 for a space around by a great and lively 
 growth of copse-wood and bushes. 
 
 " And here, Isabella," said Mr Vere, as 
 he pursued the conversation, so often re- 
 sumed, so often dropped, " here 1 would 
 erect an altar to Friendship.** 
 
 ^* To Friendship, sir!" said Miss Vere, 
 ** and why on this gloomy and sequester- 
 ed spot, rather than elsewhere ?" 
 
 *' O, the propriety of the Iccale is easily 
 vindicated," replied her father with a 
 sneer. '* You know, Miss Vere, (for you, 
 I am well aware, are a learned young 
 lady,) you know, that the Romans were 
 not satisfied with embodying, for the pur- 
 pose of worship, each useful qualit} and 
 moral virtue to which they could give a 
 name, but they, moreover, worshipped the 
 same under each variety of titles and at- 
 tributes which could give a distinct shade, 
 or individual character, to the virtue in 
 question. Nowi for example, the iriend-
 
 21S TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ship to whom a temple should be here dedi- 
 cated, is not Masculine Friendship, which 
 abhors and despises duplicity, art, and dis- 
 guise ; but Female Friendship, which con- 
 sists in little else than a mutu-al disposi- 
 tion on the part of the friends, as they call 
 themselves, to abet each other in obscure 
 fraud and petty intrigue." 
 
 ** You are severe, sir," said Miss Vere. 
 
 ** Only just,'* said her father ; " a hum- 
 ble copier I am from nature, with the ad- 
 vantage of contemplating two such excel- 
 lent studies as Lucy Ilderton and your- 
 self." 
 
 *' If I have been unfortunate enough to 
 offend, sir, I can conscientiously excuse 
 Miss Ilderton from being either my coun- 
 sellor, or confidante." 
 
 ** Indeed ! how came you, then," said 
 Mr Vere, ** by the flippancy of sptech, 
 and pertness of argument, by which you 
 have disgusted Sir Frederu k, and given 
 me of late sucii deep ollence r"
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. gl7 
 
 ** If my manner has been so unfortu- 
 nate as to displease you, sir, it is impossi- 
 ble for me to apologize too deeply, or too 
 sincerely ; but I cannot confess the same 
 contrition for having answered Sir Fre- 
 derick flippantly when he pressed me rude- 
 ly. Since he forgot I was a lady, it was 
 time to shew him that I am at least a wo- 
 man.'' 
 
 " Reserve then your pertness for those 
 who press you on the topic, Isabella," 
 said her father coldly ; ** for my part, I am 
 weary of the subject, and will never speak 
 upon it again." 
 
 " God bless you, my dear father,*' said 
 Isabella, seizing his reluctant hand ; ** there 
 is nothing you can impose on me, save the 
 task of listening to this man's persecu- 
 tion, that I will call, or think, a hard- 
 ship." 
 
 " You are very obliging. Miss Vere, 
 when it happens to suit you to be duti- 
 ful,*' said her unrelenting father, forcing 
 himself at the same time from the affec- 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 1 
 
 218 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tionate grasp of her hand ; " but hence- 
 forward, child, I shall save myself the trou- 
 ble of offering you unpleasant advice on 
 any topic. You must look to yourself.'' 
 
 At this moment four ruffians rushed up- 
 on them. Mr Vere and his servant drew 
 their hangers, which it was the fashion of 
 the time to wear, and attempted to de- 
 fend themselves and protect Isabella. But 
 while each of them was engaged by an 
 antagonist, she was forced into the thicket 
 by the two remaining villains, who placed 
 her and themselves on horses which stood 
 ready behind the copse-wood. They mount- 
 ed, at the same time, and placing her be- 
 tween them, set off at a round gallop, 
 holding the reins of her horse on each 
 side. By many an obscure and winding- 
 path, over dale and down, through moss 
 and moor, she was conveyed to the tower 
 of Westburnflat, where she remained strict- 
 ly watched, but not otherwise ill treated, 
 under the guardianship of the old woman, 
 to whose son that retreat belonged. No
 
 THE BLACK DWAKF. 219 
 
 entreaties could prevail upon the hag to 
 give Miss Vere any information on the 
 object of her being carried forcibly off 
 and confined in this secluded place. The 
 arrival of Earnscliff, with a strong party 
 of horsemen before the tower, alarmed the 
 robber. As he had already directed Grace 
 Armstrong to be restored to her friends, 
 it did not occur to him that this unwel- 
 come visit was on her account ; and see- 
 ing at the head of the party, Earnscliff, 
 whose attachment to Miss Vere was whis- 
 pered in the country, he doubted not that 
 her liberation was the sole object of the 
 attack upon his fastness. The dread of 
 personal consequences compelled him to 
 deliver up his prisoner in the manner we 
 have already narrated. 
 
 At the moment the tramp of the horses 
 was heard which carried off the daugliter 
 of Ellieslaw, her father fell to the ground, 
 and his servant, a stout young fellow, 
 who was gaining ground on the rullian
 
 220 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 with whom he had been engaged, left the 
 combat to come to his master's assistance, 
 little doubting that he had received a 
 mortal wound. Both the villains immedi- 
 ately desisted from farther combat, and 
 retreating into the thicket, mounted their 
 horses, and went off at full speed after 
 their companions. Mean time, Dixon had 
 the satisfaction to find Mr Vere, not only 
 alive but unwounded. He had over- 
 reached himself, and stumbled, it seemed, 
 over the root of a tree in making too 
 eager a blow at his antagonist. The de- 
 spair he felt at his daughter's disappear- 
 ance, was, in Dixon's phrase, such as 
 would have melted the heart of a whin- 
 stane, and he was so much exhausted by 
 his feelings, and the vain researches which 
 he made to discover the track of the ra- 
 vishers, that a considerable time elapsed 
 ere he reached Iiome, and communicated 
 the alarm to his domestics. 
 
 All his conduct and gestures were those 
 .of a desperate man.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 221 
 
 "Speak not to me, Sir Frederick," he 
 said impatiently ; " you are no father—she 
 was my child, an ungrateful one, I fear, 
 but still my child—my only child. Where 
 is Miss Ilderton? she must know some 
 thing of this. It corresponds with what I 
 was informed of her schemes. Go, Dixon, 
 call RatclifFe here— Let him come without 
 a minute's delay." 
 
 The person he had named at this mo- 
 ment entered the room. 
 
 ** I say, Dixon," continued Mr Vere in 
 an altered tone, '* let Mr RatclifFe know, 
 I beg the favour of his company on parti- 
 cular business. — Ah ! my dear sir," he con- 
 tinued, as if noticing him for the first 
 timc^ " you are the very man whose advice 
 can be of the utmost service in this cruel 
 extremity." 
 
 '* What has happened, Mr Vere, to dis- 
 compose you ?" said Mr Ratcliffe gravely; 
 and while the Laird of Ellieslaw details to 
 him, with the most animated gestures of 
 grief and indignation, the singular adven-
 
 222 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ture of the morning, we will take the op- 
 portunity to inform our readers of the re- 
 lative circumstances in whicli these gen- 
 tlemen stood to each other. 
 
 In early youth Mr Verc of Ellieslaw 
 had been remarkable for a career of dissi- 
 pation, which, in advanced hfe, he had ex- 
 chan«:ed for the no less destructive career 
 of dark and turbulent ambition. In both 
 •cases, he had gratified the predominant 
 passion without respect to the diminution 
 of his private fortune, although, where 
 such inducements were wanting, he was 
 deemed close, avaricious, and grasping. 
 His affairs being much embarrassed by his 
 earlier extravagance, he went to England, 
 where he was understood to have formed 
 a very advantageous matrimonial connec- 
 tion. He was many years absent from his 
 family estate. Suddenly and unexpected- 
 ly he returned a widower, bringing with 
 him his daughter, then a girl of about ten 
 years old. From this moment his expence 
 seemed unbounded in the eyes of the 
 
 4
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 223 
 
 simple inhabitants of his native moun- 
 tains. It was supposed he must necessa- 
 rily have plunged himself deeply in debt. 
 Yet he continued to live in the same la- 
 vish expence, until some months before 
 the commencement of our narrative, when 
 the public opinion of his embarrassed cir- 
 cumstances was confirmed, by the resi- 
 dence of Mr Ratcliffe at Ellieslaw Castle, 
 who, by the tacit consent, though obvi- 
 ously to the great displeasure, of the lord 
 of the mansion, seemed, from the moment 
 of his arrival, to assume and exercise a 
 predominant and unaccountable influence 
 in the management of his private affairs. 
 
 Mr Ratcliffe was a grave, steady, reser- 
 ved man, in an advanced period of life. 
 To those with whom he had occasion to 
 speak upon business, he appeared uncom- 
 monly well versed in all its forms. With 
 others he held little communication; but 
 in any casual intercourse, or conversation, 
 displayed the powers of an active and well- 
 informed mind. For some time before ta-
 
 224 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 king up his final residence at the castle, he 
 had been an occasional visitor there, and 
 was at such times treated by Mr Vere (con- 
 trary to his general practice towards those 
 who were inferior to him in rank) with 
 marked attention, and even deference. 
 Yet his arrival always appeared to be an 
 embarrassment to his host, and his depart- 
 ure a relief, so that, when he became a con. 
 stant inmate of the family, it was impossi- ' 
 ble not to observe indications of the dis- 
 pleasure with which Mr Vere regarded his 
 presence. Indeed, their intercourse form- 
 ed a singular mixture of confidence and 
 constraint. Mr Vere's most important af- 
 fairs were regulated by Mr Ratcliffe ; and 
 although he was none of those indulgent 
 men of fortune, who, too indolent to ma- 
 nage their own business, are glad to de- 
 volve it upon another, yet, in many in- d 
 stances, he was observed to give up his 
 own opinion, and submit to 'the contra- 
 dictions which Mr Ratcliffe did not hesi- 
 tate distinctly to express. 
 
 I
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 225 
 
 Nothing seemed to vex Mr Vere more 
 than when strangers indicated any obser- 
 vations of the state of tutelage under which 
 he appeared to labour. When it was noticed 
 by Sir Frederick, or any of his intimates, he 
 sometimes repelled their remarks haugh- 
 tily and indignantly, and sometimes en- 
 deavoured to evade them, by saying, with 
 a forced laugh, '* That RatclifFe knew 
 his own importance, but that he was the 
 most honest and skilful fellow in the 
 world; and that it would be impossible 
 for him to manage his English affairs 
 without his advice and assistance." Such 
 was the person who entered the room at 
 the moment Mr Vere was summoning him 
 to his presence, and who now heard with 
 surprise, mingled with obvious incredulity, 
 the hasty narrative of what had befallen. 
 Miss Vere. 
 
 Her father concluded, addressing Sir 
 
 Frederick, and the other gentlemen, who 
 
 stood around in astonishment, *' And now, 
 
 my friends, you see the most unhappy fa- 
 
 K 2
 
 226 TALIS OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 ther in Scotland. Lend me your assist- 
 ance, gent}emen — give me your advice, 
 Mr RatclifFe. I am incapable of acting, or 
 thinking, under the unexpected violence 
 of such a blow." 
 
 " Let us take our horses, call our attend- 
 ants, and scour the country in pursuit of 
 the villains," said Sir Frederick. 
 
 *' Is there no one whom you can sus- 
 pect/ said RatclifFe, gravely, " of having 
 some motive for this strange crime? These 
 are not the days of romance, when ladies 
 are carried off merely for their beauty." 
 
 *^ I fear," said Mr Vere, ** I can too well 
 account for this strange incident. Read 
 this letter, which Miss Lucy Ilderton 
 thought fit to address from my house of 
 Ellieslaw to young Mr EarnsclifT, whom, 
 of all men, I have a liereditary right to 
 call my enemy. You see she wrrtes to 
 him as the confidant of a passion which he 
 has the assurance to entertain for my 
 daughter ; tells him she serves his cause 
 with her friend very ardently, but that he
 
 THE BLACK DW^ARF. 227 
 
 has a friend in the garrison who serves 
 him yet more efFectually. Look particular- 
 ly at the pencilled passages, Mr RatchfFe, 
 where this meddhng girl recommends hold 
 measures, with an assurance that his suit 
 would be successful any where beyond the 
 bounds of the barony of Ellieslaw." 
 
 " And you argue, from this romantic 
 letter of a very romantic young lady, Mr 
 Vere/' said Ratcliffe, " that young Earns- 
 clifF has carried off your daughter, and 
 committed a very great and criminal act 
 of violence, on no better advice and assu- 
 rance than that of Miss Lucy Ilderton ?" 
 
 " What else can I think ?" said ElHes- 
 lavvr. 
 
 " What else can you think ?" said Sir 
 Frederick ; '* or who else could have any 
 motive for committing such a crime r" 
 
 " Were that the best mode of fixing the 
 guilt," said Mr Ratcliffe, cahnly, " there 
 might easily be pointed out persons to 
 whom such actions are more congenial, and 
 who have also sufficient motives of instiga-
 
 228 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tion. Supposing it were judged advisable 
 to remove Miss Vere to some place in which 
 constraint might be exercised upon her 
 inclinations to a degree which cannot at 
 present be attempted under the roof of 
 Ellieslaw-Castle— -What says Sir Frederick 
 Langley to that supposition ?" 
 
 " I say," returned Sir Frederick, '* that 
 although Mr Vere may choose to endure 
 in Mr Ratcliife freedoms totally inconsist- 
 ent with his situation in life, I will not 
 permit such license of inuendo^ by word 
 or look, to be extended to me, with impu- 
 nity." 
 
 ^* And I say," said young Mareschal of 
 Mareschal- Wells, who was also a guest at 
 the castle, *' that you are all stark-mad to 
 be standing wrangling here, instead of 
 going in pursuit of the ruffians." 
 
 ** 1 have ordered off the domestics al- 
 ready in the track most likely to overtake 
 them," said Mr Vere ; " if you will favour 
 me with your company, we will follow 
 them and assist their search."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 229 
 
 The efforts of the party were totally un- 
 successful, probably because Ellieslaw di- 
 rected the pursuit to proceed in the direc- 
 tion of EarnsclifF-Tower, under the sup- 
 position that the owner would prove to be 
 the author of the violence, so that they 
 followed a direction diametrically opposite 
 to that in which the ruffians had actually 
 proceeded. In the evening they returned, 
 harassed and out of spirits. But other 
 guests had, in the meanwhile, arrived at 
 the castle ; and, after the recent loss sus- 
 tained by the owner had been narrated, 
 wondered at, and lamented, the recollec- 
 tion of it was, for the present, drowned in 
 the discussion of deep political intrigues, 
 of which the crisis and explosion were mo- 
 mentarily expected. 
 
 Several of the gentlemen who took part 
 in this divan were catholics, and all of them 
 staunch Jacobites, whose hopes were at 
 present at the highest pitch, as an inva- 
 sion, in favour of the Pretender, was daily 
 expected from France, which Scotland, be- 
 
 9
 
 230 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tween the defenceless state of its garrisons 
 and fortified places, and the general dissaf- 
 fection of the inhabitants, was rather pre- 
 pared to welcome than to resist. Rat- 
 clifFe, who neither sought to assist at their 
 consultations on this subject, nor was invi- 
 ted to do so, had, in the meanwhile^ reti- 
 red to his own apartment. Miss Ilderton 
 was sequestered from society in a sort of 
 honourable confinement, " until," said Mr 
 Vere, " she should be safely conveyed 
 home to her father's house," an opportu- 
 nity for which occurred on the following 
 day. 
 
 The domestics could not help thinking 
 it remarkable how soon the loss of Miss 
 Vere, and the strange manner in which it 
 had happened, seemed to be forgotten by 
 the other guests at the castle. They knew 
 not, that those the most interested in her 
 fate were well acquainted with the cause 
 of her being carried off and the place of 
 her retreat; and that the others, in the 
 anxious and doubtful moments which pre- ;
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 23 Jt 
 
 ceded the breaking forth of a conspiracy, 
 were little accessible to any feelings but 
 what arose immediately out of their own 
 machinations.
 
 232 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Some one way, some another— Do you know 
 Where we may apprehend her ? 
 
 The researches after Miss Vera were 
 (for the sake of appearances, perhaps) re- 
 sumed in the succeeding day, with sim:lar 
 bad success, and the party were returning 
 towards Ellieslaw in the evening. 
 
 " It is singular," said Mareschal to Rat- 
 cliiFe, ** that four horsemen and a female 
 prisoner should have passed through the 
 country without leaving the slightest trace 
 of their passage. One would think they 
 had traversed the air, or sunk through the 
 ground." 
 
 " Men may often,*' answered RatclifFe^ 
 " arrive at a knowledge of that which is,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. j233 
 
 from discovering that which is not. We 
 have now scoured every road, path, and 
 track leading from the castle, in all vari- 
 ous points of the compass, saving only 
 that intricate and difficult pass which 
 leads southward down the Westburn, and 
 through the morasses." 
 
 " And why have we not examined 
 that ?" said Mareschal. 
 
 " O, Mr Vere can best answer that 
 question," replied his companion, drily. 
 
 " Then I will ask it instantly," said 
 Mareschal ; and, addressing Mr Vere, " I 
 am informed, sir, tbe^e is a path we have 
 not examined, leading by Westburnflat." 
 
 *' O,'' said Sir Frederick, laughing, ** we 
 know the owner of Westburnflat well — a 
 wild lad, that knows little difference be» 
 tween his neighbour's goods and his own; 
 but, withal, very honest to his principles : 
 He would disturb nothing belonging to 
 EUieslaw." 
 
 " Besides," said Mr Vere, smiling mys-
 
 2S4 TALES OF MV LANDLORD. 
 
 teriously, *' he had other tow on his dis- 
 taff last night. Have you not heard young 
 Elliot of the Heughfoot has had his house 
 hurnt, and his cattle driven away, because 
 he refused to give up his arms to some ho-- 
 nest men that think of starting for the 
 king ?'* 
 
 The company smiled upon each other, 
 as at hearing of an exploit which favoured 
 their own views. 
 
 ** Yet, nevertheless," resumed Mares- 
 chal, '* I think we ought to ride on this 
 direction also, otherways we shall certain- 
 ly be blamed fo/ our negligence." 
 
 No reasonable objection could be offer- 
 ed to this proposal, and the party turned 
 their horses' heads towards Westbumflat. 
 
 They had not proceeded very far in that 
 direction when the trampling of horses 
 was heard, and a small body of riders 
 were perceived advancing to meet them. 
 
 " There comes Earnscliif," said Mares- 
 chal. " I know his bright bay with the 
 star in his front."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 235 
 
 " And there is my daughter along with 
 him," exclaimed Vere, furiously. " Who 
 shall call my suspicions false or injurious 
 now ? Gentlemen — friends — lend me the 
 assistance of your swords for the recovery 
 of my child." 
 
 He unsheathed his weapon, and was imi- 
 tated by Sir Frederick and several of the 
 party, who prepared to charge those that 
 were advancing towards them. But the 
 greater part hesitated. 
 
 *^ They come to us in all peace and se* 
 curity,*' said Mareschal-Wells ; " let us 
 first hear what account they give us of 
 this mysterious affair. If Miss Vere has 
 sustained the slightest insult or injury 
 from Earnschff, I will be first to revenge 
 her ; but let us hear what they say." 
 
 '' You do me wrong by your suspicions, 
 Mareschal," continued Vere ; " you are 
 the last I would have expected to hear ex^ 
 press them." 
 
 "You injure yourself, Ellieslaw, by your
 
 236 TALES OF MT LANDLORD, 
 
 violence, though the cause may excuse 
 it." 
 
 He then advanced a little before the 
 rest, and called out, with a loud voice, — 
 ** Stand, Mr Earnscliif, or do you and 
 Miss Vere advance alone to meet us. You 
 are charged with having carried that lady 
 off from her father's house, and we are here 
 in arms to shed our best blood for her re- 
 covery, and for bringing to justice those 
 who have injured her." 
 
 *' And who would do that more willing- 
 ly than I, Mr Mareschal ?" said Earnsclifi^ 
 haughtily, — *' than I who had the satisfac- 
 tion this morning to liberate her from the 
 dungeon in which I found her confined, 
 and who am now escorting her back to the 
 Castle of Ellieslaw ?" 
 
 " Is this so, Miss Vere ?" said Mareschal. 
 
 " It is," answered Isabella, eagerly, — *' it 
 is so ; for Heaven's sake, sheathe your 
 swords. I will swear by all that is sacred, 
 that I was carried off by ruffians, whose per-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 237 
 
 sons and object were alike unknown to me, 
 and am now restored to freedom by means 
 of this gentleman's gallant interference." 
 
 ** By whom, and wherefore, could this 
 have been done ?" pursued Mareschal. — 
 *' Had you no knowledge of the place to 
 which you were conveyed? — EarnsclifF, 
 where did you find this lady ?'* 
 
 But ere either question could be an- 
 swered, Ellieslaw advanced, and, return- 
 ing his sword to the scabbard, cut short 
 the conference. 
 
 " When I know/' he said, *' exactly 
 how much I owe to Mr EarnsclifF, he may 
 rely on suitable acknowledgments ; mean 
 time," taking the bridle of Miss Vere's 
 horse, " thus far I thank him for repla- 
 cing my daughter in the power of her na- 
 tural guardian." 
 
 A sullen bend of the head was returned 
 by EarnsclifF with equal haughtiness ; and 
 Ellieslaw, turning back with his daughter 
 upon the road to his own house, appeared 
 engaged with her in a conference so car-
 
 238 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 nest, that the rest of the company judged 
 it improper to intrude by approaching 
 them too nearly. In the mean time, 
 Earnscliff, as he took leave of the other 
 gentlemen belonging to Ellieslaw's party, 
 said aloud, " Although I am unconscious 
 of any circumstance in my conduct that 
 can authorize such a suspicion, I cannot 
 but observe, that Mr Vere seems to be- 
 lieve that I have had some hand in the 
 atrocious violence which has been offered 
 to his daughter. I request you, gentle- 
 men, to take notice of my explicit denial 
 of a charge so dishonourable ; and that, 
 although I can pardon the bewildering 
 feelings of a father in such a moment, yet, 
 if any other gentleman/* (lie looked hard 
 at Sir Frederick Langley,) " thinks my 
 word and that of Miss Vere, with the evi- 
 dence of my friends who accompany me, 
 too slight for my exculpation, I will be 
 happy— most happy—to repel the charge 
 as becomes a man who counts his honour 
 dearer than his life."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 239 
 
 ** And I'll be his second,'* said Simon of 
 Hackburn, " and take up ony twa o' ye, 
 gentle or semple, laird or loon, it's a' ane 
 tx> Simon," 
 
 ** Who is that rough-looking fellow ?" 
 said Sir Frederick Langley, " and what 
 has he to do with the quarrels of gentle- 
 men ?"' 
 
 " Pse be a lad frae the Hie Te'iot," said 
 Simon, ^' and Fse quarrel wi' ony body I 
 like, except the king, or the laird I live 
 under." 
 
 ** Come," said Mareschal, " let us have 
 no brawls. — Mr Earnscliff, although we 
 do not think alike in some things, I trust 
 we may be opponents, even enemies, if 
 fortune will have it so, without losing our 
 respect for birth, fair-play, and each other. 
 I believe you as innocent of this matter 
 as I am myself; and I will pledge myself 
 that my cousin, Ellieslaw, so soon as the 
 perplexity attending these sudden events 
 has left his judgment to its. free exercise, 
 shall liandsomely acknowledge the very
 
 S40 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 important service you have this day ren 
 dered him.'* 
 
 " To have served your cousin is a suffi- 
 cient reward in itself— Good evening, gen- 
 tlemen," continued Earnschff, ** I see 
 most of your party are already on their 
 way to Ellieslaw." 
 
 Then saluting Mareschal with courtesy, 
 and the rest of the party with indifference, 
 Earnscliff turned his horse and rode to- 
 wards the Heughfoot, to concert measures 
 with Hobbie Elliot for farther researches 
 after his bride, of whose restoration to her 
 friends he was still ignorant. 
 
 ** There he goes,** said Mareschal, ** he 
 is a fine, gallant, young fellow, upon my 
 soul, and yet I should like well to have a 
 thrust with him on the green turf. I was 
 reckoned at college nearly his equal with 
 the foils, and I should like to try him at 
 sharps." 
 
 '* In ray opinion,'' answered Sir Frede- 
 rick Langley, '^ we have done very ill in 
 having suflered him, and those men who 
 
 I
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 241 
 
 are with him, to go off without taking 
 away their arms ; for the whigs are very 
 likely to draw to a head under such a 
 young fellow as that." 
 
 ** For shame, Sir Frederick," exclaimed 
 Mareschal ; " do you think that Ellieslaw 
 could, in honour, consent to any violence 
 being offered to Earnscliff, when he en- 
 tered his bounds only to bring back his 
 daughter? or, if he were to be of your 
 opinion, do you think that I, and the rest 
 of these gentlemen, would disgrace our- 
 selves by assisting in such a transaction ? 
 No, no, fair-play and auld Scotland for 
 ever. When the sword is drawn, I will be 
 as ready to use it as any man ; but while it 
 is in the sheath, let us behave like gentle- 
 men and neighbours." 
 
 Soon after this colloquy they reached 
 the castle, when Ellieslaw, who had been 
 arrived a few minutes before, met them in 
 the court-yard. 
 
 ** Mow is Miss Vere? and have you 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 ^42 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 learned the cause of her being carried 
 off?" asked Mareschal hastily. 
 
 ** She is retired to her apartment greatly 
 fatigued, and I cannot expect much light 
 upon her adventure till her spirits are 
 somewhat recruited/' replied her father. 
 " She and I were not the less obliged to 
 you, Mareschal, and to my other friends, 
 for their kind enquiries. But I must sup- 
 press the father's feelings for a while to 
 give myself up to those of the patriot. 
 You know this lis the day fixed for our 
 final decision— time passes— our friends are 
 arriving, and I have opened house, not 
 only for the gentry, but for the under- 
 spur-leathers whom we must necessarily 
 employ. We have, therefore, little time 
 to prepare to meet them—look over these 
 lists, Marchie, (an abbreviation by which 
 Mareschal- Wells was known among his 
 friends,) Do you, Sir Frederick, read these 
 letters from Lothian and the west— all is 
 ripe for the sickle, and we have but to 
 summon out the reapers."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 243 
 
 ^* With all my heart," said Mareschal ; 
 " the more mischief the better sport." 
 
 Sir Frederick looked grave and discon- 
 certed. 
 
 *' Walk aside with me, my good friend,'* 
 said Ellieslaw to the sombre Baronet, " I 
 have something for your private ear, with 
 which I know you will be gratified." 
 
 They walked into the house, leaving 
 RatclifFe and Mareschal standing together 
 in the court. 
 
 *' And so," said the former to the latter, 
 " the gentlemen of your political persua- 
 sion think the downfal of this govern- 
 ment so certain, that they disdain even to 
 * throw a decent disguise over the machina- 
 tions of their party?" 
 
 " Faith, Mr Ratcliffe," answered Ma- 
 reschal, *' the actions and sentiments of 
 I your friends may require to be veiled, but 
 I am better pleased that ours can go bare- 
 \ faced." 
 
 " And is it possible,'* continued Rat- 
 ■ cliffe, ^* that you, who, notwithstanding
 
 244 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 your thoughtlessness and heat of temper, 
 (I beg pardon, Mr Mareschal, I am a plain 
 man) — that you, who, notwithstanding 
 these constitutional defects, possess natu- 
 ral good sense and acquired information, 
 should be infatuated enough to embroil 
 yourself in such desperate proceedings ? 
 How does your head feel when you are 
 engaged in these dangerous conferences ?'* 
 ^* Not quite so secure on my shoul- 
 ders,** answered Mareschal, ** as if I were 
 talking of hunting and hawking. I am 
 not of so indifferent a mould as my cousin 
 EUieslaw, who speaks treason as if it were 
 child's nursery rhymes, and loses and re- 
 covers that sweet girl, his daughter, with 
 a good deal less emotion on both occa- 
 sions, than would have affected me liaci I 
 lost and recovered a greyhound puppy. 
 Mv temper is not quite so inflexible, nor 
 my hate against government so inveterate, 
 as tn blind me to the full danger of the 
 attempt." 1
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 245 
 
 '* Then why involve yourself in it?'^ 
 said RatclifFe. 
 
 " Why, I love this poor exiled king 
 with all my heart ; and my father was an 
 old Gilliecrankie-man, and I long to see 
 some amends on the courtiers that have 
 bought and sold old Scotland, whose 
 crown has been so long independent." 
 
 " And for the sake of these shadows," 
 said his monitor, " you are going to in- 
 volve your country in war, and yourself in 
 trouble?" 
 
 " / involve? No! — but, trouble for 
 trouble, I had rather it came to-morrow 
 than a month hence. Come, I know it 
 will ; and, as our country folks say, better 
 soon than syne — it will never find me 
 younger — and, as for hanging, as Sir John 
 FalstafF says, I can become a gallows as 
 well as another. You know the end of 
 the old ballad ; 
 
 ** Sae (launtonly, sae wantonly, 
 
 Sae rantingly gaed he. 
 He play'd a spring;, and danced a round. 
 
 Beneath the gallows tree."
 
 246 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. - J 
 
 '^ Mr Mareschal, I am sorry for you/' 
 said his grave adviser. 
 
 *' I am obliged to you, Mr Ratcliffe -, 
 but I would not have you judge of our 
 enterprise by my way of vindicating it ; 
 there are wiser heads, than mine at the 
 work." 
 
 " Wiser heads than yours may lie as 
 low," said Ratcliffe, in a warning tone. 
 
 *' Perhaps so ; but no lighter heart 
 shall ; and, to prevent its being made hea 
 vier by your remonstrances, I will bid you 
 adieu, Mr Ratcliffe, till dinner time, when 
 you shall see that my apprehensions have 
 not spoiled my appetite."
 
 THE BLACK DV/AKF. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 To face the garment of rebellion 
 \yith some fine colour, that may please the eye 
 Of fickle changelings, and poor discontents, 
 Which gape and rub the elbow at the news 
 Of hurly-burly innovation. 
 
 Henry the Fourthy Fart II. 
 
 There had been great preparations 
 made at EUieslaw-Castle for the enter- 
 tainment of this important day, when not 
 only the gentlemen of note in the neigh- 
 bourhood, attached to the Jacobite interest, 
 were expected to rendezvous, but also 
 many subordinate malcontents, whom diffi- 
 culty of circumstances, love of change, re- 
 sentment against England, or any of the 
 numerous causes which inflamed men's pas- 
 sions at the time, rendered apt to join in 
 perilous enterprise. The men of rank 
 and subtance were not many in number,
 
 24fS TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 for almost all the large proprietors stood I 
 aloof, and most of the smaller gentry and 
 yeomanry were of the presbyterian per- 
 suasion, and, therefore, however displeased 
 with the Union, unwilling to engage in • 
 a Jacobite conspiracy. But there were 
 some gentlemen of property, who, either 
 from early principle, from religious mo- 
 tives, or sharing the ambitious views of 
 EUieslaw, had given countenance to his j 
 scheme ; and there were, also, some fiery . | 
 young men, like Mareschal, desirous of * 
 signalizing themselves, by engaging in a 
 dangerous enterprise, by which they 
 hoped to vindicate the independence of 
 their country. The other members of the 
 party were persons of inferior rank and 
 desperate fortunes, who were now ready 
 to rise in that part of the country, as they 
 did afterwards in the year 17 15, under 
 Forster and Derwentwater, when a troop, 
 commanded by a Border gentleman, 
 named Douglas, consisted almost entirely 
 of freebooters, among whom the notorious
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 249 
 
 Luck'in-a-bag, as he was called, held a 
 distinguished command. We think it ne- 
 cessary to mention these particulars, appli- 
 cable solely to the province in which our 
 scene lies, because, unquestionably, the 
 Jacobite party, in the other parts of the 
 kingdom, consisted of much more formi- 
 dable, as well as much more respectable, 
 materials. 
 
 One long table extended itself down 
 the ample hall of Ellieslaw Castle, which 
 was still left much in the state in which it 
 had been onehundred years before, stretch- 
 ing, that is, in gloomy length, through 
 the whole side of the castle, vaulted with 
 ribbed arches of freestone, the groins of 
 which sprung from projecting figures, 
 which, carved into all the wild forms that 
 the fantastic imagination of a Gothic ar- 
 chitect could devise, grinned, frowned, 
 and gnashed their tusks at the assembly 
 below. Long, narrow windows lighted 
 the banqueting- room on both sides, filled 
 up with stained glass, through which the 
 l2
 
 250 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 sun emitted a dusky and discoloured light. 
 A banner, which tradition averred to have 
 been taken from the English at the battle 
 of Sark, waved over the chair in which 
 Eliieslaw presided, as if to inflame the 
 courage of the guests, by reminding them 
 of ancient victories over their neighbours. 
 He himself, a portly figure, dressed upon 
 this occasion with uncommon care, and 
 w^ith features, which, though of a stern 
 and sinister expression, might well be 
 termed handsome, looked the old feudal 
 baron extremely well. Sir Frederick Lang- 
 ley was placed on his right hand, and Mr 
 Mareschal of Mareschal-Wells upon his 
 left. Some gentlemen of consideration, 
 W'ith their sons, brothers, and nephews, 
 occupied the upper end of the table, and 
 amongst these Mr Ratclifle had his place. 
 Beneath the salt-cellar (a massive piece of 
 plate which occupied the midst of the ta- 
 ble) sate the s'me nomine turba, men whose 
 vanity was gratified by occupying even
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 251 
 
 this subordinate space at the social board, 
 while the distinction observed in ranking 
 them was a salvo to the pride of their su- 
 periors. That the lower-house was not 
 very select must be admitted, since WiUie 
 of Westburnflat was one of the party. 
 The unabashed audacity of this fellow, in 
 daring to present himself in the house of 
 a gentleman, to whom he had just offered 
 so flagrant an insult, can oi^ly be account- 
 ed for by supposing him conscious that his 
 share in carrying off Miss Vere was a se- 
 cret, safe in her possession and that of her 
 father. 
 
 Before this numerous and miscellaneous 
 party was placed a dinner, consisting, not 
 indeed of the delicacies of the season, as the 
 newspapersexpressit, but of viands, ample, 
 solid, and sumptuous, under which the 
 very board groaned. But the mirth was 
 not in proportion to the good cheer. The 
 lower end of the table was, for some time, 
 chilled by constraint and respect upon 
 finding themselves members of so august
 
 2J2 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 an assembly, and those who were placed 
 around it had those feelings of awe with 
 which P. P., clerk of the parish, describes 
 himself oppressed, when he first uplifted 
 the psalm in presence of those persons 
 of high worship, the wise Mr Justice 
 Freeman, the good Lady Jones, and the 
 great Sir Thomas Truby. This ceremoni- 
 ous frost, however, soon gave way before 
 the incentives to merriment, which were 
 liberally supplied and as liberally con- 
 sumed by the guests of the lower descrip- 
 tion. They became talkative, loud, and 
 even clamorous in their mirth. 
 
 But it was not in the povver of wine or 
 brandy to elevate the spirits of those who 
 held thehigher places of the banquet. They 
 experienced the chilling revulsion of spi- 
 rits, which often takes place when men are 
 called upon to take a desperate resolution, 
 after having placed themselves in circum- 
 stances where it is alike difficult to ad- 
 vance or to recede. The precipice looked 
 deeper and more dangerous as they ap-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 253 
 
 proached to the brink, and each waited 
 with an inward sensation of awe, expect- 
 ing which of his confederates would set 
 the example by plunging himself down. 
 This inward sensation of fear and reluc- 
 tance acted differently, according to the 
 various habits and characters of tiie com- 
 pany. One looked grave, one looked silly, 
 one gazed with apprehension on the enipty 
 seats of the higher end of the table, 
 designed for members of the conspiracy, 
 whose prudence had prevailed over their 
 political zeal, and who had absented them- 
 selves from their consultations at this cri- 
 tical period, and some seemed to be rec- 
 koning up in their minds the comparative 
 rank and prospects of those who were pre- 
 sent and absent. Sir Frederick Langley 
 was absent, moody, and discontented. El- 
 lieslaw himself made such forced efforts 
 to raise the spirits of the company as 
 plainly marked the flagging of his own. 
 Ratciiffe watched the sci'ne with the com- 
 posure of a vigilant but uninterested
 
 254 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 spectator. Marescbal alone, true to the 
 thoughtless vivacity of his character, eat 
 and drank, laughed and jested, and seem- 
 ed even to find amusement in the embar- 
 rassment of the company. 
 
 " What has damped our noble courage 
 this morning !" he exclaimed ; ** we seem 
 to be met at a funeral, where the chief 
 mourners must not speak above their 
 breath, while the mutes and the saulees 
 (looking to the lower end of the table) are 
 carousing belovv^, Ellieslaw, when will 
 you lift ? where sleeps your spirit, man ? 
 and what has quelled the high hope of 
 the Knight of Langley-dale?" 
 
 *^ You speak like a madman," said El- 
 lieslaw ; " Do you not see how many are 
 absent r" 
 
 ** And what of that? Did you not know 
 before, that one-half of the world are bet- 
 ter talkers than doers? For my part, I am 
 much encouraged by seeing at least two- 
 thirds of our friends true to the rendez- 
 vous, though I suspect one-half of these
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 255 
 
 came to secure the dinner in case of the 
 worst." 
 
 " There is no news from the coast which 
 can amount to certainty of the King*s ar- 
 rival," said another of the company, in 
 that tone of subdued and tremulous whis- 
 per which implies a failure of resolution. 
 
 **' Not a line from the Earl of D , 
 
 nor a single gentleman from the southern 
 side of the Border." 
 
 " What's he that wishes for more men 
 from England," exclaimed Mareschal, in 
 a theatrical tone of affected heroism, 
 
 " My cousin Ellieslaw ? No, ni}^ fair cousin. 
 If we are doomed to die" 
 
 ** For God's sake," said Ellieslaw, *^ spare 
 us your folly at present, Mareschal.*' 
 
 *' Well, then,'' said his kinsman, '* I'll 
 bestow my wisdom upon you instead, 
 such as it is. If we have gone forward like 
 fools, do not let us go back like cowards. 
 We have done enough to draw upon us both 
 the suspicion and vengeance of the go-
 
 256 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 vernment ; Ho not let us give up before wc 
 have done s<imething to deserve it. — What, 
 will no one speak ? Then Til leap the 
 ditch the first" And, starting up, he filled 
 a beer glass to the brim with claret, and, 
 waving his hand, commanded all to follow 
 his example, and to rise up from their seats. 
 All obeyed — the more qualified guests as if 
 passively, the others with enthusiasm. 
 " Then, my friends, I give you the pledge 
 of the day,— The independence of Scotland^ 
 and the health of our lawful sovereign, 
 King James the Eighth, now landed in Lo- 
 thian, and, as I trust and believe, in full 
 possession of his ancient capital !" 
 
 He quaffed ufF the wine, and threw the 
 glass over his head. 
 
 '' It should never,'' he said, " be profa- 
 ned by a meaner toast.'* 
 
 All followed his example, and, amid the 
 crash of glasses and the shouts of the com- 
 pany, pledged themselves to stand or fall 
 with the principles and political interest 
 which their toast expressed*
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 257 
 
 ** You have leaped the ditch with a wit- 
 nesb," said Elheslaw, apart to Mareschal ; 
 ** but i believe it is all for the best ; at all 
 events, we cannot now retreat from our 
 undertaking. One man alone," (iooking 
 at Ratcliffe) ** has refused the pledge ; but 
 of timt by and by." 
 
 Then, rising up, he addressed the com* 
 pany in a style of inflammatory invective 
 against the government and its measures, 
 especially the Union, a treaty, by means 
 of which, he affirmed, Scotland had been 
 at once cheated of her independence, her 
 commerce, and her honour, and laid as 
 a fettered slave at the foot of the rival, 
 against whom, through such a length of 
 ages, through so many dangers, and by so 
 much blood, she had honourably defended 
 her rights. This was touching a theme 
 which found a responsive chord in the bo- 
 som of every man present. 
 
 *^ Our commerce is destroyed," hollowed 
 old John llewcastle, a Jedburgh smuggler, 
 from the lower end of the table.
 
 258 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 " Our agriculture is ruined," said the 
 Laird of Broken-girth-flow, a territory, 
 which, since the days of Adam, had borne 
 nothing but ling and whortleberries. 
 
 " Our religion is cut up, root and 
 branch," said the pimple* nosed pastor of 
 the Episcopal meeting-house at Kirkwhis- 
 tle. 
 
 *' We shall shortly neither dare shoot 
 a deer or kiss a wench, without a certifi- 
 cate from the presbytery and kirk- treasu- 
 rer/* said Mareschal- Wells. 
 
 *' Or make a brandy Jeroboam in a fros* 
 ty morning, without licence from a com- 
 missioner of excise,'* said the smuggler. 
 
 " Or ride over the fell in a moonless 
 night," said Westburnflat, *' without ask- 
 ing leave of young Earnscliff, or some 
 Englified justice of the peaces thae were 
 gude days on the Border when there was 
 neither peace nor justice heard of." 
 
 " Let us remember our wrongs at Da- 
 rien and Glencoe," continued Ellieslaw, 
 *' and take arms for the protection of our
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 259 
 
 rights, our fortunes, our lives, and our fa- 
 milies." 
 
 *' Think upon genuine episcopal ordina- 
 tion, without which there can be no law- 
 ful clergy," said the divine. 
 
 " Think of the piracies committed on 
 our East-Indian trade by Green and' the 
 English thieves," said WiUiam Wilieson, 
 half-owner and sole skipper of a brig that 
 made four voyages annually between 
 Cock pool and Whitehaven. 
 
 ^' Remember your liberties," rejoined 
 Mareschal, who seemed to take a mischie- 
 vous delight in precipitating the move- 
 ments of the enthusiasm which he had ex- 
 cited, like a roguish boy, that, having 
 lifted the sluice of a mill-dam, enjoys the 
 clatter of the wheels which he has put 
 into motion, without thinking of the mis- 
 chief he may have occasioned. *' Remem- 
 ber your liberties," he exclaimed, *' con- 
 found cess, press, and presbytery, and the 
 memory of old Willie that first brought 
 them upon us !"
 
 260 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 *' Damn the ^auger,'' echoed old John 
 Rewcastle ; " Til cleave him wi' my ain 
 hand." 
 
 " And confound the country-keeper and 
 the constable,'* re-echoed Westburnflat; 
 " ril weize a brace of halls through them 
 before morning." 
 
 " We are agreed, then," said EUicslaw^ 
 when the shouts had something subsided, 
 " to bear this state of things no longer ?'* 
 
 " We are agreed to a man," answered 
 his guests. 
 
 '' Not literally so/* said Mr RatclifFe ; 
 '* for though I cannot hope to assuage the 
 violent symptoms which seem so suddenly 
 to have seized upon the company, yet I 
 beg to observe, that so far as the opinion 
 of a single member goes, I do not entirely 
 coincide in the list of grievances which 
 has been announced, and that I do utterly 
 protest against the frantic measures which 
 you seem disposed to adopt for remo^ 
 ving them. I can easily suppose much of
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 261 
 
 what has been spoken may have arisen 
 out of the heat of the moment, or be said 
 perhaps in jest. But there are some jests 
 of a nature very apt to transpire ; and you 
 ought to remember, gentlemen, that stone 
 avails have ears," 
 
 " Stone walls may have ears," returned 
 Ellieslaw, eyeing him with a look of tri- 
 umphant malignity, ** but domestic spies, 
 Mr Ratcliffe, will soon find themselves 
 without any, if any such dares to continue 
 his abode in a family where his coming 
 was an unauthorized intrusion, where his 
 conduct has been that of a presumptuous 
 meddler, and from which his exit shall be 
 that of a baffled knave, if he does not 
 know how to take a hint.'* 
 
 *' Mr Vere," returned Ratcliffe, with 
 calm contempt, ** I am fully aware that as 
 soon as my presence becomes useless to 
 you, which it must through the rash step 
 you are about to adopt, it will immediately 
 become unsafe to myself, as it lias always 
 been hateiul to you. 13ut i have one pro-
 
 262 TALES OF MY LANDLOR*. 
 
 tection, and it is a strong one ; for you 
 would not willingly hear me detail before 
 gentlemen, and men of honour, the singu- 
 lar circumstance in which our connection 
 took its rise. As to the rest, I rejoice at 
 its conclusion ; and as I think that ]\Ir 
 Mareschal and some other gentlemen will 
 guarantee the safety of my ears and of my 
 throat (for which last I have more reason 
 to be apprehensive) during the course of 
 the night, I shall not leave your castle till 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 *' Be it so, sir," replied Vere ; ** you arc 
 entirely safe from my resentment, because 
 you are beneath it, and not because I am 
 afraid of your disclosing any family se- 
 crets, although, for your own sake, 1 warn 
 you to beware how you do so. Your agen- 
 cy and intermediation can be of little 
 consequence to one who will win or lose 
 all, as lawful right or unjust usurpation 
 shall succeed in the struggle that is about 
 to ensue. Farewell, sir." 
 
 Ratciiflfe cast upon him a look, which 
 5
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. Q6S 
 
 Vere seemed to sustain with difficulty, and, 
 bowing to those around him, arose and left 
 the room. 
 
 This conversation made an impression on 
 many of the company, which EUieslaw has- 
 tened to dispel, by entering upon the busi- 
 ness of the day. Their hasty deliberations 
 went to organize an immediate insurrec- 
 tion. EUieslaw, Mareschal, and Sir Frede- 
 rick Langley, were chosen leaders, with 
 powers to direct their farther micasures. 
 A place of rendezvous was appointed, at 
 which all agreed to meet early on the en- 
 suing day, with such followers and friends 
 to the cause as each could collect around 
 him. Several of the guests retired to 
 make the necessary preparations ; and El- 
 lieslaw made a formal apology to the 
 others, who with Westburnflat and the 
 old smuggler continued to ply the bottle 
 staunchly, for leaving the head of the ta- 
 ble, as he must necessarily hold a separate 
 and sober conference with the coadjutors 
 whom they had associated with hiai in the
 
 264? TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 cominancl. The apology was the more rea- 
 dily accepted, as he prayed them, at the 
 same time, to continue to amuse them- 
 selves with such refreshments as the cel- 
 lars of the castle afforded. Shouts of ap- 
 plause followed their retreat; and the 
 names of Vere, Langley, and, above all, of 
 Mareschal, were thundered forth in chorus, 
 and bathed with copious bumpers repeat- 
 edly, during the remainder of the evening, 
 
 \yhen the principal conspirators bad re- 
 tired into a separate apartment, they ga- 
 zed on each other for a minute with a sort 
 of embarrassment, which, in Sir Frederick's 
 dark features, amounted to an expression 
 of discontented sullenness. Mareschal was 
 the first to break the pause, saying, with 
 ^ loud burst of laughter, — '* Well ! we are 
 fairly embarked now, gentlemen — vo^ue la 
 gaieref' 
 
 ** We may thank you for the plunge,'* 
 said Ellieslaw. 
 
 *' Yes ; but I don't know how far you 
 will thank me," answered Mareschal, 
 
 I
 
 THE BLACK t)\VARF. £65 
 
 *^ when I shew you this letter which I re- 
 ceived just before we sat down. My ser- 
 vant told me it was delivered by a man he 
 had never seen before, who went off at the 
 gallop after charging him to put ifc into 
 my own hand." 
 
 Ellieslaw impatiently opened the letter, 
 and read aloud. — 
 
 Edinburghy — *- 
 HoNB. Sir, 
 Having obligations to your family, which 
 shall be nameless, and learning that you 
 are one of the company of adventurers 
 doing business for the house of James and 
 Company, late merchants in London, now 
 at Dunkirk, I think it right to send you 
 this early and private information, that 
 the vessels you expected have been dri- 
 ven off the coast, without having beea 
 able to break bulk, or to land any part of 
 their cargo ; and that the west-country 
 partners have resolved to withdraw their 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 266 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 name from the firm, as it must prove a lo- 
 sing concern. Having good hope you 
 will avail yourself of this early informa- 
 tion, to do what is needful for your own 
 security, I rest your humble servant, 
 
 Nihil Nameless. 
 
 For Ralph Mareschal, ofMareschaUWells 
 '-"These f ijoith care and speed. 
 
 Sir Frederick's jaw dropped, and his 
 countenance blackened as the letter was 
 read, and Ellieslaw exclaimed, — ** Why, 
 this aifects the very main-spring of ouren- 
 terprize. If the French fleet, with the 
 king on board, has been chased off by the 
 English, as this d — d scrawl seems to inti- 
 mate, where are we ?" 
 
 ** Just where we were this morning, I 
 think," said Mareschal, still laughing. 
 
 ** Pardon me, and a truce to your ill- 
 limed mirth, Mr Mareschal ; this morning 
 we were not committed publicly, as we 
 now stand committed, by your own mad 
 act, when you had a letter in your pocket
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 267 
 
 apprizing you that our undertaking was 
 desperate,^* 
 
 " Aye, aye, I expected you would say 
 so. But, in the first place, my friend Nihil 
 Nameless and his letter may be all a flam ; 
 and, moreover, I would have you know I 
 am tired of a party that does nothing but 
 form bold resolutions over night, and sleep 
 them away with their wine before morn- 
 ing. The government are now unprovided 
 of men and ammunition ; in a few weeks 
 they will have enough of both ; the coun- 
 try is now in a flame against them ; in a 
 few weeks, betwixt the effects of self-in- 
 terest, of fear, and of lukewarm indiffe- 
 rence, which are already so visible, this 
 first fervour will be as cold as Christmas. 
 So, as I was determined to go the vole, 
 I have taken care you shall dip as deep as 
 I ; it signifies nothing plunging. You 
 are fairly in the bog, and must struggle 
 through." 
 
 " You are mistaken with respect to one 
 6
 
 258 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 of US, Mr Mareschal," said Sir Frederick 
 Langley, and, applying himself to the bell, 
 desired the attendant who entered to or- 
 der his servants and horses instantly. 
 
 *' You must not leave us, Sir Frederick,*' 
 said Ellieslaw j " we have our musters to 
 go over." 
 
 ** I will go to-night, Mr Vere," said Sir 
 Frederick, " and write you my intentions 
 in this matter when I am at home." 
 
 " Ay," said Mareschal, " and send them 
 by a troop of horse from Carlisle to make 
 us prisoners. Look ye. Sir Frederick, I for 
 one will neither be deserted nor betrayed ; 
 and if you leave EUieslaw-Castle to-night, 
 it shall be by passing over my dead body." 
 " For shame ! Mareschal," said ]\Ir 
 Vere, " how can you so hastily misinter- 
 pret our friend's intentions ? I am sure Sir 
 Frederick can only be jesting with us ; for, 
 were he not too honourable to dream of 
 deserting the cause, he cannot but remem- 
 ber the full proofs we have of his acces-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 269 
 
 sion to it, and his eager activity in advan- 
 cing it. He cannot but be conscious, be- 
 sides, that the first information will be rea- 
 dily received by government, and that if 
 the question be, which can first lodge in- 
 telligence of the affair, we can easily save 
 a few hours on him.** 
 
 "You should say ^ou, and not 'we, when 
 370U talk of priorities in such a race of 
 treachery ; for my part, I won*t enter my 
 horse for such a* plate," said Mareschal ; 
 and added, betwixt his teeth, ** a pretty 
 pair of fellows to trust a man's neck with !" 
 
 " I am not to be intimidated from doing^ 
 what I think proper," said Sir Frederick 
 Langley ; '* and my first step shall be to 
 leave EUieslaw. I have no reason to keep 
 faith with one (looking at Vere) who has 
 kept none with me." 
 
 "In what respect?" said EUieslaw, silen- 
 cing, with amotion of his hand, his impe- 
 tuous kinsman, — " how have 1 disappoint- 
 ed you. Sir Frederick?" 
 
 " In the nearest and most tender point
 
 270 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 — you have trifled with me concerning 
 our proposed alliance, which you well 
 knew was the gage of our political under- 
 taking. This carrying off and this bring- 
 ing back of Miss Vere, — the cold recep- 
 tion I have met with from her, and the 
 excuses with which you cover it, I beheve 
 to be mere evasions, that you may your- 
 self retain possession of the estates which 
 arc her's by right, and make mc, in the 
 meanwhile, a tool in your desperate enter- 
 prize, by holding out hopes and expecta- 
 tions which you are resolved never to re- 
 alize.'* 
 
 " Sir Frederick, I protest by all that is 
 sacred'' 
 
 " I will listen to no protestations ; I 
 have been cheated with them too long," 
 answered Sir Frederick. 
 
 " If you leave us," said EUieslaw, ** you 
 cannot but know both your ruin and ours 
 is certain ; all depends on our adhering 
 together." 
 
 " Leave me to take care of myself," re-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 271 
 
 turned the knight ; " but were what you 
 say true, I would rather perish than be 
 fooled any farther/' 
 
 " Can nothing — no surety convince you 
 of my sincerity ?" said Ellieslaw, anxiously ; 
 " this morning I should have repelled your 
 unjust suspicions as an insult, but situated 
 as we now are'' 
 
 " You feel yourself compelled to be sin- 
 cere ?" retorted Sir Frederick. " If you 
 would have me think so, there is but 
 one way to convince me of it — let your 
 daughter bestow her hand on me this 
 evening," 
 
 ** So soon ? — impossible," answered Vere, 
 " think of her late alarm — of our present 
 undertaking." 
 
 " I will listen to nothing but to her con 
 sent, plighted at the altar — You have a cha- 
 pel in the castle — Doctor Hobbler is pre- 
 sent among the company — this proof of 
 your good faith to-night, and we are again 
 joined in heart and hand. If you refuse
 
 272 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 me when it is so much for your advantage 
 to consent, how shall I trust you to-mor- 
 row, when I shall stand committed in your 
 undertaking, and unable to retract ?" 
 
 ** And am I to understand, that, if you 
 can be made my son-in-law to-night, our 
 friendship is renewed r" said Ellieslaw. 
 
 ** Most infallibly, and most inviolably," 
 replied Sir Frederick. 
 
 ** Then," said Vere, " though what you 
 ask is premature, indelicate, and unjust 
 towards my character, yet, Sir Frederick, 
 give me your hand — my daughter shall be 
 your wife/* 
 
 " This night ?'* 
 
 *' This very night," replied Ellieslaw, 
 " before the clock strikes twelve." 
 
 *' With her own consent, I trust,'' said 
 Mareschal j " for I promise you both, gen- 
 tlemen, I will not stand tamely by, and see 
 any violence put on the will of my pretty 
 kinswoman." 
 
 " Another pest in this hot-headed fel-
 
 THE BLACK D\rARr. 273 
 
 low," muttered EUieslaw; and then aloud, 
 *' With her own consent ! For what do 
 you take me, Mareschal, that you should 
 suppose your interference necessary to pro- 
 tect my daughter against her father ? De-- 
 pend upon it, she has no repugnance to 
 Sir Frederick Langley/' 
 
 *^ Or rather to be called Lady Langley ? 
 faith, like enough — there are many wo- 
 men might be of her mind ; and I beg 
 your pardon, but these sudden demands 
 and concessions alarmed me a little on her 
 account." 
 
 ** It is only the suddenness of the pro- 
 posal that embarrasses me," said Ellieslaw ; 
 ** but perhaps if she is found intractable, 
 Sir Frederick will consider" 
 
 " I will consider nothing, Mr Vere — 
 your daughter's hand to-night, or I depart, 
 were it at midnight — there is my ultima- 
 tum." 
 
 ** I embrace it," said Ellieslaw ; " and I 
 will leave you to talk upon our military 
 isi 2
 
 274 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 preparations, while I go to prepare my 
 daughter for so sudden a change of condi- 
 tion" 
 
 So saying, he left the company.
 
 THE BLACK DWAKF. 275 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 He brings Earl Osmond to receive my vows. 
 
 O dreadful charge ! for Tancred, haughty Osmond, 
 
 Tancred and Sigismund, 
 
 Mr Verb, whom long practice of dissi- 
 mulation had enabled to model his very 
 gait and footsteps to aid the purpose of 
 deception, walked along the stone passage, 
 and up the first flight of steps towards 
 Miss Vere's apartment, with the alert, 
 firm, and steady pace of one, who is bound, 
 indeed, upon important business, but who 
 entertains no doubt he can terminate his 
 affairs satisfactorily. But when out of 
 hearing of the gentlemen whom he had 
 left, his step became so slow and irreso- 
 lute, as to correspond with his doubts and
 
 276 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 his fears. At length he paused in an anti- 
 chamber to collect his ideas, and form his 
 plan of argument before approaching his 
 daughter. 
 
 " In what more hopeless and inextrica- 
 ble dilemma was ever an unfortunate man 
 involved?" — Such was the tenor of his 
 xeflections.— *' If we now fall to pieces by 
 disuriion, there can be little doubt that 
 the government will take my life as the 
 prime agitator of the insurrection. Or, 
 grant I could stoop to save myself by a 
 hasty submission, am I not, even in that 
 case, utterly ruined ? I have broken irre- 
 concileably with Ratcliffe, and can have 
 nothing to expect from that quarter but 
 insult and persecution. I must wander 
 forth an impoverished and dishonoured 
 man, without even the means of sustain- 
 ing life, far less wealth sufficient to coun- 
 terbalance the infamy wliich my country- 
 men, both those whom I desert and those 
 whom I join, will attach to the name of 
 the political renegade. It is not to be
 
 THE BLACK D^VARF. Til 
 
 thought of. And yet, what choice remains 
 between this lot and the ignominious 
 scaffold ? Nothing can save me but recon- 
 ciliation with these men ; and, to accom- 
 plish this, I have promised to Langley that 
 Isabella shall marry him ere midnight, and, 
 to Mareschal, that she shall do so with- 
 out compulsion. I have but one remedy 
 betwixt me and ruin — her consent to take 
 a suitor whom she dislikes, upon such 
 short notice as would disgust her, even 
 were he a favoured lover — But 1 must 
 trust to the romantic generosity of her 
 disposition ; and let me paint the necessi- 
 ty of her obedience ever so strongly, I can- 
 not overcharge its reality." 
 
 Having finished this sad chain of reflec- 
 tions upon his perilous condition, he en- 
 tered his daughter's apartment, with every 
 nerve bent up to the support of the argu- 
 ment which he was about to sustain. 
 Though a deceitful and ambitious man, he 
 was not so devoid of natural affection but
 
 278 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 that he was shocked at the part he was 
 about to act, in practising on the feel- 
 ings of a dutiful and affectionate child ; but 
 the recollections, that, if he succeeded, 
 his daughter would only be trepanned in- 
 to an advantageous match, and that, if he 
 failed, he himself was a lost man, were 
 quite sufficient to drown all scruples. 
 
 He found Miss Vere seated by the win- 
 dow of her dressing-room, her head recli- 
 ning on her hand, and either sunk in 
 slumber, or so deeply engaged in medita- 
 tion, that she did not hear the noise he 
 made at his entrance. He approached 
 with his features composed to a deep ex- 
 pression of sorrow and sympathy, and, sit- 
 ting down beside her, solicited her atten- 
 tion by quietly taking her hand, a motion 
 which he did not fail to accompany with 
 a deep sigh. 
 
 " My father !" said Isabella, with a sort 
 of start which expressed at least as much 
 fear, as joy or affection.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 2?^ 
 
 " Yes, Isabella," said Vere, ** your un- 
 happy father, who comes now as a peni- 
 tent to crave forgiveness of his daughter 
 for an injury done to her in the excess of 
 his affection, and then to take leave of 
 her for ever." 
 
 *' Sir ? Offence to me ? Take leave for 
 ever? What does all this mean?" said 
 Miss Vere. 
 
 " Yes, Isabella, I am serious. But first 
 let me ask you, have you no suspicion 
 that I may have been privy to the strange 
 chance which befel you yesterday mom- 
 ing?" 
 
 " You, sir ?" answered Isabella, stam- 
 mering, between a consciousness that he 
 had guessed her thoughts justly, and the 
 shame as well as fear which forbade her to 
 acknowledge a suspicion so degrading and 
 so unnatural. 
 
 ** Yes 1" he continued, " your hesitation 
 confesses that you entertained such an 
 opinion, and I have now the painful task 
 of confessing that your suspicions have
 
 280 TALES OF UY LANDLORD. 
 
 done me no injustice. But listen to my 
 motives. In an evil hour I countenanced 
 the addresses of Sir Frederick Langley, 
 conceiving it impossible that you could 
 have any permanent objections to a match 
 where the advantages were, in most re- 
 spects, on your side. In a worse, I enter- 
 ed with him into measures calculated to 
 restore our banished monarch, and the in- 
 dependence of my country. He has taken 
 advantage of my unguarded confidence, 
 and now has my life at his disposal." 
 " Your life, sir?" said Isabella, faintly. - 
 " Yes, Isabella, the life of him who 
 gave life to you. So soon as I foresaw 
 the excesses into which his headlong pas- 
 sion (for, to do him justice, I believe his 
 unreasonable conduct arises from excess 
 of. attachment to you) was like to hurry 
 him, I endeavoured, by finding a plausi- 
 ble pretext for your absence for some 
 weeks, to extricate myself from the di^ 
 lemma in which I am placed. For this pur- 
 pose I. wished, in case your objections to
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 281 
 
 the match continued insurmountable, to 
 have sent you privately for a few months 
 to the convent of your maternal aunt at 
 Paris. By a series of mistakes you have 
 been brought from the place of secrecy 
 and security which I had destined for your 
 temporary abode. Fate has baffled my last 
 chance of escape, and I have only to give 
 you my blessing, and send you from the 
 castle with Mr Ratchffe, who now leaves 
 it — my own fate will soon be decided." 
 
 '* Good Heaven, sir ! can this be possi- 
 ble ?'' exclaimed Isabella. " O, why was 
 I freed from the restraint in which you 
 placed me ? or why did you not impart 
 your pleasure to me ?" 
 
 " Think an instant, Isabella. Would 
 you have had me prejudice in your opinion 
 the friend I was most desirous of serving, 
 by communicating to you the injurious 
 eagerness with which he pursued his ob- 
 ject ? Could I do so honourably, having 
 promised to assist his suit? — But it is all
 
 282 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 over. I and Mareschal have made up our 
 minds to die like men ; it only remains to 
 send you from hence under a safe escort." 
 
 ** Great powers I and is there no re- 
 medy r" 
 
 ** None, my child," answered Vere, gent- 
 ly, ** unless one which you would not ad- 
 vise your father to adopt — to be the first 
 to betray his friends." 
 
 '* O, no ! no !" she answered abhorrent- 
 ly yet hastily, as if to reject the tempta- 
 tion which the alternative presented to her. 
 " But is there no other hope — through 
 flight— through mediation— through sup- 
 plication ? — I will bend my knee to Sir 
 Frederick !" 
 
 *' It would be fruitless degradation ; 
 he 13 determined on his course, and I am 
 equally resolved to stand the hazard of 
 my fate — on one condition only he will 
 turn aside from his purpose, and that con- 
 dition my lips shall never utter to you." 
 
 " Name it, I conjure you, my dear fa-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 283 
 
 thcr ! What can he ask that we ought not 
 to grant, to prevent the hideous catas- 
 trophe with which you are threatened r" 
 
 " That, Isabella," said Vere, solemnly, 
 ^* you shall never know until your father's 
 head has rolled on the bloody scaffold ; 
 then indeed you will learn there was one 
 sacrifice by which he might have been 
 saved." 
 
 ** And why not speak it now ? Do you 
 fear I would flinch from the sacrifice of 
 fortune for your preservation ? or would 
 you bequeath me the bitter legacy of live- 
 long remorse so oft as I shall think that 
 you perished while there remained one 
 mode of preventing the dreadful misfor- 
 tune that overhangs you ?" 
 
 " Then, my child," said Vere, ** since 
 you press me to name what I would a 
 thousand times rather leave in silence, I 
 must inform you that he will accept for 
 ransom nothing but your hand in mar- 
 riage, and that conferred before midnight 
 this very evening !"
 
 S84 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 *' This evening, sir? — and to such a 
 man !— a man ? — a monster, who could wish 
 to win the daughter by threatening the 
 life of the father — it is impossible !" 
 
 '* You say right, my child," answered 
 her father, " it is indeed impossible ; nor 
 have I either the right or the wish to 
 exact such a sacrifice — It is the course of 
 nature that the old should die and be for- 
 got, and the young should live and be 
 happy." 
 
 ** My father die, and his child can save 
 him !• — but no — no — my dear father, par- 
 don me, it is impossible ; you only wish 
 to guide me to your wishes. I know your 
 object is what you think my happiness, 
 and this dreadful tale is only told to influ- 
 ence my conduct and subdue my scru- 
 ples." 
 
 *^ My daughter/' replied Ellieslavv, in a 
 tone where offended authority seemed to 
 struggle with parental affection, *' my 
 child suspects me of inventing a false tale 
 to work upon her feelings ! Even this I 
 must bear, and even from this unworthy
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. S85 
 
 suspicion I must descend to vindicate my- 
 self. You know the stainless honour of 
 your cousin IMareschal — mark what I shall 
 write to him, and judge from his answer, 
 if the danger in which we stand is not 
 real, and whether I have not used every 
 means to avert it." 
 
 He sate down, wrote a few lines hasti- 
 ly, and handed them to Isabella, who^ 
 after repeated and painful efforts, cleared 
 her eyes and head sufficient to discern 
 their purport. 
 
 ^* Dear Cousin," said the billet, *' I find 
 my daughter, as I expected, in despair at 
 the untimely and premature urgency of 
 Sir Frederick Langley. She cannot even 
 comprehend the peril in which we stand, 
 or how much we are in his power — Use 
 your influence with him, for Heaven's 
 sake, to modify proposals to the accept- 
 ance of which I cannot, and will not, 
 urge my child against all her own feelings, 
 as well as those of delicacy and propriety, 
 and oblige your loving Cousin, — R. V."
 
 286 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 In the agitation of the momenta when 
 her swimming eyes and dizzy brain could 
 hardly comprehend the sense of what she 
 looked upon, it is not surprising that Miss 
 Vere should have omitted to remark that 
 this letter seemed to rest her scruples ra- 
 ther upon the form and time of the pro- 
 posed union, than on a rooted dislike to 
 the suitor proposed to her. Mr Vere rang 
 the bell, and gave the letter to a servant 
 to be delivered to Mr Mareschal, and, 
 rising from his chair, continued to tra- 
 verse the apartment in silence and in great 
 agitation until the answer was returned. 
 He glanced it over, and wrung the hand 
 of his daughter as he gave it to her. The 
 tenor was as follows : — 
 
 ** My dear kinsman, I have already 
 urged the knight on the point you men- 
 tion, and I find him as fixed as Cheviot. 
 I am truly sorry my fair cousin should be 
 pressed to give up any of her maidenly 
 rights. Sir Frederick consents, however, 
 to leave the castle with me the instant
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 287 
 
 the ceremony is performed, and we will 
 raise our followers and begin the fray. 
 Thus there is great hope the bridegroom 
 may be knocked on the head before he 
 and the bride can meet again, so Bell has 
 a fair chance tu be Lady Langley a tres 
 hon march e. For the rest, I can only say, 
 that if she can make up her mind to the 
 alliance at all — it is no time for mere 
 maiden ceremony — my pretty cousin must 
 needs consent to marry in haste, or we 
 shall all repent at leisure, or rather have 
 very little leisure to repent, which is all at 
 present from him who rests your affec- 
 tionate kinsman,— R. M." 
 
 " P. S. Tell Isabella that I would rather 
 cut the knight's throat after all, and end 
 the dilemma that way, than see her con- 
 strained to marry him against her will." 
 
 When Isabella had read this letter, it 
 dropped from her hand, and she would, at 
 the same time, have fallen from her chair, 
 had she not been supported by her fa- 
 ther.
 
 288 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " My God, my child will die !" ex- 
 claimed Vere, the feelings of nature over- 
 coming, even in his breast, the sentiments 
 of selfish policy ; " look up, Isabella — 
 look up, my child — come what will, you 
 shall not be the sacrifice — I will fall my- 
 self with the consciousness I leave you 
 happy — My child may weep on my grave, 
 but she shall not — not in this instance — 
 reproach my memory^*' He called a ser- 
 vant. — " Go, bid Ratcliffe come hither di- 
 rectly." 
 
 During this interval. Miss Vere became 
 deadly pale, clenched her hands, pressing 
 the palms strongly together, closed her 
 eyes, and drew her lips with strong com- 
 pression, as if the severe constraint which 
 she put upon her external feelings extend- 
 ed even to her muscular organization. — 
 Then raising her head, and drawing in 
 her breath strongly ere she spoke, she 
 said, with firmness, — " Father, I consent 
 to the marriage." 
 
 '* You shall not—you shall not, my child
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 289 
 
 --^my dear child — you shall not embrace 
 certain misery to free me from uncertain 
 danger.'* 
 
 So exclaimed EUieslaw ; and, strange 
 and inconsistent beings that we are ! he 
 expressed the real though momentary 
 feelings of his heart. 
 
 " Father," repeated Isabella, " I will 
 consent to the marriage." 
 
 *' No, my child, no — not now at least 
 — we will humble ourselves to obtain 
 delay from him ; and yet, Isabella, could 
 you overcome a dislike which has no real 
 foundation, think, in other respects, what 
 a match — wealth — rank — importance." 
 
 '* Father !" reiterated Isabella, **I have 
 consented." 
 
 It seemed as if she had lost the power 
 of saying any thing else, or even of vary- 
 ing the phrase which, with such effort, 
 she had compelled herself to utter. 
 
 ** Heaven bless thee, my child ! — Hea. 
 ven bless thee ! — And it will bless thee 
 with riches, with pleasure, with power.'* 
 
 VOL. I, N
 
 290 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Miss Vere faintly entreated to be left 
 by herself for the rest of the evening. 
 
 " But will you not receive Sir Fre- 
 derick ?'* said her father anxiously. 
 
 *' I will meet him," she replied, '' I will 
 meet him — when I must, and where I 
 must, but spare me now.*' 
 
 *' Be it so, my dearest ; you shall know 
 no restraint that I can save you from. Do 
 not think too hardly of Sir Frederick for 
 this, it is an excess of passion." 
 
 Isabella waved her hand impatiently. 
 
 " Forgive me, my child — I go — Heaven 
 bless thee. At eleven — if you call me not 
 before — at eleven I come to seek you." 
 
 When he left Isabella she dropped up- 
 on her knees — " Heaven aid me to support 
 the resolution I have taken — Heaven on]y 
 can — O, poor Earnscliff ! who shall com- 
 fort him ? and with what contempt he will 
 pronounce her name who listened to him 
 to-day and gave herself to another at 
 night. But let him despise me — better so 
 than that he should know the truth — Let
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. ^9^ 
 
 him despise me ; if it will but lessen his 
 grief, I should feel comfort in the loss of 
 his esteem." 
 
 She wept bitterly ; attempting in vain, 
 from time to time, to commence the prayer 
 for which she had sunk on her knees, but 
 unable to calm her spirits sufficiently for 
 the exercise of devotion. As she remain- 
 ed in this agony of mind the door of her 
 apartment was slowly opened.
 
 292 TALES OP MY LANDLORD. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The darksome cave they enter, where they found 
 The woful man, low sitting on the ground, 
 Musing full sadly in his sullen mind. 
 
 "Faery Queen, 
 
 The intruder on IVIiss Vere's sorrows 
 was Ratcliffe. Ellieslaw had, in the agi- 
 tation of his mind, forgotten to counter- 
 mand the order he had given to call him 
 thither, so that he opened the door with 
 the words, '* You sent for me, ]\Ir Vere." 
 Then looking around — " Miss Vere, alone ! 
 on the ground ! and in tears !" 
 
 *' Leave me — leave me, Mr RatclifFe," 
 said the unhappy young lady. 
 
 ** I must not leave you," said RatclifFe ; 
 " I have been repeatedly requesting ad- 
 mittance to take my leave of you, and
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 293 
 
 have been refused, until your father him- 
 self sent for me. Blame me not, if I am 
 bold and intrusive ; I have a duty to dis- 
 charge which makes me so." 
 
 " I cannot listen to you—I cannot speak 
 to you, Mr Ratcliffe ; take my best wishes, 
 and, for God's sake, leave me," 
 
 '* Tell me only, is it true that this mon. 
 strous match is to go forw^ard, and this 
 very night? I heard the servants pro- 
 claim it as I was on the great stair-case 
 — I heard the directions given to clear aut 
 the chapel." 
 
 ** Spare me, Mr Ratcliffe ; and, from 
 the state in which you see me, judge of 
 the cruelty of these questions." 
 
 '* Married ? to Sir Frederick Langley ? 
 and this night? It must not — cannot — 
 shall not be." 
 
 " It must be, Mr Ratcliffe, or my father 
 is ruined." 
 
 ** Ah ! I understand," answered Rat- 
 cliffe ; " and you have sacrificed yourself
 
 ^94 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to save liim who — but let the virtue of the 
 child atone for his faults — What can be 
 clone ? Time presses — I know but one 
 remedy — with four-and-twenty hours I 
 might find many — Miss Vere, you must 
 implore the protection of the only human 
 being who has it in his power to controul 
 the course of events which threatens to 
 hurry you before it." 
 
 " And what human being/' answered 
 Miss Vere, " has such power r" 
 
 " Stare not when I name him," said 
 Katcliffe, coming near her, and speaking 
 in a low but distinct voice. *' It is he 
 who is called Elshender the Recluse of 
 Mucklestane-Moor." 
 
 ** You are mad, Mr Ratcliffe, or you 
 mean to insult my misery by an ill-timed 
 jest!" 
 
 " I am as much in my senses, young 
 lady, as you are; and I am no idle jester, 
 far less with misery, least of all with your 
 misery. I swear to you that this being 
 (who is other far than what he seems) ac-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 295- 
 
 tually possesses the means of redeeming 
 you from this hateful union." 
 
 *' And of insuring my father's safety ?'* 
 
 *' Yes ! even that," said Ratcliife, '' if 
 you plead his cause with him — yet how to 
 obtain admittance ?" 
 
 *' Fear not that," said Miss Vere, sud- 
 denly recollecting the incident of the 
 rose ; " I remember he desired me to call 
 upon him for aid in my extremity, and 
 gave me this flower as a token. Ere it 
 faded away entirely, I would need, he 
 said, his assistance ; is it possible his words 
 can have been aught but the ravings of 
 insanity ?" 
 
 *' Doubt it not — fear it not— but, above 
 all," said RatclifFe, *' let us lose no time- 
 Are you at liberty and unwatched ?*' 
 
 *' I bcHeve so," said Isabella j *' but 
 what would you have me do ?" 
 
 " Leave the castle instantly, and throw 
 yourself at the feet of this extraordinary 
 man, who, in circumstances that seem to 
 argue the extremity of the most con-
 
 t^gS TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tcmptible poverty, possesses yet an almost 
 absolute influence over your fate. — Guests 
 and servants are deep in their carouse — 
 the leaders sitting in conclave on their 
 treasonable schemes — my horse stands 
 ready in the stable — I will saddle one for 
 you, and meet you at the little garden- 
 gate — O, let no doubt of my prudence or 
 fidelity prevent your taking the only step 
 in your power to escape the dreadful fate 
 which must attend the wife of Sir Fre- 
 derick Langley !" 
 
 '* Mr RatchfFe/* said Miss Vere, "you 
 have always been esteemed a man of ho- 
 nour and probity, and a drowning wretch 
 will always catch at the feeblest twig — I 
 will trust you — I will follow your advice 
 — I will meet ycoi at the garden-gate.'* 
 
 She bolted the outer-door of her apart- 
 ment as soon as Mr RatclifFe left her, and 
 descended to the garden by a separate 
 stair of communication which opened to 
 her dressing-room. On the way she felt 
 inchned to retract the consent she had so
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 297 
 
 hastily given to a plan so hopeless and ex- 
 travagant. But as she passed in her de- 
 scent a private door which entered into 
 the chapel from the hack-stair, she lieard 
 the voice of the female-servants as they 
 were employed in the task of cleaning it. 
 
 *^ Married ! and to sae bad a man*r— 
 Ewhow, sirs ! ony thing rather than that." 
 
 *' They are right — they are right," said 
 Miss Vere, " any thing rather than that." 
 
 She hurried to the garden. Mr Rat- 
 cliffe was true to his appointment — the 
 horses stood saddled at the garden-gate, 
 and in a few minutes they were advan- 
 cing rapidly toward the hut of the Soli* 
 tary. 
 
 While the ground was favourable, the 
 speed of their journey was such as to pre- 
 vent much communication ; but when a 
 steep ascent compelled them to slacken 
 their pace, a new cause of apprehension 
 occurred to Miss Vere's mind. 
 
 ** Mr Ratcliffe," she said, pulhng up 
 her horse's bridle, '' let us prosecute no 
 N 2
 
 298 TALES OF MY LANDLORD* 
 
 farther a journey, which nothing but the 
 extreme agitation of my mind can vindi- 
 cate my having undertaken — I am well 
 aware that this man passes among the 
 vulgar as being possessed of supernatural 
 powers, and carrying on an intercourse 
 with beings of another world; but I would 
 have you aware I am neither to be im- 
 posed on by such follies, nor, were I to 
 believe in their existence, dur&t I, with 
 my feelings of religion, apply to this be- 
 ing in my distress*" 
 
 "I should have thought, Miss Vere," 
 replied Ratcliffe, " my character and ha- 
 bits of thinking were so well known to 
 you, that you might have held me excul- 
 pated from crediting in such absurdity." 
 
 *' But in what other mode can a being 
 so miserable himself in appearance possess 
 the power of assisting me ?'* 
 
 " Miss Vere," said Ratcliffe, after a 
 momentary pause, ** I am bound by a so- 
 lemn oath of secrecy — You must, without 
 farther explanation, be satisfied with my 
 5
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 299 
 
 solemn assurance, that he does possess 
 the power, if you can inspire him with the 
 will, and that I doubt not." 
 
 '' Mr Ratcliffe," said Miss Vere, " you 
 may yourself be mistaken ; you ask an un- 
 limited degree of confidence from me." 
 
 *' Recollect, Miss Vere," he replied, 
 " that when, in your humanity, you asked 
 me to interfere with your father in favour 
 of Haswell and his ruined family— when 
 you requested me to prevail on him to do 
 a thing most abhorrent to his nature — 
 to forgive an injury and remit a penalty 
 — I stipulated that you should ask me no 
 questions concerning the sources of my 
 influence— You found no reason to dis- 
 trust me then, do not distrust me now.'* 
 
 " But the extraordinary mode of life of 
 this man," said IMiss Vere ; " his seclu- 
 sion — his figure — the deepness of misan- 
 thropy which he is said to express in his 
 language — Mr Ratcliffe, what can I think 
 of hi in if he really possesses the powers 
 you ascribe to him ?"
 
 300 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " This man, young lady, was bred a 
 catholic, a sect which affords a thousand 
 instances of those who have retired from 
 power and affluence to voluntary priva- 
 tions more strict even than his," 
 
 ** But he avows no religious motive." 
 " No," replied Ratcliffe j *' disgust with 
 the world has operated his retreat from it 
 without assuming the veil of superstition. 
 Thus far I may tell you — He was born to 
 great wealth, which his parents designed 
 should become greater by his union with 
 a kinswoman, whom for that purpose they 
 bred up in their own house — You have 
 seen his figure ; judge what the young 
 lady must have thought of the lot to 
 which she was destined — Yet, habituated 
 to his appearance, she showed no reluc- 
 tance, and the friends of of the per- 
 son whom I speak of, doubted not that the 
 excess of his attachment, the various ac- 
 quisitions of his mind, his many and amia- 
 ble qualities, had overcome the natural 
 horror which his destined bride must have
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 301 
 
 entertained at an exterior so dreadfully 
 inauspicious." 
 
 *' And did they judge truly?" 
 " You shall hear. He at least was fully 
 aware of his own deficiency ; the sense of 
 it haunted him like a phantom. * I am,' 
 was his own expression to me, — I mean to 
 a man whom he trusted, * I am, in spite 
 of what you would say, a poor miserable 
 outcast, fitter to have been smothered in 
 the cradle than to have been brought up 
 to scare the world in which I crawl.* The 
 person whom he addressed in vain endea- 
 voured to impress him with the indifife- 
 rence to external form, which is the natu- 
 ral result of philosophy, or entreat him to 
 recal the superiority of mental talents to 
 the more attractive attributes that are 
 merely personal. * I hear you,' he would 
 reply ; * but you speak the voice of cold- 
 blooded Stoicism, or, at least, of friendly 
 partiality. But look at every book which 
 we have read, those excepted of that
 
 S02, TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 abstract philosophy which feels no respon- 
 sive voice in our natural feelings. Is 
 not personal form, such as at least can 
 be tolerated without horror and disgust, 
 always represented as essential to our ideas 
 of a friend, far more a lover ? Is not such 
 a mutilated monster as I am, excluded, by 
 the very fiat of Nature, from her fairest 
 enjoyments ? What but my wealth pre- 
 vents all — perhaps even Letitia, or you, 
 from shunning me as something foreign to 
 your nature, and more odious, by bearing 
 that distorted resemblance to humanity 
 which we observe in the animal tribes 
 that are more hateful to man because they 
 seem his caricature ?" 
 
 ** You repeat the sentiments of a mad- 
 man," said Miss Vere. 
 
 " No," replied her conductor, /'unless 
 a morbid and excessive sensibility on such 
 a subject can be termed insanity. Yet I 
 will not deny that this governing feeling 
 and apprehension carric^^ the person who
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 303 
 
 entertained it, to lengths which indicated 
 a deranged inaagination. He appeared to 
 think that it was necessary for him, by 
 exuberant, and not always well-chosen in- 
 stances of liberality, and even profusion, 
 to unite himself to the human race, from 
 which he conceived himself naturally dis- 
 severed. The benefits which he bestowed, 
 from a disposition naturally philanthropi- 
 cal in an uncommon degree, were exag- 
 gerated by the influence of the goading 
 reflection, that more v/as necessary from 
 him than from others, as if it were to 
 reconcile mankind to receive him into 
 their class. It is scarcely necessary to 
 say, that the bounty w^hich flowed from a 
 source so capricious was often abused, and 
 his confidence frequently betrayed. These 
 disappointments which occur to all, more 
 oi' less, and most to such as confer benefits 
 without just discrimination, his diseased 
 fancy set down to the hatred and con- 
 tempt excited by his personal deformity. 
 But I fatigue you, Miss Vere."
 
 304 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " No ; by no means, I — I could not pre- 
 vent my attention from wandering an in- 
 stant ; pray proceed.'* 
 
 *' He became at length," continued Rat- 
 cliffe, *^ the most ingenious self-torment- 
 or of whom I have ever heard ; the scoff 
 of the rabble, and the sneer of the yet 
 more brutal vulgar of his own rank, was 
 to him agony and breaking on the wheel. 
 He regarded the laugh of the common peo- 
 ple whom he passed on the street, and the 
 suppressed titter, or yet more offensive 
 terror, of the girl to whom he was introdu- 
 ced in company, as proofs of the true sense 
 which the world entertained of him, as a 
 prodigy unfit to be received among them 
 on the usual terms of society, and as vin- 
 dicating the wisdom of his purpose in 
 withdrawing himself from among them. 
 On the faith and sincerity of two persons 
 alone, he seemed to rely implicitly — on 
 that of his betrothed bride, and of a friend 
 eminently gifted in personal accomplish-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 305 
 
 ments, who seemed, and indeed was pro- 
 bably, sincerely attached to him. He ouglit 
 to have been so, at least, for he was literal- 
 ly loaded with benefits by him whom you 
 are now about to see. The parents of the 
 subject of my story died within a short 
 space of each other. Their death postpo- 
 ned the marriage, for which the day had 
 been fixed. The lady did not seem great- 
 ly to mourn this delay ; perhaps that was 
 not to have been expected, but she inti- 
 mated no change of intention, when, after 
 a decent interval, a second day was named 
 for their union. The friend of whom I 
 spoke was then a constant resident at the 
 Hall. In an evil hour, at the earnest re- 
 quest and entreaty of this friend, they 
 joined a general party where men of dif- 
 ferent political opinions were mingled, and 
 where they drank deep. A quarrel en- 
 sued ; the friend drew his sword with 
 others, and was thrown down and disarm- 
 ed by a more powerful antagonist. They
 
 306 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 fell in the struggle at the feet of the Re-' 
 cluse, who, maimed and truncated as his 
 form appears, possesses, nevertheless, great 
 strength, as well as strong passions. He 
 caught up a sword, pierced the heart of his 
 friend's antagonist, was tried, and his life, 
 with difficulty, redeemed from justice, at 
 the expence of a year's close imprison- 
 ment, the punishment of manslaughter. 
 The incident affected him most deeply, 
 the more that the deceased was a man 
 of excellent character, and had sustain- 
 ed gross insult and injury ere he drew his 
 sword. — I think, from that moment, I ob- 
 served—I beg pardon. The fits of morbid 
 sensibility which had tormented this un- 
 fortunate gentleman, were rendered hence- 
 forth more acute by remorse, which he, of 
 all men, v/as least capable of having incur- 
 red, or of restraining when it became his 
 unhappy lot. His paroxysms of agony 
 could not be concealed from the lady to 
 whom he was betrothed ; and it must be 
 confessed they were of an alarming and
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 307 
 
 fearful nature. He comforted »hiin self, 
 that, at the expiry of his imprisonment, he 
 could form v ith his wife and friend a so- 
 ciety, encircled by which he might dis- 
 pense with more extensive communication 
 with the world. He was deceived ; before 
 that term elapsed, his friend and his betro- 
 thed bride were man and wife. The ef- 
 fects of a shock so dreadful on an ardent 
 temperament, a disposition already soured 
 by bitter remorse, and loosened by the in- 
 dulgence of a gloomy imagination from the 
 rest of mankind, I cannot describe to you ; 
 it was as if the last cable at which the ves- 
 sel rode had suddenly parted, and left her 
 abandoned to all the wild fury of the tem- 
 pest. He was placed under restraint. Asa 
 temporary measure this might have been 
 justifiable ; but his hard-hearted friend, 
 who, in consequence of his marriage, was 
 now his nearest ally, prolonged his confine- 
 ment, in order to enjoy the management 
 of his immense estates. There was one
 
 ^08 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 who owed his all to the sufferer, an hum- 
 ble friend, but grateful and faithful. By 
 unceasing exertion, and repeated invoca- 
 tion of justice, he at length succeeded in 
 obtaining his patron's freedom, and re-in- 
 statement in the management of his own 
 property, to which was soon added that of 
 his intended bride, who, having died with- 
 out male issue, her estates reverted to him, 
 as heir of entail. But freedom and wealth 
 were unable to restore the equipoize of his 
 mind ; the first he despised, the last only 
 served him as far as it afforded him the 
 means of indulging his strange and way- 
 ward fancy. He had renounced the Ca- 
 tholic religion, but perhaps some of its 
 doctrines continued to influence his mind, 
 over w^hich remorse and misanthropy now 
 assumed, in appearance, an unbounded au- 
 thority. His life has since been that alter- 
 nately of a pilgrim and a hermit, suffer- 
 ing the most severe privations, not indeed 
 in ascetic devotion, but in abhorrence of 
 mankind. Yet no man's words and actions
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 30^ 
 
 have been at such a wide difference, nor 
 has any hypocritical wretch ever been 
 more ingenious in assigning good motives 
 for his vile actions, than this unfortunate 
 in reconciling to his abstract principles of 
 misanthropy, a conduct which flows from 
 his natural generosity and kindness of 
 feeling." 
 
 " Still, Mr Ratcliffe— still you describe 
 the inconsistencies of a madman*" 
 
 " By no means,'* replied Ratcliffe; " that 
 the imagination of this gentleman is dis- 
 ordered, I will not pretend to dispute ; I 
 have already told you that it has sometimes 
 broken out into paroxysms approaching to 
 real mental alienation. But it is of his 
 common state of mind which I speak; it 
 is irregular, but not deranged ; the shades 
 are as gradual as those that divide the light 
 of noon-day from midnight. The courtier 
 who ruins his fortune for the attainment 
 of a title which can do him no good, or 
 power of which he can make no suitable 
 or creditable use, the miser who hoards his 
 7
 
 310 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 useless wealth, and the prodigal who 
 squanders it, are all marked with a certain 
 shade of insanity. To criminals who are 
 guilty of enormities, when the temptation 
 to a sober mind bears no proportion to 
 the horror of the act, or the probability of 
 detection and punishment, the same obser- 
 vation applies ; and all violent passions, as 
 well as anger, may be termed a short mad- 
 ness." 
 
 " This may be all good philosophy, Mr 
 Ratclilfe," answered Miss Vere ; ** but, 
 excuse me, it by no means emboldens me 
 to visit, at this late hour, a person whose 
 extravagance of imagination you yourself 
 can only palliate." 
 
 " Rather, then,*' said RatclifFe, *' receive 
 my solemn assurances that you do not in- 
 cur the slightest danger. But what 1 have 
 been hitherto afraid to mention for fear of 
 alarming you, is, that now when we are 
 within sjgiit of his retreat, tor I can disco- 
 ver it through the twilight, I must go no 
 farther with you j you must proceed alone."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. SU 
 
 *' Alone?— I dare not." 
 
 "You must/* continued RatclifFe; '* I 
 will remain here and wait for you." 
 
 '* You vvill not then stir from this place/' 
 said Miss Vera; "yet the distance is so 
 great, you could not hear me were I to cry 
 for assistance." 
 
 "Fear nothing," said her guide; ** or 
 observe, at least, the utmost caution in 
 stifling every expression of timidity. Re- 
 member that his predominant and most 
 harassing apprehension arises from a con- 
 sciousness of the hideousness of his ap- 
 pearance. Your path lies straight beside 
 yon half-fallen willow ; keep the left side 
 of it ; the marsh lies on the right. Fare- 
 well for a time. Remember the evil you 
 are threatened with, and let it overcome 
 at once your fears and scruples." 
 
 "Mr Ratcliffe," said Isabella, " Fare- 
 well ; if you have deceived one so unfortu- 
 nate as myself, you have forfeited the 
 fair character for probity and honour to 
 which 1 have trusted."
 
 312 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 *^ On my life — on my soul," continued 
 RatcliiFe, raising his voice as the distance 
 between them increased, " you are safe — 
 perfectly safe.**
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 31 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 -'Twas time and griefs 
 
 That framed him thus : Time, with his fairer hand, 
 Offering the fortunes of his former days, 
 The former man may make him — Bring us to him, 
 And chance it as it may. 
 
 The sounds of RatclifFe's voice had died 
 on Isabella's ear; but as she frequently 
 looked back, it was some encouragement 
 to her to discern his form now darkening 
 in the gloom. Ere, however, she went 
 much farther, she lost the object in the in- 
 creasing shade. The last glimmer of the 
 twilight placed her before the hut of the 
 Solitary. She twice extended her hand to 
 the door, and twice she withdrew, and 
 when she did at length make the eflfort, 
 the knock did not equal in violence the 
 throb of her own bosom. Her next effort 
 
 VOL, I. O
 
 314 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 was louder ; her third was reiterated, for 
 the fear of not obtaining the protection 
 from which RatclifFe promised so much, 
 began to overpower the terrors of his pre- 
 sence from whom she was to request it. 
 At length, as she still received no answer, 
 she repeatedly called upon the Dwarf by 
 his assumed name, and requested him to 
 answer and open to her. 
 
 " What miserable being is reduced," 
 said the appalling voice of the Solitary, 
 " to seek refuge here ? Go hence ; when 
 the heath-fowl need shelter, they seek it 
 not in the nest of the night- raven,** 
 
 " I come to you, father," said Isabella, 
 " in my hour of adversity, even as you your- 
 self commanded, when you promised your 
 heart and your door should be open to my 
 distress ; but I fear" 
 
 " Ha !" said the Solitary, " then thou 
 art Isabella Vcre ; give me a token that 
 thou art she," 
 
 " I have brought you back the rose
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 315 
 
 which you gave me ; it has not had time 
 to fade ere the hard fate you foretold has 
 come upon me !*' 
 
 " And if thou hast thus redeemed thy 
 pledge," said the Dwarf, ** I will not for- 
 feit mine. The heart and the door that are 
 shut against every other earthly being shall 
 be open to thee and to thy sorrows." 
 
 She heard him move in his hut, and pre- 
 sently afterwards strike a light. One by 
 one, bolt and bar were then withdrawn, 
 the heart of Isabella throbbing higher as 
 these obstacles to their meeting were suc- 
 cessively removed. The door opened, and 
 the Solitary stood before her, his uncouth 
 form and features illuminated by the iron 
 lamp which he held in his hand. 
 
 " Enter, daughter of affliction,'' he said, 
 — ** enter the house of misery.'* 
 
 She entered, and with a precaution which 
 increased her trepidation. The Recluse's 
 first act, after setting the lamp upon the 
 table, was to replace the numerous bolts 
 which secured the door of his hut. She
 
 316 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 shrunk as she heard the noise which ac- 
 companied this ominous operation, yet re- 
 membered RatcHffe's caution, and endea- 
 voured to suppress all appearance of ap- 
 prehension. The light of the lamp was 
 weak and uncertain ; but the Recluse, 
 without taking immediate notice of Isa- 
 bella, otherwise than by motioning her to 
 sit down on a small settle beside the fire- 
 place, made haste to kindle some dry 
 furze, which presently cast a blaze through 
 the cottage. Wooden shelves, which bore 
 a few books, some bundles of dried herbs, 
 and one or two cups and platters, were oq 
 one side of the lire ; on the other were pla- 
 ced the ordinary tools of field-labour, mix- 
 ed with those used by mechanics. Where 
 the bed should have been, there was a 
 wooden frame, strewed with withered moss 
 and rushes, the couch of the ascetic. The 
 whole space of the cottage did not exceed 
 ten feet by six v\iihin the walls; and its 
 only furniture, besides what we have men-. 
 7
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 317 
 
 tioned, were a table and two stools form- 
 ed of rough deal. 
 
 Within these narrow precincts Isabella 
 now found herself enclosed with a being 
 whose history had nothing to reassure her, 
 and the fearful conformation of whose hi- 
 deous countenance inspired an almost su- 
 perstitious terror. He occupied the seat 
 opposite to her, and dropping his huge and 
 shaggy eyebrows over his piercing black 
 eyes, gazed at her in silence, as if agitated 
 by a variety of contending feelings. On 
 the other side sate Isabella, pale as death, 
 her long hair uncurled by the evening 
 damps, and falling over her shoulders and 
 breast, as the wet streamers droop from 
 the mast when the storm has passed away, 
 and left the vessel stranded on the beach. 
 The Dwarf first broke the silence with the 
 suddtn, abrupt, and alarming question, — 
 *' Woman, what evil fate has brought thee 
 hither?" 
 
 *' My father's danger, and your own 
 command," she replied faintly, but firmly.
 
 S18 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 *' And you hope for aid from me ?" 
 
 " If you can bestow it," she replied, still 
 in the same tone of mild submission. 
 
 " And how should I possess that power?" 
 continued the Dwarf, with a bitter sneer ; 
 ** Is mine the form of a redresser of wrongs ? 
 Is this the castle in which one powerful 
 enough to be sued to b}^ a fair suppliant is 
 likely to hold his residence ? I but mock, 
 ed thee, girl, when I said I would relieve 
 thee." 
 
 ** Then, must I depart, and face my fate 
 as I best may r" 
 
 ** No !" said the Dwarf, rising and inter- 
 posing between her and the door, and mo- 
 tioning to her sternly to resume her seal — 
 " No ! you leave me not in this way ; we 
 must have farther conference. Why should 
 one being desire aid of another? Why 
 should not each be sufficient to itself? 
 Look round you — I, the most despised and 
 most decrepid on Nature's common, have 
 required sympathy and help from no one. 
 These stones are of my own piling ; these
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 319 
 
 utensils I framed with my own hands ; and 
 
 with this" and he laid his hand with a 
 
 fierce smile on the long dagger which he 
 always wore beneath his garment, and un- 
 sheathed it so far that the blade glimmer- 
 ed clear in the fire-light — *^ With this," he 
 pursued, as he thrust the weapon back into 
 the scabbard, " 1 can, if necessary, defend 
 the vital spark enclosed in this poor trunk, 
 against the fairest and strongest that shall 
 threaten me with injury." 
 
 It was with difficulty Isabella refrained 
 from screaming out aloud ; but she did 
 refrain. 
 
 *' This," continued the Recluse, ^' is the 
 life of nature, solitary, self-sufficing, and 
 independent. The wolf calls not the wolf 
 to aid him in forming his den ; and the 
 vulture invites not another to assist her in 
 striking down her prey.'* 
 
 *' And when they are unable to procure 
 themselves support," said Isabella, judici- 
 ously thinking that he would be most ac» 
 cessible to argument couched in his own
 
 S20 TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 
 
 metaphorical style, ** what, then, is to be- 
 fal them ?'' 
 
 ** Let them starve, die, and be forgot- 
 ten ; it is the common lot of humanity/' 
 
 " It is the lot of the wild tribes of na- 
 ture," said Isabella, '* but chiefly of those 
 who are destined to support themselves by 
 rapine, which brooks no partner; but it is 
 not the law of nature in general ; even the 
 lower orders have confederacies for mutu- 
 al defence. But mankind — the race would 
 perish did they cease to aid each other. 
 — From the time that the mother binds 
 the child's head, till the moment that 
 some kind assistant wipes the death-damp 
 from the brow of the dying, we cannot ex- 
 ist without mutual help. All, therefore, 
 that need aid, have right to ask it of their 
 fellow-mortals ; no one who has the power 
 of granting can refuse it without guilt/' 
 
 ** And in this simple hope, poor maiden,** 
 said the Solitary, ** thou hast come into the 
 desert, to seek one whose wish it were 
 that the league thou hast spoken of were
 
 THE BLACJC DWARF. 321 
 
 broken for ever, and that, in very truth, 
 the whole race should perish ! Wert thou 
 not frightened?" 
 
 ** Misery,*' said Isabella, firmly, *' is su- 
 perior to fear," 
 
 ** Hast thou not heard it said in thy mor- 
 tal world, that 1 have leagued myself with 
 other powers, deformed to the eye and 
 malevolent to the human race as myself? 
 Hast thou not heard this ? And doest thou 
 seek my cell at midnight?" 
 
 " The Being I worship supports me 
 against such idle fears," said Isabella ; but 
 the increasing agitation of her bosom be- 
 lied the affected courage which her words 
 expressed. 
 
 *' Ho ! ho !" said the Dwarf, " thou 
 vauntest thyself a philosopher? Yet, 
 should'st thou not have thought of the 
 danger of entrusting thyself, young and 
 beautiful, in the power of one so spited 
 against humanity, as to place his chief 
 pleasure in- defacing, destroying, and de- 
 grading her fairest works ?" 
 o 2
 
 322 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 Isabella, much alarmed, continued to 
 answer, with firmness, *' Whatever injuries 
 you may have sustained in the world, you 
 are incapable of revenging them on one 
 who never wronged you, nor, wilfully, any 
 other." 
 
 " Ay, but maiden," he continued, his 
 dark eyes flashing with an expression of 
 malignity which communicated itself to 
 his wild and distorted features, " revenge 
 is the "hungry wolf, which asks only to 
 tear flesh and lap blood. Think you the 
 lamb's plea of innocence would be listened 
 to by him ?" 
 
 ** Man !" said Isabella, rising and ex- 
 pressing herself with much dignity, ** I 
 fear not the horrible ideas with which you 
 would impress me. I cast them from me 
 with disdain. Be you mortal or fiend, 
 you would not ofier injury to one who 
 sought you as a suppliant in her utmost 
 need. You would not — you durst not." 
 
 " Thou say'st truly, maiden," rejoined 
 the Solitary ; *^ I dare not—I would not.
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 323 
 
 Begone to thy dwelling. Fear nothing 
 with which they threaten thee. Thou hast 
 asked my protection — thou shalt find it 
 effectual." 
 
 " But, father, this very night I have 
 consented to wed the man that I abhor, or 
 I must put the seal to my father's ruin." 
 
 *< This night P—at what hour r" 
 
 *' Ere midnight.'* 
 
 " And twilight,*' said the Dwarf, *' has 
 already passed away. But fear nothing, 
 there is ample time to protect thee." 
 
 *' And my father ?" continued Isabella, 
 in a suppliant tone. 
 
 **Thy father," replied the Dwarf, " has 
 been, and is, my most bitter enemy. But 
 fear not ; thy virtue shall save him. And 
 now, begone ; were I to keep thee longer 
 by me, I might again fall into the stupid 
 dreams concerning human worth from 
 which I have been so fearfully awakened. 
 But fear nothing— at the very foot of the 
 altar I will redeem thee. A'dieu, time press- 
 es, and I must act !
 
 324 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 He led her to the door of the hut, which 
 he opened for her departure. She re- 
 mounted her horse, which had been feed- 
 ing in the outer enclosure, and pressed 
 him forward by the light of the moon, 
 which was now rising, to the spot where 
 she had left Ratcliffe. 
 
 " Have you succeeded r" was his first 
 eager question. 
 
 *^ I have obtained promises from him to 
 whom you sent me ; but how can he pos- 
 sibly accomplish them ?'* 
 
 *' Thank God !" said Ratcliffe ; " doubt 
 not his power to fulfil his promise.'' 
 
 At this moment a shrill whistle was 
 heard to resound along the heath. 
 
 " Hark T said Ratcliffe, « he calls me— 
 Miss Vere, return home, and leave unbolt- 
 ed the postern-door of the garden ; to 
 that which opens on the back-stairs I have 
 a private key." 
 
 A second whistle was heard yet more 
 shrill and prolonged than the first. 
 
 ^' I come, I come," said Ratcliffe; and,
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 325 
 
 setting spurs to his horse, rode over the 
 heath in the direction of the Recluse's hut. 
 Miss Vere returned to the castle, the met- 
 tle of the animal on which she rode, and 
 her own anxiety of mind, combining to ac- 
 celerate her journey. 
 
 She obeyed Ratcliffe's directions, though 
 without well apprehending their purpose, 
 and leaving her horse at large in a pad- 
 dock near the garden, hurried to her own 
 apartment, which she reached without ob- 
 servation. She now unbolted her door, 
 and rang her bell for lights. Her father 
 appeared along with the servant who an- 
 swered her summons. 
 
 '* He had been twice," he said, " listen- 
 ing at her door during the two hours that 
 had elapsed since he left her, and, not 
 hearing her speak, had become apprehen- 
 sive that she was taken ill." 
 
 " And now, my dear father," she said, 
 " permit me to claim the promise you so 
 kindly gave ; let the last moments of free- 
 dom which 1 am to enjoy be mme with-
 
 326 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 out interruption ; and protract to the last 
 moment the respite which is allowed me." 
 
 ** I will," said her father ; ^' nor S'hall 
 you be again interrupted. But this disor- 
 dered dress — this dishevelled hair — do not 
 let me find you thus when I call on you 
 again ; the sacrifice to be beneficial must 
 be voluntary." 
 
 *' Must it be so ?" she replied, " then 
 fear not, my father, the victim shall be 
 adorned."
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. S27 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 This looks not like a nuptial. 
 
 Much ado about Nothing* 
 
 The chapel in the castle of Ellieslaw, 
 destined to be the scene of this ill-omen- 
 ed union, was a building of much older date 
 than the castle itself, though that claimed 
 considerable antiquity. Before the wars 
 between England and Scotland had be- 
 come so common and of such long dura- 
 tion, that the buildings along both sides 
 of the Border were chiefly dedicated to 
 warlike purposes, there had been a small 
 settlement of monks at Ellieslaw, a de- 
 pendency, it is believed by antiquaries, 
 upon the rich Abbey of Jedburgh. Their 
 possessions had long passed away under 
 
 8
 
 328 TALES OF MY LANDLOUD. 
 
 the changes introduced by war and mu- 
 tual ravage. A feudal castle had arisen on 
 the ruins of their cells, and their chapel 
 was included in its precincts. 
 
 The edifice, in its round arches and 
 massive pillars, the simplicity of which re- 
 ferred their date to what has been called 
 the Saxon architecture, presented at all 
 times a dark and sombre appearance, and 
 had been frequently used as the cemetery 
 of the family of the feudal lords, as well 
 as formerly of the monastic brethren. 
 But it looked doubly gloomy by the glare 
 of the few and smoky torches which were 
 used to enlighten it upon the present oc- 
 casion, and which, spreading a glare of 
 yellow light in their immediate vicinity, 
 were surrounded beyond by a red and 
 purple halo reflected from their own 
 smoke, and beyond that again by a zone 
 of darkness which magnified the extent of 
 the chapel, while it rendered it impossible 
 for the eye to ascertain its limits. Some 
 injudicious ornaments, adopted in haste
 
 I 
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 329 
 
 for the occasion, rather added to the drea- 
 riness of the scene. Okl fragments of ta- 
 pestry, torn from the walls of other apart- 
 ments, had heen hastily and partially dis- 
 posed around those of the chapel, and min- 
 gled inconsistently with scutcheons and 
 funeral emblems of the dead, which they 
 elsewhere exhibited. On each side of the 
 stone altar was a monument, the appear- 
 ance of which formed an equally strange 
 contrast. On the one was the figure, in 
 stone, of some grim hermit, or monk, who 
 had died in the odour of sanctity ; he was 
 represented as recumbent, in his cowl and 
 scapulaire, with his face turned upward 
 as in the act of devotion, and his hands 
 folded, from which his string of beads 
 were dependent. On the other side was a 
 tomb, in the Italian taste, composed of 
 the most beautiful statuary marble, and 
 accounted a model of modern art. It was 
 erected to the memory of Isabtlla's mo* 
 ther, the late Mrs Vere of Ellieslaw, who 
 was represented as in a dying posture,
 
 3S0 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 while a weeping cherub, with eyes avert- 
 ed, seemed in the act of extinguishing a 
 dying lamp as emblematic of her speedy 
 dissolution. It was, indeed, a master- 
 piece of art, but misplaced in the rude 
 vault to which it had been consigned. 
 Many were surprised, and even scanda- 
 lized, that Ellieslaw, not remarkable for 
 attention to his lady while alive, should 
 erect after her death such a costly mauso- 
 leum in affected sorrow; others cleared 
 him from the imputation of hypocrisy, 
 and averred that the monument was con- 
 structed under the direction and at the 
 sole expence of Mr Ratcliffe. 
 
 Before these monuments the wedding 
 guests were assembled. They were few in 
 number ; for many had left the castle to 
 prepare for the ensuing political explo- 
 sion, and Ellieslaw was, in the circum- 
 stances of the case, far from being de- 
 sirous to extend invitations farther than 
 to those near relations whose presence the 
 custom of the country rendered indispen-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. SSI 
 
 sable* Next to the altar stood Sir Fre- 
 derick Langley, dark, moody, and thought- 
 ful, even beyond his wont, and near him, 
 Mareschal, who was to play the part of 
 bridesman, as it was called. The thought- 
 less humour of this young gentleman, on 
 which he never deigned to place the least 
 restraint, added to the cloud which over- 
 hung the brow of the bridegroom. 
 
 " The bride is not yet come out of her 
 chamber," he whispered to Sir Frederick ; 
 ** I trust that we must not have recourse 
 to the violent expedients of the Romans 
 which I read of at college. It would be 
 hard upon my pretty cousin to be run 
 away with twice in two days, though I 
 know none better worth such a violent 
 comphment." 
 
 Sir Frederick attempted to turn a deaf 
 ear to this discourse, humming a tune and 
 looking another way, but Mareschal pro- 
 ceeded in the same wild manner. 
 
 " This delay is hard upon Dr Ilobbler, 
 who was disturbed to accelerate prepara-
 
 332 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 tions for this joyful event when he had 
 successfully extracted the cork of liis 
 third bottle. I hope you will keep him 
 free of the censure of his superiors, for I 
 take it this is beyond canonical hours. 
 — But liere come Ellieslaw and my pretty 
 cousin— prettier than ever, I think, were 
 it not she seems so faint and so deadly 
 pale — Hark ye, Sir Knight, if she says not 
 \ES with right good will, it shall be no 
 wedding for all that has come and gone 
 yet^ 
 
 ** No wedding, sir?" returned Sir Fre- 
 derick, in a loud whisper, the tone of 
 which indicated that his angry feelings 
 were suppressed with difficulty. 
 
 ^* No — no marriage," replied Mareschal, 
 *' there's my hand and glove on't." 
 
 Sir Frederick Langley took his hand, 
 and as he wrung it hard, said in a lower 
 whisper,' '* Mareschal, you shall answer 
 this," and tht;n fluiig his hand from him. 
 
 " That I will readily do, said Ma- 
 reschal, ** for never word escaped my lips
 
 THE BTACK DWARF. 333 
 
 that my hand was not ready to guarantee 
 — So, speak up, my pretty cousin, and 
 tell ine if it be your t ree will and unbiass- 
 ed resolution to accept of this gallant 
 knight for }our lord and husband ; for if 
 you have the tenth part of a scruple upon 
 the subject, fall back, fall tdge, he shall 
 not have you." 
 
 " Are you mad, Mr Mareschal ?" said 
 Ellieslaw, who, having been this young 
 man's guardian during his minority, often 
 employed a tone of authority to him, 
 " Do you suppose I would drag my 
 daughter to the foot of the altar, were it 
 not her own choice ?'* 
 
 " Tut, Ellieslaw," retorted the young 
 gentleman, " never tell me of the contra- 
 ry ; her eyes are full of tears, and her 
 cheeks are whiter than her white dress. I 
 must insist, in the name of common huma- 
 nity, that the ceremony be adjourned till 
 to-morrow." 
 
 *' She shall tell you herself, thou in- 
 corrigible intermeddler m what concerns
 
 334} TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 thee not, that it is her wish the ceremony 
 should go on. — Is it not, Isabella, my 
 dear?" 
 
 " It is," said Isabella, half fainting — 
 ** since there is no help either in God or 
 man." 
 
 The first word alone was distinctly au- 
 dible. Mareschal shrugged up his shoul- 
 ders and stepped back. EUieslaw led, or 
 rather supported, his daughter to the al- 
 tar. Sir Frederick moved forward and 
 placed himself by her side. The clergy- 
 man opened his prayer-book, and looked 
 to Mr Vere for the signal to commence 
 the service. 
 
 " Proceed/* said the latter. 
 
 But a voice, as if proceeding from the 
 tomb of his deceased wife, called, in such 
 loud and harsh accents as awakened every 
 echo in the vaulted chapel, ** Forbear !'' 
 
 All were mute and motionless, till a 
 distant rustle, and the clash of swords, or 
 something resembling it, was heard from
 
 THE BLACK DWARF, 335 
 
 the distant apartments. It ceased almost 
 instantly. 
 
 " What new device is this ?" said Sir 
 Frederick, fiercely, eyeing Ellieslaw and 
 Mareschal with a glance of malignant 
 suspicion. 
 
 ** It can be but the frolic of some in- 
 temperate guest," said Ellieslaw, though 
 greatly confounded ; *' we must make 
 large allowances for the excess of this 
 evening's festivity. Proceed with the ser- 
 vice." 
 
 Before the clergyman could obey, the 
 same prohibition which they had before 
 heard, was repeated from the same spot. 
 The female attendants screamed, and fled 
 from the chapel ; the gentlemen laid their 
 hands on their swords. Ere the first mo- 
 ment of surprise had passed by, the Dwarf 
 stepped from behind the monument, and 
 placed himself full in front of Mr Vere. 
 The effect of so strange and hideous an 
 apparition, in such place and circum- 
 stances, appalled all present, but seemed
 
 236 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 to annihilate the Laird of Ellieslaw, who, 
 dr('p|)insr his daughter's arm, staggered 
 against the nearest pillar, and, clasping it 
 with his hands as if for support, laid his 
 brow against the column. 
 
 '' Who is this fellow ?'* said Sir Pre- 
 derick ; ** and what does he mean by this 
 intrusion r" 
 
 • ** It is one who comes to tell you," said 
 the Dwarf, with the peculiar acrimony 
 which usually marked his manner, " that, 
 in marrying that young lady, you wed 
 neither the heiress of Ellieslaw, nor of 
 Mauley-Hall, nor of Polverton, nor of one 
 furrow of land, unless she marries with my 
 consent; and to thee that consent shall 
 never be given. Down — down on thy 
 knees, and thank Heaven that thou art 
 prevented from wedding qualities with 
 which thou hast no concern — portionless 
 truth, virtue, and innocence.— And thou, 
 base ingrate," he continued, addressing 
 himself to Ellieslaw, " what is thy wretch- 
 ed subterfuge now r Thou, who would'st
 
 THE BLACK DM'AKF. SS^ 
 
 sell thy daughter to relieve thee from 
 danger, as in famine thou would'st have 
 slain and devoured her to preserve thy 
 own vile life ! Ay, hide thy face with thy 
 hands ; well may'st thou blush to look on 
 him whose body thou did'st consign to 
 chains, his hand to guilt, and his soul to 
 misery. Saved once more by the virtue 
 of her who calls thee father, go hence, 
 and may the pardon and benefits I confer 
 on thee prove literal coals of fire, till thy 
 brain is seared and scorched like mine." 
 
 Ellieslaw left the chapel with a gesture 
 of mute despair. 
 
 '' Follow him, Hubert Ratcliffe," said 
 the Dwarf, '* and inform him of his des- 
 tiny. He will rejoice — for to breathe air 
 and to handle gold is to him happiness." 
 
 " I understand nothing of all this," said 
 Sir Frederick Langley ; '' but we are here 
 a body of gentlemen in arms and autho- 
 rity for King James; and whether you 
 really, sir, be that Sir Edward Mauley, 
 who has been so long supposed dead in 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 338 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 confinement, or whether you be an im- 
 postor assuming his name and title, we 
 will assume the freedom of detaining you 
 till your appearance here, at this moment, 
 is better accounted tor ; we will have no 
 spies among us — Seize on him, my friends." 
 
 But the domestics shrunk back in doubt 
 and alarm. Sir Frederick himself stepped 
 forward towards the Recluse, as if to lay 
 hands on his person, when his progress 
 was suddenly stopped by the glittering 
 point of a paitizan, which the sturdy hand 
 of Hobbie Elliot presented against his 
 bosom. 
 
 ** I'll gar day-light shine through ye, if 
 ye offer to steer him. Naebody shall lay a 
 finger on Elshie ; he's a canny neighbour- 
 ly man, aye ready to make a friend help ; 
 and, though ye may think him a lamiter, 
 yet, grippie for grippie, friend, 1*11 wad a 
 wether lie'll make the blude spin frae un- 
 der your nails. He's a tough carle, El- 
 shie 1 he grips like a smith's vice." 
 
 .** What has brought you here, Elliot ?"
 
 THE BLACK DWAU¥. 339 
 
 said Mareschal, " who called on you for 
 interference ?" 
 
 " Troth, Mareschal-Wells," answered 
 Hobbie, ** I am just come here, wi' twen- 
 ty or thretty mair o' us, in my ain name 
 and the King's — or Queen's, ca' they her ? 
 and canny Elshie's into the bargain, to 
 keep the peace, and pay back some ill 
 usage Ellieslaw has gi'en me. A bonnie 
 breakfast the loons gae me the ither morn- 
 ing, and him at the bottom o*t ; and trow 
 ye I was na ready to supper him up ? — Ye 
 needna lay your hands on your swords, 
 gentlemen, the house is ours wi' little 
 din ; for the doors were open, and there 
 had been ower muckle punch amang your 
 folk ; we took their swords and pistols as 
 easily as ye wad shiel pea-cods/* 
 
 Mareschal rushed out, and immediately 
 re-entered the chapel. 
 
 *^ By Heaven ! it is true. Sir Frederick; 
 the house is filled with armed men, and 
 our drunken beasts are all disarmed. Draw, 
 and let us fight our way."
 
 340 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 " Einna rash — biniia rash," exclaimed 
 Hobble, "hear me a bit, hear me a bit. 
 We mean ye nae harm ; but, as ye are in 
 arms for King James, as ye ca' him, and 
 the prelates, we thought it right to keep 
 up the auld neighbour war, and stand up 
 for the t'other ane and the Kirk ; but 
 we'll no hurt a hair o' your heads, if ye 
 like to gang hame quietly. And it will be 
 your best way, for there's sure news come 
 fiae Loudoun, that him they ca' Bang, or 
 Byng, or what is't, has bang'd the French 
 ships and the new king afF the coast how- 
 ever; sae, ye had best bide content wi' 
 auld Nanse for want of a better Queen." 
 
 Ratcliffe, who at this moment entered, 
 confirmed "these accounts, so unfavoura- 
 ble to the Jacobite interest. Sir Frederick, 
 almost instantly, and without taking leave 
 of any one, left the castle, with such of 
 his attendants as w^re able to follow him. 
 
 ** And what will you do, Mr Mares- 
 chal ?'* said Ratcliffe. 
 
 "Why, faith," answered he, smiling, " I
 
 THE BLACK DVl\\RF. 341 
 
 hardly know; my spirit is too great, and 
 my fortune too small, for me to follow 
 the example of the doughty bridegroom. 
 It is not in my nature, and it is hardly 
 worth my while." 
 
 '* Well, then, disperse your men, and 
 remain quiet, and this will be overlooked, 
 as there has been no overt act." 
 
 '' Hout, ay," said Elliot, '^ just let by- 
 ganes be byganes, and a* friends again ; 
 de'il ane I bear malice at but Westburn- 
 flat, and I hae gi'en him baith a bet skin 
 and a cauld ane. I hadna chani^ed three 
 blows of the broadsword wi' him before 
 he lap the window into the castle-moat, 
 and swattered through it like a wild- 
 duck. Hqs a clever fallow, indeed ! maua 
 kilt awa wi' ae bonnie lass in the .morn- 
 ing, and another at night, less wadna 
 serve him I but if he doesna kilt himsel 
 out o' the country I'se kilt him wi' a tow, 
 for the Castleton meeting's clean blawii 
 ower ; his friends will no countenance 
 him."
 
 342 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 During the general confusion, Isabella 
 had thrown herself at the feet of her kins- 
 man, Sir Edward Mauley, for so we must 
 now call the Solitary, to express at once her 
 gratitude, and to beseech forgiveness for 
 her father. The eyes of all began to be 
 fixed on them, as soon as their own agita- 
 tion and the bustle of the attendants had 
 Somewhat abated. Miss Vere kneeled be- 
 side the tomb of her mother, to whose sta- 
 tue her features exhibited a marked re- 
 semblance. She held the hand of the 
 Dwarf, which she kissed repeatedly and 
 bathed with tears. He stood fixed and 
 motionless, excepting that his eyes glan- 
 ced alternately on the marble figure, and 
 the living suppliant. At length, the large 
 drops which gathered on his eye-lashes 
 compelled him to draw his hand across 
 them. 
 
 " I thought," he said, " that tears and I 
 had done ; but we shed them at our birth, 
 and their spring dries not lintil we are in 
 our graves. But no melting of the heart
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. S4S 
 
 shall dissolve my resolution. I part here, 
 at once, and for ever, with all of which the 
 memory," (looking to the tomb,) " or the 
 presence," (he pressed Isabella's tiand,) " is 
 dear to me. — Speak not to me! attempt 
 not to thwart my determination ! it will 
 avail nothing ; you will hear of and see this 
 lump of deformity no more. To you I will 
 be dead ere I am actually in my grave, and 
 you will think of me as of a friend disen- 
 cumbered from the toils and crimes of ex- 
 istence." 
 
 He kissed Isabella on the forehead, im* 
 pressed another kiss on the brow of the 
 statue by which she knelt, and left the 
 chapel followed by RatclifFe. Isabella, al* 
 most exhausted with the emotions of the 
 day, was carried to her apartment by her 
 women. Most of the other guests dis- 
 persed, after having separately endeavour- 
 ed to impress on all who would listen to 
 them their disapprobation of the plots 
 formed against the government, or their 
 regret for having engaged in them. Hob-
 
 344» TALIES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 bie Elliot assumed the command of tlie 
 castle for the night, and mounted a regu- 
 lar guard. He boasted not a little of tl^e 
 alacrity with which his friends and he 
 had obeyed a hasty summons received 
 from Elshie through the faithful RatclifFe. 
 And it was a lucky chance, he said, that 
 on that very day they had got notice that 
 Westburnflat did not intend to keep his 
 tryste at Castleton, but to hold them at 
 defiance ; so that a considerable party had 
 assembled at the Heughfoot vvitli the in- 
 tention of paying a visit to the robber's 
 tower on the ensuing morning, and their 
 course was easily directed to Ellieslaw 
 Castle,
 
 THE BLACK DWAfiF^ Si5 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Last scene of all, 
 
 To close this strange eventful history. 
 
 As you like iL 
 
 On the next morning, Mr RatclifFe pre* 
 sented Miss Vere with a letter from her 
 father, of which the following is the te« 
 nor : — 
 
 *' My DEAREST Child, 
 *' The malice of a persecuting govern- 
 ment will compel me, for my own safety, 
 to retreat abroad, and to remain for some 
 time in foreign parts. I do not ask you to 
 accompany, or follow me ; you will at- 
 tend to my interest and your own more 
 effectually by remaining where you are., 
 p 2
 
 SisG TALES OF MV LANDLORD. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into a minute 
 detail concerning the causes of the strange 
 events which yesterday took place. I 
 think I have reason to complain of the 
 usage I have received from Sir Edward 
 Mauley, who is your nearest kinsman by 
 the mother*s side ; but, as he has declared 
 you his heir, and is to put you in imme- 
 diate possession of a large part of his for- 
 tune, I account it a full atonement. I am 
 aware he has never forgiven the prefe- 
 rence which your mother gave to my ad- 
 dresses, instead of complying with the 
 terms of a sort of family compact which 
 absurdly and tyrannically destined her to 
 wed her deformed relative. The shock 
 was even sufficient to unsettle his wits, 
 (which, indeed, were never over-well ar- 
 ranged ;) and I had, as the husband of his 
 nearest kinswoman and heir, the delicate 
 task of taking care of his person and pro- 
 perty, until he was reinstated in the ma- 
 nagement of the latter by those who, no 
 doubt, thought they were doing him jus-
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 347 
 
 ticc ; although, if some parts of his subse- 
 quent conduct be examined, it will appear 
 that he ought, for his own sake, to have 
 been left under the influence of a mild 
 and salutary restraint. 
 
 " In one particular, however, he shewed 
 a sense of the ties of blood, as well as of his 
 own frailty ; for while he sequestered him- 
 self closely from the world, under various 
 names and disguises, and insisted on spread- 
 ing a report of his own death, (in which to 
 gratify him I willingly acquiesced,) he 
 left to my disposal the rents of a .great 
 proportion of his estates, and especially 
 all those, which, having belonged to your 
 mother, reverted to him as a male fief. In 
 this he may have thought that he was act- 
 ing with extreme generosity, while, in the 
 opinion of all impartial men, he will only 
 be considered as having fulfilled a natural 
 obligation, seeing that, injustice, if not in 
 strict law, you must be considered as the 
 heir of your mother, and I as your legal 
 administrator. Instead, therefore, of con*
 
 348 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 sidering myself as loaded with obligations 
 to Sir Edward on this account, I think I 
 had reason to complain that these remit- 
 tances were only doled out to me at the 
 pleasure of Mr RatclifFe, who, moreover, 
 exacted from me mortgages over my pa- 
 ternal estate of EUieslaw for any sums 
 which I required as an extra advance ; 
 and thus may be said to have insinuated 
 himself into the absolute management and 
 controul of my property. Or, if all this 
 seeming friendship was employed by Sir 
 Edward for the purpose of obtaining a 
 complete command of my affairs, and ac- 
 quiring the power of ruining me at his 
 pleasure, I feel myself, I must repeat, still 
 less bound by the alleged obligation. 
 
 " About the autumn of last year, as I un- 
 derstand, either his own crazed imagina- 
 tion, or the accomplishment of some such 
 scheme as I have hinted, brought him 
 down to this country. His alleged motive, 
 it seeing, was a desire of seeing a mo- 
 nument which he had directed to be raised
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. ol9 
 
 in the chapel over the tomb of your mo- 
 ther. Mr RatclifFe, who at this time had 
 done me the honour to make my house his 
 own, had the complaisance to introduce 
 him secretly into the chapel. The con- 
 sequence, as he informs me, was a frenzy 
 of several hours, during which lie fled 
 into the neighbouring moors, in one of the 
 wildest spots of which he chose, when he 
 was somewhat recovered, to fix his man- 
 sion, and set up for a sort of country em- 
 piric, a character, which, even in his best 
 days, he was fond of assuming. It is re- 
 markable, that, instead of informing me of 
 these circumstances that I might have 
 had the relative of my late wife taken 
 such care of as his calamitous condition 
 required, Mr Ratcliffe seems to have had 
 such culpable indulgence for his irregular 
 plans as to promise and even swear secre* 
 cy concerning them. He visited Sir Ed- 
 ward often, and assisted in the fantastic 
 task he had taken upon him of construct- 
 ing a hermitage. Nothing they appear to
 
 350 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 have dreaded more than a discovery of 
 their intercourse. 
 
 " The ground was open in every direction 
 around, and a small soutterain, probably 
 sepulchral, which their researches had de- 
 tected near the great granite pillar, served 
 to conceal Ratcliffe when any one ap- 
 proached his master. I think you will be 
 of opinion, my love, that this secrecy must 
 have had some strong motive. It is also 
 remarkable, that while I thought my un- 
 happy friend was residing among the 
 monks at La Trappe, he should have been 
 actually living, for many months, in this 
 bizarre disguise, within five miles of my 
 house, and obtaining regular information 
 of my most private movements, either by 
 Ratcliffe, or through Westburnflat and 
 others, whom he had the means to bribe 
 to any extent. He makes it a crime against 
 me that I endeavoured to establish your 
 marriage with Sir Frederick. I acted for 
 the best; but if he thought otherwise, why 
 did he not step manfully forward, express
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 351 
 
 his own purpose of becoming a party to 
 the settlements, and take that interest 
 which he is entitled to claim in you as heir 
 to his great property ? 
 
 " Even now, though he is somewhat tar- 
 dy in announcing his purpose, I am far from 
 opposing my authority against his wishes, 
 although the person he desires you to re- 
 gard as your future husband be young 
 Earnscliff, the very last whom I should 
 have thought likely to be acceptable to 
 him. But I give my free and hearty con- 
 sent, providing the settlements are drawn 
 in such an irrevocable form as may secure 
 my child from suffering by that state of 
 dependence, and that sudden and causeless 
 revocation of allowances, of which I have 
 so much reason to complain. Of Sir Fre- 
 derick Langley, I augur, you will hear no 
 more. He is not likely to claim the hand 
 ' of a dowerless maiden. I therefore com- 
 mit you, my dear Isabella, to the wisdom of 
 Providence and to your own prudence, 
 begging you to lose no time in securing
 
 352 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 those advantages which the fickleness of 
 your kinsman has withdrawn from me to 
 shower upon you. 
 
 ** Mr RatclifFe mentioned Sir Edward's 
 intention to settle a considerable sum upon 
 me yearly, for my maintenance in foreign 
 parts ; but this my heart is too proud to 
 accept from him. 1 told him I had a dear 
 child, who, while in affluence herself, would 
 never suffer me to be in poverty. I thought 
 it right to intimate this to him pretty 
 roundly, that whatever increase be settled 
 upon you, it may be calculated so as to 
 cover this necessary and natural encum- 
 brance. I will willingly settle upon you 
 the castle and manor of EUieslaw, to shew 
 my parental affection and disinterested zeal 
 for promoting your settlement in life. The 
 annual interest of debts charged on the 
 estate somewhat exceeds the income, even 
 after a reasonable rent has been put upon 
 the mansion and mains. But as all the 
 debts are in the person of Mr Ratcliffe, as 
 your kinsman's trustee, he will not be a
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. S53 
 
 troublesome creditor. And here I must 
 make you aware, that though I have to 
 complain of Mr Ratcliffe's conduct to me 
 personally, I, nevertheless, believe him a 
 just and upright man, with whom you may 
 safely consult on your affairs, not to men- 
 tion that to cherish his good opinion w ill 
 be the best way to retain that of your 
 kinsman. Remember me to Marchie — I 
 hope he will not be troubled on account 
 of late matters. I will write more fully 
 from the Continent. Mean^vhile, I rest 
 your loving father, 
 
 Richard Vere.'* 
 
 The above letter throws the only addi- 
 tional light which we have been able to 
 procure upon the earlier part of our story. 
 It was Hobble's opinion, and may be that 
 of most of our readers, tliat the Re- 
 cluse of Mucklestane-Moor had but a kind 
 of a gloaming, or twilight understanding ; 
 and that he had neither very clear views as 
 to what he himself wanted, nor was apt to
 
 554i TALES OP MY LANDLORD. 
 
 pursue his ends by the clearest and most 
 direct means : so that to seek the clew of 
 his conduct, was hkened, by Hobbie, to 
 looking for a straight path through a 
 common, in which are a hundred devious 
 tracks, but not one distinct line of road. 
 
 When Isabella had perused the letter, 
 her first enquiry was after her father. He 
 had left the castle early in the morning, 
 after a long interview with Mr Ratcliffe, 
 and was already far on his way to the next 
 port, where he might expect to find ship- 
 ping for the Continent. 
 
 " Where was Sir Edward Mauley?" 
 
 No one had seen the Dwarf since the 
 eventful scene of the preceding evening. 
 
 *' Odd, if ony thing has befa'en puir El- 
 shie," said Hobbie Elliot, " I wad rather 
 I were harried ower again." 
 
 He immediately rode to his dwelling, 
 and the remaining she-goat came bleating 
 to meet him, for her milking time was long 
 past. The Solitary was no where to be 
 seen ; his door, contrary to wont, was
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. $55 
 
 Open, his fire extinguished, and the whole 
 hut was left in the state which it exhibited 
 on Isabella's visit to him. It was pretty- 
 clear that the means of conveyance which 
 had brought the Dwarf to Ellieslaw on the 
 preceding evenings had removed him from 
 it to some other place of abode. Hobbic 
 returned disconsolate to the castle. 
 
 ^* I am doubting we ha'e lost canny EU 
 shie for gude an' aV* 
 
 *' You have, indeed," said RatclifFe, pro- 
 ducing a paper, which he put into Hob- 
 bie*s hands ; ** but read that, and you will 
 perceive you have been no loser by havings 
 known him.** 
 
 It was a short deed of gift, by which 
 " Sir Edward Mauley, otherwise called El- 
 shender the Recluse, endowed Halbert, or 
 Hobbie Elliot, and Grace Armstrong, in 
 full property, with a considerable sum bor- 
 rowed by EUiot from him.** 
 
 Hobble's joy was mingled with feelings 
 which brought tears down his rough cheeks. 
 
 '^ It's a queer thing," he said ; *^ but I
 
 356 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 cannajoy in the gear unless I kenn'd the 
 puir body was happy that gav^ it me." 
 
 *' Next to enjoying happiness ourselves/' 
 said RatclifFe, *' is the consciousness of 
 having bestowed it on others. Had all my 
 master's benefits been conferred like the 
 present, what a different return would they 
 have produced ! But the indiscriminate 
 profusion that would glut avarice, or sup- 
 ply piodigality, neither does good, nor is 
 rewarded by gratitude. It is sowing the 
 wind to reap the whirlwind." 
 
 *' And that wad be a light har'st," said 
 Hobbie ; " but, wi' my young leddy's 
 leave, I wad fain take down Elshie's skeps 
 o' bees, and set them in Grace's bit flower- 
 yard at the Heughfoot— they shall ne'er 
 be smeekit by ony o' huz. Arid the puir 
 goat, she would be negleckit about a great 
 town like this ; and she could feed bonnily 
 on our lily lea by the burn side, and th*^ 
 hounds wad ken her in a day's time, and 
 never fash her, and Grace wad milk her 
 ilka morning wi' her ain baud, for Elahie's
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 357 
 
 sake ; for though he was thrawn and can- 
 kered in his converse, he liket dumb crea- 
 tures weel." 
 
 Hobbie's requests were readily granted, 
 not without some wonder at the natural 
 delicacy of feeling which pointed out to 
 him this mode of displaying his gratitude. 
 He was delighted when Ratcliffe informed 
 him that his benefactor should not remain 
 ignorant of the care w^hich he took of his 
 favourite. 
 
 '* And mind be sure and tell him that 
 grannie and the titties, and, abune a', 
 Grace and mysel, are weel and thriving, 
 and that it's a' his doing — that canna but 
 please him, ane wad think." 
 
 And Elliot and the family at Heughfoot 
 were, and continued to be, as fortunate 
 and happy as his undaunted honesty, ten- 
 derness, and gallantry, so well merited. 
 
 All bar between the marriage of Earns- 
 cliff and Isabella was now removed, and 
 the settlements which RatcliiFe produced 
 S
 
 S5S TALES OF MY LANBLORB. 
 
 on the part of Sir Edward Mauley, might 
 have satisfied the cupidity of EUieslaw him^ 
 self. But Miss Vere and Ratcliffe thought 
 it unnecessary to mention to EarnsclifF 
 that one great motive of Sir Edward in 
 thus loading the young pair with benefits, 
 was to expiate his having, many years be- 
 fore, shed the blood of his father in a 
 hasty brawl. If it be true, as RatdifFe as- 
 serted, that the Dwarf's extreme misan- 
 thropy seemed to relax somewhat, under 
 the consciousness of having diffused hap- 
 piness among so many, the recollection 
 of this circumstance might probably be 
 one of his chief motives for refusing obsti- 
 nately ever to witness their state of con- 
 tentment. 
 
 Mareschal hunted, shot, and drank cla- 
 ret — tired of the country, went abroad, 
 served three campaigns, came home, and 
 married Lucy Ilderton. 
 
 Years fled over the heads of EarnsclifF 
 and his wife, and found and left t.^em con- 
 tented and happy. Tne scheming ambi-
 
 THE BLACfC DWARF. 35^ 
 
 tion of Sir Frederick Langley engaged him 
 in the unfortunate insurrection of 1715. 
 He was made prisoner at Preston, in Lan- 
 cashire, with the Earlof Derwentwater,and 
 others. His defence, and the dying speech 
 which he made on the occasion, may be 
 found in the State Trials. Mr Vere, sup- 
 plied by. his daughter with an ample in- 
 come, continued to reside abroad, engaged 
 deeply in the affair of Law's bank durmg 
 the regency of the Duke of Orleans, and 
 was at one time supposed to be immensely 
 rich. But, on the bursting of that famous 
 bubble, he was so much chagrined at being 
 again reduced to a moderate annuity, (al- 
 though he saw thousands of his compa- 
 nions in misfortune absolutely starving) 
 that vexation of mind brought on a para- 
 lytic stroke, of which he died, after Imger- 
 ing under its effects a few weeks. 
 
 Willie of Westburnflat fled from the 
 wrath of Hobbie Elliot, as his betters did 
 from the pursuit of the law. His patriotism 
 6
 
 S60 TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 
 
 urged him to serve his country abroad, 
 while his reluctance to leave his native soil 
 pressed him rather to remain in the belo- 
 ved island, and collect purses, watches, 
 and rings on the highroads at home. For- 
 tunately for him, the first impulse prevail- 
 ed, and he joined the army under Marlbo- 
 rough ; obtained a commission, to which 
 he was recommended by his services in 
 collecting cattle for the commissariat ; re- 
 turned home after many years, with some 
 money, (how come by Heaven only knows) 
 — demolished the peel-house at West- 
 burnflat, and built, in its stead, a high nar- 
 row onsteadj of three stories, with a chim- 
 ney at each end — drank brandy with the 
 neighbours, whom, in his younger days, 
 he had plundered — died in his bed, and is 
 recorded upon his tombstone at Kirk- 
 whistle, (still extant) as having played all 
 the parts of a brave soldier, a discreet 
 neighbour, and a sincere Christian. 
 
 ]Mr Ratcliffe resided usually with the
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 36{ 
 
 family at Ellieslaw; but regularly every 
 spring and autumn he absented himself for 
 about a month. On the direction and pur- 
 pose of his periodical journey he remained 
 steadily silent ; but it was well under- 
 stood that he was then in attendance on 
 his unfortunate patron. At length, on his 
 return from one of these visits, his grave 
 countenance, and deep mourning dress, 
 announced to the Ellieslaw family that 
 their benefactor was no more. Sir Ed- 
 ward's death made no addition to their 
 fortune, for he had divested himself of his 
 property during his lifetime, and chiefly 
 in their favour. Ratcliffe, his sole confi- 
 dant, died at a good old age, but without 
 ever naming the place to which his mas- 
 ter had finally retired, or the manner of 
 his death, or the place of his burial. It 
 was supposed that on all these particulars 
 his patron had enjoined him strict secrecy. 
 The sudden disappearance of Elshie 
 from his extraordinary hermitage corro- 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 362 TALES OF Mr LANDLORD. 
 
 borated the reports which the common 
 people had spread concerning him. Many 
 believed that, having ventured to enter a 
 consecrated building, contrary to his pac- 
 tion with the Evil One, he had been bodi- 
 ly carried off while on his return to his 
 cottage ; but most are of opinion that he 
 only disappeared for a season, and conti- 
 nues to be seen from time to time among 
 the hills. And retaining, according to 
 custom, a more vivid recollection of his 
 wild and desperate language, than of the 
 benevolent tendency of most of his ac- 
 tions, he is usually identified with the ma- 
 lignant daemon called the Man of the 
 Moors, whose feats were quoted by Mrs 
 Elliot to her grandsons ; and, accordingly, 
 is generally represented as bewitching the 
 sheep, causing the ewes to keb, that is, to 
 cast their lambs, or seen loosening the im- 
 pending wreath of snow to precipitate its 
 weight on such as take shelter, during the 
 storm, beneath the bank of a torrent, or 
 
 10
 
 THE BLACK DWARF. 363 
 
 under the shelter of a steep glen. In short, 
 the evils most dreaded and deprecated by 
 the inhabitants of that pastoral country, 
 are ascribed to the agency of the Black 
 Dwarf. 
 
 END OF VOLUME FIRST. 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.
 
 jm.m