¥^ »^ ^j!i LIB RAR.Y OF THE U N 1VER.SITY Of ILLINOIS Sc auY MANNERING. obtained, were neither very reconcileablc to each other, nor accurate in the informa- tion which they afforded. Kippletringaii was distant at first, ** cigay bit,'' Then the ^^ gay bit'' was more accurately described, as *' aiblins three miles j'* then the " three rniles'' diminished into ^' like a mile and a lit tock ;" then extended themselves into *^Jb2ir miles or there axica ;" and, lastly, a fe- male voice having hushed a wailing in- fant which the spokeswoman carried in her arms, assured Guy Mannering, ** It was a weary lang gait yet to Kippletrin- gan, and unco heavy road for foot passen- gers." The poor hack upon which Manner- ing was mounted was probably of opinion that it suited him as ill as the female re- spondent ; he began to flag very much, an- swered each application of the spur with a groan, and stumbled at every stone (and they were not few) which lay in his road. Mannering now grew impatient. He was occasionally betrayed into a deceitful hope, that the end of his journey was near, GUY MANNERING^ 7^ by the apparition of a twinkling light or two ; but, as he came up, he was disap- pointed to find the gleams proceeded from some of those farm-houses which occasi- onally ornamented the surface of the ex- tensive bog. At length, to compleat his perplexity, he arrived at a place where the road divided into two. If there had been light to consult the reliques of a finger-post which stood there, it would have been of little avail, as, according to the good cus- tom of North-Britain, the inscription had been defaced shortly after its erection. Our adventurer was therefore compelled, like a knight-errant of old, to trust to the saga- city of his horse, which, without any de- mur, chose the left-hand path, and seemed to proceed at a somewhat livelier pace than formerly, affording thereby a hope that he knew he was drawing near to his quarters for the evening. This hope was not speedily accomplished, and Manner* ing, whose impatience made every furlong ^eem three, began to think that Kipple- tringan was actually retreating before him in proportion to his advance. It was now very cloudy, although the stars, from time to time, shed a twinkling and uncertain light. Hitherto nothing had broken the silence around him, but the deep cry of the bog-biitter, or bull-of-the- bog, a large species of bittern ; and the sighs of the wind as it passed along the dreary morass. To these was now joined the distant roar of the ocean, towards which the traveller seemed to be fast ap- proaching. This was no circumstance to inake his mind easy. Many of the roads in that country lay along the sea-beach, and were liable to be flooded by the tides, which rise with great height, and advance with extreme rapidity. Others were in- tersected with creeks, and small inlets, which it v/as only safe to pass at particu- lar times of the tide. Neither circumstance would have suited a dark night, a fatigued horse, and a traveller ignorant of his road. Mannering resolved, therefore, definitive- CUY MANNEItlNG. § ]y, to halt for the night at the first inhabit* ed place, however poor, he might chance to reach, unless he could procure a guide to this unlucky village of Kippletringan. A miserable hut gave him an opportu- nity to execute his purpose. He found out the door with no small difficulty, and for sometime knocked without producing any other answer than a duett between a female and a cur-dog, the latter yelping as if he would have barked his heart out, the other screaming in chorus. By degrees the human tones predominated; but the angry bark of the cur being at the instant changed into a howl, it is probable some- thing more than fair strength of lungs had contributed to the ascendancy. '* Sorrow be in your thrapple than V* these were the first articulate words, ^' will ye no let me hear what the man wants, wi' your yaffing ?'' " Am I far from Kippletringan, g^>cd dame ?" 10 GUY MANNERIN«. '^ Frae Kippletringan ! ! !" in an exalted tone of wonder, which we can but faintly express by three points of admiration, " Ow, man ! ye should hae hadden easel to Kippletringan — ye maun gae back as far as the Whaap, and haud the Whaap till ye come to Ballenloan, and then" '' This will never do, good dame ! my horse is almost quite set up— can you not give me a night's lodgings ?' " Troth can I no — I am a lone woman, for James he's awa to Drumshourloch fair with the year-aulds, and I darena for my life open the door to ony of your gang- there- out sort o' bodies." — " But what must I do then, good dame? for I can't sleep here upon the road all night r" ** Troth, I ken na, unless ye like to gae down andspeer for quarters at the Place. I*se warrant they'll take ye in, whether ye be gentle or semple.'' " Simple enough, to be wandering here at such a time of night," thought Manner- GUY MANNERING* J 1 ing, who was ignorant of the meaning of the phrase, " but how shall I get to the placcy as you call it ?" " Ye maun haud wessel by the end o' the loan, and take tent o' the jaw-hole." *' O, if you get to easeldinA xicessel again, I am undone ! — Is there nobody that could guide me to this place P I will pay him handsomely." The word pay operated like magic. ^* Jock, ye villain," exclaimed the voice from the interior, *^ are ye lying routing there, and a young gentleman seeking the way to the Place ? Get up, ye fause loon, and shew him the way down the meikle loaning. — He'll shew you the way, sir, and Tse warrant ye'U be weel put up ; for they never turn awa' naebody frae the door ; and ye'U be come in the canny mo- ment I'm thinking, for the laird's servant — that's no to say his body-servant, but the helper like — rade express by this e'en to fetch the houdie, and he just staid the drinking o' twa pints o' tippeny, to tell us how my leddy was ta'en wi' her pains." 12 GUY MANNERING. *' Perhaps," said Mannering, *^ at such a time a stranger's arrival might be incon- venient ?" " Hout, na, ye needna be blate about that ; their house is muckle eneugh, and decking time's aye canty time." By this time Jock had found his way into all the intricacies of a tattered dou- blet, and more tattered pair of breeches, and sallied forth, a great white-headed, bare-legged, lubberly boy of twelve years old, so exhibited by the glimpse of a rush- light, wliich his half-naked mother held in such a manner as to get a peep at the stranger, without greatly exposing herself to view in return. Jock moved on west* ward, by the end of the house, leading Man- nering s horse by the bridle, and piloting, with some dexterity, along the little path which bordered the formidable jaw-hole, whose vicinity the stranger was made sen- sible of by means of more organs than one. His guide then dragged the weary hack along a broken and stony cart-track, next GUY MANXERING* 13 over a ploughed field, then broke down a slap^ as he called it, in a dry stone fence, and lugged the unresisting animal through the breach, about a rood of the simple mason- ry giving way in the splutter with which he passed. Finally, he led the way, through a wicket, into something which had still the air of an avenue, though many of the trees were felled. The roar of the ocean was now near and full, and the moon, which began to make her appearance, gleamed on a turreted and apparently a ruined mansion, of considerable extent. Mannering fixed his eyes upon it with a disconsolate sensation. ** Vv^hy, my little fellow, this is a ruin, not a house r'' '^ Ah, but the lairds lived there lang- syne — that's EUengowan Auld Place ; there's a hantle bogles about it — but ye needna be feared — I never saw ony my sell, and we're just at the door of the New Place." Accordingly, leaving the ruins on the 14 eVY MANNERING. right, a few steps brought the traveller in front of a small modern house, at which his guide rapped with great importance. Mannering told his circumstances to the servant; and the gentleman of the house, who heard his tale from the parlour, step- ped forward, and welcomed the stranger hospitably to Ellengowan. The boy, made happy with half-a-crown, was dismissed to his cottage, the weary horse was conduct- ed to a stall, and Mannering found him- self in a few minutes seated by a comfort- able supper, to which his cold ride gave him a hearty appetite. GUY MANNERINe. 15 CHAPTER n. — — Comes me cranking in, And cuts me from the best of all my land, A hnge half-moon,'a monstrous cantle out. Henry Fourth, Part L The company in the parlour at Ellan- gowan, consisted of the Laird himself, and a sort of person who might be the village schoolmaster, or perhaps the minister's as- sistant; his appearance was too shabby to indicate the minister, considering he was on a visit to the Laird. The Laird himself was one of those se- cond-rate sort of persons, that are to be found frequently in rural situations. Field- ing has described one class as feras con- mmere nati ; but the love of field-sports in- dicates a certain activity of mind, which had forsaken Mr Bertram, if he ever pos- 3 25 GUY MANNERING, sessed it. A good-humoured listlessness of countenance formed the only remark- able expression of his features, although they were ratlier handsome than otherwise. In fact, his physiognomy t:«cpressed the in- anity of character which pervaded his life* I will give the reader some insight into his state and conversation, before he has finished a long lecture to IMannering, upon the propriety and comfort of wrapping his stirrup-irons round with a wisp of straw, when he had occasion to ride in a chill evening. Godfrey Bertram, of Ellangowan, suc- ceeded to a long pedigree and a short rent-roll, like many lairds of that period. His list of forefathers ascended so high, that they were lost in the barbarous ages of Galwegian independence; so that his genealogical-tree, besides the christian and crusading names of Godfreys, and Gilberts, and Dennis's, and Rol?.nds, with- out end, bore heathen fruit of yet darker ages, — Arths, and Knarths, and Dona- CUY MANNERING^ \7 gilds, and Hanlons. In truth, they had been formerly the stormy chiefs of a de- sart, but extensive domain, and the heads cf a numerous tribe, called Mac-Dinga- waie, though they afterwards adopted the Norman surname of Bertram. They had made war, raised rebellions, been defeat- ed, beheaded, and hanged, as became a fa- mily of importance, for many centuries. But they had gradually lost ground in the world, and, from being themselves the heads cf treason and traitorous conspira- cies, the Bertrams, or Mac-Dingawaies of Ellangowan, had sunk into subordinate accomplices. Their most fatal exhibitions in this capacity took place in the seven- teenth century, when the foul fiend pos- sessed them Avith a spirit of contradiction v/hich uniformly involved them in contro- versy with the ruling powers. They re- versed the conduct of the celebrated vi- car of Bray, and adhered as tenaciously to the weaker side, as that worthy divine to o IS GUY MANNERING* the stronger. And truly, like him, they had their reward. Allan Bertram of Ellangowan, who flou- rished tempore CaroU prhni, was, says my authority, Sir Robert Douglas, in his Scot- tish Baronage, (see the title Ellangowan,) " a steady loyalist, and full of zeal for. the cause of his sacred majesty, in which he united with the great Marquis of Mon- trose, and other truly zealous and honour- able patriots, and sustained great losses itt that behalf. He had the honour of knight- hood conferred upon him by his most sa- cred majesty, and was sequestrated as a malignant by the parliament, 1642, and afterward as a resolutioner, in the year 16 iS." — These two cross-grained epithets of malignant and resolutioner cost poor Sir Allan one half of the family estate. His son Dennis Bertram married a daughter of an eminent fanatic, who had a seat in the council of state, and saved by that uni- on the remainder of the family property. But, as ill chance would have it, he became I w'mdows on each side, and a door in tlie 521 eUV MANNERIN©. midst, full of all manner of cross lights. This was the New Place of Ellangowan, in which we left our hero, better amused, perhaps, than our readers, and to this Lewis Bertram retreated, full of projects for re-establishing the prosperity of his family. He took some land into his own hand, rented some from neighbouring pro- prietors, bought and sold Highland cattle and Cheviot sheep, rode to fairs and trysts, fought hard bargains, and held necessity at the staff's end as well as he might. But what he gained in purse he lost in honour, for such agricultural and commercial ne- gociations were very ill looked upon by his brother lairds, who minded nothing but cock-fighting, hunting, coursing, and horse-racing. These occupations encroach- ed, in their opinion, upon the article of El- langowan*s gentry, and he found it neces- sary gradually to estrange himself from their society, and sink into what was then a very ambiguous character, a gentleman farmer. In the midst of his schemes death eUY MANNERINO. 23 claimed his tribute, and the scanty remains of a large property descended upon God- frey Bertram, the present possessor, his only son. The danger of the father's speculations was soon seen. Deprived of his personal and active superintendance, all his under- takings miscarried, and became either abor- tive or perilous. Without a single spark of energy to meet or repel these misfor- tunes, Godfrey put his faith in the acti- vity of another. He kept neither hunters, nor hounds, nor any other southern preli- minaries to ruin ; but, as has been ob- served of his countrymen, he kept a man of hushiess^ who answered the purpose equally well. Under this gentleman*s supervision small debts grew into large, interests were accumulated upon capitals, moveable bonds became heritable, and law charges were heaped upon all ; though EUangowan possessed so little the spirit of a litigant, that he was upon two occa- ^4 CiUY MANXERING. sioiis charged to make payment of the ex- pences of a long litigation, although he had never before heard that he had such cases in court. Meanwhile his neigh- bours predicted his final ruin. Those of the higher rank, with some malignity, account- ed him already a degraded brother. The lower classes, seeing nothing enviable in his situation, marked his embarrassments with more compassion. He was even a kind of favourite with them, and upon the division of a common, or the holdhig of a black-fishing, or poaching court, or any similar occasion, v/hen they conceived themselves oppressed by the gentry, they were in the habit of saying to each other, " Ah, if EUangowan, honest man, had his ain that his forebears had afore him, he wad na see the puir folk trodden down this gait." Meanwhile, this general good opinion never prevented their taking the advantage of him on all possible occasions, turning their cattle into his parks, stealing GUY MANNERING. 25 his wood, shooting his game, and so forth, '* for the laird, honest man, he'll never find it, — he never minds what a puir body does." — Pedlars, gypsies, tinkers, vagrants of all descriptions, roosted about his out- houses, or harboured in his kitchen, and the laird, who was *' nae nice body," but a thorough gossi p, like most weak men, found recompence for his hospitality in the plea- sure of questioning them on the news of the country side. A circumstance arrested Ellangowan's progress upon the high road to ruin. This was his marriage with a lady who had a portion of about four thousand pounds. Nobody in the neighbourhood could con- ceive why she married him, and endowed him with her wealth, unless because he had a tall handsome figure, a good set of features, a genteel address, and the most perfect good humour. It might be some additional consideration, that she was her- self at the reflecting age of twenty-eight, VOL. r. B HQ GUy MANNERING. and had no near relations to controul her actions or choice. It was in this lady's behalf (confined for the first time after her marriage) that the speedy and active express, mentioned by the old dame of the cottage, had been dis- patched to Kippletringan on the night of Mannering's arrival. Though we have said so much of the Laird himself, it still remains that we makei the reader in some degree acquainted with his companion. This was Abel Sampson, commonly called, from his occupation, as a pedagogue, Dominie Sampson. He was of lowbirth, but having evinced, even from his cradle, an uncommon seriousness of dispo^ sition, the poor parents were encouraged to hope, that their bair7i, as they express- ed it, " might wag his povv in a pulpit yet." With an ambitious view to such a consummation, they pinched and pared, y rose early and lay down late, eat dry bread and drank cold water, to secure, to Abel the means of learning. IMeantimC; his tall 7 GUV MANNER I NG. CT ungainly figure, his taciturn and grave nianncrs, and some grotesque habits of swinging his hmbs, and screwing his vi- sage while reciting his task, made poor Sampson the ridicule of all his school- companions. The same qualities secured him at college a plentiful share of the same sort of notice. Half the youthful mob " of the yards" used to assemble regularly to see Dominie Sampson, (for he liad already attained that honourable title,) descend the stairs from the Greek class, with his Lexi- con under his arm, his long mis-shapen legs sprawling abroad, and keeping awk- ward time to the play of his immense shoulder-blades, as they raised and de- pressed the loose and threadbare black coat which was his constant and only wear. When he spoke, the efforts of the professor were totally inadequate to re- strain the inextinguishable laughter of the students, and sometimes even to re- press his own. The long sallow visage, the goggle eyes, the huge uuder-jaw, which appeared not to open and shut by 28 GUY MANNERING. an act of volition, but to be dropped and hoisted up again by some complicated ma- chinery within the inner man, the harsh and dissonant voice, and the screech-owl notes to which it was exalted when he was ex- horted to pronounce more distinctly, all added fresh subject for mirth to the torn- cloak and shattered shoe, which have afforded legitimate subjects of raillery against the poor scholar from Juvenal's time downward. It was never known that Sampson either exhibited irritability at this ill usage, or made the least attempt to retort upon his tormentors. He slunk from college by the most secret paths he could discover, and plunged himself into his miserable lodging, where, for eighteen- pencc a-week, he was allowed the benefit of a straw mattress, and, if his landlady was in good humour, permission to study his task by her fire. Under all these dis- advantages, he obtained a competent know- ledge of Greek and Latin, and some ac- quaintance with the sciences, 10 GUY HANNERING. SQ In progress of time, Abel Sampson, pro- bationer of divinity, was admitted to the privileges of a preacher. But, alas ! partly from his own bashfulness, partly owing to a strong disposition to risibility which per- vaded the congregation upon his first at- tempt, he became totally incapable of pro- ceeding in his intended discourse, gasped, grinned, hideously rolled his eyes till the congregation thought them flying out of his head, shut the Bible, stumbled down the pulpit-stairs, trampling upon the old women who generally take their station there, and was ever after designated as a " stickit minister." And thus he wander- ed back to his own country, with blighted hopes and prospects, to share the poverty of his parents. As he had neither friend nor confidant, hardly even an acquaintance, no one had the means of observing closely, how Dominie Sampson bore a disappoint- ment which supplied the whole town where it happened with a week's sports 30 GUY MANNERTNfJ. It would be endless even to mention tlie numerous jokes to which it gave birth, from a ballad, called '' Sampson's Riddle," written upon the subject bj^a smart young student of humanity, to the sly hope of the principal, that the fugitive had not taken the college gates along with him in his retreat. To all appearance the equanimity of Sampson v/as unshaken. He souglit to assist his parents by teaching a school, and soon had plenty of scholars, but very few fees. In fact, he taught the sons of farmers for what they chose to give him, and the poor for nothing; and, to the sliame of the former be it spoken, the pe- dagogue's gains never equalled those of a skilful ploughman. He wrote, however, a good hand, and added something to his pittance by copying accounts and writing letters for Ellangowan. By degrees, the Laird, who was much estranged from gene- ral society, became partial to that of Do- GUY MANNERING. 31 minle Sampson. Conversation, it is true, was out of the question, but the Dominie was a good listener, and stirred the fire with some address. He attempted also to snufF the candles, but was unsuccessful, and relinquished that ambitious post of courtesy after having twice reduced the parlour to total darkness. So his civilities, in future, were confined to taking off his glass of ale in exactly the same time and measure with the Laird, and in utter- ing certain indistinct murmurs of acquies- cence at the conclusion of the long and winding stories of Ellangowan. Upon one of these occasions, he pre- sented for the first time to Mannering his tall, gaunt, awkward, boney figure, atti- red in a threadbare suit of black, with a coloured handkerchief, not over clean, about his sinewy, scraggy neck, and his nether person arrayed in grey breeches, dark-blue stockings, clouted shoes, and small copper buckles, 32 GUY MANNERING. Such is a brief outline of the lives and fortunes of those two persons, in whose society Mannering now found himself comfortably seated. GUy MANNERING. 33 CHAPTER IIL Do not the histories of all ages Relate miraculous presages, Of strange turns in the world's affairs, Foreseen by astrologers, sooth-sayers, Chaldeans, learned Genetbliacs, And some that have writ ahnanacks ? HUDIBRAS. The circumstances of the landlady were pleaded to Mannering, first, as an apology for her not appearing to welcome her guest, and for those deficiencies in his entertain- ment which her attention might have sup- plied, and then as au excuse for pressing an extra bottle of good wine. " I cannot well sleep," said the Laird, with the anxious feelings of a father in such a predicament, ** till 1 hear she's got- ten ower with it — and if you, sir, are not very sleepry, and would do me and the Dominie the honour to sit up wi* us, I am sure we will not detain you very late. B 2 34 GUY MANNERING. Luckie Howatson is very expeditious ;— there was ance a lass that was in that way. — she did not live far from hereabouts — ye need na shake your head and groan. Dominie — I am sure the kirk dues were all well paid, and what can a man do more r — it was laid till her ere she had on a sark ower her head ; and the man that she since wad- ded does not think her a pin the worse for the misfortune. — They live, Mr Manner- ing, by the shore-side, at Annan, and a more decent orderly couple, with six as fme bairns as you would wish to see plash in a salt-water duh; and little eurlie God- frey — that's the eldest, the come o' will, as I may say — he's on board an excise yacht — I hae a cousin at the board of excise, that's Commissioner Bertram ; he got his commissionership in the great contest for the county, that ye must have heard of, for it was appealed to the House of Com- mons — now I should have voted there for the Laird of Balruddery ; but ye see my father was a Jacobite, and out whh Ken- more, so he never took the oaths ; and I GUY MANNERING. 35 ken not well how it was, but all that I could do and say they keepit me off the roll, though my agent, that had a vote upon my estate, ranked as a good vote for auld Sir Thomas Kittlecourt. But, to re- turn to what I was saying, Luckie HowaN son is very expeditious, for this lass" Here the desultory and long narrative of the Laird of Ellangowan was interrupt- ed by the voice of some one ascending the stairs from the kitchen story, and singing at full pitch of voice. The high notes were too shrill for a man, the low seemed too deep for a woman. The words, as far as Mannering could distinguish them, seem- ed to run thus : Canny moment, lucky fit; Is the lady lighter yet ? Be it lad, or be it lass, Sign wi' cross, and sain wi' mass. " It's Meg Merrilies, the gypsie, as sure as I am a sinner," said Mr Bertram. The S6 GUY MANNERING. Dominie groaned deeply, uncrossed his legs, drew. in the huge splay foot which his former posture had extended, placed it perpendicular, and stretched the other limb over it instead, puffing out between whiles huge volumes of tobacco smoke. *^ What needs ye groan, Dominie? I am sure Meg's sangs do nae harm." " Nor good neither," answered Domi- nie Sampson, in a voice whose untuneable harshness corresponded with the awkward- ness of his figure. They were the first words which Mannering had heard him speak ; and as he had been watching, with some curiosity, when this eating, drink- ing, moving, and smoking automaton would perform the part of speaking, he was a good deal diverted with the harsh timber tones which issued from him. But at this moment the door opened, and Meg Merrilies entered. Her appearance made Mannering start. She was full six feet high, wore a man's «[reat-coat over the rest of her dress, had GLY MAKNERING. 37 in her hand a goodly sloe-thorn cudgel, and in all points of equipment; except her petticoats, seemed rather masculine than feminine. Her dark elf-locks shot out like the snakes of the gorgon, between an old-fashioned bonnet called a Bongrace, heightening the singular effect of her strong and weather-beaten features, which they partly shadowed, while her eye had a wild roll that indicated something like real or affected insanity. *' Aweel, Ellangowan," she said, " wad it no hae been a bonnie thing, an the led- dy had been brought-to-bed, and me at the fair o* Drumshourloch, no kenning nor dreaming a word about it r Wha was to hae keepit awa the worriecows, I trow ? Aye, and the elves and gyre carlings frae the bonny bairn, grace be wi' it ? Aye, or said Saint Colmes charm for its sake, the dear?" And without waiting an answer she begun to sing — Trefoil, vervain, John*s-wort, dil|jw Hinders witches of their will ; 38 GUY MANNERING, Weel is them, that weel may Fast upon St Andrew's day. Saint Bride and her brat, Saint Colme and her cat, Saint Michael and his spear, Keep the house frae reif and weir. This charm she sung to a wild tune, in a high and shrill voice, and, cutting three capers with such strength and agility as almost to touch the roof of the room, con- cluded, *' And now, Laird, will ye no or- der me a tass o' brandy ?'* " That you shall have, Meg — Sit down yont there at the door, and lell us what news ye have heard at the fair o' Drum- shourloch/' *' Troth, Laird, and there w^as muckl€ want o' you, and the like o' you ; for there was a whin bonnie lasses there, forbye niy- sell, and deil ane to gie them hansels." *' Weel, Meg, and how mony gypsies were sent to the tolbooth ?" " Troth;^ but three, Laird, for there were GUY MANNERING. 39 nae mair in the fair, bye mysell as I said before, and I e'en gae them leg bail, for there's nae ease in deahng with quarrel- some folk, — And there's Dunboghas warn- ed the Red Rotten and John Youns: aff his grounds — black be his cast ! he's nae gentleman, nor drap's bluid o' gentleman, wad grudge twa gangrel puir bodies the shelter o' a waste house, and the thristles by the road side for a bit cuddy, and the bits o' rotten birk to boil their drap par- ridge wi'. Weel, there's ane abune a' — but we'll see if the red cock cravv not in his bonnie barn-yard ae morning before day dawing." ^' Hush ! Meg, hush ! hush ! that's not safe talk—" " What does she mean ?" said Manner- ing to Sampson in an under tone. *' Fire-raising," answered the laconic Dominie. *' Who, or what is she, in the name of wonder ?" 40 GliY MANNERIN€^» *' Harlot, thief, witch, and gypsey," an- swered Sampson again. " O troth, Laird,'* continued Meg, du- ring this bye-talk, ** it's but to the like o' you ane can open their heart; ye see, they say Dunbog is nae mair a gentleman than the blunker that's biggit the bonnie house down in the howm. But the like o' you, Laird, that's a real gentleman for sae mony hundred years, and never hounds puir folk off your ground as if they were mad tykes, nane o' our fowk wad stir your gear if ye had as mony capons as there's leaves on the trysting-tree. — And now some o' ye maun lay down your watch, and tell me the very minute o' the hour the wean's born, and I'll spae its fortune." ** Aye, but, Meg, we shall not want your assistance, for here's a student from Oxford that knows much better than you how to spae his fortune — he does it by the stars." ** Certainly, sir," said Mannering, enter- ing into the simple humour of his land- GUY MANNERING. 41 lord, *' I will calculate his nativity accord- ing to the rule of the Triplicities, as re- commended by Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Diodes, and Avicenna. Or I will begin ah hora questionis^ as Haly, IMessahala, Ganwehis, and Guido Bonatus, have re- commended." . One of Sampson's great recommenda- tions to the favour of Mr Bertram was, that heneverdetected the most gross attemptat imposition, so that the Laird, whose hum- ble efforts at jocularity were chiefly con- fined to what was then called hites and bams^ since denominated hoaa:es and quizzes, had the fairest possible subject of wit in the unsuspecting Dominie. It is true, he ne- ver laughed, or joined in the laugh which his own simplicity afforded — nay it is said, he never laughed but once in his life, and upon that memorable occasion his land- lady miscarried, partly through surprise at the event itself, and partly from terror at the hideous grimaces which attended this unusual cachinnation. The only effect 42 GUY MANNERING'. which the discovery of such impositions produced upon this saturnine personage was, to extort an ejaculation of *' Prodi- gious !" or '^ Very facetious !'' pronounced syllabically, but without moving a mus- cle of his own countenance. Upon this occasion, he turned a gaunt and ghastly stare upon the youthful as- trologer, and seemed to doubt if he had rightly understood his answer to his pa- tron. " I am afraid, sir,*' said Mannering, turn- ing towards him, '* you may be one of those unhappy persons, whose dim eyes being unable to penetrate the starry spheres, and to discern therein the decrees of heaven at a distance, have their hearts barred against conviction by prejudice and misprision." *^ Truly," said Sampson, '^ I opine with Sir Isaac Newton, Knight, and umwhile master of his majesty's mint, that the (pre- tended) science of astrology is altogether vain, frivolous, and unsatisfactory." And here he reposed his oracular jaws. €UY MANNERINO. . 43 *^ Really," resumed the traveller, '* I am sorry to see a gentleman of your learning and gravity labouring under such strange blindness and delusion. Will you place the brief, the modern, and, as I may say, the yernacular name of Isaac Newton in opposition to the grave and sonorous au- thorities of Dariot, Bonatus, Ptolemy, Ha- ly, Eztler, Dietirick, Naibod, Harfurt, Zael, Taustettor, Agrippa, Duretus, Maginus, Origen, and Argol ? Do not Christians and Heathens, and Jews and Gentiles, and poets and philosophers, unite in allowing the starry influences ?'* ** Communis error — it is a general mistake," answered the inflexible Dominie Sampson. ** Not so,'* replied the young English- man, '' it is a general and well-grounded belief." *' It is the resource of cheaters, knaves, and cozeners," said Sampson, '* Abi4sm 7X071 iollit nmm. The abuse of 44 GUY MANNERING. any thing doth not abrogate the lawful use thereof." During this discussion, Ellangowan was somewhat like a woodcock caught in his own springe. He turned his face alter- nately from the one spokesman to the other, and began, from the gravity with which Mannering plied his adversary, and the learning which he displayed in the controversy, to give him credit for being half serious. As for Meg, she fixed her bewildered eyes upon the astrologer, over- powered by a jargon more mysterious than her own. Mannering pressed his advantage, and ran over all the hard terms of art ^vhich a tenacious memory supplied, .and which, from circumstances hereafter to be noticed, had been familiar to him in early youth. Signs and planets, in aspects sextile, quartile, trine, conjoined or opposite; houses of heaven, with their cusps, hours, and minutes ; Almuten, Almochoden, An- GUY MANNERING. 45 ahibazon, Catahibazon ; a thousand terms of equal sound and significance, poured thick and threefold upon the unshrinking Dominie, whose stubborn incredulity bore him out agains^t the pelting of this pitiless storm. At length, the joyful annunciation that the lady had presented her husband with a fine boy, and was (of course) as well as could be expected, broke off this inter- course. Mr Bertram hastened to the lady's apartment, MegMerrilies descended to the kitchen to secure her share of the *'' srroan- ing malt," and Mannering, after looking his watch, and noting, with great minute- ness, the hour and minute of the birth, re- quested, with becoming gravity, that the Dominie would conduct him to some place where he might have a view of the hea- venly bodies. The schoolmaster, without further an- swer, rose and threw open a door half sashed with glass, which led to an old- fashioned terrace-walk behind the modern 4S GUY MANNERIN6. house, communicating with the platform on which the ruins of the ancient castle were situated. The wind had arisen, and swept hefore it the clouds which had formerly obscured the sky. The moon was high, and at full, and all the lesser satellites of heaven shone forth in cloud- less effulgence. The scene which their light presented to Mannering was in the highest degree unexpected and striking. We have observed, that in the latter part of his journey our traveller approach- ed the sea-shore, without being aware how nearly. He now perceived that the ruins of Ellangowan castle were situated upon a promontory, or projection of rock, which formed one side of a small and placid bay on the sea-shore. The modern mansion was situated lower, though closely adjoin- ing, and the ground behind it descended to the sea by a small swelling green bank, divided into levels by natural terraces, on which grew some old trees, and termina- ting upon the white sand. The other side our MANNERINft. 4^ of the bay, opposite to the old castle, was a sloping and varied promontory, covered chiefly with copsevvood, which on that fa- voured coast grows almost within water- mark. A fisherman's cottage peeped from among the trees. Even at this dead hour of night there were lights moving upon the shore, probably occasioned by the un- loading a smuggling lugger from the Isle of Man, which was lying in the bay. On the light being observed from the sashed door of the house, a halloo from the vessel of *' Ware-hawk ! Douse the glim !" alarm- ed those who were on shore, and the lights instantly disappeared. It was one hour after midnight, and the prospect around was lovely. The grey old towers of the ruin, partly entire, part- ly broken, here bearing the rusty wea- ther-stains of ages, and there partially mantled with ivy, stretched along the verge of the dark rock which rose on Manner! ng's right hand. In his front was 48 GUY MANNERING. the quiet bay, whose little waves, crisping and sparkling to the moon-beams, rolled successively along its surface, and dashed with a soft and murmuring ripple against the silvery beach. To the left the woods advanced far into the ocean, waving in the moonlight along ground of an un- dulating and varied form, and presenting those varieties of light and shade, and that interesting combination of glade and thick- et, upon which the eye delights to rest, charmed with what it sees, yet curious to pierce still deeper into the intricacies of the woodland scenery. Above rolled the planets, each, by its own liquid orbit of hght, distinguished from the inferior or more distant stars. So strangely can ima- gination deceive even those by whose volition it has been excited, that Man- nering, while gazing upon these brilliant bodies, was half inclined to believe in the influence ascribed to them by superstition over human events. But Mannering was eUY MANNERING. 49 a youthful lover, and might perhaps be influenced by the feelings so exquisitely expressed by a modern poet : '* For fable is Love's world, his home, his birth-place : Delightedly dwells he 'mong fays and talismans, And spirits, and delightedly believes Divinities, being himself divine. The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty. That had their haunis in dale, or piny mountains. Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and wat'ry depths ; all the^e have vanished. They live no longer in the faith of reason ! But still the heart doth need a language, still Doth the old instinct bring back the old names. And to yon starry world they now are gone. Spirits or gods, that used to share this earth With man as with their friend, and to the lover Yonder they move, from yonder visible sky Shoot influence down : and even at this day 'Tis Jupiter who brings whatever is great. And Venus who brings every thing that's fair,'* Such musings soon gave \yay to others, VOL, I, c 50 GUY MANN ERIN 6/ '^ Alas !" he thought, " my good old tutor, who used to enter so deep into the contro- versy between Heydon and Chambers on tlie subject of astrology, he would have look- ed upon this scene with other eyes, and would have seriously endeavoured to dis- cover from the respective position of these lominaries their probable effects upon the destiny of the new-born infant, as if the courses or emanations of the stars super- seded, or, at least, were co-ordinate with Divine Providence. Well, rest be with him 1 he instilled into me enough of know- ledge for erecting a scheme of nativity, and therefore will I presently go about it.** So saying, and having noted the position of the principal planetary bodies, Guy Mannering returned to the house. The Laird met him in the parlour, and, ac- quainting him, with great glee, that he was the father of a healthy boy, seemed rather disposed to press further convivia- lity. He adniitted, however, Mannerings 6UY MANNERING, plea of weariness, and conducting him to his sleeping apartment, left him to repose for the evening. $2 GUY MANNERING. CHAPTER IV. Come and see ! trust thine own eyes, A fearful sign stands in the house of life, An enemy ; a fiend lurks close beiiind The radiance of thy planet — O be warned. Coleridge, from Schiller. The belief in astrology was almost uni- versal in the middle of the seventeenth century ; it began to waver and become doubtful towards the close of that period, and in the beginning of the eighteenth the art fell into general disrepute, and even under general ridicule. Yet it still had its partizans even in the seats of learning. Grave and studious men were loth to re- linquish the calculations which had early become the principal objects of their stu- dies, and felt reluctant to descend from the predominating height to which a supposed insight into futurity, by the power of con- 10 GUy MAis^NERlNO. 55 suiting abstract influences and conjunc- tions, had exalted them over the rest of mankind. Among those who cherished this ima- ginary privilege with undoubting faith, was an old clergyman, with whom Man- nering vv^as placed during his youth. He wasted his eyes in observing the stars, and his brains in calculations upon their Various combinations. His pupil, in early youth, naturally caught some portion of his enthusiasm, and laboured for a time to make himself master of the technical pro- cess of astrological research ; so that, be- fore he became convinced of its absurdity, William Lilly himself would have allowed him "a curious fancy and piercing judg- ment upon resolving a question of nati- vity." Upon the present occasion, he arose as early in the morning as the shortness of the day permitted, and proceeded to cal- culate the nativity of the young heir of EUangowan. He undertook the task sc* d4 GUY mannering, cundum artem, as well to keep up appear- ances, as from a sort of curiosity to know whether he yet remembered, and could practise, the imaginary science. He accord- ingly erected his scheme, or figure of hea- ven, divided into its twelve houses, placed the planets therein according to the Ephe- meris, and rectified their position to the Lour and moment of the nativity. With- out troubling our readers with the general prognostications which judicial astrology would have inferred from these circum- stances, in this diagram there was one sig- nificator, which pressed remarkably upon our astrologer's attention. Mars having dignity in the cusp of the twelfth house, threatened captivity, or sudden and vio- lent death, to the native ; and Mannering, having recourse to those further rules by which diviners pretended to ascertain the vehemency of this evil direction, ob- served, from the result, that three pe- riods would be particularly hazardous — his^/?/?Z»— his tenth-A.\\% ixventy-fir^t year. GUY MANNEftlNG. 55 It was somewhat remarkabLe, that Man- iiering had once before tried a similar piece of foolery, at the instance of Sophia Weil wood, the young lady to whom he was attached,' and that a similar conjunc- tion of planetary influence threatened her with death, or imprisonment, in her thir- ty-ninth year. She was at this time eigh- teen ; so that, according to the result of the scheme in both cases, the same year threatened her with the same misfortune that was presaged to the native or infant, whom that night had introduced into the world. Struck with this coincidence, Mannering repeated his calculations ; and the result approximated the events pre- dicted, until, at length, the same month, and day of the month, seemed assigned as the period of peril to both. It will be readily believed, that, in men- tioning this circumstance, we lay no weight whatever upon the pretended information thus conveyed. But it often happens, such is our natural love for the inarvcllous, 66 GUY MANNERING. that we willina^ly contribute our own ef- forts to beguile our better judgments. Whether the coincidence which I have mentioned was really one of those singu- 'lar chances, which sometimes happen against all ordinary calculations ; or whe- ther Mannering, bewildered amid the arithmetical labyrinth and technical jar- gon of astrology, had insensibly twice fol- lowed the same clue to guide him out of the maze; or whether his imagination, seduced by some point of apparent resem- blance, lent its aid to make the similitude between the two operations more exactly accurate than it might otherwise have been, it is impossible to guess ; but the impression upon his mind, that the results exactly corresponded, was vividly and in- delibly strong. He could not help feeling surprise at a coincidence so singular and unexpected. *' Does the devil mingle in the dance, to avenge himself for our trifling with an art said to be of magical origin ? Or is it GUY MANNERING. 67 possible, as Bacon and Sir Thomas Browne admit, that there is some truth in a sober and regulated astrology, and that the in- fluence of the stars is not to be denied, though the due application of it, by the- knaves who pretend to practise the art, is greatly to be suspected ?" — A moment's consideration of the subject induced him to dismiss this opinion as fantastical, and only sanctioned by these learned men, ei- ther because they durst not at once shock the universal prejudices of their age, or be- cause they themselves were not altogether freed from the contagious influence of a prevailing superstition. Yet the result of his calculations in these two instances left so unpleasing an impression upon his mind, that, like Prospero, he mentally relin- quished his art, and resolved, neither in jest nor earnest, again to practise judicial astrology. He hesitated a good deal, what he should say to the Laird of Ellangowan, concern- ing the horoscope of his first-born ; and, c 2 'SS GUY MAKNERING. at length, resolved plainly to tell him the judgment which he had formed, at the same time acquainting him with the futi- lity of the rules of art on which he had proceeded. With this resolution he walk- ed out upon the terrace. If the view of the scene around Ellan- gowan had. heen pleasing by moonlight, it lost none of its beauty by the light of the morning sun. The land, even in the month of November, smiled under its in- fmence. A steep, but regular ascent, led from the terrace to the neighbouring emi- nence, and conducted Mannering to the front of the old castle. It consisted of two massive round towers, projecting, deeply and darkly, before a curtain, or flat wall, which united them, and thus protecting the main entrance that opened through a lofty arch into the inner court of the castle. The arms of the family, carved in freestone,, frowned over the gateway, and the portal shewed the spaces arranged by the architect for lowering the port-cuUis, and raising the GUY MAX^ERING. 59 draw-bridge. A rude farm-gate, made of vouns: fir-trees nailed tosfether, now form- ed the only safeguard of this once formi- dable entrance. The esplanade in front of the castle commanded a noble prospect. The dreary scene of desolation through which Mannering's road had lain on the preceding evening was excluded from the view by some rising grounds, and the land- scape shewed a pleasing alternation of hill and dale, intersected by a river, which was in some places visible, and hidden in others where it rolled betwixt deep and wooded banks. The spire of a church, and tlie ap- pearance of some houses, indicated the si- tuation of a village at the place where the stream had its junction with the ocean. The vales seemed well cultivated, the little en- closures into which they were divided skirt- ing the bottom of the hills, and sometimes carrying their lines of straggling hedge- rows a little way up the ascent. Above these were green pastures, tenanted chiefiy by herds of black cattle, then the staple 60 GUY MANNERING. commodity of the country, whose distant low gave no unpleasing animation to the landscape. The remoter hills were of a sterner character ; and, at still greater dis- tance, swelled in to mountains of darkheath, bordering the horizon with a screen which gave a defined and limited boundary to the cultivated country, and added, at the same time, the pleasing idea, that it was seques- tered and solitary. The sea-coast, which Mannering now saw in its extent, corre- sponded in variety and beauty with the inland view. In some places it rose into tall rocks, frequently crowned with the ruins of old buildings, towers, or beacons, which, according to tradition, were placed within sight of each other, that, in times of invasion or civil war, they might com- municate by signal for mutual defence and protection. Ellangowan castle was by far the most extensive and important of these ruins, and asserted from size and situation the superior! ty which its founders were said GUY MANNERING. • 6l once to have possessed among the chiefs and nobles of the district. In other places, the shore was of a more gentle descrip- tion, indented with small bays, where the land sloped smoothly down, or sent into the sea promontories covered with wood. " A scene so diiFerent from what last night's journey had presaged, produced a proportional eflfect upon Mannering, Be- neath his eye lay the modern house ; an awkward mansion, indeed, in point of architecture, but well situated, and with a warm and pleasant exposure. " How happily," thought our hero, *^ would life glide on in such a retirement ! On the one hand the striking remnants of ancient grandeur, with the secret consciousness of family pride which they inspire; on the other, enough of modern elegance and comfort to satisfy every moderate wish. Here then, and with thee, Sophia !" — We will not pursue a lover's day-dream any farther. Mannering stood a minute 62 GUY MANNERIN*. with his arms folded, and then turned t(f the ruined castle. Upon entering the gateway, he found that the rude magnificence of the inner court amply corresponded with the gran- deur of the exterior. On the one side ran a range of windows lofty and large, divi- ded by carved muUions of stone, which had once lighted the great hall of the castle ; on the other were various buildi- ings of different heights and dates, yet so united as to present to the eye a certain general effect of uniformity of front. The doors and v/indows were ornamented with projections exhibiting rude specimens of sculpture and tracery, partly entire and partly broken down, partly covered by ivy and trailing plants, which grew luxu- riantly among the ruins. That end of the court which faced the entrance had also been formerly closed by a range of build- ings ; but owing, it was said, to its having been battered by the ships of the Parha- ment under Deane, during the long civil GUY MANNERING. 65 war, this part of the castle was much more ruinous than the rest, and exhibited a great chasm, through which Mannering could observe the sea, and the little ves- sel (an armed lugger) which retained her station in the centre of the bay. While Mannering was gazing round the ruins, he heard from the interior of an apart- ment on the left hand the voice of the gypsey he had seen on the preceding even- ing. He soon found an aperture, through which he could observe her without beino* himself visible; and could not help feeling, that her figure, her employment, and her situation, conveyed the exact impression of an ancient s)'bil. She sat upon a broken corner-stone in the angle of a paved apartment, part of which she had swept clean to afford a smooth space for the evolutions of her spindle. A strong sunbeam, through a lof- ty and narrow window, fell upon her wild dress and features, and afforded her lighjj for her occupation ; the rest of the apart- 64 GUY MANNERINGi ment was very gloomy. Equipt in a habit which mingled the national dress of the Scottish common people with something of an eastern costume, she spun a thread, drawn from wool of three different colours, black, white, and grey, by assistance of those ancient implements of housewifery now almost banished from the land, the distaff and spindle. As she spun, she sung what seemed to be a charm, Mannering, after in vain attempting to make himself master of the exact words of her song, afterwards attempted the following para- phrase of ^ what, from a few intelligible phrases, he concluded was its purport : Twist ye, twine ye ! even so Mingle shades of joy and woe, Hope, and fear, and peace, and strife. In the thread of human life. IVhile the mystic twist is spinning. And the infant's life beginning, Dimly seen through twilight bending^ Lo, what varied shapes attending ! CUT MANNtniNG. 6S Passioiis wild, and follies vain, Pleasures soon exchanged for pain ; Doubt, and jealousy, and fear, In the magic dance appear. Now they wax, and now they dwindle, Whirling with the whirling spindle. Twist ye, twine ye ! even so. Mingle human bliss and woe. Ere our translator, or rather our frefe imitator, had arranged these stanzas iti his head, and while he was yet hammering out a rhyme for spindley the task of the sybil was accomplished, or her wool was expended. She took the spindle, now charged with her labours, and, undoing the thread gradually, measured it, by cast- ing it over her Ckbow, and bringing each loop round between her fore finger and thumb. When she had measured it out, she muttered to herself — " A hank, but not ahaill ane — the full years o' the three score and ten, but thrice broken, and 66 GUY MANNERING* thrice to oop, (i. e. unite) ; he'll be a lucky lad an he win through wi't." Our hero was about to speak to the prophetess, when a voice, hoarse as the waves with which it mingled, halloo*d twice, and with increasing impatience — '* Meg, Meg MerriUes ! — Gypsey — hag— tousand deyvils !" " I am comings I am coming, captain,'^* answered Meg, and in a moment or two the impatient Commander whom she ad- dressed made his appearance from the broken part of the ruins. He was apparently a seafaring man, ra- ther under the middle size, and with a countenance bronzed by a thousand con- flicts with the north-east wind. His frame was prodigiously muscular, strong, and thick-set; so that it seemed as if a man of much greater height would have been an inadequate match in any close personal conflict. He was hard-favoured, and, which was worse, his face bore nothing of the rnsoudaiwe, the careless frolicsome jollity GDY MANN BRING. 67 and vacant curiosity of a sailor on shore. These qualities, perhaps, as much as any others, contribute to the high populari- ty of our seamen, and the general good inclination which our society expresses towards them. TJieir gallantry, courage, and hardihood are qualities which excite reverence, and perhaps rather humble pa^ cific landsmen in their presence; and nci* ther respect, n(»r a sense of humiliation,, are feelings easily combined with a fami- liar fondness towards those who inspire them. But the boyish frolics, the exult- ing high spirits, the unreflecting mirth of a sailor when enjoying himself on shore, temper the more formidable points of his character. There was nothing like these in this man*s face ; on the contrary, a sur- ly and even savage scowl appeared to dark- en features which would have been harsh and unpleasant under any expression or modification. *' Where are you, Mother Deyvilson?" said he, with somewhat of a foreign accent, though speaking perfectly 68 GUY MAN JEERING. good English, *^ Donner and blitzen ! we have been staying this half hour—Come, bless the good ship and the voyage, and be cursed to ye, for a hag of Satan 1" At this moment he noticed Mannering, who, from the position which he had taken to watch Meg Merrilies's incantations, had the appearance of some one who was con- cealing himself, being half hidden by the buttress behind which he stood. The cap- tain, for such he stiled himself, made a sudden and startled pause, and thrust his right hand into his bosom between his jacket and waistcoat, as if to draw some weapon. " What cheer, brother? you seem on the outlook — eh ?" Ere Mannering, somewhat struck by the man's gesture and insolent tone of voice, had made any answer, the gypsey emerged from her vault and joined the stranger. He questioned her in an under tone, look- ing at Mannering — " A shark alongside ; ehr She answered in the same tone of under GUY MANNERING. 69 dialogue, using the canting language of her tribe — *'Cut ben whicis, and stQW them— a gentry cove of the ken." The fellow's cloudy visage cleared up, " The top of the morning to you, sir ; I find you are a visitor of niy friend Mr Ber- tram—I beg pardon, but I took you for another sort of a person.*' Mannering replied, *' And you, sir, I presume, are the master of that vessel in the bay r " Aye, aye, sir ; I am Captain Dirk Hatteraick, of the Yungfrauw Hagenslaa- pen, well known on this coast ; I am not ashamed of my name, nor of my vessel, — nor of my cargo neither for that matter." ** I dare say you have no reason, sir." *' Tousend donner — no ; I'm all in the way of fair trade — Just loaded yonder at Douglas, in the Isle of Man — neat coni- ac — real hyson and souchong — Mechlin lace, if you uant any — We bumped ashore a hundred kegs last night.'* '' Really, sir, I am only a traveller, and 70 eUY MANNERIN*. have no sort of occasion for any thing of the kind at present." ** Why, then, good morning to you, for business must be minded— unless ye'll go aboard and take schnaps — you shall have a pouch-full of tea ashore — Dirk Hat- teraick knows how to be civil.'* There was a mixture of impudence, hardihood, and suspicious fear about this man, which was inexpressibly disgusting. His manners were those of a ruffian, con- scious of the suspicion attending his cha- racter, yet aiming to bear it down by the affectation of a careless and hardy fami- liarity. Mannering briefly rejected his proffered civilities ; and, after a surly good morning, he retired with the gypsey to that part of the ruins from which he had first made his appearance. A very narrow staircase here descended to the beach, in- tended probably for the convenience of the garrison during a siege. By this stair, the couple, equally amiable in appearance, and respectable by profession, descended to the «UY MANNERING. 71 sea-side. The soi-disant captain embarked in a small boat with two men who appear- ed to wait for him, and the gypsey remain- ed on the shore, reciting or singing, and gesticulating with great vehemence. 72; euy mannerin6* CHAPTER V. —You have fed upon my seignories, Disparked ray parks, and felled my forest woods. From mine own windows torn my household coat. Razed out my impress, leaving me no sign, Save men's opinions and my living blood, To show the world I am a gentleman. Richard IL When the boat which carried the wor- thy Captain on board his vessel had ac- complished that task, the sails began to ascend, and the ship was got under way. She fired three guns as a salute to the house of Ellangowan, and then shot away rapidly before the wind, which blew oif shore, under all the sail she could crowd. " Aye, aye," said the Laird, who had sought Mannering for some time, and now joined him, '* there they go — there go ihe free-traders — there goes Captain Dirk Hatteraick, and the Yungfrauw Ha- GTUY MAIsXLRING. 73 genslaapen, half Alaiiks, half Dutchman, half devil ! run out tlie boltsprit, up main- sail, top and top gallant sails, royals, and skyscrapers, and away — follow who can! That fellow, Mr iSIannering, is the terror of all the excise and custom-house crui- sers ; they can niake nothing of him ; he drubs them, or he distances them ; — and, speaking of excise, I come to bring you to breakfast; and you shall have some tea, that" • Aiannering, by this time, was aware that one thouglit linked strangely on to ano- ther in the concatenation of worthy Mr Bertraui's ideas, *' Like orient psarls al random strung ;" and, therefore, before the current of his associations had .drifted farther from the point he had left, lie brought him back by some enquiry about Dirk liatteraick. '' O he's a — a — good sort of blackguard fellow enough — no one cares to trouble him— smuggler; when his guns arc in bal- VOL. I. D 74 GUY MANNERING. last — privateer, or pirate faith, when he gets them mounted. He has done more mischief to the revenue folk than any rogue that ever came out of Ramsay." *' But, my good sir, such being his cha- racter, I wonder he has any protection and encouragement on this coast?'' ** Why, Mr Mannering, people must have brandy and tea, and there's none in the country but what comes this way — and then there's short accounts, and may- be a keg or two, or a dozen pounds left at vour stable door at Christmas, instead of a d — d lang account from Duncan Robb, the grocer at Kippletringan, who has aye a sum to make up, and either wants ready money, or a short-dated bill. Now, Hatteraick will take wood, or he*ll take barley, or he'll take just what's convenient at the time. I'll tell you a good story about that. There was ance a laird — that's Mac- fie of Gudgeonford, — he had a great num- ber of kain hens — that's hens that tlie te- nant pay to the landlord—like a sort of GUY MAN'XERING. 75 rent in kind — they aye feed mine very ill ; Luckie Finniston sent up three that were a shame to be seen only last week, and yet she has twelve bows sowing of victual ; indeed her goodman, Duncan Finniston — that's him that's gone — (we must all die, Mr ^Mannering; that's ower true) — and, speaking of th.at, let us live in the meanwhile, for here's breakfast on the table, and theDominie ready to say grace." The Dominie did accordingly pronounce a benediction, that exceeded in length any speech which Mannering had yet heard him utter. The tea, which of course belonged to the noble Captain Hatteraick's trade, was pronounced ex- cellent. Still Mannering hinted, though with due delicacy, at the risk of encou- raging such desperate characters : *' Were it but in justice to the revenue, I should have supposed" " Ah, the revenue-lads" — for Mr Ber- tram never embraced a general or abstract idea, and his notion of the revenue was 75 GUY MAKNERING, personified in the commissioners, survey- ors, comptrollers, and ridingofficers, whom he happened to know — " the revenue -lads can look sharp enough out for themselves — no one needs to help them — and they have all the soldiers to assist them besides — and as to justice — you'll be surprised to hear it, Mr Alannering ; — but I am not a justice of peace?'* Mannering assumed the expected look of surprise, but thought within himself, that the worshipful bench suffered no great deprivation from wanting the as- sistance of ills good-humoured landlord. Mr Bertram had now hit upon one of the few subjects on which he felt sore, and went on with some energ}^ " No, sir, — the name of Godfrey Ber- tram of EUangowan is not in tlie last com- mission, though there's scarce a carle in the country that has a plough-gate of land, but what he must ride to quarter sessions, and write J. P. after his name. I ken full well who I am obliged to— Sir Thomas Kit- GUY MAXNERING. 77 ticcourt as good as told me he would sit in my skirts, if he liad not my interest at the hist election, aud because I cliosc to go with my own blood and third cousin, the Laird of Balruddery, they keepit mc off the roll of freeholders, and now there comes a new nomination of justices, and I am left out — and whereas they pretend it was because I let David MacG uffog, the constable, draw thev^^arrants, and ma- nage the business his own gate, as if I had been a nose o' wax, it's a main un- trutii ; for I granted but seven war- rants in my life, and the Dominie wrote every one of them — and if it had not been that unlucky business of Sandy Mac- Gru:har's, that the constables should have keepit two or three days up yonder at the auld castle, just till they could get conve- niency to send him to the county jail—and that cost me aneugh of siller — But I ken what Sir Thomas wants very well — it was just sick and sicklike about the seat in the kirk of Kilmagirdle— was I not enti- 78 GUY MANNERIXG.' tied to have the front gallery facing the niinister, rather than MacCrosskie of Creochstone, the son of deacon MacCross- kie the Dumfries weaver ?" Mannering expressed his acquiescence in the justice of those various complaints. " And then, Mr Mannering, there was the story about the road, and the fauld dike—I ken Sir Thomas was behind there, and I said plainly to the clerk to the trus- tees that I saw the cloven foot, let them take that as they like— would any gentle- man, or set of gentlemen, go and drive a load right through the corner of a fauld- dike, and take away, as my agent obser- ved to them, like two roods of good moor- land pasture? — And there was the story about chusing the collector of the cess" — *^ Certainly, sir, it is hard you should meet with any neglect in a country, where, to judge from the extent of their residence, your ancestors must have made a very important figure.'' a Very true, Mr Mannering— I am a .0 j... " ' GUy MANNERING. plain man, and do not dwell on these things ; and I must needs say, 1 have lit- tle memory for them ; hut I wish you could have heard my father's stories about the old fights of the MacDingawaies — that's tlic Bertrams that now is— \vi' the Irish, and wi* the Highlanders, that came here in their bcrlings from Hay and Cantire — and how they went to the Holy Land — that is, to Jerusalem and Jericho, wi* a' their clan at their heels — they had better have gaen to Jamaica, like Sir Thomas Kit- tlecourt's uncle — and how they brought home reiiques, like those that catholics have, and a flag that*s up yonder in the garret — if they had been casks of Musca- vado, and puncheons of rum, it would have been better for the estate at this day — but there's little comparison between the auld keep at Kittlecourt and the cas- tle of Ellangowan — I doubt if the keep's forty feet of front — But ye make no break- fast, Mr Mannering ; ye're no catmg your meat ; allow me to recommend some of 80 GUY MANNEUIX®-* the kipper— It was John Hay that catcheci it Saturday was three weeks clown at the stream below Ilempseed ford,"&c. &c. &c. The Laird, whose indignation had for some time kept liim pretty steady to one topic, now launched forth into liis usual roving stile of conversation, which gave Mannering ample time to reflect upon the disadv^antages attending the situation, whicli, an hour before, he had thought worthy of so much envy. Here was a country gentleman, whose most estimable quality seemed his perfect good nature, secretly fretting himself and murmuring against otliers for causes which, compared with any real evil in life, must weigh like dust in the balance ; but such is the equal distribution of Providence. To those who lie out of the road of great afflictions, are assigned petty vexations, which answer all the purpose of disturbing their sere- nit}''; and every reader must have obser- ved, that neither natural apathy nor ac- quired philosophy can render country gen- GUV MANNERlxN'G. 81 tiemen insensible to the grievances svhich occur at elections, quarter sessions, and meetings of trustees. Curious to investigate the manners of the country, Manncring took the advan- tage of a pause in good Mr Bertram's string of stories, to encjuire what Captain Hatteraick so earnestly wanted witli the gypsey woman. '' O to bless his sliip, I suppose— you must know, Mr Manncring, that these free- traders, wliom the law calls smugglers, having no religion, make it all up in su- perstition, and they have as many spells, and charms, and nonsense'^ " Vanity and waur," said the Dominie, *'it is a trafficking with the Evil One. Spells periapts, and charms, are of his device — choice arrows out of Apollyon's cjuiver." *' Hold your peace, Dominie — you're speaking for ever — (by the way it was the first words the poor man had uttered th'at morning, excepting that he said grace, and returned thanks) I\lr Mannering can- D 2 82 GUY MANNERING. not get in a word for you — and so, Mr Mannering, talking of astronomy, and spells, and these matters, have you been so kind as to consider what we were speak- ing about last night ?" 3"^' I begin to think, Mr Bertram, with your worthy friend here, that I have been rather jesting with edge-tools; and al- though neither you nor I, nor any sensible man, can put faith in the predictions of astrology, yet, as it has sometimes happen- ed that enquiries into futurity undertaken in jest, have in their results produced se- rious and unpleasant effects both upon actions and characters, I wish you would dispense with my replying to your ques- tion." It was easy to see that this evasive an- swer only rendered the Laird's curiosity more uncontroulabie. Mannering, how- ever, was determined in his ov/n mind, not to expose the infant to the inconve^ niences which might have arisen from his being supposed the object of evil predic- GUr MANNERING. 83 tion. He therefore delivered the paper into Mr Bertram's hand, and requested him to keep it for five years with the seal un- broken, until the month of November was expired. After that date had interve- ned, he left him at liberty to examine the writing, trusting that the first fatal period being then safely over-passed, no credit would be paid to its further contents* This Mr Bertram was content to promise^ and Mannering, to ensure his fidelity, hint- ed at misfortunes which would certainly take place if his injunctions were neglect- ed. The rest of the day, which Man- nering by ^Ir Bertram's invitation spent at EUangowan, past over without any thing remarkable, and on the morning of that which followed; the traveller mounted his palfrey, bade a courteous adieu to his hospitable landlord, and to his clerical at- tendant, repeated his good wishes for the prosperity of the family ; then, turning his horse's head towards England, disappeared from the sight of the inmates of Elian- 81 GUY MANNEIilNG. gowan. He must also disappear from tliat of our readers, for it is to anotlier and later period of his life that the present narrative relates. GUY MANNERINC. 85 CHAPTER Vl. Next the Justice, With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws, and modern instances : And so he plays his part. ■ ■ When Mrs Bertram of Ellangowan was able to hear the news of what had passed during her confinement, her apartment rung vvitli all manner of gossiping respect- ing the handsome young student from Oxford, who had told such a fortune by the stars to the vcun^r Laird, *' blesslno;s on his dainty face." The form, accent, and manners, of the stranger, were expa- tiated upon. His horse, bridle, saddle, and stirrups, did not remain unnoticed. All this made a great mipression upon the mind of Mrs Bertram, for the good lady bad no small store of superstition. SG GUY MANNERING. Her first employment, when she became capable of a little work, was to make a small velvet bag for the scheme of nativi- ty which she had obtained from her hus- band. Her fingers itched to break the seal, but credulity proved stronger than curiosity, and she had the firmness to in- close it, in all its integrity, within two slips of parchment, which she sowed round it, to prevent its being chafed. The whole was then enclosed in the velvet bag aforesaid, and hung as a charm round the neck of the infant, where his mother resolved it should remain until the period for the legitimate satisfaction of her curi- osity should arrive. The father also rcsolved/'fo diE) his part by the child, in securing him a good edu- cation ; and with the view that it should'' commence with the first dawnings of rea- son, Dominic Sampson was easily induced to renounce his public profession of parish scl.oolmaster, njake his constant residence at the Place, and, in consideration of a sum GUY MANNERING. 87" not quite equal to the wages of a footman even at that time, to undertake to commu- nicate to the future Laird of Ellangowan all the erudition which he had, and all the graces and accomplishments which— he had not indeed, but which he had never discovered that he wanted. In this ar- rangetnent, also, the Laird found his pri- vate advantage ; securing the constant be- nefit of a patient auditor to whom he told his stories when they were alone, and at whose expence he could break a sly jest when he had company. About four years after this time, a great commotion took place in the country where Ellangowan is situated. Those who watched the signs of the times, had long been of opinion that a change of ministry was about to take place ; and, at length, after a due propor- tion of hopes, fears, and delays, rumours from good authority, and bad authority, and no authority at all, after some clubs had drank Up with this statesman, and ^8 GUY iMANNEIlIXG. others Down with him ; after riding and running, and posting, and addressing, and counter addressing, and proffers of lives and fortunes, the blow was at length struck, the administration of the day was dissolved, and parliament, as a natural consequence, was dissolved also. Sir Thomas Kittlecourt, like other mem- bers in the same situation, posted down to his county, and met but an indifferent re- ception. He was a partizan of the old ad- ministration ; and the friends of the new had already set about an active canvass in behalf of John Fcatherhead, Esq. who kept the best hounds and hunters in the shire. Among others who jomed the standard of revolt v/as Gilbert Glossin, writer in , agent for the Laird of Ellangowan. This honest gentleman had eitb.er been refused some favour by the old member, or, what is equally likely, he had got all that he had the most distant j^retension to ask, and could only look to t!»e other side for fresh advancement. Mr Glossin had a eUY MAXXERING. 9^ Tole upon Ellaiigowan's property, as lias been before observed ; and he was now dctcriDiiied tliat his patron should have one also, as there was no doubt which side Mr Bertram would embrace in the contest. He easily persuaded Ellangow- an, that it would be creditable to him to tpike the field at the liead of as strong a party as possible ; and immediately went to work, making votes, as every Scottish lawyer knows how, by splitting and subdi- viding the superiorities upon this ancient and once powerful barony. These were so extensive, that, by dint of clipping and paring here, adding and ciking there, and creating over-lords upon all the estate which Bertram held of the crown, they advanced, upon the day of contest, at the head of ten as good men of parchment as ever took the oath of trust and posses^ sion. This strong reinforcement turned the dubious day of battle. The principal and liis agent divided the honour ; the re- ward fell to the latter exclusively, Mp 90 GUy MANNERING. Gilbert Glossin was made clerk of tht peace, and Godfrey Bertram had his name inserted in a new commission of justices, issued immediately upon the sitting of the parliament. This had been the summit of Mr Ber- tram's ambition ; not that he hked either the trouble or the responsibility of the office, but he thought it was a dignity to which he v\ as well entitled, and that it bad been withheld from him by malice pre {Dense. But there is an old and true Scotch proverb, " Fools should not have chapping sticks ;" that is, weapons of of- fence. Mr Bertram was no sooner pos- sessed of the judicial authority which he had so much longed for, than he began to exercise it with more severity than mercy, and totally belied all the opinions which had -hitherto been formed of his inert good-nature. We have read somewhere of a justice of peace, who, upon being no- minated in the commission, WTote a letter to a bookseller for the statutes respecting 7 GUY MANNERING, 91 his official duty, in the following ortho- graphy, — *' Please send the ax relating to a gustus pease." No doubt, when this learned gentleman had possessed himself of the axe, he hewed the laws with it to some purpose. Mr Bertram was not quite so ignorant of English grammar as his worshipful predecessor ; but Augustus Pease himself could not have used more indiscriminately the weapon unwarily put into his hand. ^Jn good earnest, he considered the com- mission with which he had been entrusted as a personal mark of favour from his so- vereign ; forgetting that he had formerly thought his being deprived ot a privilege, or honour, common to tliose of his rank, was the result of mere party cabal. He commanded his trusty aid de-camp, Domi- nie Sampson, to read aloud the commis- sion ; and at the first words, " The king has been pleased to appoint" — *' Pleased!" exclaimed he, in a transport of gratitude ; 92 GUY M ANNE RING. *'' Honest gentleman ! I'm sure he cannafc be better pleased than I am." Accordingl}/, unwilling to confine his gratitude to mere feelings, or verbal ex- pressions, he gave full current to the new- born zeal of office, and endeavoured to express his sense of the honour conferred upon him, by an unmitigated activity in the discharge of his duty. New brooms, it is said, sweep clean ; and I myself can bear witness, that, upon the arrival of a new housemaid, the ancient, hereditary, and domestic spiders, who have spun their webs over the lower division of my book- shelves, (consisting chiefly of law and di- vinity,) during the peaceful reign of her predecessor, fly at full speed before the unexpected inroads of the new mercenary-. Even so the Laird of Ellangovvan ruth- lessly commenced his magisterial reform, at the expence of various established and superannuated pickers and stealers, who had been his neighbours for half a cen* tury. He wrought his miracles like a GUV MAXNEIIING. P3 second Duke Humphrey; and, by the in- fluence of the beadle's rod, caused the lame to w^lk, the blind to see, and the palsied to labour. He detected ])oachcrs, black-fishers, orchard-breakers, and pi- geon-shooters; had the aj)p[ar.se of the bench for his reward, and the public cre- dit of an active n^.agistrate. All this goo<:l had its rateable proportion of evil. Even an admitted nuisance, of ancient standing, should not be abated v/ithout some caution. The zeal of our worthy friend now involved in great dis- tress sundry personages, whose idle and mendicant habits his own lachesse had contributed to foster, until these habits had become irreclaimable, or whose real incapacity of exertion rendered them fit objects, in their own phrase, for the cha- rity of all well-disposed Christians. The " long-remembered beggar," who for twenty years had made his regular round within the neighbourhood, received ra- tlier as an humble friend than as an object 94 GUY MANNERING* of charity, was sent to the neighbouring workhouse. The decrepid dame, who tra- velled round the parish upon a hand-bar- row, circulating from house to house like a bad shilling, which every one is in haste to pass upon his neighbour ; she, who used to call for her bearers as loud, or louder, than a traveller demands post-horses, even she shared the same disastrous fate. The **daftJock,"who, half knave, half idiot, had been the sport of each succeeding race of village children for a good part of a cen- tury, was remitted to the county bridewell, where, secluded from free air and sunshine, the only advantages he was capable of en- joying, he pined and died in the course of six months. The old sailor, who had so long rejoiced the smoky rafters of every kitchen in the country, by singing Captain fVord, and Bold Adm'n^al Benbow, was ba- nished from the county for no better rea- son, than that he was supposed to speak with a strong Irish accent. Even the annual rounds of the pedlar were abolish- GUY MANNERING. 95 ed by the Justice, in his hasty zeal for the administration of rural police. These things did not pass without notice and censure. We are not made of wood or stone, and the things which connect themselves with our hearts and habits cannot, like bark or lichen, be rent away without our missing them. The farmer's dame lacked her usual share of intelli- gence, perhapsalsothe self-applause which she had felt while distributing the awmous (alms,) in shape of a goivpen (handful) of oatmeal, to the mendicant who brought the news. The cottage felt inconvenience from interruption of the paltry trade carried on bv the itinerant dealers. The children had not their sugar-plums and toys; the young women wanted pins, ribbons, combs, and ballads ; and the old could no longer barter their eggs for salt, snuff, and tobac- co. All these circumstances brought the busy Laird of Ellangowan into discredit, which was more general on account of his former popularity. Even his lineage was §6 GtJY MANNERING. brought Up ill judgment against him. They thought " naething of what the like of Greensid-e, or Burnville, or Viewforth, might do, that were strangers in the coun- try ; bat Ellango wan! that had been a name amaug tiiem since the mirk Monanday, and lang before — He to be grinding the poor at that rate ! — They ca'd his grand- father the W icked Laird; but, though he was whiles fractious aneucii, wlicn he got into roving company, and had ta'en the drap drink, he would have scorned to go on at this gate. Na, na, the muckle chim- ney in the auld Place reeked like a kiliogie in his time, and there were as mony puvr folk riving at the banes in the court, and about the door, as there were gentles in the ha'. And the Jady, on ilka Christmas night as it came round, gae twelve siiler pennies to ilka puir body about, in honour of tije twelve a})OStles like. They were fond to ca it papistrie ; but I tl)ink our great folk might take a lesson frae the papists whiles. They gie another sort o' help to 5 GUY MANNEUING, 97 puir folk than just dinging down a sax- pence in the broad on the sabbath, and kilting, and scourging, and drumming them a' the six days o' the week besides." Such was the gossip over the good two- penny in every ale-house within three or four miles of Ellangowan, that being about the diameter of the orbit in which our friend Godfrey Bertram, Esq. J. P. must be considered as the principal luminary. Still greater scope was given to evil tongues by the removal of a colony of gypsies, with one of whom our reader is somewhat acquainted, and who had for a great many years enjoyed their chief set- tlement upon the estate of Ellangowan. VOL. I. £ 9B GUV MANNEKlxXG. CHAPTER VII. Come, princes of the ragged regiment, You of the blood ! Priggy my most upright lord, And these, what name or title e'er they bear, Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke or Clapper-dudgeorit Frater or Ahrarri'man^l speak of all. Beggar's Bush. Although the character of those gypsy tribes, which formerly inundated most of the nations of Europe, and which in some degree still subsist among them as a dis- tinct people, is generally understood, the reader will pardon my saying a ^qw words respecting their situation in Scotland. It is well known that the gypsies were, at an early period, acknowledged as a se- parate and independent race by one of the Scottish monarchs, and that they were less favourably distinguished by a subse- j GUY MANNERING. 99 quent law, which rendered the character of gypsy equal, in the judicial balance, to that of common and habitual thief, and prescribed his punishment accordingly. Notwithstanding the severity of this and other statutes, the fraternity prospered amid the distresses of the country, and re- ceived large accessions from among those whom famine, oppression, or the sword of war, had deprived of the ordinary means of subsistence. They lost in a great measure, by this intermixture, the national character of Egyptians, and became a mingled race, having all the idleness and predatory ha- bits of their eastern ancestors, with a fero- city which they probably borrowed from the men of the north who joined their so- ciety. They travelled in different bands, and had rules among themselves, by which each tribe was confined to its own district. The slightest invasion of the precincts which had been assigned to another tribe produced desperate skirmishes, in which there was often much blood shed. lOO (GUY MANNERING. The patriotic Fletcher of Saltoun drevr a picture of these banditti about a century ago, which my readers will peruse with astonishment. *' There are at this day in Scotland (besides a great many poor families very meanly provided for by the church boxes, with others, who, by living upon bad food, fall into various diseases) two hundred thousand people begging from door to door. These are not only no way advan- tageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a country. And though the number cf them be perhaps double to what it was formerly, by reason of this present great distress, yet in all times there have been about one hundred thousand of those va- gabonds, who have lived without any re- gard or subjection either to the laws of the land, or even those of God and nature ; *#*#*# js^Q magistrate could ever discover, or be informed, which way one in a hundred of these wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. Many mur- 7 GUY MAN3JERIXG. lOl cJers have been discovered among them ; and they are not only a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants, (who, if they give not bread, or some kind of provision to perhaps forty such villains In one day, are sure to be insulted by them,) but they rob many poor people who live in houses distant from any neighbourhood. In years of plenty many thousands of them meet together in the niountains, where tliey feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, m.arkets, burials, and ether the like public occasions, they are to be seen, both man and woman, perpetual- ly drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fight- ing together." Notwithstanding the deplorable pic- ture presented in this extract, and which Fletcher himself, though the energetic an