No More Learning

A Lany


## p. 13003 (#437) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13003
CHEAPENING FISH; AND THE VILLAGE POST-OFFICE
From The Antiquary›
MR
R. OLDBUCK led the way to the sands. Upon the links or
downs close to them were seen four or five huts inhabited
by fishers; whose boats, drawn high upon the beach, lent
the odoriferous vapors of pitch melting under a burning sun,
to contend with those of the offals of fish and other nuisances
usually collected round Scottish cottages. Undisturbed by these
complicated steams of abomination, a middle-aged woman, with
a face which had defied a thousand storms, sat mending a net
at the door of one of the cottages. A handkerchief close bound
about her head, and a coat which had formerly been that of a
man, gave her a masculine air, which was increased by her
strength, uncommon stature, and harsh voice.
"What are ye
for the day, your Honor? " she said, or rather screamed, to Old-
buck: "caller haddocks and whitings, a bannock-fluke and a cock-
padle. "
"How much for the bannock-fluke and cock-padle? " demanded
the Antiquary.
"Four white shillings and saxpence," answered the Naiad.
"Four devils and six of their imps! " retorted the Antiquary:
"do you think I am mad, Maggie? "
"And div ye think," rejoined the virago, setting her arms
akimbo, "that my man and my sons are to gae to the sea in
weather like yestreen and the day-sic a sea as it's yet outby-
and get naething for their fish, and be misca'd into the bargain,
Monkbarns? It's no fish ye're buying-it's men's lives. "
"Well, Maggie, I'll bid you fair: I'll bid you a shilling for
the fluke and the cock-padle, or sixpence separately; and if all
your fish are as well paid, I think your man, as you call him,
and your sons, will make a good voyage. '
>>>
"Deil gin their boat were knockit against the Bell-Rock rather!
it wad be better, and the bonnier voyage o' the twa. A shilling
for thae twa bonnie fish! Od, that's ane indeed! "
"Well, well, you old beldam, carry your fish up to Monkbarns,
and see what my sister will give you for them. ”
"Na, na, Monkbarns, deil a fit,- I'll rather deal wi' yoursell;
for though you're near enough, yet Miss Grizel has an unco close
grip. I'll gie ye them" (in a softened tone) "for three-and-
saxpence.
>>


## p. 13004 (#438) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13004
"Eighteenpence, or nothing! "
Eighteenpence! ! ! " (in a loud tone of astonishment, which
declined into a sort of rueful whine, when the dealer turned as
if to walk away) - "Ye'll no be for the fish then? "-then louder,
as she saw him moving off - "I'll gie ye them-and-and-and
a half a dozen o' partans to make the sauce, for three shillings
and a dram. "
((
"Half a crown then, Maggie, and a dram. "
"Aweel, your Honor maun hae't your ain gate, nae doubt; but
a dram's worth siller now-the distilleries is no working. "
“And I hope they'll never work again in my time," said Old-
buck.
"Ay, ayit's easy for your Honor and the like o' you gentle-
folks to say sae, that hae stouth and routh, and fire and fending,
and meat and claith, and sit dry and canny by the fireside; but
an ye wanted fire and meat, and dry claes, and were deeing o'
cauld, and had a sair heart,—whilk is warst ava,—wi' just tip-
pence in your pouch, wadna ye be glad to buy a dram wi't, to be
eilding and claes, and a supper and heart's-ease into the bargain,
till the morn's morning? "
"It's even too true an apology, Maggie. Is your goodman off
to sea this morning after his exertions last night? ”
"In troth is he, Monkbarns; he was awa this morning by
four o'clock, when the sea was working like barm wi' yestreen's
wind, and our bit coble dancing in 't like a cork. "
«< Well, he's an industrious fellow. Carry the fish up to Monk-
barns. "
"That I will-or I'll send little Jenny: she'll rin faster; -
but I'll ca' on Miss Grizzy for the dram mysell, and say ye sent
me. "
A nondescript animal, which might have passed for a mer-
maid as it was paddling in a pool among the rocks, was sum-
moned ashore by the shrill screams of its dam; and having been
made decent, as her mother called it, which was performed
by adding a short red cloak to a petticoat, which was at first her
sole covering, and which reached scantily below her knee, the
child was dismissed with the fish in a basket, and a request on
the part of Monkbarns that they might be prepared for din-
ner. "It would have been long," said Oldbuck, with much self-
complacency, ere my womankind could have made such a rea-
sonable bargain with that old skinflint; though they sometimes
((
――――――


## p. 13005 (#439) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13005
wrangle with her for an hour together under my study window,
like three sea-gulls screaming and sputtering in a gale of wind.
But come: wend we on our way to Knockwinnock. "
Leaving Mr. Oldbuck and his friend to enjoy their hard bar-
gain of fish, we beg leave to transport the reader to the back
parlor of the postmaster's house at Fairport; where his wife, he
himself being absent, was employed in assorting for delivery the
letters which had come by the Edinburgh post. This is very
often in country towns the period of the day when gossips find
it particularly agreeable to call on the man or woman of letters;
in order, from the outside of the epistles, and if they are not
belied, occasionally from the inside also,-to amuse themselves
with gleaning information or forming conjectures about the cor-
respondence and affairs of their neighbors. Two females of this
description were, at the time we mention, assisting—or imped-
ing - Mrs. Mailsetter in her official duty.
"Eh, preserve us, sirs! " said the butcher's wife, "there's ten
eleven twall letters to Tennant & Co. Thae folk do mair
business than a' the rest o' the burgh. "
"Ay; but see, lass," answered the baker's lady, there's twa
o' them faulded unco square, and sealed at the tae side,—I doubt
there will be protested bills in them. "
"Is there ony letters come yet for Jenny Caxon? " inquired
the woman of joints and giblets: "the lieutenant's been awa
three weeks. "
"Just ane on Tuesday was a week," answered the dame of
letters.
"Was 't a ship letter? " asked the Fornerina.
"In troth was 't. "
――――――
―――――――――――
"It wad be frae the lieutenant then," replied the mistress of
the rolls, somewhat disappointed: "I never thought he wad hae
lookit ower his shouther after her. "
"Od, here's another," quoth Mrs. Mailsetter. "A ship letter-
postmark, Sunderland. " All rushed to seize it. "Na, na, led-
dies," said Mrs. Mailsetter, interfering: "I hae had eneugh o'
that wark,-ken ye that Mr. Mailsetter got an unco rebuke frae
the secretary at Edinburgh, for a complaint that was made about
the letter of Aily Bisset's that ye opened, Mrs. Shortcake ? »
"Me opened! " answered the spouse of the chief baker of
Fairport: "ye ken yoursell, madam, it just cam open o' free will


## p. 13006 (#440) ##########################################

13006
SIR WALTER SCOTT
in my hand.
wax. "
What could I help it? -folk suld seal wi' better
"Weel I wot that's true, too," said Mrs. Mailsetter, who kept
a shop of small wares; "and we have got some that I can hon-
estly recommend, if ye ken onybody wanting it. But the short
and the lang o't is, that we'll lose the place gin there's ony mair
complaints o' the kind. "
"Hout, lass, the provost will take care o' that. "
"Na, na, I'll neither trust to provost nor bailie," said the
postmistress; "but I wad aye be obliging and neighborly, and
I'm no again' your looking at the outside of a letter neither:
see, the seal has an anchor on 't,- he's done 't wi' ane o' his but-
tons, I'm thinking. "
―
"Show me! show me! " quoth the wives of the chief butcher
and the chief baker; and threw themselves on the supposed
love-letter, like the weird sisters in 'Macbeth' upon the pilot's
thumb, with curiosity as eager and scarcely less malignant. Mrs.
Heukbane was a tall woman: she held the precious epistle up
between her eyes and the window. Mrs. Shortcake, a little squat
personage, strained and stood on tiptoe to have her share of the
investigation.
"Ay, it's frae him, sure eneugh," said the butcher's lady: "I
can read Richard Taffril on the corner, and it's written, like John
Thomson's wallet, frae end to end. "
"Haud it lower down, madam," exclaimed Mrs. Shortcake,
in a tone above the prudential whisper which their occupation
required; "haud it lower down. Div ye think naebody can read
hand o' writ but yoursell? "
"Whist, whist, sirs, for God's sake! " said Mrs. Mailsetter:
"there's somebody in the shop; "-then aloud, "Look to the
customers, Baby! " Baby answered from without in a shrill tone,
"It's naebody but Jenny Caxon, ma'am, to see if there's ony
letters to her. "
"Tell her," said the faithful postmistress, winking to her com-
peers, "to come back the morn at ten o'clock, and I'll let her
ken,- we havena had time to sort the mail letters yet; she's aye
in sic a hurry, as if her letters were o' mair consequence than
the best merchant's o' the town. "
Poor Jenny, a girl of uncommon beauty and modesty, could
only draw her cloak about her to hide the sigh of disappointment,


## p. 13007 (#441) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13007
and return meekly home to endure for another night the sick-
ness of the heart occasioned by hope delayed.
"There's something about a needle and a pole," said Mrs.
Shortcake, to whom her taller rival in gossiping had at length
yielded a peep at the subject of their curiosity.
"Now, that's downright shamefu'," said Mrs. Heukbane: "to
scorn the poor silly gait of a lassie after he's keepit company.
wi' her sae lang, and had his will o' her, as I make nae doubt he
has. "
"It's but ower muckle to be doubted," echoed Mrs. Shortcake:
"to cast up to her that her father's a barber and has a pole at
his door, and that she's but a manty-maker hersell! Hout! fy
for shame! "
"Hout tout, leddies," cried Mrs. Mailsetter, "ye're clean
wrang: it's a line out o' ane o' his sailors' sangs that I have
heard him sing, about being true like the needle to the pole.
>>
"Weel, weel, I wish it may be sae," said the charitable Dame
Heukbane; "but it disna look weel for a lassie like her to keep
up a correspondence wi' ane o' the king's officers. "
"I'm no denying that," said Mrs. Mailsetter; "but it's a great
advantage to the revenue of the post-office, thae love-letters. See,
here's five or six letters to Sir Arthur Wardour maist o' them
sealed wi' wafers, and no wi' wax. There will be a downcome
there, believe me. "
"Ay; they will be business letters, and no frae ony o' his
grand friends, that seals wi' their coats-of-arms, as they ca'
them," said Mrs. Heukbane: "pride will hae a fa'; he hasna
settled his account wi' my gudeman, the deacon, for this twal-
month, he's but slink, I doubt. "
―
"Nor wi' huz for sax months," echoed Mrs Shortcake: "he's
but a brunt crust. >>
"There's a letter," interrupted the trusty postmistress, "from
his son the captain, I'm thinking,- the seal has the same things.
wi' the Knockwinnock carriage. He'll be coming hame to see
what he can save out o' the fire. "
The baronet thus dismissed, they took up the esquire. "Twa
letters for Monkbarns; - they're frae some o' his learned friends.
now: see sae close as they're written, down to the very seal,-
and a' to save sending a double letter; that's just like Monk-
barns himsell. When he gets a frank he fills it up exact to the
weight of an unce, that a carvy-seed would sink the scale; but


## p. 13008 (#442) ##########################################

13008
SIR WALTER SCOTT
he's ne'er a grain abune it. Weel I wot I wad be broken if I
were to gie sic weight to the folk that come to buy our pepper
and brimstone, and such-like sweetmeats. "
"He's a shabby body, the laird o' Monkbarns," said Mrs.
Heukbane; "he'll make as muckle about buying a forequarter o'
lamb in August as about a back sey o' beef. Let's taste another
drop of the sinning" (perhaps she meant cinnamon) "waters,
Mrs. Mailsetter, my dear. Ah, lasses! an ye had kend his brother
as I did: mony a time he wad slip in to see me wi' a brace o'
wild deukes in his pouch, when my first gudeman was awa at
the Falkirk tryst; weel, weel-we'se no speak o' that e'enow. "
"I winna say ony ill o' this Monkbarns," said Mrs. Shortcake:
"his brother ne'er brought me ony wild deukes, and this is a
douce honest man; we serve the family wi' bread, and he settles
wi' huz ilka week,-only he was in an unco kippage when we
sent him a book instead o' the nick-sticks, whilk, he said, were
the true ancient way o' counting between tradesmen and cus-
tomers; and sae they are, nae doubt. "
"But look here, lasses," interrupted Mailsetter, "here's a sight
for sair e'en! What wad ye gie to ken what's in the inside o'
this letter? This is new corn,- I haena seen the like o' this:
For William Lovel, Esquire, at Mrs. Hadoway's, High Street,
Fairport, by Edinburgh, N. B. This is just the second letter he
has had since he was here. "
-
"Lord's sake, let's see, lass! Lord's sake, let's see! - That's
him that the hale town kens naething about—and a weel-fa'ard
lad he is: let's see, let's see! " Thus ejaculated the two worthy
representatives of Mother Eve.
"Na, na, sirs," exclaimed Mrs. Mailsetter: "haud awa-bide
aff, I tell you; this is nane o' your fourpenny cuts that we might
make up the value to the post-office amang ourselves if ony
mischance befell it; the postage is five-and-twenty shillings — and
here's an order frae the Secretary to forward it to the young
gentleman by express, if he's no at hame. Na, na, sirs, bide aff:
this maunna be roughly guided. "
"But just let's look at the outside o't, woman. "
Nothing could be gathered from the outside, except remarks
on the various properties which philosophers ascribe to matter,
-length, breadth, depth, and weight. The packet was composed
of strong thick paper, imperviable by the curious eyes of the
gossips, though they stared as if they would burst from their


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SIR WALTER SCOTT
13009
sockets. The seal was a deep and well-cut impression of arms,
which defied all tampering.
"'Od, lass," said Mrs. Shortcake, weighing it in her hand, and
wishing doubtless that the too, too solid wax would melt and
dissolve itself, "I wad like to ken what's in the inside o' this;
for that Lovel dings a' that ever set foot on the plainstanes o'
Fairport,-naebody kens what to make o' him. "
"Weel, weel, leddies," said the postmistress, "we'se sit down
and crack about,- Baby, bring ben the tea-water; muckle obliged
to ye for your cookies, Mrs. Shortcake,- and we'll steek the
shop, and cry ben Baby, and take a hand at the cartes till the
gudeman comes hame; and then we'll try your braw veal sweet-
bread that ye were so kind as send me, Mrs. Heukbane. "
"But winna ye first send awa Mr. Lovel's letter? " said Mrs.
Heukbane.
"Troth I kenna wha to send wi't till the gudeman comes
hame, for auld Caxon tell'd me that Mr. Lovel stays a' the day
at Monkbarns; - he's in a high fever wi' pu'ing the laird and Sir
Arthur out o' sea. "
«< Silly auld doited carles! " said Mrs. Shortcake: "what gar'd
them gang to the douking in a night like yestreen? "
"I was gi'en to understand it was auld Edie that saved them,"
said Mrs. Heukbane,-"Edie Ochiltree, the Blue-Gown, ye ken;
and that he pu'd the hale three out of the auld fish-pound, for
Monkbarns had threepit on them ta gang in till 't to see the wark
o' the monks lang syne. "
"Hout, lass, nonsense! " answered the postmistress: "I'll tell
ye a' about it, as Caxon tell'd it to me. Ye see, Sir Arthur and
Miss Wardour, and Mr. Lovel, suld hae dined at Monkbarns-"
"But, Mrs. Mailsetter," again interrupted Mrs. Heukbane,
"will ye no be for sending awa this letter by express ? — there's
our powny and our callant hae gane express for the office or
now, and the powny hasna gane abune thirty mile the day;
Jock was sorting him up as I came ower by. ”
"Why, Mrs. Heukbane," said the woman of letters, pursing
up her mouth, "ye ken my gudeman likes to ride the expresses
himsell: we maun gie our ain fish-guts to our ain sea-maws,-
it's a red half-guinea to him every time he munts his mear; and
I daresay he'll be in sune or I dare to say, it's the same thing
whether the gentleman gets the express this night or early next
morning. "
XXII-814
—
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## p. 13010 (#444) ##########################################

13010
SIR WALTER SCOTT
"Only that Mr. Lovel will be in town before the express gaes
aff," said Mrs. Heukbane; "and where are ye then, lass? But
ye ken yere ain ways best. "
"Weel, weel, Mrs. Heukbane," answered Mrs. Mailsetter, a
little out of humor, and even out of countenance, "I am sure I
am never against being neighbor-like, and living and letting live,
as they say; and since I hae 'been sic a fule as to show you the
post-office order- ou, nae doubt, it maun be obeyed. But I'll no
need your callant, mony thanks to ye: I'll send little Davie on
your powny, and that will be just five-and-threepence to ilka ane
o' us, ye ken. "
"Davie! the Lord help ye, the bairn's no ten year auld; and
to be plain wi' ye, our powny reists a bit, and it's dooms sweer
to the road, and naebody can manage him but our Jock. ”
"I'm sorry for that," answered the postmistress gravely: "it's
like we maun wait then till the gudeman comes hame, after a’;
for I wadna like to be responsible in trusting the letter to sic a
callant as Jock,-our Davie belangs in a manner to the office. "
"Aweel, aweel, Mrs. Mailsetter, I see what ye wad be at; but
an ye like to risk the bairn, I'll risk the beast. "
Orders were accordingly given. The unwilling pony was
brought out of his bed of straw, and again equipped for service.
Davie (a leathern post-bag strapped across his shoulders) was
perched upon the saddle, with a tear in his eye and a switch in
his hand. Jock good-naturedly led the animal out of town, and
by the crack of his whip, and the whoop and halloo of his too
well known voice, compelled it to take the road toward Monk-
barns.
Meanwhile the gossips, like the sibyls after consulting their
leaves, arranged and combined the information of the evening;
which flew next morning through a hundred channels, and in a
hundred varieties, through the world of Fairport. Many, strange,
and inconsistent were the rumors to which their communica-
tion and conjectures gave rise. Some said Tennant & Co. were
broken, and that all their bills had come back protested; others
that they had got a great contract from government, and let-
ters from the principal merchants at Glasgow desiring to have
shares upon a premium. One report stated that Lieutenant
Taffri had acknowledged a private marriage with Jenny Caxon;
another, that he had sent her a letter upbraiding her with the
lowness of her birth and education, and bidding her an eternal


## p. 13011 (#445) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
adieu. It was generally rumored that Sir Arthur Wardour's
affairs had fallen into irretrievable confusion; and this report was
only doubted by the wise because it was traced to Mrs.
Mail-
setter's shop,-a source more famous for the circulation of news
than for their accuracy.
THE COVENANTER
From Old Mortality
"My native land, good-night! "
-
13011
LORD BYRON.
THE
HE Privy Council of Scotland, in whom the practice, since the
union of the crowns, vested great judicial powers, as well
as the general superintendence of the executive department,
was met in the ancient, dark, Gothic room adjoining to the house
of Parliament in Edinburgh, when General Grahame entered and
took his place amongst the members at the council table.
"You have brought us a leash of game to-day, general," said
a nobleman of high place amongst them. "Here is a craven to
confess, a cock of the game to stand at bay-and what shall I
call the third, general? "
"Without further metaphor, I will entreat your Grace to call
him a person in whom I am specially interested,” replied Claver-
house.
"And a Whig into the bargain? " said the nobleman, lolling
out a tongue which was at all times too big for his mouth, and
accommodating his coarse features to a sneer, to which they
seemed to be familiar.
"Yes, please your Grace, a Whig; as your Grace was in 1641,"
replied Claverhouse, with his usual appearance of imperturbable
civility.
"He has you there, I think, my lord duke," said one of the
Privy Councilors.
"Ay, ay," returned the duke, laughing: "there's no speaking
to him since Drumclog. But come, bring in the prisoners; and
do you, Mr. Clerk, read the record. "
The clerk read forth a bond, in which General Grahame of
Claverhouse and Lord Evandale entered themselves securities
that Henry Morton, younger of Milnwood, should go abroad and


## p. 13012 (#446) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13012
remain in foreign parts until his Majesty's pleasure was further
known, in respect of the said Henry Morton's accession to the
late rebellion; and that under penalty of life and limb to the
said Henry Morton, and of ten thousand marks to each of his
securities.
"Do you accept of the King's mercy upon these terms, Mr.
Morton? " said the Duke of Lauderdale, who presided in the
council.
"I have no other choice, my lord," replied Morton.
"Then subscribe your name in the record. "
Morton did so without reply; conscious that in the circum-
stances of his case, it was impossible for him to have escaped
more easily. Macbriar, who was at the same instant brought to
the foot of the council table, bound upon a chair,- for his
weakness prevented him from standing,-beheld Morton in the
act of what he accounted apostasy.
"He hath summed his defection by owning the carnal power
of the tyrant! " he exclaimed with a deep groan. "A fallen star!
a fallen star! "
-
sense.
"Hold your peace, sir," said the duke, "and keep your ain
breath to cool your ain porridge: ye'll find them scalding hot, I
promise you. Call in the other fellow, who has some common-
One sheep will leap the ditch when another goes first. "
Cuddie was introduced unbound, but under the guard of two
halberdiers, and placed beside Macbriar at the foot of the table.
The poor fellow cast a piteous look around him, in which were
mingled awe for the great men in whose presence he stood, and
compassion for his fellow-sufferers, with no small fear of the per-
sonal consequences which impended over himself. He made his
clownish obeisances with a double portion of reverence, and then
awaited the opening of the awful scene.
"Were you at the battle of Bothwell Brigg? " was the first
question which was thundered in his ears.
Cuddie meditated a denial, but had sense enough upon reflec-
tion to discover that the truth would be too strong for him; so
he replied with true Caledonian indirectness of response, "I'll no
say but it may be possible that I might hae been there. ”
"Answer directly, you knave-yes or no? You know you
were there. "
"It is no for me to contradict your Lordship's Grace's Honor,"
said Cuddie.


## p. 13013 (#447) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13013
"Once more, sir, were you there yes or no? " said the duke
impatiently.
"Dear stir," again replied Cuddie, "how can ane mind pre-
ceesely where they hae been a' the days o' their life? "
་ Speak out, you scoundrel," said General Dalzell, "or I'll
dash your teeth out with my dudgeon-haft! Do you think we
can stand here all day to be turning and dodging with you like.
greyhounds after a hare? »
"Aweel, then," said Cuddie, "since naething else will please
ye, write down that I canna deny but I was there. "
"Well, sir,” said the duke, "and do you think that the rising
upon that occasion was rebellion or not?
>>
"I'm no just free to gie my opinion, stir," said the cautious
captive, "on what might cost my neck; but I doubt it will be
very little better. ”
"Better than what? "
«< Just then rebellion, as your Honor ca's it," replied Cuddie.
"Well, sir, that's speaking to the purpose," replied his Grace.
"And are you content to accept of the King's pardon for your
guilt as a rebel, and to keep the Church, and pray for the
King? "
"Blithely, stir," answered the unscrupulous Cuddie; "and drink
his health into the bargain when the ale's gude. "
"Egad! " said the duke, "this is a hearty cock. What brought
you into such a scrape, mine honest friend? »
"Just ill example, stir," replied the prisoner, "and a daft
auld jade of a mither, wi' reference to your Grace's Honor. "
"Why, God 'a' mercy, my friend," replied the duke, "take
care of bad advice another time: I think you are not likely to
commit treason on your own score. Make out his free pardon,
and bring forward the rogue in the chair. ”
Macbriar was then moved forward to the post of examination.
"Were you at the battle of Bothwell Bridge? " was in like
manner demanded of him.
"I was," answered the prisoner, in a bold and resolute tone.
"Were you armed? »
"I was not: I went in my calling as a preacher of God's
word, to encourage them that drew the sword in his cause.
>>
"In other words, to aid and abet the rebels? " said the
duke.
"Thou hast spoken it. " replied the prisoner.


## p. 13014 (#448) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13014
"Well then," continued the interrogator, "let us know if you
saw John Balfour of Burley among the party? I presume you
know him? »
"I bless God that I do know him," replied Macbriar: "he is a
zealous and a sincere Christian. "
"And when and where did you last see this pious personage
was the query which immediately followed.
"I am here to answer for myself," said Macbriar in the same
dauntless manner, "and not to endanger others. "
"We shall know," said Dalzell, "how to make you find your
tongue. "
"If you can make him fancy himself in a conventicle,"
swered Lauderdale, "he will find it without you. Come, laddie,
speak while the play is good: you're too young to bear the bur-
den will be laid on you else. "
"I defy you," retorted Macbriar. "This has not been the
first of my imprisonments or of my sufferings; and young as I
may be, I have lived long enough to know how to die when I
am called upon. "
"Ay, but there are some things which must go before an easy
death, if you continue obstinate," said Lauderdale; and rung a
small silver bell which was placed before him on the table.
A dark crimson curtain, which covered a sort of niche or
Gothic recess in the wall, rose at the signal, and displayed the
public executioner,- a tall, grim, and hideous man, having an
oaken table before him, on which lay thumb-screws, and an iron
case called the Scottish boot, used in those tyrannical days to
torture accused persons. Morton, who was unprepared for this
ghastly apparition, started when the curtain arose; but Macbriar's
nerves were more firm. He gazed upon the horrible apparatus
with much composure; and if a touch of nature called the blood
from his cheek for a second, resolution sent it back to his brow
with greater energy.
"Do you know who that man is? " said Lauderdale in a low,
stern voice, almost sinking into a whisper.
"He is, I suppose," replied Macbriar, "the infamous execu-
tioner of your bloodthirsty commands upon the persons of God's
people. He and you are equally beneath my regard; and I bless
God, I no more fear what he can inflict than what you can com-
mand. Flesh and blood may shrink under the sufferings you can
doom me to, and poor frail nature may shed tears or send forth


## p. 13015 (#449) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13015
cries; but I trust my soul is anchored firmly on the Rock of
Ages. "
"Do your duty," said the duke to the executioner.
The fellow advanced, and asked, with a harsh and discordant
voice, upon which of the prisoner's limbs he should first employ
his engine
"Let him choose for himself," said the duke: "I should like
to oblige him in anything that is reasonable. "
"Since you leave it to me," said the prisoner, stretching forth
his right leg, "take the best: I willingly bestow it in the cause.
for which I suffer. "
The executioner, with the help of his assistants, inclosed the
leg and knee within the tight iron boot or case; and then, pla-
cing a wedge of the same metal between the knee and the edge
of the machine, took a mallet in his hand, and stood waiting
for further orders. A well-dressed man, by profession a surgeon,
placed himself by the other side of the prisoner's chair, bared
the prisoner's arm, and applied his thumb to the pulse, in order
to regulate the torture according to the strength of the patient.
When these preparations were made, the president of the coun-
cil repeated with the same stern voice the question, "When and
where did you last see John Balfour of Burley? "
The prisoner, instead of replying to him, turned his eyes
to heaven as if imploring Divine strength, and muttered a few
words, of which the last were distinctly audible: "Thou hast said
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power! "
The Duke of Lauderdale glanced his eye around the council
as if to collect their suffrages; and judging from their mute
signs, gave on his part a nod to the executioner, whose mallet
instantly descended on the wedge, and forcing it between the
knee and the iron boot, occasioned the most exquisite pain, as
was evident from the flush which instantly took place on the
brow and on the cheeks of the sufferer. The fellow then again
raised his weapon, and stood prepared to give a second blow.
"Will you yet say," repeated the Duke of Lauderdale, "where
and when you last parted from Balfour of Burley? "
"You have my answer," said the sufferer resolutely; and the
second blow fell. The third and fourth succeeded; but at the
fifth, when a larger wedge had been introduced, the prisoner set
up a scream of agony.
Morton, whose blood boiled within him at witnessing such
cruelty, could bear no longer; and although unarmed and himself


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13016
SIR WALTER SCOTT
會
​in great danger, was springing forward, when Claverhouse, who
observed his emotion, withheld him by force, laying one hand on
his arm and the other on his mouth, while he whispered, "For
God's sake, think where you are! "
This movement, fortunately for him, was observed by no
other of the councilors, whose attention was engaged with the
dreadful scene before them.
"He is gone," said the surgeon; "he has fainted, my lords,
and human nature can endure no more. "
"Release him," said the duke; and added, turning to Dalzell,
"he will make an old proverb good, for he'll scarce ride to-day,
though he has had his boots on. I suppose we must finish with
him ? »
"Ay, dispatch his sentence, and have done with him: we have
plenty of drudgery behind. "
Strong waters and essences were busily employed to recall the
senses of the unfortunate captive: and when his first faint gasps
intimated a return of sensation, the duke pronounced sentence of
death upon him, as a traitor taken in the act of open rebellion,
and adjudged him to be carried from the bar to the common
place of execution, and there hanged by the neck; his head and
hands to be stricken off after death, and disposed of according
to the pleasure of the Council, and all and sundry his movable
goods and gear escheat and inbrought to his Majesty's use.
"Doomster," he continued, "repeat the sentence to the pris-
oner. »
The office of doomster was in those days, and till a much
later period, held by the executioner in commendam with his ordi-
nary functions. The duty consisted in reciting to the unhappy
criminal the sentence of the law as pronounced by the judge,
which acquired an additional and horrid emphasis from the recol-
lection that the hateful personage by whom it was uttered was
to be the agent of the cruelties he announced. Macbriar had
scarce understood the purport of the words as first pronounced
by the lord president of the Council: but he was sufficiently
recovered to listen and to reply to the sentence when uttered by
the harsh and odious voice of the ruffian who was to execute it;
and at the last awful words, "And this I pronounce for doom,"
he answered boldly:-
"My lords, I thank you for the only favor I looked for, or
would accept, at your hands; namely, that you have sent the
crushed and maimed carcass, which has this day sustained your


## p. 13017 (#451) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13017
cruelty, to this hasty end. It were indeed little to me whether
I perish on the gallows or in the prison-house; but if death,
following close on what I have this day suffered, had found me
in my cell of darkness and bondage, many might have lost the
sight how a Christian man can suffer in the good cause. For
the rest, I forgive you, my lords, for what you have appointed
and I have sustained. And why should I not ' Ye send me to
a happy exchange,-to the company of angels and the spirits
of the just, for that of frail dust and ashes. Ye send me from
darkness into day- from mortality to immortality- and in a
word, from earth to heaven! If the thanks, therefore, and par-
don of a dying man can do you good, take them at my hand,
and may your last moments be as happy as mine! "
As he spoke thus, with a countenance radiant with joy and
triumph, he was withdrawn by those who had brought him into
the apartment, and exccuted within half an hour, dying with the
same enthusiastic firmness which his whole life had evinced.
THE MEETING OF JEANIE AND EFFIE DEANS
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian'
"Sweet sister, let me live!
What sin you do to save a brother's life,
Nature dispenses with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue. »
-MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
EANIE DEANS was admitted into the jail by Ratcliffe. This
fellow, as void of shame as honesty, as he opened the now
trebly secured door, asked her, with a leer which made her
shudder, whether she remembered him?
A half-pronounced timid "No" was her answer.
"What! not remember moonlight, and Muschat's Cairn, and
Rob and Rat? " said he with the same sneer.
"Your memory
needs redding up, my jo. "
If Jeanie's distresses had admitted of aggravation, it must have
been to find her sister under the charge of such a profligate as
this man. He was not, indeed, without something of good to
balance so much that was evil in his character and habits. In
his misdemeanors he had never been bloodthirsty or cruel; and
in his present occupation, he had shown himself, in a certain.


## p. 13018 (#452) ##########################################

13018
SIR WALTER SCOTT
degree, accessible to touches of humanity. But these good qual-
ities were unknown to Jeanie; who, remembering the scene at
Muschat's Cairn, could scarce find voice to acquaint him that she
had an order from Bailie Middleburgh, permitting her to see her
sister.
"I ken that fu' weel, my bonny doo; mair by token, I have a
special charge to stay in the ward with you a' the time ye are
thegither. "
"Must that be sae? " asked Jeanie with an imploring voice.
"Hout, ay, hinny," replied the turnkey; "and what the waur
will you and your tittie be of Jim Ratcliffe hearing what ye hae
to say to ilk other? Deil a word ye'll say that will gar him ken
your kittle sex better than he kens them already; and another
thing is, that if ye dinna speak o' breaking the Tolbooth, deil a
word will I tell ower, either to do ye good or ill. "
Thus saying, Ratcliffe marshaled her the way to the apart-
ment where Effie was confined.
Shame, fear, and grief, had contended for mastery in the poor
prisoner's bosom during the whole morning, while she had looked
forward to this meeting; but when the door opened, all gave way
to a confused and strange feeling that had a tinge of joy in it,
as throwing herself on her sister's neck, she ejaculated, "My dear
Jeanie! my dear Jeanie! it's lang since I hae seen ye. " Jeanie
returned the embrace with an earnestness that partook almost
of rapture; but it was only a flitting emotion, like a sunbeam
unexpectedly penetrating betwixt the clouds of a tempest, and
obscured almost as soon as visible. The sisters walked together
to the side of the pallet bed and sat down side by side, took
hold of each other's hands, and looked each other in the face, but
without speaking a word. In this posture they remained for a
minute, while the gleam of joy gradually faded from their feat-
ures, and gave way to the most intense expression, first of melan-
choly, and then of agony; till, throwing themselves again into
each other's arms, they, to use the language of Scripture, lifted up
their voices and wept bitterly.
Even the hard-hearted turnkey, who had spent his life in
scenes calculated to stifle both conscience and feeling, could not
witness this scene without a touch of human sympathy. It was
shown in a trifling action, but which had more delicacy in it than
seemed to belong to Ratcliffe's character and station. The un-
glazed window of the miserable chamber was open, and the beams


## p. 13019 (#453) ##########################################

SIR WALTER SCOTT
13019
of a bright sun fell right upon the bed where the sufferers were
seated. With a gentleness that had something of reverence in
it, Ratcliffe partly closed the shutter, and seemed thus to throw a
veil over a scene so sorrowful.
"Ye are ill, Effie," were the first words Jeanie could utter;
"ye are very ill. ”
"Oh, what wad I gie to be ten times waur, Jeanie! "
was the
reply; "what wad I gie to be cauld dead afore the ten o'clock
bell the morn! And our father- - but I am his bairn nae langer
Oh, I hae nae friend left in the warld! · Oh that I were
lying dead at my mother's side, in Newbattle kirk-yard! "
-
now
"Hout, lassie," said Ratcliffe, willing to show the interest
which he absolutely felt: "dinna be sae dooms doon-hearted as a'
that, there's mony a tod hunted that's na killed. Advocate
Langtale has brought folk through waur snappers than a' this,
and there's no a cleverer agent than Nichil Novit e'er drew a bill
of suspension. Hanged or unhanged, they are weel aff has sic an
agent and counsel: ane's sure o' fair play. Ye are a bonny lass,
too, and ye wad busk up your cockernony a bit; and a bonny.
lass will find favor wi' judge and jury, when they would strap up
a grewsome carle like me for the fifteenth part of a flea's hide
and tallow, d-n them. "
-
-
-
To this homely strain of consolation the mourners returned
no answer; indeed, they were so much lost in their own sorrows
as to have become insensible of Ratcliffe's presence.
"O Effie," said her elder sister, "how could you conceal your
situation from me? O woman, had I deserved this at your hand?
Had ye spoke but ae word-sorry we might hae been, and
shamed we might hae been, but this awfu' dispensation had never
come ower us. "
"And what gude wad that hae dune? " answered the prisoner.
"Na, na, Jeanie, a' was ower when ance I forgot what I promised
when I faulded down the leaf of my Bible. See," she said, pro-
ducing the sacred volume, "the book opens aye at the place o'
itsell. Oh, see, Jeanie, what a fearfu' Scripture! "
Jeanie took her sister's Bible, and found that the fatal mark
was made at this impressive text in the book of Job: "He hath
stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone. And mine
hope hath he removed like a tree. "


## p. 13020 (#454) ##########################################

13020
SIR WALTER SCOTT
"Isna that ower true a doctrine? " said the prisoner: "isna
my crown, my honor, removed? And what am I but a poor,
wasted, wan-thriven tree, dug up by the roots, and flung out to
waste in the highway, that man and beast may tread it under
foot? I thought o' the bonny bit thorn that our father rooted out
o' the yard last May, when it had a' the flush o' blossoms on it;
and then it lay in the court till the beasts had trod them a' to
pieces wi' their feet. I little thought, when I was wae for the
bit silly green bush and its flowers, that I was to gang the same.
gate mysell. "
"Oh, if ye had spoken ae word," again sobbed Jeanie,- "if I
were free to swear that ye had said but ae word of how it stude
wi' ye, they couldna hae touched your life this day. "
"Could they na? " said Effie, with something like awakened
interest,-
for life is dear even to those who feel it is a burden:
"wha tauld ye that, Jeanie ? »
"It was ane that kend what he was saying weel eneugh,”
replied Jeanie, who had a natural reluctance at mentioning even
the name of her sister's seducer.
――――――
"Wha was it? —I conjure you to tell me," said Effie, seating
herself upright. "Wha could tak interest in sic a cast-by as I
am now? Was it was it him? »
――――――
"Hout," said Ratcliffe, "what signifies keeping the poor lassie
in a swither? I'se uphaud it's been Robertson that learned ye
that doctrine when ye saw him at Muschat's Cairn. "
"Was it him? " said Effie, catching eagerly at his words; "was
it him, Jeanie, indeed? Oh, I see it was him: poor lad, and
I was thinking his heart was as hard as the nether millstane,-
and him in sic danger on his ain part,-poor George! "
Somewhat indignant at this burst of tender feeling toward the
author of her misery, Jeanie could not help exclaiming, "O Effie,
how can ye speak that gate of sic a man as that? "
"We maun forgie our enemies, ye ken," said poor Effie,
with a timid look and a subdued voice, for her conscience told her
what a different character the feelings with which she regarded
her seducer bore, compared with the Christian charity under
which she attempted to veil it.
"And ye hae suffered a' this for him, and ye can think of
loving him still?