Bab Bab 43 · THE BALL

. THE BALL

Ensign MacCombich having gone to the Highland camp upon duty, and

Bailie Macwheeble having retired to digest his dinner and Evan Dhu’s

intimation of martial law in some blind change-house, Waverley, with

the Baron and the Chieftain, proceeded to Holyrood House. The two last

were in full tide of spirits, and the Baron rallied in his way our hero

upon the handsome figure which his new dress displayed to advantage.

“If you have any design upon the heart of a bonny Scotch lassie, I

would premonish you, when you address her, to remember and quote the

words of Virgilius:—

Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis,

Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes;

whilk verses Robertson of Struan, Chief of the Clan Donnochy (unless

the claims of Lude ought to be preferred _primo loco_), has thus

elegantly rendered:—

For cruel love had gartan’d low my leg,

And clad my hurdies in a philabeg.

although, indeed, ye wear the trews, a garment whilk I approve maist of

the twa, as mair ancient and seemly.”

“Or rather,” said Fergus, “hear my song:—

She wadna hae a Lowland laird,

Nor be an English lady;

But she’s away with Duncan Grame,

And he’s row’d her in his plaidy.”

By this time they reached the palace of Holyrood, and were announced

respectively as they entered the apartments.

It is but too well known how many gentlemen of rank, education, and

fortune took a concern in the ill-fated and desperate undertaking of

1745. The ladies, also, of Scotland very generally espoused the cause

of the gallant and handsome young Prince, who threw himself upon the

mercy of his countrymen rather like a hero of romance than a

calculating politician. It is not, therefore, to be wondered that

Edward, who had spent the greater part of his life in the solemn

seclusion of Waverley-Honour, should have been dazzled at the

liveliness and elegance of the scene now exhibited in the long deserted

halls of the Scottish palace. The accompaniments, indeed, fell short of

splendour, being such as the confusion and hurry of the time admitted;

still, however, the general effect was striking, and, the rank of the

company considered, might well be called brilliant.

It was not long before the lover’s eye discovered the object of his

attachment. Flora Mac-Ivor was in the act of returning to her seat,

near the top of the room, with Rose Bradwardine by her side. Among much

elegance and beauty, they had attracted a great degree of the public

attention, being certainly two of the handsomest women present. The

Prince took much notice of both, particularly of Flora, with whom he

danced, a preference which she probably owed to her foreign education

and command of the French and Italian languages.

When the bustle attending the conclusion of the dance permitted, Edward

almost intuitively followed Fergus to the place where Miss Mac-Ivor was

seated. The sensation of hope with which he had nursed his affection in

absence of the beloved object seemed to vanish in her presence, and,

like one striving to recover the particulars of a forgotten dream, he

would have given the world at that moment to have recollected the

grounds on which he had founded expectations which now seemed so

delusive. He accompanied Fergus with downcast eyes, tingling ears, and

the feelings of the criminal who, while the melancholy cart moves

slowly through the crowds that have assembled to behold his execution,

receives no clear sensation either from the noise which fills his ears

or the tumult on which he casts his wandering look. Flora seemed a

little—a very little—affected and discomposed at his approach. “I bring

you an adopted son of Ivor,” said Fergus.

“And I receive him as a second brother,” replied Flora.

There was a slight emphasis on the word, which would have escaped every

ear but one that was feverish with apprehension. It was, however,

distinctly marked, and, combined with her whole tone and manner,

plainly intimated, “I will never think of Mr. Waverley as a more

intimate connexion.” Edward stopped, bowed, and looked at Fergus, who

bit his lip, a movement of anger which proved that he also had put a

sinister interpretation on the reception which his sister had given his

friend. “This, then, is an end of my day-dream!” Such was Waverley’s

first thought, and it was so exquisitely painful as to banish from his

cheek every drop of blood.

“Good God!” said Rose Bradwardine, “he is not yet recovered!”

These words, which she uttered with great emotion, were overheard by

the Chevalier himself, who stepped hastily forward, and, taking

Waverley by the hand, inquired kindly after his health, and added that

he wished to speak with him. By a strong and sudden effort; which the

circumstances rendered indispensable, Waverley recovered himself so far

as to follow the Chevalier in silence to a recess in the apartment.

Here the Prince detained him some time, asking various questions about

the great Tory and Catholic families of England, their connections,

their influence, and the state of their affections towards the house of

Stuart. To these queries Edward could not at any time have given more

than general answers, and it may be supposed that, in the present state

of his feelings, his responses were indistinct even to confusion. The

Chevalier smiled once or twice at the incongruity of his replies, but

continued the same style of conversation, although he found himself

obliged to occupy the principal share of it, until he perceived that

Waverley had recovered his presence of mind. It is probable that this

long audience was partly meant to further the idea which the Prince

desired should be entertained among his followers, that Waverley was a

character of political influence. But it appeared, from his concluding

expressions, that he had a different and good-natured motive, personal

to our hero, for prolonging the conference. “I cannot resist the

temptation,” he said, “of boasting of my own discretion as a lady’s

confidant. You see, Mr. Waverley, that I know all, and I assure you I

am deeply interested in the affair. But, my good young friend, you must

put a more severe restraint upon your feelings. There are many here

whose eyes can see as clearly as mine, but the prudence of whose

tongues may not be equally trusted.”

So saying, he turned easily away and joined a circle of officers at a

few paces’ distance, leaving Waverley to meditate upon his parting

expression, which, though not intelligible to him in its whole purport,

was sufficiently so in the caution which the last word recommended.

Making, therefore, an effort to show himself worthy of the interest

which his new master had expressed, by instant obedience to his

recommendation, he walked up to the spot where Flora and Miss

Bradwardine were still seated, and having made his compliments to the

latter, he succeeded, even beyond his own expectation, in entering into

conversation upon general topics.

If, my dear reader, thou hast ever happened to take post-horses at ——

or at —— (one at least of which blanks, or more probably both, you will

be able to fill up from an inn near your own residence), you must have

observed, and doubtless with sympathetic pain, the reluctant agony with

which the poor jades at first apply their galled necks to the collars

of the harness. But when the irresistible arguments of the post-boy

have prevailed upon them to proceed a mile or two, they will become

callous to the first sensation; and being warm in the harness, as the

said post-boy may term it, proceed as if their withers were altogether

unwrung. This simile so much corresponds with the state of Waverley’s

feelings in the course of this memorable evening, that I prefer it

(especially as being, I trust, wholly original) to any more splendid

illustration with which Byshe’s “Art of Poetry” might supply me.

Exertion, like virtue, is its own reward; and our hero had, moreover,

other stimulating motives for persevering in a display of affected

composure and indifference to Flora’s obvious unkindness. Pride, which

supplies its caustic as an useful, though severe, remedy for the wounds

of affection, came rapidly to his aid. Distinguished by the favour of a

prince; destined, he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in

the revolution which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably, in

mental acquirements, and equalling at least in personal

accomplishments, most of the noble and distinguished persons with whom

he was now ranked; young, wealthy, and high-born,—could he, or ought

he, to droop beneath the frown of a capricious beauty?

O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art,

My bosom is proud as thine own.

With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, however,

were not then written),[*] Waverley determined upon convincing Flora

that he was not to be depressed by a rejection in which his vanity

whispered that perhaps she did her own prospects as much injustice as

his. And, to aid this change of feeling, there lurked the secret and

unacknowledged hope that she might learn to prize his affection more

highly, when she did not conceive it to be altogether within her own

choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone of

encouragement, also, in the Chevalier’s words, though he feared they

only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of an union between him

and his sister. But the whole circumstances of time, place, and

incident combined at once to awaken his imagination and to call upon

him for a manly and decisive tone of conduct, leaving to fate to

dispose of the issue. Should he appear to be the only one sad and

disheartened on the eve of battle, how greedily would the tale be

commented upon by the slander which had been already but too busy with

his fame! Never, never, he internally resolved, shall my unprovoked

enemies possess such an advantage over my reputation.

[* They occur in Miss Seward’s fine verses, beginning—

“To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.”]

Under the influence of these mixed sensations, and cheered at times by

a smile of intelligence and approbation from the Prince as he passed

the group, Waverley exerted his powers of fancy, animation, and

eloquence, and attracted the general admiration of the company. The

conversation gradually assumed the tone best qualified for the display

of his talents and acquisitions. The gaiety of the evening was exalted

in character, rather than checked, by the approaching dangers of the

morrow. All nerves were strung for the future, and prepared to enjoy

the present. This mood of mind is highly favourable for the exercise of

the powers of imagination, for poetry, and for that eloquence which is

allied to poetry. Waverley, as we have elsewhere observed, possessed at

times a wonderful flow of rhetoric; and on the present occasion, he

touched more than once the higher notes of feeling, and then again ran

off in a wild voluntary of fanciful mirth. He was supported and excited

by kindred spirits, who felt the same impulse of mood and time; and

even those of more cold and calculating habits were hurried along by

the torrent. Many ladies declined the dance, which still went forward,

and under various pretences joined the party to which the “handsome

young Englishman” seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to

several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present were

altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a moment of

less excitation, they were usually clouded, gave universal delight.

Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who regarded him

with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she could not suppress

a sort of wonder at talents which, in the course of their acquaintance,

she had never seen displayed with equal brilliancy and impressive

effect. I do not know whether she might not feel a momentary regret at

having taken so decisive a resolution upon the addresses of a lover who

seemed fitted so well to fill a high place in the highest stations of

society. Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable

deficiencies of Edward’s disposition the _mauvaise honte_ which, as she

had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was little

acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was in her opinion too

nearly related to timidity and imbecility of disposition. But if a

passing wish occurred that Waverley could have rendered himself

uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its influence was momentary; for

circumstances had arisen since they met which rendered in her eyes the

resolution she had formed respecting him final and irrevocable.

With opposite feelings Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to listen.

She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to one whose merit

she had learned to prize too early and too fondly. Without a thought of

jealousy, without a feeling of fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by

a single selfish consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of

observing the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear

was exclusively filled with his voice, when others answered, her eye

took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. Perhaps

the delight which she experienced in the course of that evening, though

transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in its nature the most pure

and disinterested which the human mind is capable of enjoying.

“Baron,” said the Chevalier, “I would not trust my mistress in the

company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps somewhat

romantic, one of the most fascinating young men whom I have ever seen.”

“And by my honour, sir,” replied the Baron, “the lad can sometimes be

as dowff as a sexagenary like myself. If your Royal Highness had seen

him dreaming and dozing about the banks of Tully-Veolan like an

hypochondriac person, or, as Burton’s “Anatomia” hath it, a phrenesiac

or lethargic patient, you would wonder where he hath sae suddenly

acquired all this fine sprack festivity and jocularity.”

“Truly,” said Fergus Mac-Ivor, “I think it can only be the inspiration

of the tartans; for, though Waverley be always a young fellow of sense

and honour, I have hitherto often found him a very absent and

inattentive companion.”

“We are the more obliged to him,” said the Prince, “for having reserved

for this evening qualities which even such intimate friends had not

discovered. But come, gentlemen, the night advances, and the business

of tomorrow must be early thought upon. Each take charge of his fair

partner, and honour a small refreshment with your company.”

He led the way to another suite of apartments, and assumed the seat and

canopy at the head of a long range of tables with an air of dignity,

mingled with courtesy, which well became his high birth and lofty

pretensions. An hour had hardly flown away when the musicians played

the signal for parting so well known in Scotland.[*]

[* Which is, or was wont to be, the old air of “Good-night and joy be

wi’ you a’!”]

“Good-night, then,” said the Chevalier, rising; “goodnight, and joy be

with you! Good-night, fair ladies, who have so highly honoured a

proscribed and banished Prince! Good-night, my brave friends; may the

happiness we have this evening experienced be an omen of our return to

these our paternal halls, speedily and in triumph, and of many and many

future meetings of mirth and pleasure in the palace of Holyrood!”

When the Baron of Bradwardine afterwards mentioned this adieu of the

Chevalier, he never failed to repeat, in a melancholy tone,

“Audiit, et voti Phœbus succedere partem

Mente dedit; partem volucres dispersit in auras;

which,” as he added, “is weel rendered into English metre by my friend

Bangour:—

Ae half the prayer wi’ Phœbus grace did find,

The t’other half he whistled down the wind.”