Chương Chương 40 · AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE

. AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE

While he was deep sunk in his reverie, the rustle of tartans was heard

behind him, a friendly arm clasped his shoulders, and a friendly voice

exclaimed,

“Said the Highland prophet sooth? Or must second-sight go for nothing?”

Waverley turned, and was warmly embraced by Fergus Mac-Ivor. “A

thousand welcomes to Holyrood, once more possessed by her legitimate

sovereign! Did I not say we should prosper, and that you would fall

into the hands of the Philistines if you parted from us?”

“Dear Fergus!” said Waverley, eagerly returning his greeting. “It is

long since I have heard a friend’s voice. Where is Flora?”

“Safe, and a triumphant spectator of our success.”

“In this place?” said Waverley.

“Ay, in this city at least,” answered his friend, “and you shall see

her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think of, who has

been frequent in his inquiries after you.”

Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard chamber,

and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found himself in a

presence room, fitted up with some attempt at royal state.

A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the dignity of

his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed and regular

features, advanced out of a circle of military gentlemen and Highland

chiefs by whom he was surrounded. In his easy and graceful manners

Waverley afterwards thought he could have discovered his high birth and

rank, although the star on his breast and the embroidered garter at his

knee had not appeared as its indications.

“Let me present to your Royal Highness,” said Fergus, bowing

profoundly—

“The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in

England,” said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. “I beg your

pardon for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master of

ceremonies is necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.”

Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost courtesy,

who could not, had he desired it, have avoided rendering him the homage

which seemed due to his rank, and was certainly the right of his birth.

“I am sorry to understand, Mr. Waverley, that, owing to circumstances

which have been as yet but ill explained, you have suffered some

restraint among my followers in Perthshire and on your march here; but

we are in such a situation that we hardly know our friends, and I am

even at this moment uncertain whether I can have the pleasure of

considering Mr. Waverley as among mine.”

He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a

suitable reply, or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the Prince

took out a paper and then proceeded:—“I should indeed have no doubts

upon this subject if I could trust to this proclamation, set forth by

the friends of the Elector of Hanover, in which they rank Mr. Waverley

among the nobility and gentry who are menaced with the pains of

high-treason for loyalty to their legitimate sovereign. But I desire to

gain no adherents save from affection and conviction; and if Mr.

Waverley inclines to prosecute his journey to the south, or to join the

forces of the Elector, he shall have my passport and free permission to

do so; and I can only regret that my present power will not extend to

protect him against the probable consequences of such a measure. But,”

continued Charles Edward, after another short pause, “if Mr. Waverley

should, like his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to embrace a cause

which has little to recommend it but its justice, and follow a prince

who throws himself upon the affections of his people to recover the

throne of his ancestors or perish in the attempt, I can only say, that

among these nobles and gentlemen he will find worthy associates in a

gallant enterprise, and will follow a master who may be unfortunate,

but, I trust, will never be ungrateful.”

The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in

introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal

adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a polished

court, in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words and his

kindness penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily outweighed all

prudential motives. To be thus personally solicited for assistance by a

prince whose form and manners, as well as the spirit which he displayed

in this singular enterprise, answered his ideas of a hero of romance;

to be courted by him in the ancient halls of his paternal palace,

recovered by the sword which he was already bending towards other

conquests, gave Edward, in his own eyes, the dignity and importance

which he had ceased to consider as his attributes. Rejected, slandered,

and threatened upon the one side, he was irresistibly attracted to the

cause which the prejudices of education and the political principles of

his family had already recommended as the most just. These thoughts

rushed through his mind like a torrent, sweeping before them every

consideration of an opposite tendency,—the time, besides, admitted of

no deliberation,—and Waverley, kneeling to Charles Edward, devoted his

heart and sword to the vindication of his rights!

The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies of his

forefathers, we shall here and elsewhere give him the title due to his

birth) raised Waverley from the ground and embraced him with an

expression of thanks too warm not to be genuine. He also thanked Fergus

Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having brought him such an adherent, and

presented Waverley to the various noblemen, chieftains, and officers

who were about his person as a young gentleman of the highest hopes and

prospects, in whose bold and enthusiastic avowal of his cause they

might see an evidence of the sentiments of the English families of rank

at this important crisis.[29] Indeed, this was a point much doubted

among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a well-founded

disbelief in the cooperation of the English Jacobites kept many

Scottish men of rank from his standard, and diminished the courage of

those who had joined it, nothing could be more seasonable for the

Chevalier than the open declaration in his favour of the representative

of the house of Waverley-Honour, so long known as Cavaliers and

Royalists. This Fergus had foreseen from the beginning. He really loved

Waverley, because their feelings and projects never thwarted each

other; he hoped to see him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they

were effectually engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted,

he also exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party a

partizan of such consequence; and he was far from being insensible to

the personal importance which he himself gained with the Prince from

having so materially assisted in making the acquisition.

Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants the

value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering immediately,

as in confidence, upon the circumstances of his situation. “You have

been secluded so much from intelligence, Mr. Waverley, from causes of

which I am but indistinctly informed, that I presume you are even yet

unacquainted with the important particulars of my present situation.

You have, however, heard of my landing in the remote district of

Moidart, with only seven attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and

clans whose loyal enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at

the head of a gallant army. You must also, I think, have learned that

the commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, Sir John Cope,

marched into the Highlands at the head of a numerous and well-appointed

military force with the intention of giving us battle, but that his

courage failed him when we were within three hours’ march of each

other, so that he fairly gave us the slip and marched northward to

Aberdeen, leaving the Low Country open and undefended. Not to lose so

favourable an opportunity, I marched on to this metropolis, driving

before me two regiments of horse, Gardiner’s and Hamilton’s, who had

threatened to cut to pieces every Highlander that should venture to

pass Stirling; and while discussions were carrying forward among the

magistracy and citizens of Edinburgh whether they should defend

themselves or surrender, my good friend Lochiel (laying his hand on the

shoulder of that gallant and accomplished chieftain) saved them the

trouble of farther deliberation by entering the gates with five hundred

Camerons. Thus far, therefore, we have done well; but, in the

meanwhile, this doughty general’s nerves being braced by the keen air

of Aberdeen, he has taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just received

certain information that he landed there yesterday. His purpose must

unquestionably be to march towards us to recover possession of the

capital. Now there are two opinions in my council of war: one, that

being inferior probably in numbers, and certainly in discipline and

military appointments, not to mention our total want of artillery and

the weakness of our cavalry, it will be safest to fall back towards the

mountains, and there protract the war until fresh succours arrive from

France, and the whole body of the Highland clans shall have taken arms

in our favour. The opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde

movement, in our circumstances, is certain to throw utter discredit on

our arms and undertaking; and, far from gaining us new partizans, will

be the means of disheartening those who have joined our standard. The

officers who use these last arguments, among whom is your friend Fergus

Mac-Ivor, maintain that, if the Highlanders are strangers to the usual

military discipline of Europe, the soldiers whom they are to encounter

are no less strangers to their peculiar and formidable mode of attack;

that the attachment and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to

be doubted; and that, as they will be in the midst of the enemy, their

clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having drawn the

sword we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our cause to battle

and to the God of battles. Will Mr. Waverley favour us with his opinion

in these arduous circumstances?”

[Illustration]

Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the distinction

implied in this question, and answered, with equal spirit and

readiness, that he could not venture to offer an opinion as derived

from military skill, but that the counsel would be far the most

acceptable to him which should first afford him an opportunity to

evince his zeal in his Royal Highness’s service.

“Spoken like a Waverley!” answered Charles Edward; “and that you may

hold a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow me,

instead of the captain’s commission which you have lost, to offer you

the brevet rank of major in my service, with the advantage of acting as

one of my aides-de-camp until you can be attached to a regiment, of

which I hope several will be speedily embodied.”

“Your Royal Highness will forgive me,” answered Waverley (for his

recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), “if I

decline accepting any rank until the time and place where I may have

interest enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my command

useful to your Royal Highness’s service. In the meanwhile, I hope for

your permission to serve as a volunteer under my friend Fergus

Mac-Ivor.”

“At least,” said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this

proposal, “allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland

fashion.” With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he wore,

the belt of which was plaited with silver, and the steel basket-hilt

richly and curiously inlaid. “The blade,” said the Prince, “is a

genuine Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of heirloom in our family;

but I am convinced I put it into better hands than my own, and will add

to it pistols of the same workmanship. Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have

much to say to your friend; I will detain you no longer from your

private conversation; but remember we expect you both to attend us in

the evening. It may be perhaps the last night we may enjoy in these

halls, and as we go to the field with a clear conscience, we will spend

the eve of battle merrily.”

Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber.