第 十九 章 · THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION

. THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION

The ingenious licentiate Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced his

history of “La Picara Justina Diez,”—which, by the way, is one of the

most rare books of Spanish literature,—complained of his pen having

caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more eloquence than common

sense, an affectionate expostulation with that useful implement,

upbraiding it with being the quill of a goose,—a bird inconstant by

nature, as frequenting the three elements of water, earth, and air

indifferently, and being, of course, “to one thing constant never.” Now

I protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from

Francisco de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality

of my pen, that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from

description and dialogue to narrative and character. So that if my

quill display no other properties of its mother-goose than her

mutability, truly I shall be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my

worthy friend, will have no occasion for discontent. From the jargon,

therefore, of the Highland gillies I pass to the character of their

Chief. It is an important examination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we

must spare no wisdom.

The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, had set

up a claim to be recognised as chief of the numerous and powerful clan

to which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention.

Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least more

force, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him,

in quest of new settlements, like a second Æneas. The state of the

Perthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that

country had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name

of our adventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by

the king to chastise him, and did such good service that he obtained a

grant of the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards

resided. He followed the king also in war to the fertile regions of

England, where he employed his leisure hours so actively in raising

subsidies among the boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his

return he was enabled to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much

admired by his dependants and neighbours that he, who had hitherto been

called Ian Mac-Ivor, or John the son of Ivor, was thereafter

distinguished, both in song and genealogy, by the high title of Ian nan

Chaistel, or John of the Tower. The descendants of this worthy were so

proud of him that the reigning chief always bore the patronymic title

of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of John the Great; while the clan at

large, to distinguish them from that from which they had seceded, were

denominated Sliochd nan Ivor, the race of Ivor.

The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of the

Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and was

forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of

the Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other

fugitives, he obtained employment in the French service, and married a

lady of rank in that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and

his sister Flora. The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to

sale, but was repurchased for a small price in the name of the young

proprietor, who in consequence came to reside upon his native

domains.[18] It was soon perceived that he possessed a character of

uncommon acuteness, fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted

with the state of the country, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar

tone, that could only have been acquired Sixty Years Since.

Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he would in

all probability have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of the

world which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, his

ambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his

situation now afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as

perfect a politician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied

himself with great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions

which often arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he

became a frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power

he strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and

indeed stretched his means to the uttermost to maintain the rude and

plentiful hospitality which was the most valued attribute of a

chieftain. For the same reason he crowded his estate with a tenantry,

hardy indeed, and fit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering

what the soil was calculated to maintain. These consisted chiefly of

his own clan, not one of whom he suffered to quit his lands if he could

possibly prevent it. But he maintained, besides, many adventurers from

the mother sept, who deserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief

to do homage to Fergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not

even that apology, were nevertheless received into his allegiance,

which indeed was refused to none who were, like Poins, proper men of

their hands, and were willing to assume the name of Mac-Ivor.

He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained command

of one of the independent companies raised by government to preserve

the peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he acted with vigour

and spirit, and preserved great order in the country under his charge.

He caused his vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and serve

for a certain space of time, which gave them all in turn a general

notion of military discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti,

it was observed that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the

discretionary power which, while the law had no free course in the

Highlands, was conceived to belong to the military parties who were

called in to support it. He acted, for example, with great and

suspicious lenity to those freebooters who made restitution on his

summons and offered personal submission to himself, while he rigorously

pursued, apprehended, and sacrificed to justice all such interlopers as

dared to despise his admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any

officers of justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue

thieves or marauders through his territories, and without applying for

his consent and concurrence, nothing was more certain than that they

would meet with some notable foil or defeat; upon which occasions

Fergus Mac-Ivor was the first to condole with them, and after gently

blaming their rashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state

of the country. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and

matters were so represented to government that our Chieftain was

deprived of his military command.[19]

Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art of

entirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a short

time the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects from his

disgrace. Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whose depredations

had hitherto been confined to other districts, appeared from

thenceforward to have made a settlement on this devoted border; and

their ravages were carried on with little opposition, as the Lowland

gentry were chiefly Jacobites, and disarmed. This forced many of the

inhabitants into contracts of black-mail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which

not only established him their protector, and gave him great weight in

all their consultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of

his feudal hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might have

otherwise essentially diminished.

In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object than

merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling

despotically over a small clan. From his infancy upward he had devoted

himself to the cause of the exiled family, and had persuaded himself,

not only that their restoration to the crown of Britain would be

speedy, but that those who assisted them would be raised to honour and

rank. It was with this view that he laboured to reconcile the

Highlanders among themselves, and augmented his own force to the

utmost, to be prepared for the first favourable opportunity of rising.

With this purpose also he conciliated the favour of such Lowland

gentlemen in the vicinity as were friends to the good cause; and for

the same reason, having incautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine,

who, notwithstanding his peculiarities, was much respected in the

country, he took advantage of the foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder

up the dispute in the manner we have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmised

that he caused the enterprise to be suggested to Donald, on purpose to

pave the way to a reconciliation, which, supposing that to be the case,

cost the Laird of Bradwardine two good milch cows. This zeal in their

behalf the House of Stuart repaid with a considerable share of their

confidence, an occasional supply of louis-d’or, abundance of fair

words, and a parchment, with a huge waxen seal appended, purporting to

be an earl’s patent, granted by no less a person than James the Third

King of England, and Eighth King of Scotland, to his right feal,

trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, in the county

of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland.

With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged

deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and,

like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to going

certain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and

pride would have deterred him had his sole object been the direct

advancement of his own personal interest. With this insight into a

bold, ambitious, and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we

resume the broken thread of our narrative.

The chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of

Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel’s mansion, a high

rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a _lofted_ house, that

is, a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus’s grandfather when

he returned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the

western shires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of

this crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian

Vohr of the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was

in harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival

edifice as a monument of his magnificence.

Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrow

Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience,

far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds a

gentleman’s habitation. An inclosure or two, divided by dry-stone

walls, were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the

rest, the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the

brook exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant

depredations from the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed

upon the adjacent hills. These ever and anon made an incursion upon the

arable ground, which was repelled by the loud, uncouth, and dissonant

shouts of half a dozen Highland swains, all running as if they had been

mad, and every one hallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the

forage. At a little distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood

of birch; the hills were high and heathy, but without any variety of

surface; so that the whole view was wild and desolate rather than grand

and solitary. Yet, such as it was, no genuine descendant of Ian nan

Chaistel would have changed the domain for Stow or Blenheim.

There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps would have

afforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than the finest view

in the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of his country. This

consisted of about a hundred Highlanders, in complete dress and arms;

at sight of whom the Chieftain apologised to Waverley in a sort of

negligent manner. “He had forgot,” he said, “that he had ordered a few

of his clan out, for the purpose of seeing that they were in a fit

condition to protect the country, and prevent such accidents as, he was

sorry to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they were

dismissed, perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them go through

a part of their exercise.”

Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precision some

of the ordinary military movements. They then practised individually at

a mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the management of the

pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, sitting, leaning, or

lying prostrate, as they were commanded, and always with effect upon

the target. Next, they paired off for the broadsword exercise; and,

having manifested their individual skill and dexterity, united in two

bodies, and exhibited a sort of mock encounter, in which the charge,

the rally, the flight, the pursuit, and all the current of a heady

fight, were exhibited to the sound of the great war bagpipe.

On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Matches were

then made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, and other

sports, in which this feudal militia displayed incredible swiftness,

strength, and agility; and accomplished the purpose which their

Chieftain had at heart, by impressing on Waverley no light sense of

their merit as soldiers, and of the power of him who commanded them by

his nod.[20]

“And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness to call you

leader?” asked Waverley.

“In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the race of

Ivor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores. But you

are aware, Captain Waverley, that the disarming act, passed about

twenty years ago, prevents their being in the complete state of

preparation as in former times; and I keep no more of my clan under

arms than may defend my own or my friends’ property, when the country

is troubled with such men as your last night’s landlord; and

government, which has removed other means of defence, must connive at

our protecting ourselves.”

“But, with your force, you might soon destroy or put down such gangs as

that of Donald Bean Lean.”

“Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up to

General Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have left us;

there were little policy in that, methinks. But come, captain, the

sound of the pipes informs me that dinner is prepared. Let me have the

honour to show you into my rude mansion.”