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Lilias suggested the advice which, of all others, seemed most suited to the occasion, that, yielding, namely, to the circumstances of their situation, they should watch carefully when Darsie should obtain any degree of freedom, and endeavour to open a communication with him, in which case their joint flight might be effected, and without endangering the safety of any one.
Their youthful deliberation had nearly fixed in this point, when Fairford, who was listening to the low sweet whispering tones of Lilias Redgauntlet, rendered yet more interesting by some slight touch of foreign accent, was startled by a heavy hand which descended with full weight on his shoulder, while the discordant voice of Peter Peebles, who had at length broke loose from the well-meaning Quaker, exclaimed in the ear of his truant counsel—'Aha, lad! I think ye are catched—An' so ye are turned chamber-counsel, are ye? And ye have drawn up wi' clients in scarfs and hoods? But bide a wee, billie, and see if I dinna sort ye when my petition and complaint comes to be discussed, with or without answers, under certification.'
Alan Fairford had never more difficulty in his life to subdue a first emotion, than he had to refrain from knocking down the crazy blockhead who had broken in upon him at such a moment. But the length of Peter's address gave him time, fortunately perhaps for both parties, to reflect on the extreme irregularity of such a proceeding. He stood silent, however, with vexation, while Peter went on.
'Weel, my bonnie man, I see ye are thinking shame o' yoursell, and nae great wonder. Ye maun leave this quean—the like of her is ower light company for you. I have heard honest Mr. Pest say, that the gown grees ill wi' the petticoat. But come awa hame to your puir father, and I'll take care of you the haill gate, and keep you company, and deil a word we will speak about, but just the state of the conjoined processes of the great cause of Poor Peter Peebles against Plainstanes.'
'If thou canst; endure to hear as much of that suit, friend,' said the Quaker, 'as I have heard out of mere compassion for thee, I think verily thou wilt soon be at the bottom of the matter, unless it be altogether bottomless.'
Fairford shook off, rather indignantly, the large bony hand which Peter had imposed upon his shoulder, and was about to say something peevish, upon so unpleasant and insolent a mode of interruption, when the door opened, a treble voice saying to the sentinel, 'I tell you I maun be in, to see if Mr. Nixon's here;' and little Benjie thrust in his mop-head and keen black eyes. Ere he could withdraw it, Peter Peebles sprang to the door, seized on the boy by the collar, and dragged him forward into the room.
'Let me see it,' he said, 'ye ne'er-do-weel limb of Satan—I'll gar you satisfy the production, I trow—I'll hae first and second diligence against you, ye deevil's buckie!'
'What dost thou want?' said the Quaker, interfering; 'why dost thou frighten the boy, friend Peebles?'
'I gave the bastard a penny to buy me snuff,' said the pauper, 'and he has rendered no account of his intromissions; but I'll gar him as gude.'
So saying, he proceeded forcibly to rifle the pockets of Benjie's ragged jacket of one or two snares for game, marbles, a half-bitten apple, two stolen eggs (one of which Peter broke in the eagerness of his research), and various other unconsidered trifles, which had not the air of being very honestly come by. The little rascal, under this discipline, bit and struggled like a fox-cub, but, like that vermin, uttered neither cry nor complaint, till a note, which Peter tore from his bosom, flew as far as Lilias Redgauntlet, and fell at her feet. It was addressed to C. N.
'It is for the villain Nixon.' she said to Alan Fairford; 'open it without scruple; that boy is his emissary; we shall now see what the miscreant is driving at.'
Little Benjie now gave up all further struggle, and suffered Peebles to take from him, without resistance, a shilling, out of which Peter declared he would pay himself principal and interest, and account for the balance. The boy, whose attention seemed fixed on something very different, only said, 'Maister Nixon will murder me!'
Alan Fairford did not hesitate to read the little scrap of paper, on which was written, 'All is prepared—keep them in play until I come up. You may depend on your reward.—C. C.'
'Alas, my uncle—my poor uncle!' said Lilias; 'this is the result of his confidence. Methinks, to give him instant notice of his confidant's treachery, is now the best service we can render all concerned—if they break up their undertaking, as they must now do, Darsie will be at liberty.'
In the same breath, they were both at the half-opened door of the room, Fairford entreating to speak with the Father Buonaventure, and Lilias, equally vehemently, requesting a moment's interview with her uncle. While the sentinel hesitated what to do, his attention was called to a loud noise at the door, where a crowd had been assembled in consequence of the appalling cry, that the enemy were upon them, occasioned, as it afterwards proved, by some stragglers having at length discovered the dead bodies of Nanty Ewart and of Nixon.
Amid the confusion occasioned by this alarming incident, the sentinel ceased to attend, to his duty; and accepting Alan Fairford's arm, Lilias found no opposition in penetrating even to the inner apartment, where the principal persons in the enterprise, whose conclave had been disturbed by this alarming incident, were now assembled in great confusion, and had been joined by the Chevalier himself.
'Only a mutiny among these smuggling scoundrels,' said Redgauntlet.
ONLY a mutiny, do you say?' said Sir Richard Glendale; 'and the lugger, the last hope of escape for,'—he looked towards Charles,—'stands out to sea under a press of sail!'
'Do not concern yourself about me,' said the unfortunate prince; 'this is not the worst emergency in which it has been my lot to stand; and if it were, I fear it not. Shift for yourselves, my lords and gentlemen.'
'No, never!' said the young Lord ———. 'Our only hope now is in an honourable resistance.'
'Most true,' said Redgauntlet; 'let despair renew the union amongst us which accident disturbed. I give my voice for displaying the royal banner instantly, and—How now!' he concluded, sternly, as Lilias, first soliciting his attention by pulling his cloak, put into his hand the scroll, and added, it was designed for that of Nixon.
Redgauntlet read—and, dropping it on the ground, continued to stare upon the spot where it fell, with raised hands and fixed eyes. Sir Richard Glendale lifted the fatal paper, read it, and saying, 'Now all is indeed over,' handed it to Maxwell, who said aloud, 'Black Colin Campbell, by G—d! I heard he had come post from London last night.'
As if in echo to his thoughts, the violin of the blind man was heard, playing with spirit, The Campbells are coming,' a celebrated clan-march.
'The Campbells are coming in earnest,' said MacKellar; they are upon us with the whole battalion from Carlisle.'
There was a silence of dismay, and two or three of the company began to drop out of the room.
Lord ——— spoke with the generous spirit of a young English nobleman. 'If we have been fools, do not let us be cowards. We have one here more precious than us all, and come hither on our warranty—let us save him at least.'
'True, most true,' answered Sir Richard Glendale. 'Let the king be first cared for.'
'That shall be my business,' said Redgauntlet 'if we have but time to bring back the brig, all will be well—I will instantly dispatch a party in a fishing skiff to bring her to.' He gave his commands to two or three of the most active among his followers. 'Let him be once on board,' he said, 'and there are enough of us to stand to arms and cover his retreat.'
'Right, right,' said Sir Richard, 'and I will look to points which can be made defensible; and the old powder-plot boys could not have made a more desperate resistance than we shall. Redgauntlet,' continued he, 'I see some of our friends are looking pale; but methinks your nephew has more mettle in his eye now than when we were in cold deliberation, with danger at a distance.'
'It is the way of our house,' said Redgauntlet; 'our courage ever kindles highest on the losing side. I, too, feel that the catastrophe I have brought on must not be survived by its author. Let me first,' he said, addressing Charles, 'see your Majesty's sacred person in such safety as can now be provided for it, and then'—
'You may spare all considerations concerning me, gentlemen,' again repeated Charles; 'yon mountain of Criffel shall fly as soon as I will.'
Most threw themselves at his feet with weeping and entreaty; some one or two slunk in confusion from the apartment, and were heard riding off. Unnoticed in such a scene, Darsie, his sister, and Fairford, drew together, and held each other by the hands, as those who, when a vessel is about to founder in the storm, determine to take their chance of life and death together.
Amid this scene of confusion, a gentleman, plainly dressed in a riding-habit, with a black cockade in his hat, but without any arms except a COUTEAU-DE-CHASSE, walked into the apartment without ceremony. He was a tall, thin, gentlemanly man, with a look and bearing decidedly military. He had passed through their guards, if in the confusion they now maintained any, without stop or question, and now stood, almost unarmed, among armed men, who nevertheless, gazed on him as on the angel of destruction.
'You look coldly on me, gentlemen,' he said. 'Sir Richard Glendale—my Lord ———, we were not always such strangers. Ha, Pate-in-Peril, how is it with you? and you, too, Ingoldsby—I must not call you by any other name—why do you receive an old friend so coldly? But you guess my errand.'
'And are prepared for it, general,' said Redgauntlet; 'we are not men to be penned up like sheep for the slaughter.'
'Pshaw! you take it too seriously—let me speak but one word with you.'
'No words can shake our purpose,' said Redgauntlet, were your whole command, as I suppose is the case, drawn round the house.'
'I am certainly not unsupported,' said the general; 'but if you would hear me'—
'Hear ME, sir,' said the Wanderer, stepping forward; 'I suppose I am the mark you aim at—I surrender myself willingly, to save these gentlemen's danger—let this at least avail in their favour.'
An exclamation of 'Never, never!' broke from the little body of partisans, who threw themselves round the unfortunate prince, and would have seized or struck down Campbell, had it not been that he remained with his arms folded, and a look, rather indicating impatience because they would not hear him, than the least apprehension of violence at their hand.
At length he obtained a moment's silence. 'I do not,' he said, 'know this gentleman'—(making a profound bow to the unfortunate prince)—'I do not wish to know him; it is a knowledge which would suit neither of us.'
'Our ancestors, nevertheless, have been well acquainted,' said Charles, unable to suppress, even at that hour of dread and danger, the painful recollections of fallen royalty.
'In one word, General Campbell,' said Redgauntlet, 'is it to be peace or war? You are a man of honour, and we can trust you.'
'I thank you, sir,' said the general; 'and I reply, that the answer to your question rests with yourself. Come, do not be fools, gentlemen; there was perhaps no great harm meant or intended by your gathering together in this obscure corner, for a bear-bait or a cock-fight, or whatever other amusement you may have intended, but it was a little imprudent, considering how you stand with government, and it has occasioned some anxiety. Exaggerated accounts of your purpose have been laid before government by the information of a traitor in your own counsels; and I was sent down post to take the command of a sufficient number of troops, in case these calumnies should be found to have any real foundation. I have come here, of course, sufficiently supported both with cavalry and infantry, to do whatever might be necessary; but my commands are—and I am sure they agree with my inclination—to make no arrests, nay, to make no further inquiries of any kind, if this good assembly will consider their own interest so far as to give up their immediate purpose, and return quietly home to their own houses.'
'What!—all?' exclaimed Sir Richard Glendale—'all, without exception?'
'ALL, without one single exception' said the general; 'such are my orders. If you accept my terms, say so, and make haste; for things may happen to interfere with his Majesty's kind purposes towards you all.'
'Majesty's kind purposes!' said the Wanderer. 'Do I hear you aright, sir?'
'I speak the king's very words, from his very lips,' replied the general. '"I will," said his Majesty, "deserve the confidence of my subjects by reposing my security in the fidelity of the millions who acknowledge my title—in the good sense and prudence of the few who continue, from the errors of education, to disown it." His Majesty will not even believe that the most zealous Jacobites who yet remain can nourish a thought of exciting a civil war, which must be fatal to their families and themselves, besides spreading bloodshed and ruin through a peaceful land. He cannot even believe of his kinsman, that he would engage brave and generous though mistaken men, in an attempt which must ruin all who have escaped former calamities; and he is convinced, that, did curiosity or any other motive lead that person to visit this country, he would soon see it was his wisest course to return to the continent; and his Majesty compassionates his situation too much to offer any obstacle to his doing so.'
'Is this real?' said Redgauntlet. 'Can you mean this? Am I—are all, are any of these gentlemen at liberty, without interruption, to embark in yonder brig, which, I see, is now again approaching the shore?'
'You, sir—all—any of the gentlemen present,' said the general,—'all whom the vessel can contain, are at liberty to embark uninterrupted by me; but I advise none to go off who have not powerful reasons unconnected with the present meeting, for this will be remembered against no one.'
'Then, gentlemen,' said Redgauntlet, clasping his hands together as the words burst from him, 'the cause is lost for ever!'
General Campbell turned away to the window, as if to avoid hearing what they said. Their consultation was but momentary; for the door of escape which thus opened was as unexpected as the exigence was threatening.
'We have your word of honour for our protection,' said Sir Richard Glendale, 'if we dissolve our meeting in obedience to your summons?'
'You have, Sir Richard,' answered the general.
'And I also have your promise,' said Redgauntlet, 'that I may go on board yonder vessel, with any friend whom I may choose to accompany me?'
Not only that, Mr. Ingoldsby—or I WILL call you Mr. Redgauntlet once more—you may stay in the offing for a tide, until you are joined by any person who may remain at Fairladies. After that, there will be a sloop of war on the station, and I need not say your condition will then become perilous.'
'Perilous it should not be, General Campbell,' said Redgauntlet, 'or more perilous to others than to us, if others thought as I do even in this extremity.'
'You forget yourself, my friend,' said the unhappy Adventurer; you forget that the arrival of this gentleman only puts the cope-stone on our already adopted resolution to abandon our bull-fight or by whatever other wild name this headlong enterprise may be termed. I bid you farewell, unfriendly friends—I bid you farewell,' (bowing to the general) 'my friendly foe—I leave this strand as I landed upon it, alone and to return no more!'
'Not alone,' said Redgauntlet, 'while there is blood in the veins of my father's son.'
'Not alone,' said the other gentlemen present, stung with feelings which almost overpowered the better reasons under which they had acted. 'We will not disown our principles, or see your person endangered.'
'If it be only your purpose to see the gentleman to the beach,' said General Campbell, 'I will myself go with you. My presence among you, unarmed, and in your power, will be a pledge of my friendly intentions, and will overawe, should such be offered, any interruption on the part of officious persons.'
'Be it so,' said the Adventurer, with the air of a prince to a subject, not of one who complied with the request of an enemy too powerful to be resisted.
They left the apartment—they left the house—an unauthenticated and dubious, but appalling, sensation of terror had already spread itself among the inferior retainers, who had so short time before strutted, and bustled, and thronged the doorway and the passages. A report had arisen, of which the origin could not be traced, of troops advancing towards the spot in considerable numbers; and men who, for one reason or other, were most of them amenable to the arm of power, had either shrunk into stables or corners, or fled the place entirely. There was solitude on the landscape excepting the small party which now moved towards the rude pier, where a boat lay manned, agreeably to Redgauntlet's orders previously given.
The last heir of the Stuarts leant on Redgauntlet's arm as they walked towards the beach; for the ground was rough, and he no longer possessed the elasticity of limb and of spirit which had, twenty years before, carried him over many a Highland hill as light as one of their native deer. His adherents followed, looking on the ground, their feelings struggling against the dictates of their reason.
General Campbell accompanied them with an air of apparent ease and indifference, but watching, at the same time, and no doubt with some anxiety, the changing features of those who acted in this extraordinary scene.
Darsie and his sister naturally followed their uncle, whose violence they no longer feared, while his character attracted their respect, and Alan Fairford attended them from interest in their fate, unnoticed in a party where all were too much occupied with their own thoughts and feelings, as well as with the impending crisis, to attend to his presence.
Half-way betwixt the house and the beach, they saw the bodies of Nanty Ewart and Cristal Nixon blackening in the sun.
'That was your informer?' said Redgauntlet, looking back to General Campbell, who only nodded his assent.
'Caitiff wretch!' exclaimed Redgauntlet;—'and yet the name were better bestowed on the fool who could be misled by thee.'
'That sound broadsword cut,' said the general, 'has saved us the shame of rewarding a traitor.'
They arrived at the place of embarkation. The prince stood a moment with folded arms, and looked around him in deep silence. A paper was then slipped into his hands—he looked at it, and said, 'I find the two friends I have left at Fairladies are apprised of my destination, and propose to embark from Bowness. I presume this will not be an infringement of the conditions under which you have acted?'
'Certainly not,' answered General Campbell; 'they shall have all facility to join you.'
'I wish, then,' said Charles, 'only another companion. Redgauntlet, the air of this country is as hostile to you as it is to me. These gentlemen have made their peace, or rather they have done nothing to break it. But you—come you and share my home where chance shall cast it. We shall never see these shores again; but we will talk of them, and of our disconcerted bull-fight.'
'I follow you, sire, through life,' said Redgauntlet, 'as I would have followed you to death. Permit me one moment.'
The prince then looked round, and seeing the abashed countenances of his other adherents bent upon the ground, he hastened to say, 'Do not think that you, gentlemen, have obliged me less because your zeal was mingled with prudence, entertained, I am sure, more on my own account and on that of your country, than from selfish apprehensions.'
He stepped from one to another, and, amid sobs and bursting tears, received the adieus of the last remnant which had hitherto supported his lofty pretensions, and addressed them individually with accents of tenderness and affection.
The general drew a little aloof, and signed to Redgauntlet to speak with him while this scene proceeded. 'It is now all over,' he said, 'and Jacobite will be henceforward no longer a party name. When you tire of foreign parts, and wish to make your peace, let me know. Your restless zeal alone has impeded your pardon hitherto.'
'And now I shall not need it,' said Redgauntlet. 'I leave England for ever; but I am not displeased that you should hear my family adieus.—Nephew, come hither. In presence of General Campbell, I tell you, that though to breed you up in my own political opinions has been for many years my anxious wish, I am now glad that it could not be accomplished. You pass under the service of the reigning monarch without the necessity of changing your allegiance—a change, however,' he added, looking around him, which sits more easy on honourable men than I could have anticipated; but some wear the badge of their loyalty on their sleeve, and others in the heart. You will, from henceforth, be uncontrolled master of all the property of which forfeiture could not deprive your father—of all that belonged to him—excepting this, his good sword' (laying his hand on the weapon he wore), 'which shall never fight for the House of Hanover; and as my hand will never draw weapon more, I shall sink it forty fathoms deep in the wide ocean. Bless you, young man! If I have dealt harshly with you, forgive me. I had set my whole desires on one point,—God knows, with no selfish purpose; and I am justly punished by this final termination of my views, for having been too little scrupulous in the means by which I pursued them.—Niece, farewell, and may God bless you also!'
'No, sir,' said Lilias, seizing his hand eagerly. 'You have been hitherto my protector,—you are now in sorrow, let me be your attendant and your comforter in exile.'
'I thank you, my girl, for your unmerited affection; but it cannot and must not be. The curtain here falls between us. I go to the house of another. If I leave it before I quit the earth, it shall be only for the House of God. Once more, farewell both! The fatal doom,' he said, with a melancholy smile, 'will, I trust, now depart from the House of Redgauntlet, since its present representative has adhered to the winning side. I am convinced he will not change it, should it in turn become the losing one.'
The unfortunate Charles Edward had now given his last adieus to his downcast adherents. He made a sign with his hand to Redgauntlet, who came to assist him into the skiff. General Campbell also offered his assistance, the rest appearing too much affected by the scene which had taken place to prevent him.
'You are not sorry, general, to do me this last act of courtesy,' said the Chevalier; 'and, on my part, I thank you for it. You have taught me the principle on which men on the scaffold feel forgiveness and kindness even for their executioner. Farewell!'
They were seated in the boat, which presently pulled off from the land. The Oxford divine broke out into a loud benediction, in terms which General Campbell was too generous to criticize at the time, or to remember afterwards;—nay, it is said, that, Whig and Campbell as he was, he could not help joining in the universal Amen! which resounded from the shore.
CONCLUSION, BY DR. DRYASDUST
IN A LETTER TO THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY
I am truly sorry, my worthy and much-respected sir, that my anxious researches have neither, in the form of letters, nor of diaries or other memoranda, been able to discover more than I have hitherto transmitted, of the history of the Redgauntlet family. But I observe in an old newspaper called the WHITEHALL GAZETTE, of which I fortunately possess a file for several years, that Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet was presented to his late Majesty at the drawing-room, by Lieut.-General Campbell—upon which the editor observes, in the way of comment, that we were going, REMIS ATQUE VELIS, into the interests of the Pretender, since a Scot had presented a Jacobite at Court. I am sorry I have not room (the frank being only uncial) for his further observations, tending to show the apprehensions entertained by many well-instructed persons of the period, that the young king might himself be induced to become one of the Stuarts' faction,—a catastrophe from which it has pleased Heaven to preserve these kingdoms.
I perceive also, by a marriage-contract in the family repositories, that Miss Lilias Redgauntlet of Redgauntlet, about eighteen months after the transactions you have commemorated, intermarried with Alan Fairford, Esq., Advocate, of Clinkdollar, who, I think, we may not unreasonably conclude to be the same person whose name occurs so frequently in the pages of your narration. In my last excursion to Edinburgh, I was fortunate enough to discover an old caddie, from whom, at the expense of a bottle of whisky and half a pound of tobacco, I extracted the important information, that he knew Peter Peebles very well, and had drunk many a mutchkin with him in Caddie Fraser's time. He said 'that he lived ten years after King George's accession, in the momentary expectation of winning his cause every day in the session time, and every hour in the day, and at last fell down dead, in what my informer called a 'perplexity fit,' upon a proposal for a composition being made to him in the Outer House. I have chosen to retain my informer's phrase, not being able justly to determine whether it is a corruption of the word apoplexy, as my friend Mr. Oldbuck supposes, or the name of some peculiar disorder incidental to those who have concern in the courts of law, as many callings and conditions of men have diseases appropriate to themselves. The same caddie also remembered Blind Willie Stevenson, who was called Wandering Willie, and who ended his days 'unco beinly, in Sir Arthur Redgauntlet's ha' neuk.' 'He had done the family some good turn,' he said, 'specially when ane of the Argyle gentlemen was coming down on a wheen of them that had the "auld leaven" about them, and wad hae taen every man of them, and nae less nor headed and hanged them. But Willie, and a friend they had, called Robin the Rambler, gae them warning, by playing tunes such as "The Campbells are coming" and the like, whereby they got timeous warning to take the wing.' I need not point out to your acuteness, my worthy sir, that this seems to refer to some inaccurate account of the transactions in which you seem so much interested.
Respecting Redgauntlet, about whose subsequent history you are more particularly inquisitive, I have learned from an excellent person who was a priest in the Scottish Monastery of Ratisbon, before its suppression, that he remained for two or three years in the family of the Chevalier, and only left it at last in consequence of some discords in that melancholy household. As he had hinted to General Campbell, he exchanged his residence for the cloister, and displayed in the latter part of his life, a strong sense of the duties of religion, which in his earlier days he had too much neglected, being altogether engaged in political speculations and intrigues. He rose to the situation of prior, in the house which he belonged to, and which was of a very strict order of religion. He sometimes received his countrymen, whom accident brought to Ratisbon, and curiosity induced to visit the Monastery of ———. But it was remarked, that though he listened with interest and attention, when Britain, or particularly Scotland, became the subject of conversation, yet he never either introduced or prolonged the subject, never used the English language, never inquired about English affairs, and, above all, never mentioned his own family. His strict observation of the rules of his order gave him, at the time of his death, some pretensions to be chosen a saint, and the brethren of the Monastery of ——— made great efforts for that effect, and brought forward some plausible proofs of miracles. But there was a circumstance which threw a doubt over the subject, and prevented the consistory from acceding to the wishes of the worthy brethren. Under his habit, and secured in a small silver box, he had worn perpetually around his neck a lock of-hair, which the fathers avouched to be a relic. But the Avvocato del Diabolo, in combating (as was his official duty) the pretensions of the candidate for sanctity, made it at least equally probable that the supposed relic was taken from the head of a brother of the deceased prior, who had been executed for adherence to the Stuart family in 1745-6; and the motto, HAUD OBLIVISCENDUM, seemed to intimate a tone of mundane feeling and recollection of injuries, which made it at least doubtful whether, even in the quiet and gloom of the cloister, Father Hugo had forgotten the sufferings and injuries of the House of Redgauntlet.
June 10, 1824,
NOTES
NOTE 1.—THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
In explanation of this circumstance, I cannot help adding a note not very necessary for the reader, which yet I record with pleasure, from recollection of the kindness which it evinces. In early youth I resided for a considerable time in the vicinity of the beautiful village of Kelso, where my life passed in a very solitary manner. I had few acquaintances, scarce any companions, and books, which were at the time almost essential to my happiness, were difficult to come by. It was then that I was particularly indebted to the liberality and friendship of an old lady of the Society of Friends, eminent for her benevolence and charity. Her deceased husband had been a medical man of eminence, and left her, with other valuable property, a small and well-selected library. This the kind old lady permitted me to rummage at pleasure, and carry home what volumes I chose, on condition that I should take, at the same time, some of the tracts printed for encouraging and extending the doctrines of her own sect. She did not even exact any promise that I would read these performances, being too justly afraid of involving me in a breach of promise, but was merely desirous that I should have the chance of instruction within my reach, in case whim, curiosity, or accident, might induce me to have recourse to it.
NOTE 2.—THE PERSECUTORS
The personages here mentioned are most of them characters of historical fame; but those less known and remembered may be found in the tract entitled, 'The Judgment and Justice of God Exemplified, or, a Brief Historical Account of some of the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of some of the most remarkable Apostates and Bloody Persecutors, from the Reformation till after the Revolution.' This constitutes a sort of postscript or appendix to John Howie of Lochgoin's 'Account of the Lives of the most eminent Scots Worthies.' The author has, with considerable ingenuity, reversed his reasoning upon the inference to be drawn from the prosperity or misfortunes which befall individuals in this world, either in the course of their lives or in the hour of death. In the account of the martyrs' sufferings, such inflictions are mentioned only as trials permitted by providence, for the better and brighter display of their faith, and constancy of principle. But when similar afflictions befell the opposite party, they are imputed to the direct vengeance of Heaven upon their impiety. If, indeed, the life of any person obnoxious to the historian's censures happened to have passed in unusual prosperity, the mere fact of its being finally concluded by death, is assumed as an undeniable token of the judgement of Heaven, and, to render the conclusion inevitable, his last scene is generally garnished with some singular circumstances. Thus the Duke of Lauderdale is said, through old age but immense corpulence, to have become so sunk in spirits, 'that his heart was not the bigness of a walnut.'
NOTE 3.—LAMENTATION FOR THE DEAD
I have heard in my youth some such wild tale as that placed in the mouth of the blind fiddler, of which, I think, the hero was Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg, the famous persecutor. But the belief was general throughout Scotland that the excessive lamentation over the loss of friends disturbed the repose of the dead, and broke even the rest of the grave. There are several instances of this in tradition, but one struck me particularly, as I heard it from the lips of one who professed receiving it from those of a ghost-seer. This was a Highland lady, named Mrs. C—— of B———, who probably believed firmly in the truth of an apparition which seems to have originated in the weakness of her nerves and strength of her imagination. She had been lately left a widow by her husband, with the office of guardian to their only child. The young man added to the difficulties of his charge by an extreme propensity for a military life, which his mother was unwilling to give way to, while she found it impossible to repress it. About this time the Independent Companies, formed for the preservation of the peace of the Highlands, were in the course of being levied; and as a gentleman named Cameron, nearly connected with Mrs. C—, commanded one of those companies, she was at length persuaded to compromise the matter with her son, by permitting him to enter this company in the capacity of a cadet, thus gratifying his love of a military life without the dangers of foreign service, to which no one then thought these troops were at all liable to be exposed, while even their active service at home was not likely to be attended with much danger. She readily obtained a promise from her relative that he would be particular in his attention to her son and therefore concluded she had accommodated matters between her son's wishes and his safety in a way sufficiently attentive to both. She set off to Edinburgh to get what was awanting for his outfit, and shortly afterwards received melancholy news from the Highlands. The Independent Company into which her son was to enter had a skirmish with a party of caterans engaged in some act of spoil, and her friend the captain being wounded, and out of the reach of medical assistance, died in consequence. This news was a thunderbolt to the poor mother, who was at once deprived of her kinsman's advice and assistance, and instructed by his fate of the unexpected danger to which her son's new calling exposed him. She remained also in great sorrow for her relative, whom she loved with sisterly affection. These conflicting causes of anxiety, together with her uncertainty, whether to continue or change her son's destination, were terminated in the following manner:—
The house in which Mrs. C—— resided in the old town of Edinburgh, was a flat or story of a land accessible, as was then universal, by a common stair. The family who occupied the story beneath were her acquaintances, and she was in the habit of drinking tea with them every evening. It was accordingly about six o'clock, when, recovering herself from a deep fit of anxious reflection, she was about to leave the parlour in which she sat in order to attend this engagement. The door through which she was to pass opened, as was very common in Edinburgh, into a dark passage. In this passage, and within a yard of her when she opened the door, stood the apparition of her kinsman, the deceased officer, in his full tartans, and wearing his bonnet. Terrified at what she saw, or thought she saw, she closed the door hastily, and, sinking on her knees by a chair, prayed to be delivered from the horrors of the vision. She remained in that posture till her friends below tapped on the door, to intimate that tea was ready. Recalled to herself by the signal, she arose, and, on opening the apartment door, again was confronted by the visionary Highlander, whose bloody brow bore token, on this second appearance, to the death he had died. Unable to endure this repetition of her terrors, Mrs. C—— sank on the door in a swoon. Her friends below, startled with the noise, came upstairs, and, alarmed at the situation in which they found her, insisted on her going to bed and taking some medicine, in order to compose what they took for a nervous attack. They had no sooner left her in quiet, than the apparition of the soldier was once more visible in the apartment. This time she took courage and said, 'In the name of God, Donald, why do you haunt one who respected and loved you when living?' To which he answered readily, in Gaelic, 'Cousin, why did you not speak sooner? My rest is disturbed by your unnecessary lamentation—your tears scald me in my shroud. I come to tell you that my untimely death ought to make no difference in your views for your son; God will raise patrons to supply my place and he will live to the fullness of years, and die honoured and at peace.' The lady of course followed her kinsman's advice and as she was accounted a person of strict veracity, we may conclude the first apparition an illusion of the fancy, the final one a lively dream suggested by the other two.
NOTE 4.—PETER PEEBLES
This unfortunate litigant (for a person named Peter Peebles actually flourished) frequented the courts of justice in Scotland about the year 1792, and the sketch of his appearance is given from recollection. The author is of opinion that he himself had at one time the honour to be counsel for Peter Peebles, whose voluminous course of litigation served as a sort of assay-pieces to most young men who were called to the bar. The scene of the consultation is entirely imaginary.
NOTE 5.—JOHN'S COFFEE-HOUSE
This small dark coffee-house, now burnt down, was the resort of such writers and clerks belonging to the Parliament House above thirty years ago as retained the ancient Scottish custom of a meridian, as it was called, or noontide dram of spirits. If their proceedings were watched, they might be seen to turn fidgety about the hour of noon, and exchange looks with each other from their separate desks, till at length some one of formal and dignified presence assumed the honour of leading the band, when away they went, threading the crowd like a string of wild fowl, crossed the square or close, and following each other into the coffee-house, received in turn from the hand of the waiter, the meridian, which was placed ready at the bar. This they did, day by day: and though they did not speak to each other, they seemed to attach a certain degree of sociability to performing the ceremony in company.
NOTE 6.—FISHING RIGHTS
It may be here mentioned, that a violent and popular attack upon what the country people of this district considered as an invasion of their fishing right is by no means an improbable fiction. Shortly after the close of the American war, Sir James Graham of Netherby constructed a dam-dyke, or cauld, across the Esk, at a place where it flowed through his estate, though it has its origin, and the principal part of its course, in Scotland. The new barrier at Netherby was considered as an encroachment calculated to prevent the salmon from ascending into Scotland, and the right of erecting it being an international question of law betwixt the sister kingdoms, there was no court in either competent to its decision. In this dilemma, the Scots people assembled in numbers by signal of rocket lights, and, rudely armed with fowling-pieces, fish-spears, and such rustic weapons, marched to the banks of the river for the purpose of pulling down the dam-dyke objected to. Sir James Graham armed many of his own people to protect his property, and had some military from Carlisle for the same purpose. A renewal of the Border wars had nearly taken place in the eighteenth century, when prudence and moderation on both sides saved much tumult, and perhaps some bloodshed. The English proprietor consented that a breach should be made in his dam-dyke sufficient for the passage of the fish, and thus removed the Scottish grievance. I believe the river has since that time taken the matter into its own disposal, and entirely swept away the dam-dyke in question.
NOTE 7.—STATE OF SCOTLAND
Scotland, in its half-civilized state, exhibited too many examples of the exertion of arbitrary force and violence, rendered easy by the dominion which lairds exerted over their tenants and chiefs over their clans. The captivity of Lady Grange, in the desolate cliffs of Saint Kilda, is in the recollection of every one. At the supposed date of the novel also a man of the name of Merrilees, a tanner in Leith, absconded from his country to escape his creditors; and after having slain his own mastiff dog, and put a bit of red cloth in its mouth, as if it had died in a contest with soldiers, and involved his own existence in as much mystery as possible, made his escape into Yorkshire. Here he was detected by persons sent in search of him, to whom he gave a portentous account of his having been carried off and concealed in various places. Mr. Merrilees was, in short, a kind of male Elizabeth Canning, but did not trespass on the public credulity quite so long.
NOTE 8.—CONCEALMENTS FOR THEFT AND SMUGGLING
I am sorry to say that the modes of concealment described in the imaginary premises of Mr. Trumbull, are of a kind which have been common on the frontiers of late years. The neighbourhood of two nations having different laws, though united in government, still leads to a multitude of transgressions on the Border, and extreme difficulty in apprehending delinquents. About twenty years since, as far as my recollection serves, there was along the frontier an organized gang of coiners, forgers, smugglers, and other malefactors, whose operations were conducted on a scale not inferior to what is here described. The chief of the party was one Richard Mendham a carpenter, who rose to opulence, although ignorant even of the arts of reading and writing. But he had found a short road to wealth, and had taken singular measures for conducting his operations. Amongst these, he found means to build, in a suburb of Berwick called Spittal, a street of small houses, as if for the investment of property. He himself inhabited one of these; another, a species of public-house, was open to his confederates, who held secret and unsuspected communication with him by crossing the roofs of the intervening houses, and descending by a trap-stair, which admitted them into the alcove of the dining-room of Dick Mendham's private mansion. A vault, too, beneath Mendham's stable, was accessible in the manner mentioned in the novel. The post of one of the stalls turned round on a bolt being withdrawn, and gave admittance to a subterranean place of concealment for contraband and stolen goods, to a great extent. Richard Mendham, the head of this very formidable conspiracy, which involved malefactors of every kind, was tried and executed at Jedburgh, where the author was present as Sheriff of Selkirkshire. Mendham had previously been tried, but escaped by want of proof and the ingenuity of his counsel.
NOTE 9—CORONATION OF GEORGE III
In excuse of what may be considered as a violent infraction of probability in this chapter, the author is under the necessity of quoting a tradition which many persons may recollect having heard. It was always said, though with very little appearance of truth, that upon the Coronation of the late George III, when the champion of England, Dymock, or his representative, appeared in Westminster Hall, and in the language of chivalry solemnly wagered his body to defend in single combat the right of the young King to the crown of these realms, at the moment when he flung down his gauntlet as the gage of battle, an unknown female stepped from the crowd and lifted the pledge, leaving another gage in room of it, with a paper expressing, that if a fair field of combat should be allowed, a champion of rank and birth would appear with equal arms to dispute the claim of King George to the British kingdoms. The story is probably one of the numerous fictions which were circulated to keep up the spirits of a sinking faction, The incident was, however, possible, if it could be supposed to be attended by any motive adequate to the risk, and might be imagined to occur to a person of Redgauntlet's enthusiastic character. George III, it is said, had a police of his own, whose agency was so efficient, that the sovereign was able to tell his prime minister upon one occasion, to his great surprise, that the Pretender was in London. The prime minister began immediately to talk of measures to be taken, warrants to be procured, messengers and guards to be got in readiness. 'Pooh, pooh,' said the good-natured sovereign, since I have found him out, leave me alone to deal with him.'—'And what,' said the minister, 'is your Majesty's purpose, in so important a case?'—'To leave the young man to himself,' said George III; 'and when he tires he will go back again.' The truth of this story does not depend on that of the lifting of the gauntlet; and while the latter could be but an idle bravado, the former expresses George Ill's goodness of heart and soundness of policy.
NOTE 10.—COLLIER AND SALTER
The persons engaged in these occupations were at this time bondsmen; and in case they left the ground of the farm to which they belonged, and as pertaining to which their services were bought or sold, they were liable to be brought back by a summary process. The existence of this species of slavery being thought irreconcilable with the spirit of liberty, colliers and salters were declared free, and put upon the same footing with other servants, by the Act 15 Geo. III chapter 28th. They were so far from desiring or prizing the blessing conferred on them, that they esteemed the interest taken in their freedom to be a mere decree on the part of the proprietors to get rid of what they called head and harigald money, payable to them when a female of their number, by bearing a child, made an addition to the live stock of their master's property.
GLOSSARY
ABOON, above. AD LITEM, in law. AD VINDICTAM PUBLICAM, for the public defence. ADUST, looking as if burned or scorched. AE, one. AFFLATUS, breath, inspiration. AIRT, direct. ALCANDER, a Greek soothsayer. ALDEBORONTIPHOSCOPHORNIO, a courtier in H. Carey's burlesque, CHRONONHOTONTHOLOGOS. ALIMENTARY, nourishing. ALQUIFE, an enchanter in the mediaeval romances of knight-errantry. AMADIS, a hero of the romances, especially in Amadis of Gaul. ANENT, about. ANES, once. ANNO DOMINI, in the year of the Lord. ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM, AD FEMINAM, lit. 'the argument to a man, to a woman,' refutation of a man's argument by an example drawn from his own conduct. ARIES, earnest-money, a gift. ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS, art is long, life short. ARS MEDENDI, art of medicine. APPROBATE, approve. ATLANTES, a character in ORLANDO FURIOSO. AULD REEKIE, Edinburgh. ADVOCATO DEL DIABOLO, lit. 'the devil's advocate', one whose duty it is to oppose the canonization of a person on whose behalf claims to sanctity are made. AWSOME, awful, fearful.
BACK-GANGING, behind hand in paying. BACKSPAUL, the back of the shoulder. BALLANT, a ballad, a fable. BANNOCK, a flat, round cake. BARLEY-BROO, barley-broth. BARON-OFFICER, the magistrate's officer in a burgh of barony. BARTIZAN, a small overhanging turret, the battlements. BEAUFET, cupboard. BEAVER, the lower part of the helmet. BEIN, comfortable. BELISARIUS, a general of the Eastern Empire ungratefully treated by the Emperor Justinian. BENEDICTE, bless you. BETIMES THE MORN, early in the morning. BICKER, a wooden vessel for holding drink; a quarrel. BILLIE, a term of familiarity, comrade. BIRKIE, a smart fellow. BIRLING, merry-making. BIT, small. BLATE, shy, bashful. BLAWING, flattering. BLEEZING, bragging. BLUE-CAP, a Scotsman. BOGLE, a ghost, a scarecrow. BON VIVANTS, lovers of good living. BONA ROBA, a showy wanton. BONUS SOCIUS, good comrade. BORREL, common, rude. BRAID, broad. BRASH, a sudden storm, an attack. BRATTLE, a clattering noise, as of a horse going at full speed. BRAW, brave, fine. BRENT BROO, high brow. BROCARD, maxim. BROSE, oatmeal which has had boiling water poured upon it. BROWN, a famous landscape gardener. BROWST, a brewing. BUCEPHALUS, the favourite horse of Alexander the Great. BUCKIE, an imp, a fellow with an evil twist in his character. BUFF NOR STYE, neither one thing nor another. BUFFERS, pistols. BUSK, deck up. BY ORDINAR, extraordinary, uncommon. BYE AND ATTOUR, over and above.
CADGER, a travelling dealer. CADDIE, a porter, an errand-boy. CAETERA PRORSUS IGNORO, in short, I know nothing of the rest. CALLANT, a young lad. CALLER, cool, fresh. CANNY, shrewd, prudent, quiet. CANTLE, fragment. CAPERNOITED, crabbed, foolish. CAPRICCIOS, a fanciful composition. CAPRIOLE, a leap made by a horse without advancing. CARDINAL, a woman's cloak. CARLINES, old women. CATILINA OMNIUM, ETC. Catilina had surrounded himself with the most vile and criminal company. CAUSEWAY, path, roadway. CAVALIERE SERVENTE, gentleman in attendance. CAVE NE LITERAS, ETC. take care that you are not carrying Bellerophon's letters (letters unfavourable to the bearer). CHACK, a slight repast. CHANCY, safe, auspicious. CHANGE-HOUSE, a small inn or ale-house. CHANTER, the tenor or treble pipe in a bag-pipe. CHAPE, a thin metal blade at the end of a scabbard. CHAPEAU BRAS, a low, three-cornered hat. CHOUGH, a bird of the crow family. CHUCKY, fowl. CHUCKY-STONES, small stones, a child's game. CLAP AND HOPPER, signs of the mill. CLAVERS, gossip, idle talk. CLEEK, lay hold on. CLEIK IN, to join company. CLOSE, an alley, a narrow way. CLOSE-HEADS, the entry to an alley, a meeting-place for gossips. CLOUR, to strike, to bump. COBLE, a little boat. COCKERNONY, top-knot. COGIE, small wooden bowl. COMMUNE FORUM, ETC. the common court is the common dwelling-place. CORDWAIN, Spanish leather. CORIOLANUS, a Roman patrician, who, being driven from the city, took refuge with Aufidius, the leader of the Volsci. COUP, fall, upset. COURIER DE L'EUROPE, a newspaper. COVYNE, artifice. CRACK, gossip. CRAIG, throat, neck. CRAWSTEP, the steplike edges of a gable seen in some old houses. CREEL, basket carried on the back. CREMONY, Cremona [where the best fiddles were made]. CROWDER, fiddler. CUR ME EXAMINAS QUERELIS TUIS?, why do you wear me out with your complaints. CURN, a very little.
DAFT, crazy. DAIS, a canopy, a table placed above the others, a room of state. DARGLE, dell. DAURG, day's work. DE APICIBUS JURIS, from the high places of the law. DE PERICULO ET COMMODO REI VENDITAE, concerning the risk and profit of sales. DEAD-THRAW, death-thraw. DEBOSHED, debauched. DEFORCEMENT—SPULZIE—SOUTHRIEF, legal terms for resisting an officer of law. DEIL, devil. DELATE, accuse. DELICT, misdemeanour, QUASI DELICT, apparent offence. DEPONE, to testify. DERNIER RESORT, last resort. DIABLERIE, sorcery, witchcraft. DILIGENCE, writ of execution, coach. DING, to knock, beat down. DIRDUM, uproar, disturbance. DITTAY, an indictment. DIVOT, thin turf used for thatching cottages. DOCH AN DORROCH, the stirrup cup. DOMINUS LITIS, one of the principals in a law suit. DOOL, sorrow, sad consequences. DOOR-CHEEK, door-post. DOUCE, respectable. DRAMATIS PERSONAE, persons of the drama. DRAPPIT, fried. DRIBBLE, a drop. DRIFT, drift-snow. DULCINEA, Don Quixote's imaginary mistress. DUNSTABLE, something simple and matter-of-fact. DYVOUR, bankrupt.
EKE, addition. EMBONPOINT, plumpness. EN CROUPE, riding behind one another. ET PER CONTRA, and on the other side. EVITE, avoid. EX COMITATE, out of courtesy. EX MISERICORDIA, out of pity. EXCEPTIO FIRMAT REGULAM, the exception proves the rule. EXOTIC, of foreign origin.
FACTOR LOCO TUTORIS, an agent acting in place of a guardian. FARDEL, burden. FASH, FASHERIE, trouble. FECK, space. FEMME DE CHAMBRE, chamber-maid. FIERI, to be made. FLACON, a smelling bottle. FLAP, gust. FLIP, a drink consisting of beer and spirit sweetened. FLORY, frothy. FORBY, besides. FORENSIC, legal. FORFOUGHEN, out of breath, distressed. FORPIT, fourth part of a peck. FORTALICE, a small outwork. FRIST, to postpone, give credit, FUGIE, fugitive. FUNCTUS OFFICIO, having finished my duties, 'out of office'.
GABERLUNZIE, a beggar. GAEN, gone. GALLOWAY, a strong Scotch cob. GANGREL, wandering, a vagrant. GAR, to force, make. GATE, way, road. GAUGER, an exciseman. GENTRICE, gentle blood. GIFF-GAFF, give and take. GIRDED, hooped like a barrel. GIRN, to grin, cry. GLAIKET, giddy, rash. GLIFF, glimpse, moment, GOWFF BA', golf ball. GRAINED, groaned. GRANA INVECTA ET ILLATA, grain brought and imported. GRAT, wept. GRILLADE, a broiled dish. GRIT, great. GROSSART, gooseberry. GRUE, to creep, shiver, GUDESIRE, grandfather. GUIDE, to deal with, to employ. GUMPLE-FOISTED, sulky, sullen. GWAY, very. GYTES, contemptuous name for a young child, a brat.
HAFFLINS, half-grown. HAILL, all, the whole. HAIRST, harvest. HAMESUCKEN, assaulting a person in his own house. HAMSHACKLE, to fasten. HANK, a hold. HAP, to hop, turn from. HARPOCRATES, an Egyptian god, supposed by the Greeks to be the god of silence. HAUGH, holm, low-lying flat ground. HAULD, place of abode. HAVINGS, behaviour. HEFTED, closed, as a knife in its haft. HELLICAT, extravagant, light-headed. HEMPEY, rogue. HET, hot. HEUCK, sickle. HINC ILLAE LACRYMAE, hence these tears. HINNY, honey, a term of endearment. HIPPOGRIFF, a fabulous winged animal, half horse and half griffin. HODDIN-GREY, cloth manufactured from undyed wool. HOMOLOGATING, ratifying, approving. HOOKS, OFF THE, light-headed. HOSE-NET, a small net used for rivulet fishing. HOW-COME-SO, light-headed. HUMOURSOME, subject to moods. HUSSEY, lady's needle-case. HYSON, green tea from China.
IGNIS FATUUS, will o' the wisp. ILK, each; of the same name, as Redgauntlet of that Ilk =Redgauntlet of Redgauntlet. ILL-DEEDIE, mischievous. ILL-FAUR'D, ugly, ill-favoured. IN CIVILIBUS or CRIMINALIBUS, in civil or criminal causes. IN FORO CONSCIENTIAE, in the assize of conscience. IN MEDITATIONE FUGAE, meditating flight. IN PRESENTIA DOMINORUM, before the Lords. INCEDIT SICUT LEO VORANS, goeth about like a roaring lion. INCOGNITA, unknown. INFRA DIG, beneath one's dignity. INSTANTER, at once. INTROMIT, to medldle with. INVITA MINERVA, against my bent.
JACK, a metal pitcher. JAZY, wig. JET D'EAU, jet of water. JORUM, a drinking-vessel, or the liquor in it. JOW, to toll. JURIDICAL, pertaining to a judge or to the courts.
KATTERFELTO, a famous quack. KEEK, to look. KEFFEL, a bad horse.
LAIGH, low. LAND-LOUPER, runagate, vagabond. LARES, household gods, the special divinities of a family. LAP, leaped; fold. LAVE, rest, remainder. LAWING, inn reckoning. LEAL, loyal, true. LEASING-MAKING, lies, slander, seditious words. LEASOWES, the estate of the poet Shenstone. LEE-SIDE, the side of a vessel farthest from the point where the wind blows. LEESOME LANE, his dear self alone. LEEVIN, living. LEE WAY, arrears of work. LEG, TO MAKE A, to bow. LETTRES DE CACHET, sealed letters issued by the King of France, conferring power over the liberty of others. LEX AQUARUM, the law of the waters. LIMMER, a loose woman, a jade. LING, thin long grass, heather. LOANING, a meadow, pasture where the cows were milked, LOE, love. LOON, fellow, rogue. LOOPY, crafty. LOUIS-D'OR, a French gold coin worth from 16s, 6d. to 18s. 9d. LOUP, leap. LOUP-THE-DYKE, giddy, runaway. LOUP THE TETHER, breaking loose from restraint. LOVELACE AND BELFORD, characters in CLARISSA HARLOWE. LUCKY, a name given to an elderly dame. LUG, the ear. LUM, chimney.
MACER, a court official. MAILING, a small farm or rented property. MAILS, rents. MALVERSATION, fraudulent tricks. MANUMISSION, liberty. MARCH, border. MARE MAGNUM, the great sea. MARIUS, a Roman general, leader in the civil war against Sulla. MEAR, mare. MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, the writing seen by Belshazzar (Daniel V. 25). MENYIE, retinue. MERIDIAN, noon; a mid-day drink. MERK, an old Scottish coin=1s. 1 1/2d. in English money. MESSAN, a lap-dog, a little dog. MICKLE, much. MIFFED, piqued. MILLAR, Philip Millar, author of several works on gardening. MINOS, a law-giver of Crete, afterwards set as a judge in Hades. MISHANTER, mischief. MISPRISION OF TREASON, concealment of treason. MOIDART, a loch in Inverness, where Prince Charles Stuart landed, 1745. MOIDORE, a gold coin of Portugal worth about L1 7s. 0d. MORE SOLITO, in the accustomed manner. MORE TUO, in your own way. MUILS, slippers. MUISTED, scented. MUTCHKIN, English pint.
NE QUID NIMIS, do nothing in excess. NEGATUR, lit. 'it is denied,' I deny it. NEGOTIORUM GESTOR, manager of affairs. NEREID, a sea-nymph. NIGRI SUNT HYACINTHI, irises are dark flowers. NIHIL NOVIT IN CAUSA, nothing is known of the case. NIPPERKIN, a small cup, a liquid measure. NOM DE GUERRE, professional name. NOMINE DAMNI, in the name of damages. NONJURING, not swearing allegiance to the government, loyal to the Stuarts. NOSCITUR A SOCIO, he is known by his friend. NOVITER REPERTUM, newly discovered.
OHE, JAM SATIS, oh, enough. OMNE IGNOTUM PRO TERRIBILI, the unknown is always held in terror. OMNI SUSPICIONE MAJOR, above all suspicion. ORESTES AND PYLADES, DAMON AND PYTHIAS, classical examples of friendship. ORIGO MALI, cause of the evil. ORNATURE, adornment, decoration. ORRA, odd. OVERTURE, opening. OWERLAY, cravat. OYE, a grandson.
PACK OR PEEL, to traffic. PANDE MANUM, hold out your hand. PANDECTS, a digest of Roman law. PAR EXCELLENCE, above all, specially. PAR ORDONNANCE DU MEDECIN, by the doctor's orders. PARMA NON BENE SELECTA, a shield, or defence, not well chosen. PAROCHINE, parish. PATER NOSTER, Our Father, the Lord's Prayer. PATRIA POTESTAS, paternal authority. PAWMIE, a stroke on the palm of the hand. PEACH, betray, speak out. PEEL-HOUSE, a small fortified house, or tower. PEGASUS, the winged horse of the Muses. PENDENTE LITE, whilst the case is proceeding. PENDICLES, articles, small parts. PER AMBAGES, by circumlocution, in a roundabout way. PER CONTRA, on the other side. PERDU, concealed, lost. PERIPATETIC, walking, wandering. PESSIMI EXEMPLI, the worst possible example. PETTLE, a plough-staff. PHALARIS'S BULL, a furnace shaped like a bull into which the tyrant Phalaris used to cast his victims. PISCATOR, fisherman. PISTOLE, a gold coin worth about 16s. PLACK, a small copper coin, equal to one-third of an English penny. PLEACH, interweave. PLICATIONS, folds, wrinkles. PLOY, a frolic. POCK-PUDDING, a contemptuous term applied to Englishmen POINT D'ESPAGNE, Spanish lace. POKE, pocket. PORT ROYAL, a monastery near Paris which became the headquarters of the Jansenists, the opponents of the Jesuits. POSSE COMITATUS, the civil force of a county. POUND SCOTS, worth about 1s. 8d. English money. PRACTIQUES, practices of the profession. PRECOGNITION, examination prior to prosecution. PRECOGNOSCED, to take precognition of. PRETERMIT, omit, pass by. PURSUIVANTS, an officer-at-arms, in rank below a herald.
QUAERE, query, a question. QUEAN, a young woman, a wench. QUI VIVE, alert, cautious. QUID, piece of tobacco to chew. QUID TIBI CUM LYRA, what hast thou to do with the lyre? QUORUM, the body of justices, so called from a word used in the commission appointing them.
RANT, a noisy dance-tune. RAPPAREE, an Irish plunderer; a worthless fellow, RATIONE OFFICII, by virtue of his position. RATTLING, lively, brisk. RAX, stretch. REAMING, frothing, foaming. REDD, clear up, tidy. REGIAM MAJESTATEM, a collection of Scotch laws. REIVER, robber. REMEDIUM JURIS, legal remedy. RIGDUM-FUNNIDOS, a courtier in H. Carey's burlesque, CHRONONHOTONTHOLOGOS. RIPE, search. RUDAS, a scold, a virago. RUG, a share, a good mouthful.
SANCTA WINIFREDA, ORA PRO NOBIS, Saint Winifred, pray for us. SARTUM ATQUE TECTUM, repaired and covered. SAT EST, it is enough. SAWNEY, a nickname for a Scotchman. SCARBOROUGH WARNING, the blow before the threat. SCOWP, quaff. SCRUB, the name of a footman in the BEAUX' STRATAGEM (Geo. Farquhar, 1704). SCULDUDDERY, loose, immoral. SEALGH, seal, SEA-MAWS, sea-mews. SECUNDUM ARTEM, according to the rules of his art. SEDERUNT, a sitting of the courts. SEMPLE, simple, not of gentle birth, SHILPIT, weak; poor, shabby. SHINGLES, thin boards used for roofs. SI NON CASTE, CAUTE TAMEN, if not for virtue's sake, yet for caution. SIB, kin. SIGMA, the Greek S. SINE DIE, without a date, indefinitely. SIS MEMOR MEI, be mindful of me. SKELLOCH, screech. SKINKER, a server of liquor. SKIRL, to scream. SKIVIE, harebrained. SLEEKIT, smooth. SLOKEN, quench. SNEESHING, snuff. SNELL, sharp, terrible. SNICKERS, sniggers. SOCIETAS EST MATER DISCORDIARUM, partnership is the mother of quarrels. SOLITAIRE, an ornament for the neck. SOLON, the law-giver of Athens. SONSY, good-humoured, sensible. SORT, to chastise; to manage. SORTES VIRGILIANAE, Virgilian lots; opening the works of Virgil at random and taking the first passage read for counsel. SOUGH, a breath, a chant. SOUPLE, active; supple in mind or body. SOUTER'S CLOD, a kind of coarse black bread. SPATTERDASHES, coverings for the legs to protect them from mud. SPEER, ask. SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, have an extra allowance of spirits. SPLORE, a frolic, quarrel. SPRATTLE, struggle, scramble. SPRING, a merry tune. SPRUSH, spruce. SPULE-BLADE, shoulder blade, SPUNK, courage, fire: SPUNKS, matches. STEND, take long steps. STEWARTRY, territory in Scotland administered by a steward. STIBBLER, a divinity student, a probationer. STILTS, plough-handles. STUNKARD, sullen, obstinate. SUA QUEMQUE TRAHIT VOLUPTAS, his own peculiar pleasure allures each. SURTOUT, a tight-fitting, broad-skirted outer coat. SWIPES, small beer.
TAES, toes. TALIS QUALIS, of some kind. TAM MARTE QUAM MERCURIO, as much devoted to Mars as to Mercury (as much a soldier as a pleader). TASS, a glass. TAU, the Greek: T. TERRA FIRMA, firm earth. TESTE ME PER TOTUM NOCTEM VIGILANTE, I am witness as I was awake all night. TETE-A-TETE, a private conversation. THAIRM, catgut. THEMIS, the goddess of law and justice. THIRLAGE, mortgaging of property. THREAP, aver. THUMBIKINS, thumbscrews, instruments of torture. TIMOTHEUS, a famous musician. TIPPENY, twopenny ale, TIRTEAFUERA, a character in DON QUIXOTE, the doctor in Sancho Panza's island government. TITHER, the other. TOD, a bush, a fox. TOOM, empty. TOUR OUT, to look about. TOY, a linen cap; a head-dress hanging down over the shoulders. TRANCES, passages. TUPTOWING, beating, from the Greek verb 'tupto', to strike. TWALPENNY, one penny sterling. TWASOME, a pair or couple. TYNE, loss or forfeit. TYRO, TYRONES, beginner, beginners; novice.
UNCO, very, uncommon, strange. URGANDA, an enchantress in the romance of AMADIS OF GAUL. USQUEBAUGH, whisky.
VADE RETRO, get thee behind me. VALE, SIS MEMOR MEI, farewell, be mindful of me. VARIUM ET MUTABILE SEMPER FEMINA, woman is always variable and changeful. VERBUM SACERDOTIS, the word of a priest. VIA FACTI, by personal force. VINCERE VINCENTEM, to conquer the conquering. VINCO VINCENTEM, ERGO VINCO TE, I conquer the conquering, therefore I conquer you. VIOLER, a player on a viol. VIR SAPIENTIA ET PIETATE GRAVIS, a man of much wisdom and piety. VIS ANIMI, strength of soul. VITIOUS, vicious, unruly. VOET, Jan Voet, author of a book on the PANDECTS.
W.S., writer to the signet, a lawyer. WALING, choosing. WAME, stomach. WANCHANCY, unlucky, dangerous. WARE, spend. WARK, work, trouble. WAUR, worse. WEARS, weirs, dams. WEIGH-BANKS, scales. WHIN, gorse. WHITTLE, a small clasp-knife. WITHERSHINS, backwards in their courses, in the contrary way. WUD, mad. WYND, yard, alley.
YAULD, active. YELLOCH, yell. YETTS, gates. YILL, ale.
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