Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since Read online

  CHAPTER IX

  MORE OF THE MANOR-HOUSE AND ITS ENVIRONS

  After having satisfied his curiosity by gazing around him for afew minutes, Waverley applied himself to the massive knocker of thehall-door, the architrave of which bore the date 1594. But no answer wasreturned, though the peal resounded through a number of apartments, andwas echoed from the courtyard walls without the house, startling thepigeons from the venerable rotunda which they occupied, and alarminganew even the distant village curs, which had retired to sleep upontheir respective dung-hills. Tired of the din which he created, and theunprofitable responses which it excited, Waverley began to think that hehad reached the castle of Orgoglio, as entered by the victorious PrinceArthur,

  When 'gan he loudly through the house to call, But no man cared to answer to his cry; There reigned a solemn silence over all, Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seen, in bower or hall.

  Filled almost with expectation of beholding some 'old, old man, withbeard as white as snow,' whom he might question concerning this desertedmansion, our hero turned to a little oaken wicket-door, well clenchedwith iron nails, which opened in the courtyard wall at its anglewith the house. It was only latched, notwithstanding its fortifiedappearance, and, when opened, admitted him into the garden, whichpresented a pleasant scene. [At Ravelston may be seen such a garden,which the taste of the proprietor, the author's friend and kinsman, SirAlexander Keith, Knight Mareschal, has judiciously preserved. That, aswell as the house, is, however, of smaller dimensions than the Baronof Bradwardine's mansion and garden are presumed to have been.] Thesouthern side of the house, clothed with fruit-trees, and having manyevergreens trained upon its walls, extended its irregular yet venerablefront along a terrace, partly paved, partly gravelled, partly borderedwith flowers and choice shrubs. This elevation descended by threeseveral flights of steps, placed in its centre and at the extremities,into what might be called the garden proper, and was fenced along thetop by a stone parapet with a heavy balustrade, ornamented from space tospace with huge grotesque figures of animals seated upon their haunches,among which the favourite bear was repeatedly introduced. Placed in themiddle of the terrace, between a sashed door opening from the house andthe central flight of steps, a huge animal of the same species supportedon his head and fore-paws a sundial of large circumference, inscribedwith more diagrams than Edward's mathematics enabled him to decipher.

  The garden, which seemed to be kept with great accuracy, abounded infruit-trees, and exhibited a profusion of flowers and evergreens, cutinto grotesque forms. It was laid out in terraces, which descended rankby rank from the western wall to a large brook, which had a tranquiland smooth appearance, where it served as a boundary to the garden; but,near the extremity, leapt in tumult over a strong dam, or weir-head, thecause of its temporary tranquillity, and there forming a cascade, wasoverlooked by an octangular summer-house, with a gilded bear on the topby way of vane. After this feat, the brook, assuming its natural rapidand fierce character, escaped from the eye down a deep and wooded dell,from the copse of which arose a massive, but ruinous tower, the formerhabitation of the Barons of Bradwardine, The margin of the brook,opposite to the garden, displayed a narrow meadow, or haugh, as it wascalled, which formed a small washing-green; the bank, which retiredbehind it, was covered by ancient trees.

  The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the gardens ofAlcina; yet wanted not the 'DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE' of that enchantedparadise, for upon the green aforesaid two bare-legged damsels, eachstanding in a spacious tub, performed with their feet the office ofa patent washing-machine. These did not, however, like the maidens ofArmida, remain to greet with their harmony the approaching guest, but,alarmed at the appearance of a handsome stranger on the opposite side,dropped their garments (I should say garment, to be quite-correct) overtheir limbs, which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and,with a shrill exclamation of 'Eh, sirs!' uttered with an accent betweenmodesty and coquetry, sprang off like deer in different directions.

  Waverley began to despair of gaining entrance into this solitary andseemingly enchanted mansion, when a man advanced up one of the gardenalleys, where he still retained his station. Trusting this might be agardener, or some domestic belonging to the house, Edward descendedthe steps in order to meet him; but as the figure approached, and longbefore he could descry its features, he was struck with the oddity ofits appearance and gestures.--Sometimes this mister wight held his handsclasped over his head, like an Indian Jogue in the attitude of penance;sometimes he swung them perpendicularly, like a pendulum, on each side;and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his breast,like the substitute used by a hackney-coachman for his usual floggingexercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand in a clear frosty day.His gait was as singular as his gestures, for at times he hopped withgreat perseverance on the right foot, then exchanged that supporter toadvance in the same manner on the left, and then putting his feet closetogether, he hopped upon both at once. His attire, also, was antiquatedand extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin, with scarletcuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the other partsof the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair of scarletstockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted with a turkey'sfeather. Edward, whom he did not seem to observe, now perceivedconfirmation in his features of what the mien and gestures had alreadyannounced. It was apparently neither idiocy nor insanity which gavethat wild, unsettled, irregular expression to a face which naturally wasrather handsome, but something that resembled a compound of both, wherethe simplicity of the fool was mixed with the extravagance of a crazedimagination. He sang with great earnestness, and not without some taste,a fragment of an old Scottish ditty:--

  False love, and hast thou played me thus In summer among the flowers? I will repay thee back again In winter among the showers. Unless again, again, my love, Unless you turn again; As you with other maidens rove, I'll smile on other men.

  [This is a genuine ancient fragment, with some alteration in the lasttwo lines.]

  Here lifting up his eyes, which had hither&o been fixed in observing howhis feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, and instantlydoffed his cap, with many grotesque signals of surprise, respect, andsalutation. Edward, though with little hope of receiving an answer toany constant question, requested to know whether Mr. Bradwardine were athome, or where he could find any of the domestics. The questioned partyreplied,--and, like the witch of Thalaba, 'still his speech was song,'--

  The Knight's to the mountain His bugle to wind; The Lady's to greenwood Her garland to bind. The bower of Burd Ellen Has moss on the floor, That the step of Lord William Be silent and sure.

  This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries,received a rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity ofthe dialect, the word 'butler' was alone intelligible. Waverley thenrequested to see the butler; upon which the fellow, with a knowing lookand nod of intelligence, made a signal to Edward to follow, and began todance and caper down the alley up which he had made his approaches.--Astrange guide this, thought Edward, and not much unlike one ofShakespeare's roynish clowns. I am not over prudent to trust to hispilotage; but wiser men have been led by fools.--By this time he reachedthe bottom of the alley, where, turning short on a little parterre offlowers, shrouded from the east and north by a close yew hedge, he foundan old man at work without his coat, whose appearance hovered betweenthat of an upper servant and gardener; his red nose and ruffed shirtbelonging to the former profession; his hale and sunburnt visage, withhis green apron, appearing to indicate

  Old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden.

  The major domo--for such he was, and indisputably the second officer ofstate in the barony (nay, as chief minister of the interior, superioreven to Bailie Macwheeble, in his own department of the kitchen andcellar)--the major domo laid down his spade, slipped on his coat inhaste, and with a wrathful
look at Edward's guide, probably excited byhis having introduced a stranger while he was engaged in this laborious,and, as he might suppose it, degrading office, requested to know thegentleman's commands. Being informed that he wished to pay his respectsto his master, that his name was Waverley, and so forth, the old man'scountenance assumed a great deal of respectful importance. 'He couldtake it upon his conscience to say, his honour would have exceedingpleasure in seeing him. Would not Mr. Waverley choose some refreshmentafter his journey? His honour was with the folk who were getting doonthe dark hag; the twa gardener lads (an emphasis on the word TWA) hadbeen ordered to attend him; and he had been just amusing himself in themeantime with dressing Miss Rose's flower-bed, that he might be near toreceive his honour's orders, if need were: he was very fond of a garden,but had little time for such divertisements.'

  'He canna get it wrought in abune twa days in the week at no ratewhatever,' said Edward's fantastic conductor.

  A grim look from the butler chastised his interference, and he commandedhim, by the name of Davie Gellatley, in a tone which admitted nodiscussion, to look for his honour at the dark hag, and tell him therewas a gentleman from the south had arrived at the Ha'.

  'Can this poor fellow deliver a letter?' asked Edward.

  'With all fidelity, sir, to any one whom he respects. I would hardlytrust him with a long message by word of mouth--though he is more knavethan fool.'

  Waverley delivered his credentials to Mr. Gellatley, who seemed toconfirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his features at him,when he was looking another way, into the resemblance of the grotesqueface on the bowl of a German tobacco-pipe; after which, with an oddconge to Waverley, he danced off to discharge his errand.

  'He is an innocent, sir,' said the butler; 'there is one such in almostevery town in the country, but ours is brought far ben. He used to worka day's turn weel eneugh; but he help'd Miss Rose when she was flemitwith the Laird of Killancureit's new English bull, and since that timewe ca' him Davie Do-little indeed we might ca' him Davie Do-naething,for since he got that gay clothing, to please his honour and my youngmistress (great folks will have their fancies), he has done naething butdance up and down about the TOUN, without doing a single turn, unlesstrimming the laird's fishing-wand or busking his flies, or maybecatching a dish of trouts at an orra-time. But here comes Miss Rose,who, I take burden upon me for her, will be especially glad to see oneof the house of Waverley at her father's mansion at Tully-Veolan.'

  But Rose Bradwardine deserves better of her unworthy historian, than tobe introduced at the end of a chapter.

  In the meanwhile it may be noticed, that Waverley learned two thingsfrom this colloquy; that in Scotland a single house was called a TOWN,and a natural fool an INNOCENT. [6]