Waverley; Or 'Tis Sixty Years Since — Complete Read online

  INTRODUCTION

  The plan of this edition leads me to insert in this place some accountof the incidents on which the Novel of Waverley is founded. They havebeen already given to the public by my late lamented friend, WilliamErskine, Esq. (afterwards Lord Kinneder), when reviewing the Tales ofMy Landlord for the Quarterly Review in 1817. The particulars werederived by the critic from the Author's information. Afterwards theywere published in the Preface to the Chronicles of the Canongate. Theyare now inserted in their proper place.

  The mutual protection afforded by Waverley and Talbot to each other,upon which the whole plot depends, is founded upon one of thoseanecdotes which soften the features even of civil war; and, as it isequally honourable to the memory of both parties, we have no hesitationto give their names at length. When the Highlanders, on the morning ofthe battle of Preston, 1745, made their memorable attack on Sir JohnCope's army, a battery of four field-pieces was stormed and carried bythe Camerons and the Stewarts of Appine. The late Alexander Stewart ofInvernahylewas one of the foremost in the charge, and observing anofficer of the King's forces, who, scorning to join the flight of allaround, remained with his sword in his hand, as if determined to thevery last to defend the post assigned to him, the Highland gentlemancommanded him to surrender, and received for reply a thrust, which hecaught in his target. The officer was now defenceless, and thebattle-axe of a gigantic Highlander (the miller of Invernahyle's mill)was uplifted to dash his brains out, when Mr. Stewart with difficultyprevailed on him to yield. He took charge of his enemy's property,protected his person, and finally obtained him liberty on his parole.The officer proved to be Colonel Whitefoord, an Ayrshire gentleman ofhigh character and influence, and warmly attached to the House ofHanover; yet such was the confidence existing between these twohonourable men, though of different political principles, that, whilethe civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the Highlandarmy were executed without mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to pay hislate captive a visit, as he returned to the Highlands to raise freshrecruits, on which occasion he spent a day or two in Ayrshire amongColonel Whitefoord's Whig friends, as pleasantly and as good-humouredlyas if all had been at peace around him.

  After the battle of Culloden had ruined the hopes of Charles Edward anddispersed his proscribed adherents, it was Colonel Whitefoord's turn tostrain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart's pardon. He went to the LordJustice Clerk to the Lord Advocate, and to all the officers of state,and each application was answered by the production of a list in whichInvernahyle (as the good old gentleman was wont to express it) appeared'marked with the sign of the beast!' as a subject unfit for favour orpardon.

  At length Colonel Whitefoord applied to the Duke of Cumberland inperson. From him, also, he received a positive refusal. He then limitedhis request, for the present, to a protection for Stewart's house,wife, children, and property. This was also refused by the Duke; onwhich Colonel Whitefoord, taking his commission from his bosom, laid iton the table before his Royal Highness with much emotion, and askedpermission to retire from the service of a sovereign who did not knowhow to spare a vanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and evenaffected. He bade the Colonel take up his commission, and granted theprotection he required. It was issued just in time to save the house,corn, and cattle at Invernahyle from the troops, who were engaged inlaying waste what it was the fashion to call 'the country of theenemy.' A small encampment of soldiers was formed on Invernahyle'sproperty, which they spared while plundering the country around, andsearching in every direction for the leaders of the insurrection, andfor Stewart in particular. He was much nearer them than they suspected;for, hidden in a cave (like the Baron of Bradwardine), he lay for manydays so near the English sentinels that he could hear their muster-rollcalled. His food was brought to him by one of his daughters, a child ofeight years old, whom Mrs. Stewart was under the necessity ofentrusting with this commission; for her own motions, and those of allher elder inmates, were closely watched. With ingenuity beyond heryears, the child used to stray about among the soldiers, who wererather kind to her, and thus seize the moment when she was unobservedand steal into the thicket, when she deposited whatever small store ofprovisions she had in charge at some marked spot, where her fathermight find it. Invernahyle supported life for several weeks by means ofthese precarious supplies; and, as he had been wounded in the battle ofCulloden, the hardships which he endured were aggravated by greatbodily pain. After the soldiers had removed their quarters he hadanother remarkable escape.

  As he now ventured to his own house at night and left it in themorning, he was espied during the dawn by a party of the enemy, whofired at and pursued him. The fugitive being fortunate enough to escapetheir search, they returned to the house and charged the family withharbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An old woman had presence ofmind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the shepherd.'Why did he not stop when we called to him?' said the soldier. 'He isas deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,' answered the ready-witteddomestic. 'Let him be sent for directly.' The real shepherd accordinglywas brought from the hill, and, as there was time to tutor him by theway, he was as deaf when he made his appearance as was necessary tosustain his character. Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned under theAct of Indemnity.

  The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstances fromhis own mouth. He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, fardescended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry. He had beenout, I believe, in 1715 and 1745, was an active partaker in all thestirring scenes which passed in the Highlands betwixt these memorableeras; and, I have heard, was remarkable, among other exploits, forhaving fought a duel with the broadsword with the celebrated Rob RoyMacGregor at the clachan of Balquidder.

  Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into theFirth of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in arms, andheard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospect of drawing hisclaymore once more before he died.' In fact, on that memorableoccasion, when the capital of Scotland was menaced by three triflingsloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing village, he wasthe only man who seemed to propose a plan of resistance. He offered tothe magistrates, if broadswords and dirks could be obtained, to find asmany Highlanders among the lower classes as would cut off any boat'screw who might be sent into a town full of narrow and winding passages,in which they were like to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not ifhis plan was attended to, I rather think it seemed too hazardous to theconstituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, desire tosee arms in Highland hands. A steady and powerful west wind settled thematter by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out of the Firth.

  If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is notunpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, when Edinburgh,besides regular forces and militia, furnished a volunteer brigade ofcavalry, infantry, and artillery to the amount of six thousand men andupwards, which was in readiness to meet and repel a force of a far moreformidable description than was commanded by the adventurous American.Time and circumstances change the character of nations and the fate ofcities; and it is some pride to a Scotchman to reflect that theindependent and manly character of a country, willing to entrust itsown protection to the arms of its children, after having been obscuredfor half a century, has, during the course of his own lifetime,recovered its lustre.

  Other illustrations of Waverley will be found in the Notes at the footof the pages to which they belong. Those which appeared too long to beso placed are given at the end of the chapters to which they severallyrelate. [Footnote: In this edition at the end of the several volumes.]