by Walter Scott
WAVERLEY
OR 'T IS SIXTY YEARS SINCE
Under which King, Bezonian? speak, or die!
Henry IV, Part II.
INTRODUCTION
The plan of this edition leads me to insert in this place someaccount of the incidents on which the Novel of Waverley isfounded. They have been already given to the public by my latelamented friend, William Erskine, Esq. (afterwards Lord Kinneder),when reviewing the Tales of My Landlord for the Quarterly Reviewin 1817. The particulars were derived by the critic from theAuthor's information. Afterwards they were published in thePreface to the Chronicles of the Canongate. They are now insertedin their proper place.
The mutual protection afforded by Waverley and Talbot to eachother, upon which the whole plot depends, is founded upon one ofthose anecdotes which soften the features even of civil war; and,as it is equally honourable to the memory of both parties, we haveno hesitation to give their names at length. When the Highlanders,on the morning of the battle of Preston, 1745, made theirmemorable attack on Sir John Cope's army, a battery of four field-pieces was stormed and carried by the Camerons and the Stewarts ofAppine. The late Alexander Stewart of Invernahylewas one of theforemost in the charge, and observing an officer of the King'sforces, who, scorning to join the flight of all around, remainedwith his sword in his hand, as if determined to the very last todefend the post assigned to him, the Highland gentleman commandedhim to surrender, and received for reply a thrust, which he caughtin his target. The officer was now defenceless, and the battle-axeof a gigantic Highlander (the miller of Invernahyle's mill) wasuplifted 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 hisparole. The officer proved to be Colonel Whitefoord, an Ayrshiregentleman of high character and influence, and warmly attached tothe House of Hanover; yet such was the confidence existing betweenthese two honourable men, though of different politicalprinciples, that, while the civil war was raging, and stragglingofficers from the Highland army were executed without mercy,Invernahyle hesitated not to pay his late captive a visit, as hereturned to the Highlands to raise fresh recruits, on whichoccasion he spent a day or two in Ayrshire among ColonelWhitefoord's Whig friends, as pleasantly and as good-humouredly asif all had been at peace around him.
After the battle of Culloden had ruined the hopes of CharlesEdward and dispersed his proscribed adherents, it was ColonelWhitefoord's turn to strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart'spardon. He went to the Lord Justice Clerk to the Lord Advocate,and to all the officers of state, and each application wasanswered by the production of a list in which Invernahyle (as thegood old gentleman was wont to express it) appeared 'marked withthe sign of the beast!' as a subject unfit for favour or pardon.
At length Colonel Whitefoord applied to the Duke of Cumberland inperson. From him, also, he received a positive refusal. He thenlimited his request, for the present, to a protection forStewart's house, wife, children, and property. This was alsorefused by the Duke; on which Colonel Whitefoord, taking hiscommission from his bosom, laid it on the table before his RoyalHighness with much emotion, and asked permission to retire fromthe service of a sovereign who did not know how to spare avanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and even affected. He badethe Colonel take up his commission, and granted the protection herequired. It was issued just in time to save the house, corn, andcattle at Invernahyle from the troops, who were engaged in layingwaste what it was the fashion to call 'the country of the enemy.'A small encampment of soldiers was formed on Invernahyle'sproperty, which they spared while plundering the country around,and searching in every direction for the leaders of theinsurrection, and for Stewart in particular. He was much nearerthem than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave (like the Baron ofBradwardine), he lay for many days so near the English sentinelsthat he could hear their muster-roll called. His food was broughtto him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years old, whomMrs. Stewart was under the necessity of entrusting with thiscommission; for her own motions, and those of all her elderinmates, were closely watched. With ingenuity beyond her years,the child used to stray about among the soldiers, who were ratherkind to her, and thus seize the moment when she was unobserved andsteal 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 bymeans of these precarious supplies; and, as he had been wounded inthe battle of Culloden, the hardships which he endured wereaggravated by great bodily pain. After the soldiers had removedtheir quarters he had another 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,who fired at and pursued him. The fugitive being fortunate enoughto escape their search, they returned to the house and charged thefamily with harbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An oldwoman had presence of mind enough to maintain that the man theyhad seen was the shepherd. 'Why did he not stop when we called tohim?' said the soldier. 'He is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,' answered the ready-witted domestic. 'Let him be sent fordirectly.' The real shepherd accordingly was brought from thehill, and, as there was time to tutor him by the way, he was asdeaf when he made his appearance as was necessary to sustain hischaracter. Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned under the Act ofIndemnity.
The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstancesfrom his own mouth. He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander,far descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry. Hehad been out, I believe, in 1715 and 1745, was an active partakerin all the stirring scenes which passed in the Highlands betwixtthese memorable eras; and, I have heard, was remarkable, amongother exploits, for having fought a duel with the broadsword withthe celebrated Rob Roy MacGregor at the clachan of Balquidder.
Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came intothe Firth of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in arms,and heard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospectof drawing his claymore once more before he died.' In fact, onthat memorable occasion, when the capital of Scotland was menacedby three trifling sloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked afishing village, he was the only man who seemed to propose a planof resistance. He offered to the magistrates, if broadswords anddirks could be obtained, to find as many Highlanders among thelower classes as would cut off any boat's crew who might be sentinto a town full of narrow and winding passages, in which theywere like to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not if his planwas attended to, I rather think it seemed too hazardous to theconstituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, desireto see arms in Highland hands. A steady and powerful west windsettled the matter by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out ofthe Firth.
If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is notunpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, whenEdinburgh, besides regular forces and militia, furnished avolunteer brigade of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to theamount of six thousand men and upwards, which was in readiness tomeet and repel a force of a far more formidable description thanwas commanded by the adventurous American. Time and circumstanceschange the character of nations and the fate of cities; and it issome pride to a Scotchman to reflect that the independent andmanly character of a country, willing to entrust its ownprotection 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 thefoot of the pages to which they belong. Those which appeared toolong to be so placed are given at the end of the chapters to whichthey severally relate. [Footnote: In this edition at the end ofthe several volumes.]