by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIX
THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION
The ingenious licentiate, Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced hishistory of La Picara Justina Diez,--which, by the way, is one of themost rare books of Spanish literature,--complained of his pen havingcaught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more eloquence thancommon sense, an affectionate expostulation with that useful implement,upbraiding it with being the quill of a goose,--a bird inconstant bynature, as frequenting the three elements of water, earth, and air,indifferently, and being, of course, 'to one thing constant never.' NowI protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Franciscode Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen,that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description anddialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill display noother properties of its mother-goose than her mutability, truly I shallbe well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthy friend, will haveno occasion for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the Highlandgillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. It is an importantexamination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom.
The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, had setup a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and powerful clanto which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention.Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least moreforce, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him,in quest of new settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of thePerthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that countryhad lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name of ouradventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by the kingto chastise him, and did such good service, that he obtained a grantof the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. Hefollowed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England, wherehe employed his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among theboors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabledto erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependantsand neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, orJohn the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song andgenealogy, by the high title of IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower.The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him, that the reigningchief always bore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son ofJohn the Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from thatfrom which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, the raceof Ivor.
The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of theTower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and wasforced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of theStuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other fugitives, heobtained employment in the French service, and married a lady of rank inthat kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora.The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but wasre-purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, whoin consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [14] Itwas soon perceived that he possessed a character of uncommon acuteness,fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted with the state of thecountry, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar tone, that could onlyhave been acquired Sixty Years since.
Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he would, inall probability, have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of theworld which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, hisambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his situationnow afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as perfect apolitician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied himself withgreat earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which oftenarose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he becamea frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power hestrengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and indeedstretched his means to the uttermost, to maintain the rude and plentifulhospitality, which was the most valued attribute of a chieftain. For thesame reason, he crowded his estate with a tenantry, hardy indeed, andfit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering what the soil wascalculated to maintain. These consisted chiefly of his own clan, not oneof whom he suffered to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it.But he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the mother sept, whodeserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief, to do homage toFergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not even that apology,were nevertheless received into his allegiance, which indeed was refusedto none who were, like Poins, proper men of their hands, and werewilling to assume the name of Mac-Ivor.
He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained commandof one of the independent companies raised by Government to preserve thepeace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he acted with vigour andspirit, and preserved great order in the country under his charge. Hecaused his vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and serve fora certain space of time, which gave them all in turn a general notionof military discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it wasobserved that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discretionarypower, which, while the law had no free course in the Highlands, wasconceived to belong to the military parties who were called in tosupport it. He acted, for example, with great and suspicious lenityto those freebooters who made restitution on his summons, andoffered personal submission to himself, while he rigorously pursued,apprehended, and sacrificed to justice, all such interlopers as dared todespise his admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any officersof justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue thieves ormarauders through his territories, and without applying for his consentand concurrence, nothing was more certain than that they would meet withsome notable foil or defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivorwas the first to condole with them, and, after gently blaming theirrashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state of thecountry. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and matters wereso represented to Government, that our Chieftain was deprived of hismilitary command. [15]
Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art ofentirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a short timethe neighbouring country began to feel bad effects from his disgrace.Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whose depredations hadhitherto been confined to other districts, appeared from thenceforwardto have made a settlement on this devoted border; and their ravages werecarried on with little opposition, as the Lowland gentry were chieflyJacobites, and disarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants intocontracts of blackmail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not onlyestablished him their protector, and gave him great weight in all theirconsultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of his feudalhospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might have otherwiseessentially diminished.
In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object thanmerely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling despoticallyover a small clan. From his infancy upward, he had devoted himself tothe cause of the exiled family, and had persuaded himself, not onlythat their restoration to the crown of Britain would be speedy, but thatthose who assisted them would be raised to honour and rank. It waswith this view that he laboured to reconcile the Highlanders amongthemselves, and augmented his own force to the utmost, to be preparedfor the first favourable opportunity of rising. With this purpose alsohe conciliated the favour of such Lowland gentlemen in the vicinityas were friends to the good cause; and for the same reason, havingincautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, notwithstanding hispeculiarities, was much respected in the country, he took advantage ofthe foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder up the dispute in the manner wehave mentioned. Some, indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise tobe suggested to Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation,which, supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine twogood milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaidwith a
considerable share of their confidence, an occasional supply oflouis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a huge waxenseal appended, purporting to be an Earl's patent, granted by no lessa person than James the Third King of England, and Eighth King ofScotland, to his right leal, trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor ofGlennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland.
With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plungeddeeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and,like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to goingcertain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and pridewould have deterred him, had his sole object been the direct advancementof his own personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious,and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we resume the brokenthread of our narrative.
The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house ofGlennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a highrude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is,a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's grandfather when hereturned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the westernshires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of thiscrusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohrof the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was inharrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rivaledifice, as a monument of his magnificence.
Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrowHighland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience,far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds agentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided by dry-stone walls,were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the rest,the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the brookexhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredations fromthe herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacenthills. These ever and anon made an incursion upon the arable ground,which was repelled by the loud, uncouth, and dissonant shouts of halfa dozen Highland swains, all running as if they had been mad, and everyone hallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the forage. At alittle distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of birch; thehills were high and heathy, but without any variety of surface; so thatthe whole view was wild and desolate, rather than grand and solitary.Yet, such as it was, no genuine descendant of Ian nan Chaistel wouldhave changed the domain for Stowe or Blenheim.
There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps would haveafforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than the finest viewin the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of his country. Thisconsisted of about a hundred Highlanders in complete dress and arms;at sight of whom the Chieftain apologized to Waverley in a sort ofnegligent manner. 'He had forgot,' he said, 'that he had ordered afew of his clan out, for the purpose of seeing that they were in a fitcondition to protect the country, and prevent such accidents as, he wassorry to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they weredismissed, perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them go througha part of their exercise.'
Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precision some ofthe ordinary military movements. They then practised individually at amark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the management of thepistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, sitting, leaning, orlying prostrate, as they were commanded, and always with effect upon thetarget. Next, they paired off for the broadsword exercise; and, havingmanifested their individual skill and dexterity, united in two bodies,and exhibited a sort of mock encounter, in which the charge, the rally,the flight, the pursuit, and all the current of a heady fight, wereexhibited to the sound of the great war-bagpipe.
On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Marches werethen made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, and othersports, in which this feudal militia displayed incredible swiftness,strength, and agility; and accomplished the purpose which theirChieftain had at heart, by impressing on Waverley no light sense oftheir merit as soldiers, and of the power of him who commanded them byhis nod. [16]
'And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness to call youleader?' asked Waverley.
'In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the race ofIvor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores. But youare aware, Captain Waverley, that the Disarming Act, passed about twentyyears ago, prevents their being in the complete state of preparationas in former times; and I keep no more of my clan under arms than maydefend my own or my friends' property, when the country is troubledwith such men as your last night's landlord; and Government, whichhas removed other means of defence, must connive at our protectingourselves.'
'But, with your force, you might soon destroy, or put down, such gangsas that of Donald Bean Lean.'
'Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up toGeneral Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have left us:there were little policy in that, methinks.--But come, Captain, thesound of the pipes informs me that dinner is prepared. Let me have thehonour to show you into my rude mansion.'