Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — CompleteScott, Walter
History
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Complete
Scott, Walter
Historical fiction; Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 -- Fiction; Scotland -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
'So much so,' said Rose, 'that the quarrel between my father and Fergus
Mac-Ivor began at a county meeting, where he wanted to take precedence
of all the Lowland gentlemen then present, only my father would not
suffer it. And then he upbraided my father that he was under his
banner, and paid him tribute; and my father was in a towering passion,
for Bailie Macwheeble, who manages such things his own way, had
contrived to keep this black-mail a secret from him, and passed it in
his account for cess-money. And they would have fought; but Fergus
Mac-Ivor said, very gallantly, he would never raise his hand against a
grey head that was so much respected as my father's.--O I wish, I wish
they had continued friends!'
'And did you ever see this Mr. Mac-Ivor, if that be his name, Miss
Bradwardine?'
'No, that is not his name; and he would consider MASTER as a sort of
affront, only that you are an Englishman, and know no better. But the
Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of his estate,
Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian Vohr, that is, the
son of John the Great; and we upon the braes here call him by both
names indifferently.'
'I am afraid I shall never bring my English tongue to call him by
either one or other.'
'But he is a very polite, handsome man,' continued Rose; 'and his
sister Flora is one of the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies
in this country; she was bred in a convent in France, and was a great
friend of mine before this unhappy dispute. Dear Captain Waverley, try
your influence with my father to make matters up. I am sure this is but
the beginning of our troubles; for Tully-Veolan has never been a safe
or quiet residence when we have been at feud with the Highlanders. When
I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought between a party of
twenty of them and my father and his servants behind the mains; and the
bullets broke several panes in the north windows, they were so near.
Three of the Highlanders were killed, and they brought them in wrapped
in their plaids, and laid them on the stone floor of the hall; and next
morning, their wives and daughters came, clapping their hands, and
crying the coronach, and shrieking, and carried away the dead bodies,
with the pipes playing before them. I could not sleep for six weeks
without starting and thinking I heard these terrible cries, and saw the
bodies lying on the steps, all stiff and swathed up in their bloody
tartans. But since that time there came a party from the garrison at
Stirling, with a warrant from the Lord Justice Clerk, or some such
great man, and took away all our arms; and now, how are we to protect
ourselves if they come down in any strength?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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