Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 1Scott, Walter
History
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 1
Scott, Walter
Historical fiction; Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 -- Fiction; Scotland -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
When the dinner was removed, the Baron announced the health of the
King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to drink
to the sovereign de facto or de jure, as their politics inclined.
The conversation now became general; and, shortly afterwards, Miss
Bradwardine, who had done the honours with natural grace and
simplicity, retired, and was soon followed by the clergyman. Among
the rest of the party, the wine, which fully justified the
encomiums of the landlord, flowed freely round, although Waverley,
with some difficulty, obtained the privilege of sometimes
neglecting the glass. At length, as the evening grew more late,
the Baron made a private signal to Mr. Saunders Saunderson, or, as
he facetiously denominated him, Alexander ab Alexandro, who left
the room with a nod, and soon after returned, his grave
countenance mantling with a solemn and mysterious smile, and
placed before his master a small oaken casket, mounted with brass
ornaments of curious form. The Baron, drawing out a private key,
unlocked the casket, raised the lid, and produced a golden goblet
of a singular and antique appearance, moulded into the shape of a
rampant bear, which the owner regarded with a look of mingled
reverence, pride, and delight, that irresistibly reminded Waverley
of Ben Jonson's Tom Otter, with his Bull, Horse, and Dog, as that
wag wittily denominated his chief carousing cups. But Mr.
Bradwardine, turning towards him with complacency, requested him
to observe this curious relic of the olden time.
'It represents,' he said, 'the chosen crest of our family, a bear,
as ye observe, and RAMPANT; because a good herald will depict
every animal in its noblest posture, as a horse SALIENT, a
greyhound CURRANT, and, as may be inferred, a ravenous animal in
actu ferociori, or in a voracious, lacerating, and devouring
posture. Now, sir, we hold this most honourable achievement by the
wappen-brief, or concession of arms, of Frederick Red-beard,
Emperor of Germany, to my predecessor, Godmund Bradwardine, it
being the crest of a gigantic Dane, whom he slew in the lists in
the Holy Land, on a quarrel touching the chastity of the emperor's
spouse or daughter, tradition saith not precisely which, and thus,
as Virgilius hath it--
Mutemus clypeos, Danaumque insignia nobis
Aptemus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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