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
In this guise he ambled forth over hill and valley, the admiration
of every farm-yard which they passed in their progress, till, 'low
down in a grassy vale,' they found David Gellatley leading two
very tall deer greyhounds, and presiding over half a dozen curs,
and about as many bare-legged and bare-headed boys, who, to
procure the chosen distinction of attending on the chase, had not
failed to tickle his ears with the dulcet appellation of Maister
Gellatley, though probably all and each had hooted him on former
occasions in the character of daft Davie. But this is no uncommon
strain of flattery to persons in office, nor altogether confined
to the barelegged villagers of Tully-Veolan; it was in fashion
Sixty Years Since, is now, and will be six hundred years hence, if
this admirable compound of folly and knavery, called the world,
shall be then in existence.
These Gillie-wet-foots, as they were called, were destined to beat
the bushes, which they performed with so much success, that, after
half an hour's search, a roe was started, coursed, and killed; the
Baron following on his white horse, like Earl Percy of yore, and
magnanimously flaying and embowelling the slain animal (which, he
observed, was called by the French chasseurs, faire la curee) with
his own baronial couteau de chasse. After this ceremony, he
conducted his guest homeward by a pleasant and circuitous route,
commanding an extensive prospect of different villages and houses,
to each of which Mr. Bradwardine attached some anecdote of history
or genealogy, told in language whimsical from prejudice and
pedantry, but often respectable for the good sense and honourable
feelings which his narrative displayed, and almost always curious,
if not valuable, for the information they contained.
The truth is, the ride seemed agreeable to both gentlemen, because
they found amusement in each other's conversation, although their
characters and habits of thinking were in many respects totally
opposite. Edward, we have informed the reader, was warm in his
feelings, wild and romantic in his ideas and in his taste of
reading, with a strong disposition towards poetry. Mr Bradwardine
was the reverse of all this, and piqued himself upon stalking
through life with the same upright, starched, stoical gravity
which distinguished his evening promenade upon the terrace of
Tully-Veolan, where for hours together--the very model of old
Hardyknute--
Stately stepp'd he east the wa',
And stately stepp'd he west
As for literature, he read the classic poets, to be sure, and the
'Epithalamium' of Georgius Buchanan and Arthur Johnston's Psalms,
of a Sunday; and the 'Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum,' and Sir David
Lindsay's 'Works', and Barbour's 'Brace', and Blind Harry's
'Wallace', and 'The Gentle Shepherd', and 'The Cherry and The
Slae.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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