Hill-side and border sketches: with legends of the Cheviots and the Lammermuir

Front matter

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HILL-SIDE

BORDER SKETCHES:

Chapter I

Men have different gifts, and to some, Dame Nature is more bountiful than to others. That I was originally designed by that beneficent lady for a traveller, is a truth indisputable ; and whether by sea or land it mattereth not, my qualities for locomotion are so extensive. I have a small but ready appetite, can drink as becometh a Christian man, sleep, ad libitum, " by day, or night, or any light ;" and in philosophy 1 am an optimist. If benighted on the mountain side, obliged to " lie with the larks," and adopt a heathy pillow, at daybreak, I return thanks to the prophet for prompting the wise resolution of bivouacking in proper time, thereby escaping a practical lesson in the art of sinking in some neighbouring morass, or broken bones over the adjacent gully. At sea, if a spar be sprung, or the engine go amiss, I remain as much at ease as Diogenes at Sinope, leaving the reparation of damages to those most concerned in the same, and calling to memory the judicious remark of my excellent countryman, when informed that the vossel was sinking, " Well, blessed be God ! I am only a passenger."

I have often thought had the " Wandering Jew" been a gentleman of my disposition, he would not have had a bad life of it after all. " From Captain Noah down to Captain Cook," of ancient and modern travellers, this gentleman is, by universal consent, admitted to be the most celebrated ; and touching " his life and conversation" — as old biographers express it — every account agrees that this child of promise, wherever he turned his footsteps, kept good company and paid his way like a

^Q HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES.

brick. Now, if fashionable society, and a purse sufficiently enduring to stand the drainage of a West-end hotel, could make a tourist comfortable, the perennial migrations of this Israelite should have been felicitous as a week out of town after hymenials by consent, or the return of a brace of fugitives from " fair Tweed-side," with " a cursed specimen of crabbed penmanship" in their pocket, executed at Lamberton Bar by a reverend gentleman the worse for liquor, declaring the levanters man and wife, and setting guardians and parents at defiance.

When in a hurry — and sometimes, idler that I am, I labour under the delusion that I have business which calls for expedition — I prefer the railroad — but with ordinary circumstances to influence my outgoings, give me such means of locomotion as the Leith and Clyde steamers afford the wanderer. To him who is both snob-proof and sea-hardy, these vessels are luxurious. The latter I am — the former I am not. I fancy that the art of war, like the art of poetry, renders men irritable ; and unhappily for myself, I cannot take in vulgar puppyism at any price. In voyaging either to the city of shuttles, yclept GlasgoAV, or that remnant of royalty — and what an interesting one Auld Reekie is I — vulgarity assails you in every shape ; but, blessed be Allah ! I have an unprepossessing countenance and most repulsive manners ; up goes my battle-flag when I cross the gang-board that connects the vessel with the pier ; with one broad stare I have annihilated a cockney who contemplated familiarity ; and at table, when I choose to be disagreeable, the most audacious scoundrel who ever concocted a bubble rail line, would not venture to ask me to pass the salt.

And yet he who voyageth by long steam will rarely find the transit barren — and out of the herd on board, an adept like myself well acquainted with the species, will seldom fail in picking from the '^ro/anwwt vulgus " a gentleman, or, what will suit his purpose quite as well, some personage of no pretension and much intelligence, as companionable to the full, and unpresuming as if he had been better born.

In Leith and Glasgow steamers, " an ye be a man" — which in its nautical acceptation meaneth a person who can eat, drink, and sleep at discretion — and the weather be moderate, you can command, and on very reasonable terms, every creature comfort procurable in a wellappointed hotel. Even in a gale these splendid ships would be very tolerable, if those who are not sea-hardy would have the decency to ensconce themselves and their sufferings in their berths. I was once cured of a fit of love contracted on the pier of Howth, by a fit of sickness perpetrated before we reached Holyhead ; and assuredly, if woman cannot ensure deep sympathy from man, what chance of pity has a coarse he-fellow sprawling on a sofa, and instead of concealing his stomachic infirmities, disgusting, even unto loathing, those who. would have otherwise escaped the visitation. Any of these offending Jonahs are utterly beyond the pale of pardon ; and I very believe, I would aid and assist in committing the man and his afflictions to the deep.

If a person were anxious to study human character, the best book he can resort to will be opened to him in a steamer, I have the talent for detecting the peculiarities of my kind, and between " the egg and

HILLSIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. H

the apple" — which rendered into Scotch, means cock-a-leeky and the \cheese — 1 can analyze a dinner table pretty accurately.

It is naai-vellous what varieties in human character will occasionally be found encircling the same board, and how easily their classification •can be determined, when the steward strikes upon " the tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell." The gentleman quietly takes his seat, predetermined to receive thankfully whatever has been provided for him. The ex-militaire, before he deposits his person on the camp-stool, sweeps the cloth over to ascertain whether fork and spoon are correctly paraded — the contracted eye, before which for a quarter of a century mess- AvaiteTs have quailed, " dreading the deep damnation of his Bah !" concentrating its optic powers to detect, if it be possible, a delinquency. The bagman, or in more modern parlance, " the traveller," cares not a brass button for tabular arrangements, his care being confined to a rapid investigation of the viands, accompanied by a mental calculation touching the respective dishes from which the best return for two shillings will be obtained. Of snobs — and what a comprehensive addition to our language that expressive word makes! — you may naturally calculate on an extensive assortment, urban and rustic. In rural delinquencies, they being chiefly confined to dress, you feel disposed to pity and pardon the , offender ; but your city snob being gifted with detestable presumption, you find yourself irresistibly impelled to offer him sixpence a day for life to keep out of your sight for ever.

I have suffered from such persons as the latter, until I attained a mental temperament that I became dangerous to approach. I have undergone the severest visitations, writhed under the afflicting vulgarity of "the folks and bodies" who infest the Clyde, and the more intolerable audacity of those cockney scoundrels who take liberties with the vowels, consider Margate fashionable, and labour under a delusion, that the fry they get at Blackwall are fish in actual reality. Heaven knows ! these afflictions are enough to mortify the flesh sufficiently ; and, as I foolishly imagined, they would be booked in the per-contra side against my sins, and save me from undergoing an annealing process in purgatory when this mortal coil had been shuffled off*. But I had yet to learn that a still heavier visitation was in store ; and that, through the malignant influence of evil planets, it was ordained that I should undergo the pains and penalties attendant on a voyage in the Hull steamer.

My destination was Berwick-upon-Tweed — the best point d'appui in Britain for an angler — and no mistake. The day of sailing of the steamer thither bound, was duly announced ; and I, having put my house in order, like a prudent tourist migrated eastward over-night, to be within pistol-shot of my packet in the morning. I reached my destination — and the leathern conveniency which " carried Caesar and his saddle-bags," pulled up at an hotel opposite the docks.

" Where's yer honour goin' ?" inquired a red-headed rascal, who, had he held the gold stick in the Court of Timbuctoo, I should have identified at sight as a loving countryman.

" To Berwick," was the reply.

" Ah ! then," responded red-head, " yer honour's a trifle of tinxe after the ship, for she sailed at eight o'clock this momin'."

" Impossible ! The hour of sailing is advertised for to-morrow in 'The Times.'"

" Peaks ! and that same's likely enough," and the scoundrel scratched his head. " But you see they're so very, punctual, that they sail the day before they say they will, to prevent disappointment, I suppose."

" Is that what you call punctuality ?" I exclaimed, in a towering passion. " My malison on you and punctuality both. What the devil are you doing with my luggage ?"

" What am I doin' ? Jist puttin' ye up for the night, where ye'll sleep snug and comfortable."

" And why should I sleep here, you vagabond ?"

" Arrah ! how asy it is to know a gentleman from the ould country, by the plisant way they talk to one ! Peaks ! and I'll tell ye why ye'll sleep here. Arn't ye opposite the Hull packet that sails to-morrow ?"

" And what is the Hull packet to me ?" I responded.

" Why, jist because I know from the guns and fishin'-rods, that yer only goin' on the ran-tan ; and is it anything to the like of you, whether ye head to Hull or Berwick ?"

And, before I could exert free agency or enter a protest, the villain had every article appertaining to me abstracted from the cab, and regularly shouldered up-stairs by the porters.

" Hav'n't I, in less than no time, made yer honour snug for the night ?" exclaimed the " hereditary bondsman," grinning with evident satisfaction at his own address, and holding out his hand for the consideration which he calculated was to follow. He saw a shilling in my hand ; and, as if the monetary transfer had been already legally effected, he lauded me for my liberality.

" It's asy knowin' the raal gentleman," said red-head. " Arrah I bad luck to me ! though maybe, you wouldn't believe it, but there's divils wid dacent coats upon them, that would put one off with a tanner, or a fourpenny — may Cromwell's heavy curse attend the inventors of the last ! Prom the moment I twigged yer honour, says I quietly to my- .self, " Stick to him, Peter Clancy, like wax, for he wouldn't condescend to reach an obligin' lad of your kind anything below a bob.' "

Now, although part of Peter Clancy's remarks were conveyed in terms with which I was not familiar, I comprehended that gentility consisted in giving shillings, and that sixpence was a vulgar coin.

" Mr. Clancy, will you permit me, before we part, to ask you a simple question ?"

" Arrah ! to be sure I will," returned red-head. " But, ye didn't mane we were to part. Troth ! it's myself that would scorn to lave a respectable elderly gentleman like yerself, friendless and unpertected in the streets of London. I'll see your property safe aboard the boat, and take better care of ye than many a bad step-father would in the mornin'."

" Mr. Clancy," I replied, " will you favour me with the full particulars of the murder, which procured for the British capital the honour of your residence ?"

" Upon my sowl !" returned my loving countryman, " it is not for committin' murder I am here. But, if yer honour must know the cause — why, it's jist for not committin' matrimony."

" Explain yourself, you scoundrel !"

" Well, when a man's spoken civilly to, he can refuse nothing, — and, feaks ! I'll out with the whole to ye," returned this specimen of the finest peasantry upon earth (authoritate, Daniel). "I was goin' fair and asy along the road, about a month ago, when, from a horeyeen,* who falls upon me like a soot-droop at the corner of the hedge, but Father Denis Grady. ' Peter !' says he, drawin' up. — ' Arrah ! plase yer rev'rence,' says I, ' but yer lookin' fresh and well, — the Lord be praised for the same !' — ' Peter !' said the priest, eyeing me mighty quare, 'I'm of opinion there's a rod in pickle for ye. Tiggum?'^ and he laid his finger on his nose. — ' Arrah ! what have I done, yer rev'- rence V says I. — ' Peter,' says he, ' where were ye last Tuesday night V — ' Ah ! the divil a one of rtie had anything to say to the scrimmage that evening, good or bad,' says I. — ' Who's talkin' about scrimmages ?' says the priest. ' Peter, ye'r a patent rascal, and a most accomplished malefactor, I'm afraid. What brought ye across the bog wid Honor Donovan?' — 'To convoy her from the dance, plase yer rev'rence, as ye know she's a neighbour's child.' — 'Peter,' says he, ' ye'U be hanged, as sure as the divil's in Galway.' — ' Oh ! may the Lord forbid!' says I. — 'Troth! ye may make yer mind asy on it,' says he : ' ye'r certain to spoil a market. But, to cut a long story short, af ye don't make Biddy Donovan an honest woman betune this and Garlick Sunday, and that's the Sunday after nixt — be this book,' and he kissed the handle of his whip, ' I'll give ye such a blast from the altar, that after it yer own dog wouldn't keep ye company.' — ' Oh ! murder! murder!' says I. 'Doesn't yer rev'rence know well that Judy was off for a week with a recruitin'-party ?' — 'Why, ye hardhearted Samaritan,' says he, ' would you venture to give back an answer to your clargy ? Be off"! an' if ye don't behave dacent to the little girl, I'll make a world's wonder of ye !' — Wasn't I in a beautiful quandary ? Divil a choice left but to marry a wife without a rag of character, or be cursed on Garlick Sunday. ' What's to be done,' says I to myself. ' Divil a thing but cut your stick, Peter Clancy,' says I, answerin' my own question. Feaks ! accordingly, I brushes next morning at daylight ; and, after a week on the treadmill at Liverpool for an assault, I reached London in good health, and without a scullogne in my pocket. Well, I goes for news to the Seven Dials, and, sure enough, Bridget Lanigan had a letter from her brother the day before. It was all over wid me. Father Denis, when he heard I had bolted, put the candles out on me, and my sister into convulsions — and here I am, yer honour, durin' life — for the divil a toe I dar turn to the ould country, ye know."

" It is quite certain," I replied, " that London has got a valuable and a permanent addition to her population. Be off!" and flinging another shilling to the gay deceiver who had drawn down upon himself the ire of mother church, he vanished like a sharp-shooter, and I proceeded to my apartments for the night.

* A horse -path across a bog. t Do you understand me ?

J4 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES.

By times next morning I was a-foot ; and on descending the stairs I found Mr. Clancy in attendance. We proceeded to London Bridge — the false one, in addition to my personal property, having a bundle secured in a pocket-handkerchief on the truck, and an oak sapling under his arm. My luggage was committed to the hold ; my guns and fishing-rods carried to the cabin ; the porter fully satisfied ; and Mr. Clancy accommodated with half-a-crown — in return for which the excommunicated rascal had the impudence to favour me with his blessing.

I hate greetings in the market-place ; and cockney adieux I carefully eschew. The bell sounded its three alarums ; and, to avoid the bustle attendant on departure, I ensconced myself below. Through the cabin-skylight, I heard " the monarch of her peopled deck," a personage whose countenance bore " tokens true " of heavy wet and heavy weather, order the mooring-vopes to be hauled aboard. A preparatory grunt was given from the engine-room ; the wheels revolved slowly. " Remember me affectionately to my Aunt Deborah," from the gangway, was returned by " Give my love to Cousin Francis" from the shore. " Turn a-heed !" screamed the attendant imp, who, like the repeating-frigate of a fleet, gave language to the waved hand of the commander on the paddle-box — and off we went.

A cursory glance at the company on deck had been unfavourable ; and, consequently, during the voyage, I had secretly determined to preserve an isolated dignity ; and, when breakfast was announced, and, one after another, my fellow-passengers descended the companionladder, a personal inspection confirmed my previous resolution.

The oldest " refugium peccatorum " I believe, on record, was the Cave of Abdullum, where all in danger and in debt resorted, as fashionable levanters repair in the present day to Boulogne. The Hull steamer on this morning, I fancy, would have set the table d'hote of the Hotel du Nord at defiance ; and even the cavern itself could put forward no pretence to rival " The Rapid." A bubble railroad had been kicked out of committee the preceding day — and all concerned in the same — to wit, the flats and sharps — the victimized and the victimizers — were returning to the North, — all wiser men, and the larger proportion much sadder ones than when they visited the great metropolis.

Never did a more dolorous company congregate round a breakfast-table. The scrip-holders were demolished ; the director-general had already been favoured with six-and-forty notices of action ; half-a-dozen proprietors of theodolites and iron chains looked upon them with despairing eyes, and, like Othello, recollected that in surveying as in war, it is not pleasant for a gentleman to ascertain that " his occupation's gone." One thing struck me as remarkable, — however infelicitous their Stag Alley operations had proved, the digestive powers of the company were unimpaired by these monetary misfortunes, for such a collection of human cormorants I never before consorted with; and I came to the conclusion that, as necessity sharpens invention, scripholding improves the appetite.

Even with a polished gambler I never could encourage intimacy ; and lower black-legs are not endurable at all. I hurried over breakfast — mounted the cabin ladder, — and found on deck two persons, with whom I subsequently formed an acquaintance. Never were the circumstances which excited interest for strangers more dissimilar.

One was a ruined dupe ; the other a sweet and artless girl of nineteen. Every thing about the fair one was calculated to enlist my sympathy. She was young, pretty, innocent, alone, and unprotected — in a foreign land, and unable to speak one syllable of its language.

The delight she evinced when she found I could converse with her in French, was probably enhanced by finding that in her new protector, she had a man whose years warranted her to look fearlessly to him as a father. Without the least hesitation, she accepted my tender of attention ; and when she found that my profession had been that of arms — that I held a similar rank to her late father. Colonel St. Aubyn — that we had opposed each other in the same fields — and expended the best years of mutual life in honourable confliction on the Peninsula, — I verily believe that, without a particle of distrust, she would have accompanied me to Kamschatka, had our destinations thither pointed.

I spread a military cloak on one of the side-benches, and we sat down to enjoy a pleasant sea-breeze, and observe the hundred passing vessels which each succeeding tide hurries from all the corners of the earth, to bring fresh additions to the enormous wealth of the mighty capital of Britain. Before an hour passed, Ninette — as my sweet ■protegee was named — with all the confidence of youth, spoke to me unreservedly as if we had been the acquaintances of years ; while, encouraged by the undisguised intimacy her manner seemed to court, I expressed surprise that one so young, so pretty, and so helpless, had ventured into a stranger land, without some female friend to bear her company, or a male protector, like myself.

She smiled.

" I would freely, my dear friend, tell you the causes of this apparent impropriety ; but you would laugh at me — " and she looked archly in my face.

" And why should I, pretty one ! laugh at — "

She playfully interrupted the sentence, and added,

" What all but those concerned think ridiculous — a love story !"

" And fancy you, my sweet friend," I responded warmly, " that because Dan Cupid and I parted company before you saw the light, that my heart is so gnarled by time, and my feelings so deadened, that I cannot sympathize with youthful affections ?"

" Ah, then, mon colonel, I will tax your patience," she replied, laughing. " No matter ; the safest confidant the soldier's orphan could repose in, is in him who possibly crossed sabres with her father on the battle-field. In the vieile moustache" and she touched my grizzled lip, " St. Aubyn's child has nought to dread."

" And were it coal-black, as it once was," I passionately rejoined, " she might equally place reliance in its faith. He who wears the soldier's livery, and could imagine aught against thee, Ninette, but what was generous and kind, may heart fail him in his hour of trial, and every thing brave and noble recoil from him as a recreant."

She took my hand — pressed it in hers — and, while tears and smiles jg HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES.

contended for the mastery, Ninette St. Aubyn communicated the simple story of" a young life.

Could I but narrate the tale in her own naive and artless language, while by turns, a smile brightened the countenance radiant with expression, or a tear stole down her cheek, as some unhappy passage in her varying fortunes was recalled to memory — the reader would admit that the coldest listener could not refuse his sympathy to so fair and so interesting a raconteuse.

Chapter II

NINETTE ST. AUBYN.

The amount of human suffering which was produced by the French Revolution, it would be impossible even to conjecture — but great as the evil and misery that resulted might have been, this terrible convulsion produced in time an improved order of new things and new men. Rotten institutions were demolished ; and the wretched noblesse, with their favourites and dependents, who had sprang into mischievous elevation by court intrigue, gave way to humbler-born and better citizens. The public departments were purified — a crowd of worthless atiaclies, who had evaded the guillotine, were driven into exile — a profligate priesthood totally suppressed — and profiting by the removal of these nuisances, whicn so long had impoverished and disgraced a land afflicted by corrupt government, national prosperity revived — while, pari passu, arts and sciences advanced. The reign of terror, as the thunder-storm removes the noxious influences of an unhealthy atmosphere, by a fearful but efflcient action, renovated a demoralized people ; and, as a long-neglected malady can only be remedied by desperate means, France could not have attained the mighty position she had lost, and which she afterwards recovered, excepting by sweeping, root and branch, away, a bad monarchy, a worse aristocracy, and a still more abominable priesthood.

Many were the changes which the existing order of things were fated to sustain at this eventful period — but the most extraordinary of the whole, was the total revolution which, in all matters connected with it, the art of war underwent. Military systems, based on erroneous principles, but to which continental commanders adhered with a devotion that can now be regarded only as ridiculous, were gradually absorbed in the scientific simplicity which rendered the armies o? the Republic invincible. The pernicious principle which opened only to the high-born a chance of military preferment, was exploded. To the reach of the humblest in the social scale, fame, and honour, and distinction were extended — and, consequently, those magnificent soldiers, who made France the mistress of the continent, and annihilated the stupid pedantry of the imbecile old men to whom armies had been hitherto intrusted, won and maintained that glorious celebrity, which, while history lasts, will attach itself to the Generals of Napoleon.

When the reign of terror was devastating France, and the high-born and the humblest were indiscriminately sacrificed to the fury of the times, in a remote valley izi the lower range of the Pyrenees, two families were residing. One, was that of a small proprietor called St. Aubyn — the other, belonged to a person who had held a situation under the late government, named Harrispe. St. Aubyn was by descent a gentleman, and in rank superior to his neighbour ; but Harrispe, who had risen from obscurity, was the wealthier. Both were fathers, and each the parent of an only child.

When the revolution broke out, Pierre St. Aubyn was nineteen — a bold and handsome mountaineer ; while Lucille Harrispe, two years younger, was unquestionably the finest girl in the department. Circumstances appeared to have designed them lor each other — they loved, or thought they loved — and their parents sanctioned a union, which was fixed for the approaching birthday of the bride elect.

While the centre of the kingdom was fearfully convulsed, and blood flowed in torrents in the capital, the remote situation of the valley of San Roque, as yet had screened it from the fury of the times. The distant muttering of the thunder-cloud was heard — and the wild reports which reached the mountains, of scenes of atrocity transacting elsewhere, were received distrustfully by the Basque peasants, as being too hori'ible for belief — while from their isolated locality, the inhabitants of San Roque expected they would escape the notice, and thus evade the reckless vengeance with which the republicans visited alike the guilty and the innocent. That hope was vain ; for no spot in France was so remote, but human blood-hounds scented out the victim. Agents arrived from Paris ; they brought plenary power from the Directory to slaughter all suspected as they pleased — and, from having held an appointment under the ancient regime, in the proscribed list the name of Harrispe stood prominently. Nothing but instant flight could have saved him from destruction — and his friend, St. Aubyn, reckless of personal considerations, enabled him to leave the kingdom with his wife and daughter, and also assisted him in carrying off" the larger portion of his property. Alas ! the secret speedily transpired that the escape of one so obnoxious as Harrispe had been affected by the agency of St. Aubyn — and his own death was not considered a sufficient atonement for the crime of saving a devoted man. The family of the offender were included in the fatal list. St. Aubyn and his innocent wife were guillotined — and Pierre alone, from his intimate acquaintance with the passes of the mountains, escaped the knife, and crossed the Spanish frontier.

Until they were secure from the reach of their enemies, the younger St. Aubyn had accompanied the fugitives, and never left them while a chance of their being overtaken existed. Deep were the expressions of eternal gratitude from the parents ; but more ardent the protestations of eternal love reiterated by the beautiful Lucille, as she hung upon the bosom of young Pierre, and swore eternal fidelity. Their union was to take place in England — whither St. Aubyn was to follow the refugees as soon as circumstances should permit.

Months passed. No letter from the fugitives reached their deliverer save one, and that told him that the family of Harrispe were safe in the British capital. Pierre was a homeless man — one without kindred or country — his parents murdered — his property confiscated — his life proscribed — and in a strange land, without money or a friend, he felt bitterly this reverse of fortune. But hope pointed in his darkest hour to that land of freedom, where love and Lucille would yet repay all that he had suffered and sustained ; until at last, through the generous sympathy of an English Captain, he obtained a passage, and found himself in the streets of London in safety, and without a sixpence.

By an inquiry at the Alien Office, he found out the residence of the emigrants, and thither he hurried. In Harrispe, he would find a father in place of him whom he had lost — in Lucille, the sublimated happiness which the smiles of beauty confer on man, after he has endured the double test of absence and adversity. Alas ! poor youth ! little did he anticipate the intelligence and the reception that awaited him. Lucille was false and wedded to another ; and Harrispe's cold manner proved, that, even life preserved, will not command a scoundrel's gratitude.