It was issued just in time to save the house, corn, and cattle at Invernahyle from the troops who were engaged in laying waste what it was the fashion to call ``the country of the enemy.'' A small encampment of soldiers was formed on Invernahyle's property, which they spared while plundering the country around, and searching in every direction for the leaders of the insurrection, and for Stewart in particular.He was much nearer them than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave (like the Baron of Bradwardine), he lay for many days so near the English sentinels, that he could hear their muster-roll called.His food was brought to him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years old, whom Mrs.Stewart was under the necessity of entrusting with this commission; for her own motions, and those of all her elder inmates, were closely watched.With ingenuity beyond her years, the child used to stray about among the soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and thus seize the moment when she was unobserved, and steal into the thicket, when she deposited whatever small store of provisions she had in charge at some marked spot, where her father might find it.
Invernahyle supported life for several weeks by means of these precarious supplies; and as he had been wounded in the battle of Culloden, the hardships which he endured were aggravated by great bodily pain.After the soldiers had removed their quarters, he had another remarkable escape.
As he now ventured to his own house at night, and left it in the morning, he was espied during the dawn by a party of the enemy, who fired at and pursued him.The fugitive being fortunate enough to escape their search, they returned to the house, and charged the family with harbouring one of the proscribed traitors.An old woman had presence of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the shepherd.``Why did he not stop when we called to him?'' said the soldier.---``He is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,'' answered the ready-witted domestic.---``Let him be sent for, directly." The real shepherd accordingly was brought from the hill, and as there was time to tutor him by the way, he was as deaf when he made his appearance as was necessary to sustain his character.Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned under the Act of Indemnity.
The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstances from his own mouth.He was a noble specimen of the old highlander, far descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry.He had been _out,_ I believe, in 1715 and 1745; was an active partaker in all the stirring scenes which passed in the Highlands betwixt these memorable eras; and, I have heard, was remarkable, among other exploits, for having fought a duel with the broadsword with the celebrated Rob Roy MacGregor, at the Clachan of Balquhidder.
Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into the Firth of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in arms, and heard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospect of ``drawing his claymore once more before he died.'' In fact, on that memorable occasion, when the capital of Scotland was menaced by three trifling sloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing village, he was the only man who seemed to propose a plan of resistance.He offered to the magistrates, if broadswords and dirks could be obtained, to find as many Highlanders among the lower classes as would cut off any boat's crew who might be sent into a town full of narrow and winding passages, in which they were likely to disperse in quest of plunder.I know not if his plan was attended to; I rather think it seemed too hazardous to the constituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, desire to see arms in Highland hands.A steady and powerful west wind settled the matter, by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out of the Firth.
If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is not unpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, when Edinburgh, besides regular forces and militia, furnished a volunteer brigade of cavalry,<*> infantry, and * (The Author was quarter-master of the Edinburgh Volunteer Light Horse.)artillery, to the amount of six thousand men and upwards, which was in readiness to meet and repel a force of a far more formidable description than was commanded by the adventurous American.Time and circumstances change the character of nations and the fate of cities; and it is some pride to a Scotchman to reflect, that the independent and manly character of a country willing to entrust its own protection to the arms of its children, after having been obscured for half-a-century, has, during the course of his own lifetime, recovered its lustre.
PREFACE
TO
THE THIRD EDITION.
OCTOBER 1814.
To this slight attempt at a sketch of ancient Scottish manners the public have been more favourable than the Author durst have hoped or expected.He has heard, with a mixture of satisfaction and humility, his work ascribed to more than one respectable name.
Considerations, which seem weighty in his particular situation, prevent his releasing those gentlemen from suspicion by placing his own name in the title-page; so that, for the present at least, it must remain uncertain whether Waverley be the work of a poet or a critic, a lawyer or a clergyman, or whether the writer, to use Mrs Malaprop's phrase, be, ``like Cerberus---three gentlemen at once.''
The Author, as he is unconscious of anything in the work itself (except, perhaps, its frivolity) which prevents its finding an acknowledged father, leaves it to the candour of the public to choose among the many circumstances peculiar to different situations in life, such may induce him to suppress his name on the present occasion.