CHAPTER XXII.
Go, some of you cry a reprieve!
_Beggar's Opera._
Captain Weatherport had, before this time, reached Kirkwall in person,
and was received with great joy and thankfulness by the Magistrates, who
had assembled in council for the purpose. The Provost, in particular,
expressed himself delighted with the providential arrival of the
Halcyon, at the very conjuncture when the Pirate could not escape her.
The Captain looked a little surprised, and said--"For that, sir, you may
thank the information you yourself supplied."
"That I supplied?" said the Provost, somewhat astonished.
"Yes, sir," answered Captain Weatherport, "I understand you to be George
Torfe, Chief Magistrate of Kirkwall, who subscribes this letter."
The astonished Provost took the letter addressed to Captain Weatherport
of the Halcyon, stating the arrival, force, &c., of the pirates' vessel;
but adding, that they had heard of the Halcyon being on the coast, and
that they were on their guard and ready to baffle her, by going among
the shoals, and through the islands, and holms, where the frigate could
not easily follow; and at the worst, they were desperate enough to
propose running the sloop ashore and blowing her up, by which much booty
and treasure would be lost to the captors. The letter, therefore,
suggested, that the Halcyon should cruise betwixt Duncansbay Head and
Cape Wrath, for two or three days, to relieve the pirates of the alarm
her neighbourhood occasioned, and lull them into security, the more
especially as the letter-writer knew it to be their intention, if the
frigate left the coast, to go into Stromness Bay, and there put their
guns ashore for some necessary repairs, or even for careening their
vessel, if they could find means. The letter concluded by assuring
Captain Weatherport, that, if he could bring his frigate into Stromness
Bay on the morning of the 24th of August, he would have a good bargain
of the pirates--if sooner, he was not unlikely to miss them.
"This letter is not of my writing or subscribing, Captain Weatherport,"
said the Provost; "nor would I have ventured to advise any delay in your
coming hither."
The Captain was surprised in his turn. "All I know is, that it reached
me when I was in the bay of Thurso, and that I gave the boat's crew that
brought it five dollars for crossing the Pentland Frith in very rough
weather. They had a dumb dwarf as cockswain, the ugliest urchin my eyes
ever opened upon. I give you much credit for the accuracy of your
intelligence, Mr. Provost."
"It is lucky as it is," said the Provost; "yet I question whether the
writer of this letter would not rather that you had found the nest cold
and the bird flown."
So saying, he handed the letter to Magnus Troil, who returned it with a
smile, but without any observation, aware, doubtless, with the sagacious
reader, that Norna had her own reasons for calculating with accuracy on
the date of the Halcyon's arrival.
Without puzzling himself farther concerning a circumstance which seemed
inexplicable, the Captain requested that the examinations might proceed;
and Cleveland and Altamont, as he chose to be called, were brought up
the first of the pirate crew, on the charge of having acted as Captain
and Lieutenant. They had just commenced the examination, when, after
some expostulation with the officers who kept the door, Basil Mertoun
burst into the apartment and exclaimed, "Take the old victim for the
young one!--I am Basil Vaughan, too well known on the windward
station--take my life, and spare my son's!"
All were astonished, and none more than Magnus Troil, who hastily
explained to the Magistrates and Captain Weatherport, that this
gentleman had been living peaceably and honestly on the Mainland of
Zetland for many years.
"In that case," said the Captain, "I wash my hands of the poor man, for
he is safe, under two proclamations of mercy; and, by my soul, when I
see them, the father and his offspring, hanging on each other's neck, I
wish I could say as much for the son."
"But how is it--how can it be?" said the Provost; "we always called the
old man Mertoun, and the young, Cleveland, and now it seems they are
both named Vaughan."
"Vaughan," answered Magnus, "is a name which I have some reason to
remember; and, from what I have lately heard from my cousin Norna, that
old man has a right to bear it."
"And, I trust, the young man also," said the Captain, who had been
looking over a memorandum. "Listen to me a moment," added he, addressing
the younger Vaughan, whom we have hitherto called Cleveland. "Hark you,
sir, your name is said to be Clement Vaughan--are you the same, who,
then a mere boy, commanded a party of rovers, who, about eight or nine
years ago, pillaged a Spanish village called Quempoa, on the Spanish
Main, with the purpose of seizing some treasure?"
"It will avail me nothing to deny it," answered the prisoner.
"No," said Captain Weatherport, "but it may do you service to admit
it.--Well, the muleteers escaped with the treasure, while you were
engaged in protecting, at the hazard of your own life, the honour of two
Spanish ladies against the brutality of your followers. Do you remember
any thing of this?"
"I am sure _I_ do," said Jack Bunce; "for our Captain here was marooned
for his gallantry, and I narrowly escaped flogging and pickling for
having taken his part."
"When these points are established," said Captain Weatherport,
"Vaughan's life is safe--the women he saved were persons of quality,
daughters to the governor of the province, and application was long
since made, by the grateful Spaniard, to our government, for favour to
be shown to their preserver. I had special orders about Clement Vaughan,
when I had a commission for cruizing upon the pirates, in the West
Indies, six or seven years since. But Vaughan was gone then as a name
amongst them; and I heard enough of Cleveland in his room. However,
Captain, be you Cleveland or Vaughan, I think that, as the Quempoa hero,
I can assure you a free pardon when you arrive in London."
Cleveland bowed, and the blood mounted to his face. Mertoun fell on his
knees, and exhausted himself in thanksgiving to Heaven. They were
removed, amidst the sympathizing sobs of the spectators.
"And now, good Master Lieutenant, what have you got to say for
yourself?" said Captain Weatherport to the ci-devant Roscius.
"Why, little or nothing, please your honour; only that I wish your
honour could find my name in that book of mercy you have in your hand;
for I stood by Captain Clement Vaughan in that Quempoa business."
"You call yourself Frederick Altamont?" said Captain Weatherport. "I can
see no such name here; one John Bounce, or Bunce, the lady put on her
tablets."
"Why, that is me--that is I myself, Captain--I can prove it; and I am
determined, though the sound be something plebeian, rather to live Jack
Bunce, than to hang as Frederick Altamont."
"In that case," said the Captain, "I can give you some hopes as John
Bunce."
"Thank your noble worship!" shouted Bunce; then changing his tone, he
said, "Ah, since an alias has such virtue, poor Dick Fletcher might have
come off as Timothy Tugmutton; but howsomdever, d'ye see, to use his own
phrase"----
"Away with the Lieutenant," said the Captain, "and bring forward Goffe
and the other fellows; there will be ropes reeved for some of them, I
think." And this prediction promised to be amply fulfilled, so strong
was the proof which was brought against them.
The Halcyon was accordingly ordered round to carry the whole prisoners
to London, for which she set sail in the course of two days.
During the time that the unfortunate Cleveland remained at Kirkwall, he
was treated with civility by the Captain of the Halcyon; and the
kindness of his old acquaintance, Magnus Troil, who knew in secret how
closely he was allied to his blood, pressed on him accommodations of
every kind, more than he could be prevailed on to accept.
Norna, whose interest in the unhappy prisoner was still more deep, was
at this time unable to express it. The sexton had found her lying on the
pavement in a swoon, and when she recovered, her mind for the time had
totally lost its equipoise, and it became necessary to place her under
the restraint of watchful attendants.
Of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, Cleveland only heard that they remained
ill, in consequence of the fright to which they had been subjected,
until the evening before the Halcyon sailed, when he received, by a
private conveyance, the following billet:
--"Farewell, Cleveland--we part for ever, and it is right that we
should--Be virtuous and be happy. The delusions which a solitary
education and limited acquaintance with the modern world had
spread around me, are gone and dissipated for ever. But in you, I
am sure, I have been thus far free from error--that you are one to
whom good is naturally more attractive than evil, and whom only
necessity, example, and habit, have forced into your late course
of life. Think of me as one who no longer exists, unless you
should become as much the object of general praise, as now of
general reproach; and then think of me as one who will rejoice in
your reviving fame, though she must never see you more!"--
The note was signed M. T.; and Cleveland, with a deep emotion, which he
testified even by tears, read it an hundred times over, and then
clasped it to his bosom.
Mordaunt Mertoun heard by letter from his father, but in a very
different style. Basil bade him farewell for ever, and acquitted him
henceforward of the duties of a son, as one on whom he, notwithstanding
the exertions of many years, had found himself unable to bestow the
affections of a parent. The letter informed him of a recess in the old
house of Jarlshof, in which the writer had deposited a considerable
quantity of specie and of treasure, which he desired Mordaunt to use as
his own. "You need not fear," the letter bore, "either that you lay
yourself under obligation to me, or that you are sharing the spoils of
piracy. What is now given over to you, is almost entirely the property
of your deceased mother, Louisa Gonzago, and is yours by every right.
Let us forgive each other," was the conclusion, "as they who must meet
no more."--And they never met more; for the elder Mertoun, against whom
no charge was ever preferred, disappeared after the fate of Cleveland
was determined, and was generally believed to have retired into a
foreign convent.
The fate of Cleveland will be most briefly expressed in a letter which
Minna received within two months after the Halcyon left Kirkwall. The
family were then assembled at Burgh-Westra, and Mordaunt was a member of
it for the time, the good Udaller thinking he could never sufficiently
repay the activity which he had shown in the defence of his daughters.
Norna, then beginning to recover from her temporary alienation of mind,
was a guest in the family, and Minna, who was sedulous in her attention
upon this unfortunate victim of mental delusion, was seated with her,
watching each symptom of returning reason, when the letter we allude to
was placed in her hands.
"Minna," it said--"dearest Minna!--farewell, and for ever! Believe
me, I never meant you wrong--never. From the moment I came to know
you, I resolved to detach myself from my hateful comrades, and had
framed a thousand schemes, which have proved as vain as they
deserved to be--for why, or how, should the fate of her that is so
lovely, pure, and innocent, be involved with that of one so
guilty?--Of these dreams I will speak no more. The stern reality
of my situation is much milder than I either expected or deserved;
and the little good I did has outweighed, in the minds of
honourable and merciful judges, much that was evil and criminal. I
have not only been exempted from the ignominious death to which
several of my compeers are sentenced; but Captain Weatherport,
about once more to sail for the Spanish Main, under the
apprehension of an immediate war with that country, has generously
solicited and obtained permission to employ me, and two or three
more of my less guilty associates, in the same service--a measure
recommended to himself by his own generous compassion, and to
others by our knowledge of the coast, and of local circumstances,
which, by whatever means acquired, we now hope to use for the
service of our country. Minna, you will hear my name pronounced
with honour, or you will never hear it again. If virtue can give
happiness, I need not wish it to you, for it is yours
already.--Farewell, Minna."
Minna wept so bitterly over this letter, that it attracted the attention
of the convalescent Norna. She snatched it from the hand of her
kinswoman, and read it over at first with the confused air of one to
whom it conveyed no intelligence--then with a dawn of recollection--then
with a burst of mingled joy and grief, in which she dropped it from her
hand. Minna snatched it up, and retired with her treasure to her own
apartment.
From that time Norna appeared to assume a different character. Her dress
was changed to one of a more simple and less imposing appearance. Her
dwarf was dismissed, with ample provision for his future comfort. She
showed no desire of resuming her erratic life; and directed her
observatory, as it might be called, on Fitful-head, to be dismantled.
She refused the name of Norna, and would only be addressed by her real
appellation of Ulla Troil. But the most important change remained
behind. Formerly, from the dreadful dictates of spiritual despair,
arising out of the circumstances of her father's death, she seemed to
have considered herself as an outcast from divine grace; besides, that,
enveloped in the vain occult sciences which she pretended to practise,
her study, like that of Chaucer's physician, had been "but little in the
Bible." Now, the sacred volume was seldom laid aside; and, to the poor
ignorant people who came as formerly to invoke her power over the
elements, she only replied--"_The winds are in the hollow of His
hand._"--Her conversion was not, perhaps, altogether rational; for this,
the state of a mind disordered by such a complication of horrid
incidents, probably prevented. But it seemed to be sincere, and was
certainly useful. She appeared deeply to repent of her former
presumptuous attempts to interfere with the course of human events,
superintended as they are by far higher powers, and expressed bitter
compunction when such her former pretensions were in any manner
recalled to her memory. She still showed a partiality to Mordaunt,
though, perhaps, arising chiefly from habit; nor was it easy to know how
much or how little she remembered of the complicated events in which she
had been connected. When she died, which was about four years after the
events we have commemorated, it was found that, at the special and
earnest request of Minna Troil, she had conveyed her very considerable
property to Brenda. A clause in her will specially directed, that all
the books, implements of her laboratory, and other things connected with
her former studies, should be committed to the flames.
About two years before Norna's death, Brenda was wedded to Mordaunt
Mertoun. It was some time before old Magnus Troil, with all his
affection for his daughter, and all his partiality for Mordaunt, was
able frankly to reconcile himself to this match. But Mordaunt's
accomplishments were peculiarly to the Udaller's taste, and the old man
felt the impossibility of supplying his place in his family so
absolutely, that at length his Norse blood gave way to the natural
feeling of the heart, and he comforted his pride while he looked around
him, and saw what he considered as the encroachments of the Scottish
gentry upon THE COUNTRY, (so Zetland is fondly termed by its
inhabitants,) that as well "his daughter married the son of an English
pirate, as of a Scottish thief," in scornful allusion to the Highland
and Border families, to whom Zetland owes many respectable landholders;
but whose ancestors were generally esteemed more renowned for ancient
family and high courage, than for accurately regarding the trifling
distinctions of _meum_ and _tuum_. The jovial old man lived to the
extremity of human life, with the happy prospect of a numerous
succession in the family of his younger daughter; and having his board
cheered alternately by the minstrelsy of Claud Halcro, and enlightened
by the lucubrations of Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who, laying aside his
high pretensions, was, when he became better acquainted with the manners
of the islanders, and remembered the various misadventures which had
attended his premature attempts at reformation, an honest and useful
representative of his principal, and never so happy as when he could
escape from the spare commons of his sister Barbara, to the genial table
of the Udaller. Barbara's temper also was much softened by the
unexpected restoration of the horn of silver coins, (the property of
Norna,) which she had concealed in the mansion of old Stourburgh, for
achieving some of her mysterious plans, but which she now restored to
those by whom it had been accidentally discovered, with an intimation,
however, that it would again disappear unless a reasonable portion was
expended on the sustenance of the family, a precaution to which Tronda
Dronsdaughter (probably an agent of Norna's) owed her escape from a slow
and wasting death by inanition.
Mordaunt and Brenda were as happy as our mortal condition permits us to
be. They admired and loved each other--enjoyed easy circumstances--had
duties to discharge which they did not neglect; and, clear in conscience
as light of heart, laughed, sung, danced, daffed the world aside, and
bid it pass.
But Minna--the high-minded and imaginative Minna--she, gifted with such
depth of feeling and enthusiasm, yet doomed to see both blighted in
early youth, because, with the inexperience of a disposition equally
romantic and ignorant, she had built the fabric of her happiness on a
quicksand instead of a rock,--was she, could she be happy? Reader, she
_was_ happy, for, whatever may be alleged to the contrary by the sceptic
and the scorner, to each duty performed there is assigned a degree of
mental peace and high consciousness of honourable exertion,
corresponding to the difficulty of the task accomplished. That rest of
the body which succeeds to hard and industrious toil, is not to be
compared to the repose which the spirit enjoys under similar
circumstances. Her resignation, however, and the constant attention
which she paid to her father, her sister, the afflicted Norna, and to
all who had claims on her, were neither Minna's sole nor her most
precious source of comfort. Like Norna, but under a more regulated
judgment, she learned to exchange the visions of wild enthusiasm which
had exerted and misled her imagination, for a truer and purer connexion
with the world beyond us, than could be learned from the sagas of
heathen bards, or the visions of later rhymers. To this she owed the
support by which she was enabled, after various accounts of the
honourable and gallant conduct of Cleveland, to read with resignation,
and even with a sense of comfort, mingled with sorrow, that he had at
length fallen, leading the way in a gallant and honourable enterprise,
which was successfully accomplished by those companions, to whom his
determined bravery had opened the road. Bunce, his fantastic follower in
good, as formerly in evil, transmitted an account to Minna of this
melancholy event, in terms which showed, that though his head was weak,
his heart had not been utterly corrupted by the lawless life which he
had for some time led, or at least that it had been amended by the
change; and that he himself had gained credit and promotion in the same
action, seemed to be of little consequence to him, compared with the
loss of his old captain and comrade.[41] Minna read the intelligence,
and thanked Heaven, even while the eyes which she lifted up were
streaming with tears, that the death of Cleveland had been in the bed of
honour; nay, she even had the courage to add her gratitude, that he had
been snatched from a situation of temptation ere circumstances had
overcome his new-born virtue; and so strongly did this reflection
operate, that her life, after the immediate pain of this event had
passed away, seemed not only as resigned, but even more cheerful than
before. Her thoughts, however, were detached from the world, and only
visited it, with an interest like that which guardian spirits take for
their charge, in behalf of those friends with whom she lived in love, or
of the poor whom she could serve and comfort. Thus passed her life,
enjoying from all who approached her, an affection enhanced by
reverence; insomuch, that when her friends sorrowed for her death, which
arrived at a late period of her existence, they were comforted by the
fond reflection, that the humanity which she then laid down, was the
only circumstance which had placed her, in the words of Scripture, "a
little lower than the angels!"
FOOTNOTES:
[41] We have been able to learn nothing with certainty of Bunce's fate;
but our friend, Dr Dryasdust, believes he may be identified with an old
gentleman, who, in the beginning of the reign of George I., attended the
Rose Coffee-house regularly, went to the theatre every night, told
mercilessly long stories about the Spanish Main, controlled reckonings,
bullied waiters, and was generally known by the name of Captain Bounce.
AUTHOR'S NOTES.
Note I., p. 17.--FORTUNE-TELLING RHYMES.
The author has in Chapter I. supposed that a very ancient northern
custom, used by those who were accounted soothsaying women, might have
survived, though in jest rather than earnest, among the Zetlanders,
their descendants. The following original account of such a scene will
show the ancient importance and consequence of such a prophetic
character as was assumed by Norna:--
"There lived in the same territory (Greenland) a woman named Thorbiorga,
who was a prophetess, and called the little Vola, (or fatal sister,) the
only one of nine sisters who survived. Thorbiorga during the winter used
to frequent the festivities of the season, invited by those who were
desirous of learning their own fortune, and the future events which
impended. Torquil being a man of consequence in the country, it fell to
his lot to enquire how long the dearth was to endure with which the
country was then afflicted; he therefore invited the prophetess to his
house, having made liberal preparation, as was the custom, for receiving
a guest of such consequence. The seat of the soothsayer was placed in an
eminent situation, and covered with pillows filled with the softest
eider down. In the evening she arrived, together with a person who had
been sent to meet her, and show her the way to Torquil's habitation. She
was attired as follows: She had a sky-blue tunick, having the front
ornamented with gems from the top to the bottom, and wore around her
throat a necklace of glass beads.[42] Her head-gear was of black
lambskin, the lining being the fur of a white wild-cat. She leant on a
staff, having a ball at the top.[43] The staff was ornamented with
brass, and the ball or globe with gems or pebbles. She wore a Hunland
(or Hungarian) girdle, to which was attached a large pouch, in which she
kept her magical implements. Her shoes were of sealskin, dressed with
the hair outside, and secured by long and thick straps, fastened by
brazen clasps. She wore gloves of the wild-cat's skin, with the fur
inmost. As this venerable person entered the hall, all saluted her with
due respect; but she only returned the compliments of such as were
agreeable to her. Torquil conducted her with reverence to the seat
prepared for her, and requested she would purify the apartment and
company assembled, by casting her eyes over them. She was by no means
sparing of her words. The table being at length covered, such viands
were placed before Thorbiorga as suited her character of a soothsayer.
These were, a preparation of goat's milk, and a mess composed of the
hearts of various animals; the prophetess made use of a brazen spoon,
and a pointless knife, the handle of which was composed of a whale's
tooth, and ornamented with two rings of brass. The table being removed,
Torquil addressed Thorbiorga, requesting her opinion of his house and
guests, at the same time intimating the subjects on which he and the
company were desirous to consult her.
"Thorbiorga replied, it was impossible for her to answer their enquiries
until she had slept a night under his roof. The next morning, therefore,
the magical apparatus necessary for her purpose was prepared, and she
then enquired, as a necessary part of the ceremony, whether there was
any female present who could sing a magical song called '_Vardlokur_.'
When no songstress such as she desired could be found, Gudrida, the
daughter of Torquil, replied, 'I am no sorceress or soothsayer; but my
nurse, Haldisa, taught me, when in Iceland, a song called
_Vardlokur_.'--'Then thou knowest more than I was aware of,' said
Torquil. 'But as I am a Christian,' continued Gudrida, 'I consider these
rites as matters which it is unlawful to promote, and the song itself as
unlawful.'--'Nevertheless,' answered the soothsayer, 'thou mayst help us
in this matter without any harm to thy religion, since the task will
remain with Torquil to provide every thing necessary for the present
purpose.' Torquil also earnestly entreated Gudrida, till she consented
to grant his request. The females then surrounded Thorbiorga, who took
her place on a sort of elevated stage; Gudrida then sung the magic song,
with a voice so sweet and tuneful, as to excel any thing that had been
heard by any present. The soothsayer, delighted with the melody,
returned thanks to the singer, and then said, 'Much I have now learned
of dearth and disease approaching the country, and many things are now
clear to me which before were hidden as well from me as others. Our
present dearth of substance shall not long endure for the present, and
plenty will in the spring succeed to scarcity. The contagious diseases
also, with which the country has been for some time afflicted, will in a
short time take their departure. To thee, Gudrida, I can, in recompense
for thy assistance on this occasion, announce a fortune of higher import
than any one could have conjectured. You shall be married to a man of
name here in Greenland; but you shall not long enjoy that union, for
your fate recalls you to Iceland, where you shall become the mother of a
numerous and honourable family, which shall be enlightened by a luminous
ray of good fortune. So, my daughter, wishing thee health, I bid thee
farewell.' The prophetess, having afterwards given answers to all
queries which were put to her, either by Torquil or his guests, departed
to show her skill at another festival, to which she had been invited for
that purpose. But all which she had presaged, either concerning the
public or individuals, came truly to pass."
The above narrative is taken from the Saga of Erick Randa, as quoted by
the learned Bartholine in his curious work. He mentions similar
instances, particularly of one Heida, celebrated for her predictions,
who attended festivals for the purpose, as a modern Scotsman might say,
of _spaeing_ fortunes, with a gallant _tail_, or retinue, of thirty male
and fifteen female attendants.--See _De Causis Contemptæ a Danis adhuc
gentilibus Mortis, lib. III., cap. 4_.
Note II., p. 32.--PROMISE OF ODIN.
Although the Father of Scandinavian mythology has been as a deity long
forgotten in the archipelago, which was once a very small part of his
realm, yet even at this day his name continues to be occasionally
attested as security for a promise.
It is curious to observe, that the rites with which such attestations
are still made in Orkney, correspond to those of the ancient Northmen.
It appears from several authorities, that in the Norse ritual, when an
oath was imposed, he by whom it was pledged, passed his hand, while
pronouncing it, through a massive ring of silver kept for that
purpose.[44] In like manner, two persons, generally lovers, desirous to
take the promise of Odin, which they considered as peculiarly binding,
joined hands through a circular hole in a sacrificial stone, which lies
in the Orcadian Stonehenge, called the Circle of Stennis, of which we
shall speak more hereafter. The ceremony is now confined to the
troth-plighting of the lower classes, but at an earlier period may be
supposed to have influenced a character like Minna in the higher ranks.
Note III., p. 101.--THE PICTISH BURGH.
The Pictish Burgh, a fort which Nora is supposed to have converted into
her dwelling-house, has been fully described in the Notes upon Ivanhoe,
vol. xvii. p. 352, of this edition. An account of the celebrated Castle
of Mousa is there given, to afford an opportunity of comparing it with
the Saxon Castle of Coningsburgh. It should, however, have been
mentioned, that the Castle of Mousa underwent considerable repairs at a
comparatively recent period. Accordingly, Torfæus assures us, that even
this ancient pigeon-house, composed of dry stones, was fortification
enough, not indeed to hold out a ten years' siege, like Troy in similar
circumstances, but to wear out the patience of the besiegers. Erland,
the son of Harold the Fair-spoken, had carried off a beautiful woman,
the mother of a Norwegian earl, also called Harold, and sheltered
himself with his fair prize in the Castle of Mousa. Earl Harold followed
with an army, and, finding the place too strong for assault, endeavoured
to reduce it by famine; but such was the length of the siege, that the
offended Earl found it necessary to listen to a treaty of accommodation,
and agreed that his mother's honour should be restored by marriage. This
transaction took place in the beginning of the thirteenth century, in
the reign of William the Lion of Scotland.[45] It is probable that the
improvements adopted by Erland on this occasion, were those which
finished the parapet of the castle, by making it project outwards, so
that the tower of Mousa rather resembles the figure of a dice-box,
whereas others of the same kind have the form of a truncated cone. It is
easy to see how the projection of the highest parapet would render the
defence more easy and effectual.
Note IV., p. 143.--ANTIQUE COINS FOUND IN ZETLAND.
While these sheets were passing through the press, I received a letter
from an honourable and learned friend, containing the following passage,
relating to a discovery in Zetland:--"Within a few weeks, the workmen
taking up the foundation of an old wall, came on a hearth-stone, under
which they found a horn, surrounded with massive silver rings, like
bracelets, and filled with coins of the Heptarchy, in perfect
preservation. The place of finding is within a very short distance of
the [supposed] residence of Norna of the Fitful-head."--Thus one of the
very improbable fictions of the tale is verified by a singular
coincidence.
Note V., p. 197.--CHARACTER OF NORNA.
The character of Norna is meant to be an instance of that singular kind
of insanity, during which the patient, while she or he retains much
subtlety and address for the power of imposing upon others, is still
more ingenious in endeavouring to impose upon themselves. Indeed,
maniacs of this kind may be often observed to possess a sort of double
character, in one of which they are the being whom their distempered
imagination shapes out, and in the other, their own natural self, as
seen to exist by other people. This species of double consciousness
makes wild work with the patient's imagination, and, judiciously used,
is perhaps a frequent means of restoring sanity of intellect. Exterior
circumstances striking the senses, often have a powerful effect in
undermining or battering the airy castles which the disorder has
excited.
A late medical gentleman, my particular friend, told me the case of a
lunatic patient confined in the Edinburgh Infirmary. He was so far happy
that his mental alienation was of a gay and pleasant character, giving a
kind of joyous explanation to all that came in contact with him. He
considered the large house, numerous servants, &c., of the hospital, as
all matters of state and consequence belonging to his own personal
establishment, and had no doubt of his own wealth and grandeur. One
thing alone puzzled this man of wealth. Although he was provided with a
first-rate cook and proper assistants, although his table was regularly
supplied with every delicacy of the season, yet he confessed to my
friend, that by some uncommon depravity of the palate, every thing which
he ate _tasted of porridge_. This peculiarity, of course, arose from the
poor man being fed upon nothing else, and because his stomach was not so
easily deceived as his other senses.
Note VI., p. 199.--BIRDS OF PREY.
So favourable a retreat does the island of Hoy afford for birds of prey,
that instances of their ravages, which seldom occur in other parts of
the country, are not unusual there. An individual was living in Orkney
not long since, whom, while a child in its swaddling clothes, an eagle
actually transported to its nest in the hill of Hoy. Happily the eyry
being known, and the bird instantly pursued, the child was found
uninjured, playing with the young eagles. A story of a more ludicrous
transportation was told me by the reverend clergyman who is minister of
the island. Hearing one day a strange grunting, he suspected his
servants had permitted a sow and pigs, which were tenants of his
farm-yard, to get among his barley crop. Having in vain looked for the
transgressors upon solid earth, he at length cast his eyes upward, when
he discovered one of the litter in the talons of a large eagle, which
was soaring away with the unfortunate pig (squeaking all the while with
terror) towards her nest in the crest of Hoy.
Note VII., p. 280.--THE STANDING STONES OF STENNIS.
The Standing Stones of Stennis, as by a little pleonasm this remarkable
monument is termed, furnishes an irresistible refutation of the opinion
of such antiquaries as hold that the circles usually called Druidical,
were peculiar to that race of priests. There is every reason to believe,
that the custom was as prevalent in Scandinavia as in Gaul or Britain,
and as common to the mythology of Odin as to Druidical superstition.
There is even reason to think, that the Druids never occupied any part
of the Orkneys, and tradition, as well as history, ascribes the Stones
of Stennis to the Scandinavians. Two large sheets of water,
communicating with the sea, are connected by a causeway, with openings
permitting the tide to rise and recede, which is called the Bridge of
Broisgar. Upon the eastern tongue of land appear the Standing Stones,
arranged in the form of a half circle, or rather a horse-shoe, the
height of the pillars being fifteen feet and upwards. Within this circle
lies a stone, probably sacrificial. One of the pillars, a little to the
westward, is perforated with a circular hole, through which loving
couples are wont to join hands when they take the _Promise of Odin_, as
has been repeatedly mentioned in the text. The enclosure is surrounded
by barrows, and on the opposite isthmus, advancing towards the Bridge of
Broisgar, there is another monument, of Standing Stones, which, in this
case, is completely circular. They are less in size than those on the
eastern side of the lake, their height running only from ten or twelve
to fourteen feet. This western circle is surrounded by a deep trench
drawn on the outside of the pillars; and I remarked four tumuli, or
mounds of earth, regularly disposed around it. Stonehenge excels this
Orcadian monument; but that of Stennis is, I conceive, the only one in
Britain which can be said to approach it in consequence. All the
northern nations marked by those huge enclosures the places of popular
meeting, either for religious worship or the transaction of public
business of a temporal nature. The _Northern Popular Antiquities_
contain, in an abstract of the Eyrbiggia Saga, a particular account of
the manner in which the Helga Fels, or Holy Rock, was set apart by the
Pontiff Thorolf for solemn occasions.
I need only add, that, different from the monument on Salisbury Plain,
the stones which were used in the Orcadian circle seem to have been
raised from a quarry upon the spot, of which the marks are visible.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] We may suppose the beads to have been of the potent adderstone, to
which so many virtues were ascribed.
[43] Like those anciently borne by porters at the gates of distinguished
persons, as a badge of office.
[44] See the Eyrbiggia Saga.
[45] See Torfæi Orcadus, p. 131.
EDITOR'S NOTES.
(_a_) p. 17. Norna's soothsaying. The passage quoted by Scott from the
Saga of Eric the Red may be read in its context in "Vinland the Good,"
edited by Mr. Reeves, and published by the Clarendon Press. Eric was the
discoverer of Greenland, and father of Leif the Lucky, who found Vinland
(New England, or Nova Scotia?) about the year 1002. Leif has a statue in
Boston, Massachusetts.
(_b_) p. 35. Islands "supposed to be haunted." In De Quincey's
autobiographical essay his sailor brother, Pink, describes the terrors
of those isles. One of them, the noise of a Midnight Axe, is also found
in Ceylon, in Mexico, and elsewhere. The Editor may be permitted to
refer to the legends collected in his "Custom and Myth."
(_c_) p. 47. Cleveland's song. Lockhart says that Scott, in his later
years, heard this song sung, and said, "'Capital words! Whose are they?
Byron's, I suppose, but I don't remember them.' He was astonished when I
told him that they were his own in 'The Pirate.' He seemed pleased at
the moment, but said next minute, 'You have distressed me--if memory
goes all is up with me, for that was always my strong point.'" This was
in 1828. Mrs. Arkwright was the daughter of Stephen Kemble. She set
"Hohenlinden."
(_d_) p. 86. "Auld Robin Gray." In the Abbotsford MSS. is a long
correspondence between Lady Ann Lindsay and Scott. She had known him as
a child. There was a project of editing all her poems, but perhaps her
own modesty, perhaps the quality of the work, caused this to be dropped,
and Scott only edited the ballad, with a letter of the lady's. This
small quarto sells for some £5 when it comes into the market. It has a
frontispiece by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, and is apparently the only
book of Scott's which is valued as a rarity by bibliomaniacs.
(_e_) p. 255. "John was a Jacobite." In the library of a country house in
the south of England is a copy of Dryden's Miscellany Poems, with a
laudatory autograph envoy to Judge Jeffreys, a sufficiently
thoroughgoing King's man.
ANDREW LANG.
_August 1893._
GLOSSARY.
A', all.
Aboon, above.
Ae, one.
Ain, own.
Aits, oats.
Anes, once.
A'thegither, altogether.
Aught, owned.
Auld, old.
Awa, away.
Bailie, a magistrate.
Baittle, denoting that sort of pasture where the grass is short,
close, and rich.
Bang, a blow.
Bear, a kind of barley.
Bee--"to have a bee in one's bonnet," to be harebrained.
Bern, bairn, a child.
Bicker, a wooden dish.
Bide, to await, to endure.
Biggin, a building.
Bilboes, irons.
Bismar, a small steelyard.
Bland, a drink made from butter-milk.
Blithe, glad.
Blude, blood.
Bodle, a small coin equal to one sixth of a penny sterling.
Bole, a small aperture.
Bonny-die, a toy, a trinket.
Boobie, a dunce.
Bowie, a wooden dish for milk.
Brae, a hill.
Braw, fine, pretty.
Buckie, a whilk.
Bumming, making a humming noise.
Ca', to call.
Canny, good, worthy; safe.
Cannily, gently.
Capa, a Spanish mantle.
Caper, a Dutch privateer of the seventeenth century.
Carle, a churl; also, a farm servant.
Carline, a witch.
Cart-avers, cart-horses.
Chapman, a small merchant or pedlar.
"Clashes and clavers," scandal and nonsense.
Clink, to drop.
Cowp, to upset.
Craig, the neck; also, a rock.
Cummer, a gossip.
Daft, crazy.
"Deaf nuts," nuts whose kernels are decayed.
Deil, the devil.
Dibble, to plant.
Dinna, do not.
"Dinna, downa, bide," cannot bear.
Divot, thin turf used for roofing cottages.
Douce, sedate, modest.
Dowie, dark, melancholy.
"Dowse the glim," put out the light.
Dree, to endure.
Duds, clothes.
Dulse, a species of sea-weed.
Dune, done.
Dung, knocked.
Dunt, to knock.
Een, eyes.
Eneugh, enough.
Eviting, avoiding.
Fash, fashery, trouble.
Fear'd, afraid.
Feck, the greatest part.
Ferly, wonderful.
"Fey folk," fated or unfortunate folk.
"Floatsome and jetsome," articles floated or cast away on the sea.
Forby, besides.
Forgie, to forgive.
Fowd, the chief judge or magistrate.
Frae, from.
Fule, a fool.
"Funking and flinging," the act of dancing.
Gae, go.
Galdragon, a sorceress.
Gane, gone.
Gate, way, direction.
Gar, to oblige, to force.
Gear, property.
Ghaist, a ghost.
Gob-box, the mouth.
Gowd, gold.
Gowk, a fool.
Gude, God, good.
Gue, a two-stringed violin.
Guide, to take care of.
Haaf, deep-sea fishing.
Hae, have.
Haena, have not.
Haill, whole.
Hank, to fasten.
Hellicat, lightheaded, extravagant, wicked.
Hialtland, the old name for Shetland.
Hirple, to halt, to limp.
Howf, a haunt, a haven.
Hurley-house, a term applied to a large house that is so much in
disrepair as to be nearly in a ruinous state.
"Infang and outfang thief," the right of trying thieves.
Jagger, a pedlar.
Jarto, my dear.
Jokul, yes, sir.
Joul, Yule.
Kailyard, a cabbage garden.
Kempies, Norse champions.
Ken, to know.
Kend, well-known.
Kenna, know not.
Kist, a chest.
Kittle, difficult, ticklish.
Lampits, limpets.
Landlouper, a vagabond.
Lave, the rest.
Leddy, a lady.
Lispund, the fifteenth part of a barrel, a weight in Orkney and
Shetland.
List, to wish, to choose.
Lowe, a flame.
Lug, the ear.
Main, to moan.
Mair, more.
Malapert, impertinent.
Mallard, the wild-duck.
Marooned, abandoned on a desert island.
Masking-fat, a mashing vat.
Maun, must.
Mearns, Kincardineshire.
Meed, reward.
Menseful, modest, discreet.
Merk, an ancient Scottish silver coin = 13-1/3_d._
Mickle, much, big.
Mind, to remember.
Mony, many.
Muckle, much, big.
Na, nae, no, not.
Neist, next.
Nixie, a water-fairy.
Ony, any.
Orra, odd.
Ower, over.
Owerlay, a cravat.
Peery, sharp-looking, disposed to examine narrowly.
Pixie, a fairy.
Pleugh, a plough.
Puir, poor.
Pye-holes, eye-holes.
Ranzelman, a constable.
Rape, a rope.
Reimkennar, one who knows mystic rhyme.
"Roose the ford," judge of the ford.
Sae, so.
Sain, to bless.
Sair, sore.
Saunt, a saint.
Scald, a bard or minstrel.
Scat, a land-tax paid to the Crown.
"Sclate stane," slate stone.
Scowries, young sea-gulls.
Sealgh, sealchie, a seal.
Shogh! (Gaelic), there!
Sic, siccan, such.
Siller, money.
Sillocks, the fry of the coal-fish.
Skelping, galloping.
Skeoe, a stone hut for drying fish.
Skeps, straw hives.
Skerry, a flat insulated rock.
Skirl, to scream.
Slade, slid.
Sombrero, a large straw hat worn by Spaniards.
Sorner, one who lives upon his friends.
Spae-women, fortune-tellers.
Spaed, foretold.
Speer, to ask, to inquire.
Speerings, inquiries.
Spring, a dance tune.
Stack, an insulated precipitous rock.
Staig, a young horse.
Suld, should.
Swatter, to swim quickly and awkwardly.
Swap, to exchange.
Swelchies, whirlpools.
Syne, since, ago.
Taen, taken.
"Taits of woo'," locks of wool.
Tauld, told.
Thae, these, those.
Thairm, catgut.
Tint, lost.
Trow or Drow, a spirit or elf believed in by the Norse.
Ugsome, frightful.
Umquhile, the late.
Unco, very, strange, great, particularly.
"Unco wark," a great ado.
Vifda, beef dried without salt.
Vivers, victuals.
Voe, an inlet of the sea.
Wa', a wall.
Wad, would.
Wadmaal, homespun woollen cloth.
Waft, the woof in a web.
Warlock, a wizard.
Wasna, was not.
Wat, wet.
Wattle, an assessment for the salary of the magistrate.
Wawl, to look wildly.
Waws, waves.
Weal, well.
Wearifu', causing pain or trouble.
Weird, fate, destiny.
Wha, who.
"What for," why.
Whilk, which.
Whomled, turned over.
Wi', with.
Wittols, cuckolds.
"Win by," to escape.
Wot, to know.
Wrang, wrong.
Yarfa, yarpha, peat full of fibres and roots; land.
Yelloched, screeched or yelled.