As if to evince the rigour of her disposition, Lady Margaret, on this solemn occasion, exchanged the ivory-headed cane with which she commonly walked, for an immense gold-headed staff which had belonged to her father, the deceased Earl of Torwood, and which, like a sort of mace of office, she only made use of on occasions of special solemnity. Supported by this awful baton of command, Lady Margaret Bellenden entered the cottage of the delinquents.
There was an air of consciousness about old Mause, as she rose from her wicker chair in the chimney-nook, not with the cordial alertness of visage which used, on other occasions, to express the honour she felt in the visit of her lady, but with a certain solemnity and embarrassment, like an accused party on his first appearance in presence of his judge, before whom he is, nevertheless, determined to assert his innocence. Her arms were folded, her mouth primmed into an expression of respect, mingled with obstinacy, her whole mind apparently bent up to the solemn interview. With her best curtsey to the ground, and a mute motion of reverence, Mause pointed to the chair, which, on former occasions, Lady Margaret (for the good lady was somewhat of a gossip) had deigned to occupy for half an hour sometimes at a time, hearing the news of the county and of the borough. But at present her mistress was far too indignant for such condescension. She rejected the mute invitation with a haughty wave of her hand, and drawing herself up as she spoke, she uttered the following interrogatory in a tone calculated to overwhelm the culprit.
Is it true, Mause, as I am informed by Harrison, Gudyill, and others of my people, that you hae taen it upon you, contrary to the faith you owe to God and the king, and to me, your natural lady and mistress, to keep back your son frae the wappen-schaw, held by the order of the sheriff, and to return his armour and abulyiements at a moment when it was impossible to find a suitable delegate in his stead, whereby the barony of Tullietudlem, baith in the person of its mistress and indwellers, has incurred sic a disgrace and dishonour as hasna befaen the family since the days of Malcolm Canmore?
Mauses habitual respect for her mistress was extreme; she hesitated, and one or two short coughs expressed the difficulty she had in defending herself.
I am suremy leddyhem, hem!I am sure I am sorryvery sorry that ony cause of displeasure should hae occurredbut my sons illness Dinna tell me of your sons illness, Mause! Had he been sincerely unweel, ye would hae been at the Tower by daylight to get something that wad do him gude; there are few ailments that I havena medical recipes for, and that ye ken fu weel.
O ay, my leddy! I am sure ye hae wrought wonderful cures; the last thing ye sent Cuddie, when he had the batts, een wrought like a charm.
Why, then, woman, did ye not apply to me, if there was only real need?but there was none, ye fause-hearted vassal that ye are!
Your leddyship never cad me sic a word as that before. Ohon! that I suld live to be cad sae, she continued, bursting into tears, and me a born servant o the house o Tillietudlem! I am sure they belie baith Cuddie and me sair, if they said he wadna fight ower the boots in blude for your leddyship and Miss Edith, and the auld Toweray suld he, and I would rather see him buried beneath it, than he suld gie waybut thir ridings and wappenschawings, my leddy, I hae nae broo o them ava. I can find nae warrant for them whatsoever.
Nae warrant for them? cried the high-born dame. Do ye na ken, woman, that ye are bound to be liege vassals in all hunting, hosting, watching, and warding, when lawfully summoned thereto in my name? Your service is not gratuitous. I trow ye hae land for it.Yere kindly tenants; hae a cot-house, a kale-yard, and a cows grass on the common.Few hae been brought farther ben, and ye grudge your son suld gie me a days service in the field?
Na, my leddyna, my leddy, its no that, exclaimed Mause, greatly embarrassed, but ane canna serve twa maisters; and, if the truth maun een come out, theres Ane abune whase commands I maun obey before your leddyships. I am sure I would put neither kings nor kaisars, nor ony earthly creatures, afore them.
How mean ye by that, ye auld fule woman?Dye think that I order ony thing against conscience?
I dinna pretend to say that, my leddy, in regard o your leddyships conscience, which has been brought up, as it were, wi prelatic principles; but ilka ane maun walk by the light o their ain; and mine, said Mause, waxing bolder as the conference became animated, tells me that I suld leave acot, kale-yard, and cows grassand suffer a, rather than that I or mine should put on harness in an unlawfu cause,
Unlawfu! exclaimed her mistress; the cause to which you are called by your lawful leddy and mistressby the command of the kingby the writ of the privy councilby the order of the lordlieutenantby the warrant of the sheriff?
Ay, my leddy, nae doubt; but no to displeasure your leddyship, yell mind that there was ance a king in Scripture they cad Nebuchadnezzar, and he set up a golden image in the plain o Dura, as it might be in the haugh yonder by the water-side, where the array were warned to meet yesterday; and the princes, and the governors, and the captains, and the judges themsells, forby the treasurers, the counsellors, and the sheriffs, were warned to the dedication thereof, and commanded to fall down and worship at the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music.
And what o a this, ye fule wife? Or what had Nebuchadnezzar to do with the wappen-schaw of the Upper Ward of Clydesdale?
Only just thus far, my leddy, continued Mause, firmly, that prelacy is like the great golden image in the plain of Dura, and that as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were borne out in refusing to bow down and worship, so neither shall Cuddy Headrigg, your leddyships poor pleughman, at least wi his auld mithers consent, make murgeons or Jenny-flections, as they ca them, in the house of the prelates and curates, nor gird him wi armour to fight in their cause, either at the sound of kettle-drums, organs, bagpipes, or ony other kind of music whatever.
Lady Margaret Bellenden heard this exposition of Scripture with the greatest possible indignation, as well as surprise.
I see which way the wind blaws, she exclaimed, after a pause of astonishment; the evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi doctors o divinity and the godly fathers o the church.
If your leddyship means the bishops and curates, Im sure they hae been but stepfathers to the Kirk o Scotland. And, since your leddyship is pleased to speak o parting wi us, I am free to tell you a piece o my mind in another article. Your leddyship and the steward hae been pleased to propose that my son Cuddie suld work in the barn wi a new-fangled machine [Note: Probably something similar to the barn-fanners now used for winnowing corn, which were not, however, used in their present shape until about 1730. They were objected to by the more rigid sectaries on their first introduction, upon such reasoning as that of honest Mause in the text.] for dighting the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will of Divine Providence, by raising wind for your leddyships ain particular use by human art, instead of soliciting it by prayer, or waiting patiently for whatever dispensation of wind Providence was pleased to send upon the sheeling-hill. Now, my leddyThe woman would drive ony reasonable being daft! said Lady Margaret; then resuming her tone of authority and indifference, she concluded, Weel, Mause, Ill just end where I sud hae begunyere ower learned and ower godly for me to dispute wi; sae I have just this to say,either Cuddie must attend musters when hes lawfully warned by the ground officer, or the sooner he and you flit and quit my bounds the better; theres nae scarcity o auld wives or ploughmen; but, if there were, I had rather that the rigs of Tillietudlem bare naething but windle-straes and sandy lavrocks [Note: Bent-grass and sand-larks.] than that they were ploughed by rebels to the king.
Lady Margaret Bellenden heard this exposition of Scripture with the greatest possible indignation, as well as surprise.
I see which way the wind blaws, she exclaimed, after a pause of astonishment; the evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi doctors o divinity and the godly fathers o the church.
If your leddyship means the bishops and curates, Im sure they hae been but stepfathers to the Kirk o Scotland. And, since your leddyship is pleased to speak o parting wi us, I am free to tell you a piece o my mind in another article. Your leddyship and the steward hae been pleased to propose that my son Cuddie suld work in the barn wi a new-fangled machine [Note: Probably something similar to the barn-fanners now used for winnowing corn, which were not, however, used in their present shape until about 1730. They were objected to by the more rigid sectaries on their first introduction, upon such reasoning as that of honest Mause in the text.] for dighting the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will of Divine Providence, by raising wind for your leddyships ain particular use by human art, instead of soliciting it by prayer, or waiting patiently for whatever dispensation of wind Providence was pleased to send upon the sheeling-hill. Now, my leddyThe woman would drive ony reasonable being daft! said Lady Margaret; then resuming her tone of authority and indifference, she concluded, Weel, Mause, Ill just end where I sud hae begunyere ower learned and ower godly for me to dispute wi; sae I have just this to say,either Cuddie must attend musters when hes lawfully warned by the ground officer, or the sooner he and you flit and quit my bounds the better; theres nae scarcity o auld wives or ploughmen; but, if there were, I had rather that the rigs of Tillietudlem bare naething but windle-straes and sandy lavrocks [Note: Bent-grass and sand-larks.] than that they were ploughed by rebels to the king.
Aweel, my leddy, said Mause, I was born here, and thought to die where my father died; and your leddyship has been a kind mistress, Ill neer deny that, and Ise neer cease to pray for you, and for Miss Edith, and that ye may be brought to see the error of your ways. But stillThe error of my ways! interrupted Lady Margaret, much incensedThe error of my ways, ye uncivil woman?
Ou, ay, my leddy, we are blinded that live in this valley of tears and darkness, and hae a ower mony errors, grit folks as weel as smabut, as I said, my puir bennison will rest wi you and yours wherever I am. I will be wae to hear o your affliction, and blithe to hear o your prosperity, temporal and spiritual. But I canna prefer the commands of an earthly mistress to those of a heavenly master, and sae I am een ready to suffer for righteousness sake.
It is very well, said Lady Margaret, turning her back in great displeasure; ye ken my will, Mause, in the matter. Ill hae nae whiggery in the barony of Tillietudlemthe next thing wad be to set up a conventicle in my very withdrawing room.
Having said this, she departed, with an air of great dignity; and Mause, giving way to feelings which she had suppressed during the interview,for she, like her mistress, had her own feeling of pride,now lifted up her voice and wept aloud.
Cuddie, whose malady, real or pretended, still detained him in bed, lay perdu during all this conference, snugly ensconced within his boarded bedstead, and terrified to death lest Lady Margaret, whom he held in hereditary reverence, should have detected his presence, and bestowed on him personally some of those bitter reproaches with which she loaded his mother. But as soon as he thought her ladyship fairly out of hearing, he bounced up in his nest.
The foul fa ye, that I suld say sae, he cried out to his mother, for a lang-tongued clavering wife, as my father, honest man, aye cad ye! Couldna ye let the leddy alane wi your whiggery? And I was een as great a gomeral to let ye persuade me to lie up here amang the blankets like a hurcheon, instead o gaun to the wappen-schaw like other folk. Odd, but I put a trick on ye, for I was out at the window-bole when your auld back was turned, and awa down by to hae a baff at the popinjay, and I shot within twa ont. I cheated the leddy for your clavers, but I wasna gaun to cheat my joe. But she may marry whae she likes now, for Im clean dung ower. This is a waur dirdum than we got frae Mr Gudyill when ye garrd me refuse to eat the plum-porridge on Yule-eve, as if it were ony matter to God or man whether a pleughman had suppit on minched pies or sour sowens.
O, whisht, my bairn, whisht, replied Mause; thou kensna about thae thingsIt was forbidden meat, things dedicated to set days and holidays, which are inhibited to the use of protestant Christians.
And now, continued her son, ye hae brought the leddy hersell on our hands!An I could but hae gotten some decent claes in, I wad hae spanged out o bed, and tauld her I wad ride where she liked, night or day, an she wad but leave us the free house and the yaird, that grew the best early kale in the haill country, and the cows grass.
O wow! my winsome bairn, Cuddie, continued the old dame, murmur not at the dispensation; never grudge suffering in the gude cause.
But what ken I if the cause is gude or no, mither, rejoined Cuddie, for a ye bleeze out sae muckle doctrine about it? Its clean beyond my comprehension athegither. I see nae sae muckle difference atween the twa ways ot as a the folk pretend. Its very true the curates read aye the same words ower again; and if they be right words, what for no? A gude tales no the waur o being twice tauld, I trow; and a body has aye the better chance to understand it. Every bodys no sae gleg at the uptake as ye are yoursell, mither.
O, my dear Cuddie, this is the sairest distress of a, said the anxious motherO, how aften have I shown ye the difference between a pure evangelical doctrine, and ane thats corrupt wi human inventions? O, my bairn, if no for your ain sauls sake, yet for my grey hairsWeel, mither, said Cuddie, interrupting her, what need ye mak sae muckle din about it? I hae aye dune whateer ye bade me, and gaed to kirk whareer ye likit on the Sundays, and fended weel for ye in the ilka days besides. And thats what vexes me mair than a the rest, when I think how I am to fend for ye now in thae brickle times. I am no clear if I can pleugh ony place but the Mains and Mucklewhame, at least I never tried ony other grund, and it wadna come natural to me. And nae neighbouring heritors will daur to take us, after being turned aff thae bounds for non-enormity.
Non-conformity, hinnie, sighed Mause, is the name that thae warldly men gie us.
Weel, aweelwell hae to gang to a far country, maybe twall or fifteen miles aff. I could be a dragoon, nae doubt, for I can ride and play wi the broadsword a bit, but ye wad be roaring about your blessing and your grey hairs. (Here Mauses exclamations became extreme.) Weel, weel, I but spoke ot; besides, yere ower auld to be sitting cocked up on a baggage-waggon wi Eppie Dumblane, the corporals wife. Sae whats to come o us I canna weel seeI doubt Ill hae to tak the hills wi the wild whigs, as they ca them, and then it will be my lo to be shot down like a mawkin at some dikeside, or to be sent to heaven wi a Saint Johnstones tippit about my hause.
O, my bonnie Cuddie, said the zealous Mause, forbear sic carnal, self-seeking language, whilk is just a misdoubting o ProvidenceI have not seen the son of the righteous begging his bread, sae says the text; and your father was a douce honest man, though somewhat warldly in his dealings, and cumbered about earthly things, een like yoursell, my jo!