The Pirate
having lasted for eighteen years come Martinmas, might now be considered
as a castaway thing. Finding she had thus the field to herself, the old
lady launched forth into a lecture upon economy, according to her own
idea of that virtue, which seemed to include a system of privations,
which, though observed with the sole purpose of saving money, might, if
undertaken upon other principles, have ranked high in the history of a
religious ascetic.
She was but little interrupted by Mordaunt, who, conscious he was now on
the eve of approaching Burgh-Westra, employed himself rather in the task
of anticipating the nature of the reception he was about to meet with
there from two beautiful young women, than with the prosing of an old
one, however wisely she might prove that small-beer was more wholesome
than strong ale, and that if her brother had bruised his ankle bone in
his tumble, cumfrey and butter was better to bring him round again, than
all the doctor's drugs in the world.
But now the dreary moorlands, over which their path had hitherto lain,
were exchanged for a more pleasant prospect, opening on a salt-water
lake, or arm of the sea, which ran up far inland, and was surrounded by
flat and fertile ground, producing crops better than the experienced eye
of Triptolemus Yellowley had as yet witnessed in Zetland. In the midst
of this Goshen stood the mansion of Burgh-Westra, screened from the
north and east by a ridge of heathy hills which lay behind it, and
commanding an interesting prospect of the lake and its parent ocean, as
well as the islands, and more distant mountains. From the mansion
itself, as well as from almost every cottage in the adjacent hamlet,
arose such a rich cloud of vapoury smoke, as showed, that the
preparations for the festival were not confined to the principal
residence of Magnus himself, but extended through the whole vicinage.
"My certie," said Mrs. Baby Yellowley, "ane wad think the haill town was
on fire! The very hill-side smells of their wastefulness, and a hungry
heart wad scarce seek better kitchen[39] to a barley scone, than just
to waft it in the reek that's rising out of yon lums."
FOOTNOTES:
[38] Note VI.--Zetland Corn-mills.
[39] What is eat by way of relish to dry bread is called _kitchen_ in
Scotland, as cheese, dried fish, or the like relishing morsels.
CHAPTER XII.
----Thou hast described
A hot friend cooling. Ever note, Lucilius,
When love begins to sicken and decay,
It useth an enforced ceremony.
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.
_Julius Cæsar._
If the smell which was wafted from the chimneys of Burgh-Westra up to
the barren hills by which the mansion was surrounded, could, as Mistress
Barbara opined, have refreshed the hungry, the noise which proceeded
from thence might have given hearing to the deaf. It was a medley of all
sounds, and all connected with jollity and kind welcome. Nor were the
sights associated with them less animating.
Troops of friends were seen in the act of arriving--their dispersed
ponies flying to the moors in every direction, to recover their own
pastures in the best way they could;--such, as we have already said,
being the usual mode of discharging the cavalry which had been levied
for a day's service. At a small but commodious harbour, connected with
the house and hamlet, those visitors were landing from their boats, who,
living in distant islands, and along the coast, had preferred making
their journey by sea. Mordaunt and his companions might see each party
pausing frequently to greet each other, and strolling on successively to
the house, whose ever open gate received them alternately in such
numbers, that it seemed the extent of the mansion, though suited to the
opulence and hospitality of the owner, was scarce, on this occasion,
sufficient for the guests.
Among the confused sounds of mirth and welcome which arose at the
entrance of each new company, Mordaunt thought he could distinguish the
loud laugh and hearty salutation of the Sire of the mansion, and began
to feel more deeply than before, the anxious doubt, whether that cordial
reception, which was distributed so freely to all others, would be on
this occasion extended to him. As they came on, they heard the voluntary
scrapings and bravura effusions of the gallant fiddlers, who impatiently
flung already from their bows those sounds with which they were to
animate the evening. The clamour of the cook's assistants, and the loud
scolding tones of the cook himself, were also to be heard--sounds of
dissonance at any other time, but which, subdued with others, and by
certain happy associations, form no disagreeable part of the full chorus
which always precedes a rural feast.
Meanwhile, the guests advanced, each full of their own thoughts.
Mordaunt's we have already noticed. Baby was wrapt up in the melancholy
grief and surprise excited by the positive conviction, that so much
victuals had been cooked at once as were necessary to feed all the
mouths which were clamouring around her--an enormity of expense, which,
though she was no way concerned in bearing it, affected her nerves, as
the beholding a massacre would touch those of the most indifferent
spectator, however well assured of his own personal safety. She
sickened, in short, at the sight of so much extravagance, like
Abyssinian Bruce, when he saw the luckless minstrels of Gondar hacked to
pieces by the order of Ras Michael. As for her brother, they being now
arrived where the rude and antique instruments of Zetland agriculture
lay scattered in the usual confusion of a Scottish barn-yard, his
thoughts were at once engrossed in the deficiencies of the one-stilted
plough--of the _twiscar_, with which they dig peats--of the sledges, on
which they transport commodities--of all and every thing, in short, in
which the usages of the islands differed from those of the mainland of
Scotland. The sight of these imperfect instruments stirred the blood of
Triptolemus Yellowley, as that of the bold warrior rises at seeing the
arms and insignia of the enemy he is about to combat; and, faithful to
his high emprise, he thought less of the hunger which his journey had
occasioned, although about to be satisfied by such a dinner as rarely
fell to his lot, than upon the task which he had undertaken, of
civilizing the manners, and improving the cultivation, of Zetland.
"_Jacta est alea_," he muttered to himself; "this very day shall prove
whether the Zetlanders are worthy of our labours, or whether their minds
are as incapable of cultivation as their peat-mosses. Yet let us be
cautious, and watch the soft time of speech. I feel, by my own
experience, that it were best to let the body, in its present state,
take the place of the mind. A mouthful of that same roast-beef, which
smells so delicately, will form an apt introduction to my grand plan for
improving the breed of stock."
By this time the visitors had reached the low but ample front of Magnus
Troil's residence, which seemed of various dates, with large and
ill-imagined additions, hastily adapted to the original building, as the
increasing estate, or enlarged family, of successive proprietors,
appeared to each to demand. Beneath a low, broad, and large porch,
supported by two huge carved posts, once the head-ornaments of vessels
which had found shipwreck upon the coast, stood Magnus himself, intent
on the hospitable toil of receiving and welcoming the numerous guests
who successively approached. His strong portly figure was well adapted
to the dress which he wore--a blue coat of an antique cut, lined with
scarlet, and laced and looped with gold down the seams and button-holes,
and along the ample cuffs. Strong and masculine features, rendered ruddy
and brown by frequent exposure to severe weather--a quantity of most
venerable silver hair, which fell in unshorn profusion from under his
gold-laced hat, and was carelessly tied with a ribbon behind, expressed
at once his advanced age, his hasty, yet well-conditioned temper, and
his robust constitution. As our travellers approached him, a shade of
displeasure seemed to cross his brow, and to interrupt for an instant
the honest and hearty burst of hilarity with which he had been in the
act of greeting all prior arrivals. When he approached Triptolemus
Yellowley, he drew himself up, so as to mix, as it were, some share of
the stately importance of the opulent Udaller with the welcome afforded
by the frank and hospitable landlord.
"You are welcome, Mr. Yellowley," was his address to the factor; "you
are welcome to Westra--the wind has blown you on a rough coast, and we
that are the natives must be kind to you as we can. This, I believe, is
your sister--Mistress Barbara Yellowley, permit me the honour of a
neighbourly salute."--And so saying, with a daring and self-devoted
courtesy, which would find no equal in our degenerate days, he actually
ventured to salute the withered cheek of the spinster, who relaxed so
much of her usual peevishness of expression, as to receive the courtesy
with something which approached to a smile. He then looked full at
Mordaunt Mertoun, and without offering his hand, said, in a tone
somewhat broken by suppressed agitation, "You too are welcome, Master
Mordaunt."
"Did I not think so," said Mordaunt, naturally offended by the coldness
of his host's manner, "I had not been here--and it is not yet too late
to turn back."
"Young man," replied Magnus, "you know better than most, that from these
doors no man can turn, without an offence to their owner. I pray you,
disturb not my guests by your ill-timed scruples. When Magnus Troil says
welcome, all are welcome who are within hearing of his voice, and it is
an indifferent loud one.--Walk on, my worthy guests, and let us see what
cheer my lasses can make you within doors."
So saying, and taking care to make his manner so general to the whole
party, that Mordaunt should not be able to appropriate any particular
portion of the welcome to himself, nor yet to complain of being excluded
from all share in it, the Udaller ushered the guests into his house,
where two large outer rooms, which, on the present occasion, served the
purpose of a modern saloon, were already crowded with guests of every
description.
The furniture was sufficiently simple, and had a character peculiar to
the situation of those stormy islands. Magnus Troil was, indeed, like
most of the higher class of Zetland proprietors, a friend to the
distressed traveller, whether by sea or land, and had repeatedly exerted
his whole authority in protecting the property and persons of
shipwrecked mariners; yet so frequent were wrecks upon that tremendous
coast, and so many unappropriated articles were constantly flung ashore,
that the interior of the house bore sufficient witness to the ravages of
the ocean, and to the exercise of those rights which the lawyers term
_Flotsome and Jetsome_. The chairs, which were arranged around the
walls, were such as are used in cabins, and many of them were of foreign
construction; the mirrors and cabinets, which were placed against the
walls for ornament or convenience, had, it was plain from their form,
been constructed for ship-board, and one or two of the latter were of
strange and unknown wood. Even the partition which separated the two
apartments, seemed constructed out of the bulkhead of some large vessel,
clumsily adapted to the service which it at present performed, by the
labour of some native joiner. To a stranger, these evident marks and
tokens of human misery might, at the first glance, form a contrast with
the scene of mirth with which they were now associated; but the
association was so familiar to the natives, that it did not for a moment